[2] Who this man _Gama_, supposed to have seen the unknown continent of
Gamaland, was, no one knew. The Portuguese followed the myth blindly;
and the other geographers followed the Portuguese. Texeira, court
geographer in Portugal, in 1649 issued a map with a vague coast marked
at latitude 45 degrees north, with the words "Land seen by John de
Gama, Indian, going from China to New Spain."
[3] These instructions were handed to Peter's admiral--Count Apraxin.
[4] Born 1681, son of Jonas and Anna Bering, whom a petition describes,
in 1719, as "old, miserable, decrepit people, no way able to help
ourselves."
[5] He fought in Black Sea wars of 1711; and from lieutenant-captain
became captain of the second rank by 1717, when Russians, jealous of
the foreigner, blocked his promotion. He demanded promotion or
discharge, and withdrew to Finland, where the Czar's Kamchatkan
expedition called him from retirement.
[6] The expedition left St. Petersburg February 5th.
[7] The midshipman of this voyage was Peter Chaplin, whose journal was
deposited in the Naval College of the Admiralty, St.
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