The Alaska citizen., 1910-07-30

Wes ward along the line of the Aleu- tian Islands, some of which he sighted. but without gaining more than very superficial Knowledge of them. Scurvy broke out among the crew. and the entire party seems to have been bewildered. They sailed hither and yon, now heading for the American. now for the Asiatic coast, al last wrecking their vessel upon Boring Island of the Commander group. now belonging to Siberia. Of those that reached the shore many died. among them Boring, a dis heartened and despairing man. The cross over his grave was the first emblem marking the extension of Rus sian sovereignty eastward of Siberia. i The survivors of the ill-fated exped- ! ition built a small vessel of the wreck age and returned to kamchatka
 Chirikofs voyage was even less successful After becoming separ- ated from Boring he sailed eastward, and on July 15 sighted the continent probably near Cross Sound An at tempt To land ended disastrously. for both boats were lost, and nearly a third of the crew were killed by the natives. Chirikof hastily put to sea and returned to the Asiatic coast, sighting some of the Aleutian Islands in his passage.
 The explorations made by these two naVigators, while not fruitful of results commensurate with the elabOrateness of the preparations, were yet of the utmost importance from geographic standpoint Two points on the American continent were fixed with a fair degree of ac curacy and the location of some of the Aleutian Islands approximately are part of the broken chain con meeting the Asiatic and North Amer 1 can continents. were to become an important factor in the early devel- opment of the fur trade of Alaska.
 The reports by Bering's crew of the existence of valuable furs in the newly discovered islands east of Kamchatka soon led hardy Siberian fur hunters. called promyshleniki. to brave the perils of an unknown sea. The first of these was Bassof, who two years after Bering's return reached Boring Island in small vessel. The rich harvest of furs with which he returned after second, and later a third voyage. He was but the forerunner of a swarm of promyshleniki who gradu- ally pushed their way eastward along the Aleutian chain of islands to the mainland of Alaska.
 These Siberian fur hunters had hp to this time but little knowledge of deep-sea navigation, an ignorance which fitted them in a measure for the task which they had undertaken, for experienced seamen would have refused to take part in such utterly hazardous and foolhardy enterprises. As all iron for shipbuilding on the Boring sea had to be ported across Siberia to kamchatka, the result was that a species of vessel was devised which could be con- structed without iron, the blanks be- Ing seWed together with thongs of raw hide in lieu of mailing. Provis- ions also were scarce in kamchatka, and these rowing traders depended trgely on such food as could be obtained from the sea.
 In these crude crafts, manned by crews which knew little of seaman ship, and usually but ill-equipped and proviSiOned, these intrepid fur traders boldly pushed out into un- known stormy seas. Many lives were lost by wrecks, starvation and scuryy. and many of the adventur- CTS met deserved death at the hands of the outraged natives. The risk was great, but when the expeditions were successful the profits were enormous, and the necessary capi- tai for such enterprises was easily procured among the merchants of eastern Siberia.
 This vanguard of civilization was made up of men who had no virtues other than valor and intrepidity. 1 Their gradual mastery of the Aleu- tian Islands, which led to Russia S becoming North American power, is a tale of blood and rapine, of murder and outrage. Under plea of extracting tribute from the na- tives they took their furs by force and not by barter, practically reduc- ing the natives to slavery. Their firearms gave them an incalculable advantage over these people, whose arrows and spears were still tipped with bone. The Aleuts, at first friendly to the strangers, only too soon learned their true character; and though not so warlike as the