A s r 



to ufe wliile fpcaking of it in thisfenfe), Svetoi-nofs, Caput 

 Sacrum, Tlhukchi-nofs, Tdialakdcoi-nofs, &c. 



Strahlemberg notices this cape in a ftriking manner ; 

 and the navigators of the ieventeenth century, likevvife, even 

 fo early as Linfchotten and his contemporaries, were per- 

 fiiaded that it was no other tVian that prominent angle 

 towards the Taimura : indeed it is the moil advanced cape 

 of all that coaft, lying beyond the 77^^ or in 78^, and there- 

 fore the finis terrse towards the north. But Strahlcmberg at 

 the fame time points out the ide of Tazzata, which he proves 

 to be Novaya Zemla, fince the ancient Scythians and their 

 fuccelTors began with the northern nations of Europe, by 

 the river Taas, whence they denominate the great gulf to 

 which we give the name of Oby, the gulf of 'I'aas, and from 

 which Novaya Zemla, fituate over againft it, was called 

 Tazzata. This is fo natural, and can be the lefs doubted of, 

 as that idand has always been reputed as lying to the well of 

 cape Tabin, near the mouth of a river. Whence Strahlcm- 

 berg concludes, that thofe geographers who mark it more to 

 the eail are greatly miftaken, " hue ufpiam Tazzata infula a 

 Plinio ponitur." 



After the conqueft of Siberia, fome Ruffians fell upon 

 the fame refledlions as Anika Stroganof and his companions 

 had done concerning the wealth that might be drawn from 

 thefe oriental parts by the articles of peltry, on going 

 direft to obtain them, either by the chace or by commerce ; 

 feveral companies were accordingly formed of people who 

 were then, and are ftill known by the name of Promuifch- 

 leiiniye. 



They confidered that the method of making the greateft 

 profit poffible would be by going to fea coallwife, and traffick- 

 ing with thefe unknown tribes, who being ignorant of 

 the value of their peltries, would give them for a low 

 price. In this they were not deceived : and, notwithiland- 

 jng the great riil^ they ran, as their veflels were fmall and 

 crazy ; as they were no lefs unikilful in the art of conllrudl- 

 ing than in managing them ; as in not venturing far from 

 (bore, they were in jeopardy every moment of toundering 

 among the ice ; yet the third of lucre was too ilrong to 

 prevent them from being deterred from their projefts ; and 

 the government was well fatisfied with them, as they fur- 

 nifhed it with the means of rendering all thefe people 

 tributary. 



They began their eourfes from Yakutfk about the year 

 1636 : proceeding in this manner ftep by ftep, they every 

 year almoft.difcovered fome new river, fome new cape, the 

 Yena, the Indigirka, the Alafea, the Kovyma. No fooner 

 were they come to the lall of thefe rivers, than their 

 curiofity was ei:cited to know what other ilreams might 

 be beyond it, in the two-fold view of rendering the nations 

 bordering on them tributary to the empire, and of profe- 

 ciiting the expected capture of fables for their own emolu- 

 rient. The firft voyage from the river Kovyma was under- 

 taken in 1646, by a free company of thefe Promyfchleni, 

 under the conduft of a certain Ifaac Ignatief, a native of 

 Mefcn. Tliey found the fea full of ice : between the ice, 

 however, and the main land was an open paflage, aloc'.g 

 which they proceeded twice 24 hours ; when, coming to 

 an inlet between the rocks and the fiiore, they ran into it. 

 Thefe 48 hours make feven degrees and a half, and the bay 

 they entered lies in 72 deg. Here they met with people 

 ef the Tfhuktihi nation, with whom they began to trade 

 in the manner cullomary with uncivilized people ; fpreading 

 their commodi-ties on the fhore, of which the Tfluiktfhi 

 took what they pleafed, and depofited in their place walrufs- 

 teeth, and articles made of that fpecies of ivory. None 

 ef the Bvahoars would venture on fhore to the Tihuktlhi, 



A S I 



particularly as they had nobody on board who could ferve 

 as interpreter. Contenting themfelves therefore with having 

 made this firft difcovery, they returned to the river Ko- 

 vyma. 



The accounts brought home by thefe people of the wal- 

 rufs-teeth, induced fome other Promyfchleni fome years 

 afterwards to undertake a fecond voyage. To this end 

 Fedot Alexeyef, a native of Kolmogor, affociated him- 

 felf with a Mofco merchant of the Goftinna fotna, a vafial 

 of Alexey Uffof, and was immediately confidered as the 

 chief of the entcrprife. He thought it, however, expedient 

 to afk of the commandant at Kovj ma, one of his kozaks 

 to h)ok after tlie concerns of the crown during the voyage, 

 who appointed one Simeon Ivanof fin Defchnef, to attend 

 him, with proper inllruftions Four kotfches, a fpecies 

 of barks, failed at the fame time in June 1647, from the river 

 Kovyma. Some luofe informations having been obtained of 

 a river Anadir, or as it was then pronounced, Antindir^. 

 the borders of which were inhabited by numerous tribes 

 of ftrange people, it was calculated that this river muft- 

 fall into the Frozen ocean ; one of the cbjefts therefore 

 of the prefent voyage was to difcover its mouth. How- 

 ever, in this, as well as all the refl, they completely failed j 

 the fea, even in fummer, being too full of ice to permit 

 them a free navigation. 



Neverthelefs, the pafllon for difccveries for augmenting 

 the revenues of the crown and the wealth of private in- 

 dividuals was fo great, that no thoughts were entertained 

 of giving them up. Indeed the number of adventurers 

 feemed rather to ir.creafe, both among the Kozaks and the 

 Promyfchleni, fo that the following year feven kotfches were 

 fitted out in the fame defign ; w'-.at became of four of 

 thefe veflels the accounts received make no mention. Of- 

 the three others, Simeon Defhnef and Gerafin Ankudinof 

 were commanders on the part of the Kozaks, and Fedor 

 Alexeief the principal of the Promyfchleni. Previous to 

 their departure a quarrel broke out between the two former, 

 arifing from the jealoufy of Delhr.ef, that Ankudinof 

 fhould fhare in the honour as well as in the profits to accrue 

 from the future difcoveries. The crew of each velTeL 

 might confill of about thirty perfons ; at leaft that was the 

 number of Ankudinof's people. 



It is to be lamented that the accounts of Defhnef, the 

 original whereof Mr. Miiller was lucky enough to find 

 among the archives of Yakutflc, fhould fay fo little, and 

 even nothing at all concerning the fate of four of thofe. 

 kotfches ; nothing of what happened to him and his com- 

 panions on board the other three till they came to the 

 Great Cape ; nothing about the ice, becaufe, doubtlefs, 

 fays Mr. Miiller, there was none; and as Defhnef remarks 

 in another place, the fea is not every year navigable. 



The relation begins at this cape. His words are : " This 

 cape is entirely different from that which prcjefis near the 

 river Tfhukotflia, weflward from the Kovyma. It is fituate 

 between the north and north-eaft, forming a femicircle to- 

 wards the Anadyr. On the Ruffian or weftern fide, the 

 Tfhuktfiiy have raifed by the fide of a river a number of 

 whalebones in the form of a tower (according to other 

 reports they are the tufhes of the walrufs). Oppofite to 

 the promcntor)' (it is not mentioned on which fide) are two 

 iflands, whereon were feen people of the nation of Tfhukt- 

 fiiy, dillinguifhed by wearing pieces of the teeth of the 

 walrufs inferted in their upper lip. It is pofGbl?, with a 

 very good wind, to flretch from the promontory as far as 

 the river Anadyr in three times. 24 hours; and it would 

 require no longer time to do it by land, as the Anadyr 

 difcharges itfelf into a bay." On this promoutor)- it was 



tliat. 



