Krasheninnikov read the description of the land of Kamchatka. WITH

25.01.2021

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The expression of M. V. Lomonosov is known: “Russian power will grow through Siberia and the Northern Ocean.” But who “increased” this power?

Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov (1711-1755) belongs to those modest heroes with whom Russia is so rich. The future academician was born in the family of a soldier. While studying at the Moscow Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, he showed outstanding abilities, for which, by decree of the Senate, he was sent to St. Petersburg for scientific training to participate in the Second Kamchatka Expedition.

The expedition set off in August 1733. After four years of hard travel, members of the “academic retinue”, citing poor health, refused to travel further, writing to St. Petersburg that the student Krasheninnikov would cope with the exploration of Kamchatka on his own. And he did it!

For 10 years (1733–1743) he traveled 25,773 versts across Siberia and Kamchatka (more than half of the equator!), made many research trips to Baikal, along the Lena River, to Yakutia, but most importantly, traveled far and wide, studied and described Kamchatka: its borders, relief, climate, flora and fauna, volcanoes and geysers, local population... Krasheninnikov collected the richest scientific collections containing herbariums and stuffed animals, clothes and tools, records of meteorological observations and descriptions of tides, a dictionary of the Koryak language.

But the main, epochal result of Krasheninnikov's titanic work was the first scientific monograph in Russia - "Description of the Land of Kamchatka", which, even a quarter of a millennium after publication, arouses not only genuine reader interest, but also a feeling of admiration: how much one person can do for the Fatherland.

Editorial

With the advent of Krasheninnikov and Lomonosov, the preparatory period in the history of the scientific creativity of the Russian people ended. Russia finally, as an equal cultural force, entered the milieu of educated humanity.

V. I. Vernadsky

The work of the most prominent after M. Lomonosov Russian academician Semyon Petrovich Krasheninnikov “Description of the land of Kamchatka” (1755) became the first book in Russia in the genre of “scientific travels” - before, no one dared to write a scientific monograph in Russian colloquial language. From the very beginning, this book was very popular with the general public: the ease of presentation and the novelty of the scientific material did their job.

The scientific world also appreciated it: the book became one of the main sources in compiling the "Dictionary of the Russian Academy" along with the works of Derzhavin, Lomonosov and Sumarokov, in the next 25 years it was translated into 4 foreign languages and published 6 times.

And after a quarter of a century, the “Description of the Land of Kamchatka” - this is an invaluable asset of geographical and historical science - is still of interest to the inquisitive reader, since it contains unique ethnographic, historical and biological materials obtained by the pioneers of Kamchatka: Krasheninnikov and Steller (collected by the latter information , following the prescription of the Academy of Sciences, Stepan Petrovich included in his work with the indication of authorship).

"Description of the Land of Kamchatka" was published several times. The first printed text of the book was the last author's edition, of which S. P. Krasheninnikov made four. In 1818–1819 By order of the then President of the Academy of Sciences S. S. Uvarov, a new edition was published as part of the publication of the Complete Collection of Scientific Travels in Russia, which differed significantly from the first. The work of S. P. Krasheninnikov compiled the first two volumes of the Complete Collection.

The preparation of the book was carried out under the guidance of the mineralogist Academician V. M. Severgin; other participants in this project were the anatomist and physiologist Academician P. A. Zagorsky, the naturalist Academician A. F. Sevastyanov, and the astronomer Academician V. K. Vishnevsky. Their labors prepared comments and additions that set out new data accumulated by science since the middle of the 18th century.

In 1949, the Glavsevmorput publishing house, under the general guidance of the President of the Geographical Society of the USSR at the USSR Academy of Sciences, Academician L. S. Berg, Director of the Institute of Geography of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Academician A. A. Grigoriev, and Professor of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences N. N. Stepanov , a new edition of the Description of the Land of Kamchatka was prepared.

By that time, Krasheninnikov's manuscripts (second and third editions) had been discovered, which made it possible to supplement those passages that were removed by the author himself, most likely not on his own initiative (in this edition they are given in square brackets), in order to somehow mitigate too frankly depicted cynicism and atrocities of the Kamchatka rulers.

As an appendix to the 1949 edition, the second volume included several other works by Krasheninnikov, thematically combined with his main work: “Description of the path from the Bolsheretsky prison up the Bolshaya River to warm waters and from there to the burning river on Avacha near its mouth. hills”, “Description of the path from the Upper to the Lower Kamchatka Ostrog”, “Description of the Kamchatka people”, “Description of the Kamchatka people, composed according to the legend of Kamchadals”, “About the Uka foreigners”, “About the deer Koryaks”, “Description of the Koryak people”, “ About the Kuriles living on the Poromusir and Onnekuta Islands, which are called by the Russians the other and third Kuril Islands”, “Description of the Kuril Islands according to the Kuril foreigners and service people who have been on these islands”, “On the preparation of sweet grass and the sitting of wine from it” , “About killer whales”, “About the conquest of the Kamchatka land, about betrayals from foreigners at different times and about riots of service people”.

This edition also included reports and reports sent by him to the leadership of the Kamchatka expedition and reports that had not been published before, as well as Krasheninnikov's unfinished preface to the first edition and his autobiography.

Krasheninnikov's diaries were also studied, in which he entered detailed information about "foreign" prisons. This information was supplemented in footnotes with those that were included in the first part of the Description of the Land of Kamchatka. In general, the 1949 edition was carried out at a high scientific level.

This publication primarily aims to be informative and entertaining. And therefore it seemed important to us to make it easier for the inquisitive reader to get acquainted with this outstanding work of Russian scientific thought. To this end, without interfering with the author's style, the text is given not simply in the new spelling according to the rules of 1918.

Outdated grammatical forms that make reading difficult have been brought into line with the norms of the modern Russian language, punctuation has been corrected according to the same principle. All notes to the text are given in the form of footnotes and refer to: modern natural science, linguistic, as well as historical and ethnographic information, confirming or refuting the conclusions of S. P. Krasheninnikov; new nomenclature names of animals and plants; correspondence of toponyms of the 18th century. and modern geographical names; explanations of obsolete words.

Foreword

TO However useful and pleasant is the historical and physical knowledge of the earthly circle inhabited by us in general, however, we get more useful and pleasant from descriptions of countries with which we have a greater communication than with others, or whose true circumstances are still unknown to us with sufficient certainty. Let everyone take note for himself what pleasure he gets when he reads or hears news about his fatherland that gives him a true image of that.

There should not be a little doubt that the persons assigned to the government of state affairs really need to have an accurate statement of the lands entrusted to them in the department; you need to know in detail about the natural state of any land, about fertility and about its other qualities, advantages and disadvantages; one must know where the land is mountainous and where it is flat; where are the rivers, lakes, forests, where profitable metals are located, where are the places for agriculture and cattle breeding convenient, where are the barren steppes; on which rivers to walk on ships or which can be made to a ship's course; how they are connected either from nature or made by channels; what kind of animals, fish, birds are found where and what herbs, bushes, trees are found, and which of them is suitable for medicine, or paint, or some other economic use; where the earth is inhabited and where uninhabited; what noble cities, fortresses, churches and monasteries, marinas, trading places, ore-digging and smelting plants, salt pans and all kinds of manufactories are in it; what are the fruits and commodities born in what place, and how do internal and external auctions go; in what goods there is a shortage, and especially which ones are brought from other countries, and whether it is possible to make them ourselves in that land; what is the position of each place, natural or arranged by art and human labors; what is the distance from one place to another; how the high roads and postal camps, for comfortable driving, were established; what kind of people are in what place or district, and in what population, and how they differ from each other in language, body condition, inclinations, customs, crafts, law, and other things that belong here; what are the remains of ancient years; how the conquest or the population of which land was carried out; where are its limits, who are its neighbors, and what is its obligation to them.

When all these circumstances are necessary and useful, then they must be observed when writing a sufficient description of the land, so that it would be consistent with the intention undertaken. It will not be useless to have such knowledge about our neighbors, as well as about all the peoples and lands with whom we have some kind of message at auction, or under what agreements.

The curiosity that is innate in man is not enough for that. We often have the concern of knowing things that do not concern us in the slightest. The further a country is from us, the more it is unknown to us, the more pleasant it is for us to hear about it.

How much more should we read the descriptions published about those lands about which we either knew nothing before, or although they called, but not in detail; and it would be very necessary for us to know about them, and although they are at a distance from us, they nevertheless form a certain part of the great society to which we ourselves belong.

Thus it is reassuring that the sympathetic reader will readily accept the description of the land of Kamchatka offered here to his curiosity. The writer of this would himself have shown in the preface the cases and methods by which he received the news he reported, if death had not prevented him from doing so. But since it will not be useless to know about this for greater certainty, then we present here a brief message.

When departing in 1733, by personal imperial decree, the Second Kamchatka Expedition to carry out various inventions along the shores of the Arctic Sea, and even more so along the Eastern Ocean near Kamchatka, America and Japan, the intention was taken to try by all means about a possible description of Siberia, and especially Kamchatka, according to their exact position, according to the natural state of the land and according to the peoples living in them; in a word, in order to collect news on all the circumstances we have shown above to the perfect description of the earth belonging.

To accomplish this, the Imperial Academy of Sciences sent three professors along with a naval expedition, who divided the tasks entrusted to them among themselves in such a way as to correct astronomical and physical observations alone; to another to repair what belongs to natural history; and the third to compose a political history and a description of the state of the earth, the customs of the people and antiquities.

This Academy has given members, in addition to other ranks of various ranks and abilities of people, six students of the Russian nation, so that under their leadership they would practice in the sciences and thereby acquire the ability to make such observations themselves in the future.

Stepan Krasheninnikov, a native of the city of Moscow, having laid a good foundation there in the Latin language, in eloquence and in philosophy, surpassed his comrades in understanding, zeal and diligence in the sciences, however, in deeds he was a man of honest treatment.

Although it was determined primarily to the history of nature, that is, to the science of growths, animals and minerals, however, there was also such an inclination in it to civil history and geography that since 1735 it was used with benefit in special administrations for describing geography. and natural history of some places where the professors themselves did not visit.

Meanwhile, the academic members who arrived in Yakutsk in 1736 were informed that the institutions for entering the sea route were far from being brought to such a state that they could continue their journey to Kamchatka without slowing down. It was impossible for them to spend several years in Kamchatka, when, in addition to the descriptions of these, there were many other cases for them in Siberia, which they did not want to miss.

Therefore, they decided for the benefit of sending a reliable person to Kamchatka in advance to make some preparations, so that they would delay less time upon their arrival. And in this sending Mr. Krasheninnikov was chosen especially because it was possible to entrust him with the dispatch of any observations for a while, and they provided him with instructions for this matter, prescribing him a satisfied instruction in everything that was to be noted and corrected in Kamchatka.

By chance, it happened that only one of the professors who was practicing in the repair of astronomical observations reached Kamchatka; the rest, both by decree of the ruling senate, were dismissed from the Kamchatka trip, and instead they were ordered on their way back to describe in more detail all those countries in Siberia in which they had not been before, or although they had been, but only for a short time.

And so almost all the trials in Kamchatka went to Mr. Krasheninnikov alone, which, hopefully, he could have corrected without a notable flaw, for by exercise he brought himself from time to time into a greater art; the professors provided him with the same methods that they themselves were allowed to use the ruling senate by decree; he traveled all over Kamchatka from end to end and had with him interpreters, shooters and other people needed; he was allowed to revise and write off orders in jails; and when it happened to him in matters relating to the sciences, what a difficulty that the professors could see from the reports often sent from him, then they sent him, in any case, again instructions.

But meanwhile, the Academy, seeing a lot of business in Siberia, decided for good in 1738 to send there, to help in matters of natural history, adjunct Georg Wilhelm Steller, who next year came to the professors, who were already on their way back to Yeniseisk.

This skillful and industrious man had a great desire to go to Kamchatka, and from there he also wanted to go on a sea route; For that sake, he was sent there at his request. For this, the professors gave him instructions, as well as to Mr. Krasheninnikov, with the prescription of contented instruction in everything that was not necessary to know about Kamchatka, and they sent a painter with him to correct the drawings for natural history and to describe the peoples proper.

Just as, upon his arrival in Kamchatka, Mr. Krasheninnikov could, with his already acquired skill, help him, so, on the contrary, Mr. Steller was useful to him in some cases with his guidance. Together they were in Kamchatka until 1741, when they set out on a sea route to discover the American lands near Kamchatka.

Mr. Steller also went on this journey, and Mr. Krasheninnikov was sent from him to Irkutsk, about which, as the professors who were then still in Siberia, learned, they ordered him to go to their place with possible haste, which happened; and in 1743 he returned together with them back to St. Petersburg. And Mr. Steller died on November 12, 1745 in the city of Tyumen with a fever, on his way back from Siberia to Russia.

Upon submission of a detailed report from Mr. Krasheninnikov to the Academy of Sciences about the affairs he had committed while he was in Kamchatka, and upon receipt of the letters left after Mr. Steller, it was reasonable to combine both of these works together and entrust the accomplishment of the whole matter to the one who already had the greatest participation in it. This "Description of the Land of Kamchatka" came from that.

It will be pleasant to readers because of the replenishment of the special local lands of habits with various and yet unheard reliable news, which is not much in other geographical descriptions. Whoever wishes to read it for amusement, most of its content has to serve as amusement; whoever looks at the benefit, he will find it without difficulty, even if he wants to use something, to the sciences or to the use in the common life concerning.

It is necessary to wish that those who continue to intend to practice in describing the described lands, which are not known or are not satisfied with the circumstances, arrange their works according to the example of this work.

The writer was promoted in 1745 at the Academy of Sciences to an adjunct, and in 1750 he was awarded a professor of botany and other parts of natural history. The end of his life followed in February 1755 on the 12th day, as the last sheet of this description was printed.

He was one of those who were not preferred by noble nature or fortune to beneficence, but by themselves, by their qualities and service, came into being people who do not borrow anything from their ancestors and are themselves worthy of being called the chiefs of their well-being. His life is said to have been 42 years, 3 months and 25 days.

For a better understanding of the geographical information contained in this description, it has been seen fit to attach to it two land maps of the land of Kamchatka with its surrounding countries, on which the curious reader can notice a lot of difference compared to how Kamchatka and the neighboring part of Siberia are presented on land maps in the atlas previously printed at the Academy; but the writer of these assures that the changes were not made without a satisfied reason, which he intends to announce in the future with such evidence, which, hopefully, will also seem quite important to such an enterprise to others.

Part one. ABOUT KAMCHATKA AND THE COUNTRIES THAT ARE NEIGHBOR WITH IT

Introduction

O The land of Kamchatka has long had news, but for the most part such news from which it was possible to know that this land is in the light; and what its position, what condition, what inhabitants, etc., about that, nothing genuine was found anywhere. At first, the opinion was that the land of Jesso also had a connection with Kamchatka, and it was considered not unfounded after a long time, then it appeared that between the mentioned land and Kamchatka there was not only a sea strait, but also many islands.

However, in determining its position, no correctness followed from that, so that even to our times, according to mere conjectures, it was presented on maps with a great error, as evidenced by the maps themselves, not only of previous centuries, but also recently composed. In Russia itself, they began to know about Kamchatka from the time it was brought into citizenship.

But just as the beginning of any business is imperfect, so the first news about it was insufficient and faulty, which, however, was rewarded in some way from the two expeditions that were in those places, and especially from the last one, because in that case the sea team not only described the coast around Kamchatka with the eastern side to the Chukchi nose, and from the western side to the Penzhina Bay and from the Okhotsk to the Amur River, but the position of the islands between Japan and Kamchatka, and between Kamchatka and America has also been investigated.

And the academic team determined the exact position of Kamchatka through astronomical observations, described the local places in all circumstances, both natural and political history, from which only those news that relate to geography and political history are reported here, and their other observations over time, they will be published in special books.

Chapter 1

TO Amchatka land and Kamchatka are now simply called the great cape, which constitutes the last limit of Asia on the eastern side and extends from the mother land into the sea about seven degrees and a half from north to south.

I believe the beginning of this cape is at the Empty River and Anapkoy, flowing in a latitude of 59 ½ °, of which the first into the Penzhina, and the other into the East Sea, flows into the mouth.

In order: 1) that in those places the land is so narrow that, according to reliable reports, from the high mountains in clear weather the sea can be seen on both sides, and further to the north the land becomes wider, which, in my opinion, can be to honor as the beginning of the isthmus connecting Kamchatka with the mother earth, 2) that the award of the Kamchatka prisons only extends to the declared places, 3) that the northern places beyond that limit are not called Kamchatka, but more belong to the drift, which the Anadyr award designates. However, I do not completely refute the fact that the true beginning of this great cape between the Penzhina River and Anadyr should be revered.

The southern end of the Kamchatka cape is called Lopatka, by some resemblance to a human shoulder blade, and lies in latitude 51 ° 3 ". As for the difference in longitude between St. Petersburg and Kamchatka, it is seen from astronomical observations that Okhotsk is separated from St. Petersburg by 112 ° 53 "to the east, and Bolsheretsk from Okhotsk at 14 ° 6" to the east of the railway.

The figure of the Kamchatka Cape, enclosed within the limits I have announced, is somewhat similar to an elliptical one, because this cape is wider in the middle, and much narrower at the ends. Its greatest width between the mouth of the Tigil River and Kamchatka, which peaks together came together through the Elovka River and flow in the same latitude, is revered as 415 versts.

The sea surrounding Kamchatka on the eastern side is called the Eastern Ocean and separates Kamchatka from America, and on the western side it is called the Penzhina Sea, which has its origin from the southern end of the Kamchatka nose and from the Kuril Islands and between the western coast of Kamchatka and the coast of Okhotsk more than a thousand miles to the north extends.

Its northern end, or kultuk, is characteristically called the Penzhina Bay - after the Penzhina River, which flows into it. And so this land in the neighborhood has America on one side, on the other, the Kuril Islands, which lie in a ridge to the south-western side as far as Japan itself, and on the third side, the Chinese kingdom.

The Kamchatka Cape is mostly mountainous. The mountains from the southern end to the north extend in a continuous ridge and divide the earth into almost two equal parts; and from them other mountains to both seas lie in ridges, between which rivers flow. Low-lying places are only near the sea, where the mountains are at a distance from it, and along wide valleys, where there is a considerable distance between the ridges.

The ridges, extending to the east and west, in many places protrude into the sea for a considerable distance, for which they are called noses; but there are more such noses on the east bank than on the west. The sea bays included between the noses, which are simply called seas, are all given special names, such as: the Olyutorskoe Sea, the Kamchatka Sea, the Beaver Sea, etc., which will be announced below in more detail when describing the coasts.

Why this cape was known as Kamchatsky, the reason for this will be shown when describing the Kamchatka people, but here I will only declare that in no local language there is any common name for it, but where what people live or where what noble tract, therefore that part of the earth and is called. The most Kamchatka Cossacks under the name of Kamchatka mean only the Kamchatka River with the surrounding places.

However, following the example of the local peoples, the southern part of the Kamchatka Cape is called the Kuril land for the Kuril people living there. The western bank from the Big River to Tigil is simply the Shore. The eastern shore, which is under the jurisdiction of the Bolsheretsky prison, is Avachei, along the Avacha River. The same coast, awarded to the Upper Kamchatka prison, - by the Beaver Sea, along sea beavers, which are hunted there more than other places, and other places from the mouth of Kamchatka and Tigil to the north - Koryak, along the Koryaks living there, or the eastern shore - Ukoy, along the river Uke, and the western one is Tigilem, along the Tigil River.

Why, when they say in Kamchatka "to go to the Shore, to Tigil" and so on, then all the places that are contained under those names should be understood.

As for the rivers, the Kamchatka land is very abundant with them, but there are none on which it would be possible to walk even with small vessels, such as, for example, large boats, or zaisanki, which are used in the Upper Irtysh fortresses.

The Kamchatka River alone can be honored as a ship’s river: for it is so deep from its mouth up two hundred versts or more that a sea vessel called a koch, on which, according to the announcement of the local inhabitants, Russian people were brought to those places by the weather even before the conquest of Kamchatka, was carried out for wintering to the mouth of the Nikula River, which is now called Fedotovshchina after the head of the declared koch, Fedot.

However, the most notable of all the local rivers, except for Kamchatka, are revered by the Big River, Avacha and Tigil, on which, according to their ability, a Russian settlement has also been established.

Kamchatka is also abundant in lakes, especially along the Kamchatka River, where there are so many of them that in the summer there is no passage by land; including the great ones, of which the most notable are: Nerpiche Lake.

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In the history of the formation of the Russian state, the study of lands in the Far East was of great importance. The development of the Far East is, first of all, the history of travels, exploits and glorious deeds of Russian explorers, industrial and service people. Before the eyes of one generation, the state border of the country was moved from the Urals to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

The first information about Kamchatka dates back to the middle of the 17th century: Pyotr Godunov's "Drawing of the Siberian Land" compiled in 1667, a map of the peninsula was drawn.

At the end of the XVII century. Vladimir Atlasov, a Cossack Pentecostal, played a decisive role in the advancement of explorers into the central part of the peninsula. In his "skaskas" (reports), he compiled descriptions and drawings of Kamchatka, and reported a lot of interesting things about the nature and population of the peninsula. He owns the first mention of volcanoes and hot springs. To commemorate the successful campaign, the Cossacks erected a memorial cross. The inscription on the cross said that it was placed on June 13, 1697 by "Pentecostal Vladimir Atlasov and his comrades."

Forty years later, S.P. saw this cross. Krasheninnikov.

about the author

Krasheninnikov Stepan Petrovich (1711−1755) - Russian geographer, ethnographer, traveler, explorer of Siberia and Kamchatka. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

He studied at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, where he received a good education and brilliantly mastered Latin and Greek. In 1732 he was sent to St. Petersburg to the Academic Gymnasium at St. Petersburg University to study physics, geography and natural history. After the tests, by the decision of the Assembly of the Academy of Sciences, Krasheninnikov and five more students were enrolled in the detachment of the Second Kamchatka Expedition (1733−1743) under the guidance of professors I.-G. Gmelin, G.-F. Miller, Ludovic Delisle de la Croyler. According to Lomonosov, one Krasheninnikov came out efficient from all of them, and the rest all “spoiled” during the expedition. Krasheninnikov kept a diary - a "travel journal", diligently wrote down everything he saw. He became the first representative of a large academic science on the peninsula. The scientist visited many places: from the Ozernaya River in the south to the Karaga and Lesnaya rivers in the north, wandered along the western and eastern coasts, visited the Upper Kamchatka and Nizhnekamchatsky prisons, examined Avacha Bay. He traveled on dog sleds, on horseback, walked, rafted down the Kamchatka River. He described the mountains and among them the highest active volcano in Asia - Klyuchevskaya Sopka. He explored Krasheninnikov and hot springs, which were notorious among the Itelmens. The researcher paid special attention to flora and fauna. Studied Krasheninnikov and the life of indigenous peoples. He enthusiastically collected information about the history of Kamchatka. He traveled to the north of the peninsula to study the life of the Koryaks.

In February 1743 he returned to St. Petersburg and began work in the Botanical Garden at the Academy of Sciences. Seven years later, Krasheninnikov was elected an academician and professor of botany, becoming the first Russian scientist to teach this science.

Biographer of the scientist N.I. Novikov wrote about the professor: “He was one of those who rise neither by the nobility of the breed, nor by the blessing of happiness, but by themselves, by their qualities, by their labors and merits, glorify their breed and make themselves worthy of eternal remembrance.”

About the book

The main work of S.P. Krasheninnikov - "Description of the land of Kamchatka, composed by Professor Stepan Krasheninnikov of the Academy of Sciences."

The author managed to create not only a scientific work, but a fascinating literary work. In the preface, which says: “Whoever wants to read it for amusement, most of its content has to serve for fun; whoever looks at the benefit, he will easily find it, even if he wants to use something before the sciences or before use in the general life concerning.

Of all the work of these savage peoples, which they do with stone knives and axes, nothing was so wonderful as a chain of walrus bone. It consisted of turned rings and was made from one tooth ... I can safely say that, due to the purity of work and art, no one would consider it to be the labors of a wild Chukchi ...

The book consists of four parts. The work begins with geography. All rivers and their tributaries, the nature of their flow are carefully described; then the sea, bays and the nearest dry land - the Kuril and Aleutian Islands. The next part is a description of the land itself - Kamchatka: volcanoes, hot springs, flora and fauna. Having told about the land and nature, Krasheninnikov also describes the life of the people inhabiting these places. The last part gives information about the penetration of Russians into Kamchatka. The priceless extracts from the local Siberian archives made by the scientist, for the most part, have survived to this day only in his research.

The book was richly illustrated and supplied with maps. As material for illustrations, sketches by the artist I.Kh. Berkan. Made from them by master I.E. Grimmel's drawings were approved by the Academy of Arts and the author himself. Engraved drawings by I.A. Sokolov. The author of the map "Land of Kamchatka" S.P. Krasheninnikov, and the maps "Kuril Islands" - G.F. Miller.

Krasheninnikov managed to print, but did not have time to publish his work. He died a few days after, already completely ill, he read the last proof of the last sheet.

The cities of Siberian residents are called: Yenisei - drafts are called, because they know how to deceive a lot; Krasnoyarsk - rebels, because they report a lot to the governor; Turukhansky - light-browed.

The circulation of the first edition - 1350 copies - was quickly sold out, and the public was expecting a reissue.

The second edition of the Description was published by the Academy of Sciences in 1786 with a circulation of 912 copies. The preface to the "Description" was written by G.F. Miller after the death of S.P. Krasheninnikov. This edition is kept in ours. By the end of the XIX century. The book was considered a classic.

Shortly after its publication, the book was translated into English, Dutch, French and German and went through several reprints. Interest in Krasheninnikov's work in Europe is not accidental. This is the time of new geographical discoveries, so the work of the Russian scientist was in demand by Europeans. Distant Kamchatka, the Kuriles, captured the imagination of contemporaries.

The "Description" did not immediately reach the foreign reader in its original form. In translation, Krasheninnikov's work was significantly reduced and revised. Foreign publishers turned the scientific study into a bestseller. The earliest is an English edition, and in 1766 a German translation was made from this incomplete retelling. The Germans, unlike the English, admired the literary merit of the book and marveled at the brevity of the English version.

The expression of M. V. Lomonosov is known: “Russian power will grow through Siberia and the Northern Ocean.” But who “increased” this power?

Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov (1711-1755) belongs to those modest heroes with whom Russia is so rich. The future academician was born in the family of a soldier. While studying at the Moscow Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, he showed outstanding abilities, for which, by decree of the Senate, he was sent to St. Petersburg for scientific training to participate in the Second Kamchatka Expedition.

The expedition set off in August 1733. After four years of hard travel, members of the “academic retinue”, citing poor health, refused to travel further, writing to St. Petersburg that the student Krasheninnikov would cope with the exploration of Kamchatka on his own. And he did it!

For 10 years (1733–1743) he traveled 25,773 versts across Siberia and Kamchatka (more than half of the equator!), made many research trips to Baikal, along the Lena River, to Yakutia, but most importantly, traveled far and wide, studied and described Kamchatka: its borders, relief, climate, flora and fauna, volcanoes and geysers, local population... Krasheninnikov collected the richest scientific collections containing herbariums and stuffed animals, clothes and tools, records of meteorological observations and descriptions of tides, a dictionary of the Koryak language.

But the main, epochal result of Krasheninnikov's titanic work was the first scientific monograph in Russia - "Description of the Land of Kamchatka", which, even a quarter of a millennium after publication, arouses not only genuine reader interest, but also a feeling of admiration: how much one person can do for the Fatherland.

Editorial

V. I. Vernadsky

Foreword

"Description of the land of Kamchatka, composed by Stepan Krasheninnikov, Professor of the Academy of Sciences"
S.P. Krasheninnikov

T.1-2. SPb., at Imp. Academy of Sciences, 1786

The first description of Kamchatka. The first Russian scientific work on ethnography!
Volume 1 438 pages; 12 engravings with scenic views, costumes and maps.
Volume 2 319 pages: 11 engravings with scenic views, costumes and maps.
Full set.
A beautiful copy. Excellent preservation. Two volumes. In two full-leather bindings of the era (18th century). Gold stamping. A copy with wide margins. Full set. Since the beginning of the 19th century, a complete copy in good condition has been extremely rare for sale.
This is the first book in Russian with the first description of Kamchatka. The work was published in 1786 in a circulation of 912 copies. This work has been translated into major European languages. The 1st English edition of Krasheninnikov in 1764 had only 2 cl. maps and 5 drawings (circulation 1350 copies). Most of the circulation of the Russian edition of the Academy of Sciences gradually sent out to European capitals to collectors of this subject.
Krasheninnikov's description includes one of the earliest printed stories about Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. "The 'American' engraving, found on page 128 in this book, is the earliest pictorial representation of an Alaska Native, 'An American in a Canoe'" (Part 1, p. 128).
The publication is recognized as the best work on the history of the development of Kamchatka. Great rarity!
Bitovt Yu. "Rare Russian books and flying editions of the 18th century." Moscow, 1905, No. 1187, 2138
Ostroglazov I.M. "Book Rarities". Moscow, "Russian Archive", 1891-92, No. 223
Obolyaninov N. “Catalogue of Russian illustrated publications. 1725-1860". SPb., 1914, No. 1380
Sopikov V.S. Experience of Russian bibliography. Edition, notes, additions and index by V.N. Rogozhin. V.1-2, Ch.1-5, St. Petersburg, edition of A.S. Suvorina, 1904-1906, No. 7568
Guberti N.V. “Materials for Russian bibliography. A Chronological Review of Rare and Wonderful Russian Books of the 18th Century, Printed in Russia in Civil Type 1725-1800. Issue I-III. Moscow, 1878-1891. Issue. III, No. 71
GBL Book Treasures. Issue 2. Domestic editions of the XVIII century. Catalog. Moscow, 1979, No. 28
S.K., No. 3291
Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov(1711, Moscow - 1755, St. Petersburg) - Russian botanist, ethnographer, geographer, traveler, explorer of Siberia and Kamchatka. The first scientist-researcher of Kamchatka. One of the founders of Russian science. Member of the academic detachment of the Great Northern Expedition. The book "Description of the Land of Kamchatka" brought Krasheninnikov wide popularity throughout Europe. Published in 1756, the book became the best work on the history of the conquest of Kamchatka, the first Russian scientific work on ethnography.
The stormy era of Peter the Great contributed to the emergence of its best representatives from among the people. People of humble origin began to occupy key positions in almost all areas of life. Especially a lot of them appeared among scientists. One of these scientists was Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov, the first among Russian researchers (before Lomonosov) who received European recognition.
He was born at the end of October 1711 in Moscow in the family of a soldier of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. In 1724 he entered the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, where he studied for seven years, in recent years, in his own words, receiving "forty altyns a month, and before that - thirty altyns." At that time, this could only be enough for miserable food and some other urgent needs. Even this meager stipend was paid irregularly, and in 1732, for some reason, the students did not receive it at all, undergoing “smoothness and coldness,” as Krasheninnikov wrote.
The academy was taught by foreigners who did not know Russian well, which made it difficult to study. The students were treated very strictly. They were flogged with rods and required endless cramming. Nevertheless, Krasheninnikov studied well, quickly grasping the very essence of subjects.
After graduating from the academy, graduates of the academy were assigned to a variety of places where literate people were needed. They became surgeons, officials, teachers, etc. In 1732, Krasheninnikov, as one of the best students, was sent to the Academy of Sciences, where the Second Kamchatka (Great Northern) Expedition was being prepared at that time. It was to include several detachments for topographic survey of the coast of the Arctic Ocean within Russia, as well as an academic detachment, which was to explore the interior of Siberia and Kamchatka. Well-known foreign professors I. Gmelin and G. Miller, invited to work at the Russian Academy of Sciences, were appointed leaders of this detachment. To help them, several students were seconded to the detachment, among whom was Krasheninnikov.
Both the leaders of the expedition and the students received instructions. From the latter, much was not required: basically, they had to obey their superiors. However, both professors, busy with their own research, paid too little attention to their students. True, the naturalist Gmelin sometimes held classes, but in such a way that the historian Miller, who considered them an unnecessary luxury, did not know about this. Krasheninnikov had to figure everything out on his own. However, this did not prevent the young man, who was noted for his keen powers of observation, on the way to learn how to form collections, keep records, work in the archives of command huts, and compile geographical descriptions.
Already in August 1733, Krasheninnikov set out on his first journey. For four whole years, the future pioneer of the study of the Kamchatka Peninsula participated in an expedition to Siberia. He also made independent radial trips. Thus, he studied and described the Kolyvan factories of Altai, the Argun silver factories, mica deposits on the river. Kolotovka in the upper reaches of the river. Vitim, many warm springs and salt springs. On Vitim, Krasheninnikov, who observed sable hunting, wrote his first scientific work about it, displaying the history of hunting, habits of sables, hunting methods, beliefs associated with it, etc.
The first ethnographic studies conducted by the scientist date back to this time. His travel journal contained many interesting entries about the locals, their customs, beliefs and rituals. Somehow, for example, a scientist was shown the actions of a kama - a local shaman who asked the devils for help. When asked by Krasheninnikov why he does not turn to God, the shaman gave such an explanation. It turned out that God, according to the native Siberians, lives high in the sky, and the devil lives next to people on earth. Therefore, the shaman's requests are more likely to go to hell.
In 1737, Krasheninnikov reached Yakutsk, which was the gathering place for the members of the Great Northern Expedition. For some time here he helped Miller to work on a rich archive. However, the travel program also included the study of Kamchatka. Neither Miller nor Gmelin were eager to go to this distant land, exposing themselves to the dangers and hardships of a long journey. They decided to send Krasheninnikov there, telling him that they would arrive on the peninsula later. So the fledgling scientist, who was officially still a student, was sent on almost the most difficult of the journeys prescribed by the academic expedition.
In August 1737, the young scientist reached Okhotsk. For two months, while waiting for a passing ship, he lived with a Cossack of Okhotsk and studied the tides, conducted meteorological studies, compiled a "register of fish", and also studied "everything that the sea threw ashore." The scientist did not disregard the indigenous inhabitants of the coast, the Lamuts. So at that time they called the Okhotsk Evenks. In their language, the word "lama" meant "sea". Therefore, in the old days, the Sea of Okhotsk was called Lamsky for a long time. Krasheninnikov compiled the first dictionary of the Lamut language. At his request, after the departure of the scientist, the local authorities sent a Lamut suit to St. Petersburg for the Kunstkamera. Unfortunately, this and Evenk costumes were used to dress the participants in the famous clownish wedding of Prince M.A. Golitsyn and the Kalmyk woman A.N. Buzheninova, which took place on February 6, 1740. As a result, both costumes lost their original appearance.
On October 4, Krasheninnikov set off for Kamchatka on the Fortuna ship. While crossing the Sea of Okhotsk, the ship almost sank. Due to a leak in the board, almost the entire cargo had to be dumped: even a suitcase with linen, which belonged to Krasheninnikov, and food went into the water. At the same time, the scientist did not part with books and tools. With him were thermometers, barometers, as well as a kind of "exatmoscope", the purpose of which remains unclear. Then another dangerous adventure awaited the traveler. At the entrance to the mouth of the Big River, the ship was thrown onto the spit, and its crew barely escaped. Krasheninnikov and his companions spent a whole week on a narrow strip of land, which was constantly flooded with waves. Finally, help came from Bolsheretsk, a small settlement-fort on the seashore, which was a Russian outpost here.
Here the scientist was waiting for another surprise. They forgot to send the order from Okhotsk to Bolsheretsk, and he was left without a grain allowance. The traveler's only clothing was the simple shirt he had worn during the shipwreck. I had to borrow money. For months, the scientist sat even without bread, eating whatever he had to. From the very beginning and in the future, returning from expeditions around the peninsula, he did not stop bothering about the construction of a "choir for gentlemen professors." This task, among others, was entrusted to him by Gmelin and Miller, who were not going to come to Kamchatka. In such conditions, on the peninsula, which could rightly be called the "edge of the Earth", where at that time there were only three Russian prisons, it was extremely difficult to start a journey. And the work was huge: Krasheninnikov was the first scientist to set foot on this earth.
Krasheninnikov's fidelity to duty was amazing. In very difficult and sometimes unbearable conditions, he carried out a detailed study of the peninsula. From 1738 to 1741 the scientist crossed Kamchatka ten times in different directions. He alone in a few years managed to do the work of an entire expedition, acting as a geologist, geographer, botanist, zoologist, ethnographer and linguist. Krasheninnikov passed through the valleys of the rivers Bystraya, Kolpakova, Paratunka, Pauzhetka and others, visited a number of lakes, including Nerpichye, discovered and described Kamchatka geysers for the first time, explored Avachinskaya, Klyuchevskaya, Kronotskaya hills, Tolbachik volcano, the coast of the peninsula for 1700 km. And the internal travel routes amounted to more than 3500 km. On foot, on horseback, on a boat and on a sledge, the traveler traveled the entire peninsula.
Krasheninnikov collected the most valuable information about the Itelmens and wrote down a number of words from their dialect. The scientist wrote about them with admiration: “Kamchadals, not studying physics, know that you can get fire when wood rubs against wood; and for this, being devoid of iron, they use wooden tinderboxes. He concluded that "there is a strong need to be wise to the invention of what is necessary for life." Having become better acquainted with the Itelmens, Krasheninnikov was imbued with great respect for them. He noted their musical inclinations and argued that "nothing wild is noticed" in the singing of the Itelmens.
The "student" paid much attention to the study of the habits of wild animals. He described seals, sea lions, walruses, fur seals and sea otters, practically unknown then in Europe. Even in bears well known to Europeans, he managed to find curious chetsta. Kamchatka bears, according to him, did not attack people in the summer: women calmly picked berries near them. “One thing for them from the bears, but even that is not a constant insult that they take away the collected berries from the women,” Krasheninnikov wrote in his diary.
The scientist paid much attention to meteorological research. On the seashore at Bolsheretsk, he set up a pole, marked in feet and inches, and from it he studied the height of the tides. He taught the assistants assigned by the local authorities to handle the barometer, to determine the direction of the wind with the help of a weather vane. During his long absences, they recorded instrument readings and observations of the weather and nature in a diary.
So three years passed. In 1740, Krasheninnikov sent the richest collections and his notes to the "noble gentlemen professors". Until now, the traveler has not received a salary, the clothes have fallen into disrepair, but he stubbornly continued his research.
In September of the same year, two other members of their academic expedition arrived in Bolsheretsk - the astronomer Ludwig Del il de la Croyer and the zoologist Georg Steller. The latter was higher in rank than Krasheninnikov, who entered under his command and even, obeying the order, gave Steller his collections. Later, in the writings of Steller, who was also an outstanding scientist, but distinguished by his selfishness and absurdity of character, quotations from Krasheninnikov's notes appeared without reference to him.
Stepan Petrovich, however, was not offended. But in his writings, Krasheninnikov always referred to Steller, if he used his conclusions and collected facts. However, the relationship between them was good: Steller even helped the modest Krasheninnikov, who did not like squabbles, to get a salary. Bile and always ready for a scandal, Steller, having learned about the reasons for the plight of his subordinate, became furious. He rushed to the commandant of Bolsheretsk, demanded an immediate repayment of the debt, and got his way, despite the fact that the commandant had no "decree" on this matter. Krasheninnikov was able to breathe more freely and dress up a little.
In 1741, Steller sent a young colleague to Yakutsk on urgent business. June 12 on the ship "Okhotsk" Krasheninnikov went to the mainland. In his luggage were the richest collections, not inferior in number to those that were given into the wrong hands.
Krasheninnikov went to Petersburg via Yakutsk. Here he married Stepanida Ivanovna Tsibulskaya, a relative of the local governor. Since there was no money to pay a salary to the Kamchatka researcher in Yakutsk, he had to go to Irkutsk. Here Krasheninnikov met with Gmelin and Miller. In fairness, it should be noted that they highly appreciated the work of their ward and sent a petition to the capital to increase his salary by 100 rubles. However, the request remained unanswered.
At the end of 1742, the couple reached the capital. Here is a former student; and now a promising young scientist with ten years of experience in expeditionary work was left at the Academy of Sciences. Already in 1745 he was awarded the title of adjunct, and in 1750 - professor of natural history and botany with an annual salary of 660 rubles. In subsequent years, Krasheninnikov was in charge of the academic botanical garden, processed his own materials and the archive of Steller, who died in Siberia, was the rector of the academic gymnasium and university. Together with Lomonosov, with whom he had friendly relations, he managed to oppose Miller's theory about the Norman origin of the Russian people.
The scientist was already known abroad. Carl Linnaeus himself sent Krasheninnikov a letter with a proposal for a correspondence. However, his health was seriously undermined by malnutrition and overwork during travels, and even after them. The financial situation of the family was quite miserable. To this was added a severe form of tuberculosis. The professor's petitions have been preserved with requests to give him a few additional rubles to pay for the purchase of medicines, which "they do not sell on credit from the pharmacy."
At 7 am on February 25, 1755, Krasheninnikov died, leaving his wife and children practically without a livelihood. Stepanida Ivanovna submitted a “report” to the office of the Academy of Sciences that she was left “with six juvenile orphans” and “deprived of the opportunity to “bury” her late husband. She was given Stepan Petrovich's annual salary and 100 rubles for the funeral, provided that she gave her husband's books and manuscripts to the Academy. The widow could hardly be consoled by the fact that she was allowed to receive several copies of the Description of the Kamchatka Land, which the author himself saw only in proofs.
Upon learning of this, the famous Russian poet A.P. Sumarokov wrote “Tsidulka to the children of Professor Krasheninnikov”: “The unfortunate father, the most unfortunate children, Whom evil fate has urged to seize. If your father had been an orderly person [official], Then you would not have been unhappy forever. Later, he wrote a play in which one of the characters also commemorated the fate of Krasheninnikov's children: “And an honest man, the children came to beg for alms, whom their father traveled to the Kamchatka kingdom and was in the Kamchatka state and wrote a story about this state; however, they read his fairy tale, and his children walk around in patches - it’s a gift that their father was in the Kamchatka state, and for the fact that they are pushing in a dyed dress, they call them Krasheninnikins.
The manuscript of the book "Description of the Land of Kamchatka" (it was not published for a long time because of the cover of secrecy over the expedition) brought Krasheninnikov wide fame throughout Europe. Published in 1756, it became the best work on the history of the conquest of Kamchatka, the first Russian scientific work on ethnography. Soon the book was translated into English, German, Dutch. Several times it was reprinted in Russia (1786, 1818-1819, 1949). In it, scientists of various specialties still draw information for their own scientific developments.
The preface to the "Description" was written by G.F. Miller after the death of S.P. Krasheninnikov.
As material for illustrations, sketches by the artist I.Kh. Berkan. Made from them by master I.E. Grimmel's drawings were approved by the Academy of Arts and S.P. Krasheninnikov. Engraved drawings by I.A. Sokolov, who engraved the early coronation of Elizabeth Petrovna.
The author of the map "Land of Kamchatka" is the traveler himself, but the map "Kuril Islands" - G.F. Miller. At the end of each volume - compiled by A.I. Bogdanov pointers: "A brief statement of things ... collected alphabetically quickly for the sake of finding."