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It has been objefted to Deflmef's narrative, that Cook 

 and Gierke were in two fiicccffive years prevented by the 

 ice fronTpufliing forward into the Frozen ocean; but in 

 reply to tliis it (huuld be obfcrved, that Deflmef failed in 

 a fmall veffel, more eafily worked than the Enghfli fhips ; 

 and that the year in whicli he pafled round is rcprcfented 

 as more than ufually free from ice. The feafon alfo in which 

 De(hnef doubled t!ie great Siberian promontoiy, probably 

 was more favourable to navigation in the Frozen fea, than 

 the time of year adopted by the Englifh. For, though 

 }ie failed on the firll of July, or June 20, O. S. yet he 

 appears not to have amved in the eaftern ocean till towards 

 the end of September. Shortly after Ankudinof's fliip- 

 wreck on Tfluikotllvoi nofs, Defiinef mentions that he land- 

 ed on the fuft of October, or September 20, O. S., and 

 fldrmiftied with the Tthuktflii. Confcquently, from the 

 length of the inten-al between the day of his departure 

 from the mouth of the Kovyma to his entrance on the 

 Eailern ocean, it may reafonably be inferred that he was 

 waiting for an opportunity of getting through the ice, 

 which he at length effeftcd. V.'hcreas Cook quitted that 

 dreary region on the 29th of Augull ; and Gierke fo early 

 as the month of July. The middle and the latter end of 

 September are generally elteemed the moft. proper periods 

 for navigating the Frozen ocean. 



The fole aim of Deihnef being to fail from the Kovyma 

 to the Anadyr, it was not incompatible with his plan to 

 continue on the coaft, and to perfcvere in expecling a favour- 

 able occafion for effeftuating his-purpofe, without expoling 

 himfelf to thofe difficulties and dangers which feamen from 

 more dillant quarters mult neceflarily experience. Whereas 

 the grand defign of the Englifh navigators being toafcertain 

 the pradlicabiUty of a north-eallern paflage, and having 

 incontrovertibly determined that important qneftion in the 

 negative, they accompUfhcd the primar)' obiect of their 

 expedition. They could not therefore, conhiltntly with 

 their views and inftruftions, by delaying their departure 

 from thofe frozen regions, expofe thcmfelves to the hazard 

 of being hemmed in by the ice, merely for the fake of 

 evincing the poffibihty of getting round to the Kovyma. 



Thefe circumllances feem to prove that Defhnef atlually 

 performed this voyage ; yet as he neither made any aftrono- 

 mical obfervations, nor traced a chart of the coalt, his 

 expedition, though it decided the long controverfy concern- 

 ing the feparalion of the two continents, contributed, how- 

 ever, nothing towards an accurate knowledge of the north- 

 eaftem extremity of Afia, for which we are indebted to 

 capt. Cook alone. (See Coxe's Ruffian Difcoveries.) 



In the year 1785, capt. Bilhngs, an Englifhman in the 

 Ruffian fervice, was fent by Catharine II. on a voyage of 

 difcovcry into thefe parts; and the refults of his obferva- 

 tions are found to agree with thofe of captain Cook, 

 placing the eafternmoft extremity of Afia in lat. 66° 6'. 

 and afcertaining its longitude at 190° 22'. from Green- 

 wich. 



The population of Afia, fays Mr. Pinkerton, is by all 

 authors allowed to be wholly primitive and original ; if we 

 except that of the Tfliuktfhi, who by the Ruffian travellers 

 and Mr. Tooke are fuppofed to have paffi;d from the oppo- 

 fite coall of America. A few colonies have migrated from 

 Ruffia to the northern parts, as far as the fea of Kamt- 

 (hatka ; and well-known European fettlements are in Hin- 

 doftan and the illes to the fouth-eaft ; but the fnll ferious 

 attempt to colonize what is deemed a part of Afia, was 

 the recent fettlement at Port Jackfon. With thefe and 

 other trifling excLptioiis, Afia prefents a prodigious original 

 population, as may be judged from the following tabkj 



A S I 



which will be found more clear than any prolix difquICtion 



on the fubject. 



LiNN.-EAN Table of the Nations and Languages 

 IN. Asia. 

 Of the three feveral appellatryes, the firfl denotes ordo, 

 the fecond genus, the t.h\\i. /pedes. 



1. Affyrians. — AIT) nans, Arabians, Egyptians. — Chaldee, 

 Hebrew, ^c. 



2. Scythians. — Perfians, Scythias intra and extra Imaum, 

 &c. Armenians. — (The Parfi and Zend are cognate with 

 the Gothic, Greek, Latin, according to fir William Jones. 

 Indian Difitrt. vol. i. p. 206. The Pehlavi is Affyrian or 

 Chaldaic. Id. iRy, 188. 2c6.). 



3. Sarmats. — Medes and Parthians.— Georgians and Cir- 

 caffians. 



4. Seres and Indi. — Hindoos, northern and foiuhern, 

 &c. 



5. Sina;. — Chinefe and Japanefe. — Thefe have a Tataric 

 foim and face ; they are probably highly-civilized Tatars, 

 Mongoles or Mandfiiurs. 



Barlanc Nations from north to foulh, and according to the 

 degrees of larbarifm. 



6. Samoyedes, Oftiaks, Yurals, &c. 



7. Yakutes. — Yukagirs. (Expelled Tatars, according ta 

 Tooke and LefTeps.) 



f 



e 



8. Koriaks. — Tlbuktfhi. (From the oppofite coaft o 

 America. Tooke's Ruffia. The Yukagirs are a tribe of the 

 Yakutes, around Yakutlli, and both are expelled Ta- 

 tars. Tooke's View, ii. 80. LefTeps, ii. 312.) 



9. Kamtfhatdales — Kurillans — (Thefe refemble the Ja- 

 panefe. ) 



10. I^Iandfhures or Tungufes. — Lamutes. — (Ruline-ceo- 

 ple iu China.) '■Si- 

 ll. Mongohs.— Kalrauks.— Soongares, Tungutes, Bu- 



rsts, &c. 



12. Tatars or Huns. — Turks, Khafares, \]7x?., and 

 Siberians.— Nogays, Bafhkirs, Kirghifikaizaki or Kirghifc 

 Kaizaks, Teleutes. 



After the deftrucl;ion of Attila's fwarms, and the effcas 

 of unfortunate inroads, the Huns became fubjeft to the 

 Mongoles, who under Zingis or Chiugis khan, Timur, 

 &c. ci.nlHtuted the fuprcme nation in Afia. — The great 

 fhare of population which Europe has received from Afia will 

 appear from the following brief ftatement. 

 Primitive Inhabitants. 



I. Celts.— Irilh, Welch, Armorican.— Erfe, Manks; 

 Cornifh. 



Colonies from jifia. 



3. Scythians or Goths (0(//n).— Icelanders, Norwegians, 

 Swedes, Danes, Germans, Englifh.— Swils, Frifit, Fkmifh. 

 Dutth. 



4. Sarmats or Slavons (P^-Hw).— Poles, Ruffians, Kai- 

 zaks. — Heruli, Vendi, Lettes. 



The inhabitants of France, Italy, and Spain, are alfo of 

 Afiatic origin ; and fpeak corrupted Roman, which, like 

 the Greek, is a pohfiied dialed of the Gothic, according 

 to fir William Jones, and other able antiquaries. The He- 

 ruli, Ve'iides, and Lettes, ufed mixed and imperfeft dialeClg 

 of the Sclavonic. 



Befides thefe numerous original nations, the Malays and 

 Afiatic iflanders coniUtule another large and diflind clafs 

 of mankind, with a pecuhar fpeech, in the fouth of the 

 estenfiYC continent of Aiia. 



It 



