240 cook's VOYAGE TO JULY, 



and journals of the persons who have been employed 

 at various times, in ascertaining the limits of that 

 empire ; and these are, for the most part, so imper- 

 fect, so confused and contradictory, that it is not 

 easy to form any distinct idea of their pretended, 

 much less to collect the amount of their real discove- 

 ries. It is on this account, that the extent and form 

 of the peninsula, inhabited by the Tschutski, still 

 remains a point, on which the Russian geographers 

 are much divided. Mr. Muller, in his map, published 

 in the year 1754, supposes this country to extend 

 toward the north-east, to the 7^° of latitude, and in 

 longitude 190° east of Greenwich, and to terminate 

 in a round cape, which he calls Tschukotskoi Noss. 

 To the southward of this cape he conceives the coast 

 to form a bay to the westward, bounded in latitude 

 67° 18', by Serdze Kamen, the northernmost point 

 seen by Beering in his expedition in the year 17^8. 

 The map published by the Academy of St. Peters- 

 burg, in the year 1776, gives the whole peninsula 

 entirely a new form, placing its north easternmost 

 extremity in the latitude 73°, longitude 178° 30'. 

 The easternmost point in latitude 65° 30', longi- 

 tude 189° 30'. All the other maps we saw, both 

 printed and in manuscript, vary between these 

 two, apparently more according to the fancy of the 

 compiler, than on any grounds of more accurate 

 information. The only point in which there is a 

 general coincidence, without any considerable varia- 

 tion, is in the position of the east Cape, in latitude 66°. 

 The form of the coast, both to the south and north 

 of this cape, in the map of the academy, is exceed- 

 ingly erroneous, and may be totally disregarded. 

 In that of Mr. Muller, the coast to the northward 

 bears a considerable resemblance to our survey, as far 

 as the latter extends, except that it does not trend 

 sufficiently to the westward ; receding only about 5° 

 of longitude, between the latitude of 66° and 69° \ 



