582 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



marked their transactions, not 

 only with their servants and sub- 

 jects, but also with the public, 

 has rendered them abhorred as a 

 body, and makes it probable that 

 a very different charter will be 

 substituted for the old one. Very 

 probably another effort will be 

 made by them to create an Indian 

 Company, either independent of, 

 or as an appendage to the Ame- 

 rican Company. Litka, in Nor- 

 folk Sound, is the residence of M. 

 Brenoff, the Company's agent, 

 who is absolute, and exercises 

 almost regal powers ; he has a 

 fleet of about ten sail of vessels, 

 one of which is of three hundred 

 tons, and with many of the 

 others, was built in the colonies. 

 Had our voyage been directed to 

 that 'point, it might have proved 

 more advantageous than we can 

 now expect it will do. 



" Kamtschatka, with all its 

 natural advantages, appears to be 

 at a stand, if not declining, as its 

 population has dwindled to a 

 mere nothing ; the aborigines are 

 reduced to less than six thousand, 

 and have made no advances in 

 civilization : the Russians resi- 

 dent there do not amount, I 

 believe, to a thousand. 



" Shaping a course to the 

 southward, we passed in sight of 

 Tonoo rock, about midnight of 

 the 19tli. This rock being bold 

 to, and discernible at, a consider- 

 able distance, may be steered for 

 by vessels uncertain of their true 

 place, by reasons of fogs, &c. It 

 lies in the meridian of Ochotsk. 

 Being favoured with fair winds, 

 in three days our mast-heads, 

 rigging, and sails were clear of 

 the ice and snow, which had 

 adhered to them ; but the wea- 



ther continued sharp. On the 

 afternoon of the 22nd, made the 

 coast of Sagallen in lat. 51 deg. 

 30 min. N., and being well in 

 with it at midnight, had to put 

 about. The weather after this 

 was very bearable : at times it 

 appeared to be felt less sensibly 

 than when crossing the same 

 parallels a month before, on our 

 way to the northward. On the 

 29th we quitted the sea of 

 Ochotsk, by passing through 

 Pico channel, the same by which 

 we had entered it ; and then hav- 

 ing sea room, and the prospect 

 of enjoying a more genial climate 

 in a few days, could not but look 

 on the voyage as accomplished. 

 Impelled along by the most fa- 

 vorable gales, Sandown Point, on 

 the coast of Niphon, was made at 

 daylight of 4th November, and 

 at noon we were up with White 

 Point, and steering in for Yeddo 

 Bay, where I was inclined to pass 

 a day or two. After working to 

 windward, and tossing about 

 most terribly for a week without 

 making an inch, we were necessi- 

 tated, for want of time, to bear 

 away, with the poor consolation 

 of being only in like case with 

 H. IVr. sloops Resolution and 

 Providence, who, in 1776 and in 

 1796, were in the early part of 

 November drifted about at the 

 mercy of the strong N. E. cur- 

 rents they met with on this part 

 of the coast. During this time 

 fires were kindled nightly along 

 the coast, and similar signals 

 were made in the day when near 

 any village or town, either by 

 way of invitation or else to warn 

 us of danger. The boats we 

 passed nearer to, did not at all 

 appear to shun us, and had I 



wished 



