A VOYAGE to the. &c. 
Book IL 
plain as I fhall make appear. This Streight* as 
I have faid, is bounded by the Pater Nojier Mountains, 
the leaft of which is half a League high j and it is agreed, 
on all Hands, that they are of Ice which never melts. I am 
of the fame Opinion, having been in the Streights near 
thofe Mountains in the Dog-Days, the hotteft Seafon of 
the whole Year, and was as cold then as ever I was in 
France in the coldeft Winter ; which Seafon lafts there 
all the Year. 
33. The many curious Particulars contained in thefe 
Voyages and Travels may very well attone for fome De- 
ficiencies and Miftakes in them. It appears from hence, 
that there are no Countries in the World through which 
Men travel with more Expedition than in thofe frozen 
Climates, where one would imagine that Men could 
fcarce travel at all *, and this induces one to wonder, 
that they have not been more thoroughly and effedually 
examined^ efpecially confidering with how great Eafe 
this might be done^ if the Court of RaJJia interefted itfelf 
in the Matter. Our Author appears to be a Man of 
great Sincerity, and relates every thing he faw diftindlly •, 
and at the fame time tells us his Sentiments of the Mat- 
ter. The Account he has given us of Ruffia is prior in 
Point of Time to the Reign of Peter the Great \ who, in 
fome meafure, changed the Nature of his Subjects : But, 
' however, as this has been done very flowly, there is good 
reafon to believe, that with refpeft to the Bulk of the 
People in the diftant Provinces of the Ruffian Empire, 
they are not much altered from what they were. It is 
not eafy to guefs what part of Circaffia he means, when 
he fpeaks of the Inhabitants of it in the manner he does •, 
and for my own Part, I am apt to think he calls the 
People of theUi^r^w, Circajfians ; and my Reafon for think- 
ing fo is, that both in their Language and in that of the 
Poles^ the Word Coffack fignifies a regular Soldier, a Man 
trained to War, and in conftant Pay. It is very true, 
that we now conlider the Coffacks as a Nation, and not as 
a Militia ; and this whh Propriety enough, becaufe the 
Poles having given that Country to their Soldiers, they 
ftill retain the Name of Coffacks. Though they are no 
‘longer regular Troops. 
By the way, it may not be amifs to obferve, that it 
was breaking through their military Tenures, and en- 
deavouring to make thefe People pay a rack Rent for 
their Lands, that induced them to rebel againft the Poles^ 
and to put themfelves under the Proteflion of the Czar. 
His Account of Siherta is very entertaining and curious, 
and the Finquifes he fpeaks of are the Inhabitants of the 
very Extremity of Afta, towards the Sea of Japon, a 
very brave, though a very barbarous Nation, with whom 
the Mufcovites have been long at War, but whom hi- 
therto they could never fubdue. The manner in which 
the Exiles live in that dreadful Country, is alfo very well 
and very truly defcribed. The Mines that have been 
fmce difcovered there, have indeed furnifhed another and 
more laborious kind of Employment. But the Ihooting 
wild Beads and colledting their Furs, ftill continues to 
be the principal Bufinefs ot the unhappy Perfons who are 
baniftied thither j and thefe are not only Men of as great 
Rank as any this Gentleman mentions, but fome alfo of 
much fiiperior Quality ; fuch as Prince Menzicoff, the 
Duke of Courland^ the High Chancellor Ofierman, whom 
we remember fent into thofe Defarts as Vidlims of State 
rather than Criminals. 
The Account he gives us of NovaZemhla is very curious 
and circumftantial ; and what he fays about the Errors in 
the Maps publilhed before his time may be very juft, 
but wc have had better fince that. I cannot, by any 
Means agree, that this Country is contiguous with that 
of Spitzbergen or Greenland^ though it may be true, that 
it extends itfelf farther to the North than is generally 
imagined : Neither do I think that the Seas beyond this 
Country, are always choaked up with Ice ; but if a Paf- 
fage is to be fought this way, my Opinion is, that inftead 
of fearching the Coafts of Zembla^ the (hotter and better 
Method would be to make the South Point of Greenland^ 
and then to fteer North-eaft, into as high a Latitude as 
ftiould be judged convenient j Experience having (hewn 
that the Weather is not more rigorous, or the Ice more 
troLiblefome, the farther People fail towards the Pole. 
What he fays concerning Unicorns and their Horns, 
feems rather calculated to difplay his Learning than for 
any other Purpofe fmce it is now univerfally agreed, 
that the Horns which are (hewn in Europe under this 
Title are the very Horns he fpeaks of, and are taken 
from the Heads of Fifh called Sea-Unicorns j but which, 
in reality, are a kind of Sword-Filh. The Shape of 
their Body is like a Seal, but the under Fins and the Tail 
refemble thofe of a Whale. They fwim in Shoals, and 
generally carry their Horns out of Water, but then they 
fwim fo fwiftly, that they are very feldom taken there 
is another kind of Sword-Fifh, which may be alfo ftiled 
a Unicorn, but is generally called a Saw-Fifh, becaufe 
the Bone is filled with Teeth or Pegs from the Root to 
the Top. It was formerly thought that thefe Horns had 
great Virtue j but Experience has (hewn, that they are 
of no farther Ufein Phyfic than as Abforbents j and in this 
refpedt Oyfter-fhells or Crabs-eyes do as well. There is 
one Obfervation more that may be made on this Sedtion 
worth Notice, and that is, the Poffibility of making fuch 
Voyages for Difeovery, they bearing their own Expences, 
as this plainly did *, and a great deal of public Spirit there 
would be in fending a Ship or two now and then to trade in 
this way, which fooner or later, would produce us more 
Advantages than we are able to forefee : Of this, at leaft, 
we are certain, that by Voyages of this kind we efta- 
blilhed a Trade to Archangel^ which was the Foundation 
of our Ruffia Company j but it is now time to proceed 
to Countries better known, and into Climates more agree- 
able than thofe of which hitherto we have been fpeaking. 
SEC- 
