1779. THE PACIFIC OCEAN, 243 



to warrant him in extending the north-eastern ex- 

 tremity of Asia either so far to the north or to the 

 eastward. For after all these expressions are not irre- 

 concileable with the opinion we have adopted, if we 

 suppose Deshneff to have taken these bearings from 

 the small bight which lies to the westward of the 



cape, 





The deposition of the Cossac Poporf, taken at the 

 Anadirskoi ostrog in the year 1711, seems to have 

 been the next authority on which Mr. Muller has 

 proceeded ; and beside these two I am not acquainted 

 with any other. This Cossac, together with several 

 others, was sent by land to demand tribute from the 

 independent Tschutski tribes, who lived about the 

 Noss. The first circumstance in the account of this 

 journey that can lead to the situation of Tschukotskot 

 Noss is its distance from Anadirsk ; and this is stated 

 to be ten weeks' journey with loaded rein-deer ; on 

 which account, it is added, their day's journey was but 

 very small. It is impossible to conclude much from 

 so vague an account; but as the distance between 

 the east cape and the ostrog is upward of two hundred 

 leagues in a straight line, and therefore may be 

 supposed to allow twelve or fifteen miles a day ;• its 

 situation cannot be reckoned incompatible with 

 PopofFs calculation. The next circumstance men- 

 tioned in this deposition is, that their route lay by the 

 foot of a rock called Matkol, situated at the bottom 

 of a great gulf. This gulf Muller supposes to be the 

 bay he had laid down between latitude 6(5° aud 7-° ; 

 and accordingly places the rock Matkol in the centre 

 of it ; but it appears equally probable, even if we had 

 not so many reasons to doubt the existence of that 

 bay, that it might be some part of the guif of Anadir, 

 which they would undoubtedly touch upon in their 

 road from the ostrog to the East Cape. 



But what seems to put this matter beyond ail dis- 

 pute, and to prove that the cape visited by PopofV 

 cannot be to the northward of 69° latitude, is that 



r 2 



