A s r 



tlirt Ankudinnf's kotfch pcriflied ; tlie people liowever 

 were fivcd, and put on board the other ti^o koticlics. Slionly 



. atttrwards thefc wcic Icparaled, and never again got light 

 of each other. Dcihncf, a^ter being driven about by wind 

 and weather till Odobcr, fuffered Ihipwrcck, as far as can 

 be coUedted from circumftanccs, conlidcrably to tlie fouth 

 of the river Anadyr, fom^-.vhcre abont the river Olutora. 

 AVhat l)ecame of Ftdot Alcxeicf and hii lliip'i company 

 we !\rA\ uiention prefently. 



Dcflinef, witli his follov/ers, five and twenty in number, 

 now fet out in fcarch of the Anadyr, which they did not 

 difcover till after they had wandered abont, for want o< a 

 guide, the tidioui fpacc of ten wteks. The region wlicre 

 they came np to thc.Aiiadyr was not far from its mouth, 

 a country eaitiicly void of inhabitants, and dellituTe of 

 foreits; circumikurxes that naturally threw them into the 

 cv.tremity ofdiftrefs, as perceiving no means of obtaining 

 full^iancc. Wild aiiimaU were not to be expected, as they 

 ufnally haunt the woods ; and they luid no implcmeiits for 



-filhiiig. In this perplexity, twelve of tlie company went up 

 the conrfe of the rivtr ; but after a devious journey of 



.tv.-cnty day.-, ftill finding no traces of n^ankind, they turned 

 about to re;ain the flation wliere Deflmef and the rell 

 were waiting for them ; which, however, on account of 

 hunger and fatigue, only a few of them reached. 



After undergoing i:icrediblc hardlhips, Dedinef, in the 

 funiiner of 1649, with the fmall remains of iiis people, 



■went up the Anadyr by water, till he came to a people 

 called Anauli ; and there he founded the Anadyrllioi ollrog, 

 which was followed by other buildings. Ueihnef obferved 

 a great fand-bank lying at the mouth of the Anadyr, ad- 

 vancing on the northern fide far into the fea, the refort 



^f a vail number of raordies and other amphibious animals. 

 This cireumftancc was too flattering to be iiegleded. Ac- 

 cordingly, he began to fell timber, in 1653, for the con- 

 ftruclion of a kotfche to be employed in conveying the 

 tribute to Yakutlk by fea ; but was obliged to defill from 

 liis pnrpofe from the want of other materials, and becaufe 

 he learnt that tlie fea about Tlhukotlkoi-iiofs was not every 

 year equally free from ice. 



In i6j4, he made another expedition to the korga, or 

 (and-bank, for the purpofe of collecting morlhe-teeth. He 

 now afl'oeiated with him a Kozac named Yulko Seliverllof, 

 ti'ho had accompanied Mikhaila Stadikiu on his voyage 

 of difcovery in the Frozen Ocean, and was feiit from Ya- 

 Jiutlk to coUeft thefe teeth for the benefit of the crown. 

 In his iiiRructions mention is made of a river Shendon, 

 falling into the bay at Penfliinfli, as well as of the Anadyr; 

 and he was ordered to levy a tribute on the inhabitants 

 dwelling about both thcfe rivers ; as what Dcdinef had been 

 doing was not as yet known at Yakutlk. On this occafion 

 new difcontents arofe. Seliverllof arrogated to hiaifelf the 

 difcovery of the korga, as having failed to that place 

 with Stadukin, in 1649. Defiinef however proved that he 

 had Hot even reached the great Tlhuktilii-nofs, which he 

 atlirmed to be formed of nothing but bare rocks, as was 

 .but too welt known to him, fmce Ankudinof's velTel had 

 .been wrecked upon them. He farther alleged, that this 

 was by no means the firll promontory that appeared under 

 the appelhition of Svxtoi-nofs. The two iflands lying 

 oppofitc the Tiliuktllti-nofs, belonging to the tooth-iipcd 

 people before mentioned, being the peculiar marks of it. 

 That Dedinef alone, and neither Stadukin nor Stliverllof, 

 .had feen thefe people : and concluded by infifling that the 

 Jtorga at the mouth of the Anadyr was at a great dillance 

 S\om them. 



Defhiief, while furveying the fea-coaft, learnt, of the 



A S I 



Koriacs the fate of the two Ankudinofs, Fedot and Oc- 

 rafim, as well as of Fedot Alexeief. 



In 1659, other expeditions were again undertaken ; but, 

 from the foregoing impediments, thoU);h they fet fail m 

 Julv, they fuifered fo much datnqge from tiic floating ice 

 between the eailern mouths of the Lena and Svasloi-nofs, 

 that they were deterred from fuch voyages for a loniitime; 

 and it was not till the reign of Peter the Great that thel- 

 ciiterpiifes were refumcd. It is well known that his com- 

 preheiifive mind conceived only vail ideas and grand pro. 

 jects ; that being principally delirous to ellablifii an extcii- 

 iive commerce by means of navigation, he began by opi w- 

 iiig to himfclf the navigation of the Baltic by the tour.da- 

 tiou of St. Pctcrfburg ; Archangel already exifted on the 

 (hore of the White Sea ; he thought himfelf fecure in the 

 navigation of the Euxine by the pofltllion of Azof, and 

 that of the Cafpian by Ailnikhan, which he fucceeded iri 

 brin'i'ing to effect. He now conceived that ic might not be 

 inipolTible for him to participate in the lucrative commerce 

 of the Indies, of Japan, of China, and of America, bv 

 ellablilliing factories at the extremity of Afia, in the prox- 

 imity of thofe countries. Tiie Dutch Fall India compa;iy 

 declining to attempt the difcovery of the noith-e-all paffagc, 

 the tzar adopteil tlie projetl, as well as that ot iubjeCting the 

 countries adjacent to the objects of his commerce, bcgiii- 

 iiigby Kamtlhatka, of which iome obfcure information liad 

 been obtained. 



Thither, in 1696, he fent Vladimir AtlafTof, ftationed as 

 commandant of tlie Kozaks at Aiiadyrfkoi-ollrog, a fettlc- 

 ment that had been retained ever iince its firll eredion bv 

 Defiinef, as before related, who was naturally fuppofcd to 

 have acquired an extenl'ive knowledge of all the neighbour- 

 ing countries. He accordingly dltpatched lixteen Kozaks 

 of Yakutlk, to render the Koriaks on the river Opuka tri- 

 butary ; Muroiko, their chief, acquitted himfelf well of his 

 commiffion, and even took a Kamtlliadale ollrog. AtlafTof, 

 profiting by this advantage, put himfelf at the head of fixty 

 Kozaks, and as many Yukagirs, and led them to the river 

 Kamtlliatka, and the furrounding dillricls. In his juridical 

 declaration, he relates, among other things, before he con- 

 tinues the recital of his progrcfs to Kamtlhatka ; that, 

 between the Kovyma and Anadyr is a ilouble cape, which 

 fome have called Shalatflcoi cape and Anadyrfl<oi cape. Of 

 the latter he afTirms, that it can never be doubled in vefTels 

 of the ordinary conllruCtion, becaufe on the wellern or nor- 

 thern fide are always vail pieces ot floating ice (flationary 

 and folid in winter) ; and lliat tiie other llde of the fea of the 

 Anadyrlkoi cape is at all times free from ice. That, though 

 he himfelf was not perfonally at the height of thefe capes, 

 yet he learnt fiom tlie Tihuktllit, who d« elt about the month 

 of the Anadyr, that over againll this cape is a large illand, 

 inhabited by people who come to them m winter over the 

 ice, and bring them bad lables. 



To avoid prolixity, we omit the remainder of his account, 

 only obferving, that Mr. Miiller feems rather to depart from 

 his ufual candour in regard to this narrative, which he ac- 

 knowledges to be really Atlafiol's, but fuggefts that it docs 

 not exattly tally with a letter of his in 1700, nor with his 

 juridical dcpolition in 1701. In order to have given validity 

 to his doubts, he Ihould have communicated thefe pieces 

 among the great number witli which he has enriched his va- 

 luable colieClion. This he has not done. And iince the 

 tzar, who was an excellent judge of mankind, was fo well 

 fatislied with him, that he made him colonel of the ivozaks 

 at Yakutlk, this circumllance ought to have its proper weight 

 with us. 



Parties were repeatedly fent .againft .the Tlhuktfhis, with- 



out 



