460 cook's voyage to oct. 



21 8 from Greenwich; and the place where the former 

 anchored in 594 of latitude, and 63^ of longitude from 

 Okotsk, or 207 from Greenwich. To say nothing of 

 the longitude, which may be erroneous from many 

 causes, the latitude of the coast discovered by these 

 two navigators, especially the part of it discovered by 

 TscherikofTj differs considerably from the account 

 published by Mr. Muller, and his chart. Indeed, 

 whether Midler's chart, or this now produced by 

 Mr. IsmylofK be most erroneous in this respect, it 

 may be hard to determine, though it is not now a 

 point worth discussing. But the islands that lie dis- 

 persed between 5Z and 55 of latitude, in the space 

 between Kamtschatka and America, deserve some 

 notice. According to Mr. IsmylofPs account, 

 neither the number nor the situation of these islands 

 is well ascertained. He struck out about one-third 

 of them, assuring me they had no existence ; and he 

 altered the situation of others considerably, which, he 

 said, was necessary, from his own observations. And 

 there was no reason to doubt about this. As these 

 islands lie all nearly under the same parallel, dif- 

 ferent navigators, being misled by v their different 

 reckonings, might easily mistake one island, or 

 group of islands, for another ; and fancy they had 

 made a new discovery, when they had only found 

 old ones in a different position from that assigned to 

 them by their former visitors. 



The islands of St. Macarius, St. Stephen, St. Theo- 

 dore, St. Abraham, Seduction Island, and some others, 

 which are to be found in Mr. Midler's chart, had no 

 place in this now produced to us ; nay, both Mr. Ismy- 

 loff, and the others assured me, that they had been se- 

 veral times sought for in vain. And yet it is difficult to 

 believe, how Mr. Muller, from whom subsequent map- 

 makers have adopted them, could place them in his 

 chart without some authority. Relying, however, 

 on the testimony of these people, whom I thought 

 competent witnesses, I have left them out of my 



