The error was rectified by Nevelskoy in 1849. The authority of his predecessors was so great, however, that when he reported his discoveries in Petersburg, they did not believe him. They considered his conduct as imperti- nent and subject to punishment, and they "concluded" that he should be degraded. Nobody knows how this would all have ended if the Tsar himself had not come to his de- fense. The Tsar decided that Nevelskoy had acted with courage, nobility and patriotism.0
Nevelskoy was an energetic, highly temperamental man, well-educated, unselfish, humanitarian, completely per- meated with an idea and fanatically devoted to it, and possessing high principles. One of his acquaintances wrote: "I never met a more honorable man." In five years he made a brilliant career for himself on the eastern shore and on Sakhalin, but he lost his daughter, who died of starvation, and he soon grew old. His wife aged and lost her health. She had been "a young, lovely and amiable person," who had borne all her privations heroically.7
In order to conclude the discussion on the question of thc isthmus and the peninsula, I consider it rather impor- tant to note a few more details. In 1710, by order of the Chinese Emperor, missionaries in Peking drew a map of Tatary. The missionaries made use of Japanese maps. This is obvious since at that time the passage through the La Perouc and Tatar Straits was known only to the Jap- anese. The map was sent to France and became widely known because it was included in the atlas compiled by the geographer dAnville.8
To a small mistake on this map Sakhalin owes its name. On the western bank of Sakhalin, exactly across from the mouth of the Amur, the map includes a name given by the missionaries: "Saghalien-angahata," which means "The Cliffs of the Black River" in Mongolian. This name probably re- fers to some crag or cape at the mouth of the Amur. In France it was understood differently, and believed to be the name of the island. Hence the name Sakhalin, which was retained by Krusenstern on Russian maps. The Japa- nese called Sakhalin Karafto or Karaftu, which means "Chinese Island."
The works of the Japanese either reached Europe very late when they were no longer needed or they were sub- jected to erroneous corrections. On the missionaries' map, Sakhalin was an island, but d'Anville, who mistrusted their map, placed an isthmus berween the island and the main- land.
The Japanese were the first to explore Sakhalin, begin- ning in 1613, but so little significance was attached to their explorations in Europe that when the Russians and the Japanese attempted to decide who owned Sakhalin, only the Russians wrote and spoke about the rights deriving from this first expedition."
A new survey containing all possible details of the Tatar and Sakhalin shores has long been necessary. The present maps arc unsatisfactory, as we know from the fact that both naval and commercial vessels often run aground on sand and rocks, and this occurs much more frequently than re- portcd in thc ncwspapcrs. Due chiefly to the inaccuracy of existing maps, thc ships' captains hcre arc very cautious, overanxious and ncrvous. The captain of the Baikal docs not belicvc the official maps and follows his own map, which he draws and corrects cach trip.
To avoid bcing strandcd on the sand, the captain de- cided not to sail that night and aftcr sunsct wc anchorcd off Cape Dzhaorc. On the cape itsclf there was a lone cabin inhabited by the naval officer in charge of placing and maintaining markers along thc waterway. Behind thc cabin lay the impassable, somnolent taiga. The captain sent him some fresh meat. I took advantage of the situation and went to shore with the launch. Instead of a pier thcre werc only large slippcry rocks, and it was necessary to jump over them. There were stcps to the cabin, made of timber struck almost perpendicularly into the ground, so that in climb- ing it was necessary to take strong handholds. It was awful! By the time I climbed the hill and reached the cabin I was surrounded with swarms of mosquitoes; the air was black with them. My hands and face smarted and there was no way to defend myself. I believe that if one had to sleep here under the bare sky without being surrounded with bonfires, one would perish or at the very least go insane.
The cabin was cut in half by a hallway. To the left lived the sailors; to the right, the officer and his family. The master was not at home. I met an elegantly gowned, cul- tured lady, his wife, and his two little daughters, who were covered with mosquito bites. All the walls of the rooms were festooned with fir branches, gauze was stretched over the windows, there was a strong odor of smoke, yet the mosquitoes were oblivious to all these precautions, and hov- ered over everything, and stung the poor little girls. The furnicure of the room was poor, composed only of camp equipment, but the decorations were charming and taste- ful. There were sketches on the wall, among them one of a woman's head done in pencil. It appeared that the lieuten- ant was an artist.
"Do you live well here?" I asked the lady.
"We live well, except for the mosquitoes."
She was not pleased with the gift of fresh meat. She said that she and the children had grown accustomed to salted meat long ago, and they did not like fresh meat.
"However, I did cook trout yesterday," she added.
A sullen sailor accompanied me to the launch. As though he had guessed the question I proposed to ask him, he sighed and said, "One doesn't come here voluntarily!"
The next morning we resumed the journey in complete calm. The weather was warm. The Tatar shore was moun- tainous, and there were many sharp, conical peaks. The coast was lightly covered with a bluish haze, the smoke from distant forest fires. They say the haze is sometimes so thick here that it is just as dangerous as sea mist to the sailors. If a bird should fly straight from the sea over the mountains, it would probably not encounter a single house or a single living person within 500 versts and more. The green shore glistens merrily in the sunshine and is obviously quite content to be uninhabited.
At six o'clock we were in the narrowest part of the strait, between Capes Pogobi and Lazarev, and we saw both banks at close hand. At eight o'clock, we passed near Nevelskoy Head, a mountain with a kind of protuberance on the top like a little hat. The morning was clear and sparkling, and my pleasure was enhanced by the proud knowledge that I was gazing on these shores.
At two o'clock we entered De Kastri Bay. This is the only place where ships sailing the strait can gain shelter during a storm. Without this bay, it would be impossible to sail along the completely inhospitable Sakhalin shore.10 There is even an expre«ion: "to scamper into De Kastri." The bay is beautiful, a made-to-order narural phenomenon. It is a round lake, three versts in diameter, with high banks which give shelter from the winds and form a wide outlet to the sea. If one judges from outward appearances, this bay is ideal—but, alas, it only seems so. Seven months of the year it is covered with ice, is barely sheltered from the eastern winds and is so shallow that ships must cast anchor some two versts from the shore. The outlet to the sea is guarded by three islands, or, more accurately, reefs, which endow thc bay with an original bcauty. One of them is named Oyster Reef from thc very large, plump oysters which abound on it.
On the shore there were scveral small houscs and a church. This is the Alexandrovsk command post. The commandant, his factor and thc telegraph operators live here. Onc of the local officials who camc to dine on board, a boring and bored man, talkcd constantly at thc table, drank a great deal and related thc old anecdote about the geese who, having eaten berries used in making liqueur, became drunk, were taken for dead, plucked and thrown outside, and later, after slecping off thc cffects of the alco- hol, returned home completely nude. The official swore that the event with thc gccse took place at De Kastri, in his own home.