The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II

by A. E. Nordenskiöld

CHAPTER XV.

The position of Behring Island—Its inhabitants—The discovery of the island by Behring—Behring's death—Steller—The former and present Fauna on the island: foxes, sea-otters, sea-cows, sea-lions, and sea-bears—Collection of bones of the Rhytina—Visit to a "rookery"—Toporkoff Island—Alexander Dubovski—Voyage to Yokohama—Lightning-stroke.

Behring Island is situated between 54° 40' and 55° 25' N. L. and 165° 40' and 166° 40' E. L. from Greenwich. It is the westernmost and nearest Kamchatka of the islands in the long chain formed by volcanic action, which bounds the Behring Sea on the south between 51° and 56° N. L. Together with the neighbouring Copper Island and some small islands and rocks lying round about, it forms a peculiar group of islands separated from the Aleutian Islands proper, named, after the rank of the great seafarer who perished here, Commander's or Commandirski Islands. They belong not to America but to Asia, and are Russian territory. Notwithstanding this the American Alaska Company has acquired the right of hunting there,[356] and maintains on the main islands two not inconsiderable commercial stations, which supply the inhabitants, several hundreds in number, with provisions and manufactured goods, the company buying from them instead furs, principally the skin of an eared seal (the sea-cat or sea-bear), of which from 20,000 to 50,000[357] are killed yearly in the region. Some Russian authorities are also settled on the island to guard the rights of the Russian state and maintain order. Half a dozen serviceable wooden houses have been built here as dwellings for the officials of the Russian Government and the American Company, for storehouses, shops, &c. The natives live partly in very roomy and in the inside not uncomfortable turf houses, partly in small wooden houses which the company endeavours gradually to substitute for the former, by yearly ordering some wooden buildings and presenting them to the most deserving of the population. Every family has its own house. There is also a Greek-Catholic church and a spacious schoolhouse. The latter is intended for Aleutian children. The school was unfortunately closed at the time of our visit, but, to judge by the writing books which lay about in the schoolroom, the education here is not to be despised. The specimens of writing at least were distinguished by their cleanness, and by an even and beautiful style. At "the colony" the houses were collected at one place into a village, situated near the sea-shore at a suitable distance from the fishing ground in a valley overgrown in summer by a rich vegetation, but treeless and surrounded by treeless rounded heights. From the sea this village has the look of a northern fishing station. There are besides some scattered houses here and there on other parts of the island, for instance on its north-eastern side, where the potato is said to be cultivated

on a small scale, and at the fishing place on the north side where there are two large sheds for skins and a number of very small earth-holes used only during the slaughter season.

Behring Island, with regard both to geography and natural history, is one of the most remarkable islands in the north part of the Pacific. It was here that Behring after his last unfortunate voyage in the sea which now bears his name, finished his long course as an explorer. He was however survived by many of his followers, among them by the physician and naturalist Steller, to whom we owe a masterpiece seldom surpassed—a sketch of the natural conditions and animal life on the island, never before visited by man, where he involuntarily passed the time from the middle of November 1741, to the end of August 1742.[358]

It was the desire to procure for our museums the skins or skeletons of the many remarkable mammalia occurring here, also to compare the present state of the island which for nearly a century and a half has been exposed to the unsparing thirst of man for sport and plunder, with Steller's spirited and picturesque description, which led me to include a visit to the island in the plan of the expedition. The accounts I got at Behring Island from the American newspapers of the anxiety which our wintering had caused in Europe led me indeed to make our stay there shorter than I at first intended. Our harvest of collections and observations was at all events extraordinarily abundant. But before I proceed to give an account of our own stay on the island, I must devote a few words to its discovery and the first wintering there, which has a quite special interest from the island having never before been trodden by the foot of man. The abundant animal life, then found there, gives us therefore one of the exceedingly few representations we possess of the animal world as it was before man, the lord of the creation, appeared.

After Behring's vessel had drifted about a considerable time at random in the Behring Sea, in consequence of the severe scurvy-epidemic, which had spread to nearly all the men on board, without any dead reckoning being kept, and finally without sail or helmsman, literally at the mercy of wind and waves, those on board on the 15th/4th November, 1741, sighted land, off whose coast the vessel was anchored the following day at 5 o'clock P. M. An hour after the cable gave way, and an enormous sea threw the vessel towards the shore-cliffs. All appeared to be already lost. But the vessel, instead of being driven ashore by new

waves, came unexpectedly into a basin 4-1/2 fathoms deep surrounded by rocks and with quite still water, being connected with the sea only by a single narrow opening. If the unmanageable vessel had not drifted just to that place it would certainly have gone to pieces, and all on board would have perished

It was only with great difficulty that the sick crew could put out a boat in which Lieut. Waxel and Steller landed. They found the land uninhabited, devoid of wood, and uninviting. But a rivulet with fresh clear water purled yet unfrozen down the mountain sides, and in the sand hills along the coast were found some deep pits, which when enlarged and covered with sails could be used as dwellings. The men who could still stand on their legs all joined in this work. On the 19th/8th November the sick could be removed to land, but, as often happens, many died when they were brought out of the cabin into the fresh air, others while they were being carried from the vessel or immediately after they came to land. All in whom the scurvy had taken the upper hand to that extent that they were already lying in bed on board the vessel, died. The survivors had scarcely time or strength to bury the dead, and found it difficult to protect the corpses from the hungry foxes that swarmed on the island and had not yet learned to be afraid of man. On the 20th/9th Behring was carried on land; he was already much reduced and dejected, and could not be induced to take exercise. He died on the 19th/8th December.

VITUS BEHRING was a Dane by birth, and when a young man had already made voyages to the East and West Indies. In 1707 he was received into the Russian navy as officer, and as such took part in all the warlike enterprises of that fleet against Sweden. He was in a way buried alive on the island that now bears his name, for at last he did not permit his men to remove the sand that lolled down upon him from the walls of the sand pit in which he rested. For he thought that the sand warmed his chilled body. Before 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 clue 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 10th December/29th November, 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 uninhabited, woodless island. It was thus clear to the shipwrecked 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 themselves 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 that the skin of this animal at the Chinese frontier fetched from 80 to 100 roubles each. Besides, in the beginning of winter two whales stranded on the island. The shipwrecked men considered these then provision depôts, and appear to have preferred whale blubber to the flesh of the sea-otter, which had an unpleasant taste and was tough as leather.[359]

In spring the sea-otters disappeared, but now there came to the island in their stead other animals in large herds, viz sea-bears, seals, and sea-lions. The flesh of the young sea-lion was considered a great delicacy.[360] When the sea-otters became scarcer and more shy and difficult to catch, the shipwrecked men found means also to kill sea-cows, whose flesh Steller considered equal to beef. Several barrels of their flesh were even salted to serve as provisions during the return journey. As the land became clear of snow in the middle of April, Waxel called together the forty-five men who survived to a consultation regarding the steps that ought to be taken in order to reach the mainland. Among many different proposals, that was adopted of building a new vessel with the materials supplied by the stranded one. The three ship-carpenters who had been on board were dead. But fortunately there was among the survivors a Cossack, SAVA STARODUBZOV, who had taken part as a workman in shipbuilding at Okotsk, and now undertook to manage the building of the new vessel. With necessity for a teacher he also succeeded in executing his commission, so that a new St. Peter was launched on the 21st/10th August, 1742. The vessel was forty feet long, thirteen feet beam, and six and a half feet deep, and sailed as well as if built by an experienced master of his craft, but on the other hand leaked seriously in a high sea. The return voyage at all events passed successfully. On the 5th September/25th August Kamchatka was sighted, and two days after the St. Peter anchored at Petropaulovsk, where the shipwrecked men found a storehouse with an abundant stock of provisions according to their ideas, which probably were not pitched very high. Next year they sailed on with their Behring-Island-built vessel to Okotsk. On then arrival there, of the seventy-six persons who originally took part in the expedition, thirty-two were dead. At Kamchatka they had all been considered dead, and the effects they left behind them had been scattered and divided. Steller voluntarily remained some time longer in Kamchatka in order to carry on his researches in natural history. Unfortunately he drew upon himself the ill-will of the authorities, in consequence of the free way in which he criticised their abuses. This led to a trial at the court at Irkutsk. He was, indeed, found innocent, and obtained permission to travel home, but at Zolikamsk he was overtaken by an express with orders to bring him back to Irkutsk. On the way thither he met another express with renewed permission to travel to Europe. But the powers of the strong and formerly healthy man were exhausted by his hunting backwards and forwards across the immeasurable deserts of Siberia. He died soon after, on the 23rd/12th November, 1746, at Tjumen, only thirty-seven years of age, of a fever by which he was attacked during the journey.[361]

The immense quantity of valuable furs brought home by the survivors of Behring's so unfortunate third voyage affected the fur-dealers, Cossacks, and hunters of Siberia much in the same way as the rumour about Eldorado or about the riches of the Casic Dobaybe did the Spanish discoverers of middle and southern America. Numerous expeditions were fitted out to the new land rich in furs, where extensive territories previously unknown were made tributary to the Czar of Russia. Most of these expeditions landed on Behring Island during the voyage out and home, and in a short time wrought a complete change in the fauna of the island. Thanks to Steller's spirited sketch of the animal life he observed there, we have also an opportunity of forming an idea of the alteration in the fauna which man brings about in a land in which he settles.

Arctic foxes were found in incredible numbers on the island during the wintering of the Behring expedition. They not only ate up everything that was at all eatable that was left in the open air, but forced their way as well by day as by night into the houses and carried off all that they could, even such things as were of no use whatever to them, as knives, sticks, sacks, shoes and stockings. Even if anything had been never so well buried and loaded with stones, they not only found the place but even pushed away the stones with their shoulders like men. Though they could not eat what they found, they carried it off and concealed it under stones. In such a case some foxes stood on guard, and if a man approached all assisted in speedily concealing the stolen article in the sand so that no trace of it was left. When any of the men slept out of doors at night the foxes carried off their caps and gloves, and made their way under the covering. They nosed the noses of the sleepers to find out whether they were dead or living, and attempted to nibble at any who held their breath. As the female sea-lions and sea-bears often suffocate their young during sleep, the foxes every morning made an inspection of the place where these animals lie down in immense herds, and if they found a dead young one they immediately helped each other, like good scavengers, to carry away the carcase. When men were employed out of doors they had to drive the foxes away with sticks, and they became, in consequence of the slyness and cunning with which they knew how to carry out their thefts and the skill which they showed in combining to gain an end which they could not compass as single animals, actually dangerous to the shipwrecked men, by whom they were therefore heartily hated, pursued, tormented, and killed. Since then thousands and thousands of foxes have been killed on Behring Island by the fur-hunters. Now they are so scarce that during our stay there we did not see one. Those that still survive, besides, as the Europeans settled on the island informed me, do not wear the precious dark blue dress formerly common but the white, which is of little value. On the neighbouring Copper Island, however, there are still dark blue foxes in pretty large numbers.[362]

Nine hundred sea-otters were killed here by Steller and his companions in 1741-42. The following quotation is taken from Steller's description of this animal which is now so shy at the sight of man:—

"With respect to playfulness it surpasses every other animal that lives either in the sea or on the land. When it comes up out of the sea it shakes the water from its fur, and dresses it as a cat its head with its fore-paws, stretches its body, arranges its hair, throws its head this way and that, contemplating itself and its beautiful fur with evident satisfaction. The animal is so much taken up with this dressing of itself, that while thus employed it may easily be approached and killed. If one strikes a sea-otter twenty times across the back, it bears it patiently, but if its large beautiful tail be struck once it turns its head to its pursuer, as if to offer it as a mark for his club in place of the tail. If it eludes an attack it makes the most laughable gestures to the hunter. It looks at him, placing one foot above the head as if to protect it from the sunlight, throws itself on its back, and turning to its enemy as if in scorn scratches itself on the belly and thighs. The male and female are much attached to each other, embrace and kiss each other like men. The female is also very fond of its young. When attacked she never leaves it in the lurch, and when danger is not near she plays with it in a thousand ways, almost like a child-loving mother with her young ones, throws it sometimes up in the air and catches it with her fore-feet like a ball, swims about with it in her bosom, throws it away now and then to let it exercise itself in the art of swimming, but takes it to herself with kisses and caresses when it is tired."

According to recent researches the sea-otter, sea-beaver or Kamchatka-beaver (Enhydris lutris, Lin.) is a species neither of the otter nor the beaver, but belongs to a peculiar genus, allied to a certain extent to the walrus. Even this animal, unsurpassed in the beauty of its skin, has been long since driven away not only from Behring Island but also from most of the hunting-grounds where it was commonly killed by thousands, and if an effective law be not soon put in force to keep the hunting in bounds, and check the war of extermination which greed now carries on against it, no longer with clubs and darts but with powder and breechloaders, the sea-otter will meet the same fate which has already befallen Steller's sea-cow. Of the sea-lion (Eumetopias Stelleri, Lesson), which in Steller's time were found in abundance on the shore cliffs of Behring Island, there are now only single animals there along with the sea-bears (Otaria ursina, Lin.); and finally, the most remarkable of all the old mammalia of Behring Island, the great sea-cow, is completely extinct.

Steller's sea-cow (Rhytina Stelleri, Cuvier) in a way took the place of the cloven-footed animals among the marine mammalia. The sea-cow was of a dark-brown colour, sometimes varied with white spots or streaks. The thick leathery skin was covered with hair which grew together so as to form an exterior skin, which was full of vermin and resembled the bark of an old oak. The full grown animal was from twenty-eight to thirty-five English feet in length and weighed about sixty-seven cwt. The head was small in proportion to the large thick body, the neck short, the body diminishing rapidly behind. The short fore-leg terminated abruptly without fingers or nails, but was overgrown with a number of short thickly placed brush-hairs, the hind-leg was replaced by a tail-fin resembling a whale's. The animal wanted teeth, but was instead provided with two masticating plates, one in the gum the other in the under jaw. The udders of the female, which abounded in milk, were placed between the fore-limbs. The flesh and milk resembled those of horned cattle, indeed in Steller's opinion surpassed them. The sea-cows were almost constantly employed in pasturing on the sea-weed which grew luxuriantly on the coast, moving the head and neck while so doing much in the same way as an ox. While they pastured they showed great voracity, and did not allow themselves to be disturbed in the least by the presence of man. One might even touch them without them being frightened or disturbed. They entertained great attachment to each other, and when one was harpooned the others made incredible attempts to rescue it.

When Steller came to Behring Island, the sea-cows pastured along the shore, collected like cattle into herds. The shipwrecked men, for want of suitable implements, did not hunt them at first. It was only after a thoughtless love of slaughter had driven all other animals suitable for food far from their winter quarters, that they began to devise means to catch the sea-cow also. They endeavoured to harpoon the animal with a strong iron hook made for the purpose, and then drag it to land. The first attempt was made on the 1st June/21st May 1742, but it was unsuccessful. It was not until after many renewed attempts that they at last succeeded in killing and catching a number of animals, and dragging them at high water so near land that they were dry at ebb. They were so heavy that forty men were required to do this, we may conclude from these particulars that the number of sea-cows killed during the first wintering on Behring Island was not very large. For the first one was killed only six weeks before the shipwrecked men left the island, and the hunting thus fell at a time when they could leave the building of the vessel to occupy themselves in that way only in case of necessity. Besides, only two animals were required to yield flesh-food to all the men for the period in question.

It is remarkable that the sea-cow is so mentioned by later travellers only in passing, that this large animal, still hunted by Europeans in the time of Linnæus, would scarcely have been registered in the system of the naturalist if Steller had not wintered on Behring Island. What Krascheninnikov says of the sea-cow is wholly borrowed from Steller, and in the same way nearly all the statements of later naturalists as to its occurrence and mode of life. That this is actually the case is shown by the following abstract, complete as far as I know, of what is said of the sea-cow in the only original account of the first hunting voyages of the Russians to the Aleutian Islands, which was published at Hamburg and Leipzig in 1776 with the title, Neue, Nachrichten von denen neuentdeckten Insuln in der See zwischen Asien und Amerika, aus mitgetheilten Urkunden und Auszügen verfasset von J. L. S** (Scherer).[363] In this book the sea-cow is mentioned at the following places:—

"Ivan Krassilnikoff's vessel started first in 1754 and arrived on the 8th October at Behring Island, where all the vessels fitted out for hunting the sea-otter on the remote islands are wont to pass the winter, in order to provide themselves with a sufficient stock of the flesh of the sea-cow" (loc. cit. p. 38).

"The autumn storms, or rather the wish to take on board a stock of provisions, compelled them (a number of hunters sent out by the merchant Tolstyk under command of the Cossack Obeuchov) to touch at Commander's Island (Behring Island) where, during the winter up to the 24th/13th June, 1757, they obtained nothing else than sea-cows, sea-lions, and large seals. They found no sea-otters this year." (ibid p. 40).

"They (a Russian hunting vessel under Studenzov in 1758) landed on Behring Island to kill sea-cows, as all vessels are accustomed to do." (ibid p. 45).

"After Korovin in 1762 (on Behring Island) had provided himself with a sufficient stock of the flesh and hides of the sea-cow for his boats.... he sailed on" (ibid p. 82).

In 1772 DMITRI BRAGIN wintered on Behring Island during a hunting voyage. In a journal kept at the request of Pallas, the large marine animals occurring on the island are enumerated, but not a word is said about the sea-cow (PALLAS, Neue nordische Beyträge, ii. p. 310).

SCHELECHOV passed the winter 1783-84 on Behring Island, but during the whole time he only succeeded in killing some white foxes, and in the narrative of the voyage there is not a word about the sea-cow (GRIGORI SCHELECHOV russischen Kaufmanns erste und zweite Reise, &c., St. Petersburg, 1793).

Some further accounts of the sea-cow have been obtained through the mining engineer PET. JAKOVLEV, who visited Commander's Islands in 1755 in order to investigate the occurrence of copper on Copper Island. In the account of this voyage which he gave to Pallas there is not indeed one word about the sea-cow, but in 1867 PEKARSKI published in the Memoirs of the Petersburg Academy some extracts from Jakovlev's journal, from which it appears that the sea-cow already in his time was driven away from Copper Island. Jakovlev on this account on the 27th November, 1755, laid a petition before the authorities on Kamchatka, for having the hunting of the sea-cow placed under restraint of law and the extermination of the animal thus prevented, a thoughtful act honourable to its author, which certainly ought to serve as a pattern in our times (J. FR. BRANDT, Symbolæ Sirenologicæ, Mém. de l'Acad. de St. Pétersbourg, t. xii. No. 1, 1861-68, p. 295).

In his account of Behring's voyage (1785-94) published in 1802, Sauer says, p. 181: "Sea-cows were very common on Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands,[364] when they were first discovered, but the last was killed on Behring Island in 1768, and none has been seen since then."

On the ground of the writings of which I have given an account above, and of various pieces of information collected during this century from the Russian authorities in the region, by the skilful conservator WOSNESSENSKI, the academicians von Baer and Brandt[365] came to the conclusion that the sea-cow had scarcely been seen by Europeans before the 19th/8th November, 1741, when Steller, the day after his landing on Behring Island for the first time saw some strange animals pasturing with their heads under water on the shores of the island; and that the animal twenty-seven years afterwards, or in 1768, was completely exterminated The latter statement however is undoubtedly incorrect; for, in the course of the many inquiries I made of the natives, I obtained distinct information that living sea-cows had been seen much later. A creole (that is, the offspring of a Russian and an Aleutian), who was sixty-seven years of age, of intelligent appearance and in the full possession of his mental faculties, stated "that his father died in 1847 at the age of eighty-eight. He had come from Volhynia, his native place, to Behring Island at the age of eighteen, accordingly in 1777. The two or three first years of his stay there, i.e. till 1779 or 1780, sea-cows were still being killed as they pastured on sea-weed. The heart only was eaten, and the hide used for baydars.[366] In consequence of its thickness the hide was split in two, and the two pieces thus obtained had gone to make a baydar twenty feet long, seven and a half feet broad, and three feet deep. After that time no sea-cows had been killed."

There is evidence, however, that a sea-cow had been seen at the island still later. Two creoles, Feodor Mertchenin and Stepnoff, stated, that about twenty-five years ago at Tolstoj-mys, on the east side of the island, they had seen an animal unknown to them which was very thick before, but grew smaller behind, had small fore-feet, and appeared with a length of about fifteen feet above water, now raising itself up, now lowering itself. The animal "blew," not through blowholes, but through the mouth, which was somewhat drawn out. It was brown in colour with some lighter spots. A back fin was wanting, but when the animal raised itself it was possible, on account of its great leanness, to see its backbone projecting. I instituted a through examination of both my informants. Their accounts agreed completely, and appeared to have claims to be regarded as trustworthy. That the animal which they saw was actually a sea-cow, is clearly proved both by the description of the animal's form and way of pasturing in the water, and by the account of the way in which it breathed, its colour, and leanness. In Aüsfurliche Beschreibung von sonderbaren Meerthieren, Steller says, p. 97, "While they pasture, they raise every fourth or fifth minute their nose from the water in order to blow out air and a little water;" p. 98, "During winter they are so lean that it is possible to count their vertebræ and ribs;" and p. 54, "Some sea-cows have pretty large white spots and streaks, so that they have a spotted appearance." As these natives had no knowledge of Steller's description of the animal, it is impossible that their statement can be false. The death-year of the Rhytina race must therefore be altered at least to 1854. With reference to this point it may be remarked that many circumstances indicate that the Rhytina herds were rather driven away from the rich pastures on Behring Island than exterminated there, and that the species became extinct because in their new haunt they were unable to maintain the struggle for existence. The form of the sea-cow, varying from that of most recent animals, besides indicates that, like the long-tailed duck on Iceland, the dront on Mauritius, and the large ostrich-like birds on New Zealand, it was the last representative of an animal group destined to extinction.

Mr. OSCHE, one of the Alaska Company's skin inspectors, a native of Liffland and at present settled on Copper Island, informed me that the bones of the sea-cow also occurred on the western side of that island. On the other hand, such bones are said not to be found on the small island described farther on lying off the colony on Behring Island, although Rhytina bones are common on the neighbouring shores of the main island.

This is the scanty information I have been able to collect from the natives and others resident in the quarter regarding the animal in question. On the other hand, my endeavours to procure Rhytina bones were crowned with greater success, and I succeeded in actually bringing together a very large and fine collection of skeleton fragments.

When I first made the acquaintance of Europeans on the island, they told me that there was little probability of finding anything of value in this respect, for the company had offered 150 roubles for a skeleton without success. But before I had been many hours on land, I came to know that large or small collections of bones were to be found here and there in the huts of the natives. These I purchased, intentionally paying for them such a price that the seller was more than satisfied and his neighbours were a little envious. A great part of the male population now began to search for bones very eagerly, and in this way I collected such a quantity that twenty-one casks, large boxes, or

barrels were filled with Rhytina bones; among which were three very fine, complete skulls, and others more or less damaged, several considerable collections of bones from the same skeleton, &c.

The Rhytina bones do not lie at the level of the sea, but upon a strand-bank thickly overgrown with luxuriant grass, at a height of two or three metres above it. They are commonly covered with a layer of earth and gravel from thirty to fifty centimetres in thickness. In order to find them, as it would be too troublesome to dig the whole of the grassy bank, one must examine the ground with a pointed iron rod, a bayonet, or some such tool. One soon learns to distinguish, by the resistance and nature of the sound, whether the rod stuck into the ground has come into contact with a stone, a piece of wood, or a fragment of bone. The ribs are used by the natives, on account of their hard ivory-like structure, for shoeing the runners of the sledges or for carvings. They have accordingly been already used up on a large scale, and are more uncommon than other bones. The finger-bone, which perhaps originally was cartilaginous, appears in most cases to be quite destroyed, as well as the outermost vertebræ of the tail. I could not obtain any such bones, though I specially urged the natives to get me the smaller bones too and promised to pay a high price for them.

The only large animal which is still found on Behring Island in perhaps as large numbers as in Steller's time is the sea-bear. Even it had already diminished so that the year's catch was inconsiderable,[367] when in 1871 a single company obtained for a payment to the Russian crown, if I recollect right, of two roubles for every animal killed, and exclusive right to the hunting, which was accordingly arranged in a more purposelike way. At certain times of the year the killing of the sea-bear is wholly prohibited. The number of the animals to be killed is settled beforehand, quite in the same way as the farmer at the time of killing in autumn is wont to do with his herd of cattle. Females and young are only killed exceptionally. Even the married males, or more correctly the males that can get themselves a harem and can defend it, commonly escape being killed, if not for any other reason, because the skin is too often torn and tattered and the hair pulled out. It is thus the bachelors that have to yield up their skins.

That a wild animal may be slaughtered in so orderly a way, depends on its peculiar mode of life.[368] For the sea-bears are found year after year during summer at certain points projecting into the sea (rookeries), where, collected in hundreds

of thousands, they pass several months without the least food. The males (oxen) come first to the place, most of them in the month of May or at the beginning of June. Combats of excessive violence, often with a deadly issue for one of the parties, now arise regarding the space of about a hundred square feet, which each seal-ox considers necessary for its home. The strongest and most successful in fight retain the best places near the shore, the weaker have to crawl farther up on land, where the expectation of getting a sufficient number of spouses is not particularly great. The fighting goes on with many feigned attacks and parades. At first the contest concerns the proprietorship of the soil. The attacked therefore never follows its opponent beyond the area it has once taken up, but haughtily lays itself down, when the enemy has retired, in order in the aims of sleep to collect forces for a new combat. The animal in such a case grunts with satisfaction, throws itself on its back, scratches itself with its fore-feet, looks after its toilet, or cools itself by slowly fanning with one of its hind-feet, but it is always on the alert and ready for a new fight until it is tired out and meets its match, and is driven by it farther up from the beach. One of the most peculiar traits of these animals is that during their stay on land they unceasingly use their hind-paws as fans, and sometimes also as parasols. Such fans may on a warm day be in motion at the same time by the hundred thousand at a "rookery."

In the middle of June the females come up from the sea. At the water's edge they are received in a very accommodating way by some strong oxen that have succeeded in securing for themselves places next the shore, and now are bent by fair means or foul on annexing the fair for their harem. But scarcely is the female that has come up out of the water established with seal-ox No. 1, when this ox rushes towards a new beauty on the surface of the water. Seal-ox No. 2 now stretches out his neck and without ceremony lays hold of No. 1's spouse, to be afterwards exposed to a repetition of the trick by No. 3. In such cases the females are quite passive, never fall out with each other, and bear with patience the severe wounds they often get when they are pulled about by the combatants, now in one direction, now in another. All the females are finally distributed in this way after furious combats among the males, those of the latter who are nearest the beach getting from twelve to fifteen consorts to their share. Those that have been compelled to settle farther from the shore must be content with four or five. Soon after the landing of the females they bring forth their young, which are treated with great indifference and are protected by the adopted father only within the boundaries of the harem. Next comes the pairing season, and when it has passed there is an end to the arrangement and distribution into families at first so strictly maintained. The seal-oxen, rendered lean by three months absolute fasting, by degrees leave the "rookery," which is taken possession of by the sea-cows, the young, and a number of young males, that have not ventured to the place before. In the middle of September, when the young have learned to swim, the place is quite abandoned, with the exception of single animals that have remained behind for one reason or other. In long continued heavy rain many of the animals besides seek protection in the sea, but return when the rain ceases. Continuous heat and sunshine besides exert the same influence, cold, moist air, with mist-concealed sun, on the other hand draw them up on land by thousands.

Males under six years of age cannot, like the older males, possess themselves, by fighting, of spouses and a home of their own. They therefore collect, along with young females, in herds of several thousand to several hundred thousand, on the shores between the rookeries proper, some of them close packed next the water's edge, others scattered in small flocks a little farther from the shore on the grass, where they by turns play with each

other with a frolicsomeness like that of young dogs, by turns he down to sleep at a common signal in all conceivable positions.

It is these unfortunate useless bachelors which at the properly managed hunting stations yield the contingent for slaughter. For this purpose they are driven by the natives from the shore slowly, about a kilometre an hour, and with frequent rests, to the place of slaughter, situated a kilometre or two from the shore. Then the females and the young ones are driven away, as well as the males whose skins are unserviceable. The rest are first stunned with a blow on the head, and afterwards stabbed with a knife.

While the Vega steamed down towards Behring Island we met, already far from land, herds of sea-bears, which followed the vessel from curiosity for long stretches. Being unacquainted with the sea-bear's mode of life, I believed from this circumstance that they had already left their summer haunts, but on our arrival at the colony I was informed that this was not the case, but that a very great number of animals still remained at the rookery on the north-eastern point of the island. Naturally one of our first excursions was to this place, situated about twenty kilometres from the village. Such a journey cannot now be undertaken alone and unattended, because even an involuntary want of caution might easily cause much economic loss to the natives, and to the company that owns the right of hunting. During the journey we were accordingly accompanied by the chief of the village, a black-haired stammering Aleutian, and "the Cossack," a young, pleasant, and agreeable fellow, who on solemn occasions wore a sabre nearly as long as himself, but besides did not in the least correspond to the Cossack type of the writers of novels and plays.

The journey was performed in large sledges drawn by ten dogs over snow-free rounded hills and hill-plateaus covered with a rather scanty vegetation, and through valleys treeless as the mountains, but adorned with luxuriant vegetation, rich in splendid lilies, syngenesia, umbellifera, &c. The journey was sometimes tedious enough, but we now and then went at a whistling rate, especially when the dog-team descended the steep mountain slopes, or went through the morasses and the clay puddles formed in the constantly used way. The driver was bespattered from top to toe with a thick layer of mud, an inconvenience attending the unusual team, which was foreseen before our departure from the colony, in consequence of which our friends there urged that, notwithstanding the fine weather, we should all take overcoats. The dog-team was kept pretty far from the shore in order not to frighten the seals, and then we went on foot to the place where the sea-bears were, choosing

our way so that we had the wind in our faces. We could in this way, without disturbing them, come very near the animals, which, according to the undoubtedly somewhat exaggerated statement made to us on the spot, were collected at the time to the number of 200,000, on the promontory and the neighbouring shores. We obtained permission to creep, accompanied by our guide, close to a herd lying a little apart. The older animals became at first somewhat uneasy when they

observed our approach, but they soon settled down completely, and we had now the pleasure of beholding a peculiar spectacle. We were the only spectators. The scene consisted of a beach covered with stones and washed by foaming breakers, the background of the immeasurable ocean, and the actors of thousands of wonderfully-formed animals. A number of old males lay still and motionless, heedless of what was going on around them. Others crept clumsily on their small short legs between the stones of the beach, or swam with incredible agility among the breakers, played, caressed each other, and quarrelled. At one place two old animals fought, uttering a peculiar hissing sound, and in such a way as if the attack and defence had been carried out in studied attitudes. At another place a feigned combat was going on between an old and a young animal. It looked as if the latter was being instructed in the art of fighting. Everywhere the small black young ones crept constantly backwards and forwards among the old sea-bears, now and then bleating like lambs calling on their mothers. The young ones are often smothered by the old, when the latter, frightened in some way, rush out into the sea. After such an alarm hundreds of dead young are found on the shore/

"Only" thirteen thousand animals had been killed that year. Their flayed carcases lay heaped on the grass by the shore, spreading far and wide a disagreeable smell, which, however, had not frightened away their comrades lying on the neighbouring promontory, because, even among them, a similar smell prevailed in consequence of the many animals suffocated or killed in fight with their comrades, and left lying on the shore.[369] Among this great flock of sea-bears sat enthroned on the top of a high stone a single sea-lion, the only one of these animals we saw during our voyage.

For a payment of forty roubles I induced the chief of the village to skeletonise four of the half putrefied carcases of the sea-bear left lying on the grass, and I afterwards obtained, by the good-will of the Russian authorities, and without any payment, six animals, among them two living young, for stuffing. Even the latter we were compelled to kill, after in vain attempting to induce them to take some food. One of them was brought home in spirits for anatomical examination.

The part of Behring Island which we saw forms a high plain resting on volcanic rocks,[370] which, however, is interrupted at many places by deep kettle valleys, the bottoms of which are generally occupied by lakes which communicate with the sea by large or small rivers. The banks of the lakes and the slopes of the hills are covered with a luxuriant vegetation, rich in long grass and beautiful flowers, among them an iris cultivated in our gardens, the useful dark reddish-brown Sarana lily, several orchids, two species of rhododendron with large flowers, umbellifera as high as a man, sunflower-like synanthea, &c. Quite another nature prevailed on the island lying off the haven, regarding which Dr. Kjellman and Dr. Stuxberg make the following statements:—

"Toporkoff Island is formed of an eruptive rock, which everywhere rises along the shore some scores of feet from high-water mark, in the form of steep cracked walls from five to fifteen metres in height, which is different at different places. Above these steep rock-walls the surface of the island forms an even plain; what lies below them forms a gently sloping beach.

"This gently sloping beach consists of two well-marked belts; an outer devoid of all vegetation, an inner overgrown with Ammadenia peploides, Elymus mollis, and two species of umbellifera, Heracleum sibiricum, and Angelica archangelica, the two last forming an almost impenetrable thicket fifty metres broad and as high as a man, along the slope. The steep rock-walls are coloured yellow at some places by lichens, mostly Calopaca murorum and Cal. crenulata; at other places they are covered pretty closely with Cochlearia fenestrata. The uppermost level plain is covered with a close and luxuriant turf, over which single stalks of the two species of umbellifera named above raise themselves here and there. The vegetation on this little island unites a very uncommon poverty in species with a high degree of luxuriance.

"Of the higher animals we saw only four kinds of birds, viz Fratercula cirrhata, a black guillemot (Una grylle var. columba), a species of cormorant (Phalocrocorax) and a sort of gull (Larus). Fratercula cirrhata lived here by millions. They haunted the upper plain, where they had everywhere excavated short, deep, and uncommonly broad passages to sleep in, provided with two openings. From these on our arrival they flew in large flocks to the neighbouring sea and back. Their number was nearly equal to that of looms in the Arctic loomeries. The black guillemots and cormorants kept to the cliffs near the shore.

"The number of the evertebrate land animals amounted to about thirty species. The most numerous were Machilis, Vitrina, Lithobius, Talitrus, some Diptera and beetles. They all lived on the inner belt of the shore, where the ground was uncommonly damp."

Behring Island might without difficulty feed large herds of cattle, perhaps as numerous as the herds of sea-cows that formerly pastured on its shores. The sea-cow besides had chosen its pasture with discrimination, the sea there being, according to Dr. Kjellman, one of the richest in algæ in the world. The sea-bottom is covered at favourably situated places by forests of seaweed from twenty to thirty metres high, which are so dense that the dredge could with difficulty force its way down into them, a circumstance which was much against the dredging. Certain of the algæ are used by the natives as food.

In the course of our journey to the hunting place we had an opportunity, during a rest about halfway between it and the village, of taking part in a very peculiar sort of fishing. The place where we rested was in an even grassy plain, resembling a natural meadow at home, crossed by a large number of small rivulets. They abounded in several different kinds of fish, among them a Coregonus, a small trout, a middle-sized long salmon with almost white flesh, though the colour of its skin was a purplish-red, another salmon of about the same length, but thick and hump-backed. These fish were easily caught. They were taken with the hand, were harpooned with common unshod sticks, were stabbed with knives, caught with the insect

net, &c. Other kinds of salmon with deep red flesh are to be found in the large rivers of the island. We obtained here for a trifle a welcome change from the preserved provisions of which we had long ago become quite tired. The Expedition was also presented by the Alaska Company with a fine fat ox, milk, and various other provisions, and I cannot sufficiently value the goodwill shown to us not only by the Russian official, N GREBNITSKI, a zealous and skilful naturalist, but also by the officials of the Alaska Company and all others living on the island with whom we came into contact.

It was my original intention to sail from Behring Island to Petiopaulovsk, in order from thence to put a stop to the undertakings which were possibly in contemplation for our relief. This however became unnecessary, because a steamer, which was to start for Petropaulovsk as soon as its cargo was on board, had anchored by the side of the Vega two days after our arrival. The steamer belonged to the Alaska Company, was named the Alexander, was commanded by Captain SANDMAN, and was manned almost exclusively by Swedes, Danes, Fins, and Norwegians[371]. We found on the Alexander two naturalists, Dr. BENEDIKT DYBOVSKI and Dr. JULIAN WIEMUT. The former is a Pole exiled to Siberia but now pardoned, whose masterly zoological works are among the best contributions which have been made during recent decades to our knowledge of the natural conditions of Siberia. His researches have hitherto mainly concerned the Baikal region. Now he wishes to extend them to Kamchatka, and has therefore voluntarily taken a physician's post at Petropaulovsk. Science has reason to expect very rich results from his work and that of his companions in one of the most interesting, most mis-known, and least known lands of the north.

The Vega left Behring Island on the afternoon of the 19th August, and anchored at Yokohama on the evening of the 2nd September. The first part of the passage, while we were still in the cold northerly Polar Sea current, was favoured by fair winds and moderate heat. The surface temperature of the sea was from +9° to +10°. On the 25th August in 45° 15' N.L. and 156° E.L. from Greenwich the temperature of the sea-water began to rise so rapidly that the thermometer in 40° Lat. and 147° 41' Long already showed +23°.4 at the surface. This indicated that we had come from the cold current favourable to us into Kuro-sivo, the Gulf Stream of the Pacific. The wind was now at times unfavourable and the heat oppressive, notwithstanding the frequent rain showers accompanied by lightning and heavy squalls. In such unfavourable weather on the 31st August the mainmast of the Vega was struck by lightning, the flash and the report being of excessive violence. The vane was broken loose and thrown into the sea along with some inches of the pole. The pole itself was split pretty far down, and all on board felt a more or less violent shaking, the man who felt it most standing at the time near the hawse-hole. The incident was not attended by any further noteworthy unpleasant consequences.

On our arrival at Yokohama we were all in good health and the Vega in excellent condition, though, after the long voyage, in want of some minor repairs, of docking, and possibly of coppering. Naturally among thirty men some mild attacks of illness could not be avoided in the course of a year, but no disease had been generally prevalent, and our state of health had constantly been excellent. Of scurvy we had not seen a trace.

FOOTNOTES:

[356] In February 1871 the right of hunting on these islands was granted by the Russian government to Hutchinson, Kohl, Philippeus &c. Co., who have made over their rights to the Alaska Commercial Company of San Francisco.

[357] According to a communication made to me by Mr. Henry W. Elliot, who, in order to study the fur-bearing seals in the North Behring Sea, lived a considerable time at the Seal Islands (Pribylov's Islands, &c.) on the American side, and has given an exceedingly interesting account of the animal life there in his work, A Report upon the Condition of Affairs in the Territory of Alaska, Washington, 1875, the statement in my report to Dr. Dickson, founded on oral communications of Europeans whom I met with at Behring Island, that from 50,000 to 100,000 animals are killed yearly at Behring and Copper Island, is thus probably somewhat exaggerated.

[358] Original accounts of the wintering on Behring Island are to be found in Müller's Sammlung Russischen Geschichte, St. Petersburg, 1768, iii, pp. 228-238 and 242-268, (Steller's) Topographische und physikalische Beschreibung der Beringsinsel (Pallas' Neue Nordische Beyträge, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1781-83, ii. p. 225), G.W. Steller's Tagebuch seiner Seereise aus dem Petripauls Hafen. . . und seiner Begebenheiten auf der Rückreise (Pallas' Neueste Nordische Beyträge, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1793-96, i. p. 130; ii. p. 1).

[359] According to Müller, whose statements (based on communications by Waxel?) often differ from those of Steller. The latter says that the flesh of the sea-otter is better than that of the seal, and a good antidote to scurvy. The flesh of the young sea-otter might even compete with lamb as a delicacy.

[360] To judge by what is stated in Steller's description of Behring Island (Neue nord. Beytr., ii, p. 290) no one would have dared to attack "diese grimmigen Thiere," and the only sea-lion eaten during the winter was an animal wounded at Kamchatka and thrown up dead on the coast of Behring Island. The fin-like feet were the most delicate part of the sea-lion.

[361] According to Müller's official report, probably written for the purpose of refuting the rumours regarding Steller's fate current in the scientific circles of Europe. According to the biography prefixed to Georg Wilhelm Steller's Beschreibung von dem Lande Kamtschatka, herausgegeben von J.B.S. (Scheerer), Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1774, Steller had in 1745 begun his return to St. Petersburg, and was already beyond Novgorod, when he received orders to appear before the court at Irkutsk. After a year he obtained permission to travel to St. Petersburg, but when he came to the neighbourhood of Moscow, he received a new order to return, and for farther security he was placed under a guard. They had travelled a good way into Siberia, when he froze to death while the guard went into a public-house to warm themselves and quench their thirst.

[362] As early as Schelechov's wintering at 1783-84 the foxes on Behring Island were principally white. During Steller's wintering, over a third of the foxes on the island had a bluish fur (Neue nord. Beytr., ii, p. 277). In the year 1747-48 a fur hunter, Cholodilov, caught on Behring Island 1,481 blue foxes and 350 sea-otters, and the following year another hunter returned with over a thousand sea otters and two thousand blue foxes, which probably were also caught on Behring and Copper Islands (Neue Nachrichten von denen neuentdeckten Insuln, Hamburg u Leipzig, 1766, p. 20). In the year 1751-53 Jugov caught on the same island 790 sea-otters, 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.

[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.

[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 subfossil bones of marine animals which we examined at Pitlekaj the bones of the sea-cow did not appear to be present.

[365] Von Baer's and Brandt's numerous writings on the sea-cow are to be found in the publications of the St. Petersburg Academy.

[366] That the hide of the sea-cow was used for baydars is evident from the short extract given from Korovin's voyage. On hearing this "creole's" account I inquired whether there were not to be found remaining on the island any very old sea-cow skins that had been used for baydars, but the answer unfortunately was in the negative.

[367] The number of these animals killed on Behring Island is shown by the following statement given me by Mr. Henry. W. Elliot:

In the Year In the Year In the Year
1867 27,500 1872 29,318 1877 21,532
1868 12,000 1873 30,396 1878 31,340
1869 24,000 1874 31,292 1879 42,752
1870 24,000 1875 36,274 1880 48,504
1871 3,614 1876 26,960

During the eighteen years from 1862 to 1880 there have thus been shipped from Behring Island 389,462 skins. The catch on the Pribylov Islands has been still larger. These islands were discovered in 1786, but the number of animals killed there is not known for the first ten years; it is only known that it was enormously large. In the years 1797-1880—that is in eighty-four years—over three-and-a-half millions of skins have been exported from these islands. In recent years the catch has increased so that in each of the years from 1872 to 1880, 99,000 animals might have been killed without inconvenience.

[368] The traits here given of the sea-bear's mode of life are mainly taken from Henry W. Elliot's work quoted above.

[369] Elliott (loc. cit. p. 150) remarks that not a single self-dead seal is to be found in the "rookery," where there are so many animals that they probably die of old age in thousands. This may be explained by the seals, when they become sick, withdrawing to the sea, and forms another contribution to the question of the finding of self-dead animals to which I have already referred (vol. i. p. 322).

[370] According to a statement by Mr. Giebnitski, tertiary fossils and coal seams are also to be found on Behring Island, the former north of the colony in the interior, the latter at the beach south of Behring's grave. Also in the neighbourhood of the colony the volcanic rock-masses are under-stratified by thick sandy beds.

[371] The first European who welcomed us after the completion of the North-east passage was a Fin now settled in California, from Björkboda works in Kimito parish, in which I had lived a great deal when a youth. He was sent by the Alaska Company to do some work on Behring Island. As we steamed towards the colony he rowed to meet us, and saluted us with the cry "ar det Nordenskiöld?" ("Is it Nordenskiöld?") His name was Isak Andersson.