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' lived, knowing it to be the fame by a 
c wooden crofs, which the mate Alexis 
' Himkof had ere&ed before the door, 
c as a memorial of his having taken pof- 
c feflion of the country, which, from his 
6 own name, he called Akxeyewjkoy 
Oftrow, that is, Alexis' I/land." — He 
further fays, in the fame letter — cc Some 
' Samojedes, having heard of the adven- 
' tures of thefe failors, and queftioned 
c them very circumstantially concerning 
: the country, lately font me a mef- 
£ fage, expreffing their defire to make a 
: fettlement upon this iiland, provided 
£ a free paffage were granted to them, 
* their wives, children, and their rain- 
< deer." 
Before I enter on a circumstantial ac- 
count of the nature of this iiland, it may 
not be improper to introduce it with the 
following; obfervation. Some authors main- 
tain, that the country known by the name 
of Nova Zemla, is n:j iiland, nor, as others 
affirm, a part of our continent; but only 
an 
