Chap. m. the Russian Difcoveries. i 02,5 
America ; and that the Senfe they have of the great Ad- 
vantages that may be derived from thence, is the Rea- 
fon that induces them to think of concealing what may 
be difcovered for the future, efteeming fuch Lights as 
they may receive thereby as Secrets of State, to which 
no Strangers have a Right to be admitted. In the 
next Place we may obferve, though the Profeffor fpeaks 
very modeftly, that he Jooks upon Captain Behring*^ 
Syftem as abfolutely deftruftive ot our Scheme for dif- 
covering a North-weft Paflage through Hudfon^i Bay ; 
which indeed is fo far well founded, as that granting 
his Premifes, and that the new difcover’d Country ot 
Behring*?, lies contiguous to California^ cannot be denied. 
La(ll)\ It may be obferved, that though he fpeaks very 
cautioufly, and therefore indeterminately of the Pofition 
of the North-eaft Cape, which he fays ought to be car- 
ried into the other Hemifphere, as indeed it ought, yet 
he plainly enough infinuates, that if this be duly confi- 
dered, it will overturn the Arguments formerly of- 
fered in Favour of the North-weft Paflfage. So that 
on the whole, if we attend to the Spirit rather than the 
Letter of this fhort Difcourfe, we muft plainly difcern, 
that the Ruffians look upon themfelves as in full Poffef- 
lion of that great Secret, fo long and fo inefFeetually 
fought by the Northern Maritime Powers, of a fhort 
PafTage to the Eafl Indies and the South-Seas^ and that 
too exclufively of other Nations, from a Perfuafionj 
that by difcovering this Paflage, they have difcovered 
alfo that the North- weft Paflage, by which only we could 
interfere with them, is impradicable. 
10. But in the next Number of the PhilofophkalTranf- 
alHons^viz. 483. Page 471. there is a very curious Let- 
ter from the ingenious Arthur Dobhs^ Elq*, to the be- 
fore-mentioned Mr. Wetftein^ in which all this Reafon- 
ing is very fully and fairly refuted ; and it is chiefly 
from the Arguments advanced therein, that I fhall be 
enabled to make good my Promife to the Reader, by 
fhewing, that in the firft Place, there is no Reafon to 
apprehend that Captain Behring has made any Difcovery 
at allj at leaft with regard to the Point we are examin- 
ing ; by which I mean, that he has given no new Light 
whatever as to a new Continent^ which may be reafon- 
ably prefumed contiguous to Secondly^ That 
the Argument drawn from the advanced Situation of 
the North-eaft Point of Afia^ is abfolutely inconclufivej 
and does not at all prove fo much as the Probability of 
there being any fuch Continent as the Rufians feem to 
be fatisfied they have found, thirdly and Lqftly^ That 
taking every Thing they have advanced j as through this 
whole Seiftion, I have taken them for indifputableTruths, 
yet the North-weft Paflage by Hudfon*?,-]i-c.y remains not 
only as probable as ever, but is in reality rendered 
more probable than ever from thele very Difcoveries. 
All this I hope to make out to the entire Satisfaction 
of the ingenious, inquilitive, and impartial Reader, fo 
as to leave not the leaft Scruple upon his Mind in refe- 
rence to this Ruffian Syftem. 
As to the firft Point *, as there are no Longitudes or 
Latitudes mentioned in reference to Captain Behring*?, 
fecond Voyage ; all we can poflibly know of it amounts 
to this, that he failed South from Kamfchatska, as low, 
or perhaps lower than 50 Degrees, and there found 
Land 80 Leagues North-eaft from Japan^ for otherwife 
by coafting it North-weft, as it is exprefly faid he did, 
he could not poflibly have approached the North-eaft 
Cape ; to do which, had it lain due Eaft from Japan^ 
he muft have failed North-eaft. Now there is the high- 
eft Probability, not to fay an abfolute Certainty, that 
this is the very fame Land that was difcovered by Gama 
fo long ago, and is likewife that very Land to which 
Martin Heritfzoon of Uriez gave the Name of the Com- 
pany's Land ’ in the Year 1643, making the Weft-fide 
of the Straits of UrieZy which lie feven or eight hun- 
dred Leagues Weft of any known Land in America^ 
and above a thoufand Leagues Weft of any Land in 
-rthe Latitude of Japan \ and confequently, whether 
Continent or Ifland, there is Room enough for a very 
large Paflage between this Country and America ; nei- 
ther did Captain Behring coaft it fo far as to come 
at any Kind of Certainty whether it was Conti- 
nent or Ifland ; all therefore that can poflibly be, col- 
lected from this Account, is no more than a Confirma- 
tion of the two former Difcoveries, and perhaps of a 
third ; for, as Dr. Cromwell Mortimer has very judici- 
oufly obferved, the Japonefe^ in their Maps, have laid 
down two Ifiands, each as large as Ireland ui this very 
Tradt, as appears from the Map Dr. Kempfer brought 
from thence in 1666, and which is now in Sir Hans 
Sloan*? Mufeum. 
Taking therefore the whole of this together, what 
we learn from Captain Behring*? fecond unfortunate 
Voyage, is fo far from fhewing that he difcovered a 
Continent continuous to America^ or that probably 
might be fo, that, on the contrary, he only touched 
upon a Country which feveral Europeans had vifited be- 
fore, and which there are very ftrong Reafons to be- 
lieve is not a Continent, but an Ifland. Neither is this 
faid with any View of difparaging the Induftry or Abi- 
lities of that adventurous, brave, and indefatigable Per- 
fon, whole Memory ought always to be revered, and 
to which I have railed the beft Monument I was able 1 
but in Things of this Nature, Truth is to be regarded 
before any other Confideraiion ; and there can be no- 
thing plainer than this Truth, that his Difcovery does 
not warrant any fuch Suppofition, as that the Country 
he touched was a great Continent making Baxi oi North 
America ; and if in any Accounts he left behind him, he 
furmifed any thing like this, he muft have been mi- 
ftaken: 
As to the fecond Point, the Argument drawn from 
the Proximity of the North-eaft Cape, and the moft 
weftern difcovered Coaft of America^ is eafily difeufled j 
forjthough, as has been already obferved, the Dfleoveries 
and accurate Obfervations made by Captain Behring in 
his firft Voyage, have really altered the Face of Affairs 
extremely, and fhewn us Things in quite a new Light, 
by proving that the North-eaft Part of Afia is a Country 
of much larger Extent, than, till it was thus examined, 
was ever fufpeded, or would ever have been fuppofed 
true, if it had been ever fo ftrongly afferted without 
Proof-, yet for all this, the North eaft Continent of 
Afia has fome Bounds, and Captain Behring has very 
accurately fixed thofe Bounds, by affuring us, that the 
moft North-eaft Cape of the Afiatick Coaft is in the 
Latitude of 194 Degrees Eaft from the Meridian of 
Londdn. There might indeed have been fome Dilpute 
about this, as Captain Behring did not examine the 
Coaft any higher than to the Latitude of 67. 18 Mi- 
nutes, if the Account which ProfelTor Euler has pub- 
lifhed had not plainly proved him in the right, by 
affuring us that his Obfervation was confirmed by thofe 
who failed round Cape Suitonos to the North-eaft Cape 
of Captain Behrings by which it is render’d perfectly 
certain, that he has fixed the Longitude of the Extre- 
mity of the Afiatick Continent. 
If therefore we add to its Longitude from London 
the Longitude df Churchill Kiv&x in Hudfon*?-Bi\y^ which 
the ingenious Captain ChriAopber Middleton^ by a very 
accurate Obfervation fixed at 95 Degrees 'Weft ; I fay, 
if we add thefe two Longitudes together, they will 
amount to 289 Degrees; and if we fubtraeft this Sum 
from 360, there will remain 71 Degrees of Longitude, 
which IS the Diftance between the North-eaft Gape and 
that Part of Hudfon*?-BiAy ^ In order to reduce this into 
Leagues, we may compute a Degree of Longitude in 
the Parallel of 65 Degrees at the Rate of eight of 
thofe Leagues, of which 20 make a Degree of Lati- 
tude ; and from thence it will appear,, that there are 
568 fuch Leagues, or upwards of 1700 of our Miles 
between the Extremity of the Norch-eaf\ Continent of 
Afia and Hudfon*?-B>Ay ; and this furely is Space fuffi- 
cient for many larger Iflands, and a confiderable Paf- 
fage between the neareft Coaft of America^ and the moft 
Eaftern of thofe Iflands, fuppofing all thefe Lands . t© 
lie in that Parallel, which however is a Suppofition we 
are not obliged to make, there being not the leaft Sha- 
dow of Proof of any Countries or Iflands hitherto dif- 
covered fo far to the North, 
