GEORGE WILLIAM STELLER. 



253 



bay. The weather being beautiful, and the wind favorable, we were all in 

 good spirits, and, as we sailed along the island, pointed out to each other the 

 well-known mountains and valleys which we had frequently visited in quest 

 of game or for the purpose of reconnoitring. Towards evening we were op- 

 posite the farthest point of the island, and on the 15th, the wind continuing 

 favorable, we steered direct towards the Bay of Avatscha. About midnight, 

 however, we perceived, to our great dismay, that the vessel began to fill with 

 water from an unknown leak, which, in consequence of the crowded and 

 overloaded state of the vessel, it was extremely difficult to find out. The 

 pumps were soon choked by the shavings left in the hold, and the danger 

 rapidly increased, as the wind was strong and the vessel badly built. The 

 sails were immediately taken in ; some of the men removed the baggage to 

 look for the leak, others kept continually pouring out the water with kettles, 

 while others again cast all superfluous articles overboard. At length, after 

 the lightening of the ship, the carpenter succeeded in stopping the leak, and 

 thus Ave were once more saved from imminent danger. . . . On the 11th we 

 sighted Kamchatka, but as the wind was contrary, we did not enter the har- 

 bor before the evening of the 27th. 



" In spite of the joy we all felt at our deliverance, yet the news we heard 

 on our arrival awakened in us a host of conflicting emotions. We had been 

 given up for lost, and all our property had passed into other hands, and been 

 mostly carried away beyond hope of recovery. Hence joy and sorrow alter- 

 nated within a few moments in our minds, though we were all so accustomed 

 to privation and misery, as hardly to feel the extent of our losses." 



In the year 1744 Steller was ordered to return to St. Petersburg ; but his 

 candor had made him powerful enemies. Having reached Novgorod, and re- 

 joicing in the idea of once more mixing with the civilized world, he was sud- 

 denly ordered to appear before the imperial court of justice at Irkutsk, on the 

 charge of having treacherously sold powder to the enemies of Russia. Thus 

 obliged to return once more into the depths of Siberia, he was at length dis- 

 missed by his judges, after waiting a whole year for their verdict. 



Once more on his way to St. Petersburg, he had already reached Moscow, 

 when he was again summoned to appear without delay before the court of 

 Irkutsk. A journey to Siberia is, under all circumstances, an arduous under- 

 taking ; what, then, must have been Steller's feelings when, instead of enjoy- 

 ing the repose he had so well merited, he saw himself obliged to retrace his 

 steps for the fourth time, for the purpose of vindicating his conduct hefore a 

 rascally tribunal ? On a very cold day his Cossack guards stopped to re- 

 fresh themselves with some brandy at an inn by the road-side, and Steller, 

 who remained in the sledge waiting for their return, fell asleep, and was 

 frozen to death. 



He lies buried near the town of Tjumen, and no monument apprises the 

 naturalist, whom the love of knowledge may lead into the Siberian wilds, that 

 his unfortunate predecessor was thus basely requited after years of exertion 

 in the interests of science. 



