118 National Geographic Magazine. 
while rude outlines of the northern islands of Japan, Sakhalin, . 
the Kuriles and the south end of Kamchatka, were added to these 
on maps of Asia. The outlines are often very incorrect but it is 
quite evident what is intended. In nearly all early maps of this 
region which I have been able to consult, as for instance those of 
N. de Witt, I have found the south end of Kamchatka in approxi- 
mately correct longitude. For instance, in the Novissimae Epheme- 
rides of Manfredio, published at Bonn the same year that Bering 
left St. Petersburg, and which might well have been sent to him 
before he sailed, we find two charts of the paths of solar eclipses 
(Plates ii and ii). On these charts the meridian of 180° from 
Ferro passes across what is unmistakably the south end of Kam- 
chatka, though northeastern Siberia remains a blank. This 
would be a sufficient starting point and is quite as correct as 
Bering’s determinations ; in fact is within a few miles of the 
modern longitudes for the same part of the peninsula. Dead 
reckoning along the shores of the peninsula, corrected by latitude 
observations, would have done all that was necessary to correct 
the meridian without observing any lunar eclipse, provided the 
surveyor started with such an assumption as Manfredio’s or De 
Witt’s charts supply. 
‘ 
Sources oF INFORMATION. 
The general History of China [etc.] Done from the French of 
Pere]. DuHalde [by R. Brookes]. London, John Watts, 1736. 
4 vols. 8° with maps and ills. 
This is referred to in the following text by the letter B. 
This is the first English translation from the original French edition 
of the ‘‘ Description geographique et historique de l’empire de la Chine” 
by the father J. B. Du Halde, published at the Hague in the same year 
as the above translation. The text of the original French I have not 
been able to consult, though, so far as Bering’s voyage is concerned, 
there does not seem to have been any material abridgment in the 
translation above cited, for an opportunity of consulting which I am 
indebted to the Librarian of Congress. 
The maps and charts of the original French edition were separately 
printed in an atlas by themselves, for the use of those who might desire 
to do without the text, under the following title : 
Nouvel Atlas de la Chine, de la Tartarie Chinoise, et du Thibet : 
contenant Les Chartes générales & particulieres de ces Pays, 
ainsi que la Carte du Royaume de Corée ; (etc.) : Rédigées par 
