342 . PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1747- 



from him ; for if that were a fact to be depended on, he would candidly own 

 that there could be no passage from the north-west of Hudson's Bay to the 

 western ocean of America, without sailing near 70° of longitude; the distance 

 of the north-east cape of Asia from the north-west of Hudson's bay, in a parallel 

 almost as far north as the polar circle, before the passage can be made to the 

 Pacific Ocean ; which might therefore be very reasonably called an impracticable 

 passage, as it could not possibly be made in one summer, if at all. 



Now Behring fixes his north-east cape 126" ^' east longitude from Tobolski ; 

 and Tobolski is 86° east from Fero ; so the cape is 212° 7' east of Fero, or about 

 194° east from London. By captain Middleton's observation of Jupiter's satel- 

 lite at Churchill river in Hudson's Bay, that river is 95° west from London ; 

 which, added to 1 94°, makes 289° ; consequently the north-east cape of Asia is 

 71° distant from Churchill, to complete 36o° ; which, in the latitude of 65°, 

 computing 8 leagues to a degree of longitude, of which 20 make a degree of la- 

 titude, the distance between that cape and Hudson's Bay would be 568 such 

 leagues. 



From the known longitude of the north cape of Japan in 40° lat., which is 

 pretty exactly known, from the observations made by the Jesuits at Peking, and 

 is about 1 30° east from London, and from the best computed longitude of Cali- 

 fornia in 40° north lat., it lies in 130° long, west from London, making together 

 280°, leaves 80° for the distance of California from Japan; allowing 17 leagues 

 to a degree of longitude in 40° north lat., the distance would be about ISSo 

 leagues : by the same calculation California must be at least 7 or 800 such 

 leagues from the north-east cape of Asia ; so that in so great a space there may 

 be very great countries or islands, * without supposing the new discovered country 

 continuous to California, and might well allow of an open channel or sea, from 

 50 to 100 leagues wide, between the discovered coast and California. 



By the account given to professor Euler, Behring sailed southwardly to the 

 Isles of Japan, and fi-om thence sailed eastwardly 50 German miles, about 250 

 English miles ; which makes about 80 leagues, of 20 to a degree. At that 

 distance from Japan he discovered land, which he coasted north-west ; still ap- 

 proaching towards the north-east cape, without going ashore, till he came to 

 the entrance of a great river ; where sending his boats and men ashore, they 

 never returned, being either lost, killed, or detained by the natives, which 

 made his discovery incomplete ; his ship being stranded, and he afterwards died 

 in an uninhabited island. 



As no latitudes nor longitudes are fixed by this account, he probably sailed 



• The Japanese, in their maps of the world printed in Japan, have laid down in this very tract two 

 ijlands as large as Ireland, with the names to them, as appears in that map bought by Dr. Kempfer 

 in Japan in 16'86 ; now in Sir Hans Sloane's museum.— Orig. 



