A S I 



kutflc in 1769, whither he had been fcnt to obfcrve the 

 trarifit of Venus, received the fanftion of the imperial 

 academy of fcienccs. (Nov. ComRient, Acad. Petrop. torn. 

 xiv. pars iii. p. 268 — 321-) Tlie longitude given by him to 

 Yakutflc is 8 hours, 29 miuutes, 34 feconds, a fulFiciently 

 accurate agreement uith the longitude refulting from the 

 obfervatioiis of Kraffilnikof. 



The longitude therefore of Yakiitdc from Paris beinp; 8 

 hours, 29 minutes, 5 feconds, or 127" 16' o"; and of Bol- 

 flierctlk lohours, 17 minutes, 1 7 feconds, or 150° 19' 15", 

 the longitudinal difference of thefe two places, from ailro- 

 nomical ubfcrvations, is l hour, 4S minutes, S feconds, or 

 27° 3' o". The latitude of Bollhtietlk is 52" §^' 3", and 

 that of Yakntdc 62° i' 50" ; then the dilference of' their 

 longitude being from the foregoing llatement 27° 3' o", the 

 direcl diftance between the places me.ifured on a great ciicle 

 of the earth will appear by trigonometry to be 16^ 57', or 

 about 1773 verfts, reckoning 104! verlls to a degree. This 

 dillancc confiils partly of fea and partly of land ; and a 

 conftant intercourfe is kept up between the two places, by 

 means of Okhutflc, which ilands in the intennediate fpace. 

 The diftance by fea from Bolflieretflc to Okhotflv is eftimatcd 

 by nautical reckonings to be 1254 verils, and the dillauce 

 by land from Okhotfl; to Yakutlk is 927, making together 

 ■21S1 verfts. Tlie direA diftance deduced by trigonomctiy, 

 fuppofing the difference of longitude between Boldieretflc 

 and Yakuifl< to be 27° 3', is 1773, faUing fhort of 2 iSi by 

 408 ; a difference naturally to be cxpefted, on confidering 

 that neither journics by land, nor voyages by fea, are ever 

 performed precifely on a great circle of the globe, which is 

 the (hortell line between any two places. 



Such being the agreement between the diftance thus 

 eflimated, and that deduced by calculation, admitting the 

 difference of longitude between Yakutfk and Boliheretlk to 

 be 27° 3', it feems highly improbable that there (liould be 

 an error of many degrees in the aftronomical detcraiia- 

 ation. 



Since then the longitude between Ferro and St. Peterfburg 

 IS confeffedly 48^ ; that between St. Peterfburg and Ya- 

 kutlk 99° 21'; and, as the diilance in longitude between 

 Yakutfk and BoKlieretfl^ cannot be materially lefs than 27° 

 <;': it follows, that the longitude of Boliheretlk from Ferro 

 cannot be much fliort of i 74° 24'. How then are we to 

 find room for fo confiderable an error as 29 degrees, which, 

 according to M. Engel, or even of j I", which, according to 

 M. Vaugondy, is chargeable on the Ruffian geographers in 

 determining the longitude of Kamtfhatk:^ i 

 From the ifle of Ferro the longitude of 



Yakutfk is - - 147° o' o" 



Okhotlk - - 160 7 o 



Bolfheretflc - - 174 13 o 



Peter and Paul - 176 10 o 



As no aftronomical obfervations have been made farther 



to the call than the haven of Peter and Paul, it is impoffible 



to afcertain with precifion the longitude of the noith-eaftern 



promontory of Afia. It is nevertiielcfs apparent, from 



Beenng's and Synd's coalling voyages towards Tfliukotfkoi- 



nofs, as well as from other expeditions to thofe parts by 



land and fea, that the coafl of Afia, in lat. 64°, flretchesat 



leaft 23° 2' 30" from port Peter and Paul, or to about 200° 



longitude from the ide of Ferro. But the accuracy of 



Kralfdnikof's obfervations at the harbour of Peter and Paul 



has fince been confirmed by captain Cook, who places that 



harbour in lat. 53" i'. longit.. 158' 36'. call from Greenwich ; 



KrafGlnikof Hating it to lie in lat. 53° o' 38". long. 176" 



10'. from Ferro, or 158° 35'. from Greenwich. The difler- 



«Qce therefore is only twenty-two feconds in the latitude, 



A S I 



and one minute in the longitude. Confequently, the afler- 

 tion of Vaugondy, that the Ruffians had advanced the 

 peninfula of Kamtfliatka eleven degrees too much to the call ; 

 and of Engel, who fuppofes that error to be no lefs than 

 twenty-nine degrees, is manifellly refuted ; and the accu- 

 racy of the aflronomical obfervations made by the Ruffian 

 geographers is now incontellalily afcertained. 



The next point of land obfervcd by our Engliili navi- 

 gators, was that promontory, by Bcering called Tfhukot- 

 llcoi-nofs, a name adopted by captain Cook, but which is 

 fometimes denominated Anadyrlkoi-uofs, from its fituatioa 

 on the bay of the river Anadyr. The application of the 

 term Tlhukotl!;oi-nofs to this promontory, may perhaps 

 occalion fome coufufion to future navigators and geogra- 

 phers, as that denomination has been ufually given, and 

 ought therefore to be appropriated to the eallern extremity 

 of Alia, the call cape of Cook. 



From Anadyrllvoi-nofs, laid down by the Englifh in lat, 

 64° 13', under the appellative of Tfluikotflvoi-nofs, to cape 

 Serdzckaraen, in lat. 67°, the utmoil extent of Beering's 

 navigation to the north, captain Cook does jullice to tiio 

 memorj- of Beering, by oblerving, that " he has here deli- 

 neated the coall vei^ well, and fixed the latitude and 

 longitude of the places better than could be expefted 

 from the methods he had to go by." (Cook's Voyage, 

 vol. ii. p. 474.) 



Within this track our great navigator has correfted the 

 errors of the Rufiian charts, and afcertained the pbCtion of 

 the real Tfhukotflcol-nofs, which Miiller had erroneoully 

 conjeiflured to lie above the 70th degree of latitude. He 

 gives the name of Eaft-cape to this great promontory of the 

 Tfhuktihi, proves it to be the moft eaitern extremity of 

 Afia, and fixes its latitude in 66° 6', and longit. 190° 22' ; 

 inconteflably ftiewing, that the Ruffians were not wrong in 

 affertlng that the north-eallern extremity of Afia flretched 

 beyond he 2C0th degree of longitude from the iile of Ferro, 

 or 182° from Greenwich. 



That remarkable expudition of Deflmef, in which, ac- 

 cording to profefTor Miiller, he failed from the mouth of 

 the Kovyma, weathered Tihukotlkoi-nofs, or Eafl-cape, 

 and was fhlpwrecked in the fea of Kamtlhatka, was not 

 only the earlieil, but the moll important of the Ruffian 

 enterprifes in thefe latitudes ; as it firll afcertained the 

 feparation of the two continents. 



Deflinef's defcription of the north-eaflern cape agrees 

 in feveral material circumllances with that of the fame pro- 

 montory given by captain Cook. According to Dethnef, 

 it " conlHls entirely of rocks." Cook fays, that " it 

 fliews a ileep rocky cll.Tnfxt the fea ; and at the very point 

 are fome rocks hke fpires. The laud about this promon- 

 tory is compofed of hills and vallics ; the former terminate 

 at the fea in lleep rocky points, and the latter in low fhores. 

 The hills feemed to be naked rock." (Voyage, vol. ii, 

 p. 472.) 



Dedincf adds, that, on the coafl near the promontory, 

 the natives had reared a " pile refembling a tower, with the 

 bones of whales." Cook likewife noticed thefe piles as 

 very common on the coall of the Tihuktdii. " Over the 

 dwelling ftands a kind of fentry-box, compofed of the large 

 bones of large llfh ;" and again, " near the dwellings were 

 eredted flages of bones, fuch as before defcribed." (lb. 

 p. 451. 472.) Cook alfo coincides with Defhncf in placing 

 two iflands direflly oppofite to the promontory ; and capt. 

 King confirms another alfertion of the Ruffian navigator, 

 that the palfage from the fame promontory to the mouth 

 of the Anadyr, may with a fair wind be performed in 

 feventy-two hours. (Id. vol. iii. p. 264.) ^ 



It 



