We had now fair weather and sunshine; and as we ranged along the coast, at the distance of four miles, we saw several of the inhabitants, and some of their habitations, which looked like little hillocks of earth. In the evening we passed the Eastern Cape, or the point above mentioned; from which the coast changes its direction, and trends south-west. It is the same point of land which we had passed on the 11th of August. They who believed implicitly in Mr. Stæhlin’s map, then thought it the east point of his island Alaschka; but we had by this time satisfied ourselves, that it is no other than the eastern promontory of Asia; and probably the proper Tschukotskoi Noss, though the promontory, to which Beering gave that name, is farther to the south-west.
Though Mr. Muller, in his map of the Russian Discoveries, places the Tschukotskoi Noss nearly in 75° of latitude, and extends it somewhat to the eastward of this cape, it appears to me, that he had no good authority for so doing. Indeed his own accounts, or rather Deshneff’s[[81]], of the distance between the Noss and the river Anadir cannot be reconciled with this very northerly position. But as I hope to visit these parts again, I shall leave the discussion of this point till then. In the mean time, I must conclude, as Beering did before me, that this is the most eastern point of Asia. It is a peninsula of considerable height, joined to the continent by a very low, and, to appearance, narrow neck of land. It shows a steep rocky cliff next the sea; and off the very point are some rocks like spires. It is situated in the latitude of 66° 6ʹ, and in the longitude of 190° 22ʹ; and is distant from Cape Prince of Wales, on the American coast, thirteen leagues, in the direction of north, 53° west. The land about this promontory is composed of hills and valleys. The former terminate at the sea in steep rocky points, and the latter in low shores. The hills seemed to be naked rocks; but the valleys had a greenish hue, but destitute of tree or shrub.
After passing the cape, I steered south-west half west, for the northern point of St. Lawrence Bay, in which we had anchored on the 10th of last month. We reached it by eight o’clock next morning, and saw some of the inhabitants at the place where I had seen them before, as well as several others on the opposite side of the bay. None of them, however, attempted to come off to us; which seemed a little extraordinary, as the weather was favourable enough; and those whom we had lately visited had no reason that I know of to dislike our company. These people must be the Tschutski; a nation that, at the time Mr. Muller wrote, the Russians had not been able to conquer. And, from the whole of their conduct with us, it appears that they have not, as yet, brought them under subjection; though it is obvious that they must have a trade with the Russians, either directly, or by means of some neighbouring nation; as we cannot otherwise account for their being in possession of the spontoons, in particular, of which we took notice.
This Bay of St. Laurence[[82]] is, at least, five leagues broad at the entrance, and four leagues deep, narrowing toward the bottom, where it appeared to be tolerably well sheltered from the sea-winds, provided there be sufficient depth of water for ships. I did not wait to examine it, although I was very desirous of finding an harbour in those parts, to which I might resort next spring. But I wanted one where wood might be got, and I knew that none was to be found here. From the south point of this bay, which lies in the latitude of 65° 30ʹ, the coast trends west by south, for about nine leagues, and there forms a deep bay, or river; or else the land there is so low that we could not see it.
At one in the afternoon, in the direction of our course, we saw what was first taken for a rock; but it proved to be a dead whale, which some natives of the Asiatic coast had killed, and were towing ashore. They seemed to conceal themselves behind the fish, to avoid being seen by us. This was unnecessary; for we pursued our course without taking any notice of them.
At day-break on the 4th, I hauled to the north-west, in order to get a nearer view of the inlet seen the preceding day; but the wind soon after veering to that direction, I gave up the design; and, steering to the southward along the coast, passed two bays, each about two leagues deep. The northernmost lies before a hill, which is remarkable by being rounder than any other upon the coast. And there is an island lying before the other. It may be doubted, whether there be a sufficient depth for ships in either of these bays, as we always met with shoal water, when we edged in for the shore. The country here is exceedingly hilly and naked. In several places on the low ground, next the sea, were the dwellings of the natives; and near all of them were erected stages of bones, such as before described. These may be seen at a great distance, on account of their whiteness.
At noon the latitude was 64° 38ʹ, and the longitude 188° 15ʹ; the southernmost point of the main in sight bore south 48° W.; and the nearest shore about three or four leagues distant. By this time, the wind had veered again to the north, and blew a gentle breeze. The weather was clear, and the air cold. I did not follow the direction of the coast, as I found that it took a westerly direction toward the Gulf of Anadir, into which I had no inducement to go, but steered to the southward, in order to get a sight of the Island of St. Laurence, discovered by Beering; which accordingly showed itself, and at eight o’clock in the evening, it bore south 20° E.; by estimation, eleven leagues distant. At the same time, the southernmost point of the main land bore south 83° W., distant twelve leagues. I take this point to be the point which Beering calls the east point of Suchotski, or Cape Tschukotskoi; a name which he gave it, and with propriety, because it was from this part of the coast that the natives came off to him, who called themselves of the nation of the Tschutski. I make its latitude to be 64° 13ʹ, and its longitude 186° 36ʹ.
In justice to the memory of Beering, I must say, that he has delineated the coast very well, and fixed the latitude and longitude of the points better than could be expected from the methods he had to go by. This judgment is not formed from Mr. Muller’s account of the voyage, or the chart prefixed to his book; but from Dr. Campbell’s account of it in his edition of Harris’s Collection[[83]], and a map thereto annexed, which is both more circumstantial and accurate than that of Mr. Muller.
The more I was convinced of my being now upon the coast of Asia, the more I was at a loss to reconcile Mr. Stæhlin’s map of the New Northern Archipelago with my observations; and I had no way to account for the great difference, but by supposing, that I had mistaken some part of what he calls the Island of Alaschka for the American continent, and had missed the channel that separates them. Admitting even this, there would still have been a considerable difference. It was with me a matter of some consequence to clear up this point the present season, that I might have but one object in view the next. And, as these northern isles are represented by him as abounding with wood, I was in hopes, if I should find them, of getting a supply of that article, which we now began to be in great want of on board.
With these views, I steered over for the American coast; and, at five in the afternoon, the next day, saw land bearing three quarters east, which we took to be Anderson’s Island, or some other land near it, and therefore did not wait to examine it. On the 6th, at four in the morning, we got sight of the American coast near Sledge Island; and at six the same evening, this island bore north, 6° E.; ten leagues distant; and the easternmost land in sight N. 49° E. If any part of what I had supposed to be American coast could possibly be the island of Alaschka, it was that now before us; and in that case, I must have missed the channel between it and the main, by steering to the west, instead of the east, after we first fell in with it. I was not, therefore, at a loss where to go, in order to clear up these doubts.