It was reasonable, in view of de l'Isle's statements in 1738, to suppose that this is the report made to the Academy by him as soon as the observations were furnished him. I had hoped to present with this sketch definite information on this point, since a kinsman of the collator of the manuscripts (I refer to the very distinguished representative of Russia to the United States, M. de Struve) most courteously offered his valuable mediation in the matter. Unfortunately, I have as yet no further information, but I expect a communication as to the contents of the MSS. at an early day.
Criticising the memoir of de l'Isle of 1752, the Russian officer ridicules the author for speaking of Kamshatka as a town, but he adds:7
"It is certain likewise that M. Bering and his lieutenant, M. Tschirikow [quoting from de l'Isle's Memoir of 1752], had, in the years 1728 and 1729, observed at Kamschatka two eclipses of the moon; but that by these observations M. de l'Isle was enabled to determine the longitude of this most eastern part of Asia, with such precision that the same had been confirmed in the second expedition, by precise observations of the satellites of Jupiter is what I cannot well conceive. Mr. de l'Isle himself intimates that Messieurs Bering and Tschirikow were not provided with astronomical instruments. They observed both these eclipses by the help, not of pendulums, but of their watches, without being able to know whether they went right or wrong; which makes it almost incredible that a determination based on these two eclipses should exactly agree with that deduced from the observations of Jupiter's satellites."
7"Une Lettre," Berlin, p. 19.
The officer, from his own account, served with Bering. In the introduction to "Une Lettre" he says:
"The orders of your Excellency [to whom the letter was addressed as written by his orders] will be complied with by me with more than one inspiring motive, and I shall not dwell on my unfitness, although I could find excellent pretexts for such an excuse, inasmuch as many of greater experience and equal application participated with me in the discoveries which resulted from the two voyages, called by us the Kamtschatkan expeditions. The only grounds on which preference could be shown me over them arise from my being charged, after my return from America, with the comparison of the journals of the various vessels together and with whatever was elsewhere to be found relative to lands situated in the South Sea, in order to therefrom construct a map which should accurately represent them all."
This officer, then, should be the very best authority on this question, especially as he gives details, is always exact in his dates, and sets no value on the observations. Whether or not such observations of lunar eclipses took place, these extracts tend to confirm Dall's opinion that they served no purpose in determining the longitude of Kamshatka.
The letter and its author are worth some attention at our hands. As has been said, it was published anonymously, and I do not know that its authorship has ever been traced. It appears from the letter that the writer was an officer of the Russian navy; that he was a Russian; that he was on familiar terms with both Bering and de l'Isle; that he acted as interpreter between them in 1730–1731; that he was with Bering in his last voyage to America, and was one of the ship-wrecked mariners on Bering island, and that on his return to St. Petersburg he was charged with the compilations from the various ship journals. As the naval officer states he was with Bering on Bering island, it is evident that it must have been either Swen Waxel, Sophron Chitrow, or Steller, the well-known scientific professor serving with Bering's expedition. It could not have been Steller, since the professor was a German, and moreover he died in November, 1746, prior to the date of the letter. It is improbable that it was Chitrow, who was originally in a subordinate position as a master-of-fleet, but while serving in Kamshatka and prior to Bering's second voyage was made a lieutenant. It is not likely that a subordinate of Chitrow's position should have been so situated in St. Petersburg as to have served as an interpreter between Bering and de l'Isle. It is therefore more than probable that Lieutenant Swen Waxel was the author of the letter. In further confirmation, this officer says that he is charged with the preparation of a chart out of the material furnished by the maps and journals of the separate vessels. As we know from other sources, Waxel later made a chart of the Kamschatka region.
Waxel displayed great energy and excellent judgment in conducting affairs on Bering island, both before and after Bering's death, and it is gratifying to note his intellectual discrimination in dealing with de l'Isle's fictitious account of a journey in America said to have been made by one Admiral de Fonte. Waxel skilfully dissects this geographical invention, clearly proving its inconsistencies, while geographical writers in England were engaged years later in endeavoring to prove its truthfulness.
It is significant that although Waxel omits any reference to it, the following paragraph, which is evidently intended to be exculpatory of Bering's turning back at the most northerly point of his first voyage, forms part of Bering's report as translated by Dall: "Neither from the Chukchi coast nor to the eastward could any extension of the land be observed." This very important sentence does not appear in du Halde's account, and evidently was not in the copy which was furnished him. Possibly the person who furnished the copy to du Halde omitted it. Elsewhere Waxel adds:
"I say nothing here which I have not repeatedly heard M. Bering say. I also saw his instructions."
This gives value to his statements in reference to Bering's efforts to find land east of Avatscha bay, whereof Waxel quotes de l'Isle as saying:
"On his return to Kamtschatka (in 1729) M. Bering learned that there was a land to the east, which could be seen in clear, fine weather. He attempted to go thither, after having repaired the damage his vessel had suffered in a storm. The second attempt was fruitless, for after sailing about forty leagues to the east without seeing land, he was assailed by a violent tempest and a contrary wind, which quickly drove him back to the port whence he had emerged."
In criticism Waxel adds:
"Would not this narrative lead one to believe that the second attempt of M. Bering had been made immediately after the first voyage [in 1729]? However, it was entirely otherwise: Before making this journey M. Bering wintered at Kamtschatka, set sail only on June 5, 1729, and,without intending to return to the port which he was quitting, doubled the southern point of Kamtschatka and went straight to the mouth of the river Bolschaia-Reka and thence to Ochozk."
He further says:
"Perhaps it may appear strange that M. Bering during this voyage did not fall in with the island (Bering island) whereon he was shipwrecked during his second expedition; but the isle might have been hidden by fogs, which are very common in that sea."
Waxel's account of the second voyage is worth translating, being the plain tale of a participant, who is as modest as he is truthful, for Waxel nowhere mentions his own name nor theefficient service he rendered first to his chief and later to his shipwrecked comrades. He writes in "Une Lettre" as follows:
"Let us now come to the details of the second expedition, which M. de l'Isle pretends owes its origin to a map ofhisand was undertaken according to a memoir made by himself. 'I had the honor,' he says, 'in 1731 to present this chart to the Empress Anne and to the Senate, in order to stimulate the Russians to explorations of what still remained to be discovered, and it had its effect.' Was it time or age which caused M. de l'Isle to commit this error? Could he have forgotten the orders which led him to make the chart in question? Had he remembered it, perhaps he would not have said that he presented the chart to the Empress, and still less that he made it in order to excite the Russians to new discoveries. At that time I visited M. de l'Isle; I was a witness of his geographical labors, as far as they had new discoveries for their object; I acted as interpreter to M. Bering in the conversations which he had with him; and I can assert positively that when M. de l'Isle began that chart the second expedition was already ordered, and Captain Bering, knowing what was still wanting to his discoveries, offered to continue them and his lieutenants with him; and they each received promotion in consequence.
"It is therefore true that M. de l'Isle's work must be attributed to the orders of his superiors; and I remember that the Empress Anne having commissioned her secretary to give the necessary instructions to M. Bering for his new voyage, the latter did not think he could carry it on successfully without getting from the Academy all the information possible concerning the countries and waters where he was to navigate. The Academy was therefore called upon by the Senate, and it ordered M. de l'Isle to compile the chart of which I speak, and in order that it might be better understood, to explain it in a memoir; which having been done, the chart and the memoir were presented to the Senate by the Academy; so that there can be no possible doubt that, so far from having stimulated the Russians to new discoveries, so far from having occasioned the new voyage of M. Bering, M. de l'Isle only worked according to the orders he had received. There arises another question, as to whether the memoir caused the success of the expedition, which I will treat later on. However that may be, the Senate gave a copy of it to M. Bering as well as of the chart. I took a second copy, which enables me to compare it with what M. de l'Isle tells us about it in his last memoir from Paris.
"He pretends to have proposed three different routes to be followed in order to discover what was still unknown. The first, to sail straight to Japan, pass Yeco, or rather the straits which separate it from the island of the States and the land of the Company, to discover what is to the north of Yeco and search for the passage between that country and the coast of eastern Tartary. This is what is called giving advice after the event. In the original memoir there is not a word said about any such researches. M. de l'Isle contents himself with proposing three different routes for finding the countries lying near to Kamshatka on the east.The first two, we must admit, agree well enough with the second and third routes mentioned in the Paris memoir. They are expressed in these terms:
"1. 'If one advances to the most northern extremity of Asia, and at the same time the most eastern point reached by Captain Bering (wrong supposition, as I have already remarked), one cannot fail to reach America, no matter what route one takes between the northeast and southeast, at a distance of not more than 600 leagues (great error in estimating the distance of the opposite lands of Asia and America, since they are only separated in the north by a narrow strait which widens as it goes south).'
"2. 'Without going so far, it would perhaps be easier to start from the eastern coast of Kamshatka, sail directly east and reconnoitre the neighboring land, of which M. Bering discovered indications on his first voyage.'
"In regard to the third route, M. de l'Isle conjectures as follows:
"3. 'Perhaps the countries seen by Don Juan de Gama might be found more speedily and with more certitude by seeking them to the southeast of Kamshatka;' the outcome of which project showed him his mistake, which is apparently the reason that induced him to change it to that of the route by Japan and Yeco.
"Nothing is so imperfect in detail, and withal so dry, as the recital of M. Bering's voyage with which M. de l'Isle regales us. He makes him start in 1741 to look to the east of Kamshatka for the land which he had seen indications of in his first voyage. 'He did not go very far,' he says, 'for, being assailed by a violent storm during thick weather, he could not remain at sea, and brought up on a desert island in latitude 54°, only a short distance from the Port of Avatcha from whence he had sailed.'
"M. Bering, then, did nothing but fail, and he did so soon after leaving port. I must therefore supplement the meagreness of M. de l'Isle's relation by giving an account of the voyage of M. Bering and the other officers, chiefs of these expeditions, which will be so much the more easy as I took part in them and as I can, besides, refer to the charts and journals of each vessel as proofs of my correctness.
"The Captain Commanding Bering and Captains Spangenberg and Tschirikow, with several other naval officers, left St. Petersburg in the spring of 1733. They waited at Yakouzk and Ochozk until the vessels being built at this latter place for their expedition were completed, and when all was ready for the departure of M. de Spangenberg he was dispatched first, according to the orders of the Senate. He started, then, from Ochozk in the month of June, 1738, having three vessels under his command, to which he added a large covered row-boat of 24 oars, which he caused to be constructed at Bolscherezkoi Ostrog in Kamshatka, where he wintered. This boat was to be used to go into the narrow straits between the islands that they might find and where the ships could not go. In the summer of 1739 he went to Japan, the long chain of islands situated between Japan and Kamshatka serving to guide him. He landed at two different places in Japan and was received with great civility by the people of the country; but he never went to Matsmai, the principal placeon the island of Yeco, as M. de l'Isle erroneously states. He thought he had sufficiently complied with his instructions without doing so, and returning to Ochozk, passed the winter at Yakouzk. As soon as a detailed account of this voyage was seen in St. Petersburg they concluded by the route which M. Spangenberg had followed that he must have passed near the coast of Corea, and he was therefore ordered to make a second voyage in order to confirm the first. He started in 1741 and 1742, but his ship, built hastily and of unseasoned wood, leaked and obliged him to return.
"MM. Bering and Tschirikow left Ochozk the 4th of September, 1740. They both had the same destination; the second was to follow the track of the first. They only took different vessels so as to be able to assist each other more efficaciously in case of any accident. Without entering the Bolschaia-Reka river, as is customary in coming from Ochozk, they immediately rounded the southern point of Kamshatka and anchored at Avatscha, or port of St. Peter and St. Paul, as they called it. While wintering in these places, they made all their preparations for commencing in spring their principal voyage, which was to have America as its object. Owing, however, to the uncertainty as to the route which they were to follow, M. Bering assembled a naval council on the 4th of May, 1741, and it was resolved to endeavor first to discover the land of Don Juan de Gama, a fatal resolution which was the cause of all of our disasters. The 4th June we put to sea. M. Bering had on his vessel, sent by the Academy, an adjutant, M. Steller, physician by profession, but above all well versed in all that pertained to natural history. M. de la Croyere was with M. Tschirikow. Although M. Bering and M. Tschirikow were not to separate, according to their instructions, they could not avoid it, for eight days after sailing they were separated by storms and fogs. The search for the pretended land of Gama caused them to direct their course southeast; they continued to sail in that direction as far as the 46th degree without, however, finding the slightest vestige of it. They then changed their course to the northeast and both reached the coast of America, but in different places and without knowing of the whereabouts of the other. M. Bering and we who accompanied him saw land for the first time after being six weeks at sea. We then calculated that we were about five hundred Dutch leagues from Avatscha. We provided ourselves with fresh water. We saw indications of inhabitants, but could perceive no one. After being at anchor three days, M. Bering consulted with his officers, and it was resolved to return. The 21st July we weighed anchor before sunrise. There was nothing to do but to follow the coast, which stretched westward; but navigation was seriously embarrassed by frequent islands, and when we tried to put to sea we were met by storms and contrary winds, which caused us new delays every day. In order to procure fresh water, we returned towards the coast, from which we had kept as far as possible. Soon it was in sight, seeming about ten miles distant. We anchored between the islands, and the one where we landed was Schoumagin-Ostrow. The water was good, but although taken from a lake, there was, nevertheless, some sea water in it brought by the tide, which sometimes inundated the island. Afterwardswe felt disastrous effects from its use, in sickness and the loss of several of our men, who died. We tried in vain during three or four days to discover some natives of the country, whose fires we could see at night on the coast. The 4th of September these savages finally came, of themselves, in little canoes, and, having announced their arrival to us by a loud cry, they presented us with their calumets, in sign of peace. These calumets were sticks with the wings of falcons attached to the end. We understood from their gestures that they were inviting us to come on land in order to furnish us with provisions and fresh water. We wished to profit by the opportunity, and some of us ventured to follow them; but soon, however, misunderstandings arose and all communication was broken off.
"The 6th of September, after having at first had a tolerably good wind for the voyage, we began to find that as we advanced the obstacles were increasing, nothing but coasts and islands on every side. M. Bering wished to get away from them by sailing more southwards, and, in truth, for several days the sea appeared much more free. Our joy, however, was of short duration. The 24th of September, in latitude 54 degrees, we came upon coasts bordered with a number of islands, and at the same time a violent tempest arose, which lasted seventeen days and sent us back a distance of eighty miles. An old pilot acknowledged that during the fifty years that he had followed the sea he had never seen such a storm. We should then stop calling this ocean 'Pacific.' This name may, perhaps, be suitable to it in the tropics, but certainly is wrongly given to it here. The weather became calm again, but our provisions were by this time considerably diminished and there was only about a third of our crew who remained well and serviceable after all the hardships to which they had been exposed. There was still more than half of our way to make, counting from the extreme point of our voyage in the East to Avatscha. In view of these facts, many of us were of opinion that it would be better to winter somewhere in America, rather than run the risk of encountering new dangers worse, perhaps, than those we had just escaped; and these counsels came near prevailing over those who were of opinion that we should make a supreme effort to reach Avatscha, and that it would be time to think of seeking another refuge when we had lost all hope of succeeding in so doing. The month of October, however, was passed as fruitlessly as the preceding ones. The 30th of that month we came upon two islands, which seemed to us to bear some resemblance to the first two of those islands which stretch from the southern extremity of Kamshatka to Japan. Thereupon we directed our course northwards, and the 4th November, having observed the latitude, we found that we were under the 56th parallel. The 5th, however, finished our voyage. Wishing to sail to the west, we struck upon a desert island, where we had a good prospect of finishing our lives. Our vessel went to pieces upon one of those banks with which the island is surrounded, and we were not long in seeking land, which we fortunately reached with everything which we thought we should need. By a special dispensation of Providence, the winds and waves threw the remains of our vessel on shore; we gathered themtogether to try, with the aid of God, to put ourselves in a position to leave this sorry dwelling. The island where we now found ourselves was destitute of trees. We were, therefore, obliged to depend upon the wood that the sea brought us to build our cabins and warm ourselves. We gave to this desert place the name of Bering island, in honor of the chief of our expedition, and it was there that he died, on the 8th of December, of grief and sorrow at having to give up all hope of returning to Kamshatka. He refused to eat or drink, and disdained the shelter of our cabins; his advanced age could not rally under such a disaster. We young men kept our courage up, resisted with firmness all discouragement, made it a duty to still enjoy life and to make as much as we could out of our prison home. Before our arrival, Bering island was the refuge only of the inhabitants of the sea, who came there to breathe the air and deposit their young. We were, therefore, able at first to observe these creatures very closely without their taking fright. It was only after having seen several of their number fall before our guns that they fled at our approach. We killed a great number of them, as much to furnish us with food as for their skins. It was by these valuable spoils, splendid castor skins, that we were repaid in some measure for our sufferings.
"At the approach of spring the following year we built of the remains of our vessel, as we had intended, a large covered boat, furnished with anchors and sails and able to live at sea if not exposed to storms. In this boat we confided ourselves to the sea, trusting in Providence, the 17th of August, 1742, and after nine days at sea, with beautiful calm weather, we arrived safely at Avatscha on the 26th, giving thanks to the Almighty, who had delivered us from such great dangers, and imbued us with gratitude such as time can never efface.
"From this account we can correct the error of M. de l'Isle, who places Bering island at the 54th degree, only a short distance from Avatscha, whereas it is on the 56th parallel, sixty miles from Avatscha and forty Dutch miles from the mouth of the Kamshatka river.
"The voyage of M. Tschirikow, although attended with less fatigue and danger, was not less painful to him. His tender heart, which his profession of mariner had not rendered indifferent to the sufferings of others, was indeed sorely tried. After parting from M. Bering, sailing northwest, he came on the 15th of July to a country the shores of which were lined with rugged rocks, at the foot of which rolled a deep sea. He prudently refrained from approaching too near the shore, but at the end of three days sent the pilot, Abraham Dementiew, with a crew of ten men, to reconnoiter the country. Neither Dementiew nor any of those who accompanied him ever returned; and most sincerely was he mourned, and deservedly so, for he was young, good-looking, of an honorable family, steady and clever in his profession, and zealous in the service of his country. After waiting six days, M. Tschirikow sent the boatman, Sidor Sawelef, with three men, but they did not return any more than the others. While waiting for their return we constantly saw smoke on the shores, and the day after the departure of the boatman two men, in different boats, came from the spot where Dementiew and Sawelew hadlanded. When they had approached near enough to be heard they began to call out, 'Agai, agai,' and then went back. M. Tschirikow did not know what to think of their conduct, and now, despairing of the return of his men and having no more boats to send on shore, he determined, on the 27th of July, to leave the place, follow the coast as much as possible, and then return to Kamshatka. M. de l'Isle, then, makes an addition of his own when he says that 'M. Tschirikow made many excursions into the country, during the month of August, while waiting for the return of his men.' To return to the truth, M. Tschirikow, in a distance of one hundred miles, never lost sight of land; he battled often with contrary winds, had much anxiety on account of the heavy fogs, and lost an anchor which he had put out, not far from the coast, in a moment of great danger. He was visited by twenty-one canoes, of tanned skins, each one containing a man; but this was all—for he was unable to converse with them. The scarcity of water and the scurvy carried off many of his men. Among the officers he lost two lieutenants—Lichatschew and Plautin, fine men and excellent mariners—who might have rendered good service had they lived. M. Tschirikow himself began to have the symptoms of disease, but good food and the air on land restored him to health. M. de la Croyere was not so fortunate; he appeared to have held his own until he was just at the point of death. His companions marveled at the good effects of the large quantities of brandy which he drank every day; but they soon saw that the only good it did him was to make him forget his sufferings. He died on the 10th of October, as they were entering the port of Avatscha, having dressed himself to go on shore and having celebrated his arrival by new excesses. We cannot ignore the important service rendered by M. de la Croyere to the expedition, when he recognized the Americans who came to M. Tschirikow as bearing great resemblance to the inhabitants of Canada, whom he had met while serving in that country seventeen years before coming to Russia, with the King of France's troops."
NOTE.—A pamphlet which has just come into my possession, entitled "Lettre de Monsieur d'Anville au R. P. Castel, Jesuit. Au sujet des Pays de Kamtchatka," etc. (24mo, Paris, 1737), throws some light on the map of du Halde (1732), and definitely fixes the date and locality of the observation of the eclipse of the moon referred to by de l'Isle and the Russian officer, as well as later geographers.
D'Anville says:
"The map of Bering's voyage is attributed to me.... The only part I had therein was to reduce it from the much larger original map, of which I had made a tracing by means of oiled paper.... I first learned of Bering's voyage by letters from de l'Isle, then in Russia; and finally an account of this voyage having been sent to R. P. du Halde by His Majesty Stanislas, King of Poland, it was placed in my hands.
"Likewise, both by a sheet ofastronomical observations made by Bering which came to melater, and by the same letters of M. de l'Isle, I knew that the mouth of the river of Kamtchatka was found by astronomical determination to be in latitude 56° and some minutes.
"Bering in his navigation doubled the southern point of this continent [Kamshatka] in latitude 51° 10", as is expressly noted in the sheet ofobservationswhich is now before me.
"But though the solution of the difficulty in the case of the Land of Jeco may be very simple and natural, yet it was not obvious to me, it may be said, for Bering's voyage and observations caused me to recur to this subject, and I can no longer doubt that the eastern coast of Tartary should be moved to the east as far as the maps of the Jesuits first indicated; for although M. de Strahlenberg in his excellent map of Siberia shows only 65° of longitude between Tobolsk and Okhotsk, and there are even less in de l'Isle's map of Tartary, yet Bering's map indicates that there are 74°.
"It was found that it (Ohkotz) is 25° off of the meridian of Peking, which the observations of P. Gaubil placed in 113° fifty-odd minutes from Paris, so that it closely approximates the 139° which we have found it to be from Bering's observations. This determination does not differ much from the result of some astronomical observations, which, as I learn from China, M. de l'Isle, now in Russia, contemplated using in order to ascertain approximately the longitude of Kamtchat. The observation upon which I place the most dependence, and which likewise gives the greatest difference, is of an eclipse of the moon of February 25, 1728, of which the end was observed on the west coast of Kamtshat in latitude 52° 46' N., Sirius having an altitude of 19° 18' to the west, wherefrom M. de l'Isle calculated that the true time answered to 6h. 52m. p.m.
"This eclipse, the end especially, fell throughout Europe in the daytime, but having been observed at Carthagena, West Indies, by D. Jean Herrera, where it ended at 3h. 34m. a.m., a difference of 8h. 42m. is deduced between the meridians of Carthagena and the coast of Kamtshat."
It is thus evident that Bering observed an eclipse of the moon in Kamshatka, and that the observations came into the hands of M. d'Anville.
A. W. G.
JANUARY21, 1892.
(Laid before the Board of Managers December 11, 1891.)
(Laid before the Board of Managers December 11, 1891.)
The height and position of Mount St. Elias have been measured several times during the past century with varying results. The measurements made prior to 1891 have been summarized and discussed by W. H. Dall, of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.1The various results obtained are shown in the following table. With the exception of the position determined by Malaspina and the measurements of 1891, they are copied from Dall's report.
1Rep. of the Superintendent of the U. S. Coast Survey for 1875, pp. 157–188.
Height and Position of Mount St. Elias.
Height and Position of Mount St. Elias.
The position given by Malaspina is from a report on astronomical observations made during his voyage,2which places the mountain in longitude 134° 33' 10" west of Cadiz. Takingthe longitude of Cadiz as 6° 19' 07" west of Greenwich, the figures given in the table are obtained.
2Memorias sobre las obversaciones astronomicas hechas por les navegantes Españoles en distintos lugares del globe; Por Don Josef Espinosa y Tello. Madrid, en la Imprente real, Ano de 1809: 2 vols., large 8°; vol. 1, pp. 57–60. My attention was directed to this work by Dr. Dall, who owns the only copy I have seen.
The data from which the various determinations made previous to 1874 were obtained have not been published. The observations made by Messrs. Dall and Baker, of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, are published in full in the annual report of that Survey for 1875, already referred to. The observations made by myself last summer as a part of the work of an expedition sent to Mount St. Elias by the National Geographic Society and the U. S. Geological Survey, from which the height and position of the mountain have been computed, are as follows:
A base line 16,876 feet long was measured on the beach at Icy bay. The line, with the exception of sectionCtoD, as shown below, was measured three times in sections of about 3,000 feet each. The distances given below in columns 1 and 2 were obtained with a 100-foot steel tape, and those given in column 3 with a 300-foot iron wire. These are rough measurements, made without the use of a plumb-bob and without taking account of temperature. The ground was quite smooth, with a rise of about five feet in the center; but sectionCtoDwas crossed by a stream channel about 300 feet broad and twenty feet deep. Throughout much of the distance the ground was covered with grass, which was only partially cleared away. The stations at the ends of the line were ten feet above high tide. The bearing of the line from the western base was S. 89° E., magnetic.
Measurements of Base Line.
Measurements of Base Line.
The measurements of angles were made with a gradienter reading by vernier to minutes. The error of the vertical arc was –3', and remained constant during the observations.
Measurements of Angles at Western Base.
Measurements of Angles at Western Base.
Measurements of Angles at Eastern Base.
Measurements of Angles at Eastern Base.
From these observations the following angles between the base line and the line of sight to the summit of Mount St. Elias are obtained. The correction for error of vertical circle has been applied to the angles of elevation.