1778. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 429 



and made a board to the westward, till past one 

 the next morning, when we stood again to the east, 

 and found that it was as much as we could do to keep 

 our distance from the coast, the wind being exceed- 

 ingly unsettled, varying continually from north to 

 north-east. At half an hour past eight, the eastern 

 extreme above mentioned bore south by east, six or 

 seven miles distant. At the same time, a head-land 

 appeared in sight, bearing east by south, half south ; 

 and, soon after, we could trace the whole coast lying 

 between them, and a small island at some distance 

 from it. 



The coast seemed to form several rocky points, 

 connected by a low shore, without the least appear- 

 ance of a harbour. At some distance from the sea, 

 the low land appeared to swell into a number of hills. 

 The highest of these were covered with snow ; and, in 

 other respects, the whole country seemed naked. At 

 seven in the evening, two points of land, at some dis- 

 tance beyond the eastern head, opened off it in the 

 direction of south, 37 east. I was now well assured 

 of what I had believed before, that this was the coun- 

 try of the Tschutski, or the north-east coast of Asia; 

 and that thus far Beering proceeded in 1728; that 

 is, to this head which Muller says is called Serdze 

 Kamen, on account of a rock upon it, shaped like a 

 heart. But I conceive, that Mr. Muller's knowledge of 

 the geography of these parts is very imperfect. There 

 are many elevated rocks upon this cape, and possibly 

 some one or other of them may have the shape of a 

 heart. It is a pretty lofty promontory, with a steep 

 rocky cliff facing the sea ; and lies in the latitude of 

 67 3' 9 and in the longitude of 188 1 1'. To the east- 

 ward of it, the coast is high, and bold ; but to the 

 westward it is low, and trends north north-west, and 

 north-west by west ; which is nearly its direction all 

 the way to Cape North. The soundings are every 

 where the same at the same distance from the shore, 

 which is also the case on the opposite shore of Ame- 



