the chart of this expedition. Shalauroff got out of the
Southern mouth of the Lena in July., but was fo much
embarraffed by the ice,, that he rati the veflel into the
mouth of the Yana, where he was detained by the ice
until the 29th of Augiift, when he again fet fail. Being
prevented by the ice from keeping the open fea, he
coafted the fhore; and, having doubled1 Svatoi-Nofs on
the 6th of September, difeovered at a fmall diftanoej out
at fea, to the North, a mountainous land, which is probably
fome unknown ifland in the Frozen Sea. He was.
employed from the 7th to the 15th in getting through
the ftrait between. Diomed’s ifland and the coaft of
Siberia; which he effected, not without great difficulty..
From the 16th he had a free fea and a fair S. W. wind,
which carried them in 34 hours beyond the mouth of the
Indigirka. The favourable breeze continuing, he palled
on the 1 8th the Alafca. Soon afterwards, the' vellel
approaching too near the fhore was entangled amongft
vaft floating mafles of ice, between fome iflands * and
the
* Thefe illands are Medviedkie Oftrova, or the Bear Illands ; they
are alfo called KrefFftofflkie Oftrova, becaufe they lie oppofite the mouth
o f the fmall river Kreftova. For a long time vague reports were propagate^
that the continent o f America was ftretched along the Frozen
Ocean, very near the coafts o f Siberia ; and fome perfons pretended to
have difeovered its Ihore not far from the rivers Kovyroa and Kreftova.
But the falfity o f thefe reports was- proved by an expedition made in
1764, by fome Ruffian officers fent by Denys Ivanovitch Tfchitcherin,
governor
the main land. And now the late feafon of the year
obliged Shalauroff to’ look out for a wintering place;
he accordingly ran the veffel into one of the mouths of mS of the'
_ - 4- _ Kovyma. the river Kovyma, where fhe was laid up. The crew
immediately conftrudled an hut, which they fecured
with a rampart of frozen fnow, and a battery of the
fmall guns. The wild rein-deers reforted to this place
in large herds, and were fhot in great plenty from the
enclofure. Before the fetting in of winter, various fpe-
cies of falmon and trout came up the river in fhoals;
thefe fifh afforded the crew a plentiful fubliftence, and
preferved them from the feurvy **.
The mouth of the Kovyma was not freed from ice
before the a r f t o f July, 1763, when Shalauroff again “ July'
governor of Tobollk. Thefe officers went in winter, when the fea was
frozen, in fledges drawn by dogs, from the mouth o f the Kreftova.
They found nothing but five fmall rocky iflands, fince called rthe' Bear
Iflands, which were quite uninhabited; but fome traces were
found o f former inhabitants, namely, the ruins o f huts. They obferved
alfo on one of the iflands a kind .of wooden ftage built o f drift-wood,
which feemed as i f it had been intended for defence. As far as they
durft venture out over the Frozen S e a ,‘no land could be feen, but
high mountains o f ice obftrufted their paflagej and forced them to return.
See the map o f this expedition^ upon the chart of Shalauroff’s-
voyage prefixed to this number..
* Raw-fifh are confidered in thofe Northern countries as a prefer-
vative. againft the feurvy.
4 put