1779* THE PACIFIC OCEAN. C 2M 



whereas, in reality, it recedes near ten. Between 

 the latitude 69° and 74°, he makes the coast bend 

 round to the north and north-east, and to form a 

 considerable promontory. On what authority, now 

 remains to be examined. 



Mr. Coxe, whose accurate researches into this 

 subject, give his opinion great weight, is persuaded 

 that the extremity of the Noss in question was 

 never passed but by DeshnefF and his party, who 

 sailed from the river Kovyma in the year 1648, and 

 are supposed to have got round it into the Anadyr. 

 As the account of this expedition, the substance of 

 which the reader will find in Mr. Coxe's account of 

 Russian discoveries, contains no geographical deline- 

 ation of the coast along which they sailed, its 

 position must be conjectured from incidental circum- 

 stances; and from these it appears very manifest, 

 that the Tschukotskoi Noss of Deshneff is no other 

 than the promontory called by Captain Cook 

 the East Cape. Speaking of the Noss, he says, 

 " One might sail from the isthmus to the river 

 Anadyr, with a fair wind, in three days and three 

 iiights/' This exactly coincides with the situation 

 of the East Cape, which is about one hundred and 

 twenty leagues from the mouth of the Anadyr ; and 

 as there is no other isthmus to the northward between 

 that and the latitude of 69°, it is obvious, that, by 

 this description, he must intend either the cape in 

 question, or some other to the southward of it. In 

 another place he says, " Over against the isthmus 

 there are two islands in the sea, upon which were seen 

 people of the Tschutski nation through whose lips 

 were run pieces of the teeth of the sea-horse." This 

 again perfectly agrees with the two islands situated 

 to the south-east of the East Cape. We saw indeed 

 no inhabitants on them ; but it is not at all improba- 

 ble, that a party of the Americans, from the opposite 

 continent, whom this description accurately suits, 

 might, at that time, have been accidentally there: and 



VOL. VII. R 



