Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Chapter XV.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
right up to the Aleutian reef, their soundings gave them
no clue to land, although they were sailing almost
parallel with this chain of islands. But Bering was now
confined to his cabin. The troubles he had passed through,
his sixty years of age, and the incipient stages of scurvy,
had crushed his powers of resistance, while his officers,
Waxel and Khitroff, dismissed Steller’s observations with
scornful sarcasm. Not until the 12th of July did they
take any precautions against a sudden landing. They
took in some of the sails during the night and hove to.
They had then been on the sea about six weeks. Their
supply of water was about half gone, and according to the
ship’s calculations, which show an error of 8°, they had
sailed 46½° (i. e., 54½°) from the meridian of Avacha.
The ship’s council therefore concluded, on the 13th of
July, to sail due north, heading N. N. E., and at noon
on the 16th of July, in a latitude by observation of
58° 14′ and a longitude of 49½° east of Avacha, they
finally saw land to the north.[1] The country was
elevated, the coast was jagged, covered with snow,
inhospitable, and girt with islands, behind which a snow-capped
mountain peak towered so high into the clouds that it
could be seen at a distance of seventy miles. “I do not
remember,” says Steller, “of having seen a higher
mountain in all Siberia and Kamchatka.” This mountain
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
