e coast of America in 58 deg. to
59 deg. N.L. A short distance from the shore Steller discovered
here a splendid volcano, which was named St. Elias. The coast was
inhabited, but the inhabitants fled when the vessel approached. From
this point Behring wished to sail in a north-westerly direction to
that promontory of Asia which formed the turning-point of his first
voyage. It was however only with difficulty that in the almost
constant fog the peninsula of Alaska could be rounded and the vessel
could sail forward among the Aleutian island groups. Scurvy now
broke out among the crew, and the commander himself suffered
severely from it, on which account the command was mainly in the
hands of Lieut. WAXEL. At an island the explorers came into contact
with the natives, who at first were quite friendly, until one of
them was offered brandy. He tasted the liquor, and was thereby so
terrified that no gifts could calm his uneasiness. On this account
those of the crew who were on land were ordered to come on board,
but the savages wished to detain their guests. At last the Russians
were set free, but a Koryaek whom they had taken with them as an
interpreter was kept behind. In order to get him set at liberty,
Waxel ordered two musket salvos to be fired over the heads of the
natives, with the result that they all fell flat down from fright,
and the Koryaek had an opportunity of making his escape. Now the
fire-water is a liquor in great request among these savages, and
they are not frightened at the firing of salvos of musketry.

During the following months Behring's vessel drifted about without
any distinct plan, in the sea between Alaska and Kamchatka, in
nearly constant fog, and in danger of stranding on some of the many
unknown rocks and islands which were passed. On the 5th November the
vessel was anchored at an island afterwards called Behring Island.
Soon however a great wave arose which threw the vessel on land and
crushed it against the rocky coast of the island. Of the wintering
there, which, through Steller's taking part in it, became of so
great importance for natural history, I shall give an account
further on in connection with the narrative of our visit to Behring
Island. Here I shall only remind the reader that Behring died of
scurvy on the 19th/8th December, and that in the course of the
voyage great part of his crew fell a sacrifice to the same disease.
In spring the survivors built a new vessel out of the fragme