aj A C C O U N T O F T H E 



From the year 1745, when it feems thefe iflands were 

 firft vilited, until 1750, when the firft tribute of furs 

 was brought from thence to Ochotfk, the government 

 appears not to have been fully informed of their difcovery. 

 In the laft mentioned year, one LebedefF was commander 

 of Kamtchatka. From 1755 to 1760, Captain TflieredofF 

 and Lieutenant Kaflikareff were his fuccelfors. In 1760, 

 Feodorlvanovitch Soimonoff, governor of Tobolflc, turned 

 his attention to the abovementioned iflands ; and, the 

 fame year, Captain RtiftfliefF, at Ochotfk, inflrvi6led Lieu- 

 tenant ShmalefF, the fame who was afterwards commander 

 in Kamtchatka, to promote and favour all expeditions in 

 thofe feas. Until this time, all the diftoveries fubfe- 

 quent to Beering's voyage were made, without the inter- 

 pofition of the court, by private merchants in fmall vef- 

 fels fitted out at their own expence. 



^romotTs''au' '^^^ prcfcHt Emprcfs (to whom every circumftance which 

 waiTsN'ewDif- contributes to aggrandize the Ruffian empire is an object of 

 attention) has given new life to thefe difcoveries. The mer- 

 chants engaged in them have been animated by recom- 

 pences. The importance and true pofition of the Ruffian 



the firft meridian of the ifle of Fero. The longitude and latitude, which 

 he gives to the Fox Iilands, correfponds exadly rvirh thofe in which they 

 are laid dowii upon the General Map of Ruffia. The longitude of 

 .Beering's, Copper Ifland, and of the Aleiitian Ilks, are fomewhat dif- 

 ferent. See Advertifemcnt relating to the Charts, and alfo Appendix 

 J. N" IV. 



iflands 



eovenes. 



