266 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[cifAP. 
the corpse could be properly buried it had therefore to be 
dug out of its bed, a circumstance which appears to have 
produced a disagreeable impression on the survivors. The two 
lieutenants, Waxel and Chitrov, had kept themselves in pretty 
good health at sea, but now fell seriously ill, though they 
recovered. Only the physician of the expedition, Georg 
Wilhelm Steller, was all the time in good health, and that a 
single man of the whole crew escaped with his life was clearly 
due to the skill of this gifted man, to his invincible energy 
and his cheerful and sanguine disposition. These qualities 
were also abundantly tested during the wintering. On the 
night before the vessel, on which no watch was 
kept, because all the men were required on land to care for 
the sick, was cast ashore by a violent E.S.E. storm. So great 
a quantity of provisions was thus lost, that the remaining 
stock was not sufficient by itself to yield enough food for all 
the men during a whole winter. Men were therefore sent out 
in all directions to inquire into the state of the land. They 
returned with the information that the vessel had stranded, 
not, as was hoped at first, on the mainland but on an un¬ 
inhabited, woodless island. It was thus clear to the ship¬ 
wrecked men that in order to be saved they could rely only 
on their judgment and strength. At the beginning they 
found that if any provisions were to be reserved for the 
voyage home, it was necessary that they should support them¬ 
selves during winter to a considerable extent by hunting. 
They did not like to use the flesh of the fox for food, and 
at first kept to that of the sea-otter. This animal at present 
is very scarce on Behring Island, but at that time the shore 
was covered with whole herds of it. They had no fear of 
man, came from curiosity straight to the fires, and did not 
run away when any one approached. A dear-bought experience, 
however, soon taught them caution; at all events, from 800 
to 900 head were taken, a splendid catch when we consider 
