A S I 



AST 



1709 to 1721, contending againfl; tlie opinion of tliofe wlio 

 imagined that Afia was contiguous to America, pofitivcly 

 aflerts that the Riidian vcfTcls, coailing along the main land, 

 ordinarily pafs the Svretoi-nofs, in order to trade with the 

 KamtJhadales on the (hore of the Eaftem ocean, about the 

 fiftieth degree of latitude : but for this pui-pofe thty are 

 obliged to pafs between the main land, and a great idand 

 lying to the north-caft of Svretoi nofs, and that this iflc is 

 the north-weft of America. Strahlcmberg mentions nothing 

 farther in his work than the fafts already rtlated, except- 

 ing that the Yukagira are a people fettled near the Frozen 

 ocean, between the mouth of tiie Lena and cape Tabin. It 

 has been found, that in the pirt of the continent of America 

 of which fome knowledge has been obtained, oppofite the 

 cape, there is a large river, wafting down its current numbers 

 of great trees, &c. 



From ail tlufe, and various other documents and data, 

 M. Engel endeavours to eilablidi fome important facts ; 

 fuch as, that the pofition of this pretended cape Tabin owes 

 its origin to the defire of fixing that of Pliny fpoken of above ; 

 and this motive having fubfifted till within a few years part, 

 or at leall the idea of a finis terrse towards the north-call, it 

 has been preferved, and fome cape or other was to be found 

 for that purpofe. That the largeft of all, that which extends 

 farthefl into the fea ; and the mod formidable, according to 

 all accounts, is the double cape, called Sej-dzekamen, or heart 

 of ftone, north of the Anadyr, which may in fome years, at 

 lead, without difficulty be doubled ; fince it is not owing to 

 its proximity to the pole, but to the occafional conjunftion 

 of vail bodies of ice, that renders it at fuch times impraftica- 

 ble. 



M. Gmelin fays : " There are even traces of a man, who 

 in a fmall boat, not much bigger than a fiilierman's canoe, 

 doubled the Shalaginfkoy cape, and made the voyage from 

 the Kovyma to Kamtfliatka." It may be aflced, adds M. En- 

 gel, whether I am fo credulous as to believe it ? No : if I 

 ihould grant what he means by that cape ; fince this man 

 mull have failed, according to the arbitrary dillances laid 

 down in the charts, five or fix hundred leagues. But if ac- 

 cording to my fyftem, we banifh cape Tabin into its proper 

 nonentity, diminifh the extent of the coafts, approximate 

 the rivers, efpecially the Kovyma (for the fuppofed declen- 

 Con of the coall, and the greater proximity of the Indigirka 

 and the Kovyma, are comfirmcd by various arguments) ; by 

 doubling the Serdzekamen, as the fole and real cape Shala- 

 ginflcoy, then it would be by no means impoffible, in one 

 of thofe years, when, as M. Mliller allows, there are nomaf- 

 fes of ice in its environs. 



The authorities whereon M Miiller and the Ruffian geo- 

 graphers fix the longitude of the eallern extremity of Afia 

 beyond the two hundredth degree from the firll meridian of 

 Ferro, or iSo"" 6' 15" from Paris, are derived from the ob- 

 fervations of Jupiter's fatelliteS, taken by KralTilnikof, at 

 Kamtlhatka and in feveral parts of Siberia ; as alfo from the 

 expeditions, both by land and fca, of the Ruffians towards 

 Tlhukot (koi-nofs. 



M. Engel di/pntes the accuracy of thefe obfervations, 

 and dedufls no Icfs than twenty-nine degrees from the lon- 

 gitude of Kamtfliatka as ftatcd by the Ruffians. M. de 

 Vaugoiidy, however, fees no fufficient reafons for fo extra- 

 ordinary a fubllraflion ; and contents himfelf with curtailing 

 the continent of Afia of no more than eleven degrees of 

 longitude. M. Buache diflcnts from the opinions both of 

 Engel and Vaugondy ; defending llie lyllem of the Ruffian 

 geographers onthe authority of tables drawnupbyM.Maraldi. 

 It is certain that Ktaffilnikof compared his ftatements 

 with correfpondent obfervations made at Peterfburg, and the 



refults were ; on comparing an obfervation of an eclipfe of 

 the firll fatellite of Jupiter, taken at O'khotfk', Jan. 17, ij^.^, 

 with an obfervation of an echpfe of .the fame fatellite taken 

 at Petcrlburg, Jan. 15, of the fame year, the difference of 

 longitude between Pcterfljurg and Okhotflc appeared to be 

 7 hours, 31 minutes, 29 feconds ; from a comparifon of two 

 fubfequent fimilar obfervations, the difference of longitude 

 was found to be 7 hours, 31 minutes, 34 feconds ; the pro- 

 portional mean whereof, rejefting the half fecond, is 7 hours, 

 31 minutes, 31 feconds, the true difference between the me- 

 ridians of Peterfburg and Okhotflc according to thefe obfer- 

 vations. Adding the longitudinal difference between Peterf- 

 burg and Paris, which is I hour, 52 m.inutes, 25 feconds, 

 we get the longitude of Okhotik fro.m Paris, 7 hours, 23 

 minutes, 56 feconds, differing only 26 feconds from the 

 refult of M. Maraldi. (See Nov. Cumm. Petropol. torn. iii. 

 p. 470. ) So likewife the longitude of Bolfheretfl<, from 

 correfpondent obfenations taken there and at St. Peterfburg, 

 appears to be 10 hours, 20 minutes, 22 feconds, differing 

 from Maraldi about 2 minutes, 5 feconds. (Id. ib. p. 469.) 

 But the longitude of the haven of Peterpavlovfliy, calcu- 

 lated in like manner by correfpondent obfervations, difagrees 

 with the longitude as computed by Maraloi no more than 

 20 feconds. (Ibid.) Belides, the refults deduced from cor* 

 refpondent obfervations of the eclipfes of Jupiter's fatellite* 

 taken at Bolfheretft;, and at the haven of Peter and Paul, 

 by Kraffilnikof, and at Pekin by thejefuit miffionaries, evince 

 by their near agreement the care and attention with which 

 the obfervations muft have been conduifted ; whence there 

 is great reafon to fuppofe, that the fufpicions of inaccuracj 

 imputed to Kraffilnikof are deflitute of any jufl foundation. 

 (Obferv. Aflron. eccl. Sat. Jovis, &c. Nov. Comm. Petro- 

 pol. torn. iii. p. 452, &feq. Obferv. Aflron. Pekini faftx. 

 Ant. Hallerilein. Curante Max. Hell. Vindibonx, 176S.) 

 For fupporting, however, in fome fort, thefe fufpicions, 

 M. Vaugondy pretends, that the time-pieces and other 

 inftruments ufed by Kraffilnikof at Kamtfliatka, were greatly 

 damaged by the length of the journey ; and that the pei-fou 

 who was fent to repair them was not expert in his bufinefs. 

 But this opinion feems to have been too haftily adopted ; 

 for, though Kraffilnikof does indeed allow that his time- 

 piece fometimes fl;opt, and that too when he wanted to 

 afcertain the true time of the obfervation ; and farther 

 admits, that confequently the obfervations taken by him 

 under thefe difadvantages, when he was unable to correft 

 them by former or fubfequent obfervations of the fun or 

 ftars, are not to be relied on, and which he has therefore 

 ditlinguiflied by an aflcrilm ; there are neveithelels many- 

 others not Table to any objeflions of this nature ; and the 

 obfervations alluded to above fall under this defcription. 

 (.See Nov. Comment. Petrop. torn. iii. p. 444.) However, 

 the teftimony of the late profeffor JSIiiUer, who was in thofe 

 parts with Kraffilnikof, as to the fufficiency of the inftrtj- 

 ments entirely removes that objeftion. 



The befl way of trying the accuracy of the Ruffian geo- 

 graphers in fettling the longitude of Kamtfhatka, will be 

 by comparing it with that of Yakut fk, which has been 

 clearly ellablifhed by a variety of obferv.ations taken at 

 diflerent times and by different perlons. If therefore any 

 error be in placing Kamtfliatka fo far to the eaft, it is in the 

 longitude between Yakutfli and Bolflieretfk. 



Now, Kraffilnikof, on his return from Kamtfhatka, ob- 

 ferved at Yakutfk feveral eclipfes of Jupiter's fatellites, from 

 which it appears, on comparing them with calculations of 

 the fame eclipfes made by M. Wargentin for the meridian 

 of Paris, that the mean of the refult is S hours, 29 minutes, 

 5 feconds. The obfervations of M. Iflenief, taken at Ya- 



L 2 kuUk- 



