Ag} AOS C HE A. 
than any other, they would inftantly become articles of commerce, and find their 
way acrofs the continent to the Ewrcpean {ettlements. 
From Turn-again river to the neareft part of Hud/on’s bay, is fifty-five degrees, 
or about fixteen hundred miles; but from the moft weftern part of Arapathe/cow 
lake (which is intermediate) is only twenty-fix degrees, or about feven hundred and 
fifty miles. There is no difcharge out of that vaft water but what runs into 
Hudfon’s bay. We have fome obfcure accounts of rivers * which take a weftern 
courfe from the countries eaft of this coaft: fome of which may be thofe which 
have been feen by our navigators, and which, by means of lakes or other rivers 
falling into them, may prove a channel of intercourfe between thefe /ndians and 
the Hudj/on’s bay company, as foon as our friendly Jndzans become acquainted with 
the value of thefe maritime furs. 
The inhabitants of Cook’s river differed very little from thofe of Prince William’s 
found. ‘They had Dogs, which were the firft feen on the coafts; Sea Otters, 
Martins, and white Hares: and they were plentifully fupplied with Salmon and 
Holibut. 
After leaving the entrance into the river, appears Cape St. Hermogenes, difco- 
vered firft by Berinc. It proved a naked lofty ifland, about fix leagues in cir- 
cuit, and divided from the coaft by a channel a league broad. This lies in 
Jat. 58.15, off the vaft peninfula Ala/chka, which begins between the eftuary of 
Cook’s river and Briffol bay, which bound its ifthmus. It points fouth-weft, and 
continues the crefcent formed by the iflands which crofs the fea from Kamt/chatka. 
Alafchka is the only name given by the natives to the continent of America. The 
land to the weft of Coox’s river rifes into mountains, with conoid tops thickly 
fet together. The coaft is frequently bold, and the rocks break into pinnacles of 
picturefque forms: the whole is fronted by groups of ifles and clufters of {mall 
rocks. In a word, the country and fhores are the moft rugged and disjointed 
imaginable, and bear evident marks of having undergone fome extraordinary 
change. 
Among the ifles, thofe of Schoumagin are the moft important, which received 
their name from having been the place of interment of one of Bering’s crew, the 
firft which he loft in thefe feas. The principal lies the fartheft to the weft, and 
is called Kadjak: it is about a hundred verfts long, and from twenty to thirty 
broad ; and, from the account of Demetrius Bragin, who vifited it from Oonala/bka 
in 1776, is very populous. ‘The inhabitants fpoke a language different from thofe — 
* Particularly from one Fofeph de la France, who in 1739 made a very long journey to the weft, 
and was a very obfervant man. See Dobbs, Hud/on’s Bay, 21, 44, 35. 
u2 of 
cur 
Docs. 
Care St. Hermoe 
GENES. 
ALASCHKA, CON® 
TINENT OF AME- 
RICAe 
Kapjax, 
