400 APPENDIX. 



the main land. Ships will come into soundings of fifty-four 

 fathoms' mud in about the latitude 61o 25' N. and 175° IT W. 

 long., which depth will gradually decrease to thirty-one fa- 

 thoms, when the bottom will almost immediately change from 

 mud to fine dark sand. Two miles and a half S. 73^ W. from 

 the S.W. cape, there are fifteen fathoms; but off' the N.W. 

 end of the island there is a shoal upon which there are only 

 nine fathoms, stony bottom, four miles' distance from the land. 

 It is narrow, and the Avater soon deepens again, and the bot- 

 tom changes to fine sand as before. 



From St. Lawrence Island there appears to be a current 

 running to the northward at the rate of about three quarters 

 of a mile an hour, which increases as the sea narrows towards 

 the Strait of Beering. Ships may pass either side of the Dio- 

 mede Islands, but they should not run between them, as the 

 passage is not yet explored. Cook passed between the Fair 

 Way Rock and Krusenstern Island, and had deep water ; 

 but no person has, as yet, I believe, been between Ratmanoff 

 and the next island. Near these islands the water deepens to 

 twenty-seven and thirty fathoms, and the bottom in some 

 places changes to stones. The channel to the eastward of the 

 Diomede Islands is the widest ; and the only precaution ne- 

 cessary is to avoid a dangerous shoal to the northward of Cape 

 Prince of Wales, upon which the water shoals almost immedi- 

 ately from twenty fathoms to four and a half. Its outer edge 

 lies about north (true) from Cape Prince of Wales. From 

 here, ships may run along shore in safety in ten fathoms near 

 the land. 



It is unnecessary to give any directions for the sea to the 

 northward of Kotzebue Sound, as the lead is the best guide, 

 remembering that off" Cape Krusenstern, Point Hope, and 

 Icy Cape, the water shoals fast, as those places appear to be 

 washed by strong currents. 



In this passage there was not much current between Awatska 

 and St. Lawrence Island: it amounted to only thirty-one 

 miles S. 54o W. Off* the island it ran S.S.E. seven-eighths 

 per hour on one trial, and on another seven hours afterwards. 



