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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 \ \ >• /nifr/>irf/a7 .Vox cxBiM-ings Island \> (^.Wetfnc v ^ CHRONOLOGICAL HI S T O R Y OP NORTH-EASTERN VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY; AND OF THE EARLY EASTERN NAVIGATIONS OF THE RUSSIANS. BY CAPTAIN JAMES BURNEY, F.TJ.S. L N J) X : Printed by Luhe HaiiSiird S- Snn^, T.'niccln's-Jnn Fielda, FOR PAYNE AND FOSS, PALL-MALI,; AND JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARl.E-STRKET. 1819. 7^ ./ KmMI.,-. I,//- A^ -' \ .V vtlu'i' maTitime nations. What I bad uritren I reserved for tuliire considtM-alioii; and now on resumiuj^the subject, I have aimed no tarther than to examine^ th('3 northern na\igation.s of the Russians, and the norlh-east(Tn voyaj^es of discovery tVon\ the Knropeaii seas, oxcejrt to add, as I proceeded, such brief account of tli*"* other early expeditions of the Kussians. a5 should preserve a geuerai and coimecl«d view of the whole. May, 1810. i % if: ) CONTENTS. CHAP. t. Concerntui* the earliest hmmkdge obtained of the Sea J^ortfi of Europe and of Asia. Tlic fint Voyage kmivn to have been performed round the Nortli Cai)c of Ewropt' _---------- p'l CHAP. Tl. Voi/age% made hi/ the English and by the Hollander^, in Wirch Iff a North East Passage from the l'M\o\H:im fet'as 4,' K CHAP. IV, Report uf a large land in the Icy Sea. Expeditions of tseinocM Desclmew and his Companions. Vessels called Schitiki. Di/'Kan)t!>chatkii ------- p. 90 CHAP. VTII. Expedition of the llussians agiiuit the Tscliuktiiki. Jonrnei/ of Sin I'oposv to the 'IVIiuktv.ki \ at ion, and of the proximity/ of a Gicat. Country to the East, p. 96 CHAP. IX. Invasion of the Kiuili Islands. Expedit'vis in tht Icy Sea P- xoi CHAP. X. The Ihi^sians build Ships in the Ports of the Eastern Sea. Journeif o)" AU'xei Maikow to search for the Northern Lands. Eirst Navigation from Ochutzk to KamtscUalka. T/' ^''an read Plans. CHAP. I. ^1 Concerning the earliest knoxdcdge obtained of the Sea North 0/ Europe and of Asia. The first Voyage hioxm to have been performed round the North Cape 0/" Europe. A M O N G tlic ancient gcograpliers, and until <'!i vp -^-^ the discovery of America, the most com- ^ — ^ — mon division made of the portion of the Eaitii now called the old Continent, but which its in- habitants then believed to be the whole Earth, islands exce])ted, was into three parts, namely, Asia, Europe, and Africa or Lybia ; and the opinion most generally entertained was, that this one iireat Continent was bounded on all sides by the sea. Consequently, without the knowledge of any fact relating thereto, there could not fail to exist a belief of an hijperl)orean Sea ; and hence, more than from any actual notice or intimation which had reached the Greeks concerning the re- mote Northern parts of the World, it may be sup- posed, that Eratostlienes, (who lived 11)4 years before the ('hristian era), believed the Caspian Sea to be a ijjulf of a Northern Ocean. Strabo en- tertained the same o}>inion with Eratosthenes, althouirh louij; before, lleroLJotus had afiirmcd tlie Caspian to be a sea ha\ ing no connnunication with r» niiv any other sea, and had described its extent, * that * a swift rowing boat would in fifteen days * measure its length, and its extreme breadth in * eight davs.' This proportion in the dimensions, if not very exact, is sufficiently near tlie truth to prove that Herodotus spoke from real infoina- tion, although what he asserted came afterwards to be discredited. But with respect to a Northern or hyj)erborean Sea, Herodotus acknowledged that in his time it was by no means determined whether to the East and North Europe was limited by the Ocean *. There can be no doubt that in the time of the elder Pliny, distinct information had been received concerning the Northern coasts oi Europe and Asia, ' Asia,' Pliny remarks, * is beaten upon * by the main ocean in three parts; to wit, on the * North side, and there it is called Snjthicus ; on * the East, and there it is called Eons-, and on the * South, and there they name it Indiciis* t. Both in Pomponius Melal: and in Phny§, the following '^ Mclp. Cii\>. 45. Herodotus was born 484 years before the Christian era. t C. Vlinii. Xat. lUd. 0. I?,. + ' Ab iis in F.ouni mare cursus inflectitur inque cram terra * spectantis orienteni. Pertinet ha:c a bcythico rroniont()rio ad * C'olida: priniunique oninis est invia: deinde ob inuaanitatem « habitantinm inculta. Scytha'suntAndrophagoict Saca- distincti < regione,quia feris scatet, inhabitabili. Vasta deinde iterumloca * belkia' inlestant us(iue ad niontem mari inuninenteni nomine ' Tabin.' PtmijHmiii.s Mela dc Situ Orbis. 1 -il). HI. cap. 7. § ' A Caspio mari Scythico(iue uceuno, in Eoum cursus inflec- ' tilur, H iollowing description is fomul :— * Beyond the ciui-. ' Caspian Sea and the coast of tlie Scythian " — .— * Ocean, the hmd projects f\u' towards the east, ' the front of its shores ronnding towards the ' rising sun. The first part of the coast, from * the Scythian promontory, is not habitable for ' the snows. The land next adjoining is uncul- * tivatcd, because of the ferocity of the people * which inliabit there. These are the Scythian * Anthropophagi and the Sacr.^ ; men who feed * on human flesh, and therefore near them are * vast solitudes, except that they are inhabited *by multitudes of wild beasts. Thus every * thing in this country is ferocious, beginning * with'^ man. Beyond the solitudes are other * Scytliians ; then other solitudes, the haunts of « wild beasts, as far as to the mountain (or tcr- * mination of a ridge of mountains) hanging over * the sea, which is called TabinJ' In our present geograpliy wliat will best answer to the Sn/thimi promontori/ is difficult to say. The opinions of the geographers of the iGth century appear to point at tlie Tahmtra, the most northern ' titur, ad orientom coiuorsa llttoruni tVonte. Iiihabitabilis ejus * prima pars, a Soylhico pionioutorio, oh nivcs : proxinia inculla, « sa-vitia geiiUum. Anthropoplingi ScythiL> insident, hunianis « corporil.us vescentes. Ideo juxla vasU-e soUtudines, feraruiiuiue « luultiiudo, baud dissinulem houununi iminanitatem obsidens. ' Iteruni deinde Scytluo. lUnuuiquo dcserta cum belluis, usque ' ad jugum incubans mari, quod vocant Tabin/ C. Plinu, Nut. Mist. Lib. VI. ^ CHAP. Oci:ti'r. northern known land of tlie old continent, for the Scythian promonlorij ; to correspond with which, the Moiaitain Tabin woiikl be the Sche- latzkoi Nos, if a probabihty coukl be conceived that by any means of communication then exist- ing, information concerning that extremity of Asia couhl have readied the Romans. Ptolemy did not give credit to the accounts of a Northern sea, and terminated his geography northward with a chain of mountains to which is given the name of llyperhorcan^ professing all beyond those mountains to be unknown. Wiicther knowledge was obtained respecting the northern coasts between the days of Ptolemy the geographer and those of our King Alfred it is impossible to say. The north men must in all times, in those of old especially, have possessed gcogra])hical knowledge of which the (jreeks and Romans were ignorant ; but in the time of Alfred is to be dated the first distinct information received of the sea which is the boiuidarv of Europe to the North, by people capable of re- cording discoveries. This was obtained in a voya2,v made bv a Norwe^rian chief, or North- lander, named Ohthcre, or Ochter, wiio ajjpears to luue been engaged in the service of King Alfred, to whom he related his voyage, and w hieh that illustrious prince wrote down in the Anglo Saxon language. By Ochter was discovered the Northern extremity of Envopc^ emplj'.itically since named the A'or/A Cape ; beibrc whose vova<>'c w :> CHAP. I. 8yo. cUltt'il hy AltllMl. A. n. 890. vova<'o, no part of that roast, or of the North coast". Tlic Sa- iling' edcs. I'oijages made hij the Eu<>:lisli and hij llic Hol- landers, in search of a North Kasf Passage Jrom the European Seas to India. 7? ^!^^^U or Moscovij, is said not to liave -^^ been rei>-arded as an independent state he- tore the tenth century, and at the time of tlie discovery oi\'tmerica, was an iidand country, with the exce])tion only of a small portion of the coast of the JVhile Sea. All to the Eastward of ^foscorJ/ was marked in tiie maps with tlie ge- neral denomination of Tar tar ij. So great have been the political changes in that j)art of the world hi the three last centuries, that in the present limits of the Russian tlominions is com- preliended more of sea coast than is possessed by any other nation of tiie globe. The countries, or coasts of the lands, situated Northward and North-eastward of the JVhile Sea, Mere inhabited by a miserable, diminutive, and filthy i)eople, called Samoyedes, who lived by fishing and hunting. The word Samoyad is said to signify man-eater, or, according to some, self-eater, meaning ])robably, that tiiey esteemed the flesh of a departed friend to be as irood f I X 1 i»,()(>cl fare as tliat of an ciicinv. Ft is even re- lated of them, whieli however must he supposeil exaijgeration, that sometimes to regale a stran, where her ])eo})le were mur- dered by the Samoyedes. Also, that on the Rus- sian side of the Oh dwelt a tribe of Samovedes, called Sibiershi j which name seems to have some affinity to the name Siberia. The next attempts, that have been thought worthy notice, to discover a passage to India by the North-East, were made bv the Hollanders, in a series of voyages undertaken in three suc- cessive years. The merchants of Holland wished, or rather, they were determiied, to participate in tiie advantages of a direct trade with India, which the nations of Europe had hitherto left exclusively in the hands of the Spaniards and Portuguese. Besides the shortness of the route by the North-East, if a passage should be foimd, there would be no danger of meeting a con- tending enemy, whicli in the commencement of an India trade it was desirable to avoid. Permission to discover a way to India by Nova Zemhla and along the coasts of Tartanj, was readily obtained from the States-General, wlio took so great an interest in the enterprise, that they promised a gratuity of twenty-five thousand florins to the individuals who should undertake the voyage, if they succeeded, and also special privileges of trade during the space of eight years, to commence from the disco- very. The > 15 The first of these jxpeditions was undertaken by a ship of Zealand, a ship of Enchmjsen, one of Aynsterdam, and a fishing-bark ; the two first under the command of Cornells Cornelisz Nay, who had served as pilot with the Moscovites in the Northern seas. In the ship of Enchuysen Jan Huygens van Linschoten went as commis, or agent for the merchants. The ship of Amsterdam and the small bark were under Willem Barentsz, a seaman of great reputation. On the .1th of June 1594, the four vessels de- parted in company from the Teael, and the !23d of the same month, arrived at Kilduyn, an island and port near the entrance of the river Kola in Lapland, From this place W. Barentsz sailed with the Amsterdam ships and the small bark for the North of Nova Zemhla. The other vessels directed their course for the Waigatz Strait, In the navigation hctwe^n Kildtiy7i and the Northern part of Nova Zemhla, 140 fathoms depth of water was found ; and at one time of sounding, the depth was more than 150 fathoms, that length of line not reaching to the bottom. On the ^9th of July, Barentsz was in lati- tude by observation 77° N. the most Northern point of Nova Zemhla, then bearing due East. Large impenetrable bodies of ice prevented him from advancing beyond this Cape, and it was therefore named Ys-hoek, or Ice Cape, The two vessels under Cornelisz Nay, sailed from Kilduyn to the Waigatz* In this passage they 1594. Vuy;ii;e hy W. Barciils-z. June. Jul^. Ys-hotk, the North Cape of Nova Zeia- bla. Corn. Najr at the Wai- gaU: Struit. % s w 1594. July. At the ^Vaigatz. 2 lit. 16 they had soundings generally under GO fathoms; they saw several of the vessels called Loddings! and killed a young whale which measured ""iii length 33 feet. The lodding is constructed of tiie interior bark of trees, and instead of nails or iron f-ten- ings, the ])lauks and other parts are sewn or bound together with cords. It has one mast and a square sail. July tlie 21st, they saw land before them, which was belie\ed, and which proved, to be TVaigatz Ishmch Linschoten describes it ele- vated, of good prospect, co\ ered with verdure, but without trees. At three leagues distance they had soundings at 3^i tathoms depth; and at a quarter of a league lU fathoms. At noon, the latitude was observed 70" 2(7 N. ' A quan- * tity of floating wood, trunks, branches, and * roots of trees, covered the surface of the * sea here, and the water was black like the * water of the canals in Holland: This nnid- diness seems to indicate that the wood came from a river not far distant. They sailed S8E. along the coast with depth fron'i V> to !) fathoms. There were rocks near the shore, but they shewed above water. Snow lay on the land only in a few places. As they sailed on, they saw wooden Crosses, supposed to have been set up by Russians! They sent a boat to the shore, and a n)an was seen, who ran away very swiftly, although * hubbhng f 17 •hoU.ling from side to side as if he had cup. . bee,, lame, as the Laplanders and Fmlanders ^^-^ ' .rcuerally do.' The Hollanders pursued, but ;„,^; could not overtake him.. Two rein-deer were w.i,... seen which also fled. There was much herbage on the land, flowers of every colour, some of them of fine odour ; and lawns, the covenng of which was more like moss than grass. Mucli wood lay heaped on the shores, whole trees, lar- Easterly, ke])t working to windward all tlie *2ith. In the morning of the 25th, they vsailed between two points of land moderately elevated, and covered with verdnre, but without trees. The Southern or continental coast was sandy, and the sea near it rocky. The Northern land (^Waigatz Istand) w?i^ rather higher than the Southern, and level at the top. Crosses were seen in many places, but no appearance of habitations. These coasts were full of sinuosi- ties forming small bays, especially the Northern coast, nearest to which the ships kept. The wind being contrary, they anchored several times in the Strait, At one time, they rode out a gale of wind in the middle of the Strait, a rapid current at the same time running through the Strait from the East, which brought with it large clumps of ice, and kept them in much alarm. This current was affected by the tides ; or more properly was partly tide, for it is afterwards remarked, that with the rising tide the current came from the East, and that the ebbing of the tide was scarcely perceptible. The direction of the Strait was here North Eastward. In passing through the Strait, the depth under them was at one time not more than four fathoms, but they were then within a stone's cast of the shore. The 26th, latitude was ob- served 69'' 43' N. On a point of land of the c 2 Waigatz CHAP. u. July. Waiizatz Slrait. 24-th. 2.5 th. 26th :; ;51 )iffl™i i::,r CHAP. II. 1594. July. Waigiit: Strait. '2(nh. 20 Waitgatz tlicy tbiiiul a number of wooden images rudely carved to resemble men, women, and children, not fewer than three or four hundred, loosely heaped one upon another. Linschoten naturally conjectures that when a Samoyede dies, his friends con' ecrate an image to his me- mory. Some of these were worm-eaten and quite decayed ; others new and recently carved. Some had several visages on the same trunk, as if to represent many persons of the same family. * No graves, or bones, or other mark of cemetery * or repository of the dead, were found here, * and perhaps the Samoyedes bring their images * liere at certain seasons of the year.' This cape was named the Cape of Idols. Another cape of JVaigatz, more advanced in the Strait, was named Kruijz Iloe/i, wliich signifies Cape of the Cros,<, On the 29th, an ice island lialf a league in length drifted through the Strait. It was nar- row and came lengtlnvay ; * if it had lain athwart * it would have entirely closed the passage.' One of the ships was at anchor within a pro- jecting point of land, and thither the other went for shelter. The water of the sea here was re- marked to be clear, of a deep blue like the watef of the ocean, and very salt. Smokes had been seen rising from different places on the coast, and at small distances with- in, and men had been seen at a distance. On the 29th, and afterwards, the HcUanders had friendly ^1 tnendi) commiuiicatioii with some Sanioyodes. chap. By means ol' a Russian sailor belonging to one . — ;^ of tlie sliips, * who liacl much trouble to under- IW- stand them,' information was obtained that East- waigaw waid of Nova Zembla was a sea of no great ^^^^^^^^^^^ extent, wluch being passed, there was another extending tar. These Samoyedes bein[^ ques- tioned, if they were subject to the great Czar of Moscovy, rephed, that they knew nothing of him. iliey spoke, however, of P6^/;:or^ and PUzanoy places winch belonged to the Russians, as known to tliem. Among a wandering unsettled people like the Samoyedes, it would naturally happen that some might be made to acknowledge themselves sub- ject to the Russians, and others remain long in perfect ignorance of any such claim to then- obedience. Descriptions of the Russian empire say, that the Samoyedes, or Ostiaks, inhabiting near the River Ob, were compelled to swear fidelity and allegiance to the Russian empire in the following manner:— a mouthful of bread was presented to each man on the point of a knife, and the man receiving it kneeling, was required to say, or repeat, " If in the course « of my life I become unfaithful to my Czar, it " at any time 1 do not pay my tribute, may a « bear devour me, and may this morsel of bread " that I am about to eat choke me." Linschoten says, the Samoyedes seen by him were a very diminutive people, * who might be c 3 * denoniinatcd 0.7 % f '1 ni\r. II. July. \^'lli^iltz Stnut. * ilcnoniinutccl lialj'incn. Some among iliom rc- * scmblctl apes or monsters ! Nevertheless,* he says, * ihey are li^'i,lit ami aleit, jump well, run ' like stags with adniirahie circiimspcetion, * casiiuii' their eves from side to side; none of * our ])e(>ple could keep pace with them in the * race. They ha\ e sledges and rein-deer, and use * bows and arrows, and 1 think they would make * good warriors, it' they could be discijjlined.' lie says larther, * they are not used to fishing, * and live wholly by the chase. We saw no sign * of their having boats or water conveyance of * any kind, and we observed neither house nor * cabin on the shore.' Linschoten seems here to liave drawn a conclusion from ap})earances which niiirht more rcasonablv be otherwise accounted for. It is difficidt to imagine, that any tribe of Samoyedes residing occasionally, if not generally, near the sea coast, should not use boats and fishing, although nothing of the kind was per- ceived among those seen by the Hollanders; wliich very possibly was owing to their having travelled over land from some place where they had fixed their quarters, purposely to visit the Hollanders. It is remarked in Linschoten, that there were no settled inhabitants at IVaigatz Island, and that the Samovedes resorted to it only at times proper for the chase, which in this cold country would scarcely be done (as with the New Hollanders) without boats. At taking leave of the Hollanders, they took oti' their hats and bowed, 'I 1 rc- 'ho run 1)11, of he ise ,ke d.' bowed, so taught doubtlessly by the Russians, chap. and also claj)j)ed their hands. The Hollanders, .^ ^^^ in reiurn, bad them adieu with the sound of 159*. tniniin^ts. ^viS From Krinjz Hock the coast of IVaigatz Island ^^^'*'*' lies NNE. (by the chart to Linschoten, true,) S Dutch leagues to a Cape, which on account of some dispute was named Tiv'tst Hock, and is the outer Eastern Cape on the fVaigatz side of the Strait between that Island and the Continent. The opposite outer point was on a small island a cannon shot distant from the Continent, and was named Ihn Hock, Tho distance between these two points, or breadth of this entrance of the Strait, is little more than a Dutch mile or league (15 to the degree.) The ships anchored about a quarter of a league from Ton Hock, in 7 fathoms good holding ground. From '^^iXQ'^i^\.Kru^jzHock, extending North- d, eastward to nearly abreast Tmst Hock,\\Q^ a bank of sand, or a range of sand-banks and rocks, some level with the surface of the water and some covered, nearly midway between the Con. tinent and Waigatz Idand. Tliey found good anchoring ground through the Strait, but subject to disturbance in the fair channel from drifting ice, more or less dangerous according to its size and the velocity of the tide. On the 1st of August, they compleated the passage of the Strait by the South of Waigatz Island. * This day,' says Linschoten, * we entered the Sea of Tartar^ J* c 4 angori from IjiinKs Hiid rock* iiUlu-'Strail. 21 2.'. i '! cirAi'. IVom the Strait they sailed at first along the ^ — '■—' coast of the Continent, the wind beinu" from the 1*01 Ai,pi^.'. ^^^ y '"^^^ iit the distance of a qnarler of a In the Sen leagiic froHi huid had dei)tli from 7 to 10 01 Kara. ,. , > i latlioms. in tlie evening tlie wind changed to Easterly, and caused them to stand off shore, which in a league and a half sailing brought them into 80 fathoms de})tli. I'he sea was also of an azure blue ; and these two circumstances were regarded as indications of a large and open sea. The next day, however, they fell in with much ice, but the wind changed again to the 8W, and they were able to follow the continental coast, which Linschotcn's chart lays down in a direction ESE. true, from the East entrance of the Strait, At the same time it is rehited, that on the 2d of August the ships hail sailed by the reckoning 17 or 18 leagues along the coast from the Strait^ and that the latitude was observed 70", which was more North than expected ; for the course had been held SE. and SE by E. * We ought to * attribute these errors,' Linsclioten says, * to * the variation (^f the compass.* It is however to be remarked, that observations at sea for the latitude, were not at that time to be safely relied on within a third of a degree. At the distance of something more than twenty leagues from the Waigatz^ the coast was found to decline more Southward, forming a gulf, of which they did not see the bottom ; but they saw the land on the farther side, where the coast lay in a NE. and SVV. direction, and they doubted I he CHAR 11. AugUHti III tlie Sea ut Kura. '25 (loiibtccl not its bein*]j a contin''ation of the Coiitini'iit. Tliey sailed aloii^- tliis coast to the NK, not much obstructed by ice, but not t'a- \()ined by the winds. The sea was deep, their soundiiiL's at onc^ time beiuii; l.')2 fathoms, and at another time their lines did not reach the bottom. On the lull of August, the farthest land nth. they had in sight to the NE. was estimated to be fifty Dutch leagues from the IVaigatz. * The * coast was sandy and clear, and as straight and * level as if it had been formed by line and rule.* Linschoten relates, * On the distant shore were * seen numerous small hills, which had at one * time an appearance like trees, at another time * like animals. This effect was produced by the * disposition of vapours in the air. At one time * we thought we saw three men walking on the * strand, but on coming nearer, they were found * to be hillocks ; yet some on board persisted in * asserting them to be living beings.' Other similar illusions are noticed in this voyage *. The shore was sandy, but of good elevation, and in parts covered with bulrushes. Soundings were found at a moderate depth near the land. The sea was rough from the Northward, * and the * coast extended to the North-east, which made * us no longer doubt,* says Linschoten, * of * there * In Commodore Byion's voyage, preparation was made for anchoring in a port which tiie Commodore and his people thought they had discovered ; hut which proved to he a fog bank. 26 I'flAP. II. 1 5s the Strait. '• ;i * tlu'rc bci)ig 11 free passage. The ice had nearly * ilisappcarotl, and seemed to be aheady nieheil; * but the North-east and North winds which * blew, being contrary to our roiitc, and the * season tor this naviiL';ation being aheady passed * away, it was unaninio'.isly resolved to sail back * to our own country. Accordin<'lv, in the * beginning of the night (of the 11th) we made * sail to the W. by N. with the wind at NNE, * and fair weather ; but the sun had not ap- * peared for us to observe our latitude.' With so many favourable circiunstances, this was certainly closing the campaign too early. The greatest evil they had met with in this sea was the fogginess of the atmosphere, which frecpiently would not permit them to see a ship's length before them, and rendered the navigation perilous. They continued their course W. by N. till noon on the l'2th, when the latitude was observed 71° 1(/ N. They repassed the Strait on the 14th, and on the 1,5th were joined by Barent. ", returning from tlie North of Nova Zembla. Girard le Ver *, who has written an account of the North- ern voyage, and describes this meeting, relates, that * afterwards discoursing together concern- * iiig the places they had seen in their voyage, * and what each had discovered, he of Enclmi/sen * said, til at when he was past the JVaigatz he * found * Of the three voyages made by W. liarentsz to the North- east, Girardle Vev sailed with him in the second and third; but wrote a history of all the three. «7 * foiiiul tlir sea open, ami liail sailed good .OO or ' do lcaij;m"s to tlu' East, so that lio was pcr- * siiadeil lit' was about as far as where the river * Oh, wliich d.csceuds Iroiu Tartan/^ falls into * the sea, and that the land of Tarlarif there * extenils a^i^ain to the North-cast. And he con- * jectnred that he was not far from Cape Tahirit * whieh is the exterior angle of Tarlanj, whence * the coast declines towards the kingdom of * Cullutify extending iirst towards the South-east * and t hen towards the South. That having thus * MiiK'h discovered, as it was late in the year, * and their connnission ordered them to return * bel'ore the winter, they sailed back through the * IVuh^aiz *.' Both outward and homeward, the shij)s under Nay went through the passage South of IVaiifalz Island, to which the Hol- landers gave the name of Nassau Strait. It is exceedingly curious, that encouragement should alike have been found for a North-west and for a North-east passage to India, and on authority equaliy (questionable. Whilst a fabu- lous Strait oJ\lnian was provided for the North- west passage, the mountain Tabin, on the un- certain reports transmitted from the ancient Greeks, was assinned as the Northern promori- tory of Asia, beyond which the land was to decline Southward to the Indian Seas. It is so represented in the maps of the best geo- graj)hers * Premiere Vartic ik la Xaiigutiun yar It Kurd, Aiusterdani, 1598, p. 7. CHAP. U. 1594. !^ r i> I il ! '.il i3y4. 15.05, Second Vosajje ot" Willcm Barents. 28 grapliers of the latter part of the l6th, and of the 17tii century. The 2Gth of September, the four vessels re- turned to Anislerdani. It appeared in this expedition, tliat it was less difficnh to pass through the IFaigatz than to go by the North of Nova Zcnilda ; that the voyagers had not failed of making the proposed discovery from obstruction by ice or land ; and that if they had arrived more early in the sea East of Nova Zcmhla^ there would have been a good probability of their mak- ing the passage. Under this j)ersuasion, in 1595, the Hollanders fitted out seven vessels for the northern na\igalion, provided both for trade, and for prosecuting of the discovery of a passage by the North-east to India. The States General and Prince of Orange took part in the adventiue, contributing towards defray- ing the expence. Jacob Van Heemskerk, J. H. Van Linschoten, and Jan. Cornelisz Rijp, went as coDWihSf or merchants and directors, in the ships to be employed on the discovery, and William Barentz as Ca})tain and principal pilot. It was directed, that as soon as the vessels should have passed Cape 'Tahhiy one of them should be dispatclied back to Holland with the news of that event. Notwithstanding that the want of success in the former expedition v»as attributed princi])ally to the lateness of their outset, the present ex- pedition 29 peditioii did not depart from the Tc^rc/ till the 2d of .fuly. After passing the jVorth Cape, the sliips divided, some going to the White Sea. Those foi' the discovery proceeded to the fVai<>atz, and arrived at the entrance of the Strait on August the 19th. The !24th, in the Strait, they met a sem or small lodding, be- longing to a port in the IVkite Sea, named Pennago, which had been to the North in search of the teeth of the walrus, whale-oil, skins, and birds, which commodities they sold to Russian merchants. They had been shut up by ice in Nova Zemlda all the summer, in consecpience of the late winter having been long ami severe ; and, according to their information, the Strait North of Waigatz Island, between that and Nova Zeml)la, was yet full of ice. They said vessels of theii- country went every year through the Waigatz, and Eastward beyond the River Ob, to a place called IJgolita, where they carried clothes and other merchandize, and were some- times obliged to winter. That they alwavs endeavoured to pass the winter near forests, and sometimes were necessitated to go many miles inland to find them. They thought it would be yet nine or ten weeks before the passage of the Waigatz would be entirely closed by the ice; but that immediately after the first ap- pearance of the sea freezing, it generally became all at once frozen over, so that people could go on ClfAP. ir. July. AiK.nist. Waigat? Strail. if/: :|t CHAP. II. 1595. 'J\vo men killed b^' i bear. 30 on tlie ice, over the sea, to Tartary *. l^jiey > said, that beyond tlie 0/> was a large river, named the GiWme or Jenisei, towards which the Russians went in their loddies to traffic. On tlie 30th, the Hollanders were yet in the Waigatz Strait, having beeii niucli incommoded by ice. This day one of their boats landed on the South side of the Strait, » the Continent,' and met there twenty or twenty-live 8amoyedes, who shewed themselves friendly. The' Hol- landers gave them victuals, which they received thankfidly. At a distance were seen 100 or 150 more Samoyedes. The Hollanders landed again the next day. One among the Samoyedes ap- peared to be their chief In answer to inquiries concerning the seas and countries Eastward, they said, * that the sea East of the IVaigatz * was five days sailing in extent ; that then was * found anotherstrait,and after passing that strait, * was a great sea.' They said also, * that beyond ' the Jenisei was another rivernamed Molcconsaij, * and just so far extended the domination of the * Grand Duke. That the country beyond, to * a great extent, was under the dominion of a * Tartar Prince.* Whilst the ships were in the Strait of Waigatz, two of the seamen who were on shore, went along the sea-beach to look for shining or cu- rious * Sccomlc Partk dc. Xuvig. par k Nord. p. 10. And Rcc. dcs Voy. dc lu Jomp. Vol. 1, p, 75. ^ CHAP. II. 1595. rious stones, when a bear approached them softly, and, before he was perceived, seized on one of them, who endeavoured, whilst the bear was beginning to devour him, to defend himself with his knife, but was quickly killed. Above twenty seamen were on shore at the time, and they hastened towards the bear armed with pikes and harquebuses. The bear, on their approach, quitted his prey, and running towards them, seized another man, whom he tore in pieces. The rest fled at first ; but some of them returned, and killed the bear. On the 3d of September they cleared the September Strait, and the sea appeared open and free of ice to the East. They sounded and found the depth more than 110 fathoms. They saw great whales, and the sea was of a fine clear blue j all which were esteemed fortunate indications ; but in the evening, it blew a storm from the NW, and a large bank of ice was seen drifting fast towards them. On the 5th, they were obhged to take shelter in a bay of the Continent, among rocks, to avoid being pressed on by the ice. They continued in unsuccessful endeavour to advance East North-eastward till the middle of the month, the weather increasing in sharpness and the nights in length. On the 1.5th, the com- manders and principal persons of the fleet held council on board the ship of the Admiral, Cornelis Cornelisz Nay, at which they say; * We, the undersigned, declare that we have * done '11 If I h »\ CHAP. H. 1595. 32 * done our best before God and before the world, * to penetrate by the North to C/iina and Japan, * as ordered by onr instructions, until we have * seen that it does not please God that we * should continue our voyage, and that it is * necessary we should desist. We therefore have * resolved to make our route back to lloUand * with all diligence.' Signed by the Admiral, and others of the Council. H After the failure of this second expedition, the States General declined contributing to the further })rosecution of the discovery ; but they published a declaration, that if any city, com- pany of merchants, or individuals, chose to be at the charge of another voyage, in search of a North-east passage to India, there should be no hindrance ; and that if proof should be pro- duced of the discovery of such a passage, they would bestow a pecuniary recompense on the discoverers. j5o(j. The Council or municipal officers of the city Tiiird expe- of Atmterdam were not discouraged by t!ie past Hliilu'do'T failures, but fitted out two ships for another uNorth'ellc attempt. Tlic agreement made with the seamen Passage. ^^.^^^ j^j^-^t ^jj^^y sjiould luive pay on a certain footing if they returned without succeeding, and on a superior if they were successfid. In one ship, Jacob Heemskerk went as merchant or supercargo, and W. Barentsz as chief j)ilot ; in the Tliird vi)\age of W'. Ik- rciitsz. the other, Jan Cornehsz Rijp was merchant and chap. commander. ir. Tliey sot sail on the 18th of May, 159G, "iIo7 The ^od they Inul sight of S/iclland. Barentsz Ma. and U,j|, differed here in opinion respecting the course they should pursue. Barcntsz proposed to steer for the North end of Nora Zembla, itijp was lor steering a more northerly course, to get far to the North of all the land that was krown, in hopes of finding there a clear sea wlueh would adnut of their sailing Eastward. Rijp ^R)uld not yield, and Barentsz, rather than pait company, followed him. On the 9th of j„n. June, m 74'' 5(/ latitude, they discovered knd ^^--"r winch proved to be an island about five leagues ^^^ in extent. Here they anchored; and on ac- count of a combat they had with a larjre white bear, named it Beeren-eilandt, From Becren-eilandt thev sailed on Nor'i- ward, and the 19th they discovered another and larger land. Their latitude observed that day was 80^ 1 V, They sailed along the coast of this and South-westward in search of anchorage, to latitude 79° m\ and found good harbour, where they anchored in 18 fathoms. * This land, the most Northern which to this * tune has been discovered in the world, has ' nevertheless verdure and herbage. The animals * seen here are white bears, some larger than * oxen ; rein deer, who feed on moss, and be- ' come so fat, that their flesh is excellent eating; *^ * here Discovery «'(' Spitzbei- geii. f '. ■—Hi |1 <:» CHAP. IL 159(). Tliirtl vnyiipo of W. I5a- rcnti!. Julv. 34 * here are also foxes, white, grcyy and some * black. It was tlie (Hrtcreiice hotweeji AVilleiu * Barentsz and Cornehsz Rijp that gave rise to * the discovery of this land. It is named bv the * HoManders Sj)///jer<>' or Spitzhergcn/ * which signifies spindle or sharp-pointed mountains. The '21st they killed a white bear, whose skin, the journal says, measured thirteen I'eet. He had swam to the ships, and being intercepted in endeavouring to retreat to the sliore, was pur- sued a lea5»'ue out to sea, and made u'reat re- sistance before lie was overcome. At one time he laid his paw^ upon the boat, fortunately for those in her, on tlie fore part ; if it had been in the middle, he would, most probably, have over- turned her. On the 'I3i\ they weighed anchor, and would have proceeded Nortliward, but fell in with ice, which obstructed their progress ; and on tlie 1st of July they were again in sight o( Beeren Island. Here they rinaliy differed about the course. Rijj) would return to the North, and Barentz would sail innnediately East, and neither pre- vailing with the other, they separated by agree- ment. They were each eminently anxious for the discovery ; and it may be said, that by se- parating they gave a better chance for making it than by remaining together, and at the expence of increasing their own peril. On the 17th of July, Barentz made the land of * lice, dcs Voyages dc la Comp. Vol. 1 . p. 93. / t - of Nova Zemhla ', but on the l6th of AuoMist, criAr his vessel was no flirtlier advanced than to^lie .___!^il ^ North-eastern extremit3^ Tlie coast from hence v->9(i. I took a direction first to the .^SK. and afterwards '^"«"""- ^ to the Sonth, and the sea aj)peared open to tlie ^^Lu'r I .Sonth.east, which made many on board flatter themselves that the success of their voyage was , certain; but this delusive appearance was of J short continuance. In the course of the next ? ten diiys, they were so much incommoded and ^ entangled with floating ice, that they thought it necessary to look to their retreat. In the evening of the '2(;th, they were forced into a bay of the North-eastern, or of the most eastern part of Nox'ci Zcmhla, for they had passed round the North end of the Island ; and the next day the ice closed upon them with so much viofence, that the vessel was lifted or tbrced upon it as if aground from one end to the other. In this dan- ger, they set to work to make the best pre- paration they could with their boats, in case of being obliged to quit the ship. On the 28tb, the ice separated a little, and the ship nearly recovered her proper position, when the ice again closed upon her, and the frame of the ship, and the ice all around, cracked in so frightful a maimer as to fill them with apprehension that she would break in pieces. * The ice was in * greater heaps, and more pressed under the * vessel on the side whence the current came * than on the other, and she had at first leaned » 2 * much ; '^^: 86 CHAP. ir. 1 596. Nova Zidibla. * much ; but at leu.irtli, by a continuance of fresh ' })rcssuro of tlie ice, she was set ui)right, and ' mounted on a bank of ice, as if purposely done ' witli screws and other machines.' On the .^ilst, the ice came in greater quantities, larn-e bo(h*es b^Muo- tbrced by currents one over the other. The stem of the vessel was lifted f ve feet higher than the stern, and the rudder was broken. September. Ou the ^^th of 8q)tcmber, ' after supper,' the pressure of more ice threw the vessel entirely oa one side, and she openetl in diti'erent places. No prospect remained but of wintering on the spot, and they innncdiately turned their attention to building a house or hut, which should protect them from the cold, and from wild beasts, or rather from the bears, which were the only animals from whom they expected attack, o'li tiie sca-shore, but at a considerable distance from where the ship lay, was found a quantity of wood, some of it whole trees with their roots, which it was supposed had floated there from the continent, as no appearance of wood growing had been seen in the northern part of Nova ZemhkL They constructed sleds for re- moving the timber, and on the KJth made a beginning, by transporting four large logs above a league over the ice or snow^ to the place chosen near the \ essel for erecting their lint. On the ^Jd, the ca]j)enter died. Their nund)er remaining ivas sixteen. l^lie ground was frozen so hard that they could not ■n not ni«ke a .litdi, but tlioy nevorthcloss bc-a.i to erect their building, tlio sides ofwliid. they con .stiMcted of timbers squared so as to lay smooth i>'Kl close one upon another; and they made arse hres to soften the earth, by which n.eans t K.y enclosed their building round about with it Ike a rampart, which nmst haxe been a a.re.,t cle enee against the severity of the wca"l,Jr. " iMlst Jm!s employed, on the '^iJtl. of Septem'.er lie wnid came from the M'est, which drove the "ose ,ee that was afloat out fron, the lan.l, and ct Ik. sea open near the coast; but if the ship «"l l>een ui good condition, no advantage could ha^e been taken of this, for the ice on which she rested was a close-packed body, of depth that eachcd to the bottom and took the ground, so that she lay as upon a fixed and solid ,ock. i.,iKy therefore diligently continued their work with the frost at times so severe, that if a man madvertently put a nail in his mouth, as is fre quently done by workmen, it took off the skin and the blood would follow ; and one man lost a great toe by the frost ; but by the 3d of Oc,„.„. October the hut was com,)leted. The latitude was at different times obser\ed to be 70° North They were annoyed at first by the visits of bears ; but these animals, after short experience became so cautious, that they would be iVMn. ened away by shoutings or by the soimd of trumpets. When they came to attack, if at any time, for want of other ammunition, a clump of '■^ "' wood crur. II. I h';-i. Sc(t[i'ti(hor. n\ .38 CMAP. II. \i\ ijy(). Ndvcmbcr. Novii Zcniblu. *i. 1.597. January. II wood or other thing was thrown at them, they wonhl, hke dogs, run to seize on what was so thrown. On the 1th of November they wholly lost sight of the sun, and in this month the bears disap])cared. In their stead, foxes eame, some of whieh were caught in traps. The winter })assed with less of suffering than could have been e.\i)ecteil. Once they were in danger of being suffocated by sleeping with a charcoal tire in their hut. Towards the end of January, the foxes di.sappeared, whieh was con- jectured to be an indication that die bears would shortly return, and so it happened. On the '21th of January, as Jacob Heemskirk, Girard le \ er, and another [)erson, were walking from their hut to the sea-side, the weather being clear, they were surprised with a sight of the northern limb or etlge of the sun. This, the journal says, was fifteen days earlier than, ac- cording to calculation, any part of the sun could have been visible to them ; and Barentsz would not be persuaded that they had not been de- ceived, which caused wagers to be laid. The S.'Hh and '2(ith, there was too thick a fog to determine the dispute ; but the '27th was a clear day, and the entire orb of the sun was seen above the horizon, whence there could remain no doubt that a part had been visible on the 24th. The journalist has been at pains to shew, that they had not erred in their reckoning of time, as 39 as miojit he conJcctunHl from tlicir having hccn so lonn- without seeing the sun. Nothing is said of refraction, and prohahiy it was not thought of, or was ill understood, and sehloni aUowed for in maritiine observations at that early period. From the Ith of November, when they wholly lost sight of the sun, to its re-apj)earance, Ja- nuary the !21.th, was 81 days. The middle time may be supposetl the winter solstice, and the declination of the sun corresponding to 40 ^ davs from the time of the solstice, is 17" -^-l-^ S. The latitude being 7()" N. will give 03" '21/ tor the tlis- tance of tlie sun (its centre) from the zenith, when its northern limb was first seen. Allowing 1(/ ibr the sun's semi-diameter will leave above three degrees for the refraction and depression of the horizon, the latter of which was probably under a quarter of a degree. The cttect of the re- fraction then must have been not much less than three degrees. In some other northern voyage it lias been remarked, that the sun was seen twenty minutes sooner, and as much Uiter, than the regular time of sun-rising and setting. Mr. ])ayly, wlio sailed as astronomer in the last voyage of Captain Cook, related to me, that when he was assistant astro- nomer to Dr. Maskelyne, cattle which fed in a meadow on the o])pc)site side of the Thames were visible from Flamstead House at liifli water, and hid by the bank at low water. The effect of refraction in giving apparent altitude D 'h to CHAP. II. CHAP. II. 1 )J)7. Nova Xrtubla. Jii 10 to distant objects whicli arc in roalit)' below tlie bori/ontal level, appears in all these eases to have been ma' in decrees. As the water rose in the river, the objects on the farther side wonid be seen th^oll^•h a more dense nnHliiim, and the ed'ect prodnced seems to have been, givin->' apparently to the whole plain or snrface bevond the river, an inclination or increase of inclination towards the beholder; the distant ))arts beini;" the most refracted, as mnst be the case in the plain of a <;lacis so ren- dered visible, which is to be ascribed to the more distant object being seen thr()nf>h a longer ex- tent of atmosphere. From similar canses it may be imagined that the a})parent horizon at sea will somethnes be a water-line more distant, and of conrse more ehnated, than a true horizontal line. AVhether the real cattle were seen, or the increased density of the medium rendered it capable of receiving, as in a mirror, and re- flecting, the image of the cattle, is a very dis- putable (piestion. The mind is not well satisfied with the hy])othesis of inflected or bent ra}'s and circuitous vision ; a diflficulty likewise not easy to surmount, is to explain how a thing may be seen wliere it is not. The image of an object which is not within an unobstructed right line of vision is frequently received by a long train of reflections, every stage of which is distinguish- able, or clearly traceable, Irom the substance to the eye of the beholder. Appearances of distant objects 41 objerts in tlie liorizon are socii tliroiifrji a |L;rcat lt'iiu:th of till' most ikMi>>c part ol'tlK' atniospluMV, wliicli may be ea[)al)ie of eommiinicatiiij^' tlie imafie of an object by tlie transmission of a se- ries of refractions, all rectilinear, altlK)u<4li other- wise susceptible of o-reat varieties, as sometimes an in\tision of the orij^'inal objects, exhibiting them floating in the air, with other phenomena not less strange ; which transmissions being imperceptible, may aggregately give the appear- ance of flexible ia\s. Whether the apparent horizon at sea is a re- fracted line more elevated than the true horizon, is a (piestion worth determining, as if that is the case, all altitudes taken at sea must require u like correction cm that account, indc])en(lent of the correction which may be necessary for the refraction in altitude of the object observed. It seems probable also, that the refraction of the horizon may be liable to variation with the state of the atmosphere. When the height of the observer above the level of the sea is known, the depression of the real terrestrial horizon is correctly ascertained on trigonometrical principles; accordingly, by observing the vertical arc contained between two oi)posite points of the apparent horizon^ the refraction of the horizon can be determined, the difference of the observed vertical arc from the half circle being the combined effect of dip and refraction. So CHAl'. II. XllVil A'liiblik i= r ■■! i'i i I CHAP. II. Z.,n.!.la. I-Vbruarv, j\larch. April. :\i«y. 4f2 So much snow fell during the winter, that the Hollanders had almost every day to clear the entrance of their hut. On the \S\\\ of February, a -reat bear came close to their hut, which they shot, and obtained from the carcass above a hundred weight of fat or lard. On the 8th of March, the sea to the North was observed to be quite clear of ice, which made them conjecture there was a great extent of open sea in that direction. The next day the sea a})peared equally oj)en -i-id clear to the North and Ncth-east; ])ut more eastward, and to the SE. there was ice ; and to the South and SE. they saw an appearance like land, but could not ascertain whether it was land or clouds. In the night of April the fith, during a thick- fog, a bear came to the hut and endeavoured to force in the door. The Hollanders tried to shoot him, but, from the dam])ness of the weather, it was with much diihculty they could get one of their arquebuses to go off, which made the bear retire ; but he returned in about two hours after, and mounting the roof of the hut, shook the chimney with all his might, endeavouring to pull it down, making at the same time a terrible roaring or noise. After much ineffectual trial, he went quietly away. Towards the end of May, they began to pre- pare their two boats, both open, with wash- boards, sails, &c. for their departure, as the oidy means U' IS CHAP. il. 1597. May. June. means for tlieir escape from this desolate country. It was proposed to repass round tlie North end of Xov^' Zcmbhiy in preference to seeking a passage southward on tlie East side, and that way tlu'ough the JFaigafz Strait. On the morn- ing of ./une the 14th, they embarked in the two boats, with the remains of their provisions and some small packets of their best merchandize, and quitted the place where they had passed a winter IZ^^;"'' of more than eight months continuance. Barentsz had been some time ill. One of the seamen, Nicolas Andrisz, was likewise ill. That they might be the more commodiously attended, they were embarked one in each boat ; but all the care and nursing that could be bestowed on them, exposed to the open air in a small boat, was not capable of saving them from falling victims to the severity of the weather. On the Kith, the boats were at the Isle Van Orange, which lies near the northern extremity of Nova Zemhla. The next day they were beset by ice, and remahied the three following days without^ being able to proceed. On the forenoon of the 20th, word was brought to Barentsz that Andrisz appeared to be drawing to his end. Barentsz said in reply, that he believed his own was not far distant. The people in the boat with him, seeinp; that he was at this very time inspecting and considering a chart which Girard le Ver had made of the places they had seen in ^ \r- \^ CHAP. II. Julv. Dr;,t|| of Will,, ,111 liaiuutsz. ■n 44. in the voyage, did not apprehend immediate - danger, but continued sitting and conversing, t^Il Barentsz put down the chart and askecl for some drink, to which he was helped, and immediately after expired, to the great afflic- tion of his remaining companions, he beino- esteemed one of the most capable seamen of hi's time. They proceeded westward and southward along the western coast of Nova Zembla, as well as tiie ice and weather would permit them. On the ^J8th cf July, they had the good fortune to meet two Russian loddies, and to obtain from them a supply of provisions. They also learnt that three Dutch ships were lying at Kola j and after a fatiguing navigation, having been ob- structed by ice from entering the H'hite Sea, on the '25th of August they arrived at Kilduyn. Here, not less to tiieir surprize than satisfaction, in a short time came to them with provisions and refreshments, Jan Cornelisz Rijp, who command- ed one of the Dutch ships then lying at Kola, and who the year befoie had sailed from Holland in company with Jacob Heemskcrk and W. Barentsz, from whom (as related) he had separated to seek by a more northerly route, a passage to India. He had not succeeded in that attempt, and had returned to Holland ; and was now again home- ward bound from a trading voyage to the Wldte Sea. Jacob lis 45 Jacob Heemskerk and his remaining com- panions embarked witli Rij}), and they arrived at Amslerdam on the 1st jf November. Of the seventeen men cast on Nova ZcmhJa, the carpenter and another man died tliere ; WiUejn Barentsz and two other men died whilst navigating in the small boats along the coast of Nova Zembla ; and twelve lived to return to their native country. What doubtless much contri- buted to tlieir preservation, was their sea pro- vision being well cured, which is particularly noticed by the journalist, who remarks that it was as good at the time of its being used as when Hrst put up. CHAP. W. November. 1> i, In 1007, Henry Hudson, an Englishman, and ifi07-8-'.'. at the charge of English merchants, made a voy- HuSn. age direct to the North, to seek a passage that way to India. Ke reached nearly to the latitude of 8^2 N, when he was stopped from proceeding further by ice. In lOOS, he made an attempt, as Jan Cornelisz Rijp had done before, to sail to the North, kee})ing midway between Spilzbcrgen and Nova Zcmhla, but with no better success. In 1609, the directors of the Dutcli East India Company engaged Hudson in their service, to make another attempt * to find a passage to China by the North-east or by the North-w^est,' and fitted out a ship which was manned with a crew of twenty men, one half of them English, one half U\ I i I CHAP. II. 46 half Dutch. They sailed from the Te.vel on April the Oth. On May the 5th they passed the Norfh Cape, and sailed on to the North part of Nova Zembla, where the sea was found so full of ice as to afford no prospect of a passage east- ward. On the 14th of May, Hudson sailed from Nova Zcmhla for the American coast. In fact, the voyages of W. Barentsz may be said to have closed the hopes of discovering a passage to India by the North-east. The attenij)t of Hudson in 160<), w\ns made with a predeternu'nation, if difficulties such as were expected should be found, not to persevere at the expence of being prevented during the same season from making a trial to the North-west. Since the voyage of Hudson, only one other attempt from the Atlantic worthy notice occurs, for the discovery of a passage by the North-east to India ; an account of which will be given in the sequel. v,A f Ml II SpitshtT'jiVM ■ h 47 C H A P. III. Of the incjicral iwlension of the Russian Empire, The River Amur. Currr.r.cncovcnt of intercourse hetxix'en the Russians and the Chinese. /JM E RTCAy from Its first discovery by •^ -'- Kiirope.'ins, was supposed by them to be u land distinct from their own native continent, wlience arose the ap])eHation given to it of the New Worhl. The failure of many attempts to discover a Northern passage to India, at length suggested the possibility that the Old and New World formed but one continent. The solution of this problem, as far as regards a North-eastern navigation to India, has been more naturally the bnsiness of the Russians than of any other people, as well for the superior benefit which w^ould accrue to them from a practicable navigation round their coasts from the Euroj)ean to the Tartarean and Indian sea, should such be fonnd, as on account of the greater facilities possessed by them for prosecuting the discovery, by the northern inhabitants of Siberia especially, in their adxanced situation, and in being natives inured to that rude climate. The 48 CHAP. 111. Exll>ll>«IOII Olllll' Kiiipirc. Tlio Czars oiWfosnn'ij assumed the title of Lords of Sihcrid as early as the year l.O.OS, not then ineanini;' bv Siberia, as since, all the north- ern parts of Asia known ami iiiiknovvn totheni*. In the second v()ya«^e of W . Harentsz, it is seen that the coimtrv eastward of the River Ji'ncsci was not then under the iloniinion of the Czars of Mosvovij ; and in 'I'ocke's History of Russia, the vear iiVli) is marked as the time %■' whe!i tlie people inhahitini;- tlic country in the neiLj,hl)ourho()d of iIksAv/cvc/, siil)mitted or were subjected to the Russians. The maps of that date did not pretend to show any thing with certainty beyond that river, iind Siberia appeared eastward without boundary, lost in unknown desarts. Since that time, the Russians have been constantly extending their dominion eastward, and such was the wild un- ci! lti\ated state, and thinness of the poi)nlation, of the vast regions of the North-eastern parts of Asia J that the extension of their empire nearly kej)t pace with their dfscoN cries. The wars ami coiujuests of the Russians over the nations of Siberia and Tarlarij, were not, unless in some instances it might so ha))pen by accident, enterprizes undertaken on any principle of obtaining redress for injury or of avenging aggression. They made no ])retence by way of justifying their invasions. The ancient maxim that * ' I,a Siherie, on cv (|r,i ipvicnt ;\u nicine, fAnic Scplt'iidionale.' Maltc Btun. Vncia ' voyages of the Russians in the Jcif Sea, were the voluntary undertakings of individuals whose principal occupation was the chace. Those who went provided also foi* traffic, were denominated Promyschleni. When they made any profitable discovery, the CJovernors in Siberia ^vere not slow in sec^kmg to share and to im})rove the advantage, whence it became })ro- verbial in Sihcriay that where the Promyschleni met with good fortune, they proved to be tiie E avant cinr. 111. Proniyscii leui. 50 i ]\\V. III. :i,| J\o'>sik, IG36. ProizrubS Ot'tliC Tn till- ISO: 111 of Asia. Tow;irds ('lii:iii. twanf cinn'it'rs of the Kossaks. To tin's alacrity of llic Sil)iMlan Oovt'iiiors may bo attribiiti'd that nuMuorials ol' the oaily i-spcilitions were pivscMvi'il, or perhaps that any were made ; and it is no eanse tor wonder if some of those wliich have leaeheil ns are diilienit to eomprelicnd, or in some parts not intelligible. The word Kossak is said to si«^nify in the lan^na<»e of the Tartars, a lijU'ht armed soldier. It was assumed lirst as u general ilistinetix e name by ])eople who inhabited near the month of the jli\er J)fii('pf\ which falls into the Ji/(fc/> Sea, and afterwards bv other Tartars in the sontheni ])arts of the Rnssian Empire. The military force of the Russian Em])ire is composed of regular troops, and troops called irregular. The Kossaks are of the latter descri])tion, and in the accounts ))ublished of the Russian disco- veries, it seems that the military employed in the eastern provinces of the Empire, have been principally, if not wholly, Kossaks. in 1()J(), the Russians first fo -nied establish- ments on the banks of the River Lenay and tlience began to navigate eastward along tiie shores of the Jcj/ Sea. At the same time that they WTre making advances in the frozen regions of the North, others of their nation were penetrating in like manner on the side of Tartari/, Professor Gerhard Frederick Muller has given with his history % 51 icrily were ; niul Nvliicli ml, or in the olilier. ! name of the /.• Sea, uthern iiihtary sed of . The md in disco- yed in ^e been [abhsh- la, and ng tiie naking North, in like 'ofessor ith his history hi>t()rv of the discoveries made bv the Rnssians, an aeeonnt of their enterprizes along the river Anun\ of which, and of their first interconrsc with the Chinese, a brief sketch will be here gi\Tn, pri'N iousi y to entering npon their mari- time discoveries. The Rnssians, for the first time, heard of a iariie i-i\er, named the Amut\ abont the year l()-^!>; and a RiiNsian or Kossak, named Knpilow, is said in that vear to have obtained sight of the eastern sea ct)ast. The .bntfr is om* of the most considerable rixers of JavV/. It rises in the heart of Tartarif ; it mav be said t(t ha\e manv sonrces, for it is at the continence of se\eral streams that it first recei\es the name Anifir, wnich is of Tartar origin. It thence flows eastward, and is joined in its conrse bv other streams, till it discharges itseli'iiito the sea in abont .O-T North latitnde, op])osite to the Island *SV/«,'T/ //"//, and above .iO' of'longitnde eastward of its origin. In 1(3 1->, an expedition was nndertaken by the Rnssians to tlie ri\er Amur, ibr the pnrpose of makinu- tribiitaiN tlie Tartar nations wlio in- jiabitcd along its l)anks. The connnander in this invasion was named Wasilei Pojarkow. He departed from J(ikiftzh\ (a town built on the banks of the Lena and the newly established capital of a province of the same name,) in the month of July, with no larger a force than one E 12 hundreii CFIAP. in. K)'.3'). Tl.oUucr .Vn.ur. \GW>. 5f in. liundrcil and thirty-two men. The Tartars, ' a pc(>})le,' Baron Strahlenhero; sn\s, 'who liavin,i^ * no connection with jiohsiied nations, hved in * an extreme simphcity, ' on the tirst coinini;' of these strangers, thought it prudent to receive them as friends, and as such treated them until tribute was demanded ; but on that demand being made, they ceased to supply the Russians witli j)rovisions, in consecpience of whicli many of them perished for want of subsistence. Po- jarkow nevertheless persevered in his under- taking, and followed the course of the Amur to where it enters the Eastern Sea. Thence he went northward along the sea-coast, and in the year UilG, rctiu'ned to J(il>i(tzh\ by a route very diti'crent from that he iiad pursued in going ; carrying with him hostages, and many packages of si ins, which he had collected from the Tartar tribes. In the report he made of his exj)edition, lie stated, that " the whole country near both ** the upper and the lower An.u}\ would infallibly " be brought luider the dominion of Russia, *' provitled the Government would employ ^00 '* men to that ])urpose, and build three ostroi^s *' or forts ; the forts to be each guarded with *' fifty men, whilst the other l.OO men might be *' employed (the French translation of Muller's •* History of the Amur says) pour haltrc la " campuKHCy to keep the people of the country *' in their duty, from whom little resistance was *• to be apprehended." This shews the midland regions o3 regions of Asia to have been at that time in chap. nearly as deserted a state as the more nortliern ^_i'!_l parts. Pojarkow's report, wiili the description t!:iven of the breadth of the Amu?-, and of the countries along its banks, determined the Russian Governors in Siberia to set to work to incor- porate both the river and all the country ad- jacent with the Russian Empire. In the spring ofldOl, a force, which was composed partly o1' Kossaks and partly of PromyschJeni, in number about 300, arrived at a place on the banks of the Amar, called A/basiv, between the 53d and A.-ha,.,. J4th degree of latitude, and a little to the West of the meridian of Jalaitzk, which was the re- sidence of a Prince of the Country, whose name was Albasa. \^y the Russians, or by the in- liabitants themselves, the place was destroyed ; and the Russians, in the beginning of June! embarked in boats on the Amur, and descended with the stream. The country near this part of the Amur was iiiliabited by a tribe or nation of tha Tartars, called Dauri. As the Russians approached their ri.. d.u. , vdlages, the inhabitants set tire to and abandoned ;; i^;;,^^ their dwellings. At the end of three days na- vigation, the ifussians came to a fortified place, where the Dauri had determined to make a stand! Their tbrtifications consisted of ramparts, ditches, and masked eomnuu'icatlons, and they had about a thousand %hti:)g men, 50 of whom were Clnnese Tartars in the service of the Chan or J'^ 3 Empero)- ("HAP. III. I'mperor of China, to wlioni the Dauri wcre- tribiitarv. Here were also some Chinese traders with nicreliaiulize ; and here it was that the Russians and the Chinese, in their encroach- ments on Tartan;, first came into contact. The Russians sunnnoned the fort to submit, and on the demand beiuiv rejected, connnenced an at- tack with tlu'ce pieces of artillery, which they had brouiijlit with them, and with nuisketry. At the Hrst discharge above twenty of tiie Dauri fell, upon wliich the Ciiinese soldiers withdrew from the battle, and posted themselves at a distance, where thev (luietlv waited the issue, the Chinese commander alledging, that he had no orders to fight against the Russians. The tiring of the cannon was continued during the night, and a practicable breach made. At daylight, the Russians stormed. The Daurians had fire-arms, but of inferior construction to those of the Russians, and they were forced from intrench- ment to intrenchment ; yet having with them their women and their children, they would not, whilst a ])ossibility of resistance remained, hear of surrendering. Six hundred and sixty-one of these brave men were killed, or rather slaughtered, by the Russians, who, it would be degrading to humanity and to the conmion understanding of mankind, not to regard, in this instance, as a most sa\'age and iniquitous band of robbers and murderers. They became masters of the pbice with only the 55 the loss of tbiir men killed and 4.5 wounded. Among the prisoners who tell into the hands of the Russians, were 243 women and girls, and llSehildren. The next day after the capture of the fort, a Ciiinese officer h.ahited in a silken robe, came to ])ay his respects to the Russian Connnander. He made a long harangue, of which the only ])art comprehended was, that the Chinese desired to live in peace and civility with the Russians, This was the commencement of acquaintance between tiie Russians and the Chinese. The secpiel of their intercourse during a long course of years consisted principally of dispute, or war- fare, undertaken on the part of the Chinese to sto]) the farther encroachments of the Russians. Jn the beginning, the Russians had more advan- tage than afterwards in these disputes. Muller relates, or rather complains, * At hrst, w^e saw « large Chinese armies make teeble and powerless * elf brts against only handfulls of Russians, they * not knowing how to manage cannon and ' musketry after the Euroj^ean manner. But ' the Jesuits when they went on missions to * C/iinff, were glad of the opportimity of ren- ' ilering themselves acceptable to the Emj)eror * of ciihui, bv ix'whvy advice and instruction in < what manner the Russians might be resisted. The Chinese kept fleets of armed vessels on the Anmry and at times exerted themselves so vigo- rously as to make it difficult for the Russians to ]; 1, retain rn\i'. Ui. 16'5I. First iiitor- cuursi' be- tween lln; Kiosiiin* and ilie Cliiiifsc. i3 ?'A r>G CHAP. 111. l(),nS. Nortz- cliin.sk. jo's: retain possession of any establishment on that river. In Ki.JS, tlie Russians built the town or Ostrog of Xcrlzchins/i., on the banks of the Amur, or of a river which ran into and joined the Amur, and nearly 300 miles (English) more AVest, and more distant from the sea, than Albas'iiL But in the same year, the Chinese obtained an important victory over an army of 500 Russians, '270 of whom were killed or made prisoners, and the rest dispersed. Among the bootv which fell to the Chinese, were 80 zimmers of sables, which had been collected for tribute, each zimmer containing forty skins. Alhas'in had been destroyed, but the Russians soon rebuilt it. In the beginning of June 1(385, it was invested by a large Chinese army, and before tiie end of the month, the Russian Gover- nor was glad to capitulate on terms which allowed the garrison to retii'e to Ncrtzchlnsh', and Albasin was again reduced to ashes. TJie Russian garrison in its march towards Ncrtzcliinsk was met by reinforcements of their countrymen, but the whole retiu"ned to KertZ' ch'nish\ On a consultation there, it was deter- mined again to re-establish Albasin, and the kite Governor went thither with 7(^0 men. The Chinese army had departed, and the Russians laid the foundations of a more regular fortiH- cation than the former had been. In the summer of 1()80, the Chinese again invested ^/te///, but before they could make much impression, winter set r>l sot ill, and ihoy converted liie siege into a blockade. Notice in the mean time was received at 7V/7//, that tlie Czar of J//wor// was preparing an embassy to the Kmj)eror oi' C'hhiay to })ro})ose terms of acconnnodation, and the Chinese did not renew the siege. The difficulties experienced by the Russians in carrying on a war in a part f>f the empire so remote from their capital and from their main strength, and also the consideration of the advan- tages of a regular trade with C/ihWy where the Siberian furs were in extraordinary estimation, inclined them to a peace, as did their natural disposition, the Chinese. Negociations were opened to settle a line of boimdary between the two Empires, all com- plaints of past aggressions giving place to this, the main object of interest on either side. The pretensions first held out were so wide of each other, that the conferences more than once broke off. The Russian Ambassailor proposeil tlie River .^tmur for tlie connnon boundary, the northern shore to be Russian territory, and the southern shore Chinese. Had this been conceded, the deep windings of the yi«///r would have brought the Russians close u})on the bor- ders of the northern })rovijices of China. The Chinese demanded that the Russians shonhl deliver up Alhashiy and wholly retire from tl'.e Amur. All differences, however, were at lengtii accommodated, and in 1(381), a line of frontier was (HAP. LU. A ,.,. ','■ i''i Treaty cii 16G'». CHAP. III. l68{). Line of iVonticr aL;roi-(l upon l)l'lVVt'Oll aiiO llic < 'IlillCSC. till 1 it) was agreed upon, by which the lower Amu7* (under which denomination was comprehended nearly all of the river between ALhasin and the sea) with the shores on each side, and a con- siderable extent of territory to the North of the entrance, were affirmed to the Chinese Emi)ire ; and a chain of mountains which extended in a line parallel with the Amur, and terminated eastward at the sea-coast between the entrances of the rivers Amur and Ud, was declared part of the frontier line, with the exception, that the sovereignty of the country between tiie said mountains and the river Ud, should be regarded as a matter undecided, and the consideration be postponed indetinitely. By this arrangement, the Chinese secured to themselves exclusively the entrance of the Amur. In return, the Russians obtained by the treaty the privilege of sending annually a caravan to Pehin ; and thus, after a struggle of forty-six years, were set at rest the enterprizes of the Russians on the side of China ; for though differences did afterwards arise, so as to occasion a renewal of war, the Russians (who, between them and the Chinese, may be generally deemed the aggressors) thought it pru- dent to recede, and to re-accommodate matters. * Having * Concerning the River Amur, it may be remarked that we have no aceounl of its having (ncr been entered l)yany F-inxtpean vessel; and the knowledge we have of its entrance is from the Jesuit Missionaries, in whose survey it is hiid down in ,-Vi°,o<) North latitude, la 1797, Cai)tuin Brouyhton entered the Gulf of ti'i 5B lla\in\ The discovery contested. ' IIAI'. I\. lliver Ko- luuii, (ir lvu\ iiiia. 1645. Iv0[)()rt of l.aiid ill itic l(.y bcj. TH K Hist Russian establishments on the Lena were formed in 1030, as aheadv no- ft' tieed. The Uivers Jana^ Indigirkay Alaseia, ami Kolipnay were speedily and snccessively dis- covered. Jn 1()M., was built the Kolymskoi Ostrog, a t'ortitietl station on the eastern shore of the Kolj/niay near its entrance, by a Kossak oi' Jal'utzh'y named Michael Staduchin. The name ot'this river is differently written. Mr. Coxe, Martin Saner, Malte-brun, the Quarterly Review, and others, have it Korima. Mnller, Snn'rnove, and Krnsenstern, use tlie / and not the v. 1 have met with no reason for j)reference, and have followed the elder authority. Staduchin, when he returned the year fbl- lowini>', to Jahf(tz!\ amon^* other information, related, that a woman, inhabiting- near the Kolj/ma, had reported to him, that in the lej/ Sea was Gl was 11 large island, whicli cxtciulccl from opposite ^'^^'•^^'• tilt' River . I una to opposite the Ko/i/ma, \nirt of * — '^ — ' which laud might be seen in very clear weather iVom the continent ; and that ])e()ple who in- habited near that ])art of the coast ])assed over the ice in the winter time, to this land in one tlav wiili reui-deer. Staduchin also gave notice, that he had heard of a great river, named the Po^l'itscha, which, according to his nnderstanding of what was reported to him, discharged itself in the Ici/ Sea, three or fonr days sail with a good wind, to the l^ast beyond the Ilivcr Koltjma. In 1()1<(), was made the first voyage eastward kjk,; from the K()Ii/)H(1, by a company of Promyschleni, nnder the direction of Isai Ignatiew, a native of the town of McscHj which is on the eastern shore of the JVh'itc Sea. They met with mnch ice, First l)nt the sea was not frozen, and they found a n." iiu'i."' navigal)le channel between tlie ice and the con- l!.''"/.'"" o ward Iroiu tinent; for the bottom near the coast liaving ti'^Koiymn. gentle and gradual slope, the large pieces and islands of ice, when driven towards it bv the wind, take the ground at a good distance from -the shore, leaving within it a navigable strait. This was the case in the summer of l(jl<(); and the voyagers found the channel so clear that they })roceeded forty-eight hours without inter- ru})tion, ?au\ came to a bay in the coast between some 'ocks, where they anchored. Here they met with people of a nation called Tschuktzki, with whom thev entered into traffic. Neither party could understand the other except by signs, j;:-.^ 62 cuw. iV. 1()'40'. M>47. I. i. sii»ns, and they were mutually suspicious. No one of the Uussiaub veutuieil to trust hiniseif ainouf; the Tschuktzki, and the exchanges were made with great caution. The Russians j)laced their merchandise on the strand and retreated ; the Tschuktzki then took what ])leascd them, and left in return sea-horse teeth, both whole and in carved pieces. The Russians did not in this voyage attempt to proceed farther eastward, but returned to the Ko/j/ma '*, The sea-horse teeth procured was suificlent inducement for other voyages to be speedily undertaken. In June 16'1«7> four vessels, called Kotschcs t, departed from the Kof/jmay the Com- mander at which place ordered a Kossak to go with them to take care of the interests of the Crown. For this service the Kossak Semoen Deschnew voluntarily ottered himself, and was accej)ted. The Russians by this time had heard of a river called the Auaf/ir, that it ran through a well peopled country ; but no certain infor- mation had been obtained res})ectingits situation, to discover which was one of the ends pro- posed by the vo}age now undertaken. Michael Staduchin * Some rarlv account or report lias stated tliat in tlie year 1046, a llussiau named Hoiiiyschlan, in i;()intr from the Ktthfuin to the J/Kiilit; doubled the i^tipr of tin- 'I'silnikliki \ hut Uns is unsupported hy evidence, and most prohably the name Bomyschlan was no other than a variation in the pronuiu-ialion ol' the word I'romyschleni. t Kof.sc/n in Russia, /v'/V•^ In Holland. K- Maii" Hill) tin ll.i'.'crii ' Nothing is said of obstructions from the ice, and * probably there wore none ; for, on another oc- * casion, Deschnew remarks, that the sea is not * e\'erv vear so clear of ice as it was at that * time.' * JJcscImcxc^s narralfvc't* continues Mr. Muller, * he^ins at the ^real Cape o/'the Tschuhtzld ; and * (rrtainli/ of (ill the c'nrumstanees of his voyage * this merits the most notiee. He says. This * Cape is situated lictxeeen the North and the * North-easty and turns eireiilarly towards the ' Rixer Anadir. On the Russian, or West side * of the point, a rivulet* [in PallasVs translation tlie little river Stanovie~\ Malls into tlie sea, * near the entrance of which the Tschuktzki * ha\e crcv tctl a scafiblding like a tower, con- * structed with the bones of whales. * Over * against tlie Cape (it is not said on which side J * are two islands-^ if pun zehich xiere seen some men ' o/" the Tsehuldzki nation ^ who had holes pierced * /// their lips, I h rough which icera stuck pieces of * ///(' teeth of the sea-horse, * With a favourable * wind one might go hy sea from this Cape to the * Anadir in three days and three nights ; and it * might he travelled hy land within the same time, ' as the River Anadir empties itself into a hay. ' In coasting this Cape, the kotsche of Anfudinow * was xcrecfed, hut the crew wetx' saved and taken * into the other txco.* The • h wasir'ti rwinds krnnvti, ♦h:\tthc men liistinguibhed with tlit'be oniauiwjts, wcic Auitricans. ■.if w \iiku(iiiio\v Tito impression wliicli tliiis miicl) of Mul!cr*s chap. narrative must give, is, tliat the great Cap:' of ^ — ^^ — l/w 'Jc/tuUzliy there described, and on whicii '^*^' tho \essel of Ankudmow was wrecked, was iVscim." the tlvst i^reat promontory wliich occurred in '^', ~ I ••' and Desch. lew's route from tlie Koli/may or at least, Aicxecw, tliaf it was the iirst from tiie Kolijuia of which Deschnew's pa))ers gave information. In a sub- se(jueiit p:irt of Mr. Muller's narrative, how- evei", the mention of many circumstances foreiirn to this intervening, it is rehited, (or rather, it comes out a*^ ii" accidently, in consequence of a dis))ute which Desclniew had with another Russian,) tliat the promontory on which the vessel of Ankudinow was wrecked was the se- cond great })r()montoi'y fj'om the River Kolijmaj and that tiie first was called Suin'loi. In what manner this first, though not the first mentioned, promontory was passed, is not in the slightest or most remote manner hinted at, otI)erwise than that the name Szciaioi, which signifies Sacredy seems to imply tliat it could not be doubled; or sailed round. It may be objected to this inference, that the Russians have named other Capes in the /c// Sea, Siciaioi ; ])articu- larly, the Nortli-east cape of the bay into which the River Jana falls, which has nevertheless been sailed round; but it will naturally be imagined, that the name was given before the difficulty had been surmoiuited. Ill one memorial found of Deschnew's, it is f 2 remarked. rv'' ! ns rinr. iv 1018. Mul IE fH , roniarkril, 'thai llio first time he sailed from the * Kolipna he was ibreeil by the iee to return ; ' but tiiat the next vear he ai^ain sailed thence ^ by sea, and, alter areat danu;er, misfortunes, * and with the loss of part of his shipj)in<>', * arrived at last at the month of the Anadir.* * This o-ives evidence only to the manner of his departure from the Kolijina^ and to his arrival at the mouth of the y/;/<7r///', without ascertaining anv intermediate circumstance. ft' A ])articulai', now generally acknowledged, and which it is important to notice, is, that the Great Cape <)/'l/ic Tscliiihtzki, first described, on which Ankudinow was wrecked, by its small dis- tance from the Rhcr Anadiry and also by the islands o])posite to it, can be no oilier than the Cape in Bcn?}g\s Strait, since named Cape East, on account of its being the most eastern land known of ./v/V/. The amount of the information found in Deschnew's papers respecting the manner of his entrance into the eastern sea, is to be thus stated. That Deschnew and his compain'ons went bv sea from the Kolfjmo\ that they arrived with theii vessels at Cape East, which Deschnew called thr (treat Cape of the Tsclndtzhi ; that between the Ka/i/hia and Cape East there was a Sacred Pro- montory ; and that Deschnew has not related a single circumstance respecting the manner in which the voyage was prosecuted between the Kolj/ma and Cape East. An * 'i'riinslalion bv I'ulUm. 69 from the return ; d thence fortunes, ;hi|)i)ino-, {nadir. ' *' :r of his is arrival LU'taining- wletlgcd, tluit the ribed, on imall dis- ) by the than the pe East, ern hind bund ill ler of his -IS stated, nt bv sea ith their alknl the ween the nod Vvo- r(>hited a anner in veen the All An exphmation is necessary here to shew <"iiap. that na\ii»at()r< in the In/ Sea were enabled — - — ' lo arrive witii liieii vessels at a second pjo- '^'■^''*' iuontory, without having sailed r'Muid the n.;H,nrw tnst. ()i) account ot the Irequency ot being a.„i inclosed in the /n/ Sea by the drift ice, it was *^'''"'''*- custoniarv to construct vessels in a manner that achnitteil of their being with ease taken to pieces; b\ which thcv could be carried across tlu' ice to the outer edge, and there be put together ^cimiki again. X'essels so coiystructed were calletl Nchitiki : the ))lanks were sewed together with twisted oziers, and fastened to the timbers only by leathern straps, in lieu of nails or pegs. The interstices were stufled with moss, instead of caulking, and t he seams were covered with lathes, to pre\ ent tlie moss from being washed out. The name Schitiki implies sewn. Notwithstanding (he slightuess of their construction, they were decked.'" Whethei' the vessels in which Deschnew and his companions left the Kohjma were or were not of this kind, seems not to have been S})ecilied in the original pa})ers ; Pallas trans- lating, tr.s'.vc/, where Muller had rendered kotclic. To proceed with the narrative. ' On the ' '2()th Scpteni-)er, i)e*chnew and Alexeew went * (;n shore and had an engagement with the * Tsdnikizki, in which Aiexeew was woumleil. * Shortly * I'.xiicihtton uf Covmioiiun- Wulin^^s:, By Martin Saiwr PieUtc xvi, f3 CHAP. IV. 1()48. DlMl'llllCW arrives at the RiNtT Aiuidir. I lO-iQ. 70 * Shortly afterwards, ihc two kotches lost siiiht * of each other, aiul they did not again join eoni- * pany. * Oeschnew was driven about by teni])ests in ' this strange sea, till, in Oetober, his vessel was * cast on shore at some distance to the southward * of the Rhcr Jnadir, and wrecked. Twenty- * five men of his c()in;)any remained, with whom * he sought for the Urccr Anadir \ and, after * wandering about for ten weeks, they came to * its banks, not far from the entrance, in a * country destitute of inhabitants and of wood.' This last defect was the most distressing, with respect to both firing and the chace, animals mostly haunting woodlands, which atlbrd them shelter. Twelve of Deschnew*s men went to examine the country higher up the river, but they found no habitations, and some otthe|)arty perished with hunger and fatigue. The re- nainder returned lo Oeschnew, and durinu' the winter they obtained subsistence by fishing and and the chace. On the return of summer, they advanced higher u{) the river, wIumv they found a small, tribe of a j)eople calleil AuauU, whom they com- pelled to pay tribute; remarketl, as a meritorious distinction, * the Hrst collected on the .hmdir* But this was oidy a small part of the wrong conmiitted. 'I'he account says, ' As this tribe, * though not munerous, was nevertheless stub- * born, they were in a short time exterminated.' The 71 1 COITI- >osts in v\ was hward wcnty- wliom , ai'ter :inie to , in a wood.' ^ witli mimals I thcin lent to M', but le party 'i)c re- ng the ng and vanced I small V com- torious wrong s tribe, s stiib- natcd/ The The lii!;ht manner in which this transaction <'")f* is related, and the inijiistly favourable coh)ur- — , — -> ing given to it, is without excuse. A deed very similar is rehited by Mr. Coxe, which ha|)})eiied in a hiter voyage in that (piurter of tile world, and which seems to atibrd a key to the conduct of Desclmew ami his companions. Michael Nevodtsikort' sailed in a vessel from the liner of' Kamtschalha \\)y ylmerica^ in the year 17 1"'N at which time he discovered some of the nearer {i.e. Mcstern) Fod' Idmicls. Ten persons, uiuler the command oi' one Larion Belaveiii were sent u})on a reconnoitring [)arty on one of the islands. This Larion Belavetf ' treated the * inhabitants in a hostile manner, upon which * they defended themselves as well as ihey could * witli their bone lances. Their resistance gave * him a [)retence lor tiring; and accorilingiy he * shot the whole number, amounting to titteen * men, in order to seize their wives.' * It might have been supposed, that in a strange land, aiul in the distressed comlition of Desclmew and his men, the neighbourhood of a native tribe would have been esteemed, and found, a great convenience ; but the RiLssians were intent on plunder and on asserting dominion ; and it is to be suspected, that to obtain the Anauli women the men were murdered. Desclmew built a iort, which he named the Anadirsh'oi * Account nj RiiMian i^mox'.'nt.v. liy the Kev. \V. Cow, tcl edit. 1780.^.34. ^ h '■ff 7^ *^y.V'- Anndirsko't Os/ror>; iiitciidiii*;, novortluOoss, aftcv* ' — — ' the ;i|)))n)ailiiiij;' winter slioukl \iv passed, to seek U)4»), his wav to t!ie Ao/// )ii(i. Discovery of il M'Ult' liy liiiitlt iruiu I lie Kolviiia lo tlif Aiii.tlii. U)50 1) iirmti' this time, other liiis^.iaiis at tl le KohpiKi had mavle e.\j)edili()iis h\ land into the countries eastward; also, in the snnnnei" <)t' l(i4i), iMiehael Stachiehin went, witli two \es-.f'ls, a^ain to attempt t(» (hseoxci' thi' Poai/sc/td Jiicr. One of" the \essels was wixeked; Staihichin, in tlie other, it i^^ rehited, naxiii'atiil seven tlays without tiiuhng a ri\er; that th*.!! lie landed some of his men to make iiuphries ot" the inhabitants of the country, hut they knew not of the ri\er lie was ii search of. The rockiness of the coast prevented his tisiiiui;', and proxisions l)eu;iinhni»' to be scarce, lie was obliged to return to the Koh/nuiy with no other profit than some teetli of the sea-horse. Othei" Russians, who made an expeibtion t p a rixer calh-d the /Initiy which is to the East of the Ko/i/nui, h'arnt that the Po^uitsclid Rhcr was the same ri\er which was calleil also the Atuulir, and that the shortest and most certain route to it fiom the Koifpna was by land. On this information, early iii the Spring of KI.X), a number of xolunteers undertook the journey to the Anadir, under the du'ection of JSemoen Motora, having for their guide a man of a tribe called the Chodynzes, whom thev had taken prisoner. They arrived at the banks of the Anadir some time in A])ril, where, to the I3[iiitual surprize of both parties, they found antl joined , tiitcr is. aft to seek lit the ito llic; iKM- ,)r 'esscls, R'rrr, , in the itlioiit line of mis of ver he coast inninjj- \o the eth of lie an ieh is it the 1 1 was ined 7^^ joined Desehnew antl liis company. Shortiv after, Michel Staduchin ibllowed in the same route. Some (hsaiilph of the same name in the Scut of Ochotzh- ; hut the want of f'-n ides ohlio-ed them to return to tUa J/iadir. Michel Staduchin and Ins party then departed for the Pcnscfiinsl,(( ; and what hecame of them is not known, tor they were not heard of afterwards. Desehnew and Moloia constructed bonts at the .hit((//r:y/, to make discovery towards the sea. In K'CH, Molora was killed in a battle ai^^ainst the Auauli. The year following Desehnew de- scended the A)i(i(fir in his boats, and discovered a saml-bank, which extends from the northern side of the entrance of the river far into the sea. The i»eneral ap])ellation in Siberia tor these kind of banks is Korga^ and no other name was gi\en to this bank. It was remarkable for being tlie resting-place ol' nmltitudes of sea-horses, antl the teeth which Desehnew ])rocured at tiiis time were thought good recom})ence ibr his trouble. Desehnew cut down wood to build a vessel [Mr. Mullersays a kotsche, ] on board of which he proposed to seuil by sea to ,A//7^/^/, the tribute which had been collected ; but the want of other materials necessary for buililing obliged him to relin(iuish the design. This, more strongly than any other circumstance related of the Kussiaa discoveries* (ffAr. KiJO. .S'HlucllUI I (.',5?. J6.53. ^ rr i l(ij%. €'laims (be discovery «t the Korga. 74 discoveries, has the ap])earancc of Dcsclincw haviiii^ ascertained a navigable coniinunication, round the country of the Tscluiktzki, between the Sea of Kulijina ami the Sea of Anadir. Other evidence relative to this subject will shortly occur. It shouUl be remarked here, however, tliat by whatsoever route Deschnew had made his passage from the Kolipiia to the A)ia(lir, he regarded it as more safe for the con- veyance of the tribute collected, than to send it through the country of the Anauli anil Jukagiri, "whicii lay between the Anadirsk Fort and the Koljjma, In Kul', Desciniew made a second voyage to the Kor^Of and found there another company of Russians, who had arrived j'rom Jalaitzk under a Kossak named Scliwerstow. This Seliwerslow had accompanied Michel Staduchin in 1041), and had been sent by him to Jakutzhy with a proposal to go lor sea-horse teeth on the government account ; which pr{)])osal was ac- cepted, and Seliwerstow was now come with an order from the governor, to make the ])eople inhabiting between the rcnschlnsha GiilJ wwd the Anadir tributary. At the time this order was given, it was not known at Jalaitzk that Deschnew had formed an establishment at the Aiiadir, and the arrival of Seliwerstow with such an appoint- ment was the occasion of new disputes. In the account of this contention, Mr. Mullcr first bfiiigs into notice that there were two great Tbchuktzki r. chnew :ation, stwccn \nadir. :t will here, chncw to the le con- send it kaj:'iri, nd the voyage unpany ^alaitzk Tliis ducliin akutzh'y on the ,vas uc- ^vith an })eople and the ler was 'schnew i'tr^ and ippoint- Muilcr ^o great :liuktzlschnew, in his expeditions to the K()r<(a, became acipiainted with the Korjaki who inha* bited on the South side of the Anadir^ and among them he found a woman of .A// w/;:/, who had be- louixed to his tbrmer associate, Fedot Alexecw. '- From her it was learnt, that Alexeew and Anku- dinow had died of the scurvy, that others of their company had been slain by the natives, and that a few had made their escape in small vessels ; but in what direction they went, or what became of them, she could not tell. 9 As triinslaUd by PndVssor i/jJlaci. Ifjt Corn's il'man J)i.'iCoi tries. Appendix, p. 316. 14 t-i mmf^> (:n\p V. Vi)\ :»:;<.• :atz. A part of the eastern coast of the Sea of Kar<( (as th-awn in tlie charts) takes a small westerly direction, which jirobably i;a\ e rise to the con- jecture ; but tlie sha])e of the North-eastern coast of Nova Zevihla, as found in the thirtl voyage of Barents/, \voukl always have opposed It, if the matter had never been ascertained, ivhich it has since been. In some French charts, the northern promon- ]604, ft)rv, to the East of the Sea of Kara, is named Terre dc .7(^/?7/e/',speciHed to ha\e been discovered by Cornelys Jelmerson in 1G()4. 1 tind no other mention of such discovery ; but in Harris's Collection I" IMAGE EVALUATION •TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^ / , ^ .-5;^^' ^ V Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN S>TREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) 872-4503 ^ ^ \ iV \\ lV ^ 1 T'fr^ liiil' 78 CHAP. V. M UijO. 1676. Collection of Voyages is mentioned that the Dutch tried, in I67O, to discover a North-east passage ; of which attempt it is loosely said, that those who made the voyage, reported on their return, that they had sailed to the height of between 70 and 80 degrees, and had found the sea to the East of Nova Zembla open, and clear of ice. In 1676, Mr. John Wood, wlio had sailed a few Voyace of years bcforc as mate with Captain Narbrough John Hood. "^ _ _ _ *■ _ " in his voyage to Odli^ offered a plan to his Ma- jesty King Charles II, and to '.he Duke of York, * for the discovery of a passage to the East * Indies by the North-east ; sailing about Nova * Zembla and Tartaryy and so to Japan? His proposal was accepted, and one of the King's frigates, named the Speedwell, was manned and victualled, and Mr. Wood appointed to com- mand her ; and as it was thought prudent not to venture a ship singly on an enterprize of this nature, the Duke of York, with other persons of distinction, at their joint charge, bought and fitted out a pink, named The Prosperous, of 120 tons burthen, the command of which was given to Captain William Flawes, with directions to sail in company with Captain Wood. Wood, in a kind of preface to his account of his voyage, gives the reasons which induced him to think there was a probability of a passage to India by the NE. He says, * My first reason was * grounded on the opinion of W. Barentsz, which * was, that ^Qva Zembla and Greenland being • three 79 * three hundred leagues distant one from the chap. * other, that if he had steered away North-east v — : — ♦ * from the North Cape, which would have brought 1676. « him in the mid- way betwixt the two lands, that jTilwood. * then he might probably have found an open * sea, free from ice, and consequently a passage ; « and in that opinion he remained till his dying * day ; for he did verily believe that the ice was * not to be met off of either shore more than 20 * leagues ; and that his being too near the shore * of Nova Zemhla was the cause of his meeting * so much ice, and the overthrow of his voyage/ It is not the opinion of Barentsz, but of Jan Cornelisz Rijp, that Wood has quoted in his first reason. Another of the reasons given by him is, the report mentioned in Hendrik HamePs narrative of his captivity in the Korea, that whales were taken in the Sea of Tartary, in which were found European harping-irons. On this subject something will be said hereafter. His fourth reason (for his reasons are numbered) is, that some person had * heard a Dutchman relate,* (as he did believe to be the real matter of fact) * that he had been under the pole itself, and * that it was as warm there as it was at Amsterdam * in summer time.* A fifth reason is, that two other Dutchmen had sailed to latitude 89" N. as proved by the journals kept in the ships ; where no ice was met with, and the sea ran hollow as in the Bay of Biscay. Another of his reasons was I p.! i 80 vnw. was, the worm-eaten driftwood met with in hidi ■ * northern hititudes. But the eharucter ot' Wood's J 670 ■ I ■■( II »i 1 m abilities is most conspicuous in his conchiding joimWood. reason. He says ; ' A reason ])ecnhar to myself, * though when known, to the benefit of all man- * kind, was, that having i'or some years past ' framed an hy})othesis of the motion of the two * magnetical poles (for two such there be,) and * by the observations of those that writ of that * subject, with my own observations and costly * experiments, I having found out their motion ' very near, and thereby the inclination of tiie * magnetical needle under the horizon in all ' latitudes and longitudes, and variation of the * compass to be found in any place in this world, ' without assistance of any other luminary. But ' not being fully satistied, as 1 might be if I could ' come so near the pole as was supposed, it * prompted my inclination to attempt this voyage.* Such Strang 3 pretensions, with so much credulity and ignorance, are remarkable. Wood had before given to the public a calculation of the longitude, from an eclipse of the moon observed by him in a port of Patagonia, the result of which w^as many degrees wide of what is now known to be the true longitude of that place The Speedwell frigate, manned with 68 men, and the Prosperous pink, with a crew of 18 men, Maj. sailed fioin the Buoi/ of the Nore on the ^8tii of May, 1676. Agreeably to the opinion he had recommended, Wood shaped his course well northward, 81 it CHAP. V. l()7b". June, Ca plain northward, not coming within sight of the coast ofNoru^ai/o: the land of the NortliCape. On June the '2My their latitude was 75" 59' N. and their lorii^itude about midway between the meridian of ihe North Cape and the West coast; of Nova J"''"^"°^- Zembla. That day at noon tliey made ice right ahead, which was found to lie in a direction ESE. and WNW. ; and here Wood's firmness and judgment were put to the test. He wished to go to the North-east, and also to keep clear of land. He had to choose between two difficulties ; to preserve his latitude and distance from land at the expence of making westing, which he con- sidered as losing so much ground, or to advance eastward at the expence of lessening both his latitude and his distance from land. Captain Wood was unfortunate enough to prefer the latter. He stood * ESE. along the ice,' seeking and finding many openings in it, but none which afforded a passage through to the North ; and on the 26th, in the evening, he came in sight of ai Nova the coast of Nova Zembla. The 2f)th, the weather was foggy, the wind at West and WbS. Captain Wood relates, * We being « embayed by tlie ice, stood away South to get * fi-om it. At 11 at night, tlie Prosperous Pink * bore down upon us, crying out, '* Ice on the * weather bow," w]iereu])on we chipped the helm * hard a-weather and veered out tlie mainsheet, * but before the ship could ware [veer] round and ^ bring to upon the other tack, she run on a "^^^^^f^ G * sunken wrecked. ^rw 1 1 Hill :=iil 82 ciiAP. ' sunken ledso of rocks, and tliere stuck fast. V ' — J- — ' * Captain Flawes's ship got clear. We used all i<>76. , possible means by carrying out a hawser and joim Wood. * anchor and throwing provisions overboard, but * could not get the ship oft) for the tide was * ebbing.' When the tide of flood made it brought with it a great sea. The ship beat hard, and soon made more water than the pumps could discharge. The crew got safe to shore, except two men, who were drowned, and the ship shortly after broke to pieces. Much of the provision was saved, and Captain Wood and his men embarked on board the Prosperous, in which vessel they immediately sailed on their return^ and arrived back to the 2Viames, August the 24th. Captain Wood found tl e rise and fall of the tide at Nova Zembla, eight feet. He says, * The sea water was much Salter there than any * I ever tasted, heavier, and certainly the clearest * in the world, for I could see the ground very * plain at 80 fathoms depth, and could see the * shells at the bottom very plain.' Of the land, he says, * The most part of it was covered with * snow. That whicli was bare could not be * walked upon, being like bogs, on which grows * a kind of moss which beareth a small blue and * yellow flower, and this is all the product of this * country. Under the superficies of this earth, * about two feet deep, after we had dug so low, * we came to a firm body of ice, which I think * was ^ •yjv .^^j' 83 * was never heard of before. So those men who * imagine, if forced to winter to tlie northward, * that they would dig caves in tlie earth to pre- * serve tl em from the cold, would find here bad * lodging.* It is not probable that this was the case in any other than the low flat parts of Nova Zembla. Solid ice under the surface of the earth is remarked by Mackenzie, in his travels across the northern part o^ America, and the same is found in marshy places in Siberia, which are there called Kaltusas. What Captain Wood says of the saltness, weight, and clearness of the sea water at Nova Zembla, rests on his single evidence. The variation of the compass in this voyage, was 7 degrees westerly near the North Cape; and 13 degrees westerly on the coast of Nova Zembla. CHAP, v Ca|)taiu Jolm Wood. O^ •''rr £1 '! h /Si I CHAP. VJ. 16'()6'. Invasion of Kaints- chiUka. Expedition ol Allassow C H A P. VI, Invasion of Kamtschatha, Evidence collected concernmg the discovery of Lands in the Icy Sea. IT is said that the Russains first heard of Kamtschatka about the year I69O ; but it is more probable that they received notice of it immediately on their establishing themselves on the Anadir. We find them at that time extend- ing their enterprizes southward towards the Penschinska ; but no expedition along the outer coast, southward, was undertaken by them tiM the year IO96, when a troop of 16 Kossaks travelled in that direction, not quite so far as to the river since named the Biver if Kamtschatka. They plundered some of the northern Kamts- chadale villages under the name of exacting tribute, and returned to the Anadirsk, Among the things taken by them from the Kamtscha- dales, were * wa-itings in an unknown language,* afterw^ards ascertained to be Japanese. The following year, /. e. 1697» Wolodimer Atlassow, a Kossak officer, undertook, and was ■ employed by the Jakutzk government, to con- quei M iii< 85 fjiicr Kamlschatka. He departed from Jakutzk w ith 11 few followers, going first to the Kolyma, and thence over land to the Jlnadir. A report nuule by him of his expedition was taken down in writing before one of: the tribunals at Moscoiv, He was four weeks making his journey from the Kobpna to the Jnadir, but it was usually per- formed in three. He remarks, * that between * the Koli/ma and the Anadir there are two .■^ro- * montories or great Capes, called the I'scha- * latskoi Jiosy and the Nos Anadirshoi ; that * both these Capes cannot be doubled by any * vessel, because in summer the western coast * of the first is barred with floating ice, and * in winter, the sea there is frozen ; whilst at * the second, which is towards the Anadir sk, * the sea is clear and without ice.' * At the Anadirsk Fort, Atlassow was reinforced with 60 Kossaks and a number of volunteers. Against this force the Kamtschadales could make no resistance. Atlassow describes the Kamtschadales to be smaller in stature than the inhabitants of the countries northward of tliem, having great beards and small faces. They lived under ground in winter, and during the summer months in cabins elevated above the ground on posts, to which they * Description Historique de t Empire Runs, par M. k Baron de Straklenberg. Vol. II. p. 242. G 3 ClfAP. VI. :r\ '}' i CHAP \l 8G tliey ascended by ladders. They kept animal food buried under leaves and earth, till it was (luite putrid : they cooked it with water in earthen or wooden vessels, by putting in red hot stones. * Their cookery,* Atlassow says, 'smelt so strong * that a Russian couUl not support the odour.' The Russians learnt of their Kamtschadale prisoners concerning the Kiirili Islands to the South of Kamtschatka ; that be\ ond the Islands seen from the continent there were others, the inhabitants of which were reported to live in walled towns, and that vessels had come from thence with })eople clad in cotton and silks, who had porcelain ware. Atlassc^v found living among the Kamtschadales, a native of a southern country, who had been shipwrecked on the coast of Kamtscluitka two years before. This man had a small mustachio, black hair, and his countenance was thought to resemble tliat of a Greek. On seeing an image among the Russians, he broke out into lamentation, and said there were such in his country. * It was concluded from all this * that he was an Indian or a Japanese.* A kossak who was sent by Atlassow to ex- amine the country about the river Kamtschatka, reported, that along the banks, and on the sea coast near it, were counted ' 160 villages, or * forts built of wood and earth, containing each * 150 or 200 men.' Beibre the coming of the Russians, the natives lived scattered j but after- wards, 'pr,i i* J ■• 87 wards, they collectctl for their defence, in which Baron Strahlenberg observes,, tliey were not for- tunate, for the Russians attacked and set fire to the vilhiges, * kilHng as many as thoy could of * those who fled, to obhge the others to submit ' to them.' Some vestiges were discovered of Russians iiaving fbrmeriy been in Kamtschallca, It was a kind of traditional report among tlie natives, that fstrangers hatl arrived among tiiem who had married wojncn of the country, and had settled there. One of them was said to be named Fedotow, wiio, it is conjectured was tlic son of Fedot Alexeew. After a time, they quarrelled among themselves, and separated, and it is sup- posed that they were all killed by the natives. The Russian government in Europe had hither- to taken little interest in the atiairs of the remote eastern provinces ; but afler the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Czar, Peter the Great, found leisure to bestow attention on this part of his dominions, and sent directions to the Go- vernor of JaliUtzh; to })rosecute the discovery of the lands in the Icij Sea ; and to collect infor- mation concerning the country of Kamtsc hatha, and the discoveries which had been made in times past. In consequence of these orders, many individuals who had made voyages w^ere examined, and their depositions taken down in wntnig ; by which much curious matter has been preserved. Most of the examinations thus taken G 4 \^ ere CI [A p. VI. I I S8 I ! 4 \l' if CHAP, were lodged in the CliiUKTry oi\JaJ:nlzk, jiiul . ^'' . some years afterwards were submitted to tlie inspection of Professor Miiller. Liuiisiii The earliest of the depositions noticed in »''« i'-> s^''- Mailer's History, is one which was made by a kossak named Nikiphor Malgin, and relates to lands in the laj Sea. The reports concerning those lands had fallen into disrepute, in conse- quence of some vessels having been driven to a considerable tlistahce from the coast of the continent in navigating between the Lcfia and the Kolyma, without any person in them seeing land to the North. Nikiphor Malgin, however, affirmed, that some time betv een the years lG(i7 and IO75, in sailing from the river Lena to the river Kolyma, he had seen an Island to the North. Also, that after he arrived at the Kolyma, a merchant there, named Jacob Wiictka, related to him and to others, that formerly he had sailed from the Lena in company with nine vessels for the Kolyma, three of which vessels were driven to this Island, and some oi' the men belonging to them had landed, who saw there marks of the hoofs of unknown animals, but no human inha- bitant ; and that these three vessels afterwards arrived safe in the Kolyma, 1702. A person named Michailo Nafetkin deposed, that in or about the year 1702, being out at sea between the entrances of the rivers Kolyma an' \ Indigirka, he had seen land to the North, and that Danilo Monastirskoi, a pilot who was on board 89 board the same vessel with him faid, that this land joined to lur.d opi)ositc to Kamlschatka, Several other reports concerning lands in the ley Seat which it would be useless to mention here, are found in the inf'oi/.atioii collected by these enquiries and examinations. CHAF. VI. 3 % i' . I yo CHAP. VII. Taras Staducliin, Date not known. I ':•' il'!¥ CHAP. VII. Of the Voyage of Taras Staducliin from the Kolyma to the Sea of Kamtschatka. AMONG the depositions cited by M. Mullcr, one which was made by the same Nikiphor Malgin already mentioned, is the most deserving Voyage of of attention. This was taken in February I7IO. Malgin affirmed, that a merchant named Taras Staduchin, did many years before relate to him, * that he had sailed with ninety men in a kotsche * from the river Ko/yina, to make discovery con- * cernaig the Great Cape (fthe TschuktzJd : that * not being able to double it, they had crossed * over on foot to the other side, where they built * other vessels. The small breadth of the Isthmus * at the part where they crossed, is noticed as * the most remarkable circumstance m this depo- * sition.' It is farther stated, that they afterwards followed tlie coast round the Kamtschatka Penin' siilay till they came to the PenschinsLa Gulf-, and in the short account given of this navigation is found, expressed in an obscure manner as from inaccurate or doubtful recollection, the earliest notice of the Kurilski Islands, Here Isthmus of the Tschuktzki the 91 Here it must naturally be conjectured, that the vessel in whicli they departed from the Koli/ma, notwithstanding she is called a kotsche, was taken to pieces and conveyed acrosij the neck of land, and either set up again as before, or made use of towards building new vessels. This is a circumstantially described voyage, departing by sea from the Kolyma^ and arriving to the Sea of Kamtschatka, not by a clear navi- gation round a North-east promontory of Jsia-y but in part by travelling over a narrow isthmus of land. Besides the expedition of Semoen Deschnew, and this of Taras Staduchin, only one other instance is mentioned in the accounts of the discoveries of the Russians, of any vessel departing by sea from the Kolyma and arriving at the East Sea^ whicli Professor Gmelin treats as resting on unauthenticated tradition. The story is, that some man had gone in a vessel not much larger tlian a skiff, (ein kerl mit einem schifflein das nicht viel grosser als ten schiffertahn) from the river Kolyma to Kamtschatka *. With a vessel so easy to transport over land, it is less difficult to imagine the passage to be made across an isthmus, than round a sacred promontory. The carle was probably some man who fled from justice. Briefly, the whole evidence respecting our knowledge of the North-eastern extremity of Asia, * Grnehn Reise Dutch Siberien. . Volii. p. 437. Gottingen. J 767. CHAP. VII, !i ciiAr. VII. ■;| 'i i ill k 'B ! i'l!: Asia, rejecting improbable and unsupported rumours, stands on the following footing. Of three voyages stated to have been made eastward from the Kolyma to the sea of Anadiry the track of one only is clearly described; ue, that of Taras Staduchin, who not being able to sail round the land of the Tschuktzki, crossed ovct a narrow isthmus on foot from one to the other sea. What Taras Staduchin performed, was possibly done by Deschnew, and it is by no means improbable that Taras Staduchin was encouraged in his attempt, by a knowledge that Deschnew had already in that manner made his passage into Eastern Sea. The voyage of Semoen Deschnew in 1648, is the one circumstance which has been regarded and admitted as proof of a compleat separation of Asia and America, It is important to remark, that this admission is not so old by nearly a century, as the expedition on which it was founded ; for no certainty of an absolute navi- gation having been performed round a north- east promontory and extremity of Asia was pre- tended in Muller*s time, till it was inferred by him from the writings of Deschnew found in Siberia, Mr. MuUer has acknowledged that from the perusal of these papers, he adopted a behef which did not before prevail, and he regarded it as a second discovery. Charts which had been made in Siberia, by people inhabiting near the coasts of the Icy Sea, shewed uncertainty, and what \\\ 9S what is to be considered only as an expression of conjecture, respecting the North-eastern limit of Asia : the coast not being in any chart defined by a plain clear outline, but a vacancy left, which even M. Muller, however he has interpreted the voyage of Deschnew, has not ventured to supply; w^hereas a southern promontory is clearly deli- neated in the charts without any indication of doubt. Some reports of a navlg^iion having been found practicable from the Ici/ Sea round the North- east of Asia, appear nevertheless to have reached Europe before Professor Muller went into Siberia, Scheuchzer, in the Introduction to his translation of KaBmpfer's History of Japaii, cites some remarks which had been published concerning the Tartars, wherein it is said, * The commerce * between Siberia and Kamtschatka, is carried on * two different ways : some go over the Gulf of * Kamtschatka [or Sea ofOchotzk~\ which runs up * between it and Great Tartary, But those * inhabitants of Siberia^ who live near the River * Lena and along the Icy Ocean, in their com- ' HiCice with Kamtschatka, commonly go with * their ships round a Cape or Nos called Tscke- * laginskoi, or Smcetoi, to avoid the Tschelatzki * and Tschuktzki, two fierce and barbarous nations * possessed of the North-east point of Siberia* On this vague authority, Scheuchzer concludes that Asia is not contiguous to America, The preface to the English translation of Muller's history CHAP. VII. 94i 11 1 U:-\li t|; I : f CHAP. VII. history of the Russian discoveries speaks in the like manner, of voyages round the North-east of Asia being frequent, * although liable to delay * occasioned by the ice.' Baron de Strahlenberg was taken prisoner by the Russians at the battle of Pultoway and sent, with other Swedish officers, into Siberia, where he was detained twelve years. The information given by him respecting Siberia^ he being also an intelligent and inquiring man, is much to be relied on. His description of the Russian Em- pire was published in 1730, which was before M. Muller was in Siberia, Biiron Strahlenberg speaks of the expedition of 104-8 as the me by which KamtschatKa was discovered, and what he says of the navigation seems to favour the opi- nion, that Deschnew made his passage by sea round the Tschuktzki country ; but the credit given by him to the testimony of Atlassow, is of a contrary tendency. Strahlenberg considered the country we call Tschuktzki to be inhabited by two different nations, whom the Russians had not been able to bring to submission. * When any of them * are taken prisoners, they kill themselves. They * inhabit the extremity of the North-east of Asia, * towards what is called the Cape Suctoi Nos and * Tschalaginslwi' The reader will have remarked a want of ac- cord in the different accounts in the names assigned to the capes or promo-itories of the Tschuktzki ii 95 Tschiiktzki country; and the same is observ- able in tlie charts, as well to capes which are unquestionably known, as to the presumed Northern Nos j which disagreement it is par- ticularly necessary to keep in mind in reading MuUer's History. CHAP. VII. m ,1 •ihl ! ! 11 cnAP. Vlll. 1701. CHAP. VIII. Expedition of the Russians against tJie Tschuktzki. Journey of Sin Popow to the Tschuktzki Nos. Farther account of the Tschuktzki Nation, and qftheproj^imiti/ of a Great Country to the East. IN the year 1701, the Jukagiri inhabiting on the North side of the River Jnadir, who had been made tributary to the Russians, complained to the governor of the Anadirsk Fort of being annoyed by the hostilities of the Tschuktzki, and prayed for assistance. The governor sent them 24 men, to whom 110 Jukagiri joined themselves, and they made an irruption into the country of the Tschuktzki. They came to a place by the sea side where were fourteen Tschuktzki habitations, of a class called pictons (or fishers), who were so distinguished because the}^ had no rein-deer. The Tschuktzki were required to submit, which they refused to do, and were attacked. About ten men of the Tschuktzki were killed, and the women and children made prisoners. Some Tschuktzki men who were taken, it was the intention of the Russians to keep as hostages ; but bein. In their baidars * they go in half a day to this Island ; and beyond ' it is a Great Continenty which may be seen from « the Island in clear weather. In that countiy * xire large forests.* JOl n\t the cMi rciii- ^*>77 (ill istake), } north- und he of the in pro- /. e. in t to the 1 whom loted : occiij)y led the )Ullt to •re, but them, vithout erty to of the ociety. leroiis. mode- :)aidars )eyond n from 3imtiy C H A P. IX. Immion of the Kurih Islands. E.rpedilhm in the Icy Sea. TN 1711, the Russians invaded the Kuri/i ((iap. -■' Islands. The northernmost, and nearest to . ' ^- , the continent, was inhabited by emiirrant Kamts- ^7n. Ill »- " chadales, who liad retired tlutlier to avoid the .V'^''^'"";.''" Itussians. In resisting this new invasion ten of ^'''""^'»' their number fell in battle, and the survivors were reduced to submission. About the same time, tlie islands called sci.nnt.rian Schantavian, which may be seen from part of ^''""^•''• the continent between the entrances of the rivers Uii and Amur, were first visited by the Russians, who found them without inhabitants. Some expeditions also took place in the IcijSea, for the purpose of discovering northern lands. A kossak, named Jacob Permakow, had de}>osed Pcrmakow to his having seen land to the North ; a)ul a "^"^ party of tweKe kossaks, under the command of ^''''' Mercurei Wagin, was ordered to journey thither over the ice, when the sea should be frozen, to ascertain the flict; Permakow being appointed to accompany them as their guide. They left Ja/aitzli in the autumn of I7II, and passed the H 3 winter I(' I 10,' nnr. winter near the entrance of the Jnna. In May .^ ^^' i 17 I'J, they proeeeileil nortliwaril, over a frozen xiX'l. s;,^,.,^ on iiartes, or sledges drawn by dogs ; but '^^' they kept neai' the eoast as far as to the North- east cape of the bay into which the R'ircv Jana falls, which bears the name of Sxiia'toi-nos -, Thoy nrrivc wJuMice tlicy struck otf fioni the continent direct ' to the North, anil came to land, which they found to be an island. It was destitute of trees and uninhabited. They judgeil it to be from nine to twelve days journey in circumference, and beyond it, to the North, they imagined they saw another land ; but to this last they did not at- tem[)t to go, as the s])ring was much advanced, and their [)ro\ isions began to run short ; for which reasons they returned to the continent. AV'agin wislied to obtain fuller information concerning these lands before he returned to Ja/iiilz/,\ and therefore determined to remain on the sea-coast till the ensuing winter, when he might again travel to the North over the ice. The part of the continent at which he arrived, on returning from the island, was to the East of the bay of the Jonay between that and the River Cliromdy at a place called Kataju Kresf, on account of a Cross erected there by a kossak named Kataju, but which is not marked in the charts. Finding fish scarce, they travelled towards the Chroma, in ho})es of a better supply; but, in attempting this journey, they were so much distressed for i 103 In May I frozen Ljs; but '■ North- er Jatm 'toi-nos ; t direct y found 3es and •m nijic cc, and icy saw not at- /anccd. It; for ent. mation ncd to lain on lien he :e. ich he was to in that called Tected which g fish ma, in npting ressed for CIIAP IX. 1712. for want of pro\ Islon, that they eat ttie dogs who had drawn their sledges, and despairing of reaching the Chroma, they returned to the Kri'.sl. On this part of the coast they remained the wiiole summer, obtaining a slender subsistence on a few fish, wihl fowl, and eggs. The people under Wagin in the mean time became discon- tented ; the hardships they had suffered, and the dread of having to encounter yet greater in prosecuting the discovery of the farther land, embittered them against both Wagin anil Per- niakow, the latter of whom they regardod as the author of their sufferings ; and at length they conspired, and murdered AVagin, his sou, Permakow, and another kossak. After ])erpc- trating this deed, they consulted, and agreed upon an account to render of their expedition at their return, in which it was tletermined that nothing should be said of their having been at an island. This being settled, they made the best of their way to the Usl Jan.s/roi Shnotvic', or winter liabitation, at the moutli of the Jmia. A relation made by them of their proceedings was taken down in writing in October I712 ; October. they said, that they had tra\'el]ed from the con- tinent only half a day's journey ; that an im- petuous wind tlien arose, which swept from the surface whirlwinds of fine snow, by which the whole company were blinded and dlsj)ersed; that after wandering on the ice nearly tliree weeks, seven of them met at the Kalaju Krest, and H 4< returned I i 10 i I jli III I III ' .I'M-:' ^'\ *l. CHAP, returned in company to the Ust Janskoi. This account caused it for a time to be beheved, that those who were missing had perished on the ice ; but however well tlie stoiy of the conspirators was contrived for keeping off in(iuiry, the fact did not remain long concealed. One of the accomplices made confession of the murder, and the whole w^re sent to Jakutzk for trial. They there acknowledged the discovery of a large island ; but what they said met with no credit, being regarded as a story invented, in hopes thereby to obtain pardon, or delay of punish- ment. Mr. Muller says, that when separately examined, their deeoriptions were thought not to agree. In the summer of 1712, a remarkable voyage was made by sea from the Kohjrna to the east- ward, by a kossak, named Wasilei Staduchin (a name fruitful in enterprize), in a vessel with a crew of ^^2 men. On his return he wrote to Jakntzky that he had not seen any island to the North, but that to the eastward he had seen * a promontory which jutted out from the con- * tinent, which was inaccessible by sea, on ac- * count of its being surrounded with firm ice, * through which no vessel could pass.' This w^as, undoubtedly, the Sxniwtoi or Sacred Promontory of Deschnew^ The voyage of Wasilei Staduchin was per- formed in one of the vessels called schitiki. Mr. Muller remarks, that at this time the stronger built Wabilei Sluducliiii, liis voyaqc cast >. aid from llie KoJ^jiiia. ■, ■I 105 built vessels calk J kotsches had fallen into disuse. The Iqi Sea is less liable to great disturbance from liigh winds than the open and unencum- bered parts of the ocean. The principal danger is from the ice. The kotsches were best adapted for resisting the shock of encountering ice; and the ligliter and more loosely connected vessels for escape if inclosed. It is probable that many of the vessels built in the ports of the Icy Sea were of mixed construction, according to the materials at hand, or to other considerations of convenience or fancy. ■ni 10(i I W 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ( ! .'lijl 'i t 1 i' f:' 1 1 i CHAP. X. 1714. C H A p. X. I'he Russians build Ships in the Furls of the Eastern Sea. Joumej/ of Alexei Markow to search for the Northern Lands, ^irst Na- 'vigation from Ochotzk to Kamtschatka. The Schantarian Isles. I .Tourney of Markow on t!ie ley Sea. N lyi'i'j ship-carpenters, seamen, and ma- terials for the construction of vessels, wood excepted, were sent from Jakutzk to the port of Ochotzk., which is about four degrees more northward than the entrance of the River Ud. In the same year, the government at Jakutzk ordered two expeditions by sea to search for the Northern Lands, one to depart from the Jana^ the other from tiie Kolijma. With each ex pedition a mariner was sent, to endeavour to discover the navigation from the Icy Sea to Ochotzk or Kamtschatka. The measures for these expeditions were so ill contrived or ill executed, that the commanders did not leave Jaktuzk till August, and when they reached their appointed places on the sea-coast, it was too late for any attempt by navigation that } ear. Alexei Markow, the commander of the expe- dition from the J ana, wrote to Jakutzk, to re- commend 107 commend discovering tlie lands to the North chap, by travelling over the ice ; which proposal was v — J. » approved, and he was provided with nartes and dogs, and departed from the UstJanskoe Simo'ii'ie, or lower establishment on the Ja?iay on or before the middle of the month of March, 1715. He 1715. returned to the Jana on the 3d of April, and the account rendered by him was to the following purport ; ?. e, that * during seven days he went ' straight towards the North, over a frozen sea, * with as much speed as the dogs could make. * That he found no land ; and it was not possible * for him to proceed, for the ice rose there like * a chain of mountains. He climbed to the top * of some of the highest, and looked all around, ' but coidd discover no land. He then returned * to the continent.* Tlie prescribed voyage from the Kolyma was attended with as little success as the one from the JancL It has been suspected that the persons ordered on these expeditions did not quit the continent ; that having fresh in their remembrance the hard- ships and distresses suffered in Wagin's and Permakow's ex})edition, they occu})ied them- selves as long as they tliought would appear a reasonable time for their absence, in finding good quarters, and in concerting an account to render at their return. This probably was not Do„i,ts the fact with respect to Markow. The difference ^'^'irkow's between his mode of proceeding and that of J"»r"ey * ^ , not well MerCUrei considered. CHAP. X. ■in r\\' t , ,1;; 't ,; if i . ■ ■ ■ '! 1 ' I, ': I'i' i'i:' ' ; 1 h 1: h K! I I 108 Mercurei Wagin, appeals not to have been attended to. Wagin from tlie mouth of the Ja/uiy kept near the coast till he came to the SidaHoi Nos, or North-east cape of the Bay of the Jcma ; by which he had the advantage of a fresh outset at his own time, and from an advanced point. Markow on the contrary, took liis departure from within the entrance of the Janc/f which is in the bottom of a deep bay, according to the Russian charts nearly three degrees of latitude short of the Nos, Sauer reckons the SiiiaHoi Nos to be 400 wersts distant NNE. from the mouth of the Jana, which makes the difference in latitude three degrees and a half. A good single day's journey in a sledge drawn by dogs is said to be 80 wersts, equal to about 5S English statute miles ; but a journey of seven days continuance with the same dogs w^ould scarcely exceed half that rate. Accord- iuijlv, Markow's track, admitting his account, would make but a small penetration into the Icij Sea beyond the Bay of the Jmia. The sus- picion which has fallen upon Markow is the more unreasonable, as travelling over the ice was a plan of his own suggesting. These failures, without much examination into causes, were sufficient to render doubtful the former evidences of northern lands. Neverthe- less, instructions were continued to the com- manders on the Kolyma^ that they should endea- vour to gain information concerning them, though little lOD Jitttle attended to, till accident brought the matter into f'resii notice. In the winter of 1715, was compleated at Ocliotzk, the first vessel built tliere capable of navigating in the open sea. Slie was heavily framed after the model of the loddies in use at Archangel and in the JJliife Sea. In June 171(), 1716-. she sailed from Ochotzk, commanded by Henry Fi^M navi- Busch, who Baron Strahlenberg supposed to be odmtzk'o' a native of Sweden ; but MuUer, who had the dlS; information from Busch himself, says that he was a native of Hoorn in North Holland, Busch intended to have examined the con- tinuation of the coast eastward and northward from Ochotzk, but the winds obliged him to stand across the gulf, and he arrived on the western coast of Kamtschatkay near to the entrance of the river TigiL He sailed afterwards to another river of the w^est coast of Kamtschatka, called the Kompakowa, where he passed the winter. It is related by Muller, on the authority of Busch, that the sea cast on the shore there a whale, in the body of which was a harpoon of European workmanship, marked with Roman characters. To have entitled this to credit, it ought to have been stated what the roman characters were, but this has been negleeted. A similar circumstance had been reported many years before with as small specification of cir- cumstance, by Hendrik Hamel, whose narrative was published at Rotterdam in 1668. A doid)t which # i 1 1 •1 ■i .!■ ' I'M :. ' 1 ■i"i 1 t ■ 110 which naturally occurs, is thus argued against by Mr. Mullor : ' If I could suppose that Busch * had any knowledge of a similar case remarked * in 16.53, by the Hollanders who were ship- * wrecked on the coast of the KoreOy I should * suspect that he had fabricated his story in * imitation. But this suspicion is to be rejected, * for Busch was an ignorant man who could * neither read nor write, and who scarcely knew * there was such a country in the world as the * Korea. It seems therefore more proper to * conclude that the matter is confirmed by a * second example.' Mr. Muller seems too favourable to the au- thority of Busch in this matter. Busch bein": a Hollander, and an old seaman, could not well have missed hearing of the adventures of his countrymen at the Korea^ and no men have been greater imitators in their narratives than sea vovaffers. Mr. Muller was inclined to credit both Hamel and Busch, as what they said was in exact correspondence with his own hypothesis. If whales could be proved to have gone from the northern European Sea to the ^S"^'^ (;/' Tartary^ there could be little doubt that Deschnew might have gone wholly by sea from the River Kolyma to the Anadir. But admitting the fact of the harpoon with respect to Busch, it would fall short of proving that whales travel from the European seas to the seas of Tartary, as the Russians must be supposed long before the time of Busch, to have Ill Iiave introduced there the use of European liarp- ing irons. Busch sailed back in his vessel to Ochotzk. Other vessels were built both there and at Kamt- fichalka^ and navigation in those seas has since made a gradual, not a rapid, progress. Among the early undertakings from OchotzL was the exa- mination of the Schanlarian Isles which are near the entrance of the River Ucl; with some hope of finding means of entering thence into commerce, or of obtaining intercourse, with the Japanese. Towards tliis they could not well contribute without establishing settlements on them. The largest Schantarian Island is described woody and abounding with the small animals called sables. To hunt these, a party of Russians win- tered on the island j but in making their fires imprudently, or through negligence, the whole forest took fire and was consumed, which exter- minated the sables. In ly-^O or 1721, an expedition in which 1720, Henry Busch went as i)ilot, sailed from Ochotzk i^xp«?ditioa to examine the Kurili Isles', and it is supposed nii isiamh. that the commanders, Jevreinow and Luschin, had secret instructions to search for the Kinsima or Golden Island of the Japanese. At the fifth or sixth Island from the Lopatka, or South point of Kamtschatka, the vessels were, contrary to the advise of Busch, anchored on rocky ground, by which they lost four anchors, and were obliged to return to Kamtschatka, 'tij nc> C H A P. XL Willegin a7}d Amossovv /// the Icy Sea. The Medviedskic Islands. 1 . r ■ |: 1 t''r !h . \ , W- \ b, 1 ' i; ': ' ' ' -^'il 1 -i'^ , 1.- 1 ;'; j ' ■';ii;' , fi 1 i it ;'!''H . i 1 , CIIAF. XI. 1720. Willegin to thc^ Xortlierii land. Tlic Schelasrcs. THE lands in the Icj/ Sea again came in ques- tion. Iwan VVillei^in and Gregorei Sankin, two proniyscldeni, affirmed that in the montli of November 1720, they had travelled northward over the ice from the River Tschulcotschiay which is westward of the Kolyma \ and that they arrived at land. Willegin, whose account is given, could not say whether it was an island or part of a continent. He saw neither inhabitant nor tree. The wind was strong and the atmosphere loaded with fog, therefore they could not venture to go inland to examine the country. They saw some old deserted huts, but could not judge by what people they had been inhabited. This land might be seen from the continent near the entrance of the river Tschuhotschia, in clear weather ; and it was said, that ' according to all * appearance, it extended one way as far as to * opposite the river Jaiuiy and the other way, * eastward of the KoUjma, to as far as the country * where dwelt the Schelages, the oii'^inal people * of the land, as he, Willegin, had been tokl by * a principal US « a principal man of the Schclagcs named Kopai, * to whose habitations he had made a voyage to collect tribute. Willegin added, tliat it would * be vain to attempt to go in vessels by sea to the * northern land, because of the ice with which * the sea was covered.* Willegin it seems succeeded in prevailing on Kopai, to pay, for the first time, tribute to the Russians. A Russian named Fedot Amossow, confiding in the reports of Willegin, but not coinciding with him in opinion, embarked with a troop of kossaks, in Jidy 17^21, on board a vessel, and set sail from the Koljjma for the land to tlie North, but he was barred by ice from proceeding in that direction, and obliged to alter his destination to sailing along the coast eastward, which brought him on the 7th of August, to the habitations of Kopai. Amossow reckoned these habitations to be ^200 versts to the East of the entrance of the Kolyma^ and noticed a small island in the sea at a short distance from where Kopai dwelt. Amossow also, obtained the tribute, but shortly after paying it, Kopai revolted and killed some of Amossow's men ; * wiiicli,' says M. Mu'Ier, * is all we know of Kopai.' Amossow returned to the Kolyma, and in November, the same year, went in nartes over the sea, which was then frozen ; of which journey he gave the following account : — He set out from the mouth of the Kolyma on the 3d of the month, I and Amossow. 1724. CHAl\ XL 1724. 114 and followed the coast of the continent westward to between the llivcrs Tscliukotscliia and Alaseia, whence he took his departure northward, and came to an Island which he estimated to be distant from the continent as far as dogs with a sledge usually travel in a day. Amossow's journey probably occupied more time, as he complained of difficulties from the unevenness of the ice, and from the sea-salt with which it was covered, both owing to the wind being high when the sea began to freeze. He found at this land decayed huts, which had been built with drift wood, and covered with earth. He saw also rein-deer which fed here on moss. This land, he said, might be encompassed in a sledge drawn by dogs in one day. On it were high rocky mountains. Beyond, he saw two other islands, separated one from the other by a narrow strait, and quite as mountainous as the first. To these farther Islands, Amossow did not go, wanting provision for his dogs. He returned to the Kol/pna, November the 23d. Part of the foregoing description M. MuUer received from Amossow himself, whom he saw and conversed with at Jakutzk ; yet he has re- fused credit to either his written or verbal rela- tion. * There is reason to suspect,* says Muller, * that the hope of obtaining a command, rather * than the desire of making discoveries in these * frightful regions, induced Amossow to revive * the report of land in the Frozen Sea,* This was was an opinion scarcely fair to entertain. It is some excuse, that at the time Muller wrote his history of these expeditions, the discoveries of Bartolome dc Fonte had been, and still were, the subject of much dispute, and the light in which Muller viewed that controversy, disposed him to be cautious in his admissions. The northern lands in the In/ Sea had scarcely been visible but by accident, and had in an extraordi- nary manner remained concealed from persons who had been sent purposely to ascertain whether or not they existed. In particular, Markow's seven days journey to the North, seemed a con- vincing refutation of a pretended discovery, and lielpcd to confirm Muller in his disbelief. The land to which Amossow went however, it is pretty clear by the small distance from the con- tinent and its small extent, was no other than one of the Islands now named Medviedshicy or the Bear Islands ; and the others seen from it were part of the same groupe. What was seen by Willegin is more doubtful, from his description of the extent ; and as to being seen from the continent, a mountainous land may be seen from another mountainous land at a verv creat dis- tance. Nicolas de Lisle, who composed the well known chart of the discoveries of Admiral Barto- lom6 de Fonte, resided at Petershurgh some time before Muller published his history, and appears to have had access to all the papers which reached the Russian government concern- CHAP. \i. I '^ jng M 1 1.' 'li' jfl^ 'I: i'i 1 I CHAP. XI. « .^ ' I If) ino; the (lisco\orics nuule in Siberia, He adopted tlio account given by Willcgin in its fullest latitude, laying down in his chart Willegin's northern land as a western extension of the American continent, and marking it as a place to which the Tschuktzki who would not submit to pay the tribute, retreated, to avoid the Russians. This ready adoption of N. de Lisle, as it was not necessary to the elucidation of the discoveries of de Fonte, nor at all comiected with that subject, mi:y be regarded as what he thought nearest the truth ; and at the time he published his cliart, was a more defensible opinion than the one adopted tiirough the extreme scrupulousness of M. Muller ; according to whose directions no land or indication of land to the North of the continent in the Icij Sea, was admitted in the Russian chart published in 1758, by the Academy at Petershurgh, Guillaume de Lisle, in an Atlas of much earlier date, i. .atude of 6i°30^ Another Island has, I apprehend through mistake, been marked in the charts as the Island Saint Lawrence, The opinions at that time entertained in Siberia respecting the geography of the North- east of Asia, appear from descriptions given by M. MuUer, of maps which were made by persons resident in Siberia, which are to be regarded as derived from the best sources of information then existing ; that is to say, traditional reports of the native inhabitants, the affirmations of living individuals; CHAP. XII. 1728, IJ 111 ■I CHAP. XII. 124 individuals ; and for the rest, it may be sup- posed, as much of the charts before existing as had not been contradicted by subsequent obser- vation or information. One of the charts noticed by Midler was made by a colonel of the Jakutzk Kossaks, named Afanassei Schestakow, and was pnblished at Peterslmrgh in 1626. In it was placed an Island in the Ici/ Sea, opposite to the entrance of the Kolijmay two days journey distant from the continent ; said to be inhabited by people of the Schelages, who would not submit to the Russians ; and beyond this Island, two days journey farther to the North, was placed a coast, which he designated by the name of The Large Country. Schestakow and his chart, and indeed all that contributed to crediting the existence of lands in the Icy Sea, were treated with a de- gree of hostility by Muller, who unreasonably supposed the northern lands laid down by Schestakow to be no other than an exaggerated representation of the Island near the habitations of Kopai, as reported by Amossow. Muller describes Colonel Schestakow to have been an illiterate man who could neither write nor read, and a great pretender, * qui avoit le don de la * parole.* Nevertheless, from what follows in Muller's own account, Schestakow appears to have been a man of good abilities, active and enterprizing. He is to be blamed for having proposed a plan, and for having offered his .ser- vices 125 vices to the Russian government, to subdue and subjugate independent nations who had given the Russians no ofFeuce ; but this was not a cause for blame M. MuUer chose to point at. A chart made by I wan Lwaw, an inhabitant of Jakiitzky represented two promontories of the Tschuktzki country, the northern named the Schelatzkoi, not limited by a marked outline. Opposite to the southern promontory, which he named The Anadirskoi NoSy were placed two Islands, one more distant from the Tschuktzki land than the other, and with the following notice ; * It is half a day's voyage by sea to the * first Island : it is inhabited by a people whom * the Tschuktzki call Achjuchaliaet. From this * Island they can go in two days to the other, * which is inhabited by a people who by the ' Tschuktzki are culled Peckeli.* Beyond these Islands was marked a large country, whose in- habitants, it is noticed, were by the Tschuktzki called Kitschin Elja% who were habited in skins, and used bows and arrows ; and * this Great * Country was full of forests, and abounded in * animals.' In the cliart by Iwan Lwaw, the eastern part must be supposed to have been drawn according to information obtained from the Tschuktzki people. Other charts are mentioned by M. Muller, which leave an unlimited blank for the Sche^ latzkoi Nos; and opposite to the Nos place an unlimited CHAP. xn. CHAP. XII. Hering's Chart. 126 unlimited country, the inluibitants of which are in one chart called Ki/ki/t-meis. Bering made a chart of liis discoveries, a copy of which is published in Du Halde's China, and in D'Anville's China and Tartarv Atlas. He re presents in it two Tschuktzki promontories, and names the southern of the two (past which he sailed himself) the 'Tschuktzki Cape or Nos; or rather, the name, as ])Uiced in his chart, applies to the most southern point of the Tschuktzki coast. Tlie northern promontory he calls the Scheleginskit and has given it a clear marked limitation of coast, which has not been done in any other chart. A counterpart of this is, giving to the northern promontory a situation far west- ward of the other ; claiming thereby, that his voyage had ascertained the eastern extremity of Asia ; and consequently, the separation of A7nerica from Asia, Muller did not believe the eastern land seen by Bering to be the most eastern point of Asia. He says, * the western direction of the coast * beyond the part at which Captain Bering ar- * rived, is only the winding of a large bay ; for * the coast afterwards resumes a direction to * the North and North-east, till, in the 70th * degree or more of North latitude, the proper * Tschuktzki Nos appears in form of a great * peninsula ; where, and not before, it may be * said the two great parts of the world are not * connected.* 127 * connected.' In accord with this opinion, was constructed the Petersburgh map of the Russian discoveries, pubhshed in 1758. Captain Bering and Professor Muller had each a system, in thi. main point of which they agreed. In repre- senting two great promontories between the Kolyma and the Anadir, Muller followed fairly enough, and without exceeding, the general opinion at that time entertained j and he has contented himself with marking a space for his northern promontory by a dotted line. In these maps (Bering's excepted) is apparent, an acknowledged uncertainty of the extent of the Tschuktzki country northward ; on which may be remarked, that if at any time it had been known or received as fact in Siberia, tJiat Deschnew (a remarkable character) had, in the year 1648, passed wholly by sea round the Tschuktzki coast, it is not credible that a circum- stance so extraordinary should have so speedily and entirely passed out of men's minds, as for no traces of it to have been discovered by the inquiries and examinations which were made, by order of the Russian government, about the year 1710 ; and that nothing of traditional re- port should have remained concerning it. CHAP. XII. 1'2S CilAP. XIII. I \V\ C H A P. XIII. PIa7is and E^rpedition o/Scliestakow. The Coast o/' America seen hi/ Krnpischew^/wr/Gwosdcw. Paiiliitzski*.? march through the Countrij of the Tsclmktzki. WHILST Captain Beringwas on his northern expedition, Colonel Scliestakow offered a plan to the Russian government, containing the following proposals :■ - 1st. To reduce the Tschuktzki people. 2d. To discover the extent of their country.* 3d. To undertake the discovery of the land opposite the Nos ; and, 4th. To examine the Schantarian Isles, iTil. Part of Schestakow's proposals corresponded Schestakow. ^-^j^ ^j^g pj^j^ q^' geriug's northcni voyage ; and in 1727, he was appointed to the command of a force to carry the whole into execution. To him was joined, but it seems with a separate or independent command, Dmitri Paulutzki, captain of a regiment of dragoons. The force placed under their command was 400 kossaks, in ad- dition to which, they had authority to draw out and dispose of the kossaks that were in the dif- ferent garrisons within the Jaladzk jurisdiction. Whilst IS 129 AVhilst they were collecting troops at Jahut^ky a tlisat>;reenient luij)|)eiUHl between the two com- manders, which ended in a separation, and a dis'ision of their force, each pnrsuing his own plan. Colonel Schestakow, with his part, went to Ochotzh'y where he found the vessels Gabriel and Fortuna, lately returned from Bering's expe- dition. He ordered a detachment under Iwan Schestakow, his relation, to embark on board the (iabriel, to examine the Schanlarian Lslcs, and afterwards to proceed to Kamtschalka. The Colonel himself embarked, with the rest of his jnen in tlie Fortuna, and sailed for the Gulf of Fcmchina ; but shortly after leaving Ochotzk, the Fortuna was driven on shore near the Tavis- koi Ostrogf and many of the men perished. Schestakow procured a reinforcement from tribes of the Korjaki nation, and proceeded by land towards the Penschina. On the lltli of March, 1730, having arrived within two days journey of the river at the head of the gulf, Jie was met by an innumerable swarm of the Tschuktzki, who had marched thus far out of their own country to war against the Korjaki. Schestakow*s whole force did not exceed 150 men ; nevertheless, he determined on giving them battle. The issue was unfortunate to him and his party; for he was killed by an arrow, and his troops were routed. Those who fell not with him saved themselves by flight. K Three (MAP. XIU. 1730. FalLs in baitli; agiiiiist tlic 7'scliutzi;i. 130 CHAP. Xlll. 1730. Krupisclicw itiiil G\vus« dew. 'A .Mi I Tbcir dis- covery 1)1' the C(Jiisi ol" Aiiiericii. Three davs :)revious to this event, Schcstakovr had (lispateheii a messenger to the Tavishoi Ostro^; with orders to a kossak officer there, iinined Tryphon Krupischcw, to equip a vessel to sail round the Lopatha^ or South point ot Kamtschatka^ and alon^ the coast northwaril to the Sea of Anadii\ and to the country of the Tscluiktzki, which people he was to invite to pay tribute. To these lUrections he added, that if the surveyor, (iwosdew, ciiose to sail in this expedition, he was to be received on board, and to be treated with every kind of respect and accommodation. On the receipt of these orders, Krupischew and the surveyor Gwosdew immediately put to sea, in a vessel which seems to have been built with the wreck of the Fortuna, or to have been that vessel repaired. They sailed round the Lopatka and to the North. M. Muller says of this navigation, * In the year 1730, the * geodesiste Gwosdew was on an unknown coast * between the latitude of G5 and (iO degrees, * opposite to, and at a small distance from the * country of the Tschuktzki, where he found * inhabitants, but could not discourse v/ith them * for the want of an interpreter.* Another ac- count given of Krupischcw's and Gwosdew's navigation (unless the Fortuna went two fol- lowing summers to the Tschuktzki coast, which seems probable by the dates) is, that Captain Paulutzki arrived at the Anadirsk Ostrog in September 131 Sei)tcmbcr 1730, and that about tlie same time, Knipiscliew ami (iwosilcw arrivcil there in the Fortuna. That l*aiihitski having received news of Schestakovv's defeat, ordered Kriij)ischew and Gwosdevv to sail to tlie River Kamlschatka, to take on board provisions which remained there of what had been provided for Cai)tain Bering's voyage, and with them to proceed to the Tschnktzki coast, where he expected tliey would find liim. Thee orders were executed, M. de Lisle relates, in the summer o'i 17'^, * at whicli * time they were on the Tschuktzki coast, * where they supposed was the Serdze Kamen * (a rock so named from its sliape having some * resemblance to th t of a heart) ; but they did * not meet with Paulutzki, nor could they learn * any tidings of liim. They remained on the * Tschukt/ki coast till a gale of wind forced * them from the point, which was the 7ie jAus * ultra of Captain Bering in his first voyage ; * they then steered to the East, where tliey found * an Island, and beyond it a land XQvy large. As * soon as they had sight of this land, a man came * to them in a little boat like to those of the ' Greenlanders. They could only understand * from him, that he was an inhabitant of a larjre * country where were many animals and forests. * The Russians followed the coast of this land * two whole days to the southward without being * able to approach it, when a storm came on, K ^ * and CM A p. xni. 17 31. 132 llf CHAP. XIII. PaulutSl.i. His r;uitc. |i i * and Vhey returned to Kamtschatha *. By tliii* * navigation was completed the discovery of * Bering's Strait.' Captain Paulutzki 'ad collected a force of 21.3 Russians, and Q^ZO men of the Korjaki and Jukagiri nations, with provision, for an expedi- tion into the country of the Tschuktzki. They siinhiith. departed from the Anadirsk Fort on March the ^'''''* l^ith, 1731, directing their route tirst towards "\orth-east ; afterwards to the East to beyond the source of a small riv:- named the Tschcrna^ which luns into the Anadir \ and thence ihcy marched, M. I\Iuller says, direct to the Nortli, and at the end of two months, marching not more tiian ten versts in a day and halting at times, they came to the shore of the Icy Sea, near llie entrance of a considerable river. Muiler's descri})tion of Paulutzki*s route, w^ill not well agree witli either the early or the modern cliarts. In the chart which accompanies his liistory, Paulutzki's route from the Tscherna to the shore of the Icy Sea, is drawn as much west- ward as NNW. From where they arrived at the Icy Sea, ' Paulutzki marched fifteen days towards * the East, along the sea-coast, the greater part * of tiie time upon the ice, and sometimes at so * great a distance from the land that the mouths * of tlie rivers were not discernible. At length, * they met a large army of the Tschuktzki. * Paulutzki * Mcmoiir par M. dc Lisle. Also, T.effrc d'un Oj/icurilc lu man/If liuni, ill Stra/iUnlnri;^. \o\ -2. [>. abo. J 133 CHAP. XiL[. I * Pauiiitzki summoned tliem to submit themselves * to the Russian Empire. On their refusal, lie * attacked them, and they were defeated. This ^73»« ' happened on the 7th of June.* They rested jmie. aio'ht days after the battle, and then continued i'''"'""^'<''» tlieir march eastward. In the latter part of June, they passed two rivers which ran into the Icy Sea at the distan-ce of a day's journey one from the other. Near the eastern of these rivers, on the last day of June, they had a second battle with the Tschuktzchi, the event of which was the same as in the former. They halted three days after the second battle, and afterwards advanced, MuUer relates, directly towards the Tschukotzkoi Nos (meaning the north-eastern or Schelatzkoi promontory), with design to cross it, and to come to the eastern Sea, but they were again opposed by the Tschuktzki, * who assembled from both seas.' A third battle was fought on July the 14th, which juiy. also ended in the defeat of the Tschuktzki, yet without advantage to the Russians ; for the Tschuktzki would not submit, nor consent to pay tribute. The Russians lost nine men in the three battles. Among the slain of the defeated, was found one man whose upper lip was pierced through fov the insertion of wrought pieces of sea-horse teeth. It is a curious instance of haughtiness, that the Russians in this war considered the Tschuktzki nation as rebels. The letter of the officer of the k3 Russian J 1 ': ■ r 1 r^ii ■ I I ' IN iM I li* CHAP. XUI. »- — ^ ' 1731. I'iiiiliitzki's expedition. I3h Russian marine says, * Paulutzki, a captain of * infantry, and Sclicstakow, chief of the Jakutzk * Kossaks, were charged to reduce to obedience ' the Tschuktzki, a people ferocious and obsti- * nately rebellious to the authority of tlie Rus- * sians.' Among tlie spoils obtained by the Russians, were found some things which had belonged to Schestakow ; on winch MuUer re- marks, that the death of Schestakow was * well * avenged.' * The Russians,' he adds, * met no * farther opposition, and marched triumphantly * across the Nos,' The Tschuktzki are as fine a natural sample of mankind as any on the face of this globe ; they are not charged by MuUer, with any act of treachery or criminality ; and Schestakow and Paulutzki were sent into their country to subdue them. M. MuUer therefore, a man of science and esteemed a philosopher, should not have joined in the song of triimiph over a brave nation, justly defending their independence against usurping invaders. Let those who think and feel with him on such an occasion, take the case impartially and considerately to their own bosoms, and imagine their countrymen and their own particular homes to be, for their sins, visited by as great a scourge as the native inhabitants of the North-east of Asia have been ; that is to say, by people who, like the Russians compara- tively with the Tschuktzki, possessed a superi- ority (not mental or corporeal, but merely me- chanical CTIAP. xin. Paululzki't exjjedilion, 135 chanical and learnt from other people), ncnely, the superiority of weapons that rendered resist- ance hopeless, and who were instigated by an appetite for plunder and dominion, unrestrained by principles of justice or moderation. Some may ask, why did they not, seeing the superior power of the Russians, quietly submit themselves? Experience, if they had possessed it, could not have more fortunately guided the Tschuktzki than did their sense of right. The native inha- bitants of the Island Porto Rico, afraid of irri- tating the Spaniards by resistance, yielded wholly at discretion, and in a short time were all exter- minated by hard slavery j and instances little less fatal will be seen of the result of patient submis- sion to the dominion of the Eastern Russians. Paulutzki and his men crossed from the coast of the /n/ Sea to the eastern coast, not at a narrow pa t of the Tschuktzki territory, nor keeping sight of the sea. The country of tlie Schelages was on their left, and they had high mountains to climb, which made it ten days before they gained the eastern shore. Paulutzki then embarked part of his people in haidarcSy or boats made of whalebone covered with skins : with the rest he continued his march along the coast, in a South-east direction. On the seventh day they came to the mouth Ai.g.iit. of a river, and twelve days after to another, beyond which, at the distance of about ten versts, there ran into the sea far towards the East, K 4« ii point j 13G V. ; ( !"■■ 1 \ 1 1 i i:. \" ! : i; 1 ' CHAr. XIJI. 1731. Paiilutzki's ♦■irpcdilioii. a point or head of land, which at the beginning was mountainous, but gradually diminishing ended in a plain, the extent of which was not seen. This was believed to be the cape of land which induced Captain Bering to turn back. According to some accounts, among the moun- tains on this cape is one which by the people inhabiting near the Anadir, is called the Serdze Kamen. Sauer, however, places a Serdze Kamcn on the northern coast of the Bay of Anadir. Paulutzki ceased here to follow the sea coast, and turned inland for the Anadirsk Fort, at which he arrived on October the 21st. Many prisoners were taken in this expedition, women as well as men, and carried away by the Russians. It has been related of the Tschuktzki men, that they preferred deatli to captivity. So it was with the women. Sauer, when in Siberia, was told that on Paulutzki's return from his first expedition against the Tschuktzki, the Ncizshni Ostrog w' as full of women prisoners. Many were released ; some Paulutzki attempted to transport to Russia, but every one so sent died on the road*. Paulutzki's march is not related here merely as an hostile expedition. It appears to have been his intention to fulfil all that had been pro- posed by Schestakow. His march to the shore of the Icy Sea, and eastward along the coast of that * Sauer s Atronnt of the Expcdilionn of Captain Joseph Billiiig'i. p. 95. London, iSo-j. 137 that sea, sometimes upon the ice, for a full chap. month, must have been with intention to disco- ^"i* ver the full extent and limits of tlie Tschuktzki i'«"i"tzki'» country ; but after a march of nearly four "^''*'"""' months in prosecution of this object, and having had three engagements with the Tschuktzki, finding the coast of the Icy Sea to take a northern direction farther than he was able to judge, and the native inhabitants still making head against him, it maybe concluded that he was obliged by necessity to relinquish the farther prosecution of this discovery. Mr. Coxe relates that Paulutzki was killed in a subsequent expedition against the Tschuktzki, in or about the year 1750. M. Muller, on the contrary, says that he died at Jakutzk, being woewode or governor there. f, 138 |il ! ■f -il ('I!' rll ! 1 -:i CHAP. \IV. W'l ■i.r CHAP. XIV. Planformed at Pctersbu rgh,/or the prosecution of Eastern Discovery, Wreck of a Japanese ves- sel. Attempts torcards completing the naviga- tion Jro7n Archangel to Kamtschatka. TH E voyage of Krupischew and Gwosdew was learnt with interest in Europe, as it seemed to solve a long agitated question respect- ing the peopling of America. Considerations of a different nature made the proximity of America to Asia be regarded by the Russian government as an important discovery. Vitus Bering and the officers who had sen ed in his northern voy- age, were advanced in rank, and a variety of new plans were formed for expeditions by sea. The Petersburgh Academy of Sciences was consulted, at whose recommendation several men eminent for knowledge and attainments in science, were engaged to go into Siberia and to Kamtschatka, to examine the countries, and to collect infor- mation. The principal persons thus engaged, had every one his peculiar department of research assigned to him by the Academy, and collectively they have been distinguished by the title of le Societe des Savans. Professor Gerhard Frederick Muller ution of ese ves- navtga- ivosdew ?, as it •espect- tions of imerica rnment ig and rn voy- of new . The isulted, minent J, were chatha^ ; infor- igaged, ^search ctively i of le jderick MuUer 139 Muller was one of this corjiS\ and the province undertaken by him, was to write a civil history of Siberia, to describe the manners and customs of the inhabitants, to searcli for and examine records, to describe the antiquities, and also, to write a history of the expeditions which shoukl be undertaken. On the hist-mentioned particular of the de- partment assigned to M. Muller is to be remark- ed, that accounts of voyages and travels are never so satisfactorily authentic when related by ano- ther person as when related by the traveller him- self His descriptions are regarded to be, and in general are, more natural and faithful than when passed under the correction of another. Supposing him illiterate, it is not wortli obtain- ing an amendment of style at the risk of having the first impressions made by new objects, les- sened or rejected by an editor who did not wit- ness them. In the spring of 1733, the sea officers appointed for the eastern expeditions, set forward from Petersburgh for their different destinations. One o^ the objects assigned to navigation was to verify all former discoveries which had been made on the coasts of what was considered the Russian dominions j and if possible, to ascertain an entire navigation from Archangel to Kamtschntlia, To- wards this purpose, equipments were ordered to be made at different ports on the coast of the Icy Sea, Another object, the execution of which Commodore CHAP. XIV. '■i I i.-i CHAP. Xl\. Tanancse vessel wrecked oi^ the coast of Kumls- cliatka. 140 Commodore Bering himself was to undertake,, was to discover liov/ far the coast of America hiy to the East from Kamtscliatha in that parallel. At this time, two natives of Japanv^orc brought to Petersburghf wliich happened from the follow- ing extraordinary circiuustance. A Japanese vessel sailing from Satzuma laden with silks, cot- tons, rice, and paper, bound for Ozakay both of which ports are in the southern coast of Japan, were forced by a long continuance of tem- pestuous weather, to a distance from the land, and out of all knowledge of their situation. It is probable that currents carried them to the east- ward of the south-east Cape of Japan without tlieir suspecting it, and that they afterwards sailed to the North, and continued long on that course, in expectation that it would bring them again in sight of their country. After wander- ing about on the sea, it is said some months, they were at length driven on shore on the outer (i. e, eastern) coast of Kamtschaiira, a small distance to the South of the Bai/ ofAwatcHay and their vessel was there wrecked, but the crew got to land, and saved some of the most valuable part of the cargo. A troop of Kossaks stationed near the spot, came to the wreck. The Japanese Captain, or the owners of the cargo, thought to conciliate the good will of the Commander of the Kossaks, by making him presents, which was done, but not equal to the expectations of the Kossak, and it is probable that less than all that was 141 uas saved would not have satisfied him. But without shewing his discontent, he and his men pretended to depart from the j)]acc, instead of which, they kept themselves concealed in the neighbourhood, and watching their opportunity, fell upon the Japanese by surprize, and murdered seventeen out of nineteen, their whole number. The two who were ; pared, the Kossak comman- der carried to the Upper Kamtsclmtka Ostrog. One of them was an old man ; the other, a boy about eleven years of age. This deed was not allowed to pass with impunity. The Kossak officer was brought to trial, and suffered the punishment of the knowt. The two Jananese 4- were sent to Jahutzl\ thence to Tobolsk^ and in the year 1732, to Peter shurgh. This affair drew theattention ofthe Academy towards J«;7«w, inter- course with which country was an object much desired by the Russian government. The Rus- sians had met people of Japan among the Ktirili Islands, but the exact situation of Japan witli respect to Kamtsclmtka was not known. On these accounts, among the enterprizes then planned, was set down a voyage to Japan, Other instances are met with of Japanese ves- sels being cast on the coast of Kamtschatka, and Bell, in his travels, mentions that in 17 14 or 1715, he saw at Petcrsbifrgh a native of Japan, who liad been one of the crew of a Japanese vessel so wrecked. The inhabitants of Yesso Siud of the northern parts of Japan, were accustomed to send CHAP. MV. ■■\ ■I l:'i 1 I ll>l 'I liji I rl CHAP. XIV. ExamtiKi- tion of llic nortliorii Coa«t of Kurope ami Asia, f I ¥2 send vessels to the soutlicrn parts of tlio Kamt- schall.a Pemn.sida, to load there with a metallic earth, which they used in their potteries. Of the many expeditions projected, those intended to trace the coasts of the Ici) Sea, were the first pnt in motion. These in the very outset might be pronounced peculiarly unfortunate to the persons engaged in them, being regarded with less expectation, with less interest and attracting less notice, at the same time that they required more arduous exertion, and exposed those employed in them to greater perils and hardships, than any of the expeditions proposed to be undertaken from Kamtschatka, The examination of the northern coasts, was judiciously portioned into three divisions. The first was from Archangel to the entrance of the River Jetiisei. The second division of coast was between the entrances of the rivers Jenisei and Lena. The third, * from the Lena eastward to * find a way by sea to Kamlschatka.* The first portion of coast was subdivided. Lieutenant Murawiew was ordered to trace from Archangel to the Ohy at the same time that from the Oh to the Jenisei was to be attempted by Lieutenant Owzin. Commerce had long been carried on from the ports of the White Sea, with the people inhabiting near the River Ob ; but in these voyages it was not customary to go farther by sea than to the eastern shore of the Sea of Kara, The remainder of the route was performed by 143 y Kawt- netallic » those (if were outset natc to garded St and It they xposed Is and 3])osed -s, was The of the St was d and ird to ^ided. ! from from id by been with ►ut in rther 'ea of rnied by l)y ascending a river, from the upper part of which, the boats and goods were transported by Jand over a short porterage or carrying place to a lake, whence another river, named the Ti/hxvha, con- veyed them to the Obskaia Gulj: Murawiew began his voyage in the sununer of 1731, but coukl not pass tlie JVai^atz that year for ice. The next year he sailed through the fFai^afz, but did not get beyond the Sea of Kara. The navi- gation was continued by Lieutenants Malygin and Skuratow, who doubled the cape, M. Muller says, ' called by the Samoyedcs, Jahnaiy in lati- tude 73" N.' and at length, in 1738, entered the Gulf of the GO. During the same time, and in much the same manner, the navigation from the Eiver Oh to the Jenisei was performed. Lieutenant Owzin de- parted from the Ob in 1735, in a vessel called a double shallop, 70 feet in length and 15 in breadth, which small proportion of breadth was thought favouiable for making way among loose pieces of floating ice. But either owing to the badness of her performance, or to the unfavour- ableness of the seasons, on the third summer it was found necessary to send another vessel, which was commanded by the shipmaster, Iwan Kos- chelew, to the assistance of Owzin, and in 1738, they accomplished * the doubling of the Cape MaUoly and without farther obstacle entered the River Jenisei, And thus heavily, with great difficidty, and in joints, was effected the naviga- tion From Arch. illll,'cl to the Ob. 17.'34. 17 i J. Ca()? Jaliiial. 1738. Navigation from tlic Ob ti) the Jenisei. 1738. (.'iipc ciiAr. xiv. Ml tion from Archangel to the J e niseis the first division of tiie coast. Between the entrances of'the BiversJcnisci i\\\i\ Lena (the second division of coast), is included the most northern continental kuid known, and on account of tlie difficnhies ex|)ected, tlie na- vigation was ordered to be attempted both ways. Of the attempt from tlie Jenisei^ it is sufficient to say, that it wholly failed. The history of the expedition undertaken for this purpose from the Lena, is as follows : 1735. June the Ultht 17^.5, Lieutenant Wasili Pronts- Prnnisci.i<. chisclicw departed from Jahntzk in a double attempt to sliallop, uamctl the Ja/>ntz/>; purposely built for Vumxhl this service. The sea was full of ice, and he .TJnisei* ''"'' could uot procccd ill that summer beyond the river OleneL. Some versts within the entrance, was a Russian village, and there he passed the winter. 1736. In the following summer, he passed the en- trances of the rivers Anahara and Chatangay and came to a range of Islands which extended from near the continent far towards the N W. Between these Islands was filled up with ice, leaving no opening for a passage. Prontschischew hoped that to the North, beyond where the land termi- nated, he should fintl a free and open sea ; but after sailing as far as to latitude 77" 25'', his farther progress was stopped by ice not penetra- ble, which obliged him to return to the River Olenekj where he arrived in a bad state of health, and i lie first isci and icludcd vn, and lie na- 1 both ?/, it is Tiie or this Pronts- double uilt tor and lie nd the trance, ied the he en- :y/, and d from 3tween ing no hoped termi- i; but 5^ his jnetra- River lealth, and CffAP. xiv. 1738. list 145 and grieved at liis disappointment. In a few Iiours after arriving in the Oleneh he died ; and his wife, who had borne him company in this expedition, survived his loss a very short time. He was esteemed an able officer, and they were both much regretted. In 17'38, Lieutenant Chariton Laptiew was Rent from Pelcnbitrgh to supply the nlace of the ^''""•', . '^ 11./ 1 ri)iiii(l Ilia Lieutenant deceased, with orders, that if he Tuiiunra could not sail round the land, he should endea- iS. ^ vour to trace and describe the coast by travelling along the shore. * This he did, and it was the * principal advantage drav/n from his voyage ; for * by sea he met with the same obstacles which * had obliged Lieutenant Prontschischew to turn * back.* * The result of the attempts to navigate from the Jenisei to the Lena has been, compleat- ing the geography of the coast between those rivers, without being able to accomplish the na- vigation. The Taimura, the most northern pro- j^^i^^^.^ montory, is laid down in the Petersburg}! chart, rromon. in latitude 78" N. ""^* The expeditions made for tracing the third or p,,,^ ^,,, eastern division of coast, were productive of no advantage; but they were attended with circum- stances of distress and calamity too extraordinary to be passed unnoticed. As in the western divi- sions, the navigation from the Lena eastward was attempted in one of the heavy framed vessclscalled double * Dkouvaiesfaitesparles Russes. Vol, II. p. '90. J.etm eastward. 1734.9. " i ■il'i h !■ i' ■ ' CHAP. XIV. Vroin llic Uustwatd. 17 J J, o 140 double shallops, and the exporiment shewed yet more than in the insLiinccs already related, that they are not so well adai)ted for the Inj Sea as vessels of light construction. From an ill- judged piece of formality, the Russian Admiralty would not sutler former discoveries to contribute towards their present undertaking, and ordered the na\ igation of the eastern division of the coast to be begun from the Lena. Between the Lena iiudthc Koljjma verification was not necessary, the navigation having been in constant and customary practice nearly a century. In 1735, on the 30th of June, the double shal- lop named the Irkutzk, manned with 52 men, and commanded by Lieutenant Lassenius, sailed from Jaliulzh', Ice, fogs, and other impediments, induced him toward the end of August to put into a small river between the Rivers Ixna and Jamty where he built huts for i)assing the winter, and sent six of his men to Jakutzk with disj)atches to intbrm the Commander of his situation. During the winter, he and his men were attacked by the sciu'vy in so dreadful a manner, that of 4atc]ies During- by the 46 j)er- Under against >nduct, :>unt of Coni- on rc- id lour- 1, vvitii an H7 an order tor Lasscnius and his accusers to repair ruw. to JaJaitzk that tlieir conduct niiglit undergo en- ^^^^^- qniry. The pilot arrived at the vessel with the *■"""" '''" order on June fjth, 1736, and found there the '-">v.rd, the accusers and tlie accused all dead. Lieutenant Dmitri Laptiew was sent from i.ien,ona„t JaJaitzk to take the command of the vessel, ?:;t',, haviuiT witli him, more men, and orders to pro- ceed in the navigation eastward. The summer i73(j. of 1736 was not favourable ; and instead of making i)rogrcss eastward, he found it necessary to return to the Lena, near the entrance of which he took up his winter quarters. The scurvy attacked the crew ; but they found relief by drinking a decoction of the leaves or points of dwarf cedars, which grew there, and by a diet of frozen fish, scraped small and eaten raw. With this food, and constant exercise, the health of the men was preserved. The Supreme Senate, or College of the Ad- mirahy at Petershurghy had directed, that if a first voyage for the discovery of the navigation eastward fjom tiie Lena did not succeed, a second shouhl he undertaken ; and if the second failed, that the officer who had been employed should be ordered to repair to Peterslnirgh, to give account of his expedition. Two voyages had been made from tlie Lena, and they had both failed, but only one of them had been made by Dmitri Laptiew. This occasioned some demur. He was, however, sent to Feiershurgh, L 'Z and ni 1 It I :M i ■•i| i I i 1 CHAP. XIV. 170i). From ilic Lena eabiwurd. US and after rendering his account, was ordered back to renew the attempt of the eastern na- vigation. On July the 29th, 1739, he again put to sea in the same double shallop as before, and also from the same ill chosen place of departuie, the River Lena. At the end of August he had advanced as far as the Indigirka, and would have entered one of the branches of tliat river, but did not find sufficient depth of water. On the 1st of September, his vessel was enclosed by ice. Soon after, a tempest broke up the ice and disengaged her j but she was driven farther out to sea, and on the 9th of September was again frozen in, at the distance of 60 versts from the continent. The winter now decidedly set set in ; and the only resource for him and his crew was, to abandon the vessel, and to transport over the ice to the land, them- selves and as much of the provisions and stores as they were able. Laptiew and his men passed the winter on the Indigirliaj and in the ensuing summer made their way along the coast, in small boats, to the Kohjrna. The expenditure of jTieans and loss of men in the verification of this part of the eastern navigation, loft the Lieutenant, Dmitri Lrij)tiew, Vvith little power to prosecute the discovery farther eastward, himself and his jnen already liarasscd and half worn out with the loss of their vessel and passing two winters in temporary huts on the sea-coast. His orders prescribed, that if obstacles should be met with to 5 ordered stern na- again put s before, place of : end of ndigirka, anches of depth of essel was jst broke she was e 9th of distance e winter resource le vessel, id, them- nd stores ■n passed ensuing in small liture of a of this utenant, rosecute and his )ut with winters s orders [let with to CHAP. XIV. lew. 149 to prevent proceeding by sea, he was to follow the coast by land ; but the country of the Tschuktzki was not to be so travelled round by La"'t'' a small party, and he was excused attempting the execution of this part of the orders. Gmelin mentions, that Laptiew went in small vessels as far as to the Miver Kolyma, and thence, 'partly by land, partly by water, to the * Anadirshoi Ostrog ; that he described the whole * coast so far, and finished his navigation in * 17iO.' * This passage, which has somewhat of ambiguity in it, is commented upon in a work entitled, Memoires et Observations Geographiqiics et Critiques stir la Situation des Pays Septen- trionau^t ; par Mr. * * *, published at Lausanne in 1765. This author was of opinion that Laptiew went round by the sea-coast from the Kolyma to the Anadir, It being said that he described the coast so far, seems to bear that meaning* Sup- posing such to have been the fact, his having gone partly by land and partly by water would re- semble the voyage of Taras Staduchin. The same author relates the following anecdote : * M.Gmelin * being on his journey to return to Tuhingeny * stopped at the house of an old friend of his, ' who is also a friend of mine, and one of the ' most celebrated sava?is in Europe, My friend *had * So viel ist gewiss, dass der Herr Lieutenant pine reise bis an (Jen Kolyma in Kleinen fahrzeugen, und weiter hin theils zu lande, theils zu wasser bis Aniadyzkoi Ostrog fortgesehl, die gauze Kiiste bis «lahin beschiieben, und 1740 seine schill'arth Keendigt habe. Cmdin Rcisc. Vol. II. 440. i i, , , 1 i 1 ■' ' ' ! i 1 j 1 ' ii' i h in ii CHAP. XIV. 150 * had advertised me, some time before, that he * expected this visit ; and, to profit by the cp- * portunity, I requested he woukl propose certain * questions to M. (Jmelin; and, among others, * some concerning tlie voyaga of Laptiew. He * did so; and gave me to understand, that Gmelin * had aci^nowledged to him, but with much ap- * prehension, and under promise of the most * perfect secrecy, that Laptiew had arrived by * water f^ s^etoit rejidu par eaii*J to the mouth * of the Anadir.' * The author of the " Memoires" imputes to the Russian Admiralty or (iovcrnment great re- serve on the subject of their North-eastern dis- coveries, and particuhu'ly in regard to this sup- posed navigation round the Tscluiktzki coast. Instructions given for some of their later expe- ditions sent to examine the Tschuktzki coast (which have been publislied), in which the Russian Admiralty was particularly attentive to furnish the commanders with all the information previously obtained, make no mention of the coast to the East of the Kuljjma having been seen by Laptiew. Muller says, ' La))ticw went from ihoKolyiva by land to the Anadirsh' Fu?'f, and thence to the entrance of the Jlircr Anadir, which was the termination of his voyage.' That * Mcmoires et Ohsfn. Clcv;rs anoni/wcs, who was the author of these nicinoiros on thi- Mtuiitions of northern lands. 'I he book is dedicated to Trederic the Vth, King of DcnuKuk and Norway. S that he y the op- >se certain ig others, iew. He It Gmelin much ap- the most rrived by le moutli iputes to great re- ;tern clis- this sup- ki coast, tcr expe- ^ki coast lich the mtive to ^rmation 1 of the "g been e to the was the That not appear i/)iir.s, wlio northern , Kiny of 151 That Lapticw, who was ordered to endeavour to examine the coast from the Lena round to Kamtscliatka, should goby hnid from tlie Kolyma to the Anadirsk Fort, may be easily accoimted for. He was under the orders of Commodore Bering ; he had lost his vessel, and was unpro- vided for farther undertaking in tlic Icij Sea ; the Commodore was then in the Sea of Kamts- dialka, and Laptiew's journey to the Anadir was most j)robably for the purpose of joining his commanding officer, the travelling partly by water meaning ])artly on rivers. The coast said to be described by Laptiew can only have been from the Lena to the Kolijma. This was the last of a series of expeditions planned solely with the view of determining the nortliern rnd nortii-eastcrn limits of the old con- tinent; in which many hardy and adventuroi!?, men unfortunately perished, partly through the rigor of the climate, and in some degree through the want of better arrangement in the j)lans. The most material information gained, was of the extent of the Taimnra promontorij. About this time, a Russian built vessel was found cast on shore on the South coast of Spitzhergen, without any person on board. The vessel was not damaged, and had provisions in her ; whence the author above cited conjectures, that she was one of those employed on the northern discovery, which had been enclosed by ice, and had therefore been abandoned. 152 4 i::!. I C II A P. XV. 'Ill l|i CHAP XV. 1738. 1739. Japan Vovjigf to Vol/ age o/'Spangberg and Walton to Japan* CAPTAIN Martin Spangberg, who had sailed as Lieutenant with Captain Bering to the North, was appointed to command the Japan liuisiauds. expedition-, but previous to his sailing tor. Japan (in 1738) he made a short voyage to examine the northern Kurili Islands, and afterwards wintered in the River Bohchaia-Reha of Kamtschatka, In 1739, the expedition to Japan took place, the principal purpose of which was to ascertain the exact situation of Japan \\'\i\\ respect to Kamtschatka. On the 22d of May, Captain Spangberg sailed from Kamtschatka , in a vessel named The Saint Michael of Archangel ; and, by appointment, was joined at the first Kurili Island by a double shallop, commanded by Lieutenant William Walton ; by the old vessel, the Gabriel, commanded by Midshipman Schel- tinga; and by a small yacht, making in the whole four vessels. They left the northern Kurile on June the 1st, steering first to the South-east, to try if they could discover land in that direction. In latitude 47°, not having found any land, they changed their course towards the South-west, May. June. .'" 1 153 CHAP. xv. m« i7yy. South-west, which brought them in sight of some of the southern Kurilt Islands, On the 14th, by tempestuous and thick weather, Walton was sepa- rated from Spangberg. They sought each other two days, tiring cannon, but did not meet ; and each, separately, made the voyage to Japan y Scheltinga being in company with Captain Spangberg. Muiler relates, ' Captain Spangberg anchored near the coast Spniisbcrg, * of Japan on the 18th of Jime, in latitude coast'of ^^S^U'N. A multitude of Japanese vessels ''"''"'• * were sailing along the coast, and many villages * were seen, also a well cultivated country. * Signs of invitation were made to the people in * two small Japanese boats, who, in return, made * signs for the Russians to go on shore. Spang- * berg was distrustful, and thought it not prudent * to stay long at one part of the coast; he there- * fore took up his anchor, and kept sometimes at * a greater, sometimes at a less distance from the * land, according to his opinion of the safety or * danger. On the 20th, many Japanese vessels * were in sight, the greater part of them having * from ten to twelve men each. The 2^d, he * anchored in ^8° 25' latitude, and two tishing- * boats went alongside his ship, and exchanged * tish, rice, tobacco in large leaves, preserved * cucumbers, and other small articles, for such * things as the Russians had to give in return. * They most valued cloth garments, and necklaces * of blue glass beads. Cottons, silks, looking- * glasses, i'li. 'I, ifiih pm V ! i|i €|!AP. XV. < , — Jllll:-. S|);nigbfrtt 1)11 liic t:().i> 154 * glasses, needles, and cutlery, they lield cheap, * having those things among themselves. They * were civil and reasonable in their dealings. * Tliey had square pieces of gold coin, simihu* * to some which KaL'mpicr has described, the * gold more j)ale than that of the Holland ducat, * and they weighed two grains less. * The next day, 79 fishing-boats were counted * near Spangberg's vessel. They were all built * flat at the stern, and sharp in the fore-part; * their dimc^nsions were about Ql feet in length, * and foiu' and a half or five feet in breadth. * In the middle' was a platform, on which was * a small fire-place. When there was no occasion * to use the rudder, it could be taken in. Some of * the boats had tw^o rudders, one at each corner of * the stern. They row'cd standing, and had grap- * lins which had four claws. It was remarked, * that instead of iron, for nails and other work, as * in our vessels, the Japanese had brass or copper. * They have other kind of vessels for their ' commerce w ith the Islands and for more distant * voyages, much larger than those above de- * scribed, pointed at the stern as well as at the * prow; good sailers with a fiiir wind, but easily * carried away from their intended route by a * contiary wind or tempestuous weather. ' The Japanese are in general of short stature, * of brown complexion, with black eyes and the * nose flat, The men had the fore-part of the * head shaved j but young boys were shaved * only 155 |cap, 'hey ings. riiliir the licat, LOU!tt 111. * only a small space on the crown of the head, chap, ' an inch and a lialf or two inches square, as « — '■ — - ' if invertinj:? the Maliometan custnm. Their ^''""p'^'^^k ~ uil Hi'. "' * clothes wore long and I'ldl, like the European »' J'l'' * night-gowns. They did not wear breeches, but * a wrapper of linen round the lower part of the * body. * There came to Captain Spangberg*s vessel * a large boat, in which, besides the rowers, were * four men in embroidered habits, wlio appeared * like persons of distinction. The Captain in- * \ ited them into his cabin. On entering, they * bowed low with their hands joined over their * heads, and remained in that attitude till the * Captain desired them to rise. A'ictuals and * brandy, with which they were entertained, * appeared to be to their liking. The Captain * made them a present of a sea-chart and a globe, * both which they comprehended, and readily pointed to their own country, which they called NiphoiK They also pointed out the Islands Matsmai and Sado, and the Capes Songar and * Noto. At takinn: leave, thev bowed, as at * their entrance, and expressed themselves thank- * ful for their entertainment. ' Captain vSpangberg believed he had accom- * plislied the principal purpose for which he had * been sent, which was, to ascertain the position * of Japan with respect to Kamtscliatka. He, ' therefore, at the end of a few days, set sail to * return.* He 1 ! ^ ' ^ i 15C) i i , w ■:\ cn.vr. XV. Jul He steered to the North-east, and on the 3d of July arrived before a ^reat Island in latitude 17^59. 430 ^0/ ^T^ .^^ which he anchored, and took fresh Artiic land watcr. Tliis land was woody and inhabited, cfYisso. jjjj^ ^i^^j inhabitants kept at a distance. They had leathern boots, made after the manner of those of the Kurili islanders, and of the Kamts- chadales. Spangberg anchored at another part of this land, near a village, where he had in- tercourse with the inhabitants. * They spoke * the language of the Kurili islanders, but differed * from them in having hair something long over * their whole body. Some of them had silver * rings in their ears. On seeing a cock on board, * they fell on their knees and bowed down before * it with their hands over their head.* From hence they sailed to the SW. to the Island Matsmai^ where, seeing three great Japanese ships. Captain Spangberg did not anchor or send any boat on shore, but directed his course for KamtschatkOt and anchored at the entrance of the Bolschaia-relia or Great Rivera on August the 13th. Lieutenant Walton, after his separation from June. ^i!i"coast"of Spanberg, sailed on for the land of /«/?«w, which Japan. 16lh. 17th. he came in sight of on the l6th of June, in latitude 38" 1?' N, and in longitude, by his reckoning 11° 45' to the west of the northern- most Kurili Island ; which agrees nearly w ith the present charts. Walton coasted the land to the South. On the 157 the 171!^ lie saw thirty-nine vessels, as large as crtAK gallics, sail out from a harbour, but they soon v__?^l_, separated in different directions. Their sails i73y. were of cotton, some blue, some white, and cut '""'■ straight. Lieutenant Walton followed one or iiemtiHof them in hopes of thereby arriving at a port, "' " "' which happened, and he cast anchor, ini3() fathoms depth, before a large town or city. On the 10th, 19,1, a Japanese vessel, in which were eighteen men, a})proached the Russian vessel, and with great civility by signs invited the Russians to land. Walton upon this invitation sent a boat on shore with Kasimerow, his second pilot, a quarter- master and six seamen ; two empty water-casks were put in the boat to be filled, and Kasimerow was furnished with some articles to bestow as presents. The shore was lined with boats of the Japanese, and crowdeil with spectators. The pilot, the quarter-master, and four of the men landed; and some of the inhabitants, witli every mark of good-will, took the empty casks out of the boat, filled them with fresh water, and re- placed them. This town was estimated to contain about 1,500 bouses, as many of them stone as wood ; and it occupied an extent of nearly two English miles along the shore. * Kasimerow, and the * people with him, entered a house. The master * of the house received them at the door with * much politeness, shewed them to a room, and * presented them refreshments of wine, raisins, * ap])les, 158 ill ij! cfi.vr. * ap])lcs, oranj^es, and swect-mcats, in vessels of ^— ,^ — ' * porcelain. From tins lionse they wont to \7''j9' t another, where tlie hke entertainment, and June , ,• ill' .v;igeQf A • ^-i Ti^-ii I c' II I H' riiiL' ui:d American coast. Cieorge Wilnelm kSteller, l)liy- i^-ciurikovr sician and naturalist, and T.ouis de LTsle de hi c',,' (""of Croyere, astronomer, end)arked with the Com- -^'"•'"*•'•■ modore m this vovaii'e. The course was directed first to tlie SSF.. to search lor land laid down in the chart of Teixera, the Portuguese geographer (acopy of wliich is in Thevenot, fAirtie sccoxdcj, and suid to liave been seen by a Dom Joao da Gania, in sailing from Vliina to A>w Sjiahu On the \t\Xh they \\'ere in Mf4 latitude il ' l-l i II r ! CHAP. XVI. 174-1. Tlie ships !>i'|)araie(i. Procfcd- iiii;s ol llif C'omniu- dore. Jiilv. Oil the ccjast of -\nicrici'.. Monnt Suiiit £liu$. 164 latitude 1()° N, and not finding the expected land, tlic Commodore directed the course North- eastward to the latitude 50" N. and then due East. On the 20th, the two ships were separated by bad weather. The Commodore cruised some days near the spot where they had been separated, in hopes of rejoining Tschirikow, but in vain, and at lengtli pursued his route singly towards Americciy steer- ina: a more northerly course tlian before. On July the 15th, according to Steller, they made tlie huul of ybncrica, * not distinct enough to * make a drawing ; but the next day it appeared beyond a doubt.' According to Muller, the Commodore made the land on July the ISth, in latitude 58' (28'' N. and in longitude 50 degrees by reckoning from Axculhha^ * but calculating * by the reckoning on the return to Kamlschatka. * ()0 degrees.' Another account gives the dis- tance from Aicatchh'd 500 Dutch leagues *. The prospect of the land before them was magnificent and awful, exhibiting exceeding- high mountains, covered far down from the summits with snow. An interior mountain, far inland, was particularly remarked, Steller says, * it was })Iainly discernible when the ship * was sixteen (/crman miles out at sea. 1 have * not seen in nil Siberia ix more lofty mountain.' The * Hchitioii of I*t'riiig's Amci loan Voyajye, published under the title oi J. liter of' tin d/l/'ccr ,if flu- lii/smn luarine^'a/tounuiwitntss oj (itt.ijiC(littoii. ^Sint/tittfUrgf Ap|)e,u(iix. 16.5 pocted North- ;n duo )arated jar the opes oi length ', stcer- c. On y made ugh to [)peared er, the 18th, in degrees cuhitinff 'schathi, the dis- em was :ceeding •om the ountain, Steller the ship I have auntain.' The id under the The coast here was broken, with inlets. On the nr\p. XVI ^20tl), the Connnodoie anchored near an island ^-^,— - which lay a small distance from the continent. ^\"^^' A projecting point of the main land was named ,i,,;i,",^, „„ Cape Saint Klias, and a cape to the westward of ;|'«j=;.'i;« <" it, Saint Ilermo^acncs. l^etween these two ca])es mu. was an opening or gulf which seemed to promi^:e harbour, or phices of shelter, if wanted *. Tlie lofty mountain noticed by Steller, was named Mount Sai/it I'Jias. Chitrow, the ship-master, went in an armed boat to examine within the gulf, and another boat was sent to seek for I'resh vvuter. Chitrow Ibnnd among small islands in th.e gulf, a com- modious harbour, wiicre ships might lie sheltered i'rom all winds. He saw huts or cabins, but with- out inhabitants, who it was suj)posed had retreated on tJK* landing of the Russians. These cabins were built wich smootii boards, some carved; -within were pieces of cordage, a whetstone on which copper instruments had been sharj)oned, an arrow, some articles of houseliold furniture, a hollow ball made of baked clay in which a stone ratth.'d ami which probably was a toy for chil- dren ; and in a cellar was found a store of dried red sahnon, ol" which Chitrow took two bundles. Jive red foxes were seen which were not at all ^ wild, *■' Thi" '^niiriias lnH'ii siiu'i niutietl, and is marktJ in the present '.■harls, PiiiKc IVUItdm ^"^oun t. . m3 . pp^ ' <\ 'I I' ,11 CITAP \\l 1711. Piling oil llif L'n;i'arv to a boat under le pro- ^t from atitiide ia near ^ west- o take mostly in the [greatly , ^vllen [ir sea, in and iselves lentlv, I'ptible me all er, and biilent Sclaiiiiu- 1G7 sea. In this dangerous manner, and with mueh cjiap. delay, th.'y found their way thro-mh amon*- '^^'* , islands, now known by tlie name of the A/cufia/i '7ii. or Fo.v Islands. Their fresh water beginning to !i,7n"uroi run short, on the 'l{)x\\ of August, they anciiored '^""^^'' at an island in latitude j-Y '2/ A llussian sea- man died and was buried here, whieh was the iirst man lost in the Noyage, and the islaiul was named after him Schnma^'ui's Island. I'hc scurvy had broken out among the crew, and the Com- modore himself was one of the most alliictetl with it. Mnller has given the name ScJnnnaain to a groupe of Islands. The letter of the otHcer ot' the Kiissian marine says, ' an island at which wo watered was named Si'liuniag'nu* The water taken was from a lake, and had a mixture of sea- water. Sleller attributed the increase of the scurvy, which afterwards took place, to using this water ; but their stock was lediiced, and they were necessitated to take what they coulil get. At one island, some men in small boats, like those of the people in Davis's Slrai/, ap})roached the ship, but would not trust themselves on board, 'i'hey had sticks with wings of birds fastened to one end, similar to the calumet described to be in use among some of the north- eastern American tribes, to signify when their intentions are peuceable. When they retired to the shore, Lieutenant VVuxel, accompanied by- w i Stelier, '!!'^ '•i; r- !■! 1 f < 1 • ' 1 U' ■ ,.! ' ■^ 'I'i t . ■! CHAP. XVI. 17H. sii itiuiiJ. 168 Steller, went in the ship's boat to make them a visit, taking with them in the boat nine armed men, and a man of the Korjaki, for the chance September. ^^. j^j^ ^^- j^j^j^ ^^ interpret ; ' thont inclined to part witii hit . ; and some of them laid hold of the rope by vvJiich the boat was fastened, meaning to draw her on shore, to prevent which, tiie Lieutenant ordered the rope to be cut. 'I'he Korjak all this time inces- santly cried to the Russians not to abandon him. It was in vain that signs were made to the Ame- ricans to release him. At length the Lieutenant orderd two muscjuetoons to be fired over their heads, which had the effect desired ; for in their first surprize, the report being re-echoed from a neighbouring uiountain, they fell fiat on the grounil, and the Ivorjak escaped to the boat. When the Americans recovered froui their con- sternation, they expressed nnich dissatisfaction, and by their noise as well as by gestures, signified to tiie Russians not to come on shore again. Lieutenant Waxel, not wishing to dis content them, returned to the ship. They had no arms of any kind, and appeared co be pro- vided only for fisiiing. The iiext day, as Lieut. Waxel was preparing to rTIAV. 1741. SoptcinbtT. tUh. A' iiiinn Isluiiil.>. I?) to get under sail, for llie ( 'oiiiniodore was at tins time confined by his disorder, seven of tlic Ame- ricans they had seen the preceiUnj^ (hiy, came in their hoats to the ship, and two of them standinj^ np and hohling by tlie entrance bidder, offered their bonnets and a carved imat^e of bone, which had some resembhmce to a human figure. They also hekl up the cahunet in sign of* peace. * It * was a stick about five feet in length, at the * smaller enil of which were tied without any or. * der, many hawk*s feathers.' Presents were made to them, and they would willinijjly have trusted themselves on board the ship, but the anchor was taking up, and the wind freshened, which obliged them to return as speedily as they could to the shore ; and the ship, as she sailed by where they stood, was saluted with loud and friendly shouts.* They had to struggle against westerly winds, and liail almost continual fogs, so that they were a fortnight at one time without seeing sun or star. On tiie '2i{\\ of Se))teniber tliey saw land, which was remarkable for its high mountains, and a number of small islan> "-^J >!S^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) 872-4503 6^ SLcrinj;'» Island^ jNIiiller, II, 309 — 10. 176 tHAP. XVI. 1741. Bi'riiig's Island. Ueriiii:. .... V Kir merit of this regulation, Lieutenant Waxel, wh6 was the active manager, should share with the Commodore ; and praise is due to that officer for his considerate conduct towards the Aleutian islanders, as above related, notwitlistanding that they were aggressors. December. 'j^j^^ Commodorc dicd on the 8th of December. Death of atii i tt -r\ i -i commodyre Muller rclatcs, * He was a Dane by bu'th, and * had made voyages both to the East and West * Indies. He was a Lieutenant in the Russian * service in the year I707, and Captain Lieu- * tenant in I7IO. It is a subject of regret that * his life terminated so miserably. It may be said * that he was almost buried wliilst alive, for the * sand rolling down almost continually from the * side of the cavern or pit in which he lay, and * covering his feet, he at last would not suffer it ' to be removed, saying he felt warmth from ' it when he felt none in other j)arts of his body j * and the sand thus gradually increased upon him * till he was more than half covered. So that * when he was dead, it was necessary to unearth * him to inter him in a proper manner.' In honour of the Commodore, the Island has been named after him, and may be regarded as his monument. In the month of March the loutres or sea- otters disappeared, whether from custom of changing their place of abode at particular sea- sons of the year, or that their persecution had given a general alarm to them, is doubtful. They 1742. March. tel, wild with the t officer Ueutian ing that member, th, and d TVest Russian I Lieu- et that be said for the )m the ly, and jffer it I from body J m In*m that learth .' In * been as his f sea- m of r sea- 1 had btfiil. rhe^ 1/7 They were succeeded in the occupation of tlic rocks of Bering's Island by other marine animals, who dUo after short residency in turn disap- peared. Thirty of the crew died on the Ishuid. The foxes wer3 so ravenous and bold, that good watch was necessary to keep them from tlie dead bodies. On the fith of May, was begun tlic building of a vessel with what was saved of the wreck of the ship, to carry the remaining crew, in number 4^5 persons, to Kamtschatla, Three cai'j^jonters with which the ship had been provided were all dead; but a Siberian kossak named Staro- dubzow, who had worked some time as a ship- wright at Ochoczk, offered to superintend the building of the new vessel, and to him the direction was entrusted. There was a deficiency of tar, which was supplied from new cordage they had to spare, in the following manner : Tliev cut and picked it small, and filled a large co])per kettle with it, having a cover fitting close at the rim, with a hole in the middle. They then took another vessel provided with a cover made in the same manner as the former, which they stuck in the ground, and upon this they set the copper kettle upside down, the apertures in the lids being placed exactly against each other. As much of this machinery was buried in earth, as rendered it safe to make a fire round what was above ground ; by which means the N tar CHAP. \V[. 1742. l)eriM!»'» Llaiui. IMav. i 1 t 1 ! 1 • !■; i ■ 1 ■ |i , ( ' i ' M ■ : r I CHAP. xvr. < V August. m Voyngc of Tscliirikow to the coast of America, July. 15Ui. 178 tar of the new cordage melted and ran into the inferior vessel. August the 10th, the new vessel was launched. On the l6th, they sailed, but had contrary winds and tlid not make the coast of Kamtschatka till the 25th, though the distance from Bering's Island has been computed at not more than 30 German miles. The 'iyth, they anchored in Atvatchka Bay. Their vessel performed so well in the paiisage, that the kossak Starodubzow was, for his good service, promoted to the rank of Sinbojarski, which is a degree of Siberian nobility. In the harbour of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Waxel found a good stor0 of provisions, which had been lodged there by Captain Tschirikow, of whose voyiige it remains to give an account. After his separation from the Commor!ore, Tschirikow sailed for the American coast, which he made on the 15tli of Julv,* in latitude 55° 36^ N, and longitude by reckoning from Axvatschka Bay^ 62 degrees. The coast was at this part, rocky and without islands near it. The ship was in want of fresh water, and it was desired also to obtain some knowledge of the country, Tschiri- kow thereupon anchored, but at a distance, and sent * Guilltiume de Lisle, the geographer, gives this account of the ship's reckoning from the papers of his brother de la Croyere. He dates Tschiriko.v's making the American coast, on the 26th of July, allowing for the diti'erence of style, not then adopted by the Russians. J an into unched# y winds itka till Bering's than 30 ca Bay. la^sage, is good ►ojarski, In the Wax el ad been r whose nor? ore, , which ^atschka is part, hip was also to Fschiri- ce, and sent iccoant ot' L Croyere. the 26th Jopted by sent the long boat with the pilot, Abraham Dc- mentiew, and ten good men well armed, to the shore, furnished with provision for several days, and with a small brass cannon. Dementiew was instructed in what manner he was t( act on various occasions wliich niiglit happen, and what signals he should make use of to be understood on board the ship. The boat was seen to row into a bay behind a small cape, and by signals it was concluded, that she got safely to land. Her return was expected on tliat day or the next at far- thest ; but several days passed, and she came not, yet signals continued to be made from the shore. This caused it to be conjectured that tlie boat had received damagt in landing, and needed re- pair before the crew could embark in her. The boatswain, Sidor Sawelaw, was therefore sent in the small boat to her assistance, with carpenters and necessary materials. This was on the ^21 st 2i>t. of July, and Sawelaw was ordered to return to the ship as soon as he should have supplied De- mentiew with w'hat was wanted, either with him, or with his own boat only. Neither the one nor the other boat returned, and a great smoke was seen continually ascend- ing from that part of the land. The next day, 221 two boats were perceived rowing off from the land, which were immediately supposed to be Dementiew and Sawelaw, and every person in the ship who was able, ascended the deck, with the expectation of receiving thei^: companions, for N 2 whose CIIAK XVI. 1741. Oi the coast ol' Aiuiricr.. 180 CTIAP. XVI. 1711. July. I'.stliri'ujvv oil (he Anicri.M. ' > ' r wliose safety tiicy hail been many days under much ahvrm. Preparations were at the same time made for p,'cttini]^ the ship under sail ; but as the boats aj)proaclied, it became evident that tiie peo- ple in them were not Russians. The Americans, on their part, seeing many people on board the shi}), which, it is probable, they expected to find almost without men after so many had been sent from her, stopped short at some distance, and m.iking a small pause, they stood up in their boats and called out with a loud voice, Agai, Agai, aft(M' which, they took to their oars, and returned to the land. Tt was regretted that Captain TschirikoWt Vv'hen he discovered the people in the boats com- ing off to be Americans, had not concealed his men from their sight, by which he might have found opportunity to have secured some of them, and thereby have recovered his own people. The natives oC this part of the north-west coast of America live principally by hunting and catching game, in which occupations they are in the con- tinual practice of every species of decoy. They imitate the w histlings of birds ; they have carved wooden masks resembling the heads of animals, wdiich they put on over their own and enter the woods in masquerade. They had observed the signals made to the ship by the Russian boat which first came to land, and the continuance of signals afterwards seen by the Russian.s on board, were doubtless American imitations. . Captain 1 i under ne time t as the lie peo- sricans, ircl the to find en sent je, and I their Agai, rs, and Irikowt s corn- led iiis t have " them, ^ The >ast of tching e con- Thev carved imals, er the d the boat ice of )oard, ptain 181 Captain Tschirikow had no boat left. A strong \Vcst wind arose, which ohhgcd him to get under ^^^^ sail to keep clear of a rocky coast. On the wea- "iTu. ther becoming nn'ldcr, he stood in again near to 'i'^^i'ir'i>ow the place where his boats had landed^; but it was '.'" ''."of to no purpose, for he neither saw nor heard any- *'"'""■"• tinngof tlicm, nor did any of the natives come near the sliip ; so that having no means of redress, it was unanimously concluded at a council of tiie Oiiicers, to return to Kamtsvhatha. In the passage back Tschirikow met with the same contrary winds and ioggy weather expe- rienced by the Commodore; nevertheless he ranged along the American coast 100 German miles without losing sight of it. The want of a boat prevented landing to recruit their fresh water, and relief was sought by attempting to distil sea-water, in which it is said they so fai- succeeded as to deprive the water of saltness, but the bitterness remained. The water thus oh- tained they mixed with equal quantities of their remaining stock of fresh. Fortunately they were better relieved by rain. On the Lland. ^.^j^p achatka^ in (bo s.inio parallel, was immeiliatrly >^vi. productive of new vo}a<^es, the liiiit to Berhig\t Tsci.irikovv Island, which lav the nearest to Kamtschatka, r!!iist' of and offered a rich harvest of sea-otter, and other ^"'^"^'- skins. SE. and SSE. from Bering's Island, not more than G or 7 leagues distant, are two or three smaller Islands, the most considerable of which has been named A/t'^/fo/( which signifies copper), from a great quantity of native copper being found on its shores. The North-eastern shore, on which the Russians first landed, was covered with copper washed up by the sea, in such abun- dance, that ships it is said might have been loaded with it.* This Island m ist have been seen by Bering's people, though not noticed in the ac- count of the voyage, as in their return to KamU schatka they sailed round the SE. end of Bering's Island. More distant voyages soon took place, one of which made in 17'i'«5, by Michael NevodisikofF, has been noticed in a former chapter (chap. 4.) A chain of islands .situated in a kind of circular range between Kamtschatka and America, became Aicouukic distinctly known and received names. Which of iliuuds""" these Islands were seen by Bering or by Tschiri- kow, and which discovered afterwards, it must be very difficult, if at all possible, to determine ; but those two navigators are properly to be reckoned the discoverers of the whole. Tney are named generally, Aleoutskie or Aleutian, * Those * CWr, pp. 'Ji, 29 and 252. 2d Edit. 183 ediately Bering's ^schatka^ id other ind^ not or three t' which :opper), r heing n shore, covered h abiin- 1 loaded seen by the ac- i KamU 3ering*s , one of lisikofF, lap. 4.) circular became hich of Fschiri- it must rmine ; to be Tiiey leutian. Those * Those lying next beyond Bcring^s or Comma- * (lore's, and Copper Islands, are called The mid- * die Aleoutsh'ie, ovAndrcan*s Islands. Those still * farther to the Kast "^o called Fox Islands, * These hist are larger, better peopled, and of * more consetpiencc to the Hussians than all the * rest. All these islands lie between oi" and 57' * of North latitude ; they all resemble one ano- * ther in the want of wood, in being mountainous, * and in having craggy sea-shores. Some have * volcanos, hot s})rings, lakes, and rapid rivers. * The inhabitants, in appearance, language, and * manner of living, resemble the Eskimaux, and * the Greenlanders, and seem to be of the same CM.VP. .\\ I. riic Fox * race.' * Mr. Coxe has given an account of several voyages undertaken to the Aleutian Islcmds, by Russian merchants and hunters, in the early years of the discovery. The number of sea ani- mals taken in them is astonishing, and fully ac- counts for the decrease which has of late years been complained of. Andrew Tolstyck sailed from Kamtschatlia in August 1749. His ship lay at an- chor before Bering's Iskmd from the 6th of Sep- tember to the '20th of May 1750, which in that boisterous climate and little sheltered by the land, is a remarkable circumstance, and shews that near the * 'P/escIieef\s Sanq/oJ't/tt' liuSAian Empire. English translation, by Smirnoxe. London, 1 792. p. 291 , Plescheef adds, that at the time he wrote, almost all the islands had been made tributary. . N 4> 1S4< 1 !'■ '' , 1 !; I CHAP. X\I. : (• " i the Island there is good ground for anchorage. Only 47 sea-otters were caught whilst the ship Aleutian or lay at Berhw^s Iskind ; but from thence, Tols- Fo\L>i.iiids- '' 1 T-< T I I 1-1 tyck went to the i.astern Islands, amongst which he and his people ' slew l,6(i'2 old and middle * aged sea-otters, and 119 cubs; besides which, * their cargo consisted of the skins of 7'20 blue * foxes, and 840 sea-bears, with which they * returned to Kamtschatha, July the 3d, 175^.' * Other of the voyages related were equally de- structive of the animals. Mr. Coxe has collected much information respecting the Aleutian Islands and their inha- bitants. P'rom his work I have copied the fol- lowing picture of thr Russian intercourse with the Aleutian Islanders : — * The Russians have for some years past been * accustomed to go to these islands in quest of * furs, of which they have imposed a tax on the * inhabitants. The manner of carrying on the * trade is as follows : The Russian traders go in * autumn to Bering^ s and Copper Island^ and win- * ter there, employing themselves in catching the * sea-cat, and afterwards the Scivutcha or sea-lion. * The flesh of the latter is prepared for food, and * is very delicate. The next summer they go * eastward to the Foj: Islands, and again lay up * their ships for the winter. They then endea- * vour to procure, eitlier by persuasion or force, ' the children of the inhabitants, particularly * of * Coxe. p. 40. I I cliorage. the ship •e, Tols- st which middle s which, 20 blue :h the J 175^.' * aliy dc- rmation ir inha- the fol- se V ith St been uest of on the on the s go in id win- ng the a-lion. d, and ey go lay up indea- force, ularly *of 185 * of the Tookoos (or chiefs), as hostages. This * being accomplished, they dcJiver to tlie inha- * bitants fox-traps, and skins for their boats, for * which they obhge them to bring furs, and pro- * visions during the winter. After obtaining ' from them a certain quantity of furs by way * of tax, for which they give quittances, the * Russians pay for tJie rest in beads, false pearls, * goats wool, copper kettles, hatchets, &c. In * the spring, they get back their traps and deli- * ver up their hostages. They dare not hunt * alone, nor in small numbers, on account of the ' hatred of the natives.' The geographical particulars related in the preceding part, were known when the map of the Russian discoveries, composed, or at least revised and corrected under the direction of M. Muller, was publislied by the Academy at Petersburgh, A map to a small work published under the title o^ An Account of the New North- ern ArchipelagOy by Von Stashhn, places a large Island opposite to the East Cape of Asia, passed by Bering, and immediately beyond this large Island is placed the American continent. This was probably copied from Iwan Lwaw's map, and derived from native information. I, 186 CHAP. XVII. r iii'i 1 I '!f ■' CflAP. XVII. Expeditions ofSlialau- rolF. 1760. 1761. Slerlvied- skie Islands. Enterprising attempts of ShalaurofF, a Russian Merchant, to sail round the North-east 0/' Asia. Dauerkip. in Bering's Strait. AMONG the most bold and persevering attempts for discovery are to be ranked those of a Russian merchant named Shalauroff, who between the years I76O and 1765, made four voyages on the ley Sea with the intention to sail round the Schelatzkoi Nos or North-east extremity of Asia, to the sea of Kamtschatka* For the knowledge of Shulauroif's expeditions, we are indebted to Mr. Coxe and Martin Sauer. In the sumiiier of I76O, ShalaurofF departed from the River Lena in one of the vessels called Schitiki, built at his own expence. The sea was that year loaded with ice, and he got no farther than the River Jana, where he wintered. In July 1761, he put to sea from the Jana. He had on board with him as an associate or a companion, an exiled naval officer named Iwan Bachoff. This season was also unfavourable. The vessel was entangled with ice, amongst the Medviedskie or Bear Islands, and after getting clear, ShalaurofF was obliged to run into one of the i;i- !i CHAP. xvn. t Russian it o/'Asia. rsevering e ranked lialaurofF, aade four 3ntion to brth-east hatka, •editions, 1 Sauer. departed !ls called sea was ) farther I. ie Jana, iate or a id Iwan ourable. igst the getting ► one of the 187 the mouths of the river Kolyma, where the vessel was laid up for tlie winter. In a chart made by Iwan Bachoff, the nearest Expedition of the Medviedskie Islands lays NE. not more roff.'* " than 40 wersts from the entrance of the Rker Krestova. They are five small rocky islands, which have been at some former time inhabited (it is most probable only occasionally by hunters) the ruins of hats being still found there. Tlie tliird attempt of Shalauroff was in the Tiiird year I762. He had lost his associate Bachoff! ""-^f-"^"]; who died in the beginning of the year at 1760. Neishni Kolyma, The entrance of the Kolyma J"iy- was not clear of ice before July the ^Ist, when Shalauroff put to sea. He steered as much as the ice would permit, along the coast towards the NE. On, or shortly after, the 10th of August, August. he came to a Cape which he named Barannoi ^H^noi Kamen (the Sheep's Rock). * This rock rises ^^'""''"• * 29 yards above high-water mark, and is in * shape like a pear with the stalk downward, * being narrower at the bottom than at the top.* Not far distant, was another * remarkable rock * resembling a crooked horn,' and named Saet- shie Kamen, Here the vessel was hemmed in Saetsiiia three days by the ice. On the 23d, the ice broke ^^" ''* up, and he steered on to the North-east, in order t6 double, if he could, the Schelatzkoi Nos ; but the wind became unfavourable, large masses of ice were floating round the vessel, and the crew were earnest for seeking a place to pass the winter W-"' ill.H ! |i-,: III' 188 CHAP. XVJI. Sabedei IbJaud. Tschaoon Bay. ''j' I'M^ II ,fM i f i.ii winter in. On the 25th he sailed round the northern side of a.i Island which he named Sabedei, into a Bay which has been named Tschaoon Bay, In 2'schaoon Bay, they found two rivulets, but no trees nor drift-wood ; yet close to the * nar- * row channel ' which separates Sabedei from the main land, there were habitations. On the Russians approaching them, the inhabitants with- drew to a distance. Sabedei seems large to have been mentioned as a small Island ; yet small is not a definite term, and its being so near to the continent as well as its distance from the Kolyma, make these dwellings correspond with the habi- tations of Kopai, formerly visited by Willegin and Amossow. No fish were found in Tschaoon Bay, therefore it could not suit Shalauroff's crew for a winter <2pteraber. rcsidcnci, and he stood out again to sea. Sep- tember the 8th, * he fastened his vessel to a large * body of ice, and tvas carried along by a current * toxcards the WSW. at the rate of Jive versts an * hour. On the 10th, he saw far to the NE b N. * a mountain.' * After this, he sailed back to the Kolyma. It is remarked that he found the currents setting almost uniformly from the East. ShalauroiF continued strongly of opinion that to double the Schelatzkoi Nos was not impracti- cable, and was zealously bent on accomplishing it. His crew, on the contraiy, would not con- . . . . sent Co.\e, p. 327 i 189 XVII. large sent to undertake again such an enterprise, neither would they trust themselves with him any longer, and he was necessitated to return in 1763 to the River Lena. In the summer of 1764, he sailed from the 1764. Lena to repeat the attempt, and with assistance '^'''^ '"** , * ' voyage of or encouragementfrom the Government, to obtain simujaurofF. which he had travelled to Moscow and back to the Lena, This proved the last expedition mider- taken by this adventurous man, for neither him- self nor any of his people ever returned. Concerning their fate, different reports and opinions have been current. About that time, the Korjaki who lived on the North side of the River Anadiry would not purchase flour of the Russians according to their annual custom, and on inquiry, it was found that they had been supplied by the Tschuktzki. Also, in the year 1766 or 1767, people of the Tschuktzki nation brought paintings of Russian saints to the Aiia- dirsk Fort to sell, and some among them had cloth jackets. It was not doubted that these things came from the plunder of ShalaurofF's vessel, which made it be conjectured that he had got round to the Sea of Anadir, and that he and his people were there murdered by the Tschuktzki; which conclusion does not neces- sarily follow, and many years afterwards (i. e. in 1786), Martin Sauer being at the River Kolyma, Wets told by a native of the Tschuktzki country, named Dauerkin, who was then engaged as • interpreter i' ! li lilll!^ C«AP. XV II. tm'-p. i ■ ' U: I- m'\ H^i^l <" DauerVin. 190 interpreter in the service of the Russians, that Shalauroft''s vessel I^ad been found drifting? near the entrance of the KolymUy in the autumn of the same year in which he had put to sea, and that himself and his people were found frozen to death in a tent, 20 or 30 versts eastward of Cape Bdrannoi Kamen, having with them provisions, arms, and ammunition. Against the probability of this account being the fact, nothing can be urged. The circumstances related seem plainly to evince that Shalauroff's vessel had been beset by the ice, and that he and liis crew had aban- doned her and trusted to the land for their preservation. Mr. Coxe has given a copy of Iwan Bachoff *s chart, which must have received additions, as it shows the discoveries made by Shalauroff after the death of Bachoff. The coast therein from the Jana eastward seems circumstantially deli- neated, but without scale ; which defect may be supplied by allowing the distance between the entrances of the Jana and the Kolyma to be the same as in the other charts then in use. The expeditions of Shalauroff gave rise to a report which was inserted in the Delft Gazette of March i2d, 1765, and copied thence by M. Pumas, the French translator of Muller's History of the Russian Discoveries, purporting that *the * Tschuktzki Nos had been happi'y doubled in * 74° North latitude.' It is related of Dauerkin, or Daurkin, the Tschuktzki \St that !(>• near umii of ea, arKj ozen to [>f Cape visions, babiljty can be plainly n beset i aban- n' their ichofF's as, as it be the ise to a Gazette by M. History lat * the bled in in, the huktzki 191 Tschuktzki interpretor, that he was taken pri- soner by the Russians when young, and was kept ^ and bred up by them. He was put to serve among the Kossaks. In I76O, a person named Plenismar, a native of Courlanch was appointed commander of Ochotzk^ with an express order from the Court to go to the Anadirsk district, and by inquiries to procure all the intelligence he was able concerning the Tschuktzki people, their country, and the opposite continent. Plenismar went both to the Anadir and to the Kolyma, and made inquiries among the Korjaki who had in- tercourse with the Tschuktzki. He also sent Dauerkin back to his country, it is said with pri- vate direction to fei;^n a desertion from the Rus- sian port on the Anadir, that he might be well received. Dauerkm went and remained with his countrymen till the winter of I763. On his return to the Russians, he related among other matter, that in October when the sea in Bering* s Strait wa^ frozen over, he procured a sledge and a couple of rein-deer, and in company with a Tschuktzki man who had adopted him as a kins- man, passed over the ice to the first ishuul and arrived there in five or six hours, and that he was received kindly by the inhabitants. * That the sea should be frozen over in Bering's /S^rflif (which is in no higher latitude than QiS'' N.) "0 early in the year as October, would appear improbable * Pftllas's Neuc Nordischc Bft^trage, and quoted by Pemiatit in Supplement to his Arctic Zuolugi/. \ ul. 1 1 . p. 3 ". CHAP. XVII. 1763. i i I \' !■<: CHAl', XVII. ll It 1 ! 1 . ' ' ' 1 W'Jt observation improbable if subsequei furnish explanation. It should be remarked to the credit of Dau- erkin, that there is no reason to believe the task imposed on him (for his employers were not peo- ple to whom nay might safely be said,) led him to act or intend treacherously towards his coun- try. On the contrary, he was suspected by the Russians, to be in heart wholly Tschuktzki. If, as is said, he went a commissioned spy from the Russians, it is probable he returned to them in full understanding with his own countrymen. He appears to have been many years a useful agent on both sides. m ::! ^ lid not Wo ^ Dau- be task ot peo- ed him 3 coun- by the ki. If, om the hem in rymen. useful CHAP. XVIII. Of the Lands in the Icy Sea. Journey o/'Heden- strom to the New Siberia. iP? cn\r. will. 1761. 176'4. IN the year 17^)0 '^r I7CI, some Russians bcinj at the Medviedskie Islands^ saw to the North an appearance hke land, towards which they went far enough to ascertain that it was really land. Information of this discovery, accompanied with a chart in which it was represented (ac- cording to former reports) as a continuation of the continent of Ajnerka^ was sent to Peterslmrgh, in 17^4, by the Governor of I Tobolsixy Denys Ivanovitch Tschctchirin. The ^""t' '" <^'« particuiars mentioned, w^re, that * a Serjeant covered i)y * Andreef had seen from the last of tlic Aledvt- * edskie Islands, at a very great distance, land * which was thought to be a large Island, towards * which he and otiiers went in nartes on the ice ; * but when they arrived witliin about 20 verstsof * it, they found the fresli footsteps or traces of a * great number of people who had been that way * in rein-deer sledges ; and being themselves but * few in number, they returned to the Kolyma.^ '^ l\\ * This account of the discovery is inserted in the Instructions given in 1785, by tlie Russian Admiralty to Captain iieutoiiant Billings, for a voyage he v/as ordered to luuke from the Kulpiia^ Sauer. Appendix, p. 48. o KHi CHAI*. XVIII. ! 'iV: § I'M \lllb . If ' !::r 194 In the winter of that yoar, Governor Tscliet- chirin sent some Russian Officers to search for Andreef *s Land, and they went in sledges drawn by dogs from the month of tiie Krestova ; but they returned without obtaining sight of it, and the whole was discredited. The following note occurs in Mr. Coxe's Russian Discoveries, which is evidently adopted from Russian accounts: * For a long time, vague reports were propagated * that the Continent of America stretched along * the FrozenOcean very near the coasts oi Siberia : * and some persons pretended to have discovered * its shore not far from the Rivers Koli/ma and * Krestova, But the falsity of these reports was * proved by an expedition made in 1764 by some * Russian Officers sent by the Governor of To- * holsk. These Officers went in winter, when the * sea was frozen, in sledges from the mouth of * the Krestova, They found five small rocky * Islands, called the Medviedskie Islands, As far * as they durst venture beyond, over the Frozen * Seay no land could be seen : but high mountains * of ice obstructed their passage and forced them * to return.' Very shortly after thi" strongly expressed dis- belief of Andreef 's discovery, an end was put to all question, and the existence of lands to the North fully established. A native of Jakutzk named Etirikan, affirmed that he had seen the northern land j and on his information, Lachoff, a merchant of Jakutzk, accompanied by Proto- diakonoff, another Russian, went in the month of March Tscliet- ircli for IS drawn ra ', but f it, and ing note s, which .•counts: ipagated 3d along Siberia : ^covered i/ma and orts was by some r of To- vhen the louth of ,11 rocky . As far B Frozen ountains ;ed them ;ssed dis- ss put to is to the ' Jakutzk seen the Lachoff, )y Proto- month of March CHAP. XVllI. 1770. March 1770, from the river Jaim to the Sivia'toi NoSy or N E. cape of the bay of the Jana *. On arriving at thisCV/;?6% * they saw an immense herd * of deer going to the South, and observed tiiat * their traces were from tiie North across the Icjj * Sea, Lachoff resolved to endeavour to discover r acimfTs , joiiriicv to * whence they came ; and in the beginning of th. i.uriLcm * April, set out early one morning on nartes * drawn by dogs, and towards evening, having * gone by estimation 70 versts from the promon- * tory in a due North direction, he arrived at an * Island, where lie passed the night. The next * day, the traces of the deer still serving as a * ffuide, he went to a second Island ^20 versts * more distant from tlie Continent in the same * direction, at which he arrived about noon. ^ Tlie traces of the rein-deer were still farther to * the North, and he continued his route ; but at a * small distance beyond the second Island the ice « became rugged and mountainous, so as to pre- « vent his proceeding with dogs. He did not see * land [that way], and after passing a night on « the ice, he returned, and witJi difficulty reached ' * the * The narrative wliicli tullows of LachofV's discovery, is given from Martin Sauer, who relates, that heing- at Jakutzk in the ivinter of 1787, he made it his business to get acquainted with LacholV; but Lachoft'being old and inlirni, reconunended him, for the intelligence he des-ired t > obtain, to one of his companions in the discovery, Pr.otodiakonc !T, then a shojjkeeper in the town of Jiikiitzk. Saucr's Account of the Expeditions of Joseph Billings. Chap. 7. 02 ii 4 196 fjTTAp * ^^^6 Continent, the provisions for his dogs being ^1^ * all expended.* 1770. He jrcpresented his discovery to the Chancery limlllf '. atja/ijitz/i't wlience the intelligence was forwarded tiienoriiiern to Pctersbtirgh^ and the Empress, Katherine tho Itinds. J *■ lid, was pleased to order the two Islands to he named after Lachoff, who having actually landed on them after so much doubt respecting their existence, was thought worthy to be regarded as the discoverer ; and she bestowed on him the exclusive privilege of collecting ivory and hunt- ing animals, there and in any other place he should afterwards discover, which proved to be a privilege of no small amount, and was not unjust to Andreef, this being a different land from his discovery. Permakow was in fact the discoverer, and it cost him his life. Etirikan also, had some claim to have shared in the advan- tage with Lachoff. * In 1773, Lachoff went with five workmen in * a boat to the islands, crossing straits^ where they * found the sea very salt, and a current setting * to the West. [This of course was in the sum- * mer.] The weather being clear, they soon saw * more land to the North, and arrived on what * Lachoff called the Third Island, The shore * was covered with drift wood. The land was * very mountainous, and seemingly of great ex- * tent; but no wood was seen growing, nor were * traces observed of any human being. They ' found tusks of the Mammont, and saw the * tracks 1773. hancery 'warded rine the Js to he J landed ig their irded as him the d hunt- ilace he d to be ivas not nt land fact the Etirikan 2 advan- imen in ere they setting- he sum- lOon saw )n what e shore ind was reat ex- lor were They 5aw the * tracks CKAP. XMII. 1773. itlriads. 197 * tracks of animals. They returned to the First * Island^ where Lachoff built a hut with drit't- * wood, and passed the winter. One of iiis com- * panions left a brass kettle on the third Island.' The three islands are caWcd Lacho/Ps or Liahoff'*s i.»ch»,tr» Islands, but each iias its separate name besides ; the first Etirikan, the second Middle Island, and the third Kotelnoij, on account of the brass kettlo being afterwards found on it. The Mammontis an animal the breed of which Tu'.ksofth* is believed to be extinct. Many of their tusks have been found along the shores of the rivers which run into the Icy Sea, and are described by Saucr * to equal the Elephant's teeth in whiteness * and beauty ; but to be different in shape, being * spirally bent, forming about one round and * a half One of tiie largest found, measured * in French measurement, Feet. 111. Line* - 8 7 4 iVluininuiit. ' 17 8 * Length with the bend * Circumference of thickest part,' * which was 22 inches from the * root * Weiglit 115 lbs. avoirdupois. * The outside was very brown from having * been exposed to the weather, and it was cracked * through ihe coat or upper stratum about an 'inch. The inside was quite firm and white.' The Behemot mentioned in Gu. de Lisle's Map of Tartary [De Lisle's Atlas, carte 34], ' most probably meant the same animal which Sauer calls the Mammont. 3 The i • 1 i i> III ' IMl! CHAP. XV 111. LachofPs Isluudij. 1775. March. Alav. 198 * The discovery of these lands was regarded * as important, and Chvoinoff, the land surveyor, * received orders from the Chancery of Jakntzk * to accompany Lachoff to the farther land, ami * to take an exact survey of it. Towards the * end of March 177'^> he arrived at the mouth of * the Jana and proceeded across the Bay to * Swicptoi NoSj which is 400 versts NNE. from * the mouth of the River. On May the 6th, he * arrived at the Fit^st Island j which is 150 versts * long, 80 broad in the widest part, and 20 at the * narrowest. In the middle is a lake of consider- * able extenty but very shallow, although the * borders are steep. The whole Island, except * three or four rocky mountains, is composed of * ice and sand j and as the shores fall from the * heat of the sun thawing them, the tusks and * bones of the Mammont are found in great * abundance. To use Chvoinoff*s expression, * the Island is formed of the bones of this extra- * ordinary animal, mixed with the heads and * horns of animals resembling the buffalo and * rhinoceros. And now and then, but very rarely, * is found a thin bor.e, of considerable length, * and formed like a screw.' * The second, or Middle Island, is low and * without drift-wood. It is 20 versts from the * fii^t, is 50 versts in length, and from 20 to 30 * in breadth. Here also tusks and other bones * are found j and great numbers of arctic foxes * are to be met with on both the Islands. The surface regarded surveyor, ^ Jakiitzk and, and ^ards the mouth of Bay to sfE. from e 6th, he 50 versts 20 at the consider- )ugh the I, except iposed of from tlie iisks and in great pression, lis extra- 3ads and ffido and ry rarely, e length, low and from the m to 30 ler bones tic foxes Is. The surface 199 < c ( ( < ( ( « ( < ( i ( ( ( < < ( ( ( < i < ( ( ( CHAP. XVIII. 1775. surface of this is a bed of moss of considerable thickness, which produces low plants and flowers, such as grow on the borders of the Icy Sea. This moss may be stripped off as you would take a carpet from a floor, and the earth underneath appears like clear ice and never thaws : these spots are called Kaltusoe,' « The Strait to the Third Island is 100 versts Koteinoy across. He travelled along the shore [of the Third Island] and on the 21st of May came to a very considerable River, near which he found the kettle, some cut wood, and other things left there by Lachofl' and his company three years before. This River he named Tzarevaia Reka, The shores were covered with drift- wood, all of it extremely shattered. Ascending to the top of a very lofty mountain, he saw a mountainous land as far as his eye could trace in clear weather, extending East, West, and North. He continued his route 100 versts along the coast ; he observed three rivers, each of which brought down quantities of drift-wood, and abounded in fish ; among them was the nerk, a species of salmon found at Ochotzk and in Kamtschatka, though this fish is not found in the Kolyma or Indtgirka, On this land he passed the summer, and returned in the autumn to SwicPtoi Nos,* * I asked Protodiakonoff,' continues Sauer, whether he observed any regular ebb or flow of the tide ? He said that '* he did not observe O 4 any t :< I , 1 ' ' ill: ■; I ; I V m 'J. a»iN': CHAP. XVIII. 200 " any remarkable alteration.'* Whether he recol- * lected how the current set ? " He believed to " the West." Wlicther the water was salt ? " Yes, ** and very bitter." He Ibrther said, there were * whales and belluga, white bears, wolves, and * rein-deer. No growing wood was seen, and the * mountains were bare stone. None of the tra- * vellers took notice of the depth of the water, * nor were they acquainted with the nature of * tides.' * The foregoing account is corroborated by Pallas, by Krusenstern, by the admission of the discovered lands on the Russian charts, and by recent additional information ; of which last, the following are the principal heads : — On the death of LachofF, his right, or privileges, in the islands devolved to a merchant named Sizovatzkoi. The merchant Sannikoff, who was clerk to Sizovatzkoi, discovered an Island to the W^est of Kotelnoijy and betwixt the latitude of that and the small or Middle Island, to which new discovery, on account of its great elevation, he gave the name of Stolbovoi, which signifies Co/?mm ; and in 180.5, the. same Sannikoff dis- Phaiiref. or covcrcd to the East of Kotclnoy an Island, which iskud!^*^ he named Phadeef, after a person who made his winter habitation there; but Captain Krusenstern gives it the name of Scmnikoffl its discoverer. In 18()(.», Sannikoff discovered, to the East of his discovery of the preceding year, a land of yet * Sailer's Account of the Expeditions of Captain Joseph BiUings. p. 103 to p. 106. Stolbovoi Island. 180.1. I8O6. An extcn sivr norlh- eni laud discovered. le recol- ieved to ' "Yes, re were es, and and the the tra- 5 water, ture of borated ision of its, and ch last, ^'ileges, named 'ho was 1 to the of that :h new ion, he ignifies 3tf dis- , which ide his ^nsterii 3r. last of ind of yet BiUings. 201 yet greater extent, which has since been named the Nexo Siberia-, and to the North and N\V. [of Sannikqff Island'] he thought that he saw yet other lands, but did not approach near enough to be certain whether it was land or ice. In 1808, discovery was made of another isle, westward of Sanntkoff*s Isle, Information of these newly found lands being sent to Petershurgh, Count Romanzoff, Chancellor of the Empire, employed a man of considerable talents and enterprise, named Hedenstrom, but who had been sentenced to exile in Siberia^ to make examination of the lands discovered. In May 1809, Hedenstrom departed from the entrance of the Jana, from which time to his return to the Jana was thirty- six days, and the accoimt he gave, was, that he had ascertained an extent of 250 versts of coast of a land which he called the New Siberia, being the land discovered by Sannikoif in 1806. In a second voyage, which he made in the winter season, Hedenstrom says, he came to an eastern termination of the same land, and named it Cape Cape Kame)ioi\ from which Cape the coast w^as ob- served to take a northwest direction. Never- theless, * Hedenstrom was of opinion that this * land was a prolongation of the continent of * America*.' If so, it must be with the inter- vention of a gulf. * Memoir by Captain Kniscnstcrn, Published in the Naval CZ/ro/jic/e for October, 1814. CHAP. XVIII. 1808. I8O9. Kauieno!. il ■,i M ill. I 1 ' 'i 1 ill: y 1:1 t I I 01 I'ijiiw CHAP. XIX. 202 CHAP. XIX. Captain James Cook on the North-west Coast of America. I AM now to speak of a voyage in which it was my good fortune (such I have always considered it) to bear a part. I had sailed with Captain Cook in his search for a southern continent, in the years 1772-3-4, and at the time he was fitting out for his expedition to attempt a northern passage from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic^ I was serving in America as first Lieutenant of the Cerberus frigate. The Earl of Sandwich, then at the head of the Admiralty, was so good, in consideration of my having before sailed with Captain Cook, to send an order to the Commander in Chief on the American station, to allow me to return to England if I preferred sailing again with Cap- tain Cook to serving in America. I gladly availed myself of the permission, and went pas- senger to England in the first ship dispatched from the American squadron ; and on my arrival was appointed first Lieutenant of the Discovery, the smallest of two ships which were fitting out for the Pacific, As 'oast of hich it always sailed uthern at the ion to Pacific merica The 3f the of my send )n the irn to 1 Cap- gladly it pas- itched arrival overy, ig out As 203 The part of Captain Cook's voyage which con- ch.\p. cerns the geography of the North-eastern coasts ^ — ^-^ cjf Am, and the discovery of a northern com- munication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is connected with the purpose of this work. If in a few instances I exceed that limit, the reader I hope will deem it a pardonable transgression. Captain Cook left England in July 1776, hav- ing two ships under his command, himself in the Resolution, and Captain Charles Clerke in the Discovery. In December 1777, he sailed from the Society Islands to enter on northern discovery. On the 18th of the January follow- ^^^^ injr, he discovered the North-western Islands of a groupe, which he named the Sandnich Islands, Sailing thence North-eastward, on the 7th of March. March, in latitude 44^^ N., he came in sight of Capi''i'» ^^^ the American Continent, at the coast of Nexv north-west coast 01 Albion, America. After making the coast, unfavourable winds and weather forced the ships as far South as to 43", and when we again made v/ay northward, blowing and thick unsettled weather prevented our tracing a continuation of the coast, so that betw^een a Cape in latitude 44° 55' N. named by Captain Cook Cape Fouhveather, and a point of land in 48" 15' N., which he named Cape Flat- tery, because the prospect of the land near it gave a doubtful promise of a harbour, we ob- tained only now and then a glimpse of the land. ^^'e ii ; I 'J ' Hi ■i CHAP. XIX. 1778. March. Captain Cook on the NW. coast uf America. .1 \ ?9th. h-'M \m l!r'.ii 504 We were near the last-mentioned point on the evening of the 2Sd, and a little before seven o'clock, it growing dark, Captain Cook tacked to wait for daylight, intending to make closer examination ; but before morning, a hard gale of wind came on with rainy weather, and we were obliged to keep oif from the land. At this time a port was necessary to both ships, to repair the lower rigging, as well as to recruit their stock of fresh water. On the 29th iu the forenoon, we again made the land. At noon, the latitude was observed 49"* 28^ N. At half past one in the afternoon. Captain Cook stood for an opening in the land bearing from us ENE. per compass, which had the appearance of a harbour. (Variation 19 degrees East.) When we came within five or six miles of the outer points of the opening, we had soundings at 20 fathoms depth ; but after passing some breakers and sunken rocks which lay on the larboard hand going in, the depth increased, so that in the entrance we found 50 fathoms. We passed a town of the Americans on the western side of the passage, and some canoes or boats, which were shaped like the Norway yawls, came thence to the ships. In the mean time, as we advanced within the port, to our great disappointment we found the depth continually to increase, and it seemed to us that we were standing into a landlocked and still pool, sheltered fro.n all winds, but un- fathomable 5 ■:H 205 fathomable ; where instead of anchoring, we should be obliged to secure our ships to trees (for the land was covered with woods) along- side as smooth a part of the shore as we might be able to find, in Uke manner as alongside a wharf. We had sailed four miles within this Sour d, and were in the entrance of an inlet which ran North-eastward, when night overtook us, and Captain Cook judged it prudent to anchor, which he did in 86 fathoms depth, and about the same distance from shore, as less dangerous than proceeding in the dark. We, in the Dis- covery, being less advanced, anchored in 07 fathoms. The bottom at this great depth proved rocky and damaged the cables, but we lay in a calm surrounded by high and steep hills, and with no current of tide other than a quiet and scarcely perceptible stream which drained outward all night. M- de la Perouse afterwards anchored in a pert on the same side of America but more northward, which has a striking resemblance to the Sound in which Captain Cook anchored. He says, * to form a * conception of Port des Fran^ais^ imagine a * basin of a depth in the middle that could not * be fathomed, bordered by mountains of exces- ' sive height. I never saW a breath of air ruffle * the surface of this water : it is never troubled * but by the fall of enormous pieces of ice, * which make a noise in falling that resounds *far CHAP. Ml. 1778. M;«rcli. ('itpiuin Cook i\\ NoDtka Suuiid. S ■.^ !l I CHAP. XIX. 1778. Marcli. Cuptairi Couk ill Nootka Suuiul. :i i' : !i ■ I 1 S! m •"II . •■ ,' 'l ' a06 * far in the mountains. The air in this place is * so serene and the silence so profound, that the * voice of a man, or the croaking of the sea- * birds that lay their eggs in the cavities of the * rocks, may be heard at half a league distance.* We did not immediately experience the full solemnity of such a solitude ; above thirty boats of the natives followed the ships to where they anchored, carrying each from three to seven or eight persons, both men and women. Two or three of the men were observed to have their hair strewed over with small white feathers or down of birds, which stuck on, their hair being rubbed over with grease for the purpose, as powder on pomatum. None of them would on this evening venture within either ship, and some of their boats remained near us on the watch all night. Early next morning. Captain Cook sent three armed boats to loc^ for more commodious anchorage. At one in the afternoon they re- turned, having found good harbour about six miles to the North-west ; but in the mean time, a small cove was discovered not more than half a mil« frorn the ships, in an island, with good depth of water for anchoring, where there was wood, a convenient fresh watering place, and where no natives resided. There we secured the ships, with a bower anchor in I7 fathoms j and with hawsers fast to the trees on shore ; th^ outer points of the cove bearing ENE. and S^E 307 S J E. per compass. Higher up within the chap. Sound, the depth of water was above lOQ ^^1^ fathoms. *^78. The name by which the natives called this rnNootka Sound is Nootka, The cove in which the ships °""'^' lay is in latitude 49° SC/ N., longitude 126" 42' W. The variation of the compass was 19° 30' North- easterly. Although in this North-east inlet of Nootka Sound we found so little run of tide, the perpendicular rise and fall of the water was eight feet nine inches : the time of high water on the new and full moon was 12h. 20m. The distrust of the natives at the arrival of Apui the ships did not amount to alarm, as in the case of Drake on his first arrival among the people of New Albion ; and it subsided in a short time. * The fame of our arrival,* says Captain Cooke, * brought a great concourse of * the natives to our ship in the course of this • day (the third of our being in port), and we * counted above a hundred of their boats, con- • taining at an average five persons in each.* They now entered the ships freely, were glad to barter, and in general fairly ; but during the first week of our being in the harbour, they- never failed to leave two or three boats to watch us during the night. These people were thought rather short of the common European stature. They were well armed with pikes, some headed with bone and many with iron j with bows, the arrows bearded at J: April. Ill Ndolka Sound. 208 CTiAP. at the point and the iinier end feathered ; with shngs, knives, and a short chib hke the patow of the New Zeahuiders. It was soon discovered that they would steal, at least from us, and iron especially, if they found or coidd make opportu- nity ; but otherwise t!iey were of quiet and friendly disposition. Captain Cook says, * docile, * courteous, and good-natured ; but (piick in * resenting what they looked upon as an injury ; * and like most other passionate people, as soon * forgetting it. I never found these fits of passion * went farther than the parties immediately con- * cerned, the spectators not troubling themselves * about the quarrel, whether it was with any of * us, or amongst their own body ; preserving as * much indifference as if they had known nothing * of the matter.' This disinclination to inter- ference in disputes not immediately affecting themselves, is not uncommon among uncivilized people ; nevertheless, something of a different nature occurred on the third morninor of our beinsc in port. A quarrel happened between two natives alongside the Discovery : the cause we could not make out ; but the disputants, who were in different canoes, seized each other by the hair with both hands, and held their foreheads hard together, each fearful of his opponent's head being dashed against his face. Most of the other canoes hastened towards the spot, and the people in them began to strip off their garments in readiness to take part in the quarrel, which > however ; with tow of overed id iron iportu- !t and docile, ick in "jury ; IS soon )assion y con- iselves any of ^'ing as lothing inter- Pecting vilized ifferent r being natives could vere in \e hair Is hard s head e other people 3nts in which owever 200 however ended in words, and ti;c pUnidor ot'tvvo canoes, which probably was a restitution or reco- very, as the rest seemed generally to assent to it. Their language appeared to me nnich com- posed of harsh sounds dilficult of utterance. In this opinion, which I give as written down by me at the time, 1 find I ditlered from my well-judging friend Mr. Antlerson, the Surgeon of Captain Cook's ship. When they were in a passion or very earnest in discourse, their language was evidently inadequate to express their feelings, which they made uj) for in action, jumping at each other and nodding their heads in a manner that to an unconcerned spectator could not but api)ear ludicrous. The uot being able to vent reproach fluently by speech, naturally increases irritability. To the same cause may perhaps be attributed that the ancient Britons were termed choleric. The first ten numerals of the Nootka people, as given by Captain Cook on Mr. Andcr- son*s authority, and also as they were taken by myself, I produce here, not in sup])ort of my opinion, for I think them more smooth and easy of pronunciation than the words of their lan- guage in general, but because I have been always pleased with the near agreement, since I first knew of it by the printed voyage. Anderson's, I must observe, are to be esteemed the most correct : he was a man of very patient and nice discrimination. ■ - ' r;i\p. Ai.iil. Ill NoiiiLa buiiiul. C>10 cn\r. xi\. 177S. April. Jii NfH)tka SouiuJ. pi' li I ■'4:' : ■ i '.'I oy me. Sowark Atla Katsa Mo Socliar Nopo Atlapo Atlaquash • •• ■ M Heyya. Nootka Numerals as taken by Mr. Anderson, One, Tsawack Two, Akkia Three, Katsitsa lour, Mo, or Moo Five, Socliah Six, Nospo Seven, Atslepoo Eight, Atiaquolthl Nine. Tsawaquulthl Ten, Haeeoo In their public addresses or harangues, of which we witnessed several, all except the person who is speaking, remain silent and quiet, yet Vi^ithout seeming to attend; and when one speaker has finished, another will begin, whilst the former, however violent he may have been in delivering his own oration, sits down with the same apparent indifference, <^;ther not listening, or listening without seaming so to do. The Americans with whom we became first acquainted, were inhabitants of towns or villages on the shores of the Sound we were in. We had seen five of their towns, and many visitors came from them daily to the ships to traffic. They brought variety of skins, and sold to us their garments in wear; and here we became ac- quainted with the sea-otter skins. They brought also their weapons and articles of their furniture* to lit, Uijll jues, of 3 person liet, yet en one I, whilst ve been yvith the stening^ me first villages We had rs came They us their ime ac- brought arniturc? to to sell, which we esteemed as curiosities, many of thorn being wrought with great neatness. They supplied us with fish when we did not catch sufficient to supply ourselves, for which they at first took cutlery or any trinket of European manufacture we chose to give, but preferring iron. On the 4th of April, at 1 1 in the forenoon, a sudden alarm appeared among all the Ameri- cans in or near either ship, and they hastened on shore to our watering place, where they hauled their canoes up on the land, and some among them who were uni)rovided with weaj)ons, fell to work to make wooden clubs and spears, and to collect stones. A small boat had been stationed to watch at each of the outer points of the cove in which the ships lay, and communi- cations made from them caused the alarm and these preparations. After some time, about a dozen large boats full of men made their appear- ance coming round the South point of the cove, as from without the sound. These people were all armed, and many of them had skin habits, long and loose, made much in the manner of a car- man's frock without the sleeves, being sewed at the sides, and having separate openings for the arms. At the entrance of the cove they made a halt, and the boats ranged themselves in regular order. Captain Cook ordered all work on board the ships to be discontinued, and the ships companies to be under arms. Our waterers p2 and CTTAP. MX. 1771:. April. N'uolkii Souiul. I I Nil "If CHAP. XIK. 177 8. April. IViiotka Suiiud. 212 and wood-cutters on nhore were also ordered to assemble on a rock where the astronomer's tents were erected. In this state, we dined under arms, the new comers all the while remaining off the entrance of the cove, and our early American friends on shore. It was possible that the two parties who appeared to take such precautions against each other, might be practising a decep- tion ; or if not, that negligence on our part might have suggested to them some such under- standing : but from all that passed at the time and afterward-', we saw no cause to believe that treachery was intended. After dinner, we went on with our work guardedly, till three in the afternoon, when the boats of the outer party drew near to the watering place, and we again took to our arms. A parley ensued between the two pariivjs, which produced an accomr.iodation ; for the men on each sitle took off their war dresses, the skin garments before mentioned, some of which were twofold, for defence against arrows and spears j and the stranger party retired from the cove without coming alongside either of the ships. The intent of their visit Captain Cook observes, was doubtless to share in the advantages of a trade with us, whilst our first friends, the inhabitants of the SoimdyWere willing to engross us entirely to themselves. * It ap- * peared that those who lived in the sound were * not all united in the same cause, for the weaker * were frequently obliged to give way, and were * sometimes S13 were * sometimes plundered of every thing, without * attempting to make the least resistance.* In the afternoon, the headof tlie Resohition's fore-mast was discovered to be so nuicli decayed, as to require being taken out for repair. At daylight on tlie 5th, a number of boats entered the cove from the outer part of the sound, and came to the ships, leaving a boat at the entrance to watch. At 7> iii consequence of signals from the watch-boat, they quitted the ships and drew up without the cove. A stronger party from the northward soon appeared, which stopped near the middle of the cove, and single small boats passed and repassed between them ; after which they saluted each other with a song, and the southern boats departed, leaving the market to the quiet possession of the northern party. Their songs were given in turn, the party singing having their pikes erected : when the first finished, they laid down their pikes, and the other party reared theirs. What they sung was composed of few notes, and wild as could have been expected, yet was^ .,olemn and in unison, and what I thought most extraordinary, they were all well in tune with each other. The words were at times given out by one man, as a parish clerk gives out the first line of a psalm. We had been accustomed, in our late naviga- gation between the tropics, to find dark or cop))er coloured natives ; and we at first thought the Nootka people to be of the like complexion ; 1' 3 but CHAP. XIX. ~^-- — 1778. April. ?\ootka Sound. L -J!;.! i m i 'I I' CHAP. XIX. 1778. April. Sound, 2M. but we afterwards discovered through the paint, grease, and dirt, under which their skins had been concealed, that they were a white people. On the 8th and 9th, it blew a heavy gale of wind from the eastward, which being directly into the cove, we carried out another anchor. We had hitherto had here fine weather and much calm. Whilst this gale continued, mountainous land which was to the eastward of us made us experience by turns, perfect calms and excessively heav^ squalls. In one of these flurries, the head of the Resolution's mizen-mast broke off, by the stress of the top-mast above it. Captain Cook remarks that the cove in which we lay, * is * covered from the sea but is exposed to the * South-east winds, which blow with great vio- * lence, and the devastation they sometimes * make, was apparent in many places.* A new mizen mast was necessary to the Reso^ lution, and here were good trees for the purpose. On the 18th, the Resolution got her foremast in, and two or three days after, her new mizen-mast. On the 20th, two old-fashioned silver table- spoons, which we supposed to have been Spanish, were purchased of the Americans alongside the Resolution, for a pewter wash-hand bason. These things, as well as iron and brass which we saw among them, it must be concluded they procured by their intercourse with other tribes, for it is satisfactorily ascertained, and corrobo- rated by their being perfectly unacquainted with fire- 1215 table- fire-arms, that the people of Nootka had not, pre- vious to our visit, had direct communication with Europeans. Captain Cook has related the follow- ing anecdote : * They were not startled at the * report of a musket, till one day, upon endea- « vouring to prove to us that arrows and spears * would not penetrate their war-dresses, one of * our gentlemen shot a musket ball through one * of them folded six times. At this, they were * so much staggered that their ignorance of fire- ' arms was plainly seen. This was afterwards * confirmed w^hen we used them to shoot birds, * the manner of which confounded them.' On the 22d, the Resolution's pinnace and our great cutter went to the town on the West side of the entrance into the Sound, partly for the purpose of cutting grass for a few goats and sheep we had on board. This town stands at the back of a sandy beach, in the bottom of a fine little cove in which is excellent anchorage. The town consisted of two rows of houses, one behind the other in a line with the water side. The houses were built with wood, each being one extensive apartment, but only seven or eight feet high within, and one side a little higher than the other, the roof or covering, being loose broad planks lying across from side to side, which they move occasionally, to admit light or shut out weather. One of the houses had three large spars or trunks of trees placed lengthways, on which the roofing boards rested, P 4. the CHAP. XIX. 1778. April. Nootka Sound. \ \ i i iri.l 1 ■ ' '' ! < ■ S i ^ : 1 ! 1 1 !««' if rr ' 1 CHA1\ XIX. 1778. A|iril. Suuiid. 216 the middle one being stout enough for the main- mast of a large shi}), jind supported at one end by an enormous and well-carved image of a man's head. The women were employed in making flaxen or woollen garments, and in pre- paring fish for drying. Great quantities of sprats were hanging up in their houses for the benefit of the smoke ; and the persons of the Nootka people had at this time a peculiar scent which is contracted by feeding on those fish. At the back of the town was a large plantation of cherry trees, gooseberry and currant bushes, raspberry and strawberry plants, but unluckily for us, none of them were in season. Captain Cook estimated the number of inhabitants in this town at two thousand. The boats on the beach were counted ninety-five. The grass we wished to cut was not of the smallest use to the Americans, but immediately they comprehended that we had occasion for it, they considered it as an article of trade, and obliged Captain Cook to purchase it, rather at an extortionate rate ; yet their reception of us at their town, and their behaviour, was very hospitable, and they seemed to be at more pains to avoid giving cause of offence, than when in their canoes alongside the ships. Captain Cook remarks here, * I have no where * else in my several voyages, met with uncivi- * lized [)eople who had such strict notions of * their right to the exclusive property of every ♦ thing ...,i B main- ne end i of a yed in in pre- ties of for the of the r scent je fish, ntation )ushes, luckily 'aptain mts in on the ass we to the lended ired it I Cook rate ; d their eemed use of de the where uicivi- )ns of every thing 217 * thing their country produces, as the inhabi- * tants of this Sound. At first, they wanted our * people to pay for the wood and water they * carried on board. If I had been on the spot, * I certainly should have complied with tlieir * demands. Our workmen thought differently, * and took little notice of their claims. The * natives, when they found that no payment * would be made, ceased to apply.' This is connected with another circumstance. They were immediately after, earnest in their inqui- ries by signs, if we came as friends, or wliether we intended to settle amonij them ? siffnifvinir to US at the same time, that they liad given us wood and water out of friendship. When they were satisfied that we had Jio intention of set- tling in this their country, it seemed to confirm them in friendship towards us. On the Stth, being ready for sea, the tents were struck, and every thing belonging to the vships taken on board. The wood here is mostly pine, and being full of turpentine, consumes fast, on which account we took as much on board as we could well stow. On the 25th, we cast off some of our shore- fasts and took up one anchor, but the wind being unsteady, we were obliged to lay fast till next day. Whilst the anchor was heaving up, the natives that were in the cove expecting the ships would sail, assembled in their boats to sing us a parting song, in which ihey flourished the swords, saws, CHAP. XIX. 1778. April. Nciotlia Sound. ..'J ■'1 ; '' 'I B GHAP. XIX. « .. — 1778. April. Nootka Sound. 36lli. 218 saws, hatchets, and other things they had ob- tained of us. One man mounted on a stage of loose boards, which was supported by the people in the nearest canoes or boats, danced with a wooden mask on, which he occasionally changed, making himself resemble sometimes a man, some- times a bird, and sometimes an animal. Of these masks, they have great variety, and they parted with them willingly, except those of the human face. If they sold any of these, it seemed to be with some repugnance, as if they were parting with the image of a friend or relation, and were ashamed to be seen so doing. The next day, the weather was doubtful, in- deed threatening, for tlie barometer fell unusually low ; * but my anxious impatience,' says Captain Cook, * to proceed upon the voyage, and the fear * of losing the opportunity of getting out of the * Sound, making a greater impression on my mind * than any apprehension of immediate danger, * I determined to put to sea at all events.* Many natives attended us, some on board the ships and some in their boats, till we were almost clear of the Sound, and we parted mutually with the most friendly feelings towards each other, which our excellent commander has related in terms of warm satisfaction. We were scarcely clear of the land when- the wind, which was from the SE, increased to a strong gale, with dark weather, and made it necessary, being on an unknown coast, to get an offing. had ob- stage of le people I with a changed, in, some- Of these y parted 3 human led to be i parting md were •tful, in- nusually Captain i the fear it of the my mind danger, oard the e almost dly with li other, lated in ^henthe led to a made it o get an offing. 219 offing. This occasioned us to pass, without being chap. able to examine, the part where was said to be a ^ — ^..^ strait discovered by Admiral de Fonte. On the ^^^^• abatement of the gale, we stood in for the land, CoKthe which we made on the 1st of May, in latitude 55" ^^]^^^SL ^0', and longitude 134° W, not far distant from the jviaj . part of the coast where Tschirikow had anchored. ' I regretted,' Captain Cook says, * that I could * not make the land sooner, for though I gave * no credit to so improbable a story as the disco- * \ery of de Fonte, I wished to have kept the * American coast aboard in order to clear up this * point.* The business proposed by the British Admi- ralty in this expedition to the North, was to as- certain the northern limits of the American con- tinent, the doing or attempting which it was hoped would afford a chance of discovering a passage or water communication from the Pacific to the Atlantic. It was similar to the purpose which brought Drake, the great navigator of his day, to the coast of New Albion. The instruc- tions given to Captain Cook, evince that the Ad- miralty entertained no great opinion of the pro- bability of a passage through the heart of the American continent to the West coast. They say, ' You are to endeavour to fall in with the * coast of New Albion in latitude 45" N. You are * to put into the first convenient port to recruit * your wood and water, and then to proceed * northward along the coast as far as to the * latitude I ! ! ) Si ii 'I CHAP. XIX. 1778. Mii.v. Ciiptain Cook on the N\V. coast 1)1' Amcriia. * latitude of C)5% or farther if not obstructed bv * land or ice ; taking care not to lose any time in * exploring rivers or inlets, or upon any other ac- * count, until you get into the before-mentioned * latitude of 6.3", where we could wish you to * arrive in the mont\ of June.* In the same summer that Captain Cook left Eiigland, and before he sailed, the British Admiralty sent a brig named the Lion, under the command of a Lieutenant, on a reconnoitring voyage to the western coast of B(iffin\s Bay, meant as prepa- ratory to another expedition ; the officer com- manding the Lion not being required to attempt the discovery of a passage, but to be careful to secure his return to England in the fall of the year. He was directed * to explore the coasts of * Baffin's Baij to enable him to bring back the * same vear, information which mi':]fht be useful * towards planning an intended voyage to that * Bay the ensuing summer to try for the discovery * of a passage on that side, with a view to co- * operate with Captain Cook who it was supposed ' would be trying for this passage about the same * time from the opposite side, of America,* The expedition to Bajfin's Bay to endeavour to com- pleat the discovery was undertaken in the ensu- ing year, in the same brig Lion, commanded by Lieutenant Young. If Captain Cook and Lieu- tenant Young each succeeded, there would be a likelihood of their meeting, and the place of their meeting, it was conjectured, would be in a sea to riictcd by \y time in other ac- nentionccl h you to the same ^a?id, and ty sent a nand of a ^e to tlie as prepa- cer com- ) attempt :aref'ul to 11 of the coasts of back the be useful ; to that liscovery ;w to co- supposed the same a,' The • to com- he ensu- uided by nd Lieu- ►uld be a ; of their in a sea to to the North of the main land or continent of chap. America. ^r\. Wiien Captain Cook made the land again on 1778. the 1st of May, the wind blew fresh from the ^''^' . southward. To have endeavoured to return that <'"«k"i>Hie way to look for de Fonte's discoveries, would ?» Ai.S. have been a great sacrifice of time and opportu- nity for an object of which few have entertained a better opinion than Captain Cook did ; and besides, we had yet before us if the account of de Fonte was true, his Hirer Bernarda. May the 4th, at 4 in the morning, we first saw 4th. the summit of Mount Sai7it Elias, distant from ^^' ""' us, as was aftcivvards calculated, 40 leagues. '''" ^'"' All that day we mistook it for an island, and supposed it some leagues from the contine.it. From its height above the horizon when irst seen, it must be visible in clear weather many leagues farther. From abreast Mount Saint Elias the continen- tal coast lay in a direction West with scarcely any thing of northerly. On the 12th, six degrees of longitude to the W'est of Mowit St. Mas, we came to a cape where tlic coast turned short to the North, and three leagues beyond (to the West) was higli land which extended southward, and appeared like an island, as we afterwards found it. Between this v/estern land and the Cape, no land was seen to the North, which gave us some liope that here would be found the western ter- mination of America. In the afternoon we an- chored !j 222 1« 1 1 i'i i ' i^ 1 J ;i CHAP. XIX. chored in the entrance of u harbour close under the Cape, to which Captain Cook gave the name of Cape Ilinchinl/ro/cc. The same evening, two large boats in which were about twenty Anicri- i! i^f'Jl: '^1 1778. Cook ou the cans, came to the ships. They reminded us in NW. roast i. J of America, many respects of the people of NootLa, and in Sbrok'e" some they greatly differed. They would not trust themselves on board with us, but made signs of friendship by hallooing and standing with their arms extended. Some of them had their heads powdered with down or small feathers, a custom in which the Nootka people were so par- ticular and curious that they had machines for throwing the down into the hair, exactly after the manner of our powder puffs. These people sang to us in the Nootka manner ; and when the large boats departed, they left a small boat pad- dled by two men, which remained near the ship till daylight. The clothing of the natives here, as of the Nootka people, consisted of skins, and garments coarsely made of coarse flax, with chip or wicker hats; but the greater severity of the climate here had taught them to use boots, handskoons, and sleeves to their jackets ; and a mark which dis- tinguished these people from every other known, was their under lips being perforated, or slit through, in a line parallel to the mouth, and about three quarters of an inch lower, through which they wore pieces of carved bone ; and some- times, which had a hideous effect, they would remove osc under the iiume ling, two :y Anieri- ded us in Y7, and in y^ould not ladc signs iing with had their ^bathers, ii jre so par- chines for ictly after !se people . when the boat pad- r the ship as of the [ garments ) or wicker [mate here :oons, and which dis- ler known, ;d, or sht outh, and r, through andsome- hey would remove ^23 remove the bone ornament, and thrust as much as they could of their tongue through the oi)eii- ing. Their speech was more rapid and indistinct, than that of the Nootka people. In the forenoon of the 13tli, we took up our iJ. anchors and sailed through the openiu"- to the northward. We soon saw land in every direc- tion, but it appeared disjointed, with many pro- jecting points, and openings forming deep inlets. At 9 in the evening we anchored near the South shore of an inlet which led in a north-easterly direction, the termination of which we did not see. Latitude here 60° 44-' N. Long. 147** W. Variation of the compass 27" 5(/ E. Some American boats went alongside the Re- solution, and early in the morning of the 14th, hu. two Americans ia a small canoe came to the Dis- covery. Only four people were walking her deck, upon which tliey went to the Resolution and gave the information to their countrymen, who all immediately left that ship and repaired to the Discovery. On seeing their boats coming, the officer on deck ordered the full watch to come up, but before the order was obeyed, an Ame- rican from their foremost boat entered the ship, and commenced work by throwing the rud/..r of the jolly boat, v/hich he found in liis way, over- board for the people in the boats to pick up. One of our men offered to stop him, but he drew a long knife from under his skin garment, and at the same time laid hold of a tin pot. Other Ame^ ricans CHAP. MX. 177s. I'riiicc Williiiiu' Suuiid. • t 'll'i Q'M< f m\-,\ criAP. XIX. 177H. May. Captain (!iis com- eighed ;re sent of the W.and anchor greater iployed Yt purs^ id very I. The d stood md was d from js from of the e vai'ia- to be a jgarded nerican tge, the nth the y speci- lest the vritten, might misrht be at a loss to what to attribute the dif- ference ; and also, the compasses in the two ships differed here above half a point. On board the Resolution, * the South-west point of the * continent opened off the North-east point of * Acootan Island, in the direction of N. CO" E. It * is called by the people of these parts Oonemak, < and lies in latitude 54.° 34' N. and in longitude * 195° 30' E.* Over the cape is a round elevated * mountain.' Captain Cook directed the course that way, and we ran along the North side of the land which we had before coasted on the South side, the two coasts being nearly parallel, forming a long peninsula. We traced the northern coast of this peninsula with much satisfaction whilst it continued in a North-easterly direction, as it seemed to lead us homeward. The Oonemak Peninsula is remarkable for its high mountains. At one time we saw four all very distant from each other, every one of which we had noticed whilst sailing by the southern coast. This side, like the other, shewed many openings, and probably there are passages through ; but to our future progress they could be of no import. On the 4th and 8th, we had calm weather, and caught so great a quantity of cod and flat fish, that Captain Cook ordered both the ships' com- panies ♦ Misprinted 192" :jo'. Third Voyage of Captain Cook, id Edition. Q 4 CHAP. XIX. 1778. July. Cautaiii Cook. Coast of America. Ooiieinak promon- tory. 111 1 if' ': ( ■ ■' 1 1 -111 CHAP. XIX. * . •• 1778. July. Captain Cook on the coait of America. Cape Wevveiiham. l5ristolB;iy. Shoals north of Ciipe !Newenliam, August. Ueatli of Mr. Wil- liam Ander- son. 232 panies for a time to be on two-thirds allowance of salt meat. As we proceeded to the Ncrth East, the depth of water gradually decreased, which was no good sign ; and on the 9th we found the coast take a more northerly direction. At nine degrees of longitude East of the western Cape of the Penin- sula, it turned directly North, and shortly after (in latitude 58" 30^) it projected out nearly West to a Cape which was named Cape Neuoiham. We came on the iGth to this Cape, the Bay be- tween w^iich and the Oonemak Cape was named Bristol Bay, At Cape Newenhanif the coast took a northern direction, w ith shallow water near it. After fol- lowing it, sailing among shoals and banks some- thing more than twenty leagues, great part of the time in depth less than ten fathoms, and some- times under five, with boats always a-head, it was found necessary for safety to sail back southward as far as to Cape Newenliam^ and then to stand off westward from the land. When we had so deepened our soundings to "^O fathoms. Captain Cook would have resumed a north course ; but the wind came from the North and NNE. and he was obliged to continue westward, and the depth increased to 40 fathoms. As soon as the wind permitted, the course was again shaped North-eastward. On the afternoon of the 3d of August died Mr. William Anderson, Surgeon of the. Resolu- tion, 233 owance e depth 10 good : take a ;rees of ! Penin- \y after ly West venham. 3ay be- named orthern fter fol- s some- t of the i some- [, it was ithward stand had so Captain 56 ; but E. and md the 1 as the shaped St died Resohi- tion, tion, to the great regret of every person in both ships. He was a well informed man, humane and attentive in liis profession. His age is not noted, but he could scarcely have completed his thirtieth year. His descriptions botanical and in natural history have enriched Captain Cook's account of this voyage. Captain Cook, with whom he had sailed as surgeon's chief mate in the voyage in search of a southern continent, entertained a high opinion of him in all respects, and has pronounced his eulogy. An island which was discovered the same afternoon, was named Anderson'* s Island. Mr. Anderson, and Captain Clerke, my Com- mander in the Discovery, had been in a declining state the last twelve months. When the ships were at Otaheite (in August 1777) Anderson represented to Captain Clerke their inability to encounter the severities of a frozen climate, and they mutually agreed to ask leave of Captain Cook to lesign their situations, that they might remain where tlicy were, and trust tliemselves to the care of the natives, as the only hope left them of being restored to health. When the time approached for the ships to sail. Captain Clerke's papers and accounts were not in order ; and as wc were bound next to HuaheinCy Gne:of the Soctetij Islands, it might answer their purpose as well to quit the ship tliere as at Otaheite. At Huahe'ine, the same thing happened, and the execution of their plan was deferred to our going to ClIAPj XIX. 1778. August. J I I i " I it Vi - i ■lii P M CHAP. XIX. 17787 August. to Ulietea, the next island. At (Jlietea, the ships remained above a month ; but that time did not suffice Captain Gierke for the settlement of his accounts. As Captain Cook proposed to stop at Bolabola, the last of the Society Islands, Mr. Anderson consented to the postponement of their intention to our arrival at that place ; and there I believe Captain Clerke, if the oppor- tunity had not failed, would have really landed and settled. All this, just as I relate it, I had from Mr. Anderson about a month before his decease. We arrived at Bolabola, but from un- steadiness of the wind, missed getting into the harbour, and did not anchor. On the evening of the same day, we sailed away, taking our final departure from the Society Islands. At the Sandwich Islands to which we afterwards came, the natives were strangers to us, and appeared less civilized than the Society islanders ; and as we fell in with them unexpectedly, no previous arrangement of the kind had been thought of by either. As we ran to the NE. we decreased our soundings to 11 fathoms before we regained sight of what we regarded as the continental land of Arnerica, which we did on August the 4th, in latitude 64' 30" N. 2ii5 tea, the at time tlement osed to Islands, >nement b place i 2 oppor- r landed t, I had fore his rom un- into the evening our final At the is came, ippeared ; and as previous jht of by ised our regained ntinental igust the CHAP. XX. Captain Cook through Bering's Strait, and in the Sea North of the Strait. ^^TE were here so near Bering's Strait as to ^ ' be within the influence of currents setting either way through ; but of this we had to gain the knowledge, as well as of the Strait itself, for the charts in our possession, among which was the chart to Muller, placed the two continents five degrees of longitude (4>2 leagues) apart. In the evening of the 4th (of August) the wind failing, the ships anchored, the Resolution in 13 fathoms, we in 16, soft sandy bottom, 6 or 7 miles from the land, and about 3 leagues to the eastward of a small but tolerably high island. Captain Cook remarks * Whilst we lay at * this anchorage, the flood tide came from the * East till between ten and eleven o'clock. * From that time till two the next morning, the * stream set to the eastward, and the water fell * three feet. The flood ran both stronger and * longer than the ebb, from w^hich I concluded * that besides the tide, here was a westerly cur- * rent.' * On board the Discovery, it was re- marked * Captain Cook's Voyage for making discoveries in the northern hfmifiphere. Vol. II. p. 440. 2d edition. CHAI XX. 1778. August. 4th. " ;i ■i' ! 'a p. i i '! '■*;■• .1 " CHAP. X\. 1778. August. .Sill. Captain f!(iokon tlie roast of America. Sledge Island. Otii. 8tli. Tn Bering's Strait. marked, that during the ebb, the stream east- ward was barely perceptible, and the ship rode according to the wind ; but to the western tide the ship tended, and it ran from two in the morning till nine, when we got under sail. At noon, we anchored between the main land and the island above mentioned, in seven fathoms. A tide or current was running westward at the rate of two knots. Ciiptain Cook landed on the island, and on account of a sledge found there, though we saw no inhabitants, he named it Sledge Island, From noon to half past eight in the evening, the stream continued to set to the West and WNW. at the rate of nearly two knots. It then slacked, and the ship lay wind roJe till midnight, when the tide and current again ran to the WNW. At three in the morning, we weighed anchor and proceeded, following the coast North-west- ward, in soundings mostly under ten fathoms. On the evening of the 8th, we anchored in 19 fathoms, gravelly bottom, a low projecting point which was the western extreme of the main land in sight, bearing from us per compass N 9° E. (the variation ^5° 10'' easterly,) distant 6 or 7 miles. It was calm during the night. From the time of our anchoring to midnight, we found a cur- rent running NNW. at the rate of three knots. From midnight till four in the morning it con- tinued to set NNW. but at the diminished rate of two knots and two fathoms. After four, it ran, .1 V ; ■ ! m cast- lip rock^ ern tido I in the ail. At and and ruthonis. \ at the d on the id there, amed it eight in t to the o knots. roJe till gain ran i anchor rth-west- 3ms. On fathoms, It which land in r E. (the 7 miles, the time id a cur- ee knots, g it con- hed rate ir four, it ran, 237 run, still in the same direction, again at the rate of three knots. The Cape near to which we were at anchor, was more westward than the Oonemak Peninsula, and therefore regarded as the western extremity of all America liitiierto known. Captain Cook named it Cape Prince of Wales, It is situated in latitude i')5'' ^5' N. and longitude 1()8'18' W. I imagine we laid here in the full strength of the current, and allowing the ahatement to be an effect of the tide, the rate of the current may be estimated at two knots five fathoms /?tv' hour ; and the rate of the tide at tiu-ee fathoms, being tlie half difference of the greater and less rapi- dity of the stream. At half past eight in the morning, we got under sail with a light breeze at North, but the wind soon freshened to a gale, and being contrary to the current, raised so much sea tliat it fre- quently broke into the ship. As we plied to windward, about noon we saw the small islands in tlie Straity and at 7 in the evening, the coast of Asia, concerning which we had at first some doubt, as according to a Map in Sthaelin's account of the islands between Kamtscliatka and America, tins miglit ha\e been the eastern side of an island Alaschka there laid down. The small islands, and some other particulars observed, in a short time convinced us that the land to the West was continental ; and the next forenoon at ten Captain Cook anchored in a Bayof theTschutzki country. On CHAP. XX. 1778. August. Cape I'riucf i>f Wales. 9tli. Coast o( Asia. hiH il ! ■ ' ' I W Ir i ! /I XX 1778. Augcsf. lOth. ilay of Suiiit Linvrcncc. Twrliiitzki nativei. 238 CHAi*. On tlic north side of the bay was a viUagc of the natives, and as the ships stood in, wc saw people with burthens on their back hastening inland over the hills, and they ap])eared to us to be women and children. Captain Cook went with three boats well armed, and landed at the village. His account of this visit is very inte- resting, and is here copied. * About forty men * armed each with a spontoon, bow and arrows, * stood drawn up on a rising ground close by * the village. As we drew near, three of them * came down towards the shore, and were so * polite as to take off their caps, and to make us * low bows. We returned the civility, but it did * not inspire them with confidence to wait our * landing, and they retired. I followed them * alone, without any thing in my hand, and by * signs prevailed on them to stop and receive * some small presents. In return, they gave me * two fox skins and two sea-horse teetii. I cannot * say whether they or I made the first present, * for it appeared to me that they had brought * down these things for the very purpose, and * that they would have given them without any * return. They seemed very cautious, and ex- * pressed their desire by signs that no more of * our people should come up. On laying my * hand on the shoulder of one of them, he started * back several paces, and they were always in the * attitude of being ready to make use of their * spears, and those on the rising ground kept in * readiness tillage of wc saw iiistening to us to ok went :d at the ery inte- )rty men . arrows, close by of them were so make iis >ut it did wait our ;d them , and by I receive gave me I cannot present, brought ose, and iiout any and ex- more of ying my e started ys in the of their 1 kept in eadiness 239 readiness to support them with their arrows. Insensibly however, myself and two or three of my companions, got amongst them, and a few beads distributed created a kind of confidence, so that they were not alarmed when more of our people joined us, and by degrees a small traffic between us commenced. For knives, beads and tobacco, they gave some of their clothing and a few arrows, but nothing we offered would induce them to part with a spear or a bow. These they held in constant readi- ness, except ut one time, when four or five persons laid theirs down while they gave us a song and a dance ; and they then placed them in such a manner that they could lay hold of them in an instant, and for security they desired us to sit down during the dance.* * All the Americans we had seen since our arrival on that coast, were rather low of stature, with round chubby faces and high check bones. The people we now were amongst, had long visages and were stout and well made. Several things, and in particular their clothing, shewed a degree of ingenuity surpassing what one could expect among so northern a people. Their dress consisted of a cap, frock, breeches, boots, and gloves, all made of leather or skins, ex- tremely well dressed, some with the fur on, some without. The quivers which contained their arrows were some of red leather, neatly embroidered, and extremelv beauljful. We * saw CUAP. XX. 1778. August. Tlie Tsciiutzki. . I .I'll f M It I- III 1 1*.' ! It pi ! ' In : ■■ >u 'I CH\P. XX. 177S. August. 'Ihe l\chutzki. nth. Tlirouij;h Bcniig'j Strait. 240 * saw neither their v^omen nor cliildren. With * them was one aged man, who carried no arms.' Captain Cook remained on shore two or three hours. The Tschuktzki sold our people salmon, of which they ai)peared to have plenty, and a small river ran close by their village. They had blue glass beads, and took tobacco and snuff in exchange tor some of their clothes. Many of their pikes were headed with iron, and inlaid with some other metal. In several places stood a kind of scaffolding, supposed to be for drying fish out of the reach of their dogs, of which they had a great immber. Some dogsjust killed were lying on the ground, which seems to have been a propitiatory sacrifice. The bay in which we anchored. Captain Cook named the Bajj of St, LaHTence. Soon after returning to the ship, we got under sail, a breeze having sprung up from the South, with fair weather. We stood over to the North-east, Captain Cook proposing to prosecute his exa- mination along the American coast. On the 11th al noon, we were nearly midway between the two continents, each being seven leagues distant. We were three or four leagues to the North of the small islands in the Strait; our depth of water in this situation was t^d fathoms, which was the deepest soundings we found in Bering\s Strait. Towards the American coast the water shoaled, and we came into seven fathoms at four leagues distance . With o arms.' or three sahnon, , and a 'hey had snuff in Many of d inlaid es stood drying )f which ist killed to have lin Cook on after a hrceze A'ith fair »rth-east, his exa- thellth kveen the s distant. S^orth of depth of s, which Bering's ' shoaled, r leagues distance 241 distance from shore. The wind falling, we anciiored, the nearest point of the continent of Asia, bearing per compass S. C)'Z° 30^ W. ; and Cape Prince of Wales S. 10° E. The variation f2C° North-easterly. We continued at anchor from six in the evening to nine, during which time there was no current, nor perceptible rise or fall of the sea. It is necessary to remark that we lay here considerably to the eastward of Cope Prince oflVales^ and less exposed to a northerly current than in the middle of the Strait : and this it is much more probable was the case, than that so great an alteration in the ciuTcnt should have taken place in the short space of three days, although by other circumstances afterwards experienced, it appears that the northerly current was at this time on the decline. We })roceeded northward near the American coast, which in some parts receded or was re- markably low ; for with fair weather and keeping in soundings between 19 and 13 tathoms, a con- tinued line of coast was not seen. A point of the American land, in latitude (i7° 45^ Captain Cook named after that distinguished seaman and officer Lord Mulgrave. On the 17th, the wind was moderate from the westward, the weather hazy, and our course Nortii-eastward, guided principally by the sound- in«''s. At half past ten in the forenoon, we were in 11 fathoms, but did not see the land. The weather becoming squally, the course was directed % R more CHAK X\. 1778. August.' Captain Cook in the 8oa North of l^ering's Strait. On tliP Anicricaii suit;. Point Muljjrarp. 17lli. Y1?Twr . H.'J St.' If; :, 1! ' , : ■. , : i;!::. » ii ■■■; V I': ■ ' . '1- ,- ], s i j 1 .1 . !, i^M j i ■ ? 1 1' 1 ,' ■ ) ■'1 : I: CHAP. XX. » V 1778. August. 18lh. Icy Cape. 242 more northward. At noon we observed in 70° SI''. A brightness was seen in the horizon northward, wliicli was supposed, and which proved, to be the bhnk of ice. At half past two, we were within a quarter of a mile of a body of ice which extendeci EbN. and Wb S. as far each way as could be seen. Many sea horses were on it. The 18th at noon, the latitude was observed "70° 43^ N. We were five leagues farther east- ward than on the preceding noon, and close to the body of the ice, * which was as compact as a • wall, and seemed to be ten or twelve feet * high.* * The depth of water was 22 fathoms, the land not in sight, but estimated to be about seven leagues distant. We stood from the ice towards the land, and at half past five had sight of it bearing from SE. to ESE. (the variation three points easterly), distant from us three or four miles. At six, the Discovery had shoaled her depth to 6^ fathoms, and made signal to the Resolution of being in shoal water. The nearest land was then about a league distant. The eastern extreme seen was a low point, much en- cumbered with ice, and for that reason Captain Cook named it Icj/ Cape ; its latitude 70° 29^ N. longitude 16V 42' W. To get into deeper water, we stood a league to the North, which by compass, with the wind Lt WNW. was making little better than a NE. course true. At 8 o'clock we were in 8 fathoms. The * Captain Cook's third loi/agc. II. 454. 'I '■ ved ill horizon proved, ve were s which way as [1 it. bserved er east- close to act as a ve feet athoms, e about the ice id sight ariation hree or shoaled al to the : nearest The lucli en- Captain f 29' N. a league he wind n a NE. fathoms. The The body of the ice was in sight from NNW. to '^'"^-^^ NE b N. and was evidently drifting towards the land ; for within the last 2\< liours our track had 177s. August. trone over parts which the ice now covered. Wo Cuptaiu were in a manner hemmed m by tlic ice tiic tiaseu land and the wind, and were in shoal water; ii^'hig"* but the breeze was moderate, and tlic sea smooth. ^'"'^• Captain Cook remarks, * it was evident, that if * we remained much longer between the ice and * the land, it would force us ashore, unless it * should happen to take the ground before us ; * and eastward it seemed nearly to join the land. * Tiie only open direction was to the South- * west.* We i)lied to the westward making short boards i9th. between the ice and the land. Frequent flocks of wikl ducks and geese were seen, and noticed to be directing their flight to the South. Cap- tain Cook demands, * docs not this indicate tliat « there must be land to the North where these « birds find shelter in the proper season to breed, « and from wlience they were now returning to «a warmer climate?' Tliis is the first of a number of circumstances noticed, all tending to the same point. The 19th in the forenoon, we sailed much among loose pieces of ice. In the afternoon, having deepened our soundings to 17 fathoms, we brought to by the edge of a large field of ice, which was remarked to be * not so compact * as that we had seen more northward, although * tog close to attempt forcing th^ ship through.' r2 This \m \ f>r : if:: :ii:'; I" CHAP. X\. ^ 1778. August. Captain Cook ill tiK.' sea Noitliof Ik'riiig's Strait. Sca-liorsos. ^2U This was doubtless part of the same body of ice wc first saw ; tlien, * compact as a wall,' as if recently detached from some coast, and now, perceptibly in an advanced state of dispersion. The whole of the ice seen bv us was a moveable mass, and remarked by Captain Cook to consist of loose pieces of various extent, though, at our first falling in with it, so close together that a boat could not without much difficulty enter "within the outer edge. Prodigious numbers of sea-horses (the walrus) were on the ice, and boats from each of the ships went to take some. Nine were taken by the boats of the Resolution, and four by those of the Discovery. As food there were few on board who did not prefer them to our salt meat. Whilst fresh killed I thought them very good eating, but after twenty-four hours keeping they became rancid and fishy. We fed upon them, however, as long as they lasted. The fiesh should be pressed between two boards with a great weight previous to being cooked, and broiling with pepper is the best mode of dressing it. The weight of a sea-horse, described in Captain Cook's account, was 1,100 lbs. * They lay in * herds of many hundreds upon the ice, huddling * one over the other like swine, and roar or bray * very loud, so that in night or foggy weather * they giv e the first notice of the ice. When 'attacked, the female will defend the young * one to the very last, and at the expense of * her own life, whether in the water or upon the y of ice I,; as if id now, persion. oveable i consist ugli, at lier that ty enter walrus) of the iken by y those m board Whilst eating, became 3wever, )uld be weight g with . The I!aptain lay in jddling or bray sheath er When young inse of r upon the CHA!'. XX. 1778. August. S15 * the ice.* Such instances of natural affection and courage should make the killing these ani- mals, who are also harmless, a subject of some regret. The same observation doubtless will apply to many other animals, who shew no less ^^'^'^;" !''* regard for their voung, but is not therefore "•' i^erinj-* weakened. The 21st, in the afternoon, there being little 21st. wind, a boat was anchored to try if there was any current, and none was found. The month of August was far advanced, and it was evident that nothing more could be done at this time on the American coast. To make as much use as possible of the short remainder of the season, Captain Cook directed the course westward for the coast of Asia, keeping as much to the North as the ire would permit. At ten o'clock, on the night of the 2'2d, we sjci. heard a noise like a surf. There was but little wind, and we were in 22 fathoms depth. The noise increased, and a swell of the sea got up so much that Captain Cook thought it necessary at midnight to change the course to the South- east. At three in the morning, the noise and the swell subsided, and afterwards the course westward was resumed. What had caused the disturbance was not ascertained, but it was imagined to have been the encounter of different bodies of ice acted on by different currojits. The latitude of the ship at the time was 69° 42' N. By the forenoon of the 24th, our soundmgs R 3 had 5 I I I i' ''I CHAV. XX. 1778. AugU.st. Norlli of Voiing's Slruil. 1 m 1 f [I ! • i i 1 ; ' '' ' 1 1 i 1 I 246 had gradually deepened to 28 fathoms. Our hititude was then 69" 30' N. longitude 169° 19' W. and distance from the American coast 30 leaixues. From this tune to noon of the 26th, we continued to the westward with such little variation of the soundings that at no cast of the lead we had greater depth than 29 fathoms or less than 27. In the general formation of sea coasts, the depth of water in the neighbouring sea is in some proportion to the distance from land ; or it may be not im- properly expressed that they have symmetrical increase or decrease. On the 26th at noon, our latitude -/as 69" 38' N. and longitude 176° 40' W; consequently we had sailed above fifty leagues westward, increasing our distance so much in a direct line from the coast o^ America, and we had not increased the depth as it is usual to do in running from land. The natural inference was, and still remains, that we had sailed in a line parallel to some other coast, which other coast could be situate only to the North of us. Mr. Bayly, our astronomer in the Discovery, was so strongly impressed with this idea, that being on deck when the mate of the watch reported to the Lieutenant the soundings 28 fathoms, a depth which seemed unchangeable, he exclaimed, that there must be land to the North of us, and that we were sailing in a bay or mediterranean sea. Our strong belief in Muller, and nothing else, suppressed this opinion. Captain Cook, in speaking of the soundings in his track from the American IS. Our I Icagiios. ontinuecl »n of the we had >7. In the I of water lortion to e not im- nmetrical loon, our 6M0'W; y leagues nuch in a , and we 3ual to do inference died in a nch otlier )rtli of us. ►very, was :liat being reported athoms, a xclaimed, 3f us, and iterranean d nothing a Cook, in : from the American 217 American coast, says, * as we advanced to the * West the water deepened gradually to 28 ' fathoms, which was the most we had.* The sense conveyed by the last half dozen words is evidently, that in continuing the course to the West, the depth was not Ibund to increase j which explanation I should not have thought necessary if their meaning, or the words tliem- selves, had not escaped the notice of the Quarterly Review. The 27th at noon, we still sounded in 28 fathoms, not having altered our situation above a league since the preceding noon. Immediately after, the depth began to decrease, which in- dicated our approach to land. The next day, we tried if there was current, and found none. The 29th, we made the coast of Asia, and at noon were within two miles of the land, the depth of water from eight to ten fathoms. Wind fresh from the NW. with rainy weather. The sea-coast near us was low ; behind was elevated land, but without trees. The most distant land in sight to tlie North-west were two hills, which at first appeared like islands, but the nearest of the two was afterwards found to be connected with the main land. The western hill might also be joined to the other by low land, though we did not see it. The western hill was the most north- ern part of the Asiatic coast seen by us, and Captain Cook named it Cape North. Its latitude by the reckoning, for we had no observation on R 'Ji that CTIAP, XX. 1778. August. ('Hpt)iiii (,'oiik in ilie si-a Xortli of IkMillg's Siiait. ('oilSt cJ Asia. ^IP^ ■ 1 i iiii :l!i I • b i h\ I 'I 11 I ! ' '1 -r ' 1 ■ mn^ ';^ CHAP. \X. 1778. August. Coilit of A^iu. Tape N'urdi. .'loth. 218 that day noon, was GS" ^G'' N, and longitiido 179" 11' W. At 5 PM. wc were in 11 fathoms, when Cape North hore from us WJN. per com- pass, (variation Q& East), and as the horizon in that quarter w^as pretty clear, Captain Cook was of opinion tliat the coast of the continent beyond Cape North, would be found to take a very westerly direction, which point he was anxious to ascertain, and wc plied to windward under a press of sail all the afternoon and evening. The coast was remarked to appear in every respect like the opposite coast of America, low near the sea with elevated land back, and desti- tute of trees. Between the low borders of the sea and the high land, was observed a lake or body of water, which extended southward as far as could be seen.* In the night a thick fog came on, accompanied with a fall of snow% and the wind increased, still from the NW. The lateness of the season ren- dered hopeless our continuing to strive along this shoal coast against unfavourable wind and weather, with the ice closing upon us ; and at two o'clock in the morning of the 30th, Captain Cook bore up to the South-east. * I did not think * it consistent w'ith prudence,* he says, *to make * farther attempt this year to find a passage into * the Atlantic, My attention was now directed * how to spend the winter with improvement to * geography, * This was probably part of the arm of the sea which in the late charts is naiued the Batj of Kluts/unic, 219 atlioniR, cr com- rizon in :)ok was beyond a very anxious I under vening. 1 every ca, low d desti- of the lake or d as far ipanied ed, still ion ren- 3 along nd and and at Captain )t think o make Lge into lirected nent to Traphy, ich in the CHAP. XX. 177S. AuL'Ust. trait. * geograpliy, and at the same time to be in a ' condition to return to the North in fiirther * search of a passage the ensuing Summer.' Fjom Cape North we traced the coast of Asia to c"^","', the SE, generally within four or five miles of the fj,J'|^p"' hmd, and in depth of water between 20 and 11 ^"f<>' ;» , Ut'i'inu;'* fatlioms. * Tlic soundings both along this coast st * and along the opposite coast of America y* Captain Cook remarks, * are the same at the same * distance from the shore. In the night or in i'oggy * weather, they are no bad guide along either of * the shores.* The greatest depth we met with to the North of Bering^ s Strait was 30 fathoms. Near the shores where it did not exceed twenty fathoms, the bottom was sand or gravel, mixed with broken shells. In the deeper part and more distant from land, the bottom was of soft ooze, in which the lead sunk so deep, that the sounding line in common use was not strong enough to disengage it, and we found it necessary to sound with the hand lead to the deep-sea line. We had observed the latitude on the 28th. The four days which next followed, the weather was hazy, and no observation could be taken. On the 2d of Sep- tember, the latitude was observed G()' 38^ and our latitude by the ship's reckoning, kept from tliC observation of the 28th, was 66° 44^ being a difterence of only six miles in five days navi- gation ; which shews that at this time no north- erly current was running ; and very little, if any, of Sppterobcr. ■p !i;l i ' i' i) 1 ■!: 1 j 1 1 1 ll 1 i: 1 t ' f ^ 1, •1 ' \- j i'.rl; 1 1 ' '■fj;' i •': CHAP. ' ' 1778. SepU'inbcr. Soulli ot htruit. Norton Souii I. of southerly, although we had found the ice coming to the South. In the evening of the i2d of September, wc repassed JkTWg\s Strait, The narrowest ])art of the Strait is between two points or capes of land ; one, the most eastern known land of Asia (the 2\schid'tz/ii Nos of Deschnew), the other, the most western known land oi America^ Cape Prince of Wales, They are distant from each other thirteen leagues, in the direction of N.^iJ" W, and S. 53" E, variation allowed. We continued to sail by the coast of Asia^ and passed two villages or towns of the Tschuktzki, one of them in the Bai/ of St, Laxvrcncey at which we had stopped in our way to the North ; but at this time, we had no communication with either. On the 4th in the afternoon, the Resolution's boat was put out to try if there was currer^t, and none was found. At eight that evening, the Asiatic coast being seen to turn much westward towards the Bay of Anadiry Captain Cook left it, and steered for the American shore, to examine, eastward of Sledge Island^ a part he had passed without seeing in his passage to the North. He found there a deep bay which he named Norton Sound, and it was conjectured that the land on its western side, might be separate from the continent, and answer to Sthaelin's l^\9X\{\.Alascha. We stood into the middle of the sound, where we found not more than four fathoms water, and the same ran all across. Boats were sent to examine the ice nber, wc t part of of Jand ; tsla (the her, the )e Prince ^h other " W, and isiof and huktzki, [it which ; but at li either, olution's ent, and ing, the westward k left it, xamine, \ passed th. He Norton land on 'om the 4lascha. 1, wliere ter, and sent to ixaaiinc ^51 rxnmino higher up, and reported at their return, cfiap. that \\\^ Sound terminated in a small river, or v___^ creek in marshy ground. ^. •'^^• We cut spruce, and 1 revved spruce beer here, and tlu' shi])s companies had a holiday on shore to ixather hurtle and other berries j of which one sort of a dark blue colour, were little inferior to grapes. We found here also, a plant known in Naijh tin (Hand by the name of Indian tea, which used as such was very palatable. South oi' Norton Sound, the coast was so shoal, that we were obliged to keep boats sounding before us, and to send them to seek for safe channels by which we might proceed. The danger of being caught by a gale of wind on such a coast, determined Captain Cook to leave it, and on the ^^Oth, from a point of land which go.h. he named Point Shnthu'-xcatcr, in latitude 63% he P'-nt steered off to the westward. And here, closed water. our first season of northern discoNcry, a season of unremitting activity. The ability and dili- gence exercised, will best appear by comparing the Map of the World as it stood previous to this voyage, with the Map of the World drawn imme- diately after, and by keeping in mind, that the addition of so large an extent of intricate coast, before unknown, w;\s effected by the labour of a single expedition in little more than half a year. J If! I 'i| i\ T m\\ ii!l ■ if 2.5'2 Cdrporal John Led^ard. C H A P. XXI. Sequel ON tiic .S(l of October, we anchored in Sam" f>ano()(l/in Harbour, where we watered, and )ll"''' caught j)lcnty of tisli. On the 7th, a present of Ooiiaiasiika. sahnon-pvc baked in rye flour, accompanied with a note in the Russian huiguage, was deh'vered to each of the Captains, brought by two natives of Oonalashkn from a distant part of the Island. On this occasion it was, that John Ledyard, Corj)oral of Marines in the Resolution, first dis- tino'uislied himself for enterprise, by volunteering his service to return with the messengers to gain information. Captain Cook accepted his ofter, and sent by him a present of some bottles of rum, wine, and porter, and a wheaten loaf, with an invitation to his * unknown friends.* Ledyard embarked in a small baidar, which was a light skeleton wooden frame tightly covered with whaleskin. It was paddled by two men, for each of whom there was a circular opening in the upper part of the baidar to admit of their being seated, and the lower edge of their skin jacket or frock was then closely fastened to the rim of the opening to prevent the entrance of water, and they appeared as it were hooped in. There was no opening for their passenger Ledyard, and previous in SQ:n' ed, and cscnt of ied with ered to itives of Island, cdyard, irst dis- iteering to ^ain is offer, ttles of if, with .edyai'd a light d with or each in the r being jacket rim of er, and re was j, and evious previous to their being both seated ho was ()blii I 4f li' jti^' •J I 1 "r 4- . ; 'r ' t ' 1 xx;. 177.0. February. A I Owyliee. 2.00 or King of the Ishiiul, an aged man, iiuincJ Terrioboo or Kerrioboo, with many followers and attendants. The chiefs were incjiiisitive to know the reasons of our return, and appeared little satisfied with those we ijave. Nothing' could be more natural. C.'aptain James King, then Captain Cook's Second Lieutenant, by whom the latter part of the j)ublished account of the voyage was written, relates that during the time the two shi})s were off the coast, or in harbour at Oxc/ij/hce, the quantity of fresh pork obtained from the islanders, tor present con- sumption, ' was computed at sixty puncheons ol * five hundred weiglit each : besides which, and * an ijicrcdible waste that in the midst of such * plenty was not to be guarded against, sixty * puncheons more were salted for sea store.' Of otiier articles our supply had been limited to little more than tho daily expenditure ; but we had remained ten weeks at Chdnjlwe^ and it could a})pear to the natives, as in fact it was, for no other })urpose than subsistence ; and both our long stay and our retiu'n were circumstances suf- ficient to create uneasiness, and a suspicion that we meditated a settlement. At all events they must have desired a respite from victualling tlio ships. Tlie principal people or j)roprietors had received axes and other articles highly valuable to them i?i return for their provisions; but they had pnrted with as much as they could aflbnl, or were willing to spare j and their dependants, whether I, nameJ follow Cl'M isitive to appeared Nothing PS King', lant, by account t during st, or in esh pork ent con- •licon!> ol ich, and of such ist, sixty a store' I limited LU'c ; but e, and it : was, for both our noes suf- cion that ;nts they lUing the .^tors had va hi able but they d atlbrtl, ►endants, whether whether they shared in the gains or not, as well as the whole mass of the people, would have to fare slenderly for no short time, to recover from so great an expence. Symptoms of their dissatisfaction appeared on our boats going on shore for fresh water : the natives were not, as before, forward to help our seamen to roll the casks along, for which it had been customary to reward them with a glass bead or two. Some of the lower class who ottered to assist our men were discouraged or preveiited by the Chiefs. Stones also were thrown, and other mischievous tricks played, to disturb the waterers, so as to make it necessary to send a guard of marines with the next boat that went. In the morning of the 13th, a native on board the Discovery, standing by the armourer who was at work, snatched the tongs out of the forge and jumped overboard w^ith them. Our boat was so quickly manned and after him, that he had only time to deliver the tongs to a canoe in waiting, but not to get in himself. The canoe made ott'with the tongs, and was not overtaken. The culprit was brought on board the ship where be '-eceived a severe flogging, and was after- wards confined in irons. Some of his friends came to Captain Clerke and negociated his release, which was obtained in consideration of the tongs being restored ; but in the afternoon the same unlucky tongs were again stolen and S in ("IIAP. XXI. 1779. Fcliriiary. At Owliyhee mill WW m\ CHAP. XXI. 1779- February. At Ovvliylicc. w 258 in exactly the same mauner, as if in revenge for the former detection and punishment. Pursuit was immediately made, and the event oddly enough differed from what had before hap- pened ; for this time the thief got on shore and escaped, but under so much alarm, that he relinquished his prize, which a native delivered to Mr. Edgar, the master of the Discovery, who went in the pursuing boat. Mr. Edgar seized the canoe of the offender, intending to bring it on board as lawful prize, when one of the prin- cipal, and most active, of the Chiefs, named Parreah^ who was on board the Discovery and in Captain Clerke's cabin at the time the rob- bery was committed, of which he was no doubt the contriver, interposed, and claimed the canoe as his property. One of the Resolution's boats had joined ours, and a vio.ont affray ensued, in which, our people, having no arms, were over- powered by numbei-s, and both the ships boats were plundered of the oars and part of the fur- niture. Parreah afterwards made the natives return some of the oars, and as the boats were rowing to the ships, he went after and overtook them in a canoe, bringing the cap of Mr. Van- couver, one of our midshipmen, which had dis- appeared in the fray. He asked if he might go on board the ship the next morning, and whether wo should do him hurt for what had happened ':' Mr. Edgar promised him he should suiter no harm if he eame, and they so parted. The renge for Pursuit int oddly ore hap- ihore and tliat he delivered ^ery, who ^ar seized bring it the prin- *s, named Dvery and 1 the rob- no doubt the canoe Dn's boats nsued, in vere over- lips boats f the fur- le n.itives )oats were i overtook Mr. Van- b had dis- might go d whetliiT lappened '^ suffer nt; The ^9 The day closed w^th the islanders and us chap. mutually disp.'2ased with ihe other, and to us ^—^J^ the circumstances were most vexatious and mor- '"^y- tifying, lor the islanders had enjoyed something like a triumph, obtained in au unjust cause ; which, however, it may be allowed they used with some moderation. Another unpleasant circumstance had occurred, but was to be at- tributed to the scarcity, which was, that shortly after our second anchoring, a iahoo^ or prohi- bition, had been laid on certain articles of provision. The next morning, Sunday the 14th, it was i4(h. discovered at daylight that the six-oared cutter belonging to the Disco\cry, which had been moored to the buoy of one of her anchors, was missing, and her fastening was found to have been cut. The boat had been left there full of water to preserve her from being injured by the heat of the sun, which made her gunwale, or upper part, level with the surface of the sea, conscqnently a dark complexioned man in a dark night, and swimming, might commit the theft without the least danger. There was per- haps something of imprudence in trusting the boat from under the immediate eye of the watch ; but it was a theft of which we had not entertained the smiilesi apprehension. It was well known that the natives would, almost to a man, steal a boat-hook or other loose furnitire from a boat, if left in it ; but to take the beat i g itself m , .M J ■ ' II ■ : 11 j ( Wh H' i!'. en A I'. N\l. 177.9. Ft hruary. At UNvli^liet. 2G() itsclC was a robbery of too much magnitude for coiic'ealniciit, and was not liable to be under- taken unless by the order of some principal person. Captain Cook, when informed of the robbery, desired Caj)tain Clerke to go on shore to the old King, Kerrioboo, to endeavour to prevail on him to use his authority and intluerce to have the boat restored. Ca})tain Clerke was in too re- duced a state of health for so much exertion, and was obliged to excuse himself. Captain Cook then determined on going, but first ordered three boats to stations oft' the outer points of the bay to prevent the departure of any large sailing canoe, his intention being to make reprisals upon them if he could not recover the Discovery's boat by peaceable means ; but they were ordered to give no mok^station to the small canoes. A little before eight o'clock. Captain Cook went from the Resolution with three bouts, to a village or town named Kavarooa, on the north >,idc of the bay, at wiiich Kerrioboo resided. He landed there with Lieutenant Molesworth Phillips of the Marines, Serjeant Gibson, Corporals Thomas and Ledyard, and six private marines, being in the wliole eleven persons. The islanders respectfully made a lane for him, and some brought hogs, whicli the} oft'ered to him. On his enquiring for Kerrio- boo, two young lads, sons of Kerrioboo, came, and they conducted him to the house in which the old Chief was. lie had just awoke, and came out to : Cai)tain itutle for I' iiiuler- principii! robbery, ) the old 1 on him lave the i too re- exertion, Captain : ordered its of tlie :e saiHiig ;als upon icovery's I ordered loes. A ok went a village ) ..idc of e landed ps of the •mas and g in the ^ectfidly ^s, whicli • K err io- ime, and !i the old le out to Ca])tuin Captain Cook, who after some conversation, ox- pressed to Lieutenant Phillips that he was per- fectly satisfied that our cutter being stolen was without his privity. Me invited Kerrioboo to go and spend the day with him on board the ship, to which Kerrioboo readily consented, and they walked towartls the boats, Kerrioboo leaning on Lieutenant Philli})s's shoulder. Ka-oowa, the youngest of Kerrioboo's sons, who was a groat fa\ourite with Captain Cook, went before, and seated himself in the Resolution's ])imiacc. An accident had in the mean time happened in another part of the harbour. The boats ))laco(l on guard at the South point, tired muskets to stop a large sailing canoe that was endeavouring to leave tho bay. Intending only to make her turn back, without tloing her in- jur), the muskets were aimed over her; but one of the balls unfortunately struck and killed a Chief named Nooenemar, who hapj)ened to be on the shore behind the sailing canoe. This was not only unintentional but unknown to our peo])le, till the information was received from two islanders who came to the ships in a small canoe to complain of it to Captain Cook ; and learning that he was at tho town of Kaxvtrooa, thither they went. Kerrioboo had arrived with Captain Cook near the water side, when an elderly woman, the mother of the boys, accom- panied by two Chiefs, came after him, and she entreated him with tears not to go on board; s 3 the ClIAl'. xxi. 1 77 J). Pvhniiiry. At Owlivlicr. II 'I : 'iG'i J I ■ f," ■■ w. 1 1 ■ cirAP. XXI. the two Chiefs at the same tiinc hud hoklof him and obliged him to sit down. lie aj)peaied '/7f>. invsohite and frightened. This ch an life was nn- ^Yi (hmbtedly caiiseti by the news or Nooenemar's Ovfiijhcc. (iciith, of which Captain Cook remained in igno- rance, whilst the ferment it occasioned among the natives, some of whom were observed to be putting on tliick mats, made our people begin to suspect mischief; and on that account, the marines, that they might be less liable to be surrounded or embarrassed by the natives, were removed from the crowd and drawn up among rocks close to the water side. There was that morning a swell of the sea in the bay, and more surf on the shore than usual, insomuch that the boats were obliged to lie off on their oars ; the shore also consisted of uneven and slippery rocks •, which were circumstances extremely in- convenient for embarking;, if pressed on by an enemy. To Captain Cook personally, it was an increase of difficulty that he could not swim. Captain Cook had hold of Kerrioboo*s hand, but seeing the general unwillingness of the natives that tiicir ChiL-f should accompany him, as well lis Kerrioboj's perplexity, he let go his luind, observ ing to the Lieutenant of Marines that it would be to no })urpose to endeavour to persuade him to go on board, benig under so nr.ich alarm, and that he must trust to other means for the recovery of the cutter. The old Chief was inunediately taken away and no more seen. Itlofhim appoartul * WHS iin- c'liLMiiar's in igno- 1 among cd to be )lii l)cgin )nnt, tlie >lc to be cs, were ij) among was that ind more I that the )ars ; the slippery emely in- on by an it was an swim, o's liand, i of the any him, ?t go his Marines avoiir to inider so to other The old no more seen. 263 seen. Captain Cook walked with the lieutenant towards the water-side, intending to embark, when a native, armed with a thick mat and a long ij(in spike, advanced towards him with threaten- ing gestures. Captain Cook called to the man to keep back, but he continued to approach. The published account, and 1 believe it was the same in most of the private journals, whence probably tiie mistake originated, has attributed a motive to Captain Cook which was not natural to the circumstance, instead of one which wi\s. I find it said in my own journal, that Captain ('ook was provoked by the man's insolence, anil tiretl at him with small shot. The printed nar- rative says, ' tlie man persisting in his insolence, * Ca})tain Cook was at length j)rovoked to fire ii * load of small shot.' Insolence is little attended to in actual and deatUy hostility. Captain Cook was a man of cool discernment, at no time proud, and not likely, In a time of difficulty and danger, to give way to childish irritation. The Islander continued to draw near, and Captain Cook judged it necessary to his safety to fire, which, ha\ ing a gim with two barrels, he did first with small shot. The man fired at held up his mat acoffingly, and called out " matte manoo," meaning that the gun was only fit to kill birds ; Matte signifying to kill, and rminoo bird. The natives then threw stones, and one of the marines was knocked down, on which Ca])tain Cook fired off his other baiTcl. The throwing of stones in- s 4< creased. CHAP. XX[. 1779. Frliruury. At Owli^lice. I ( 1 J 1 1 • ] I ' 3 1 1 . , 1 li, !- -' u,l m\ I I m i CHAP. X\l. 17/.'). >"ibriiary. creasetl, and tli? Islamlcrs bc<]faii to atlvauro on onr pcopio ; Captain Cook tluTetbrc gave ordors lor the marines to fire. All that ha|)peneil at'tcr- wanls was entirely ont of Captain Cook's direc- tion, and not in his power to have altered. 'J'he islanders at first Tell back ; hnt almost im- mediately, and before the marines conid })()ssibly reload, they advanced, and the stones fiew thick and with great violence, being thrown with slings as well as by hand. Captain Cook waved to the pinnace, and called to those in her to leave off' firing and pnll close in to receive the marines on board. The noise of the snrf and of the ninltitude made it im])ossible for orders to be distinctly heard. He and the lientenant were still a little farther from the water-side than their men, and in walking down, Captain Cook was struck by an Indian behind him with a staff', on which he turned and beat the man back with his musket. He was again followed, and had called to the marines to take to the boats, when he recei\ ed at the same instant a blow on the head with a club aiid a stab in the neck with a spike, which made him fall into the water. On seeing him fall, tlie Islanders gave a loud shout and rushed on the marines. Captain Cook, being no swimmer, and stunned with the blow, turned to- wards the rocks and was inmiediately surrounded by the nat'ves, who in eagerness to have a share in killing him, snatched the daggers out of each other's hands, and were not deterred, though severai ulvaiKT oil ?av e ordors CI led iit'tcr- ok's dircc- M'L'd. almost im- Id possibly Hew thick ■own with ;)ok waved or to leave ic marines lid of the Icrs to be lant were side than tain Cook ith a start', back with , and ])ad •ats, when 1 the head 1 a spike, )n seein<>- liout and being no lU'ned to- rrounded e a shaie t of each , though several several were seen to fall by the body, from the Hre kept up on them from the boats. Four of the marines were killed, and three wounded, the lieutenant the serjeant and a private. The latter could not swim, but stood in the water up to his chin, and would (piickly have fallen a sacrifice, if the lieutenant had not jumpetl overboard out of the pinnace to his assistance, who swam to the rocks, and succeeded in bringing him otF safe. With oin* glasses on board, we saw Ca[)taia Cook I'all into the water. Stmie shot were fired with the great guns ; but the distance, and the danger of killing our own men, made our firing inefiectual. Our people in the pinnace had been so slow in taking alarm, and had entertained so little appre- hensioti of danger from the Islanders, that after the first musket was hred, the pinnace put close in to the rocks to let Ka-oowa land, as he was much frightened and was earnest to go. During the latter j)art of this affair, and whilst our people in the boats were firing at the natives, the women brought stones to supply the men. Two very circumstantial accounts of this mis- fortune have long been before the public. The present gives very little additional information, and is introduced here for the purpose of replying to a (juestion which has often been made, whether Captain Cook was not more venturous than pru- dent in landing that morning. The event only has given rise to the question. To be enterprising is to (HAP. X\l. l/7»). t'ebruury. 3 ■^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) I 1.0 I.I ii: 1^ 112.0 2.5 m i 1.8 1.25 1.4 J4 ^ 6" - ► # ^ ,»'>' ^ 0> Photogr^hic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ■^ i^ €^.. m m I i: i:. 1 '1; 1 , '1 , i ■ . i 'i II 4^ -.1 . i ' t CHAP. XX [. 177.0. February. from the Sandwich Islands to Kanita- chatka. 2()6 to be venturous ; but in tlic whole of Captain Cook's conduct in this fatal affair there is nothino: of rashness or of hastiness. It was a catastrophe produced by the concurrence of many circum- stances not to be foreseen. He had departed from Oicki/hee, intending to return no more ; and when he sprung his foremast, he went back with reluctance to Karakakooa Bay, and merely because he knew of no other harbour which would suit the occasion. If Captain Clerke had not been ill, he would not have landed that morning; and but for the accident of Nooe- nemar being killed, it is probable that every thing he had proposed by going on shore would have followed in the manner he had projected. The danger of landing with a small number of men, among a whole people, every great discoverer has incurred. In the whole of Captain Cook's conduct in his voyages of discovery, so far was rashness from his character, that ii' the event of his death had not happened in the manner it did, he would have been not less, nor less justly, celebrated for prudence and circumspection, than he has been, and is, for enterprise and perse- verance. That such was the opinion entertained of his prudence by all under his command, was evident on every occasion of difficulty or danger. We continued among the Sandwich Islands, after the loss of our Commander, till the middle of > I 267 -aptain lotliing strophe ;ircum- }parted more ; It back merely which Gierke ed that Nooe- y thing 1 have , The f men, 'overer Cook's far was ^ent of iiier it justly, n, than perse- tained imand, dty or slands, niddle of CflAP. XXI. of March, aiiJ tlicn sailed to the North. On the 30th of April we anchored in the Bay of ^"^Jl.^ Axcatchha, at Kambchatkcu Here we were most ^ ^"jj^- liberally supplied with provisions by the governor ''" " oi KamUciiatka, Major Magnus VonBehm, who Mav. would accept no payment in money or in bills either on his own account or on the part of his government. Among many kindnesses shewn to us by this worthy governor, one extremely acceptable was, a large quantity of tea to the officers, and of tobacco to the seamen of the two ships. We left A'watchka Baij on the l6th of June, which was at least a month later than should have been desired. In a pursuit like ours, it was our business to have been early in the year to the North. It was the 5th of July when we July. arrived at Bering's Strait. We found, m passing the Strait, that a current had set us twenty i;-ng's miles to the North of our reckoning. On the 23d, in the forenoon, the wind being from the ESE. and blowing fresh, the Discovery got entangled among large loose pieces of ice, and by noon was hemmed in. Our latitude was 69° 20'. At four in the afternoon, the ice ap- peared close in every direction as far as could be seen, except between the South and ESE. where, at the distance of three quarters of a mile from us, the sea appeared still open. In this situation we remained only a few hours separated from the Resolution, which had kept clear. At six o'clock 5lli. Norlli of ^mr^^m I I'll IW"' 'l! I lt;i'- 1^: :'.! CHAP. XXI. 1779. Currents. 268 o'clock the wrnd veered round and came froin the North, which made the ice ahnost immedi- ately begin to separate, and before midnight we rejoined the Resolution in a clear sea. We did not in this season advance so flu* to the North, or on the coast of either continent, as we had done the year before. On the 27th of July further attempt was relinquished, and our course bent southward. The current was tried at different times. On July the 12th, in latitude 68° 38', the depth of water 29 fathoms, a current was found setting W. by N. per compass, at the rate of half a knot per hour. On the 20th, in latitude 69° 30', and to the eastward of Cape Lishurne^ a current was found setting to tlie ENE. per compass, nearly one knot. A rippling in the water was observed here, and much small drift-wood, which were regard^'d as signs of our being in or near the entrance of a river. On the 23d, wheu inclosed by the ice, we fomid, by our lead and line, ihat we drifted with the body of the ice towards the NW. at the rate of half a knot. In the night of the 30tli of July, we repassed Bering's Strait. Captain Gierke had long been in a dying state, and all hope of his amendment given up by every person on board except him- self, who, when reduced to almost an absolute skeleton never wholly despaired of recovery, al- though as little dispirited with the prospect of dying as any man. He breathed his last on the 23d me from immedi- night we so far to :)ntinent, the 27th lied, and les. On depth of lI setting If a knot 30', and rent was s, nearly observed ich were near the inclosed ine, ihat »^ards the repassed )ng been endment ept him- absolute very, al- (spect of jt on the 23d CHAP. XXI. 1779. ^69 S3d of August, two days before our arrival at the harbour of St. Peter and St. Pauly at the early age of thirty-eight, having outlived his fellow sufterer Mr. Anderson, a little more than a year. Cap- tain King remarks, * the eqivanimity and constant * flow of good spirits with which he bore his ill- * ness to the last hour, it may be said to the last * minute, was some consolation to his friends.' I shall conclude this chapter with the mention of a journey made by a Russian to Bering^s Strait, which has some connection with the English voyage. In this year, 1779, and whilst the English tiicKojjuI; ships were to the North, a Kossak officer named ^"^''''^^• Iwan Kobelef, went to the country of the Tschuktzki. The following particulars remarked by Kobelef, are given from his journal by Pro- fessor Pallas. Kobelef crossed a bay which was eight versts broad, to a village named Nernegin, the inhabitants of which related to him that two ships had been there in the preceding year, (meaning the ships of Captain Cook and Captain Clerke), and they described the intercourse which had taken place. Kobelef gives the latitude where he received this account 65" 48' ; he says there is little visible ebb and flow in Bering's Strait, but that at the Tschuktzki Nos (by which is intended the Anadirskt Nos), the rise and fall is six feet. * Considering the near * approach of the two continents, it is surprising ' that in the Strait, which is still more narrowed *by m^m^ ■I ■M i5> ■ viliil;- ill >ii^ % b ■■!- iiffl-i'-:1' P>'' CTIAP. XXI. 1779. Curretjt in Bering's Strait. * by the Islands in the middle, there is observed * no very considerable ebb and flood j but merely * a moderate current, which during the Summer ' runs from the eastern sea northward into the * Icy Sea ; but after the month of August, the * current runs southward, bringing with it the * floating ice. * An account, or notice, is also given by Kobe- lef of a great rivei in the coast oi' America to the North of Bering's Strait, which river is described to take a long course in a southerly direction, and its banks to be full of towns and villages. From the above, combined with the account of Daurkin, the Tschuktzki interpreter, having passed from the continent to one of the islands in Bering's Strait in a sledge in the month of October, may be inferred, that, without the sea being frozen, the passage may be then choked or fillod up with ice brought from the North. A week's fall of snow when the ice has settled in its station, is probably sufficient to make a sur- face smooth enough for that mode of travelling. Captain Cook found in the beginning of August a brisk current setting northward in the Strait; and in the latter part of that month, the ice was remarked to be drifting southward. In all these circumstances there is correspondence. * Neue Nordische Bej/froge. Vol. IV. 105, 106, 110. See also Appendix to Vol. II. of Pennant's Arctic Zoologi/. t 07 1 observed ut merely ^ Summer [ into the igust, tlie 111 it the by Kobe- ica to the described ilirection, lages. '-: account r, having le islands month of it the sea :hoked or orth. A settled in ike a sur- ravelling. >f August le Strait; le ice was 1 all these 3, 110. See 0- CHAP. XXII. E^Tpedition of Captain Joseph Billings into the Icy Sea. OHORTLY after the voyage of Captain >^ Cook, the Empress Katharine the lid, of Russia^ who, as much from inclination as from policy, was a promoter and patroness of enter- prise, planned an expedition for making eastern and northern discoveries. The conductincc of this expedition was confided to Mr. Joseph Bil- lings, an Englishman, who had sailed in the late voyage with Captain Cook, and had been an as- sistant to Mr. Bayly the astronomer, jj jnaking observations, and was therefore to be supposed well qualified for such a conmiand. Captain Billings received his instructions at Petersburgh in the autumn of I780 : his equip- ment was in all respects liberal ; officers of his own choosing were appointed to serv e under him by the Russian Admiralty ; he ^\ds supphed with all necessary instruments, and with charts (in number fourteen) and journals * of all former * navigations from the year I72I.' * In October he departed for Siberia, The part of ^ Saiar's Account of the E,cp€ditioni jf Joseph Billings, p. i. CHAP. XXU. 1785, TF W^im^m CHAP. X\1T. i^ ^__ 1785. ]iilliiigs. It'' 1] ii> \ ' 1.1 of liis instructions which related to the ley Sea and tlie 'J'schuktzki coasts directed him, to de- termine the latitude and longitude of the entrance of the liiver Kohjma ; thence to make use of the small vessels called Schitiki, to endeavour in them to follow the coast along the i)romonlortj of the TschuktzM, as far as to the East Cape \ but " if " coasting by sea should be found impracticable, ** anil the information received on the spot af- *' forded hopes of doing it by land, he was then ** to endeavour to describe these coasts by going " in winter over the ice." Directions were given to the Governors in Siberia to allow Captain Bil- lings to select from among the Kossaks, such to accompany him as had before been among the Tschuktzki. The instructions say, "Some of the " Kossaks have travelled in the Tschuktzki " country, and some were even born amoT^g the " Tschuktzki. Make agreement with them, or pay them without agreement double the sum that is usual to pay to people hired to serve at ** sea, from the time you take them under your command till you dismiss them at the close of the expedition ; and such as shall have offered their services voluntarily shall receive agratuityof one year's pay." * These w^ere orders befitting the liberality of an Empress. The strong understanding and natural disposition to justice of this Princess eminently appear in difterent parts of the instructions. In * Art. 3d. of the Instructions, iiauers Appendix. ii <( (( (C I( (( I' ' ' Icy Sea 1, to de- cntrance se of the r in them rjj of the "but " if cticable, spot af- vas then jy going jre given )tain Bil- , such to ong the ne of the chuktzki lOTig the them, or the sum > serve at iler your Lhe close lall liave 1 receive lity of an :l natural minently ructions. In ulix. In relation to discoveries in the sea between Kamtschatka and Atnericfiy the commander is told, " Such coasts and ishinds as you shall be *' the first to discover, and which cannot be dis- *' puted by, and are not subject to, any Faropean *' Power, you are, with consent of the inhabitants " (if any), to take possession of in the name " of Her Imperial Majesty." Here is seen a clear knowledge and avowal of the right of native inhabitants ; a reluctance to infringe ; but not the determination to refrain which would have added, * but you are not, without the con- ' sent of the inhabitants to take possession.' If the inhabitants did not consent, the Commander was left to act according to his own discretion. This is rendered still more remarkable by the justness of conception which appears in the Ian- guage of an instruction which immediately fol- lows. Article XVI says, " When you bring " under Russian subjection newly discovered and " independent nations or people, you are to ob- " serve tlie following directions. As such people " have most probably never been insulted by any Europeans, your first care must be, to give them a good opinion of the Russians." Among the charts delivered to Captain Bil- lings, was the one transmitted to Peter sburgh by Governor Tschetchirin in 17()4, shewing the dis- covery of Serjeant Andreef; concerning which the instructions say, * On this chart, opposite the * Ki\ ex Kolyma, to the North from the Medviedshi T Islands, {( (( cn.\r. xxn. 17S5. IVilliimi. 27 1 '■■'9] If I? f^ n ■' I, ill'.' criAP. XXII. liilling.s. 1787. May. June. F.iuraiice oftlie Koljiua. * IslandSy is marked a coast which stretches as a * continuation of the continent o( America, As * you will he on the Kolj/ma, it would be useful * if you would survey and describe the circuni- * stances of this land.* Two light vessels were built at the Kolj/ma, for his navigation in the Icij Sea, which with the transporting of stores, occupied till tlie spring of 17»7> before they were ready for sea. Cai)tain Billings embarked in the largest ^^f the two ves- sels, which was named the Pallas out of respect to the learned Professor Pallas, by whom the in- structions given to the hituralists appointed to the expedition were drawn up. The smaller was commanded by Captain Lieutenant Saret- sheff. The ice broke up in the Kolijina that year as early as the middle of May, and gave hope of a favourable summer. lu the end of the month Captain Billings began to desceml the river, then greatly swoln with the melting of the snow and ice, and the navigation dangerous ; the current frequently carrying the vessels with rapidity into the woods, and sometimes setting them aground on overflowed islands. On the 19th of June, they were in the lower part of the Kolyma, * The waters were much abated; the depth of * the river here was 12 fathoms ; its width three * miles, and its direction about north-east.* * In the passage down. Captain Billings was joined * Sauer. p 70* chcs as a rica. As be uset'ul circiim- Koljjmftj [ witli the spring of Captain two ves- »f respect in the in- ointed to 3 smaller mt Saret- it year as hope of a he month iver, uhen snow and e current ►idity into 1 aground of June, Kolyma. depth of dth three ist.' * In as joined hy ' by Iwan Kobelcf and Nicolai Daucrkin, who had been ordered to attend the expedition. Tiie ^20th of June, tlic vessels arrived at the })lace where still stood some remains of Shalaurotl's winter luits and storeliou.ses. On tlie ^4th, they sailed out of the Kolipna, In the evening of the same day they saw floating ice, and during the remainder of the month were much impedeil by ice. The '>i8tli, they anchored in a small bay about 12 leagues eastward from the entrance of the Kolijma. The latitude was observed 09'' ^7' N. July the 1st, at noon, they got under sail with afresh breeze from the east- ward, 8auer says, * keeping as near the East as * possible. At S P.M. Captain Billings resolved * to shape his course North to see how the ice * was in that direction. We observed that the * current carried us two points to the West, * and our soundings gradually increased from * four to fifteen fathoms. At mitlnight, thick < fog prevailed. At two A. M. on the 2d, * we got among very thick detached pieces of * ice, wliich increased upon us, and our depth * decreased to 9 and 7 fathoms.* Wore ship, * and bore av/ay to the South, having lost sight * of our consort. The ice was not so compact * as to prevent our going farther, and from our * shoaling the water I was inclined to think we * sliould have soon fallen in with a continent or * some * This account of the soundings agrees with Captain Saret- .>hefl"s chuit. t2 cirvp. xxu. 1737. June. Ill tiip lev Sea. 2J. .'. r;ti xxu. 17S7. 1Villiii;;>, III tli« lev Sea. i Cape H.irannoi Kaiiicii. m 270 ' some islaiul. Tlio wind was fresh, but tlu- * quantities ol' ice kept the sea down, and the * water was quite smooth. Captain BiMings was * fearful ofbeinff entirely hennned in, and under * apprehension J'or the safety of his eonsort. At * 8 A.M. we got clear, and observed that the fog * hovered over the ice only. At noon, we an- * chored in a bay we named IVolvcs Baij.' Hiis was a ibw nines to the westward of their former anchorage. There can be little doubt that when the de])th was found to be decreasing as they sailed to the North, they had approached near the land seen b'^ Andreef, On the 4th, Captain Billings was rejoined by his consort. On the yth he came to the promontory called Borcm- not Kamcn. Upon this ca])e, he found two tusks of the Mammont, one of which weighed 115 lbs. They afterwards fell in with much ice, Sauer says, not impassable. The commander, however, thought it dangerous to proceed, and on the 20th July, the wind being then NW, rather fresh, he sent for Captain SaretshefF who commanded in the other vessel, and declared to him his deter- mination not to attempt to go farther castw^ard, but to return to the Kolyma as soon as the wind would permit. The farthest extent of Billings's progess east- ward in this short voyage, was five leagues jeyond Cape Bararinoi Kamen, The Cape Barannoi Karnen, by observations taken near it, is in latitude 69" 33' N, and longi- tude lG8° 6^* E. Variation observed near it I7" 40' easterlv. , l)U( till' , and [\\v llings was iiul under sort. At at the fog 1, wo an- './/.' This of their ;tlc doubt lecreasing piH'oachcd 11 the 4th, nsort. On ed Baran- two tusks !d 115 lbs. ice, Sauer . however, n the 20th ■ fresh, he nanded in his deter- eastward, the wind )gess east- les jeyond ►servations and longi- near it 17" / easterly. 277 10^ easterly. * A fresh breeze Aom the West,* Sauer's account says, * contiiuied, with ice drift. * ing to the East with the current, which now set * at the rate of three miles uniformly East, till * midnight of July the 'Z>.'., when we observed ' the current setting in the same direction at the ' rate of one mile, with little wih'' from the * North-west, which shortly after veered to the ' North-east. Till this time we found the water * fresh enough to dress food, and sometimes quite ' fresh. Whh the North-east wind we observed * the current shill to the West, and the sea water * became sidt.' * According to tliis statement, the correctness of which there ai)pears no reason to question, from the '20th at noon to the '25th at midnight, the wind and current were favourable for explor- ing North-eastward ; and the time of the year w^s the most safe season of any for proceeding. This was exactly the kind of opportunity which the unfortunate Shalauroff so long sought m vam ; and it is to be presumed that if a North-east pas- sao-e shall be discovered, it will be with the aid of^'such advantageous circumstances. Captain Saretsheff was of opinion that this was the time io have passed into the Eastern Sea, and he offered to Captain Billings that he would make the attempt in an open boat with six men, pro- posing to sleep on shore every night; but Captain ^ Billings * Sauer, p. 77 — 8. T 3 CHAP. \.\U. 17S7. Ill (lie Icy St-n, '(' I' '■ < . 1 .1, ^M: e:m mm I'W ll I'll §'. I. CTIAP. XXll. t - 1787. Liilmgs in tlK» Ii'V Sea. Tu'ly. Mr .Tulm Leilyaid i 1 Sibciia. 278 Billings would not give his consent, and * took ' the signatures of the officers in testimony, that * it would be more prudent to return to the * KoUpva,* In which river the vessels re-entered on the '29th. Having thus failed by sea, Captain Billings was required by his orders to trac e theTschuktzki roast, by travelling over the ice in winter when the sea was frozen ; but he deferred making this attempt to a future year, much to the disappoint- ment of the Tschuktzki Chiefs, who had been advertised of the expedition. It seems to have been previously settled with them, that it should be considered as one of a friendly nature, and many Tschuktzki people w^ere at the tror.ble of repairing to Tschaooti Bay, for the purpose of trading with the Russians. Captain Billings, his officers, and people, mounted the River Kolijma in boats, and after- w^ards travelled in parties, uk horses could be procured, to JakutzL-, at which place the Captain arrived on the 22d of October. Here he was surprised to find one of his companions in Cap- tain Cook's voyage, Mr. John Ledyard. Ledyard had the most romantic enthusiasm for adventure perhaps of any man in his time. He had con- ceived the project of travelling across both the continents, and had departed from England in the winter of 178G, with no other fund for his support than a subscription raised for him by Sir Joseph Banks, amounting to something more T 3 than nd * took lony, that rn to the c-entercd 1 Billinfvs '>chLiktzki liter when aking this isappoint- had been IS to have ; it shoidd iture, and trorble of 'urpose of I people, and after- could be le Captain e he was IS in Cap- Ledyard adventure had con- both the ngland in nd for his lim by Sir ing more than 279 than £.r)0* He liad travelled thus far on his way througli the old continent, and as Captain > Billings was to undertake a voyage to America, he proposed to take advantage of that oppor- tunitv to be landed on the western coast, mean- ing to explore his way through that continent also, and on foot. From Jah'ulzk, he went with Captain Billings and his officers to.7r/.7^/~Z^ and here he was appre- bended, it is said, by order of the Russian Court, on suspicion of being a French spy. To spy what ? and in the depth of Siberia ! He w^as nevertheless sent oil" guarded for il/o^cotr. Sauer relates, that on being appreliendcd, he sent to desire Captain Billings would come to him, that the Captain refused to go, and on being desired to give testimony to his not being a spy, observed, that the order for his apprehension was from the Empress, and absolute. * Lcdyard took a * friendly leave of me, desired his remembrance * to his friends, and with astonisliing composure * leaped into t!ic kibitka, and drove off with two * guards, one on each side.' ' Tf the Empress had understood the characters of the two men, the commander of the expe- dition would probably have been ordered to Moscoxi\ and Ledyard instead of being denied entertainment In her service, have been appointed to ♦ Life of Cupf am James Coolc. By Andrew Kippis, D. D.5:c. p. 440. T t CHAP. JlllillL \7SS' 280 ■■iit T'lf ' Ji CHAP. XXII. 1788. fililiiigs. to supply his place. With what education I know not, but with an ardent disposition, Ledyard had a passion for lofty sentiment and description. When corporal of marines on board the Resolution, after the death of Captain Cook, he proffered his services to Captain Clerke to undertake the office of historiographer to our expedition, and presented a specimen, which described the manners of the Society islanders, and the kind of life led by our people whilst among them. He was not aware how many candidates he would have had to contend with, if the office to which he aspired had been vacant ; perhaps not with fewer than with every one in the two ships who kept journals. Literary am- bition and disposition to authorship led us in each ship to set up a weekly paper. When the paper in either ship was ready for delivery, a signal was made, and when answered by a similar signal from the other ship, Captain Cook, if the weather was fine, would good-naturedly let a boat be hoisted out to make the exchange, and he was always glad to read our paper, but never favoured our editors with the contribution of a paragraph. I believe none of these papers have been saved, nor do I remember by what titles we distinguished them. Ledyard's performance was not criticised in our paper, as that would have en- titled him to a freedom of controversy not con- sistent with military subordination. His ideas were thought too sentimental, and his language too education ispositioii, meiit and on board ain Cook, Gierke to sr to our n, which islanders, ale whilst )w many 2iid with, 1 vacant ; y one in ;rary am- ed us in \^hen the livery, a a similar k, if the lly let a ige, and »ut never ion of a ers have titles we mce was haveen- fiot con- is ideas mguage too 281 too florid. No one, however, doubted that his feelings v;ere in accord with his expressions ; and the same is to be said of the little which remains of what he has since written more worthy of being preserved, and which its worthiness will preserve, and particularly of his celebrated com- mendation of women in his Siberian Tour. Two ships were built at Ocliotzk for the Ame- rican expedition to be undertaken by Billings. In July and August, 17^9, they were launched, and early in September, one of the ships went into the outer road. On the 8th of the month the other ship was got under sail for the purpose of quitting the inner harbour, at a time when there was little wind and a heavy swell ; but tow hues were given to six boats, * and at high water * just as the tide was turning, she cast off. The ' boats towed her through the passage, keeping * head against tlie swell, but the first boat when * she got into the breakers [on the bar], shipped * a heavy sea, and cast off her tow-line. The * ship pitched much, and a skiff alongside had * her head carried under water, and two men * w^ere washed out of her. Every boat now cast * ofi'her tow-line to save the men, one of whom * only was picked up. The ship, left to the * mercy oi the swell, struck on the beach, and * stuck fast. The masts were cut away ; the tide * ebbed fast, and she was soon left dry.* The rigging and stores were taken on shore as speedily * Sauer, p. 141. CHAP. XXII. 1788. 178.9. * 1 I I ■ I CHAP. XXII. 1789. 282 speedily as possible, and it was immcdiatel)^ re- solved to sail in cnc sliij) to Kamlschaikay and there to build a small vessel with the materials saved of the wrecked ship. On arriving at Kamtscliatka^ Sauer relates, that the gardens of the Kossaks were full of cabbages and other vegetables, which shows the great im- provement in the mode of living introduced in that place by the visit of the English ships in 1779. He adds, * the looks of the inhabitants * seemed to evince health.' Ki lately re- aika^ and materials 283 ates, that cabbages 4'reat im- diiced in ships in habitants C H A P. xxin. Billings at the Aleutian Islands. IN J line 1790, Captain Billings was at the Aleutian Islands^ and in this visit he did the good service officially to make known the op- pressions and cruelties exercised by the subjects of Russia over the native Islanders. The fol- lowing is an extract from his journal whilst at Oonalashka that year : — " In consequence of complaints made to me "in form by several people, who were sent by " Government to collect tribute of the Aleutian ** Islanders, against the hunters for cruelties to the " natives, I represented the same, and received ♦' a mandate from her Imperial Majesty to inspect *« the behaviour of the merchants and hunters in " these parts. I have, in consequence, made it " my business to make inquiries into the treat- ** mer t the natives receive from these people ; " and I have seen, as well as my officers, the " abject state of slavery in which these unfor- ** tunate Islanders live under the Promyschlenics. " The company at Oonalashka employ all the " mei. of Oonalashka and Sithanak in the chace, " taking the fruits of their labour to themselves. " There CHAP. XX J II. i7>t. Billings through the country of the Tschutzki. * The Chief, who is named Imlcrant, appeared, * with several old men. Two fires were made, * and he took our commander by the hand und * led him over one of the fires, after which he * took off his own park [i. e. garment] and put ^ it upon Captain Billings, who in return put a * new shirt upon the Chief. Boiled deers' flesh * extremely fat, was then placed before us. * At the setting of the sun, they commenced * racinsj and wrestlinii;. The race was not for * speed, but round a ring, and he who held out * longest was the winner. * The 15th. Imlerant received the following * presents to distribute among his people : Two * poods * of iron, two poods of tobacco, and a * quantity of beads, ear-rings, trinkets andneedles; * and our interpreter made him comprehend, * that in return we expected they would assist * us with food, and conduct us in safety across * their country. * The 16th to the 19th, the weather was rainy; * on the ^Oth the Tschuktzki had a ceremonious * feast.' [All this time, and to the i'Gth, they remained in the same place.] * On the 2Gth, the Tschuktzki Chief thought * proper to move forward, and we proceeded to ' the top of a mountain two versts and 25 fathoms, * as measured by a line. We remained here the * 27th. On the 28th we proceeded and crossed * a mountain overgrown with moss. The next * day * The pood is 36 lbs. avoirdupois. ►peafed, e made, md uiid ^hicli he and put m put a rs' flesh LIS. menced not for lield out )llowing ? : Two ), and a needles; )rehend, [Id assist ,y across is rainy ; monious th, they thought eeded to fathoms, here the L crossed ?he next * day 293 « day we were joined by five tents of natives, chap. * and remained in this place till September the ^'— ^ * 4th. On the 10th the lakes were frozen ^j.jj^o. t (..rpY » through the [In tins manner, niaknig small days journeys eoumry. and frequently halting, the month of September Se,uc...ber. passed, without any remarkable occurrence being noted, except some superstitious customs of the natives, ill understood and imperfectly de- scribed.] ' October the 5th, Captain Billings and Ko- Octobe.. * belef went on before with seventeen sledges * laden with the whole of the Captain's baggage. * On the 9th, the Tschuktzki stole the measuring * lines.' [A letter from one of the naturalists of the party, relates that the Tschuktzki were not pleased\o see the Russians take measure of their country, and therefore destroyed their measuring lines and writing materials, and would not allow of their making notes or re- marks.] i i • -p ^ * On the 12th, Imlerant and his wife went * forward with twelve sledges to overtake the . Captain, to obtain tobacco and to desire him « to wait for the rest of the company. We came . this day to the river Ugnei which falls into the Ti /• T,n„tm rj..^^ * its discharge. We had this day nothing but . raw meat, and that in a frozen state. The ^^^^t .we overtook the Captain. He distributed * presents of tobacco and other things among * the Tschuktzki, who readily promised to treat ^ us better. The ^28d, the brother of the Chief « robbed us of almost every thing that we had. « However, he gave us plenty of meat, both * boiled and raw. - November the 1st, we halted. The reason ^ovc.n,.. . of our iwilting now, I was told was to kill deer * for the parties who were going to the Kolyma, « which was ^250 versts distant from this place. u t * The i )> 1 1 '■ '. |i •1 jry,, 1 'J i i J , 1 - !■ , >. .1 , i if Ji h 1% I '1 '.I : : I CMAF. XXIV. 1790. November. 1791. 296 * The next day I was sent forward under charge * of the sister of tlie Chief. The 5tli, came to * a large riv^er, about which several parties of * Tschuktzki were travelling.* The journal goes no farther than the 5th of November ; but none of the party arrived at the Kolyma before February. Except ascertaining the longitude of the Kolyma, the expeditions of Billings have added litttle of importance to the geography of the north-eastern coast of the Tschutzki country. During the time these expeditions were per- forming, anoth,.r Englishman who had sailed with Captain Cook in his last voyage, Lieutenant James Trevenen, having been long unemployed in this country after the peace of 1782, engaged in the service of Russia, expressly to be employed on Eastern discovery. Trevenen was a young man of enterprising spirit and of the most pro- mising qualitications. On iiis arrival at Peters- burgh, the plans, or the arrangements for the eastern expeditions, were not in sufficient for- wardness for appointing the officers, and that he might have the benetit of full pay in the interim, the command of a sixty-four gun ship was oflered him, which he accepted. Not long after this appointment, Captain Trevenen's ship was sud- denly ordered to sea, on occasion of some dis- agreement with the Swedes, and he was killed in a battle between the Russian and Swedish fleets. charge ame to ties of 5th of at the of the added of the )untiy. e per- sailed itenant iployed ngaged iployed young )st pro- Peters- for the ;nt for- that he ntenm, offered ter this ^as sud- me dis- illed'in fleets. 297 CHAP. XXV. Conclusion. NOTICE has been taken in a former chapter (the 18th,) of the discoveries made in the >— Iqj Sea since the expedition of Billings. Some account of the late voyage of Captain Kotzebue is wanting to bring the history of north-eastern discovery down to the present time. Captain Kotzebue passed Bering's Strait in 1816, and entered an inlet of America north of the Strait, where, in the month of August and near the time of the new moon, the tide was observed to rise and fall six feet. In the western side of the Straity between Ca]pe East and the small islands, a current was found setting northward at the rate of about one mile and a hdXi per hour. For" which information, in answer to inquiries made by me concerning the current and tides, I am indebted to both Captain Kotzebue and Captain Krusenstern. For more full and satisfactory information concerning that voyage, we must wait the publication of the Captain's journal. There remains unknown of the coast of Asia, the part between Tschaoon Bay and the Bay of KMshenie, with the exception, that the shore immediately westward of the Bay of Klutshenie, by Captain Cook seeing no land beyond Cape No7'th, CHAP, XXV. ,!va ,11 I, ' Uil ill !::L;.f m ! '<{y . 1 I ■:, !'■' ' i' 1 J • ■ ! CHAP. XXV. } 1 298 Northt may be presumed to lie in a very westerly direction ; and the shore immediately northward from Tschaoon Bay^ as represented in the chart to Shalauroff*s voyage, appears to lie in a direc- tion something westward of North. The dif- ference in longitude of the two Bays is seven degrees and a half, which with the difference in latitude makes the direct distance between them, about 55 leagues. The sea North q^ Bering\s Strait between Asia and America has in some respects the character of a mediterranean sea ; on which subject I pre- sented a memoir to the Royal Society in August 1817* which was read before the Society on the 11th of December following. I particularize these dates because I am not willing it should be sup- posed the mer.ioir was written with a view to controversy. At the time it was presented, and when it was read, I had not the slightest concep- tion, that expeditions for the discovery of north- eastern or north-western passages were about to be undertaken from this country. The memoir was, in the most material parts, composed of extracts from the treatise, then in manuscript, which I now make public. I had no theoretical partialities on the subject ; but I proposed to reclaim as a questionable matter what had been decided upon without sufficient ground. About thirty years ago, the pretended dis- coveries of a pretended Lorenzo Ferrer Maldo- nado, which had been repeatedly rejected on all hands, westerly orthward the chart I a direc- The dif- is seven erence in ;en them, /een Asia aracter oi" ct I pre- n August ty on the rize these d be sup- i view to nted, and 5t concep- of north- i about to e memoir nposed of anuscript, heoretical oposed to had been 1. nded dis- er Maldo- jted on all hands, 299 hands became afresh a subject of interest and discussion, in consequence of a manuscript being ^ discovered ut Cadiz by the late Captain Mendoza, purporting to be a copy of Mahlonado^s narra- tive. A memoir on this manuscript was pre- sented by M. Buaclie to the French Academy, before whom it was read in November 1790. This was a revival of a story which had never obtained an equal share of notice with the relations of Juan de Fuca and Bartolome do Fonte. There is no dispute that sucli a person as Lorenzo Ferrer Maklonado existed, but tliere is cause to conclude that the narrative in question was written by some other person, who made use of Maldonado's name to give a face of proba- bility to his invention. Maldonado's discoveries again seem to be abandoned ; but they called, or rather recalled, into notice, the general question of a North-western passage to the pacific Ocean. It seems the general belief at present, that if a navigable uortliern passage shall be found from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, the entrance into the Pacific will be through Bering's Strait. The possibility of a navigable strait from Plicdson's Bay to the West coast of America may reasonably be doubted ; for in a course through so great an extent of country, the washing down of soil by rivers and rains would be continually operating to close it. If there exist a passage £rom Hudson's Bay to the Pacific, it is most probably first to the Sea CHAi'. XXV. i 1 11 / : . 1 1 :.■'■ CHAP. XXV. hli '■I 300 Sea North of America, and afterwards hy Bering^ s Strait The longest navigahle straits which appear on our maps arc, the one which divides Nova Zembla, and that wiiich separates the Tierra del Fuego from Patagonia^ Of the first, we have HtLle, indeed no certain, knowledge. The Magalhanic Strait is extremely well known, and by the remarkable correspondence of the opposite coasts in their parallel position, through so much change of direction, being likewise similar in their steepness, it may very naturally be conceived to have been formed by a settle- ment of the foundation of the original South extremity of the continental land, causing a separation and deep fissure. As no current is observed to run through constantly one way, this also may be supposed in progress, however slowly, of being filled up. Of two positions advanced in my memoir, one, * that there does not exist satisfactory proof * of a separation of America and Asia having * been demonstrated by an actual navigation * performed,* is treated as a fact, and evidence produced in its support : the second, * that there * is cause to suppose Asia and America to be * contiguous, or parts of one and the same con- * tinent,* could only be proposed as conjecture. The Quarterly Review took interest in the subject, and combated both the positions. The first has been dwelt on at sufficient lei^gth in various parts of this work. I shall however notice I : t 3ering*s which divides tes the he first, wledge. known, of the ;h rough ikewise aturally I settle- l South using a Trent is le W'ay, lowever nemoir, •y proof having agation ddence it there t to be (le con- cture. in the . The \gth in owever notice 301 notice a misapprehension in the Review, in attri- buting to nie an opinion I never professed, or entertained ; that of doubting that the departure of Deschnew from the Kolijma in 1()48, was bij sea. The Review seems to have misconceived the point in dispute, and to have regarded the departure of Deschnew by sea from the Kolj/ma, and his subsequent arrival at the East Cape, as sufficient evidence that Asia and America are separate continents ; but intermediate circum- stances are necessary. The only proof that can be achnitted as indisputable of a separation, must be tlie ascertainment of a continuity of sea clear round the coast of Asia from the Kolj/ma to Bering's Strait. This, it is evident, has never been proved to the conviction of the Russian government. The Review has paid me the unmerited com- pliment of being the first to make public the opinion that A,sia and America might be con- tiguoiis ; whicli whether mistakenly attributed or not, is of little moment, but it is accompanied witli remarks which it may be proper to shew were made hastily and without due examination. The Review says, ' the second point of Captain * Burney's creed is in direct opposition to facts * stated in the journals of Captains Cook, Gierke, « Gore, and King ; nay, we conjecture, directly * at variance with the journal of Mr. Burney, * who was Lieutenant in the Discovery ; and * we are therefore inclined to believe that the * opinion fijm;. r^:T^.ji.;f TFi.'^ !.Tt^'fflSSa?4il.', 'I (II ill I 5 1 I * '' t. ^(■; C1IAI». XXV. I : • ; H ! * opinion now for the iirst time made public, " that /Lsia and America are contiguous, and ** parts of one and the same continent," is the * result of trnstinjiij to recollection.' A reply to this charge is furnished in the journal of Captain Cook, who has said, ' To the * North of Cape Prince of Wales we found neither * tide nor current, either on the American or * the Asiatic coast, though several times looked * for. This gave rise to an opinion entertained * by some on board our shijis, that the two coasts * were connected either by land or by ice ; which * opinion received some strength by our never * having hollow waves from the North, and hy * our seeing ice ahnost the whole way across.** The conjecture that the Old and New World might form but one continent is almost as old as the discovery oi America, Captain John Davis, the celebrated north-west discoverer, in a small treatise entitled, The World's JJydrograpJiical DescriplioHy printed in 1595, speaking of a North- west passage * having been often attempted, and * never performed,* remarks, * whereby we may * persuade ourselves that America and Asia are * so conjoined together that it is impossible for * any such passage to be : but if the continents * are disjoined, whereof there is small hope, yet * the impediments of the climate wherein the * same is supposed to lie, are so offensive, that * all hope thereby is utterly excluded.* In some of Captain Cwk's Third Vui/agc. Vul. II. i>\i. 521 — 2, I public, JUS, aud " is the I in the * To the il neither jricun or s looked tcrtained xo coasts e ; which >ur never , and by across.' * !W World as old as m Davis, II a small fa North- pted, and Y we may . Asia arc ssible for continents hope, yet lerein the sive, that In some or fiOS of the early maps, moimtains in Asia arc thus noted:— -* It is not known where this chain of * mountains ends, or whether they arc not joined * to some other continent.* The idea was obvious, and nothing was known to render it improbable. To collect into one view the reasons lor believing there is land to the North of Bering's Strait and of Captain Cook's track, I mjdvc the following brief recapitulation :— 1st, the extended direction of the coast of the main body of the ice, and its state ; compact when first seen, and per- ceptibly loosened and separating two days after- wards, which indicates its having been recently detached from a coast of land ; ^2nd, the Hight of birds from the North j 3d, the equal soundings along a large portion of the track sailed from the coast of America towards the coast of Asia, at a depth corresponding with a distance of between 20 and 30 leagues from the land ; 4th, the smallness of current and general stillness of the sea North of the strait, found in two successive seasons, although in the Sea of Koli/ma, both in Slialauroff's and Billings's voyage brisk currents were observed, which difference is some argu- ment against the probability that the two seas communicate. To these is to be added native information, which whether traditional or from present report, generally merits attention; the chief danger is of its not being rightly com- prehended. It may be remarked that in the most northern line CTTAP. XXV. i|i'i i I CHAP. XXV. ■ II i' 304 line of Captain Cook's track, the depth of water was '28 and '2^.) fatlionis ; and southward of that line we afterwards had soundings at 30 fatlionis. This may be too slight a difference from which to argne a decrease in the soundings nortiiward, as soundings in equal depths taken under diffe- rent circumstances, will sometimes vary no less from want of correct allowance being made for the oblique direction of the sounding line. It is nevertheless an indication of land to the North, that ir that direction the soundings were not found to increase. The current in Bering's Strait, from all that has been observed, is periodical ; were it })er- petual, its moderate rate through a channel neither wide nor deep, could contribute little towards a current in the Greenland Seas. This I remark, because a southerly current, which has been observed at particular seasons of the year alonfif the eastern coast of Grconland, has been supposed to be co*istant, and to be supplied from tlie Pacific through Btiri7ig\s Strait. I have, however, understood from Captain Scoresby, senior, that the southerly current between Green- land and Spitzhergen is not perpetual j that it prevails in the latter part of the summer and autumn, but that at other seasons of the year there are variable currents in that sea, and sometimes northerly. This seems what might naturally be expected ; for from the beginning of October to the end of May, the snow, hail, or wet, [li of water M'tl of that '^ ^atlioiiis. foin which jjortliward, Y'y no Jess made tor Ni"t'. It is the North, were not |ii all that ■I'e it ])er- i channel Jute little 3as. This which has f the year has been supplied ^' I have, Scoresby, 3n Greoi- J that it mer and the year >ea, and t might ^ginning hail, or wet, wet, that falls on the northern parts of Asia^ Europe and America^ con^i'ahng where it falls, is continnally accumuhiting. The same happens during much of that time over nearly the whole surface of the sea to the North. In Zeno*s discovery of Friasland it is said, * the first snow * being fallen, it thaweth no more for the space * of nine months.' The descriptions of Siberia almost all give testimony to the country being deluged with the breaking up of the winter. The sudden dissolution of eight or nine months fall on u space to be estimated fifty degrees of the meridian in diameter, in which is compre- hended the melted snows discharged into the arctic seas, from the rivers and mountains along the whole range of the northern shores of both the continents, must elevate the waters, and make them press to the openings which will admit of their escape. In this mode of considering the collection of a long wintcM* and its rapid dissolution, it seems extraordinary that the southern current should begin so late in B('rin