Elias.
The _St. Peter_ moved slowly landward against a head wind. Khitroff
and Steller put off in the small {27} boats with fifteen men to
reconnoitre. Both found traces of inhabitants--timbered huts, fire
holes, shells, smoked fish, footprints in the grass. Steller left some
kettles, knives, glass beads, and trinkets in the huts to replace the
possessions of the natives, which the Russians took. Many years later,
another voyager met an old Indian, who told of seeing Bering's ship
anchor at Kyak Island when he was a boy; but the terrified Indians had
fled, only returning to find the presents in the huts, when the
Russians had gone.[13] Steller was as wild as a child out of school,
and accompanied by only one Cossack went bounding over the island
collecting specimens and botanizing. Khitroff, meanwhile, filled
water-casks; but on July 21, the day after the anchorage, a storm-wind
began whistling through the rigging. The rollers came washing down
from the ice wall of the coast and the far offing showed the dirty fog
that portended storm. Only half the water-casks had been filled; but
there was a brisk seaward breeze.
Pages:
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53