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which reason great scientific interest attaches to the
stranding of the St. Peter. Of this animal life Steller
gives us in his various works descriptions which are
unexcelled in power and fidelity. These have made Bering’s
second voyage immortal. Naturalists will again and again
turn to them. For this reason it would seem that Steller
had no ground for complaint that Bering had taken him
from his real field of investigation: Kamchatka—a
complaint made in our day by O. Peschel—for on Bering
Island he first found that field of labor and that material,
the description of which has immortalized his name.[1]
With the exception of the Arctic fox, the higher
fauna of these islands were found exclusively among
[1] Dr. Stejneger, ever on the alert to honor Steller, says in Deutsche
Geographische Blätter, 1885: “It was due to Steller that not only a majority of
the participants survived, but that the expedition won a lasting name in
the history of science. Bering left his name to the island upon which he
died, and the group to which it belongs, Komandorski (Commander Islands),
was named after his rank. Moreover, Bering Sea, Bering Strait, a peninsula
in Asia, and a bay in America have been named in honor of him. But what
is there in these regions to remind one of the immortal Steller, the
Herodotus of these distant lands? Search the map of the island of which he has
given such a spirited description. His name is nowhere to be found, while
three capes have received the names of Bering’s lieutenants and helmsmen,
who were the authors of the whole misfortune: Waxel, Khitroff, and Jushin.
The man that rescued and immortalized the expedition has fallen into
oblivion. I consider it an honor that it has been granted to me to render
long deferred justice to this great German investigator. The highest
mountain peak on Bering’s Island will henceforth be called Mount Steller.”
In speaking of a description by Steller of some rock formations on the
western coast that resembled ancient ruins, Dr. S. says in the same article:
“I landed at the only remaining one of these arches, under which Steller
had probably walked. It is a fine specimen of a natural triumphal arch,
standing quite by itself. In honor of Steller I called it Steller’s Triumphal
Arch. No monument marks his resting-place on the desert steppes of
Siberia; Russia has never forgiven him for his ingenuous criticism of the
injustice of her courts; but Steller’s name will nevertheless live. His Triumphal
Arch, gaily decked with the variegated lichens Caloplaca murorum and
crenulata, and adorned with the lovely white golden-eyed blossoms of the
Chrysanthemum arcticum, is a monument that does fitting honor to the great
naturalist.”—Tr.
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