A P P E N D I X L 291 



N° VI. 



Conjedlures concerning the proximity of the Fox Iflantls to 

 the continent of America. 



nn H E anonymous author, in the courfe of his ac- 

 count of the Ruffian difcoveries, has advanced 

 many proofs drawn from natural hiftory, from which 

 he fuppofes the Fox Iflands to be at a fmall dillance 

 from the continent of America : hence he grounds his 

 conjedture, that '« the time is not far diftant when fome 

 of the Ruffian navigators will fall in with that coaft." 



The fmall willows and alders which, according to 

 Glottoff, were found growing upon Kadyak, do not ap- 

 pear to have been fufficient either in fize or quantity Proofs of the 



^ vicinity of the 



to afcertain, with any degree of certainty, the clofe vi- Amerka?''' "* 

 cinity of that il'land to America, River-otters, wolves, 

 bears, and wild boars, which were obferved upon the 

 fame ifland, will perhaps be thought to afford a ftronger 

 prefumption in favour of a neighbouring continent ; 

 martens were alfo caught there, an animal which is not 

 known in the Eaftern ports of Siberia, nor found upon 

 any of the other iflands. All the above mentioned ani- 

 mals, martens alone excepted, were feen upon Alakfu, 

 which is iituated more to the North Eaft than Kadyak, 



P p 2 and 



