Chapter XIII: Appendix: I (2)

[Footnote 153: See p. 30, and particularly p. 46, where some
of these islands are mentioned under the names of Ibiya,
Kiska, and Olas.]

N^o VI.

Conjectures concerning the proximity of the _Fox Islands_ to the continent of _America_.

The anonymous author, in the course of his account of the Russian discoveries, has advanced many proofs drawn from natural history, from which he supposes the Fox Islands to be at a small distance from the continent of America: hence he grounds his conjecture, that "the time is not far distant when some of the Russian navigators will fall in with that coast."

[Sidenote: Proofs of the Vicinity of the Fox Islands to America.] The small willows and alders which, according to Glottoff, were found growing upon Kadyak, do not appear to have been sufficient either in size or quantity to ascertain, with any degree of certainty, the close vicinity of that island to America. River-otters, wolves, bears, and wild boars, which were observed upon the same island, will perhaps be thought to afford a stronger presumption in favour of a neighbouring continent; martens were also caught there, an animal which is not known in the Eastern ports of Siberia, nor found upon any of the other islands. All the above mentioned animals, martens alone excepted, were seen upon Alaksu, which is situated more to the North East than Kadyak, and also rein-deers and wild dogs. To these proofs drawn from natural history, we must add the reports of a mountainous country covered with forests, and of a great promontory called Atachtak, lying still more to the N. E. which were prevalent among the inhabitants of Alaksu and Kadyak.

Although these circumstances have been already mentioned[154], yet I have thought proper to recapitulate them here, in order to lay before the reader in one point of view the several proofs advanced by the anonymous author, which seem to shew, that the Fox Islands are situated near America. Many of them afford, beyond a doubt, evident signs of a less open sea; and give certain marks of a nearer approach towards the opposite continent. But how far that distance may be supposed, must be left to the judgment of the reader; and remains to be ascertained by subsequent navigators. All that we know for certain, is, that as far as any Russian vessels have hitherto sailed, a chain of islands has been discovered lying E. or N. E. by E. from Kamtchatka, and stretching towards America. Part of this chain has only been touched at; the rest is unknown; and all beyond is uncertainty and conjecture.

[Footnote 154: See p. 68 and 69-116-118-170.]

N° VII.

_Of the Tschutski--Reports of the vicinity of_ America _to their coast, first propagated by them, seem to be confirmed by late accounts from those parts._

[Sidenote: The Tschutski.] The Tschutski, it is well known, inhabit the North Eastern part of Siberia; their country is a small tract of land, bounded on the North by the Frozen Sea, on the East by the Eastern Ocean; on the South it borders upon river Anadyr, and on that of Kovyma to the West. The N. E. cape of this country is called Tschukotskoi-Noss, or the promontory of the Tschutski. Its inhabitants are the only people of Siberia who have not yet been subdued by the Russians.

The anonymous author agrees with Mr. Muller in supposing, that America advances to within a small distance of the coast of the Tschutski; which he says "is confirmed by the latest accounts procured from these parts."

The first intelligence concerning the supposed vicinity between Asia and America was derived from the reports of the Tschutski in their intercourse with the Russians. Vague and uncertain accounts, drawn from a barbarous people, cannot deserve implicit credit; but as they have been uniformly and invariably propagated by the inhabitants of those regions from the middle of the last century to the present time, they must merit at least the attention of every curious enquirer.

[Sidenote: The Reports concerning the Proximity of America to their Coast.] These reports were first related in Muller's account of the Russian discoveries, and have been lately thought worthy of notice by Dr. Robertson[155], in his history of America. Their probability seems still further increased by the following circumstances. One Plenisner, a native of Courland, was appointed commander of Ochotsk, in the year 1760, with an express order from the court to proceed as far as [156] Anadirsk, and to procure all possible intelligence concerning the North Eastern part of Siberia, and the opposite continent. In consequence of this order Plenisner repaired to Anadirsk, and proceeded likewise to Kovimskoi Ostrog: the former of these Russian settlements is situated near the Southern; the latter near the Western limits of the Tschutski. Not content however with collecting all the information in his power from the neighbouring Koriacs, who have frequent intercourse with the Tschutski; he also sent one Daurkin into their country. This person was a native Tschutski, who had been taken prisoner, and bred up by the Russians: he continued two years with his countrymen, and made several expeditions with them to the neighbouring islands, which lie off the Eastern coast of Siberia.

[Footnote 155: Hist. of America, vol. I. p. 274-277.]

[Footnote 156: Anadirsk has been lately destroyed by the
Russians themselves.]

The sum of the intelligence brought back by this Daurkin was as follows: that Tschukotskoi-Noss is a very narrow peninsula; that the Tschutski carry on a trade of barter with the inhabitants of America; that they employ six days in passing the strait which separates the two continents: they direct their course from island to island, and the distance from the one to the other is so small, that they are able to pass every night ashore. More to the North he describes the two continents as approaching still nearer to each other, with only two islands lying between them.

This intelligence remarkably coincided with the accounts collected by Plenisner himself among the Koriacs. Plenisner returned to Petersburg in 1776, and brought with him several [157]maps and charts of the North Eastern parts of Siberia, which were afterwards made use of in the compilation of the general map of Russia, published by the academy in 1776[158]. By these means the country of the Tschutski has been laid down with a greater degree of accuracy than heretofore. These are probably the late accounts from those parts which the anonymous author alludes to.

[Footnote 157: The most important of these maps comprehends
the country of the Tschutski, together with the nations which
border immediately upon them. This map was chiefly taken
during a second expedition made by major Pauloffsky against
the Tschutski; and his march into that country is traced upon
it. The first expedition of that Russian officer, in which he
penetrated as far as Tschukotskoi-Noss, is related by Mr.
Muller, S. R. G. III. p. 134--138. We have no account of this
second expedition, during which he had several skirmishes
with the Tschutski, and came off victorious; but upon his
return was surprised and killed by them. This expedition was
made about the year 1750.]

[Footnote 158: This detail I procured during my continuance
at Petersburg from several persons of credit, who had
frequently conversed with Plenisner since his return to the
capital, where he died in the latter end of the year 1778.]

N^o VIII.

List of the new-discovered Islands, procured from an _Aleütian_ chief--Catalogue of islands called by different names in the Account of the _Russian_ Discoveries.

[Sidenote: Mr. Muller divides the new-discovered Islands into four Groups.] The subsequent list of the new-discovered islands was procured from an Aleütian chief brought to Petersburg in 1771, and examined at the desire of the Empress by Mr. Muller, who divides them into four principal groups. He regulates this division partly by a similarity of the language spoken by the inhabitants, and partly by vicinity of situation.

[Sidenote: First Group, called Sasignan.] The first group[159], called by the islander Sasignan, comprehends, 1. Beering's Island. 2. Copper Island. 3. Otma. 4. Samya, or Shemiya. 5. Anakta.

[Footnote 159: These two first groups probably belong to the
Aleütian Isles.]

[Sidenote: Khao, the second Group.] The second group is called Khao, and comprises eight islands: 1. Immak. 2. Kiska. 3. Tchetchina. 4. Ava. 5. Kavia. 6. Tschagulak. 7. Ulagama. 8. Amtschidga.

[Sidenote: Negho, the third Group.] The third general name is Negho, and comprehends the islands known by the Russians under the name of Andreanoffskye Ostrova: Sixteen were mentioned by the islander, under the following names:

1. Amatkinak. 2. Ulak. 3. Unalga. 4. Navotsha. 5. Uliga. 6. Anagin. 7. Kagulak. 8. Illask, or Illak. 9. Takavanga, upon which is a volcano. 10. Kanaga, which has also a volcano. 11. Leg. 12. Shetshuna. 13. Tagaloon: near the coasts of the three last mentioned islands several small rocky isles are situated. 14. An island without a name, called by the Russians Goreloi[160]. 15. Atchu. 16. Amla.

[Footnote 160: Goreloi is supposed by the Russian navigators
to be the same island as Atchu, and is reckoned by them among
the Fox Islands. See part I. p. 61. and N^o V. of this
appendix.]

[Sidenote: Kavalang, the fourth Group.] The fourth group is denominated Kavalang; and comprehends sixteen islands: these are called by the Russians Lyssie Ostrova, or the Fox Islands.

1. Amuchta. 2. Tschigama. 3. Tschegula. 4. Unistra. 5. Ulaga. 6. Tana-gulana. 7. Kagamin. 8. Kigalga. 9. Schelmaga. 10. Umnak. 11. Aghun-Alashka. 12. Unimga. At a small distance from Unimga, towards the North, stretches a promontory called by the islanders the Land of Black Foxes, with a small river called Alashka, which empties itself opposite to the last-mentioned island into a gulf proper for a haven. The extent of this land is not known. To the South East of this promontory lie four little islands. 13. Uligan. 14. Antun-dussume. 15. Semidit. 16. Senagak.

[Sidenote: Islands called by different Names in the Russian Journals.] Many of these names are neither found in the journals or charts; while others are wanting in this list which are mentioned in both journals and charts. Nor is this to be wondered at; for the names of the islands have been certainly altered and corrupted by the Russian navigators. Sometimes the same name has been applied to different islands by the different journalists; at other times the same island has been called by different names. Several instances of these changes seem to occur in the account of the Russian discoveries: namely,

Att, Attak, and Ataku.
Shemiya and Sabiya.
Atchu, Atchak, Atach, Goreloi or Burned Island.
Amlach, Amlak, Amleg.
Ayagh, Kayachu.
Alaksu, Alagshak, Alachshak.
Aghunalashka, Unalashka.

N^o IX.

Voyage of Lieutenant _Synd_ to the North East of _Siberia_--He discovers a cluster of islands, and a promontory, which he supposes to belong to the continent of _America_, lying near the coast of the _Tschutski_.

In 1764 lieutenant Synd sailed from Ochotsk, upon a voyage of discovery towards the continent of America. He was ordered to take a different course from that held by the late Russian vessels, which lay due East from the coast of Kamtchatka. As he steered therefore his course more to the North East than any of the preceding navigators, and as it appears from all the voyages related in the first part of this work[161], that the vicinity of America is to be sought for in that quarter alone, any accurate account of this expedition would not fail of being highly interesting. It is therefore a great mortification to me, that, while I raise the reader's curiosity, I am not able fully to satisfy it. The following intelligence concerning this voyage is all which I was able to procure. It is accompanied with an authentic chart.

[Footnote 161: See p. 27.]

In 1764 Synd put to sea from the port of Ochotsk, but did not pass (we know not by what accident) the southern Cape of Kamtchatka and Shushu, the first Kuril Isle, before 1766. He then steered his course North at no great distance from the coast of the Peninsula, but made very little progress that year, for he wintered South of the river Uka.

The following year he sailed from Ukinski Point due East and North East, until he fell in with a cluster of islands[162] stretching between 61 and 62 degrees of latitude, and 195° and 202° longitude. These islands lie South East and East of the coast of the Tschutski; and several of them are situated very near the shore. Besides these small islands, he discovered also a mountainous coast lying within one degree of the coast of the Tschutski, between 64 and 66 North latitude; its most Western extremity was situated in longitude 38° 15´ from Ochotsk, or 199° 1´ from Fero. This island is laid down in his chart as part of the continent of America; but we cannot determine upon what proofs he grounds this representation, until a more circumstantial account of his voyage is communicated to the public. Synd seems to have made but a short stay ashore. Instead of endeavouring to survey its coasts, or of steering more to the East, he almost instantly shaped his course due West towards the course of the Tschutski, then turned directly South and South West, until he came opposite to Chatyrskoi Noss. From that point he continued to coast the peninsula of Kamtchatka, doubled the cape, and reached Ochotsk in 1768.

[Footnote 162: These are certainly some of the islands which
the Tschutski resort to in their way to what they call the
continent of America.]

N^o X.

Specimen of the Aleütian language.

Sun Agaiya
Moon Tughilag
Wind Katshik
Water Tana
Fire Kighenag
Earth hut Oollae
Chief Toigon
Man Taiyaga
Wood Yaga
Shield Kuyak
Sea otter Tscholota
Name of the nation. Kanagist.
One Tagatak
Two Alag
Three Kankoos
Four Setschi
Five Tshaw
Six Atoo
Seven Ooloo
Eight Kapoé
Nine Shiset
Ten. Asok.

It is very remarkable, that none of these words bear the least resemblance to those of the same signification, which are found in the different dialects spoken by the Koriaks, Kamtchadals, and the inhabitants of the Kuril Isles.

N^o XI.

Attempts of the _Russians_ to discover a North East passage--Voyages from _Archangel_ towards the _Lena_--From the _Lena_ towards _Kamtchatka_--Extract from _Muller's_ account of _Deschneff's_ voyage round _Tschukotskoi Noss_--Narrative of a voyage made by _Shalauroff_ from the _Lena_ to _Shelatskoi Noss_.

The only communication hitherto known between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, or between Europe and the East Indies, is made either by sailing round the Cape of Good Hope, or by doubling Cape Horn. But as both these navigations are very long and dangerous, the great object of several late European voyages has been turned towards the discovery of a North East or a North West passage. As this work is entirely confined to the Russian navigations, any disquisition concerning the North West passage is totally foreign to the purpose; and for the same reason in what relates to the North East, these researches extend only to the attempts of the Russians for the discovery of that passage.

The advocates for the North East passage have divided that navigation into three principal parts; and by endeavouring to shew that these three parts have been passed at different times, they conclude from thence, that the whole when taken collectively is practicable.

These three parts are, 1. from Archangel to the Lena; 2. from the Lena to Kamtchatka; 3. from Kamtchatka to Japan. With respect to the latter, the connection between the seas of Kamtchatka and Japan first appeared from some Japanese vessels, which were wrecked upon the coast of Kamtchatka in the beginning of this century; and this communication has been unquestionably proved from several voyages made by the Russians from Kamtchatka to Japan[163].

[Footnote 163: S. R. G. III. p. 78, and p. 166, &c.]

No one ever asserted that the first part from Archangel to the Lena was ever performed in one voyage; but several persons having advanced that this navigation has been made by the Russians at different times, it becomes necessary to examine the accounts of the Russian voyages in those seas.

[Sidenote: Voyages from Archangel to the Yenisèi.] In 1734 lieutenant Morovieff sailed from Archangel toward the river Oby; and got no farther the first year than the mouth of the Petchora. The next summer he passed through the straits ef Weygatz into the sea of Kara; and coasted along the Eastern side of that sea, as high as latitude 72° 30´, but did not double the promontory which separates the sea of Kara from the Bay of Oby. In 1738, the lieutenants Malgyin and Skurakoff doubled that promontory with great difficulty, and entered the bay of Oby. During these expeditions the navigators met with great dangers and impediments from the ice. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to pass from the bay of Oby to the Yenisèi, which was at last effected, in 1738, by two vessels commanded by lieutenants Offzin and Koskeleff. [Sidenote: Unsuccessful Attempt to pass from the Yenisèi to the Lena.] The same year the pilot Feodor Menin sailed from the Yenisèi rowards the Lena: he steered North as high as lat. 73°. 15´. and when he came to the mouth of the Piasida he was stopped by the ice; and finding it impossible to force a passage, he returned to the Yenisèi[164].

[Footnote 164: P. 145 to 149.]

[Sidenote: Voyage of Prontshistsheff from the Lena towards the Yenisèi.] July, 1735, lieutenant Prontshistsheff sailed from Yakutsk up the Lena to its mouth, in order to pass from thence by sea to the Yenisèi. The Western mouths of the Lena were so choaked up with ice, that he was obliged to pass through the most Easterly one; and was prevented by contrary winds from getting out until the 13th of August. Having steered North West along the islands which lie scattered before the mouths of the Lena, he found himself in lat. 70° 4´. He saw much ice to the North and North East; and observed ice-mountains from twenty-four to sixty feet in height. He steered betwixt the ice, which in no place left a free channel of greater breadth than an hundred or two hundred yards. The vessel being much damaged, on the 1st of September he ran up the mouth of the Olenek, which, according to his estimation, lies in 72° 30´, near which place he passed the winter[165].

[Footnote 165: Gmelin Reise, II. 425 to 427.]

He got out of the Olenek the beginning of August in the following year; and arrived on the third at the mouth of the Anabara, which he found to lie in lat. 73° 1´. There he continued until the 10th, while some of the crew went up the country in search of some mines. On the 10th he proceeded on his voyage: before he reached the mouth of the Chatanga he was so entirely surrounded and hemmed in with ice, that it was not without great difficulty and danger he was able to get loose. He then observed a large field of ice stretching into the sea, on which account he was obliged to continue near the shore, and to run up the Chatanga. The mouth of this river was in lat 74° 9´. From thence he bent his course mostly Northward along the shore, until he reached the mouth of the Taimura on the 18th. He then proceeded further, and followed the coast towards the Piasida. Near the shore were several small islands, between which and the land the ice was immovably fixed. He then directed his course toward the sea, in order to pass round the chain of islands. At first he found the sea more free to the North of the islands, while he observed much ice lying between them. He came at length to the last island, situated in lat. 77° 25´. Between this island and the shore, as well as on the other side of the island which lay most to the North, the ice was firm and immovable. [Sidenote: Prevented by a Chain of Islands and the Ice from getting to the Yenisèi] He attempted however to steer still more to the North; and having advanced about six miles, he was prevented by a thick fog from proceeding: this fog being dispersed, he saw on each side, and before him, nothing but ice; that towards the sea was not fixed; but the accumulated masses were all so close, that the smallest vessel could not have worked its way through. Still attempting however to pass to the North; he was forced by the ice N. E. Apprehensive of being hemmed in, he returned to the Taimura; and from thence got, with much difficulty and danger, to the Olenek, on the 29th of August.

This narrative of Prontshistsheff's expedition is extracted from the account of professor[166] Gmelin: according to Mr. Muller[167], who has given a cursory relation of the same voyage, Prontshistsheff did not quite reach the mouth of the Taimura; for he there found the chain of islands stretching from the continent far into the sea. The channels between the islands were so choaked up with ice, that it was impossible to force a passage: after steering as high as lat. 77° 25´, he found such a plain of fixed ice before him, that he had no prospect of getting any farther. Accordingly he returned to the Olenek.

[Footnote 166: Gmelin Reise, vol. II. p. 427 to p. 434.]

[Footnote 167: S. R. G. III. p. 149, 150.]

Another attempt was made to pass from the Lena to the Yenisèi in 1739, by Chariton Laptieff, with equal bad success; and he relates, that between the rivers Piasida and Taimura, a promontory stretches into the sea which he could not double, the sea being entirely frozen up before he could pass round[168].

[Footnote 168: Gmelin Reise, p. 440. Mr. Muller says only,
that Laptieff met with the same obstacles which forced
Prontshistsheff to return. S. R. G. III. p. 150.]

[Sidenote: Cape between the Rivers Chatanga and Piasida never yet doubled.] From all these circumstances we must collect, that the whole space between Archangel and the Lena has never yet been navigated; for in going East from the Yenisèi the Russians could get no farther than the mouth of the Piasida; and, in coming West from the Lena, they were stopped, according to Gmelin, North of the Piasida; and, according to Muller, East of the Taimura.

The Russians, who sail almost annually from Archangel, and other towns, to Nova Zemla, for the purpose of catching sea-horses, seals, and white bears, make to the Western Coast; and no Russian vessel has ever passed round its North Eastern extremity[169].

[Footnote 169: Although this work is confined to the Russian
Discoveries, yet as the N. E. passage is a subject of such
interesting curiosity, it might seem an omission in not
mentioning, that several English and Dutch vessels have
passed through the Straits of Weygatz into the sea of Kara;
they all met with great obstructions from the ice, and had
much difficulty in getting through. See Histoire Gen. Des
Voyages, tome XV. passim.

In 1696 Heemskirk and Barentz, after having sailed along the
Western coast of Nova Zemla, doubled the North Eastern cape
lying in latitude 77° 20, and got no lower along the Eastern
coast than 76°, where they wintered.

See an account of this remarkable voyage in Girard Le Ver's
Vraye Description De Trois Voyages De Mer, p. 13 to 45; and
Hist. Gen. des Voy. tom. XV. p. 111 to 139.

No vessel of any nation has ever passed round that Cape,
which extends to the North of the Piasida, and is laid down
in the Russian charts in about 78° latitude. We have already
seen that no Russian vessel has ever got from the Piasida to
the Chatanga, or from the Chatanga to the Piasida; and yet
some authors have positively asserted, that this promontory
has been sailed round. In order therefore to elude the
Russian accounts, which clearly assert the contrary, it is
pretended, that Gmelin and Muller have purposely concealed
some parts of the Russian journals, and have imposed upon the
world by a misrepresentation of facts. But without entering
into any dispute on this head, I can venture to affirm, that
no sufficient proof has been as yet advanced in support of
this assertion; and therefore until some positive information
shall be produced, we cannot deny plain facts, or give the
preference to hearsay evidence over circumstantial and well
attested accounts.

Mr. Engel has a remarkable passage in his Essai sur une route
par la Nord Est, which it may be proper to consider in this
place, because he asserts in the most positive manner, that
two Dutch vessels formerly passed three hundred leagues to
the North East of Nova Zemla; from thence he infers that they
must have doubled the above-mentioned Cape, which extends to
the North of the Piasida, and have got at least as far East
as the mouth of the Olenek. His words are L'Illustre Societé
Royale, sous l'an 1675, rapporte ce voyage et dit, que peu
d'années auparavant une Societé de merchands d'Amsterdam
avoit fait une tentative pour chercher le passage du Nord
Est, et équippa deux vaisseaux les quels etant passé au
septante neuf ou huitantieme degrè de latitude, avoient
poussè selon Wood, jusqu' à trois cent lieues à l'Est de la
Nouvelle Zemble, &c. &c. Upon this fact he founds his proof
that the navigation from Archangel to the Lena has been
performed. Par consequent cette partie de la route a èté
faite. He rests the truth of this account on the authority of
the Philosophical Transactions, and of Captain Wood, who
sailed upon a voyage for the discovery of the North East
passage in 1676. The latter, in the relation of his voyage,
enumerates several arguments which induced him to believe the
practicability of the North East passage.--"The seventh
argument," he says, "was another narration, printed in the
Transactions, of two ships of late that had attempted the
passage, sailed 300 leagues to the Eastward of Nova Zemla,
and had after prosecuted the voyage, had there not a
difference arose betwixt the undertakers and the East-India
company." We here find that Captain Wood refers to the
Philosophical Transactions for his authority. The narration
printed in the Transactions, and which is alluded to by both
Captain Wood and Mr. Engel, is to be found in Vol. IX. of the
Philosophical Transactions, p. 209, for December, 1674. It
consists of a very curious "Narrative of some observations
made upon several voyages, undertaken to find a way for
sailing about the North to the East-Indies; together with
instructions given by the Dutch East-India Company for the
discovery of the famous land of Jesso near Japan." These
instructions were, in 1643, given to Martin Geritses Vries,
captain of the ship Castricum, "who set out to discover the
unknown Eastern coast of Tartary, the kingdom of Catay, and
the West coast of America, together with the isles situate to
the East of Japan, cried up for their riches of gold and
silver." These instructions contain no relation of two Dutch
vessels, who passed 300 leagues East of Nova Zemla. Mention
is made of two Dutch vessels, "who were sent out in the year
1639, under the command of Captain Kwast, to discover the
East coast of the Great Tartary, especially the famous gold
and silver islands; though, by reason of several unfortunate
accidents, they both returned re infectà." Short mention is
afterwards made of Captain Kwast's journal, together with the
writings of the merchants who were with him, as fallows:
"That in the South Sea, at the 37-1/2 degrees Northern
latitude, and about 400 Spanish, or 343 Dutch miles, that is,
28 degrees longitude East of Japan, there lay a very great
and high island, inhabited by a white, handsome, kind and
civilized people, exceedingly opulent in gold and silver, &c.
&c."

From these extracts it appears, that, in the short account of
the journals of the two Dutch vessels, no longitude is
mentioned to the East of Nova Zemla; but the discoveries of
Kwast were made in the South sea, to which place he, as well
as Captain Vries afterwards, must have sailed round the Cape
of Good Hope. The author of the narrative concludes, indeed,
that the N. E. passage is practicable, in the following
words: "to promote this passage out of the East-Indies to the
North into Europe, it were necessary to sail from the
East-Indies to the Westward of Japan, all along Corea, to see
how the sea-coasts trend to the North of the said Corea, and
with what conveniency ships might sail as far as Nova Zemla,
and to the North of the same. Where our author saith, that
undoubtedly it would be found, that having passed the North
corner of Nova Zemla, or, through Weygatz, the North end of
Yelmer land, one might go on South-Eastward, and make a
successful voyage." But mere conjectures cannot be admitted
as evidence. As we can find no other information relative to
the fact mentioned by Captain Wood and Mr. Engel, (namely,
that two Dutch vessels have passed 300 leagues to the East of
Nova Zemla) that we have no reason to credit mere assertions
without proof: we may therefore advance as a fact, that
hitherto we have no authentic account, that any vessel has
ever passed the cape to the East of Nova Zemla, which lies
North of the river Piasida. See Relation of Wood's Voyage,
&c. in the Account of several late Voyages and Discoveries to
the South and North, &c. London, 1694, p. 148. See also
Engel, Mem. et Obs. Geog. p. 231 to 234.

I should not have swelled my book with this extract, if the
English translation of Mr. Muller's work was not extremely
erroneous in some material passages. S. R. G. III. p. 8-20.]

[Sidenote: Attempts of the Russians to pass from the Lena to Kamtchatka.] The navigation from the Lena to Kamtchatka now remains to be considered. If we may believe some authors, this navigation has been open for above a century and an half; and several vessels have at different times passed round the North Eastern extremity of Asia. But if we consult the Russian accounts, we shall find, that frequent expeditions have been unquestionably made from the Lena to the Kovyma; but that the voyage from the Kovyma round Tschukotskoi Noss, into the Eastern ocean, has been performed but once. According to Mr. Muller, this formidable cape was doubled in the year 1648. The material incidents of this remarkable voyage are as follow.

[Sidenote: Narrative of Deshneff's voyage round Tschukotskoi-Noss.] "In 1648 seven kotches or vessels sailed from the mouth or the river Kovyma[170], in order to penetrate into the Eastern Ocean. Of these, four were never more heard of: the remaining three were commanded by Simon Deshneff, Gerasim Ankudinoff, two chiefs of the Cossacs, and Fedot Alexeeff, the head of the Promyshlenics. Deshneff and Ankudinoff quarrelled before their departure: this dispute was owing to the jealousy of Deshneff, who was unwilling that Ankudinoff should share with him the honour, as well as the profits, which might result from the expected discoveries. Each vessel was probably manned with about thirty persons; Ankudinoff's, we certainly know, carried that number. Deshneff promised before-hand a tribute of seven fables, to be exacted from the inhabitants on the banks of Anadyr; so sanguine were his hopes of reaching that river. This indeed he finally effected; but not so soon, nor with so little difficulty, as he had presumed.

[Footnote 170: Mr. Muller calls it Kolyma.]

On the 20th of June, 1648, the three vessels sailed upon this remarkable expedition from the river Kovyma. Considering the little knowledge we have of the extreme regions of Asia, it is much to be regretted, that all the incidents of this voyage are not circumstantially related. Deshneff[171], in an account of his expedition sent to Yakutsk, seems only as it were accidentally to mention his adventures by sea: he takes no notice of any occurrence until he reached the great promontory of the Tschutski; no obstructions from the ice are mentioned, and probably there were none; for he observes upon another occasion, that the sea is not every year so free from ice as it was at this time. He commences his narrative with a description of the great promontory: "It is," says he, "very different from that which is situated West of the Kovyma, near the river Tschukotskia. It lies between North and North East, and bends, in a circular direction, towards the Anadyr. It is distinguished on the Russian (namely, the Western) side, by a rivulet which falls into the sea, close to which the Tschutski have raised a pile, like a tower, with the bones of whales. Opposite the promontory, (it is not said on which side), are two islands, on which he observed people of the nation of the Tschutski, who had pieces of the sea-horse tooth thrust into holes made in their lips. With a good wind it is possible to sail from this promontory to the Anadyr in three days; and the journey by land may be performed in the same space of time, because the Anadyr falls into a bay." Ankudinoff's kotche was wrecked on this promontory, and the crew was distributed on board the two remaining vessels. On the 20th of September Deshneff and Fedot Alexeef went on shore, and had a skirmish with the Tschutski, in which Alexeef was wounded. The two vessels soon afterwards lost sight of each other, and never again rejoined. Deshneff was driven about by tempestuous winds until October, when he was shipwrecked (as it appears from circumstances), considerably to the South of the Anadyr, not far from the river Olutora. What became of Fedot Alexeff and his crew will be mentioned hereafter. Deshneff and his companions, who amounted to twenty-five persons, now sought for the Anadyr; but being entirely unacquainted with the country, ten weeks elapsed before they reached its banks at a small distance from its mouth: here he found neither wood nor inhabitants, &c.

[Footnote 171: In order thoroughly to understand this
narrative, it is necessary to inform the reader, that the
voyage made by Deshneff was entirely forgotten, until the
year 1736, when Mr. Muller found, in the archives of Yakutsk,
the original accounts of the Russian navigations in the
Frozen Ocean.

These papers were extracted, under his inspection, at
Yakutsk, and sent to Petersburg; where they are now preserved
in the library belonging to the Imperial Academy of Sciences:
they consist of several folio volumes. The circumstances
relating to Deshneff are contained in the second volume.
Soliverstoff and Stadukin, having laid claim to the discovery
of the country on the mouth of the Anadyr, had asserted, in
consequence of this claim, that they had arrived there by
sea, after having doubled Tschukotskoi Noss. Deshneff, in
answer, sent several memorials, petitions, and complaints,
against Stadukin and Soliverstoff, to the commander of
Yakutsk, in which he sets forth, that he had the sole right
to that discovery, and refutes the arguments advanced by the
others. From these memorials Mr. Muller has extracted his
account of Deshneff's voyage. When I was at Petersburg I had
an opportunity of seeing these papers: and as they are
written in the Russian language, I prevailed upon my
ingenious friend Mr. Pallas to inspect the part which relates
to Deshneff. Accordingly Mr. Pallas, with his usual readiness
to oblige, not only compared the memorials with Mr. Muller's
account, but even took the trouble to make some extracts in
the most material passages: these extracts are here
subjoined; because they will not only serve to confirm the
exactness of Mr. Muller; but also because they tend to throw
some light on several obscure passages. In one of Deshneff's
memorials he says, "To go from the river Kovyma to the
Anadyr, a great promontory must be doubled, which stretches
very far into the sea: it is not that promontory which lies
next to the river Tschukotskia. Stadukin never arrived at
this great promontory: near it are two islands, whose
inhabitants make holes in their under-lips, and insert
therein pieces of the sea-horse tush, worked into the form of
teeth. This promontory stretches between North and North
East: It is known on the Russian side by the little river
Stanovie, which flows into the sea, near the spot where the
Tschutski have erected a heap of whale-bones like a tower.
The coast from the promontory turns round towards the Anadyr,
and it is possible to sail with a good wind from the point to
that river in three days and nights, and no more: and it will
take up no more time to go by land to the same river, because
it discharges itself into a bay." In another memorial
Deshneff says, "that he was ordered to go by sea from the
Indigirka to the Kovyma; and from thence with his crew to the
Anadyr, which was then newly discovered. That the first time
he sailed from the Kovyma, he was forced by the ice to return
to that river; but that next year he again sailed from thence
by sea, and after great danger, misfortunes, and with the
loss of part of his shipping, arrived at last at the mouth of
the Anadyr. Stadukin having in vain attempted to go by sea,
afterwards ventured to pass over the chain of mountains then
unknown; and reached by that means the Anadyr. Soliverstoff
and his party, who quarrelled with Deshneff, went to the same
place from the Kovyma by land; and the tribute was afterwards
sent to the last mentioned river across the mountains, which
were very dangerous to pass amidst the tribes of Koriacs and
Yukagirs, who had been lately reduced by the Russians."

In another memorial Deshneff complains bitterly of
Soliverstoff; and asserts, "that one Severka Martemyanoff,
who had been gained over by Soliverstoff, was sent to
Yakutsk, with an account that he (Soliverstoff) had
discovered the coasts to the North of the Anadyr, where large
numbers of sea-horses are found." Deshneff hereupon says,
that Soliverstoff and Stadukin never reached the rocky
promontory, which is inhabited by numerous bodies of the
Tichutski; over against which are islands whose inhabitants
wear artificial teeth thrust through their under lips. This
is not the first promontory from the river Kovyma, called
Svatoi Noss; but another far more considerable, and very-well
known to him (Deshneff), because the vessel of Ankunidoff was
wrecked there; and because he had there taken prisoners some
of the people, who were rowing in their boats; and seen the
islanders with teeth in their lips. He also well knew, that
it was still far from that promontory to the river Anadyr.]

The following year he went further up the river, and built Anadirskoi Ostrog: here he was joined by some Russians on the 25th of April, 1650, who came by land from the river Kovyma. In 1652, Deshneff having constructed a vessel, sailed down the Anadyr as far as its mouth, and observed on the North side a sand bank, which stretched a considerable way into the sea. A sand bank of this kind is called, in Siberia, Korga. Great numbers of sea-horses were found to resort to the mouth of the Anadyr. Deshneff collected several of their teeth, and thought himself amply compensated by this acquisition for the trouble of his expedition. In the following year, Deshneff ordered wood to be felled for the purpose of constructing a vessel, in which he proposed sending the tribute which he had collected by sea to Yakutsk[172]. But this design was laid aside from the want of other materials. It was also reported, that the sea about Tschukotskoi Noss was not every year free from ice.

[Footnote 172: That is, by sea, from the mouth of the Anadyr,
round Tschukotskoi Noss to the river Lena, and then up that
river to Yakutsk.]

Another expedition was made in 1654 to the Korga, for the purpose of collecting sea-horse teeth. A Cossac, named Yusko Soliverstoff, was one of the party, the same who had not long before accompanied the Cossac Michael Stadukin, upon a voyage of discovery in the Frozen Sea. This person was sent from Yakutsk to collect sea-horse teeth, for the benefit of the crown. In his instructions mention is made of the river Yentshendon, which falls into the bay of Penshinsk, and of the Anadyr; and he was ordered to exact a tribute from the inhabitants dwelling near these rivers; for the adventures of Deshneff were not as yet known at Yakutsk. This was the occasion of new discontents. Soliverstoff claimed to himself the discovery of the Korga, as if he had sailed to that place in his voyage with Stadukin in 1649. Deshneff, however, proved that Soliverstoff had not even reached Tschukotskoi Noss, which he describes as nothing but bare rock, and it was but too well known to him, because the vessel of Ankudinoff was ship-wrecked there. "Tschukotskoi Noss," adds Deshneff, "is not the first promontory which presents itself under the name of Svatoi Noss[173]. It is known by the two islands situated opposite to it, whose inhabitants (as is before-mentioned) place pieces of the sea-horse tush into holes made in their lips. Deshneff alone had seen these people, which neither Stadukin nor Soliverstoff had pretended to have done: and the Korga, or sand-bank, at the mouth of the river Anadyr, was at some distance from these islands."

[Footnote 173: We may collect from Deshneff's reasoning, that
Soliverstoff, in endeavouring to prove that he had sailed
round the Eastern extremity of Asia, had mistaken a
promontory called Svatoi Noss for Tschukotskoi Noss: for
otherwise, why should Deshneff, in his refutation of
Soliverstoff, begin by asserting, that Svatoi Noss was not
Tschukotskoi Noss? The only cape laid down in the Russian
maps, under the name of Svatoi Noss, is situated 25 degrees
to the West of the Kovyma: but we cannot possibly suppose
this to be the promontory here alluded to; because, in
sailing from the Kovyma towards the Anadyr, "the first
promontory which presents itself" must necessarily be East of
the Kovyma. Svatoi Noss, in the Russian language, signifies
Sacred Promontory; and the Russians occasionally apply it to
any cape which it is difficult to double. It therefore most
probably here relates to the first cape, which Soliverstoff
reached after he had sailed from Kovyma.]

While Deschneff was surveying the sea-coast, he saw in an habitation belonging to some Koriacs a woman of Yakutsk, who, as he recollected, belonged to Fedot Alexieff. Upon his enquiry concerning the fate of her master, she replied, "that Fedot and Gerasim (Ankudinoff) had died of the scurvy; that part of the crew had been slain; that a few had escaped in small vessels, and have never since been heard off." Traces of the latter were afterwards found in the peninsula of Kamtchatka; to which place they probably arrived with a favourite wind, by following the coast, and running up the Kamtchatka river.

When Volodimir Atlassoff, in 1697, first entered upon the reduction of Kamtchatka, he found that the inhabitants had already some knowledge of the Russians. A common tradition still prevails amongst them, that long before the expedition of Atlassoff, one[174] Fedotoff (who was probably the son of Fedot Alexeeff) and his companions had resided amongst them, and had intermarried with the natives. They still shew the spot where the Russian habitations stood; namely, at the mouth of the small river Nikul which falls into the Kamtchatka river, and is called by the Russians Fedotika. Upon Atlassoff's arrival none of the first Russians remained. They are said to have been held in great veneration, and almost deified by the inhabitants, who at first imagined that no human power could hurt them, until they quarrelled amongst themselves, and the blood was seen to flow from the wounds which they gave each other: and upon a separation taking place between the Russians, part of them had been killed by the Koriacs, as they were going to the sea of Penshinsk, and the remainder by the Kamtchadals. The river Fedotika falls into the Southern side of the Kamtchatka river about an hundred and eighty versts below Upper Kamtchatkoi Ostrog. At the time of the first expedition to Kamtchatka, in 1697, the remains of two villages still subsisted, which had probably been inhabited by Fedotoff and his companions: and no one knew which way they came into the peninsula, until it was discovered from the archives of Yakutsk in 1636.

[Footnote 174: Fedotoff, in the Russian language, signifies
the son of Fedot.]

[175]No other navigator, subsequent to Deshneff, has ever pretended to have passed the North Eastern extremity of Asia, notwithstanding all the attempts which have been made to accomplish this passage, as well from[176] Kamtchatka as from the Frozen Ocean.

[Footnote 175: Mr. Engel indeed pretends that lieutenant
Laptieff, in 1739, doubled Tschukotskoi-Noss, because Gmelin
says, that "he passed from the Kovyma to Anadirsk partly by
water and partly by land." For Mr. Engel asserts the
impossibility of getting from the Kovyma to Anadirsk, partly
by land and partly by water, without going from the Kovyma to
the mouth of the Anadyr by sea; and from thence to Anadirsk
by land. But Mr. Muller (who has given a more particular
account of the conclusion of this expedition) informs us,
that Laptieff and his crew, after having wintered near the
Indigirka, passed from its mouth in small boats to the
Kovyma; and as it was dangerous, on account of the Tschutski,
to follow the coast any farther, either by land or water, he
went through the interior part of the country to Anadirsk,
and from thence to the mouth of the Anadyr. Gmelin Reise,
vol. II. p. 440. S. R. G. III. p. 157.

Mention is also made by Gmelin of a man who passed in a small
boat from the Kovyma round Tschukotskoi-Noss into the sea of
Kamtchatka: and Mr. Engel has not omitted to bring this
passage in support of his system, with this difference, that
he refers to the authority of Muller, instead of Gmelin, for
the truth of the fact. But as we have no account of this
expedition, and as the manner in which it is mentioned by
Gmelin implies that he had it merely from tradition, we
cannot lay any stress upon such vague and uncertain reports.
The passage is as follows: "Es find so gar Spuren vorhanden,
dass ein Kerl mit einem Schifflein, das nicht viel
groesser als ein Schifferkahn gevesen, von Kolyma bis
Tschukotskoi-Noss vorbey, und bis nach Kamtschatka gekommen
sey." Gmelin Reise, II. p. 437. Mem. et Obs. Geog. &c. p.
10.]

[Footnote 176: Beering, in his voyage from Kamtchatka, in
1628, towards Tschukotskoi-Noss, sailed along the coast of
the Tschutski as high as lat. 67° 18´. and observing the
coast take a Westerly direction, he too hastily concluded,
that he had passed the North Eastern extremity. Apprehensive,
if he had attempted to proceed, of being locked in by the
ice, he returned to Kamtchatka. If he had followed the shore,
he would have found, that what he took for the Northern ocean
was nothing more than a deep bay: and that the coast of the
Tschutski, which he considered as turning uniformly to the
West, took again a Northerly direction. S.R.G. III. p. 117.]

The following narrative of a late voyage performed by one Shalauroff, from the Lena towards Tschukotskoi-Noss, will shew the great impediments which obstruct a coasting navigation in the Frozen Sea, even at the most favourable season of the year.

[Sidenote: Voyage of Shalauroff.] Shalauroff, having constructed a shitik at his own expence, went down the Lena in 1761. He was accompanied by an exiled midshipman, whom he had found at Yakutsk, and to whom we are indebted for the chart of this expedition. Shalauroff got out of the Southern mouth of the Lena in July, but was so much embarrassed by the ice, that he ran the vessel into the mouth of the Yana, where he was detained by the ice until the 29th of August, when he again set sail. Being prevented by the ice from keeping the open sea, he coasted the shore; and, having doubled Svatoi-Noss on the 6th of September, discovered at a small distance, out at sea, to the North, a mountainous land, which is probably some unknown island in the Frozen Sea. He was employed from the 7th to the 15th in getting through the strait between Diomed's island and the coast of Siberia; which he effected, not without great difficulty. From the 16th he had a free sea and a fair S. W. wind, which carried them in 24 hours beyond the mouth of the Indigirka. The favourable breeze continuing, he passed on the 18th the Alasca. Soon afterwards, the vessel approaching too near the shore was entangled amongst vast floating masses of ice, between some islands[177] and the main land. [Sidenote: Winters at the Mouth of the Kovyma.] And now the late season of the year obliged Shalauroff to look out for a wintering place; he accordingly ran the vessel into one of the mouths of the river Kovyma, where she was laid up. The crew immediately constructed an hut, which they secured with a rampart of frozen snow, and a battery of the small guns. The wild rein-deers resorted to this place in large herds, and were shot in great plenty from the enclosure. Before the setting in of winter, various species of salmon and trout came up the river in shoals: these fish afforded the crew a plentiful subsistence, and preserved them from the scurvy[178].

[Footnote 177: These islands are Medviedkie Ostrova, or the
Bear Islands; they are also called Kreffstoffskie Ostrova,
because they lie opposite the mouth of the small river
Krestova. For a long time vague reports were propagated that
the continent of America was stretched along the Frozen
Ocean, very near the coasts of Siberia; and some persons
pretended to have discovered its shore not far from the
rivers Kovyma and Krestova. But the falsity of these reports
was proved by an expedition made in 1764, by some Russian
officers sent by Denys Ivanovitch Tschitcherin, governor of
Tobolsk. These officers went in winter, when the sea was
frozen, in sledges drawn by dogs, from the mouth of the
Krestova. They found nothing but five small rocky islands,
since called the Bear Islands, which were quite uninhabited;
but some traces were found of former inhabitants, namely, the
ruins of huts. They observed also on one of the islands a
kind of wooden stage built of drift-wood, which seemed as if
it had been intended for defence. As far as they durst
venture out over the Frozen Sea, no land could be seen, but
high mountains of ice obstructed their passage, and forced
them to return. See the map of this expedition upon the chart
of Shalauroff's voyage prefixed to this number.]

[Footnote 178: Raw-fish are considered in those Northern
countries as a preservative against the scurvy.]