Yana and the Indigirka, missed discovering the large island in the
Polar Sea, of which so much has been said. Next summer (1649)
Staduchin again sailed down the river Kolyma to the sea, and then
for seven days along its coast eastwards, without finding the mouth
of the river sought for by him. He therefore returned with his
object unaccomplished, carrying with him a heap of walrus-tusks,
which were sent to Yakutsk as an appendix to a proposal to send out
hunters to the Polar Sea to hunt for these animals. In the meantime
a true idea of the course of the Anadyr had been obtained through
statements collected from the natives, and a land-route had become
known between its territory and that of the Kolyma. Several Cossacks
and hunters now petitioned for the right to settle on the Anadyr,
and collect tribute from the tribes in that neighbourhood. This was
granted. Some natives were forced to act as guides. The party
started under the command of SIMEON MOTORA, and came finally to
Deschnev's _simovie_ on the Anadyr. Staduchin followed, and
traversed the way in seven weeks. He however soon quarrelled with
Deschnev and Motora, and parting from them on that account, betook
himself to the river Penschina. Deschnev and Motora built
themselves boats on the Anadyr in order to prosecute exploratory
voyages, but the latter was killed in 1651 in a fight with natives
called Anauls. They had been the first of all the natives of the
Pacific coast of North Asia to pay "jassak" to Deschnev, and he had
already at that time come into collision with them and extirpated
one of their tribes.
In 1652 Deschnev travelled down the Anadyr to the river mouth, where he
discovered a walrus-bank, whence he brought home walrus-tusks. There
afterwards arose a dispute between Deschnev and Selivestrov[301]
regarding the rights founded on the discovery of this walrus bank, which
came before the authorities at Yakutsk, and it was from the documents
relating to it that Mueller obtained the information that enabled him to
give a narrative of Deschnev's expedition. Only in this way have the
particulars of this remarkable voyage been rescued from complete
oblivion.[302]
In 1653 Deschnev gave orders to collect wood to build craft in which
he intended to carry home by sea the tribute he had collected to the
Kolyma, but he was compelled to desist from want of the necessary
materials for the building and equipment of the boats, comforting
himself with the statemen
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