rs,
6,844 black and 200 white foxes, and 2,212 sea-bears (_loc. cit._ p.
22). In 1752-53 the crew of a vessel belonging to the Irkutsk
merchant, Nikifor Trapeznikoff, caught on Behring Island 5
sea-otters, 1,222 foxes (colour not stated), and 2,500 sea-bears
(_loc. cit._ p. 32). It thus appears as if the eager hunting had an
influence not only on the number of the animals but also on their
colour, the variety in greatest demand becoming also _relatively_
less common than before. ]

[Footnote 363: From this little work, compiled from the original
journals (Cf. Coxe, _Russian Discoveries_, 1780, p. vi.) we see that
the undaunted courage and the resolution which, matched with other
qualities not so praiseworthy, distinguished the _Promyschlenni_
during their expeditions of exploration, tribute-collecting, and
plunder from the Ob to Kamchatka, did not fail them in the attempt
to force their way across the sea to America. It happens yearly that
a ship's crew save themselves from destruction in the most
extraordinary craft, for necessity has no law. But it is perhaps not
so common that an exploring expedition, wrecked on an uninhabited
treeless island, builds for itself of fragments from its own vessel,
indeed even of driftwood, a new one in order to sail out on the
ocean to discover new fishing-grounds or new wild tribes, willing to
pay "jassak" to the adventurers. This however happened very
frequently during the Russian voyages of discovery and hunting to
the Aleutian Islands from 1745 to 1770, and it was remarkable that
the craft built in this way were used for years, even after the
return from the first voyage. ]

[Footnote 364: The sea-cow does not appear to have ever occurred on
the Aleutian Islands; on the other hand, according to Steller, dead
sea-cows have sometimes been cast ashore on Kamchatka, where they
even obtained from the Russians a peculiar name _kapustnik_, derived
from the large quantity of sea-weed found in their stomach. It
appears to me that this name, specially distinctive of a
graminivorous animal, appeals to indicate that on the first arrival
of the Russians at Kamchatka the sea-cow actually visited
occasionally the coasts of that peninsula. It is probable that in
former times the sea-cow was to be met with as far south as the
north part of Japan. Some scientific men have even conjectured that
the animal may have occurred north of Behring's Straits. This
however is improbable. Among the mass of s