THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
389 
nearly in the fame direction, together with the group firft i 779 . 
mentioned, according to the Ruffian charts, we thought , oa ° ber ' 
this courfe deferved the preference, and accordingly hauled 
round to the Weft ward, the wind having ffiifted, in the 
afternoon, to the Northward. During this day we faw 
large flocks of gulls, feveral albatroftes, fulmars, and a 
number of fiffi, which our failors called grampufes; but, 
as far as we could judge from the appearance of thofe that 
pafled clofe by the fhips, we imagined them to be the 
kafatka , or fword-fifti, defcribed by Krafcheninikoff, to 
whom I refer the Reader, for a curious account of the 
manner in which they attack the whales. In the evening, 
a vilit from a fmall land-bird, about the fize of a gold¬ 
finch, and refembling that bird in ffiape and plumage, 
made us keep a good look-out for land. However, at mid¬ 
can be no doubt of their being the fame land; and the circumftance of the fog fufficiently 
accounts for the error of De Vries, in imagining them to be one continent; without hav¬ 
ing recourfe to the fuppofition of an earthquake, by which Mr. Muller, from his defire to 
reconcile the opinion generally received, with the later Ruffian difcoveries, conceives the 
feveral parts to have been feparated. The Journal then proceeds to give an account of 
the difcovery of'Staten Ifland and Company’s Land, of which I have already given my 
opinion, and {hall have occafion to {peak hereafter. Having palled through the Straits of 
De Vries, fays the Journal, they entered a vaft, wild, and tempeftuous fea, in which they 
{leered, through mills and darknefs, to the 48° latitude North; after which they were 
driven by contrary winds to the Southward, and again fell in with land to the Weftward, 
in latitude 45 0 , which they unaccountably Hill imagined to be part of the continent of 
Jefo; whereas, whoever examines Janfen’s map of their difcoveries (which appears to be 
exceedingly accurate, as far as his information went), will, I believe, have no doubt, 
that they were, at this time, on the coaft of Tartary. Having traced this land four de¬ 
grees to the Northward, they returned to the Southward through the Straits they had palled 
before. 
It is not neceflary to trouble the Reader with the Journal of the Brefkes, as it contains 
no new matter, and has been already republifhed, and very fatisfactorily animadverted 
upon by Mr. Muller .—Voyages from Afa to America , &c. Englilh Translation, p. 78. 
night, 
