Ismyloff, with fur trader's jealousy of intrusion, had warned
the Russian commander that the English ships were pirates like
Benyowsky, the Polish exile, who had lately sacked the garrisons of
Kamchatka, stolen the ships, and sailed to America. However, when
Cook's letters were carried overland to Bolcheresk, to Major Behm, the
commander, all went well. The little log-thatched fort with its
windows of talc opened wide doors to the far-travelled English. The
Russian ladies of the fort donned their China silks. The samovars were
set singing. English sailors gave presents of their grog to the
Russians. Russian Cossacks presented their tobacco to the English,
adding three such cheers as only Cossacks can give and a farewell song.
In 1779 Clerke made one more attempt to pass through the northern
ice-fields from Pacific to Atlantic; but he accomplished nothing but to
go over the ground explored the year before under Cook. On the 5th of
July at ten P.M. in the lingering sunlight of northern latitudes, just
as the boats were halfway through the Straits of Bering, the fog
lifted, and for the first time in history--as far as known--the
westernmost part of America, Cape Prince of Wales, and the {209}
eastern-most part of Asia, East Cape, were simultaneously seen by white
men.
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