A P P E N D I X I. 325 



the main land. And now the late feafon of the year 

 obliged ShalaurofF to look out for a wintering place; 

 he accordingly ran the veflel into one of the mouths of Mrchorth'r 

 the river Kovyma, where flie was laid tip. The crew 

 immediately conitru(Sted an hut, which they fecured 

 with a rampart of frozen fnow, and a battery of the 

 fmall guns. The wild rein-deers reforted to this place 

 in large herds, and were fliot in great plenty from the 

 enclofure. Before the fetting in of winter, various fpe- 

 cies of falmon and trout came up the river in flioals : 

 thefe fifh afforded the crew a plentiful fubfiftence, and 

 preferved them from the fcurvy *. 



The mouth of the Kovvma was not freed from ice r*""'","'^^^ 

 before the 21ft of July, 1762, when ShalaurofF again'" " 



governor of Tobolfk. Thefe officers went in winter, when the fea was 

 frozen, in fledges drawn by dogs, from the mouth of the Kreftova. 

 They found nothing but five fmall rocky iflands, fince called the Bear 

 Iflands, which were quite uninhabited ; but feme traces were 

 found of former inhabitants, namely, the ruins of huts. They obfcrved 

 alfo on one of the iflands a kind of wooden ftage built of drift-wood, 

 which feemed as if it had been intended for defence. As far as they 

 durit venture out over the Frozen Sea, no land could be feen, but 

 high mountains of ice obftrufted their pafiage, and forced them to re- 

 turn. See the map of this expedition upon the chart of Shalauroff's 

 voyage prefixed to this number. 



* Raw-fifii are confidered in thofe Northern countries as a prefer- 

 vative againft the fcurvy. 



4 P"t 



