A F F E N D I X L
difcoveries, mentions only three; namely, Attak, Se*-
mitfhi, Shemiya. But the Aleutian, Iiles confift of a
much larger number ; and their chain includes all the
iflands comprehended by the iflander in the two groups
of Khao and Safignan *. Many of them are laid down
upon the general map of Ruffia; and fome of them
are occafionally alluded to in. the journals of Hie, Ruffian
voyages +».
* See No VIII. _ |
-j- See p. 30, and particularly p. 46, where fome o f tKefe iflands aro:
mentioned under the names o f Ibiya, KHka,.and Olas..
ConjeBures concerning the proximity of the Fox Iflands to
the continent of America.
' T ' H E anonymous author, in the courfe of his ac-
^ count of the Ruffian difcoveries, has advanced
many proofs drawn from natural hiftory, from which
he fuppofes the Fox Iflands to be at a fmall diftance
from the continent of America : hence he grounds his
conjecture, that “ the time is not far diftant when fome
o f the Ruffian navigators will fall in with that coaft.”
The fmall willows and alders which, according to
Glottoff, were found growing upon Kadyak, do not appear
to have been fufficient either in fize or quantity
to afcertain, with any degree of certainty, the dole vicinity
of that ifland to America. River-otters, wolves,
bears,' and wild boars, which were obferved upon the
fame ifland, will perhaps be thought to afford a ftronger
prefumption in favour of a neighbouring continent;
martens were alfo caught there, an animal which is not
known in the Eaftern ports of Siberia, nor found upon
any of the other iflands. All the above mentioned animals,
martens alone excepted, were feen upon Alakfu,
which Is fituated more to the North Eaft than Kadyak,
P p a and
Proofs o f the
Vicinity o f the
Fox Iflands to
America.