over their immense territory--such as Kirensk, Olekminsk, Bargusin, Tschita, and Ochotsk, which, before the opening of the Amoor to trade, was the chief port of East Siberia. Ochotsk is one of the dreariest places imaginable; at least no traveller who ever visited it has a word to say in its favor. Not a single tree grows for miles and miles around, and the wretched huts of which the town is composed lie in the midst of a swamp, which in summer is a fruitful source of malaria and pestilence. The River Ochota, at whose mouth Ochotsk is situated, does not break up before the end of May, and the ice-masses continue to pass the town till the 15th or 20th of June. Soon after begins the most unpleasant time of all the year, or “buss” of the Siberians, characterized by thick fog and a perpetual drizzling rain. The weather clears up in July, but as early as August the night-frosts cover the earth with rime. Salmon, of which no less than fourteen different species live in the Sea of Ochotsk, are the only food which the neighborhood affords; all other necessaries of life come from Jakutsk, and are of course enormously dear. Meat appears only from time to time on the tables of the wealthier merchants, and bread is an article of luxury. No wonder that the scurvy ravages every winter a place so ill-provisioned, and that at the time when the first caravan of pack-horses is expected to cross the Aldan Mountains, the people of Ochotsk, unable to restrain their impatience, go out a long way to meet it. As the former trade of the place has now no doubt been transferred to the settlements on the Amoor, it may well be supposed that Ochotsk has lost most of its former inhabitants, who can only be congratulated on their change of residence. [Illustration: 89. BERING’S MONUMENT AT PETROPAULOVSK.] CHAPTER XXII. GEORGE WILLIAM STELLER. His Birth.--Enters the Russian Service.--Scientific Journey to Kamchatka.--Accompanies Bering on his second Voyage of Discovery.--Lands on the Island of Kaiak.--Shameful Conduct of Bering.--Shipwreck on Bering Island.--Bering’s Death.--Return to Kamchatka.--Loss of Property.--Persecutions of the Siberian Authorities.--Frozen to Death at Tjumen. George William Steller, one of the most distinguished naturalists of the past century, was born at Winsheim, a small town in Franconia, in the year 1709. After completing his studies at the universities of Wittenberg and Halle, he turned his thoughts to Russia, which, since the reforms of Czar Peter the Great, and the protection which that monarch and his successors afforded to German learning, had become the land of promise for all adventurous spirits.