1779.
Jalymura,
ilretching to the 78° o f latitude, w h ich the good fortune
o f no fingle voyager has hitherto doubled.
It is, however, contended, that there are itrong reafons
fo r believing, that the fea is more free from ice, the nearer
w e approach to the pole ; and that all the ice we faw in the
lower latitudes, was formed in the great rivers o f Siberia
and America, the breaking u p o f w hich had filled the intermediate
fea. But even i f that fuppofition be true, it is
equ ally fo, that there can be no accefs to thofe open feas,
unlefs this great mafs o f ice is fo far dilTolved in the fum-
mer, as to admit o f a ihip ’ s ge tting through it. I f this be
the fa ft , we have taken a w ron g time o f the y ea r for attempting
to find this paffage, w hich ihould have been explored
in April and May, before the rivers were broken up.
But how many reafons may be given againft fuch a fuppofition.
Our experience at Saint Peter and Saint Paul enabled
us to ju d g e what might be expected farther N o r th ;
and upon that ground, w e had reafon to doubt, whether
the continents might not in winter be even joined b y the
i c e ; and this agreed with the ftories we heard in Kamtf-
chatka, that bn the Siberian coafi, they go out from the
fhore in winter, upon the ice, to greater diftances than the
breadth o f the fea is, in fome parts, from one continent to
the other.
In the depofitions referred to above, the fo llow in g remarkable
circumftance is related. Speaking o f the land feen
from the Tfchukotikoi Nofs, it is faid, “ that in fummer
time they fail in one day to the land in baida'res, a fort o f
veiTel conftruited o f whale-bone, and covered with feal-
ik in s ; and in winter time, goin g fw ift with rein deer, the
journey may likewife be made in a day.” A fufficient
proof,
proof, that the two countries were u fua lly joined together yjjS;
by the ice.
T h e account given b y Mr. Muller, o f one o f the expeditions
undertaken to difcover a fuppofed ifland in the Frozen
Sea, is ftill more remarkable. “ In the year 1714, a new
“ expedition was prepared from Jakutzk, for the fame
4 : place, under the command o f Alexei Markoff, who was
to fail from the mouth of, the J an a ; and i f the Schitih
“ were not fit for fea voyages, he was to conftruit, at a pro-
| per place, veffels fit for profecuting the difcoveries with-
“ out danger.
.< o n his arrival at U ft-janikoe Simovie, the port at w hich
“ he was to embark, he fent an account, dated February 2,
“ 1715, to the Chancery o f Jakutzk, mentioning, that it
« w a s impoflible to navigate the fea, as it was continually
“ frozen, both in fummer and winter; and that, confe-
“ quently, the intended expedition, was no otherwife to be
I carried on, but with- fledges drawn by dogs. In this
manner, he accordingly fet out,, w ith nine perfons, on
“ the io th o f March the fame year, and returned on the
« od o f April, to Uft-janikoe Simovie. T h e account o f
-« his journey is as fo llow s : that he went feven days,
“ as fail as his dogs could draw him (which, in good
« ways and weather, is eighty or a hundred werfts in a
“ day) direitly toward the North, upon the ice, without ,
« discovering any ifland: that it had not been poffible for
“ him* to proceed any farther, the ice rifing there in the fea
i lik e moun tain s: that he had climbed to the top o f fome
■ “ o f them, whence he was able to fee to a great diftance
“ round about him, but could difcern no appearance o f
V o l . III. N n “ la n d :