departure : this difpute was owing to the jealoufy of
Befhneff, who Was unwilling that AnkudinofF fhouldi
fhare with him the honour, as well as the profits, which
might refult from the. expedit'd difcoveries. Each vfeliel
Was probably manned with about thirty perfons ; An-
kudinoff’s, we certainly know, carried that number.
Defhneff pro mi fed before-hand a tribute of feven fables,
to be exadted from the inhabitants On the banks of Anadyr
; fo fanguine were his hopes of reaching that river;
This indeed he finally effedted; but not fo foon, nor with
fo little difficulty, as he had prefumed.
On the 20th of June, 1648, the three veifels failed
upon this remarkable expedition from the river Kovyma-
Confidering the little knowledge we have of the textreme
regions of Alia, it is much to be regretted, that all the
incidents of this voyage are not circumftantially related.
Defhneff -, in an account of his expedition fent to
Yakutsk, *
* In order thoroughly to underftand this narrative, it is neeeffary to
inform the reader, that the voyage made by Defhneff was entirely forgotten,
until the year 1736, when Mr. Muller found, in the archives of
Yakutfk, the original accounts of the Ruffian navigations in the Frozen
Ocean.
Thefe papers were extracted, under his infpeftion, at Yakutfk, and
fent to Peterfburg; where they are now preferred in the library belonging
to the Imperial Academy of Sciences : they confift of feveral folio
volumes.. The circumftances relating to 'Defhneff are contained in the
fecond volume. Soliverftoff and Stadukin, having laid claim to the dif-
1 covery
Yakutsk, feems only as ft were accidentally to mention
his adventures by fea: he takes no notice of any occurrence
covery of the country on the mouth of the Anadyr, had aflerted, in
confequence of this claim, that they had arrived there by; fea, after
having doubled Tfchukotfkoi Nofs. Defhneff, in anfwer, fent feyeral
memorials, petitions, and-complaints, againft Stadukin and Soliverftoff,
to the commander of Yakutfk, in which he fets forth, that he had
the foie right -to that difeovery, and.refutes.the arguments advanced by
the others. Frpm thefe memorials Mr. Muller .has extradted | p account
of DefhnefPs - voyage. When I was. at .Peterfburg I.had an opportunity
of feeing thefe papers : and as they are written in thp Ruffian language,
I prevailed upon my ingenious friend' Mr. Pallas to mfpeift the part
which relates to Defhneff. Accordingly Mr. Pallas, with his ufual readie
s to oblige, not only compared the memorials with Mr. Muller’s account,
but even took the .trouble to make fome extradis in the moft
material paffages: thefe extradls are here fubjoined ; becaufe they will not
only ferve to confirm the exadtnefs of Mr. Muller; bat alfp becaufe, they
tend to throw fopie.light.on feveral obfeure paffages. Jn ..one pf Defh-
neff’s memorials he fays, - « To go from the river Kovyma to the Anadyr,
“ a great promontory mull be doubled, whicji ftretches very far into
t i the fea : it is not that. promontory which lies next to the river
ft Tfchakotskia. Stadukin never arrived a t. this great pi omontory :
a near Jt are-two iflands, whofe inhabitants make holes in their under-
“ lips, and infert therein , pieces of the fea-horfe tufh, worked into the
f ‘ form of teeth. This promontofy ftretches. between North and North
a gap- . It is known on the Ruffian fide by the little river Stanovie,
« which-flows-into the fea, near thefpot w here, the .Tfchutfki have.eredl-
“ ed a heap of whale-bones-like a totver. The coaft from thapromon-
“ tory turns round towards the Anadyr, and jt is poffible to fail with a
. “ good wind from the point to that river in three days jmd nights, and
“ no more : and .it will .take up .no.more time to go by land, to the fame
« river, becaufe it difeharges .itfelf into a bay.” In another memorial
Defhneff fays, “ that he was ordered to go by fea from the Indigirka
Ss 2 . - i to