- Project Runeberg -  Vitus Bering: The Discoverer of Bering Strait /
XIII

(1889) Author: Peter Lauridsen
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I am also under obligation to Prof. Rasmus B. Anderson,
Ex-United States Minister to Denmark, through whom I have
been enabled to make this an authorized edition, and to Reuben G.
Thwaites, Secretary of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, and
Frederick J. Turner, Assistant Professor of American History in
the University of Wisconsin, for valuable criticism and suggestions.

In regard to the orthography of Russian and Siberian names, I
wish to say that I have endeavored to follow American writers that
advocate a rational simplification. W. H. Dall, author of “Alaska
and its Resources,” says on this point: “From ignorance of the
true phonetic value of the Russian compound consonants, and
from literal transcription, instead of phonetic translation, of the
German rendering of Russian and native names, much
confusion has arisen. Many writers persistently represent the third
letter of the Russian alphabet by w, writing Romanow instead of
Romanoff, etc. The twenty-fifth letter is also frequently rendered
tsch instead of ch soft, as in church, which fully represents it in
English. It is as gross an error to spell Kamchatka for instance,
Kamtschatka, as it would be for a foreigner to represent the
English word church by tschurtsch, and so on.” From this it
would seem that the Germanized forms of these names are
incorrect, as well as needlessly forbidding in appearance. It is,
moreover, due to German writers that Bering’s name has been burdened
with a superfluous letter. Fac-similes of his autograph, one of
which may be seen by referring to Map I. in the Appendix, prove
incontestably that he spelled his name without an h.

Although Mr. Lauridsen’s book is essentially a defense of Vitus
Bering, written especially for the student of history and historical
geography, it nevertheless contains several chapters of thrilling
interest to the general reader. The closing chapters, for instance,
give, not only a reliable account of the results of Bering’s voyage of
discovery in the North Pacific, and valuable scientific information
concerning the remarkable animal life on Bering Island, where,
before Bering’s frail ship was dashed upon its shores, no human
foot had trod, but they also portray in vivid colors the tragic events
that brought this greatest of geographical enterprises to a close.

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