I S T O R Y of 
and therefore I confefs it appears to me highly 'reafon- 
able, that if a Reward of 20600 /. mall be found , not to 
produce the defired Effebt, it fhould be enlarged to 
100000/. for this plain Reafon, that the Benefit of this 
Paffage, when founds would refult to the Public ; and 
the Reward for finding it, however large, as if would be 
paid to our own Subjects, ought not to be efteemed either 
a Burden or a Lofs to the Public. 
6. The Situation of the Dominions of Rufia is fo fa^ 
vourable for Difcoveries on this Side^ that it may be juft- 
ly wondered we have not long ago had a clear and cer- 
tain'’Relation from the Subjebts of that Empire, in Refer- 
ence to their Commerce with the Nations inhabiting the 
Northern Parts oi‘Afia-, but partly from our Want of 
Correfpondence formerly with the Ruffian Court, partly 
from the great Ignorance of the People inhabiting the 
Northern Provinces of that Empire, and partly from 
the frequent Revolutions to which their Government has 
been always fubjebt ; fo it has fallen out, that till within 
this laft Century we have never had any confiderable In- 
formations from thence ; and even now we are very far 
from having fuch clear and diftinbt Accounts, as are ne- 
ceiTary to refolve this great Queftion, whether there is, or 
is not, a Paffage to the North-eaft ? 
Thus much, however, is pretty clear, that the Streights 
of Weygatz, as they were called, do not open into the Sea 
of f artary, or the Northern Ocean, but into a Gulph 
which is bounded on the North-eaft by a high mountain- 
ous Country, by which it is joined to the Continent \ 
neither have we any abfolute or pofitive Account, that 
the Sea, to the North of Nova Zemhla, is navigable or 
free from Ice. But in the Reign of Peter the Great, and 
jiince his Time, vaft Difcoveries have been made to the 
Eaftward, and through that Sea, into which Ships muft 
neceffarily come, if a North-eaft Paffage could be found. 
The River Lena falls into the Northern Ocean very near, 
if not under, the Polar Circle ; and from thence the Con- 
tinent extends two hundred Leagues to the Mouth of the 
River Kehuma, all which is fubjebl to the Ruffians, 
Beyond this River lies the Country of the fyehaUfki, a 
Yery barbarous and warlike People, who poffefs a Coun- 
try one hundred and twenty Leagues in Extent, from 
Weft to Eaft, and is the utmoft Bounds of Afta on that 
Side. This Country, which reaches as far North as 66 
Degrees, is alfo the Extremity of that great Peninfula, 
to which the Ruffians have given the Name of Kamfchat- 
ka \ the Weft-fide of which is, in a good Meafure, un- 
der their Power, and fome Settlements they have on the 
Eaft. The Southern Extremity of this Peninfula, is that 
Country fa well known to the World, by the Name of 
the Land of Jedxo, direbtly over againft Ja-pon \ fo that 
this great Peninftila has the Ocean on the North and on 
the Eaft, the Sea of on the South, a Gulph of its 
own Name, which divides it from Coreas, Chinefe f ar- 
tary, and the Dominions of Ruff a, to the Weft ; it ex- 
tends from the Latitude of 3 q to 66 Degrees, and con- 
tains 1 5 Degrees of Longitude, or thereabouts. 
On the Eaft-fide of this Country lies a very large 
Ifland, called Puchochotfki, extending from the Latitude 
of 59 to 63 Degrees ; the Inhabitants of which are tribu- 
tary to the Ruffians. To the South of this lies another 
large Eland, from 51 to 55 Degrees ; the Inhabitants of 
which are a very warlike People, hitherto unfubdued, and 
with whom the Ruffians trade for Caftors, and other rich 
Purs. It is from this Eland that one Mr. St oiler, a fa- 
mous Bofanift, failed laft Year upon Difcoveries, and is 
faid to have found but a very fiiort Paffage to the Coafts 
North Amerkal. The Reader will eafily apprehend this, 
if he pleafeth to confider what we have heretofore deliver- 
ed, . of the Situation of the Countries on this Side, from 
the Frontiers of the Ruffian Dominions, to California ; 
for, without doubt, in the Accounts we have from Peterf- 
hurgh of this Matter, they can ipiean no more by North 
America, than that Mr. Stoller had difeovered Elands to 
the -Eaftward of thofe with which the Ruffians were hi- 
therto acquainted ; but whether thefe belong ftridUy to 
America or not, is a Queftion, that, till we are better ac- 
quainted with the Nature of this Difeovery, cannot be 
refolved. The Reafon I have mentioned it is, becaufe it 
affords a clear and certain Proof, that if we could pafs to 
Book Ik 
the North-eaft of Nova Zemhla, we fhould find a fliort 
and eafy Way to Japan and China ; notwithftanding all 
that has been before afferted by Captain Wood, who, from 
his own Account, appears not to have failed far enough 
to the North, to be able to contradidt, with any tolerable 
degree of Affurance, the' Truth of what was afferted by 
the Dutch Navigators, upon the Faith of "adlual Dif- 
coveries •, for he was fhipwrecked in the Latitude of 74 
Degrees, and they paft to the North of Nova Zemhla, in 
the Latitude of 80 Degrees ; and if they could have perr 
feded that Difeovery, there is no doubt but that, by this 
Time, all the Trade of China znd. Japan had been carried 
on that Way *, for it appears clearly, from the Ruffian 
Accounts, that thofe Dutch Navigators were adually ad- 
vanced into that Part of the Northern Ocean, which 
wafhes the Coaft of Kamfchatka, and confequently had 
no great Impediments to hinder them in their Paffage to 
Japan, and from thence to China. 
7. We will conclude this Sedion, with obferving, that 
from the Nature of the Tides in HudfoAs Bay, on the 
Coaft of Greenland, and in other Parts of the North Seas, 
it is apparent that fome Way or other they have a Com- 
munication with the Ocean, for otherwife it is fimply 
impoffible they fiiould rife fo high as they do •, and there- 
fore if after all our Endeavours no Paffage fhould be 
found to the North-weft or North-eaft, we may reft fa- 
tisfied, that this Communication is from the North; 
and that by paffmg round Spitzhergen or Greenland, w^ 
might enter what is called the Tartarian Sea, or that Pad 
of the Ocean which wafhes the Northern and'Eafbern Ex- 
tremities of Afia. This might always have been difeover- 
ed by dint of reafoning, fince the Figure of the Globe, 
and the Difpofition of the feveral Parts of it, have been 
tolerably known ; but in Proportion as the true Figure of 
the Earth has been found out, by the Skill and Labour of 
Mathematicians *, and as their Accounts of this Matter 
have been juftified by Experiments, this has grown clear- 
er and clearer •, fo that at prefent there can remain few 
or no Doubts about it, in the Minds of thofe who are 
competent Judges of the Subjed. 
It feems therefore to be a Point of the greateft Import- 
ance to make the beft and fpeedieft Ufe of the feveral 
Lights we have received that is poffible, in order to ob- 
tain a Share, at leaft, in the vaft Advantages that muft 
neceffarily accrue from the being able to extend our Na- 
vigation through any of thefe Paffages. We have certain- 
ly, in this Refped, as great or greater Opportunities than 
any of our Neighbours ; and there feems to be, at pre- 
fent, fuch a Spirit in the trading Part of our People, as 
would difpofe them to be at any Expence that fhould be 
neceffary to carry Attempts of this Nature into Execu- 
tion. There is, likewife, another Motive to excite our 
Induftry in this Refped, which is the Incertainty of our 
being able to fecure any Advantages we might delire 
from a Trade through Ruff a, which we are told, of late, 
is become more and more precarious. But if we could 
once perfed this Defign, of penetrating into the Eaft by 
a new Paffage, we fhould not only be lefs dependent upon 
the Courtefy of that Government, but likewife have it in 
our Power to make it more dependent upon us, in cafe 
we fhould be able to iix a confiderable Settlement on any 
Ifland in thofe Parts. 
There is no doubt but abundance of Objediop^s may 
be raifed to a Scheme of this Nature, which at prefent 
would be very difficult to anfwer, becaufe we muft pro- 
ceed on both Sides, merely upon Suppofition ; but if the 
Difeovery was once made, the Cafe would be altered, and 
the Advantages flowing from it would encourage us to 
take fuch Meafures, as by the Help of our great mari- 
time Power, which can never be better employed than in 
fupporting the Comsmerce of the Nation, might fecure to 
us the Trade of thefe New Indies. If any thing deliver- 
ed in this Performance, either now or at any Diftance of 
Time, fhall fortunately lead to promote or facilitate fuch 
a Difeovery, it would fully anfwer the Ends of its Au- 
thor ; and if not, he muft be content with the Satisfadi- 
on of having offered all that occurred to him upon a 
Subjed, which he thought might be improved to the 
Benefit of his Country. 
\ 
C H A P- 
