Chap, v.] Geography. 41 



in the Southern Ocean ; and contributed not a little 

 to extend our knowledge of navigation, natural his- 

 tory, and the habits and manners of various savage 

 nations, of whom litUe was before known. 



In 1785 commodore Billings, an Englishman in 

 the Russian service, was dispatched by the empress 

 to explore some of the northern parts of Russia ; 

 more particularly to determine the latitude and 

 Ictngitude of the mouth of the river Kovimci, and the 

 situation of the great promontory of the TshutsJciy 

 as far as the East Cape ; to form an exact chart of 

 the islands in the Eastern Ocean, extending to the 

 coast of America ; and, in short, to bring to per- 

 fection the knowledge acquired of the seas lying 

 between Siberia and the. opposite coast of America. 

 Though this expedition did not answer the expec- 

 tation of its royal patron, it furnished some ad- 

 ditions to our geographical knowledge. Commo- 

 dore Billings, in particular^ ascertained the latitude 

 of the mouth of the Kovj'ma, and returned to Pe- 

 tersburg, in 1 79^5 with a variety of less important 

 details of information, useful to navigation and 

 geography *. 



In the years 1790, 1791, and 1792, a voyage 

 round the world was performed in the ship SolidCy 

 commanded by captain Etienne Marchand, a 

 French naval officer of reputation. From this voy- 

 age resulted the discovery of a group of islands in 

 the Pacific Ocean, in the neighbourhood of the 

 Marquesas^ and some additional particulars of 

 mformation respecting the north-v/est coast of 

 America. 



* 3ce An Account of a Geographical and Astronomical -Ex- 

 pedition, Sec, by Martin Sauer, 4tb, 



