THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
391 
i 
fhifting to the South Weft, brought with it clear weather. 
Of this we had fcarcely taken advantage, by fetting the top- 
fails, and letting out the reefs, when it began to blow fo 
ftrong from this quarter, that we were forced to clofe-reeve 
again; and, at noon, the wind fhifting two points to the 
Weft, rendered it vain to keep any longer on this tack. We 
therefore put about, and fteered to the Southward. At this 
time, our latitude, by obfervation, was 44 0 12', and longi¬ 
tude 150° 40'; fo that, after all our efforts, we had the mor¬ 
tification to find ourfelves, according to the Ruffian charts, 
upon a meridian with Nadeegfda, which they make the 
Southernmoft of the Kurile iflands, and about twenty 
leagues to the Southward. 
But, though the violent and contrary winds we had met 
with during the laft fix days, prevented our getting in with 
thefe iflands, yet the courfe we had been obliged to hold, is 
not without its geographical advantages. For the group of 
iflands, confifting of the Three Sifters, Kunafhir, and Zel- 
lany (which, in D’Anville’s maps, are placed in the track 
we had juft crofted) being, by this means, demonftratively 
removed from that fituation, an additional proof is obtained 
of their lying to the Weftward, where Spanberg actually 
places them, between the longitude 142 0 and 147 0 . But as 
this fpace is occupied, in the French charts, by part of the 
fuppofed land of Jefo and Staten Illand, Mr. Muller’s opi¬ 
nion becomes extremely probable, that they are all the 
fame lands; and, as no reafons appear for doubting Span- 
berg’s accuracy, we have ventured, in our general map, to 
reinftate the Three Sifters, Zellany, and Kunafhir, in their 
proper fituation, and have entirely omitted the reft. When 
the Reader recolle£ts the manner in which the Ruffians 
have multiplied the iflands of the Northern Archipelago, 
from 
1779. 
O&ober. 
