493 
A VOYAGE TO 
1778. prehend our inquiries about this ; and yet> in almoft every 
~ other thing, we could make him underhand us. This cre¬ 
ated a fufpicion, that he had not really been in that expedi¬ 
tion, notwithftanding his affertion. 
Both Ifmyloff and the others affirmed, that they knew 
nothing of the continent of America to the Northward; and 
that neither Lieutenant Synd, nor any other Ruffian, had 
ever feen it of late. They call it by the fame name which 
Mr. Staehlin gives to his great illand; that is, Alafchka. 
Stachtan Nitada, as it is called in the modem maps, is a 
name quite unknown to thefe people, natives of the illands 
as well as Ruffians; but both of them know it by the name 
of America. From what we could gather from Ifmyloff 
and his countrymen, the Ruffians have made feveral at¬ 
tempts to get a footing upon that part of this continent that 
lies contiguous to Oonalafhka and the adjoining illands, but 
have always been repulfed by the natives ; whom they de¬ 
fer ibe as a very treacherous people. They mentioned two 
or three Captains, or Chief men, who had been murdered 
by them; and fome of the Ruffians ffiewed us wounds 
which, they faid, they had received there. 
Some other information, which we got from Ifmyloff, is 
worth recording, whether true or falfe. He told us, that in 
the year 1773, an expedition had been made into the Frozen 
Sea in Hedges, over the ice, to three large illands that lie 
oppolite the mouth of the river Kovyma. We were in fome 
doubt, whether he did not mean the fame expedition of 
which Muller gives an account *; and yet he wrote down 
the 
* The Iateft expedition of this kind, taken notice of by Muller, was in 1724. But 
in juftice to Mr. Ifmyloff, it may be proper to mention, which is done on the authority of 
a MS. communicated by Mr. Pennant, and the fubftance of which has been publilhed by 
Mr. 
