A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xvii Part 8

From the snout to the end of the tail 7 2 From the snout to the shoulder-bone 2 3 Height of the shoulder 4 3 Circ.u.mference near the fore-legs 4 10 Breadth of the fore-paw 10

lb.

Weight of the four quarters 436 Weight of the four quarters of the smallest 256

On comparing the dimensions of this with Lord Mulgrave's white bear, they were found almost exactly the same, except in the circ.u.mference, where our's fell exceedingly short.

These animals afforded us a few excellent meals of fresh meat. The flesh had, indeed, a strong filthy taste, but was, in every respect infinitely superior to that of the sea-horse; which nevertheless our people were again persuaded, without much difficulty, to prefer to their salted provisions.

At six in the morning of the 20th, a thick fog coming on, we lost sight of the ice for two hours; but the weather clearing, we saw the main body again to the S.S.E., when we hauled our wind, which was easterly, toward it, in the expectation of making the American coast to the S.E., and which we effected at half past ten. At noon, the lat.i.tude, by account, was 69 33', and longitude 194 53', and the depth of water nineteen fathoms. The land extended from S. by E. to S.S.W. 1/2 W., distant eight or ten leagues, being the same we had seen last year; but it was now much more covered with snow than at that time, and to all appearance the ice adhered to the sh.o.r.e.

We continued in the afternoon sailing through a sea of loose ice, and standing toward the land, as near as the wind, which was E.S.E., would admit. At eight the wind lessening, there came on a thick fog, and on perceiving a rippling in the water, we tried the current, which we found to set to the E.N.E., at the rate of a mile an hour, and therefore determined to steer during the night before the wind, in order to stem it, and to oppose the large fragments of loose ice that were setting us on toward the land. The depth of the water at midnight was twenty fathoms.

At eight in the morning of the 21st, the wind freshening, and the fog clearing away, we saw the American coast to the S.E., at the distance of eight or ten leagues, and hauled in for it; but were stopped again by the ice, and obliged to bear away to the westward, along the edge of it. At noon, the lat.i.tude, by account, was 69 34', and longitude 193, and the depth of water twenty-four fathoms.

Thus a connected solid field of ice, rendering every effort we could make to a nearer approach to the land fruitless, and joining as we judged to it, we took a last farewell of a N.E pa.s.sage to Old England. I shall beg leave to give, in Captain Clerke's own words, the reasons of this his final determination, as well as of his future plans; and this the rather, as it is the last transaction his health permitted him to write down.

"It is now impossible to proceed the least farther to the northward upon this coast (America); and it is equally as improbable that this amazing ma.s.s of ice should be dissolved by the few remaining summer-weeks which will terminate this season; but it will continue, it is to be believed, as it now is, an insurmountable barrier to every attempt we can possibly make.

I therefore think it the best step that can be taken, for the good of the service, to trace the sea over to the Asiatic coast, and to try if I can find any opening, that will admit me farther north; if not, to see what more is to be done upon that coast; where I hope, yet cannot much flatter myself, to meet with better success; for the sea is now so choaked with ice, that a pa.s.sage, I fear, is totally out of the question."

[21] Krusenstern substantially admits the correctness of Captain King's statement respecting the Russian hospital, &c. by saying, expressively enough, things are not quite so bad at present. It is evident, however, from his remarks, that the change to the better is almost to the full amount of being imperceptible, notwithstanding the zeal of some individuals whose exertions he is anxious to eulogize, and his own disposition to believe that their well-meant exertions have not been entirely fruitless. The change, it would seem, consists in the greater quant.i.ties of medicine sent to Kamtschatka, and not in the greater practicability of judiciously applying them. This, most persons of discernment will shrewdly suspect, is several degrees worse than problematically a change to the better. At least one could scarcely help desiring rather to accept peaceably the warrant of a natural death, than to risk the enhancement of a conflict on the doubtful aid of a bungling doctor, whose chief recommendation, perhaps, if he would but allow himself to be favoured by it, consisted in his avowed ignorance securing his neutrality. In such a case, indeed, and it seems on the whole to be almost the very one which K.

describes, it is obvious enough that the medicines can at least do no more harm than the bottles and boxes that contain them; but then one cannot easily perceive wherein consists the merit or utility of having provided them, unless, as in the instance of fire-arms hung over the chimney never to be loaded or fired, or in that of idols of wood and stone which adorn the temples of pagans, but which can neither receive nor bestow favours, we shall suppose that the imagination of some potential advantages is quite equivalent to the reality of their operation. Krusenstern has some sensible remarks on the proper method of supplying Kamtschatka with well-qualified physicians, but they are of course foreign to this place, and cannot, therefore, properly be introduced.--E.

[22] This bird, which is somewhat larger than the common gull, pursues the latter kind whenever it meets them; the gull, after flying for some time, with loud screams, and evident marks of great terror, drops its dung, which its pursuer immediately darts at, and catches before it falls into the sea.

[23] The distance betwixt the two remarkable points now specified, it will be proper for the reader to remember, is estimated at 13 leagues, or about 40 miles, being the nearest approach of the two continents of Asia and America yet ascertained.--E.

[24] Captain Cook then must still be allowed to have succeeded in getting farther towards the north in this ocean, than any other navigator.

For, from the date of this voyage up to the present period, so far at least as has been published, no one has surpa.s.sed the limit of his examination. But it is obvious, from the very circ.u.mstance of the difference betwixt the two attempts recorded in this voyage, that a considerable variation in the state and intensity of the obstructing cause may occur in various years. There is a probability then, that a still greater difference might be experienced, affording a practicable opportunity of getting still more towards the north than in either of them. How far this probability, not a great one, as Captain King afterwards suggests, ought to be considered, or how far the expectation of any benefit arising from it, ought to influence in directing another similar undertaking, it is not the province of this work to speculate. But one cannot help remarking, that the Russian government at least, might not be injudiciously employed in ordering one or more vessels, properly fitted up, to be kept in readiness at some port in this distant region of the empire, to take advantage of any season more suitable than another, for prosecuting the enterprise.

Nay, is it not far from being romantic to imagine, that the two friendly powers of Russia and Great Britain might actually find a reward, in the promotion of their mutual interest, by a joint and well-concerted plan for opening up a communication by any means betwixt the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans? Both of them, one should suppose, must be sensible, that the zeal of their intermediate neighbour (if the expression may be used) the Americans, to discover the practicability of a connexion, and of course to establish one betwixt the opposite sides of the new continent, is not likely to prove altogether fruitless, though perhaps there are still more formidable difficulties in the way of its exercise. A little time will probably demonstrate, that these politic republicans have not in vain emulated the enterprising spirit, or commercial sagacity of the parent state; and that neither of the other governments just now mentioned, has fully profited of all the advantages which its possessions have continued to hold out.--E.

SECTION IV.

Fruitless Attempts to penetrate through the Ice to the North-West.-- Dangerous Situation of the Discovery.--Sea-horses killed.--Fresh Obstructions from the Ice.--Report of Damages received by the Discovery.-- Captain Clerke's Determination to proceed to the Southward.--Joy of the s.h.i.+ps' Crews on that Occasion.--Pa.s.s Serdze Kamen.--Return through Beering's Strait.--Enquiry into the Extent of the North-East Coast of Asia.--Reasons for rejecting Muller's Map of the Promontory of the Tschutski.--Reasons for believing the Coast does not reach a higher Lat.i.tude than 70-1/2 North.--General Observations on the Impracticability of a North-East or North-West Pa.s.sage from the Atlantic into the Pacific Ocean.--Comparative View of the Progress made in the Years 1778 and 1779.--Remarks on the Sea and Sea-coasts, North of Beering's Strait.--History of the Voyage resumed.--Pa.s.s the Island of St Laurence.--The Island of Mednoi.--Death of Captain Clerke.--Short Account of his Services.

Captain Clerke having determined, for the reasons a.s.signed, to give up all farther attempts on the coast of America, and to make his last efforts in search of a pa.s.sage on the coast of the opposite continent, we continued during the afternoon of the 21st of July, to steer to the W.N.W., through much loose ice. At ten at night, discovering the main body of it through the fog, right ahead, and almost close to us, and being unwilling to take a southerly course so long as we could possibly avoid it, we hauled our wind, which was easterly, and stood to the northward; but in an hour after, the weather clearing up, and finding ourselves surrounded by a compact field of ice on every side, except to the S.S.W., we tacked and stood on in that direction, in order to get clear of it.

At noon of the 22d, our lat.i.tude, by observation, was 69 30', and longitude 187 30'. In the afternoon we again came up with the ice, which extended to the N.W. and S.W., and obliged us to continue our course to the southward, in order to weather it.

It may be remarked, that, since the 8th of this month, we had twice traversed this sea, in lines nearly parallel with the run we had just now made; that in the first of those traverses we were not able to penetrate so far north, by eight or ten leagues, as in the second; and that in the last we had again found an united body of ice, generally about five leagues to the southward of its position in the preceding run. As this proves that the large compact fields of ice, which we saw, were moveable, or diminis.h.i.+ng, at the same time, it does not leave any well-founded expectations of advancing much farther in the most favourable seasons.

At seven in the evening, the weather being hazy, and no ice in sight, we bore away to the westward; but at half past eight the fog dispersing, we found ourselves in the midst of loose ice, and close in with the main body; we therefore stood upon a wind, which was still easterly, and kept beating to windward during the night, in hopes of weathering the loose pieces, which the freshness of the wind kept driving down upon us in such quant.i.ties, that we were in manifest danger of being blocked up by them.

In the morning of the 23d, the clear water, in which we continued to stand to and fro, did not exceed a mile and a half, and was every instant lessening. At length, after using our utmost endeavours to clear the loose ice, we were driven to the necessity of forcing the pa.s.sage to the southward, which at half past seven we accomplished, but not without subjecting the s.h.i.+p to some very severe shocks. The Discovery was less successful. For at eleven, when they had nigh got clear out, she became so entangled by several large pieces, that her way was stopped, and immediately dropping bodily to leeward, she fell broadside foremost, on the edge of a considerable body of ice; and having at the same time an open sea to windward, the surf caused her to strike violently upon it. This ma.s.s at length either so far broke, or moved, as to set them at liberty to make another trial to escape; but unfortunately before the s.h.i.+p gathered way enough to be under command, she again fell to leeward on another fragment; and the swell making it unsafe to lie to windward, and finding no chance of getting clear, they pushed into a small opening, furled their sails, and made fast with ice-hooks.

In this dangerous situation we saw them at noon, about three miles from us, bearing N.W., a fresh gale from the S.E. driving more ice to the N.W., and increasing the body that lay between us. Our lat.i.tude, by account, was 69 8', the longitude 187 and the depth of water twenty-eight fathoms. To add to the gloomy apprehensions which began to force themselves on us, at half past four in the afternoon, the weather becoming thick and hazy, we lost sight of the Discovery; but that we might be in a situation to afford her every a.s.sistance in our power, we kept standing on close by the edge of the ice. At six, the wind happily coming round to the north, gave us some hopes that the ice might drift away and release her; and in that case, as it was uncertain in what condition she might come out, We kept firing a gun every half hour, in order to prevent a separation. Our apprehensions for her safety did not cease till nine, when we heard her guns in answer to ours; and soon after being hailed by her, were informed that upon the change of wind the ice began to separate; and that setting all their sails, they forced a pa.s.sage through it. We learned farther, that whilst they were encompa.s.sed by it, they found the s.h.i.+p drift with the main body to the N.E., at the rate of half a mile an hour. We were sorry to find that the Discovery had rubbed off a great deal of the sheathing from her bows, and was become very leaky, from the strokes she had received when she fell upon the edge of the ice.

On the 24th we had fresh breezes from the S.W., with hazy weather, and kept running to the S.E. till eleven in the forenoon, when a large body of loose ice, extending from N.N.E. round by the E., to S.S.E., and to which (though the weather was tolerably clear) we could see no end, again obstructed our course. We therefore kept working to windward, and at noon our lat.i.tude, by observation, was 68 53', longitude 188; the variation of the compa.s.s 22 30' E. At four in the afternoon it became calm, and we hoisted out the boats in pursuit of the sea-horses, which were in prodigious herds on every side of us. We killed ten of them, which were as many as we could make use of for eating, or for converting into lamp-oil. We kept on with the wind from the S.W., along the edge of the ice, which extended in a direction almost due E. and W., till four in the morning of the 25th, when observing a clear sea beyond it to the S.E., we made sail that way, with a view of forcing through it. By six we had cleared it, and continued the remainder of the day running to the S.E., without any ice in sight. At noon, our lat.i.tude, by observation, was 68 38', longitude 189 9', and the depth of water thirty fathoms. At midnight we tacked and stood to the westward, with a fresh gale from the S.; and at ten in the forenoon, of the 26th, the ice again shewed itself, extending from N.W. to S. It appeared loose, and drifting by the force of the wind to the northward. At noon, our lat.i.tude, by observation, was 68 N., longitude 188 10' E.; and we had soundings with twenty-eight fathoms. For the remaining part of the day, and till noon of the 27th, we kept standing backward and forward, in order to clear ourselves of different bodies of ice. At noon we were in lat.i.tude, by observation, 67 47', longitude 188. At two in the afternoon, we saw the continent to the S. by E.; and at four, having run since noon with a S.S.E.

wind to the S.W., we were surrounded by loose ma.s.ses of ice, with the firm body of it in sight, stretching in a N. by W. and a S. by E. direction, as far as the eye could reach; beyond which we saw the coast of Asia, bearing S. and S. by E.

As it was now necessary to come to some determination with respect to the course we were next to steer, Captain Clerke sent a boat, with the carpenters, on board the Discovery, to enquire into the particulars of the damage she had sustained. They returned in the evening, with the report of Captain Gore, and of the carpenters of both s.h.i.+ps, that the damages they had received were of a kind that would require three weeks to repair; and that it would be necessary, for that purpose, to go into some port.

Thus, finding a farther advance to the northward, as well as a nearer approach to either continent, obstructed by a sea blocked up with ice, we judged it both injurious to the service, by endangering the safety of the s.h.i.+ps, as well as fruitless, with respect to the design of our voyage, to make any farther attempts toward a pa.s.sage. This, therefore, added to the representations of Captain Gore, determined Captain Clerke not to lose more time in what he concluded to be an unattainable object, but to sail for Awatska Bay, to repair our damages there; and before the winter should set in, and render all other efforts toward discovery impracticable, to explore the coast of j.a.pan.

I will not endeavour to conceal the joy that brightened the countenance of every individual, as soon as Captain Clerke's resolutions were made known.

We were all heartily sick of a navigation full of danger, and in which the utmost perseverance had not been repaid with the smallest probability of success. We therefore turned our faces toward home, after an absence of three years, with a delight and satisfaction, which, notwithstanding the tedious voyage we had still to make, and the immense distance we had to run, were as freely entertained, and perhaps as fully enjoyed, as if we had been already in sight of the Land's-end.

On the 28th, we kept working to windward with a fresh breeze from the S.E., having the coast of Asia still in sight. At four in the morning, the cape, which, on the authority of Muller, we have called Serdze Kamen, bore S.S.W., distant six or seven leagues. We saw in different places, upon the tops of the hills, which rise inland on both sides of the cape, protuberances of a considerable height, which had the appearance of huge rocks, or pillars of stone.

On the 29th, the wind still continuing contrary, we made but slow progress to the southward. At midnight we had thick foggy weather, accompanied with a breeze from the N.N.W., with which we directed our course to the S.S.E.

through the strait, and had no land in sight till seven in the evening of the 30th, when the fog clearing away, we saw Cape Prince of Wales bearing S. by E., distant about six leagues; and the island St Diomede, S.W. by W.

We now altered our course to the W., and at eight made the east cape, which at midnight bore W. by N., distant four leagues. In the night we steered to the S.S.W., with a fresh west-north-westerly breeze; and at four in the morning of the 31st, the east cape bore N.N.E.; and the N.E. part of the bay of St Laurence (where we anch.o.r.ed the last year) W. by S., its distance being four leagues. As we could not have worked up to windward without a greater waste of time than the object appeared to deserve, we ran across the bay, regretting much, as we pa.s.sed along, the loss of this opportunity of paying a second visit to the Tschutski. At noon, our lat.i.tude, by observation, was 65 6', and longitude 189. The south point of the bay of St Laurence bore N. by W. 1/4 W., and was distant seven or eight leagues.

In the afternoon, the variation was found to be 22 50' E.

Having now pa.s.sed Beering's Strait, and taken our final leave of the N.E.

coast of Asia, it may not be improper, on this occasion, to state the grounds on which we have ventured to adopt two general conclusions respecting its extent, in opposition to the opinions of Mr Muller. The first, that the promontory named East Cape, is actually the easternmost point of that quarter of the globe; or, in other words, that no part of the continent extends in longitude beyond 190 22' E.; the second, that the lat.i.tude of the north-easternmost extremity falls to the southward of 70 N. With respect to the former, if such land exist, it must necessarily be to the N. of lat.i.tude 69, where the discoveries made in the present voyage terminate; and, therefore, the probable direction of the coast, beyond this point, is the question I shall endeavour, in the first place, to investigate.

As the Russian is the only nation that has. .h.i.therto navigated these seas, all our information respecting the situation of the coast to the northward of Cape North, must necessarily be derived from the charts and journals of the persons who have been employed at various times in ascertaining the limits of that empire; and these are for the most part so imperfect, so confused, and contradictory, that it is not easy to form any distinct idea of their pretended, much less to collect the amount of their real discoveries. It is on this account, that the extent and form of the peninsula, inhabited by the Tschutski, still remains a point on which the Russian geographers are much divided. Mr Muller, in his map, published in the year 1754, supposes this country to extend toward the N.E., to the 75 of lat.i.tude, and in longitude 190 E. of Greenwich, and to terminate in a round cape, which he calls Tschukotskoi Noss. To the southward of this cape he conceives the coast to form a bay to the westward, bounded in lat.i.tude 67 18', by Serdze Kamen, the northernmost point seen by Beering in his expedition in the year 1728. The map published by the academy of St Petersburgh, in the year 1776, gives the whole peninsula entirely a new form, placing its north-easternmost extremity in the lat.i.tude of 73, longitude 178 30'. The easternmost point in lat.i.tude 65 30', longitude 189 30'. All the other maps we saw, both printed and in ma.n.u.script, vary between these two, apparently more according to the fancy of the compiler, than on any grounds of more accurate information. The only point in which there is a general coincidence, without any considerable variation, is in the position of the east cape in lat.i.tude 66. The form of the coast, both to the S. and N. of this cape, in the map of the academy, is exceedingly erroneous, and may be totally disregarded. In that of Mr Muller, the coast to the northward bears a considerable resemblance to our survey, as far as the latter extends, except that it does not trend sufficiently to the westward, receding only about 5 of longitude, between the lat.i.tude of 66 and 69; whereas in reality it recedes near ten. Between the lat.i.tude of 69 and 74, he makes the coast bend round to the N. and N.E., and to form a considerable promontory. On what authority now remains to be examined.

Mr c.o.xe, whose accurate researches into this subject give his opinion great weight, is persuaded that the extremity of the Noss in question was never pa.s.sed but by Deshneff and his party, who sailed from the river Kovyma in the year 1648, and are supposed to have got round it into the Anadir. As the account of this expedition, the substance of which the reader will find in Mr c.o.xe's Account of Russian Discoveries, contains no geographical delineation of the coast along which they sailed, its position must be conjectured from incidental circ.u.mstances; and from these it appears very manifest, that the Tschukotskoi Noss of Deshneff is no other than the promontory called by Captain Cook the East Cape. Speaking of the Noss, he says, "One might sail from the isthmus to the river Anadir, with a fair wind, in three days and three nights." This exactly coincides with the situation of the East Cape, which is about one hundred and twenty leagues from the mouth of the Anadir; and as there is no other isthmus to the northward between that and the lat.i.tude of 69, it is obvious that, by this description, he must intend either the cape in question, or some other to the southward of it. In another place he says, "Over against the isthmus there are two islands in the sea, upon which were seen people of the Tschutski nation, through whose lips were run pieces of the teeth of the sea-horse." This again perfectly agrees with the two islands situated to the S.E. of the East Cape. We saw indeed no inhabitants on them, but it is not at all improbable that a party of the Americans from the opposite continent, whom this description accurately suits, might, at that time, have been accidentally there; and whom it was natural enough for him to mistake for a tribe of the Tschutski.[25]

These two circ.u.mstances are of so striking and unequivocal a nature, that they appear to me conclusive on the point of the Tschukotskoi Noss, notwithstanding there are others of a more doubtful kind, which we have from the same authority, and which now remain to be considered. "To go,"

says Deshneff in another account, "from the Kovyma to the Anadir, a great promontory must be doubled, which stretches very far into the sea;" and afterwards, "this promontory stretches between N. and N.E." It was probably from the expressions contained in these pa.s.sages, that Mr Muller was induced to give the country of the Tschutski the form we find in his map; but had he been acquainted with the situation of the east cape, as ascertained by Captain Cook, and the remarkable coincidence between it and this promontory or isthmus, (for it must be observed, that Deshneff appears to be all along speaking of the same thing), in the circ.u.mstances already mentioned, I am confident he would not have thought those expressions, merely by themselves, of sufficient weight to warrant him in extending the north-eastern extremity of Asia, either so far to the north or to the eastward. For, after all, these expressions are not irreconcilable with the opinion we have adopted, if we suppose Deshneff to have taken these bearings from the small bight which lies to the westward of the cape.

The deposition of the Cossack Popoff, taken at the Anadirskoi ostrog; in the year 1711, seems to have been the next authority on which Mr Muller has proceeded; and beside these two, I am not acquainted with any other. This Cossack, together with several others, was sent by land to demand tribute from the independent Tschutski tribes, who lived about the Noss. The first circ.u.mstance in the account of this journey that can lead to the situation of Tschukotskoi Noss, is its distance from Anadirsk; and this is stated to be ten weeks' journey with loaded rein-deer; on which account, it is added, their day's journey was but very small. It is impossible to conclude much from so vague an account; but, as the distance between the east cape and the ostrog is upward of two hundred leagues in a straight line, and therefore may be supposed to allow twelve or fifteen miles a day, its situation cannot be reckoned incompatible with Popoff's calculation. The next circ.u.mstance mentioned in this deposition is, that their route lay by the foot of a rock called Matkol, situated at the bottom of a great gulf.

This gulf Muller supposes to be the bay he had laid down between lat.i.tude 66 and 72; and accordingly places the rock Matkol in the centre of it; but it appears equally probable, even if we had not so many reasons to doubt the existence of that bay, that it might be some part of the gulf of Anadir, which they would undoubtedly touch upon in their road from the ostrog to the east cape.

But what seems to put this matter beyond all dispute, and to prove that the cape visited by Popoff cannot be to the northward of 69 lat.i.tude, is, that part of his deposition, which I have already quoted, relative to the island lying off the Noss, from whence the opposite continent might be seen. For as the two continents in lat.i.tude 69, have diverged so far as to be more than three hundred miles distant, it is highly improbable that the Asiatic coast should again trend in such a manner to the eastward, as to come nearly within sight of the coast of America.

If these arguments should be deemed conclusive against the existence of the peninsula of the Tschutski, as laid down by Muller, it will follow that the east cape is the Tschukotskoi Noss of the[26] more early Russian navigators; and, consequently, that the undescribed coast from the lat.i.tude of 69 to the mouth of the river Kovyma, must uniformly trend more or less to the westward. As an additional proof of this, it may be remarked, that the Tschukotskoi Noss is always represented as dividing the sea of Kovyma from that of Anadir, which could not be the case, if any considerable cape had projected to the N.E. in the higher lat.i.tudes. Thus, in the depositions taken at Anadirsk, it is related, "that opposite the Noss, on both sides, as well in the sea of Kovyma, as in that of Anadir, an island is said to be seen at a great distance, which the Tschutski call a large country; and say that people dwell there who have large teeth put in their mouths that project through their cheeks." Then follows a description of these people and their country, exactly corresponding with our accounts of the opposite continent.

The last question that arises is, to what degree of northern lat.i.tude this coast extends, before it trends more directly to the westward. If the situation of the mouth of the Kovyma, both with respect to its lat.i.tude and longitude, were accurately determined, it would perhaps not be very difficult to form a probable conjecture upon this point. Captain Cook was always strongly of opinion that the northern coast of Asia, from the Indigirka eastward, has. .h.i.therto been generally laid down more than two degrees to the northward of its true position; and he has, therefore, on the authority of a map that was in his possession, and on the information he received at Oonalashka, placed the mouth of the river Kovyma, in his chart of the N.W. coast of America, and the N.E. coast of Asia, in the lat.i.tude of 68. Should he be right in this conjecture, it is probable, for the reasons that have been already stated, that the Asiatic coast does not any where exceed 70, before it trends to the westward; and consequently, that we were within 1 of its north-eastern extremity. For, if the continent be supposed to stretch any where to the northward of Shelatskoi Noss, it is scarcely possible that so extraordinary a circ.u.mstance should not have been mentioned by the Russian navigators; and we have already shewn that they make mention of no remarkable promontory between the Kovyma and the Anadir, except the east cape. Another circ.u.mstance, related by Deshneff, may, perhaps, be thought a further confirmation of this opinion, namely, that he met with no impediment from ice in navigating round the N.E. extremity of Asia; though, he adds, that this sea is not always so free from it, as indeed is manifest from the failure of his first expedition, and since that, from the unsuccessful attempts of Shalauroff, and the obstacles we met with, in two different years, in our present voyage.[27]

The continent left undetermined in our chart between Cape North, and the mouth of the Kovyma is, in longitudinal extent, one hundred and twenty-five leagues. One-third, or about forty leagues, of this distance, from the Kovyma eastward, was explored in the year 1723, by a _sinbo-jarskoi_ of Jakutz, whose name was Feodor Amossoff, by whom Mr Muller was informed, that its direction was to the eastward. It is said to have been since accurately surveyed by Shalauroff, whose chart makes it trend to the N.E.

by E., as far as the Shelatskoi Noss, which he places about forty-three leagues to the eastward of the Kovyma. The s.p.a.ce between this Noss and Cape North, about eighty-two leagues, is therefore the only part of the Russian empire that now remains unascertained.

But if the river Kovyma be erroneously situated with respect to its longitude, as well as in its lat.i.tude, a supposition for which probable grounds are not wanting, the extent of the unexplored coast will become proportionably diminished. The reasons which incline me to believe that the mouth of this river is placed in the Russian charts much too far to the westward, are as follow: First, because the accounts that are given of the navigation of the Frozen Sea from that river, round the N.E. point of Asia to the gulf of Anadir, do not accord with the supposed distance between those places. Secondly, because the distance over land from the Kovyma to the Anadir is represented by the early Russian travellers as a journey easily performed, and of no very extraordinary length. Thirdly, because the coast from the Shelatskoi Noss of Shalauroff[28] seems to trend directly S.E. to the East Cape. If this be so, it will follow, that as we were probably not more than 1 to the southward of Shelatskoi Noss, only sixty miles of the Asiatic coast remain unascertained.[29]

Had Captain Cook lived to this period of our voyage, and experienced, in a second attempt, the impracticability of a N.E. or N.W. pa.s.sage from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, he would doubtless have laid before the public, in one connected view, an account of the obstacles which defeated this, the primary object of our expedition, together with his observations on a subject of such magnitude, and which had engaged the attention and divided the opinions of philosophers and navigators for upward of two hundred years. I am very sensible how unequal I am to the task of supplying this deficiency; but that the expectations of the reader may not be wholly disappointed, I must beg his candid acceptance of the following observations, as well as of those I have already ventured to offer him, relative to the extent of the N.E. coast of Asia.

The evidence that has been so fully and judiciously stated in the introduction, amounts to the highest degree of probability that a N.W.

pa.s.sage from the Atlantic into the Pacific Ocean, cannot exist to the southward of 65 of lat.i.tude. If then there exist a pa.s.sage, it must be either through Baffin's Bay, or round by the north of Greenland, in the western hemisphere, or else through the Frozen Ocean, to the northward of Siberia, in the eastern; and on whichever side it lies, the navigator must necessarily pa.s.s through Beering's Strait. The impracticability of penetrating into the Atlantic on either side, through the strait, is therefore all that remains to be submitted to the consideration of the public.