[21]. This bird, which is somewhat larger than the common gull, pursues the latter kind whenever it meets them; the gull, after flying for some time, with loud screams and evident marks of great terror, drops its dung; which its pursuer immediately darts at, and catches before it falls into the sea.
[22]. From the circumstance, related in the last volume, that gave name to Sledge Island, it appears, that the inhabitants of the adjacent continents visit occasionally the small islands lying between them, probably for the conveniency of fishing, or in pursuit of furs.
It appears also from Popoff’s deposition, which I shall have occasion to speak of more particularly hereafter, that the general resemblance between the people, who are seen in these islands, and the Tschutski, was sufficient to lead Deshneff into the error of imagining them to be the same. “Opposite to the Noss,” he says, “is an island of moderate size, without trees, whose inhabitants resemble, in their exterior, the Tschutski, although they are quite another nation; not numerous indeed, yet speaking their own particular language.” Again, “One may go in a baidare from the Noss to the island in half a day; beyond is a great continent, which can be discovered from the island in serene weather. When the weather is good, one may go from the island to the continent in a day. The inhabitants of the continent are similar to the Tschutski, excepting that they speak another language.”
[23]. I mention the more early Russian navigators, because Beering, whom we have also followed, and after him all the late Russian geographers, have given this name to the south-east cape of the peninsula of the Tschutski, which was formerly called the Anadirskoi Noss.
[24]. See Chart in Coxe’s Account of Russian Discoveries.
[25]. See Gmelin, pages 369, 374.
[26]. See all that is known of his voyage, and a chart of his discoveries, in Mr. Coxe’s Account of Russian Discoveries between Asia and America. We were not able to learn from the Russians in Kamtschatka, a more perfect account of Synd than we now find is given by Mr. Coxe; and yet they seemed disposed to communicate all that they really knew. Major Behm could only inform us, in general, that the expedition had miscarried as to its object, and that the commander had fallen under much blame. It appeared evidently, that he had been on the coast of America to the southward of Cape Prince of Wales, between the latitude of 64° and 65°; and it is most probable, that his having got too far to the northward to meet with sea-otters, which the Russians, in all their attempts at discoveries, seem to have principally in view, and his returning without having made any that promised commercial advantages, was the cause of his disgrace, and of the great contempt with which the Russians always spoke of this officer’s voyage.
The cluster of islands, placed in Synd’s chart, between the latitude of 61° and 65°, is undoubtedly the same with the island called, by Beering, St. Laurence’s, and those we named Clerke’s, Anderson’s, and King’s Islands; but their proportionate size, and relative situation, are exceedingly erroneous.
[27]. Krascheninicoff says, that the tree here spoken of is a dwarf cedar, for that there is not a pine in the peninsula.
[28]. Krascheninicoff says, that the natives likewise convert the bark into a pleasant wholesome food, by stripping it off whilst it is young and green, and cutting it into long narrow stripes, like vermicelli, drying it, and stewing it afterward along with their caviar.