cook's VOYAGE TO OCT, 



were also supposed to lie nearly in the same di- 

 rection, together with the group first mentioned, 

 according to the Russian charts, we thought this 

 coast deserved the preference, and accordingly 



ledge of Europeans by the Dutch vessels mentioned in the 

 preceding notes. The name appears, from the earliest accounts, 

 to have been well known, both to the Japanese and the Kamtscha- 

 dales ; and used by them indiscriminately, for all the islands lying 

 between Kamtschatka and Japan. It has since been applied to a 

 large imaginary island, or continent, supposed to have been 

 discovered by the Castricom and Breskes ; and it may not, there- 

 fore, be improper to consider the grounds of this mistake, as far as 

 can be collected from the journals of this expedition. The object 

 of the voyage in which those ships were engaged, was to explore 

 the eastern shore of Tartary ; but, being separated by a storm off 

 the south-east point of Japan, they sailed in different tracks along 

 the east side of that island ; and, having passed its northern ex- 

 tremity, proceeded singly on their intended expedition. 



The Castricom, commanded by De Vries, steering northward, 

 fell in with land on the third day, in latitude 42°. He sailed along 

 the south-east coast about sixty leagues in a constant fog ; and 

 having anchored in various places, held a friendly intercourse with 

 the inhabitants. Thus far the journal. Now, as the islands of 

 Matimai, Kunashir, and Zellany appear, from Captain Spanberg's 

 discoveries, to lie exactly in this situation, there can be no doubt 

 of their being the same land; and the circumstance of the fog 

 sufficiently accounts for the error of De Vries, in imagining them 

 to be one continent, without having recourse to the supposition 

 of an earthquake, by which Mr. Muller, from his desire to recon- 

 cile the opinion generally received, with the latter Russian 

 discoveries, conceives the several parts to have been separated. 

 The journal then proceeds to give an account of the discovery of 

 Staten Island and Company's Land, of which I have already given 

 my opinion, and shall have occasion to speak hereafter. Having 

 passed through the Straits of De Vries, says the journal, they 

 entered a vast, wild, and tempestuous sea, in which they steered, 

 through mists and darkness, to the 48° latitude north ; after which 

 they were driven by contrary winds to the southward, and again 

 fell in with land to the westward, in latitude 45°, which they 

 unaccountably still imagined to be part of the continent of Jeso ; 

 whereas, whoever examines Jansen's map of their discoveries 

 (which appears to be exceedingly accurate, as far as his inform- 

 ation went), will, I believe, have no doubt, that they were, at this 

 time, on the coast of Tartary. Having traced this land four 

 degrees to the northward, they returned to the southward through 

 the straits they had passed before. 



