1020 ^ fuccinSi Account of Book III* 
of the Koraths burn their Dead, and though they have I. You fhall caufe one or two convenient YelTels to 
been often admonifhed to leave off this Pradticcj yet be built at Kamtfchatska^ or elfewhere. 
hitherto there has been no breaking them of it. II. You fhall endeavour to difcover, by CoafHng with 
Since the Time our Author wrote, it appears from thefe Veffels, whether the Country towards the North 
feveral Books that have been publifhed at Petershourg, of which at prefent we have no diftinft Knowledge, is a 
that this Country, at leaf!: the Ruffian Settlements in it. Part of America, or not. * 
have been greatly improv’d ; fo that in the Latitude of KI. If it joins to the Continent of America, you fhali 
56, and even higher, they have Barley, Oats, and Rye, endeavour, if poffible, to reach fome Colony* belonging 
in tolerable Plenty. The Number of Houfes alfo tife to fome European Power ; or in cafe you meet with any 
greatly increafed, and the Fortreffes are in much better European Ship, you fhall diligently enquire the Name 
Order, which is owing to the Hopes that are Fill en- of the Coafts, and fuch other Circumftances as it is in 
tertained of opening on this Side, fome Time or other, your Power to learn j and thefe you fhall commit to 
a very advantageous Commerce. We have been pro- Writing, fo that we may have fome certain Memoirs 
rnifed, and were in Hopes of receiving a large and ac- by which a Chart may be conftrudted, 
curate Defcription of this Country in its prelent Condi- On the 14th of July, having recommended himfelf 
tion, but as yet it has not been publifhed ; many People to the Proredtion of Almighty God, he failed out of 
may pofiibly think, that confidering the Rigour of the the River of Kamtfchatska; On the 8th of Augufi he 
Climate, the Barrennefs of the Soil, and the Thinnefs found himfelf in the Latitude of 64 Degrees, 30 Mi- 
of its Inhabitants, that it is no great Matter whether it nutes, and being perceived by the Inhabitants on Shore 
be ever publifhed. Yet notwithftanding all this, it is eight Men put off in a Boat made of Skins, and came* 
not impoffible, or even improbable, that in Procefs of to the Veffel, that*is to fay, to the Side of it, where 
Time Things may change their Face here, for the they enquired whence he came, and to what Purpofe; 
Country now called Kamtfchdtska, is not that vaft Nor- Alter he had anfwered them, they acquainted him in 
them Continent that extends from 60 to 73 Degrees of their Turn that they were Tzuktfchi, which is the Name 
North Latitude, which was formerly included under of a Nation with whom the Ruffians have been for fome 
that Name, but the Peninfula only which extends from Years acquainted. It was with fome Difficulty that he 
the Latitude of 51 to 5 o, and lies between 80 and 95 got one of them to comC: to him, but he was foon 
Degrees Longitude Fall from Tobolski ; fo that if a followed by the refl. They informed him that the 
fufficient. Number of People were fent thither to cut Coaft, for a confiderable Extent, was inhabited by their 
down the vaft Forefts with which it is incumber’d, and Nation, and that the Land tended to the Weft. They 
enabled to till, manure, and cultivate the Earth, it bkewife gave him Information of an Illand that was not 
might be render’d a Place far enough from being de- far off, which he accordingly found on the lothof Au- 
^icable ; and then the great Importance of its Situation and as that is the Feaft of St. Lawrence in the 
would very quickly appear. But to return to our Ruffiian Kalendar, he thought fit to beftow that Name 
Narrative. upon the ifland. He lent an Officer on board a Shallop 
7. Upon the Captain’s Arrival at the lower For- of four Oars thither twice to examine it, but he could 
trefs, he found Wood enough cut for the building a not find any Inhabitants^ though there were fome Hou- 
Veffel, which was put upon the Stocks 4, 1728, fes upon it ; which Efficiently ffiewed that it was inha- 
and was entirely finifhed the 10th July following, bited, though the People, out of Fear, or from fome 
It is certain that a properer Perlon could not well have other Motive, thought proper to conceal themfelves. 
been employed, fince he thought nothing a Difficulty, He continued his Courfe to the 15th of the fame 
nor was afraid of any kind of Hardfhip or Danger that Month, when he found himfelf in the Latitude of 67 
flood in the Way of the Execution of his Orders, but Degrees 18 Minutes, and conceiving that he had now 
with infinite Addrefs, and almoft incredible Patience, fully executed die Emperor’s Orders, as he faw no 
got over thole Difficulties, that to another Man would Land, either to the North or to the Eaft, he refolved to 
have appeared unfurmountable. Ail the Timber that return, as thinking it to no Purpofe to continue his 
w'as ufed in Building, was conveyed to the Place where Voyage towards the Weft, or to run the Hazard of be- 
his new Veffel was conftruded, upon Sledges drawn by mg driven by a contrary Wind beyond the PolTibility of 
Dogs, and confequently with infinite Pains and Trou- getting back during the Summer to Kamfehatska, and 
ble. The Supply of l^ar he expeded not being arrived, to winter in a Country where he was fu re of meeting 
w'as another great Inconveniency, but the Captain, who with little or no Wood, and which might very poffibly 
had a Brain very fertile in Expedients, obferved a Tree be inhabited by fome Nation, Enemies to the Ruffiians, 
there, called by the Natives Lifnifchink, which he fan- was, in his Opinion, running a very great, and, at the 
cied would fupply them either with Tar,' or fomething fame Time, unneceffary Hazard, 
like it j accordingly he cauled great Quantities of it to From the Mouth of the River Kamfehatska, to the 
be cut and burned, and, as he expeded, the refinous utmoft Point of their Voyage, they fawnothing upon 
Matter that run from it anfwered the Ends of Tar, if die Coaft but great Ridges of Rocks, the Tops of 
not perfedly, at leaft tolerably. which were covered with Snow, though it was Sum- 
The Veffel being built, the next Thing was to vidual mer. They traverfed, according to their Computation, 
her, and that for a Voyage, the Length of which was about ten Leagues of Latitude, and thirty of Longi- 
altogether uncertain ; and to do this in a Country in a tude, that is to lay, the fartheft they lailed Eaft, was 372 
Manner deftitute of Provifions, was none of the eafieft German Leagues. On the 20th of Auguft, in their 
Undertakings. , The Captain however went about it. Return, they faw forty Perfons on board four fmall 
and, in the firft Place, having coileded a vaft Quanti- Boats rowing towards them from Shore with all their 
ty of Plants and Herbs, he diftilled from them a pretty Force 5 they lay by for them, and upon their coming 
ftrong, Spirit, upon which he was pleafed to beftow the near them, they concluded them, from their Appear- 
Uame of Brandy, and of this he laid in a plentiful ance, to be of the Nation called Tzuktfehi. They had. 
Stock. Inftead of Meal or Corn, he furniffied himfelf with them a good Quantity of dry’d FJeffi, Fiffi, and - 
■with Carrots or other Roots. By boiling the Sea- Water contain’d in Whales Bladders, 15 Fox Skins, 
water, he procured as much Salt as he wanted. Fiffi and four Narval’s Teeth, which they fold, or rather 
Oyl ferved inftead of Butter, and dry and wet Sak-fiffi exchanged for Pins and Needles with the Seamen, 
'took the Place of Beef and Pork. Thefe Provifions, Thefe People told them, that their Nation ^travelled 
fuch as they were, he embarked dn fuch Quantities as with Rain Deer as far as the River Kohlima, which runs 
would ferve his Crew, confifting of forty Men, for into the North Sea, but that they never had attempted 
a whole Year. any Paffage by Sea. That their Nation inhabited a 
Thus equipped, he undertook the Execution of the very long Tra6l of Country upon that Coaft, and had 
Inftruftions given him by his Sovereign Peter the Great, been poffeffed of it for many Years ; one of them par- 
under his own Hand, and of which the following is a ticulariy faid, he had been at the Fortrefs of Anadirski, 
Copy talien literally from his Journal, ' ' where they fiad traded with, and been very well treated 
by 
