T H E P A C I F I C O C E A N. 499 



Oflobcr, 



afcer that, or in what manner he fpent the tv/o years, during jj/S 

 which, as Ifrnyloff faid, his refcarches lafted, he either 

 could not or would not inform us. Perhaps he did not com- 

 prehend our inquiries about this ; and yet, in almoft every 

 other thing, we could make him undcrftand us. This cre- 

 ated a fufpicion, that he had not really been in that expedi- 

 tion, notwithflanding his affertion. 



Both IfmylofT and the others affirmed, that they knew no- 

 thing of the continent of America to the Northward ; and 

 that neither Lieutenant Synd, nor any other Ruffian, had 

 ever fcen it of late. They call it by the fame name which 

 Mr. Sta^hlin gives to his great ifland ; that is Alafchka. 

 Stachtan Nitada, as it is called in the modern maps, is a 

 name quite unknown to thefe people, natives of the iflands 

 as well as Ruffians ; but both of them know it by the name 

 of America. From what we could gather from IfmylofF 

 and his countrymen, the Ruffians have made feveral at- 

 tempts to get a footing upon that part of this continent, that 

 lies contiguous to Oonalafhka and the adjoining illands, but 

 liave always been repulfed by the natives; whom they de- 

 fcribe as a very treacherous people. They mentioned two 

 or three Captains, or Chief men, who had been murdered 

 by them ; and fomc of the Ruffians ffiewed us wounds 

 which, they Riid, they had received there. 



Some other information, which we got from IfmylofF, is 

 worth recording, whether true or falfe. He told us, that in 

 the year 1773, an expedition had been made into the Frozen 

 Sea in fledges, over the ice, to three large iflands that lie 

 oppofitc the mouth of the river Kovyma. We were in fome 

 doubt, whether he did not mean the fame expedition of 



3 S 2 which 



