mCoemntm oefn tchee
vNeeiwies B. ifcp-
The fir ft projedt * for making difeoveries in that tem-
peftuous fea, which lies between Kamtchatka and America,
was conceived and planned by Peter I. the greateft
fovereign who ever fat upon the Ruffian throne, until
it was adorned by the prefent emprefs, The nature and
completion of this projeâ under his immediate fuccef-
fors are well known tp the public, from the relation of
the celebrated Muller. No,, fooner had t Beering and.
* There feerusa w aptof connection in this pla.ce,which, will be, cleared
up by confidering, that, by the conqueft of Siberia, the Ruffians,advanced-
to the feores o f the Eaftern Ocean, the feene o f the difeoveries here: alluded
to.
•j, Beering had; already mads ftveral expeditions. in the fea o f Kamtchatka,
b.y orders, o f the crpwn, before h,e undertook the. voyage mentioned
in the text.
In 1728, he departed-from the- mouth o f the Kamtchatka river, in.
company with Tfchirikoff., The purport of: this voyage was to afeer-
tain, whether the tW9,GQ,ntments. o f Alia, and America; wpre feparated ;
and Peter I. a fhort time before his death, had drawn up inftrudtions
with his own hand' for that purpofis. Beering coafled the Eaftern ffioré'
c f Siberia, as high, as latitude 6,7° 1.8!; but made no difeovery o f the.
oppofife Cqntinent,
In 1729, he fet fail again for the profecution o f the fame, defign ; but
this fécond attempt equally failed-of fueceft.
In 1Ù41,,1. Beering and Tfchirikoff went out upon the celebrated- expedition
.(.aifoded to in the text, and. which is.fo often mentioned, in the
coiirie of this work) towards the coafts o f America. This expedition led-
the way to all the important difeoveries fince made by the Ruffians..
Bpejihg-s. yeffel, was. wrecked in December o f the fame year;, and
Tfchirikoff landed at Kamtchatka on. the.9th .of Odfober, 1742-
S. R. G. III. Nachrichten von See Reifen, &c. and Robertfon’s Hif-
tpry.of. America,. Vol. I, p. 273, & feq.
I Tfchirikoff-,
Tfchirikoff, in the profecution of this plan, opened their
way to iflands abounding in valuable furs, than private
merchants immediately engaged with ardour in fimilar
expeditions ; and, within a period of ten years, more im- Jr^‘r fr0' ■
portant difeoveries were made by thefe individuals, at
their own private coft,, than had been hitherto effected by
all the expenfive efforts of the crown.
Soon after the return of Beering’s crew froth the
illand where he was fhip-wrecked and died, and which
is called after his name, the inhabitants of Kamtchatka
ventured over to that ifland,. to which the fea~otters and
other fea-animals were accuftomed to refort in great
numbers. Mednoi Qftroff, or Copper Ifland, which,
takes that appellation from large maffes of native copper
found upon the beach, and which lies fuff in fight of
Beering’s Hie, was an eafy and fpeedy difeovery.
Thefe two final! uninhabited fpots were for fome time
the only ifiands that were known ; until a fcarcity of land
and fea-animals, whofe numbers were greatly diminifhed
by the Ruffian hunters, occafioned other expeditions.
Several o f the veffels which were font out upon thefe
voyages were driven by ftormy weather to the South-
eaft and difeovered by that means the Aleutian Ifles,
fituated about the, 195th * degree of longitude, and but
moderately peopled.
From
* The author reckons, throughout this treatife, the longitude from
the