I?79. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 239 



leagues. In the night we steered to the south south- 

 west, with a fresh west north-westerly breeze ; and, 

 at four in the morning of the 31st, the east cape bore 

 north north-east, and the north-east part of the bay 

 of St. Laurence (where we anchored the last year) 

 west by south, its distance being four leagues. As 

 we could not have worked up to windward without 

 a greater waste of time, than the object appeared to 

 deserve, we ran across the bay, regretting much, as 

 we passed along, the loss of this opportunity of 

 paying a second visit to the Tschutski. At noon our 

 latitude, by observation, was 65° 6', and longitude 

 189°. The south point of the bay of St. Laurence 

 bore north by west one quarter west, and was distant 

 seven or eight leagues. In the afternoon the varia- 

 tion was found to be 22° 50' east. 



Having now passed Beering's Straits, and taken 

 our final leave of the north-east coast of Asia, it may 

 not be improper, on this occasion, to state the grounds 

 on which we have ventured to adopt two general 

 conclusions respecting its extent, in opposition to the 

 opinions of Mr. Muller. The first, that the promon- 

 tory named East Cape is actually the easternmost 

 point of that quarter of the globe ; or, in other words, 

 that no part of the continent extends in longitude 

 beyond 190° 22' E. : the second, that the latitude 

 of the north-easternmost extremity falls to the south- 

 ward of 70° N. With respect to the former, if such 

 land exist, it must necessarily be to the north of 

 latitude 69°, where the discoveries made in the 

 present voyage terminate ; and, therefore, the pro- 

 bable direction of the coast, beyond this point, is the 

 question I shall endeavour, in the first place, to in- 

 vestigate. 



As the Russian is the only nation that has hitherto 

 navigated these seas, all our information respecting 

 the situation of the coast to the northward of Cape 

 North, must necessarily be derived from the charts 



