1778. which Muller gives an account*: and yet he wrote down'
O c tob e r . 0 J
— »---- ' the year, and marked the iflands on the chart. But a voyage
which he h im fe lf had performed, engaged our attention
more than any other. He faid, that on the 12th o f May
1771, he failed from Bolfcheretzk, in a Ruffian veflel, to
one o f the Kuril Iflands, named Mareekan, in the latitude
o f 47“, where there is a harbour, and a Ruffian fettlement-
From this ifland, he proceeded to Japan, where he feems
to have made but a ihort flay. For when the Japanefe came
to kn ow that he and his companions were chriftians, they
made figns for them to be gone ; but did not, fo far as we
could understand him, offer any infult o r force. From
Japan, he got to C an ton ; and from thence to France, in a
French ihip. From France, he travelled to P e te r ib u rg ;
and was afterward fent out- again to Kamtfchatka. What
became o f the veflel in which hefirft embarked, we could
not learn ; nor what was the principal objedt o f the voyage.
His not being able to fpeak one word o f French, made this
ftory a little fufpicious. He did not even kn ow the name
o f any one o f the molt common things that mult have
been in ufe every day, while he was-ori board the ihip, and
in France. And yet he feemed clear as to the times o f his
arriving at the different places, and o f his leaving them,
w h ich he put down in writing.
* T h e lateft expedition o f this kind, taken notice o f b y Muller, was in 1724-
But in juftice to M r. Ifmyloff, it may be proper to mention, which is done on the
authority o f a M S . communicated by M r. Pinnant, and the fubftance o f which has
been publiihed by M r. C oxe , that, fo la te as 1768, th e , Qovernor o f Siberia fent
three young officers over the ice, in fledges, to the iflands oppofite the mouth o f the
Kovyma. There feems no reafon far not fuppofing, that a fubfequent expedition o f
this fort might alfo be undertaken in 1773. t i l * Coxe, p. 374. places the expedition
on fledges in 1764 ; but Mr. Pennant’s M S . may be depended upon*.
T he nest morning, he would fain have made me a pre- '778.
fent o f a fea-otter ik in , which, he faid, was worth e ighty , oa°ber* .
roubles at Kamtfchatka. However, I thought proper to de- Mday l6'
d in e i t ; but I accepted o f fome dried fifh, and feveral baf--
kets o f the lily, or faranne root, which is defcribed at large
in the Hiflory o f Kamtfchatka *. In the afternoon, Mr. Ifmyloff,
after dining with- Captain Clerke, le ft u s ’with all
his retinue, promifing to return in a few days. Accordingly
, on the 19th, he made us-another vifit, and brought with Monday 19,
him the charts before mentioned, w hich he allowed me to
co p y ; and the contents o f which- furnilh matter- for the followin
g obfervations.
There w ere two o f them, both maiiufcripts, and bearing
eve ry mark o f authenticity. T he firft, comprehended ' the
Be-njhinfkian Sea■; the coaft o f Tartary, as low as the latitude
o f 4f ° ; the Kuril Iflands-; and the peninfula o f Kamtfchatka.
Since this map had been made, Wawfeelee Irke ech o ff
Captain o f the fleet, explored, in 1758; the coaft o f Tartary’
from Okotfls, and the river Amur, to Japan, or 41° o f lad--
tude. Mr. Ifm y lo ff alfo informed us, that great part o f the
fea-coaft o f the peninfula o f Kamtfchatka had been cor-
refted by h im fe lf;-an d defcribed the inftrument he made-
ufe of, which rnuft have been a thvodolitt. H e alfo in formed
us, that there were only two harbours fit for fliipping,
on all the Eaft coaft o f Kamtfchatka, viz. the bay o f Amuatjkay„
and the river dlutora, in the bottom o f the G u lf o f the fame-
name; that there was not a fingle harbour upon its Weft
coaft ; and that Tamfi was the only one on all the Weft fide
o f the Penfchinikian Sea, except Okotik, till we come to
the river Amur. The Kurile Iflands afford only one h a r -
* Eugliih Tranflation, p. 83, 84.
* 5- bour-i