he travelled thither the
same year, in November, 1724, over the ice, but his description of
the land differs widely from that of his predecessor, and Mueller
appears to entertain great doubts of the truthfulness of the
narrative[304]. On the ground of a map constructed by the Cossack,
Colonel SCHESTAKOV, who, however, according to Mueller, could neither
read nor write, this new land was introduced into DELISLE and
BUACHE'S map, with the addition that the Schelag Kopai lived there,
and had there been taken prisoner by the Russians. This is so far
incorrect, as Kopai did not live on any island, but on the mainland,
and never was prisoner with the Russians, although after having paid
tribute to them, he tired of doing so, and killed some of Amossov's
people, after which no more was heard of him. Mueller complains
loudly of the incorrect statement regarding Kopai, but the learned
academician commits a much greater mistake, inasmuch as he considers
that he ought to leave the numerous accounts of hunters and Cossacks
about land and islands in the Siberian Polar Sea completely out of
account. All these lands are therefore left out of the map published
by the Petersburg Academy in the year 1758[305]. It is in this
respect much more incomplete than the map which accompanies
Strahlenberg's book.[306]

Before I begin to sketch the explorations of the great northern
expedition, some account remains to be given of the discovery of
Kamchatka. It appears from the preceding that Kamchatka was already
reached by some of Deschnev's followers, but their important
discovery was completely unknown in Moscow. Kamchatka is, however,
already mentioned in the narrative of Evert Ysbrants Ides' embassy
to China in 1693-95,[307] accounts of it had probably been obtained
from the Siberian natives, who are accustomed to wander far and
near. These accounts, however, are exceedingly incomplete, and
therefore, VOLODOMIR ATLASSOV, _piaetidesaetnik_ (_i.e._, commander of
fifty men) at Anadyrsk, is considered the proper discoverer of
Kamchatka.

While Atlassov was commander at Anadyrsk, he sent out in 1696, the
Cossack LUCAS SEMENOV SIN MOROSKO with sixteen men to bring the
tribe living to the south under tribute. The commission was
executed, and on his return Morosko stated that he not only was
among the Koryaeks, but had also penetrated to the neighbourhood of
the river Kamchatka, and that he took a Kamchadal "ostrog," and
found in it some manuscrip