o'&lL, bom' ; and that is on the North Eaft fide o f Mareekan, in the
j— ’ latitude o f 474 ° ; where, as I have before obferved, the Ruffians
have a fettlement.
T h e fecond chart was, to me, the moil in te re ftin g; for
it comprehended all the difcoveries made by the Ruffians to
the Eaihvard o f Kamtfchatka, toward Am e r ic a ; which, i f
we exclude the voyage o f Beering and TfcherikofF, w ill
amount to little or nothing. The part o f the American
coaft, with which the latter fell in, is marked in this chart,
between the latitude o f 58° and 584°, and 75° o f longitude
from Okotik, or a 181° from G re enwich; and the place
where the former anchored in 591° o f latitude, and 634°
o f longitude from Okotik, or s o f from Greenwich. To
fay nothing o f the longitude, which may be erroneous from
many caufes, the latitude o f the coaft, difcovered by thefe
two navigators, efpecially the part o f it difcovered by
TfcherikofF, differs confiderably from the account publiffied
by Mr. Muller, and his chart. Indeed, whether Muller’s
chart, or this now produced by Mr. Ifmyloff, be moil erroneous
in this refpeCt, it may be hard to determine ; though
it is not now a point worth difcuffing. But the iilands that
he difperfed between 52° and 55° o f latitude, in the fpace
between Kamtfchatka and America, deferve fome notice.
According to Mr. Ifm y lo ff’s account, neither the number nor
the iituat-ion o f thefe iilands is w e ll afcertained. He ftruck
out about one third o f them, affuring me they had no exift-
ence; and he altered the fituation o f others confiderably;
which, he faid, was neceffary, from his own obfervations.
And there was no reafon to doubt about this. As thefe
iilands lie all nearly under the fame parallel, different navigators,
being milled by their different reckonings, might
eafily miftake one illand, or group o f iilands, for another;
and
and fancy they had made a new difcovery, when they had
only found old ones in a different pofition from that affigned
to them b y their former vifiters.
The iilands o f St. Macarius, St. Stephen, St. Theodore? St
Abraham, Seduction liland, and fome others, which are to'
be found in Mr. Muller’s chart, had no place in this now
produced to u s ; nay, both Mr. Ifmyloff, and the others af-
fured me, that they had been feveral times fought fo r in
vain. And yet it is difficult to believe, how Mr. Muller,
from whom fubfequent map-makers have adopted them,’
could place them in his chart without fome authority. Rely
in g , however, on the teftimony o f thefe people, whom
I thought competent witneffes, I have left them out o f my
c l a r t ; and made fuch corrections amongft the other iilands
as I was told was neceffary. I found there was wanting
another correction ; for the difference o f longitude, between
the Bay o f Awatfka, and the harbour o f Samganoodha
according to aftronomical obfervations, made at thefe two
places, is greater by five degrees and a half, than it is by
the chart. This error I have fuppofed to be infufed throughout
the whole, though it may not be fo in reality. There
was alfo an error in the latitude o f fome' placek;/ but this
hardly exceeded a quarter o f a degree.
I ihall now giv e fome account o f the iilands ; beginning
with thofe that lie neareft to Kamtfchatka, and reckoning
the longitude from the harbour o f Petropaulowika, in the
Bay o f Awatika. The firft-is Baring's Ifland, in 55” o f la titude,
and 6° o f longitude, Ten leagues from the South
end o f this, in the direction o f Eaft b y South, or Eaft South
Eaft, lies Maidenoi Oftroff, or the Copper Ifland. The next
ifland is Atakou, laid down in 52* 45' of. la titu d e ,. and in