KOTZEBUE, Otto von.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Voyage of Discovery, into the South Sea and Beering's Straits, First edition in English, following the German edition of the same year. Kotzebue's celebrated narrative is "important for its descriptions of Alaska, California, Hawaii, and Micronesia" (Forbes).Sponsored by Count Romanzoff, this was the second Russian expedition into the Pacific for scientific exploration. Kotzebue (1787-1846) had earlier sailed with Krusenstern in the first Russian circumnavigation (1803-06). "The Rurick rounded Cape Horn and visited Chile, Easter Island, and the Marshall Islands. Kotzebue explored the North American coast and Hawaii and searched unsuccessfully for a passage to the Arctic Ocean. The description of the northwest coast of America is a most important contribution. The second volume contains a description of California... The abridged narrative of the naturalist Adelbert von Chamisso in the third volume is important for his descriptions and remarks on the climate, flora, fauna, and peoples of California and the northwest coast of America" (Hill). Also included is a valuable 22-page Micronesian language lexicon, with Chamorro, Yapese, Ulea-Atoll Carolinian, and Radak-chain Marshallese. The lexicon by Chamisso "includes numerous words not given in the most comprehensive Chamorro dictionaries. Further, several of these words are not currently in use" (Kerr, p. 4).In his "The Hawaii Hundred", Derek McDonnell describes Kotzebue's account of Hawaii during the reign of Kamehameha I as of

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