1806.] TOY AGE OP KRUSENSTERN. 273 



branches of science, together with the chamberlain, Von Resanoff, 

 who was commissioned as ambassador to Japan, and as plenipoten- 

 tiary of the Russian American Directory. 



The two ships passed together around Cape Horn, touched at the 

 Washington and the Sandwich Islands, and then separated ; the 

 Neva going to the north-west coasts of America, and the Nadeshda 

 to Petropawlowsk, where she arrived in the middle of July, 1804. 

 From Kamtchatka, Krusenstern proceeded, with the ambassador, to 

 Nangasaki, the capital of Japan, at which place their arrival only 

 served to excite suspicions : they were not allowed to land, except 

 for the purpose of taking exercise in a confined space ; the letter 

 and presents of the Russian emperor were rejected ; and the am- 

 bassador was distinctly informed that no vessels belonging to his 

 nation would, in future, be permitted to enter a Japanese port. 

 After this rebuff, the Nadeshda returned to Kamtchatka, and Kru- 

 senstern passed several months in examining the coasts of Tartary 

 and the adjacent islands between that peninsula and Japan ; these 

 labors being completed, he went to Canton, where she arrived in the 

 end of November, 1805. 



Lisiansky, in the Neva, had, in the mean time, visited Sitca, 

 Kodiak, and other Russian establishments, on the north-west coasts 

 of America, at which his presence was advantageous to the interests 

 of the company, by controlling the hostile dispositions of the natives ; 

 and having performed all that could be done by him in that quar- 

 ter, he proceeded to Canton, with a cargo of furs, and there rejoined 

 Krusenstern, in December, 1805. The Chinese were found equally 

 as determined as the Japanese to allow no commerce by sea with 

 the Russians ; and many difficulties were experienced before the 

 furs brought by the Neva could be landed for sale. This business 

 being at length despatched, the two vessels took their departure, 

 and, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, reached Cronstadt in 

 August, 1806, having, carried the Russian flag for the first time 

 across the equator and around the world. 



In the mean time, also, Von Resanoff, — a singularly ridiculous 

 and incompetent person, — after the failure of his embassy to Japan, 

 had gone, as plenipotentiary of the Russian American Company, to 

 Sitca, where he passed the winter of 1805—1806, engaged in devis- 

 ing plans for the conduct of the company's affairs, all of which were 

 quietly set aside by the chief agent, Baranof. The propriety of 

 expelling the Americans from the North Pacific was at the same 

 time rendered questionable, by the fact that the garrison and set- 

 35 



