In placing before the American public this book on Vitus Bering, I desire to express my cordial thanks to those who by word and deed have assisted me. I am especially grateful to Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, who, in the midst of pressing literary labors consequent on his recent explorations among the cave and cliff dwellers of the Sierra Madre Mountains, has been so exceedingly kind as to write an introduction to the American edition of this work. I feel confident that the introductory words of this doughty explorer will secure for Bering that consideration from the American people to which he is fairly entitled.

I find it a pleasant day to acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. Leonhard Stejneger of the Smithsonian Institution, who has sent me some valuable and interesting notes to the chapter on "The Stay on Bering Island" (Chapter XIX). Dr. Stejneger's notes are of especial interest, for in the years 1882-'84 he spent eighteen months on Bering Island in the service of the United States government, the object of his expedition being to study the general natural history of the island, to collect specimens of all kinds, but especially to search for remains of the sea-cow. He wished also to identify the places mentioned by Steller, the famous naturalist of the Bering expedition, in order to compare his description with the localities as they present themselves to-day, and to visit the places where Bering's vessel was wrecked, where the ill-fated expedition wintered, and where Steller made his observations on the sea-cow. The results of Dr. Stejneger's investigations have been published in "Proceedings of the United States National Museum" and in various American and European scientific journals.

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. Facsimiles 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.

The regions to which Bering's last labors gave Russia the first title are at the present time the object of much newspaper comment. His last expedition, the few survivors of which brought home costly skins that evinced the great wealth of the newly discovered lands, opened up to the Russian fur-hunter an El Dorado that still continues to be a most profitable field of pursuit, now vigilantly watched by the jealous eyes of rival nations.

Julius E. Olson.

Madison, Wis.