mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i3-031
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and saw the impossibility of going N because all the visible
expanse of sea was covered with closely joined ice floes,
forming an endless ice field, on the edge of which were settled
hundreds of thousands of walrus. Some swam around the ice
and often approached the sloop. We tried to shoot at them
from muskets and rifles, but without success; the bullets
from the closest distance bounced off their thick skin. Their
cry, like the bellow of an enraged bull, is deafening. Some
plunged from the ice into the water; others, with the help
of their long tusks, again climbed back out onto the ice with
difficulty, throwing themselves with rage upon those who lay
on the ice and were either thrown back into the water or suc-
ceeded in chasing away their enemies.
Seeing the impossibility of penatrating the Bering Strait
from this side of the island, the captain ordered us to turn
and go along the southern shore of the island to its western
cape. Having a favorable wind, we started to measure the is-
land by means of angles. Continuing this activity toward the
southern cape, we were compelled to abandon this work because
of descending fog, and continued our trip to the mentioned cape.
We rounded it, and turning N, slowly moved ahead. On June
30th at eight in the morning, the fog lifted, and we saw in
front of us in Bering Strait itself the Gvozdev Islands. In
an hour appeared East Cape and Cape Prince of Wales. At three
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