1728. ( 349 ) 



DISCOVERIES MADE BY THE RUSSIANS ON THE 



NORTHERN COAST OF SIBERIA DURING THE 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



1 HE various voyages and partial discoveries of 

 the Russians^ along the shores of that widely ex- 

 tended empire, would scarcely admit of being 

 brought separately into the chronological arrange- 

 ment; but they have been collected and arranged 

 with precision and ability by Mr. Coxe, in his in- 

 teresting ** Account of Russian Discoveries." The 

 only part of them, which is here intended to be 

 noticed, is that which relates to their several at- 

 tempts to open a navigation between the White Sea 

 and the Pacific, through the Northern or Tartarian 

 Sea. The discovery and possession of Kamtschatka 

 made such a communication the more desirable, 

 and induced the Emperor Peter the Great to form 

 a plan of discovery, the chief object of which 

 was to ascertain " the separation, contiguity, or 

 connection of Asia and America." For this pur- 

 pose, he drew up with his own hand a minute of 

 instructions, which, after his death, were immedi- 

 ately carried into execution by the Empress Ca- 

 therine, who dispatched Behring, in I7S8, from 



