39° 



October 



A VOYAGE TO 



779- fizc*. On the other hand, if we give credit to the original 

 pofition of this land, fixed by Texiera f, it lay to the Weft 

 by South •, and as the Company's Land X, Staten Ifland §, 

 and the famous land of Jefo j], were alfo fuppofed to lie 



nearly 



* From Mullcr's account of the courfe fleered by Captain Spanberg, in his route 

 from Kamtfchatka to Japan, it appears, that he muft alfo undoubtedly have fecn 

 De Gama's Land, if it really has the extent given it in Mr. d'Anville's m. 

 Walton, who commanded a vefiel in the fame expedition, feems alfo to have looked 

 in vain for this land on his return from Japan ; and three years afterward, on account 

 of fome doubts that had arifen refpedting Spanbcrg's courfe, Becring went directly in 

 fearch of it, as low as the latitude of 46°. 



See Voyages et Decouvatcs, &c. p. 210, & feq. 



f See Book VI. Chap. i. p. 149. 



X This land was feen by the Dutchmen who failed in the Caftricom and Brefkes, 

 and imagined by them to be part of the continent of America. There now remains 

 fcarcc any doubt of its being the iflands of Ooroop and Nadeegfda. See the Journals 

 of the Caftricom and Brefkes, publifhed by Wctzer. 



^ This land was alfo difcovered by the Caftricom ; and, from its fituation, as de- 

 fcribed in the journal of that veffe!, it appears to be the iflands of the Three Sillers. 



The country of Jefo, which has fo long been a ftumbling-biock to our modern 

 geographer?, was firft brought to the knowledge of Europeans by the Dutch veffels 

 mentioned in the preceding notes. The name appears, from the carlieft accounts, to 

 have been well known, both to the Japanefe and the Kamtfchad.iles ; and ufed by 

 them, indiscriminately; for all the iflands lying between Kamtfchatka and Japan. It 

 has fince been applied to a large imaginary ifland, or continent, fuppofed to have been 

 difcovered by the Caftricom and Brefkes ; and it may not, therefore, be improper to 

 copfider the grounds of this miftake, as far as can be collected from the Journals of 

 this expedition. The object of the voyage, in which thole fhips were engaged, was 

 to explore the Eaftern fhorc of Tartary ; bet, being feparatcd by a ftorm off the 

 South Eaft poinl of Japan, they failed in different tracks along the Eaft fide of that 

 ifland; and, having paused its Northern extremity, proceeded iingly on their intended 

 expedition. 



Caftricom, commanded by De Yries, (leering Northward, fell in with land 

 on the third day, in latitude 4a 9 . He failed along the South Eaft cbaft about fixty 

 leagues in a conJJant fog 5 and having anchored in vai cs, held 1 in- 



tercourfe with the iri . Thus far the Journal. Now, as the iflands of 



Matimai, Kunafhir, - ( in Spanberg's Difco 'lie 



exactly in this lititation, there can be no doubt of their ne land ; and the 



circutnftancc of the fog fufl accounts for u-.c error of De Vries, in imagining 



the in 



