Septemher.
in for the ihore. T h e country here is exceedingly h illy
and naked. In feveral places on the low ground, next the
fea, were the dwellings o f the n a tive s ; and near all o f them
were ere&ed ftages o f bones, fuch as before defcribed.
T h e fe may be ieen at a great difta-nce,. on account o f theic
whitenefs.
A t noon the latitude was 64° 38', and the longitude
188° 15 '; the Southernmoft point o f the main in fight bore
South, 48° W e ft; and the neareft ihore about three or four
leagues diftant. By this time, the wind had veered again
to the North, and blew a gentle breeze. T h e weather was-
clear, and the air cold. I did not fo llow the diredtion o f
the coaft, as I found that it took a Wefterly direction toward
the G u lf o f Anadir, into w hich I had no inducement to go,
but fleered to the Southward, in order to get a fight o f the
Ifland o f St. Laurence, difcovered b y Beering; which accordingly
ihewed itfelf, and, at eight o’clock in the evenin
g , it bore South, 30° E a f t ; b y eftimation, eleven leagues
diftant. At the fame time, the Southernmoft point o f the
main land bore South, 83° Weft, diftant twelve leagues. I
take this to be the point w h ich Beering calls the Eaft Point
o f Suchotfld, or Cape ifihukotfkoi; a name w hich he ga ve it,
and with propriety, becaufe it was from this part o f the
coaft that the natives came o ff to him, who called them-
felves o f the nation o f the Tfchutiki. I make its, latitude
to be 64° 13', and its longitude 1860 36'.
In juftice to the memory o f Beering, I muft fay, that he
has delineated the coaft ve ry well, and fixed the latitude and
longitude o f the points better than could be expefted from
the- methods he had to- go by. This judgment is not formed
from Mr. Muller’s account o f the voyage, or the chart prefixed
to his b o o k ; but from Dr. Campbell’s account o f it in
his;
h is edition o f Harris’s Collection *, and a map thereto an- „ '778-
September.
nexed, which is both more circumltantial and accurate than v—
that o f Mr. Muller.
T he more I was convinced o f m y b e in g now upon the
coaft o f Afia, the more I was at a lofs to reconcile Mr. Stseh-
lin ’s map o f the New Northern Archipelago with m y ob-
fervations ; and I had no w a y to account fo r the great d ifference,
but b y fuppofing, that I had miftaken fome part o f
w hat he calls the Ifland o f Alafchka for the American continent,
and had milled the channel that feparates them. Admitting
even this, there would ftill have been a confiderable
difference. It was w ith me a matter o f fome confequence,
to clear up this point the prefent feafon, that I m igh t have
but one objeCt in view the next. And,' as thefe Northern
illes are reprefented by h im as abounding with wood, I
was in hopes, i f I ihould find them, o f ge ttin g a fupply o f
that article, w h ich w e n ow began to be in great want o f
on board.
With thefe views, I fleered over fo r the American co a ft;
and, at five in the afternoon, the next day, faw land bear- Saturday j.
in g South three quarters Eaft, w hich we took to be Ander-
fon’s Ifland, or fome other land near it, and therefore did
not wait to examine it. On the 6th, at four in the morn- su»*>y 6.
in g , we got fight o f the American coaft near Sledge Ifland;
and at fix, the fame evening, this ifiand bore North, 6° Eaft,
ten leagues d iftan t; and the Eafternmoft land in fight
North, 49° Eaft. I f any part o f what I had fuppofed to be
American coaft, could poflibly be the ifland o f Alafchka,
it was that now before us ; and in that cafe, I muft have
miffed the channel between it and the main, by fleering to
* Vol. ii. p. 1016, &c*
3 P 3 the