describes, it is obvious enough that the medicines can at least do no
more harm than the bottles and boxes that contain them; but then one
cannot easily perceive wherein consists the merit or utility of having
provided them, unless, as in the instance of fire-arms hung over the
chimney never to be loaded or fired, or in that of idols of wood and
stone which adorn the temples of pagans, but which can neither receive
nor bestow favours, we shall suppose that the imagination of some
potential advantages is quite equivalent to the reality of their
operation. Krusenstern has some sensible remarks on the proper method
of supplying Kamtschatka with well-qualified physicians, but they are
of course foreign to this place, and cannot, therefore, properly be
introduced.--E.

[22] This bird, which is somewhat larger than the common gull, pursues the
latter kind whenever it meets them; the gull, after flying for some
time, with loud screams, and evident marks of great terror, drops its
dung, which its pursuer immediately darts at, and catches before it
falls into the sea.

[23] The distance betwixt the two remarkable points now specified, it will
be proper for the reader to remember, is estimated at 13 leagues, or
about 40 miles, being the nearest approach of the two continents of
Asia and America yet ascertained.--E.

[24] Captain Cook then must still be allowed to have succeeded in getting
farther towards the north in this ocean, than any other navigator.
For, from the date of this voyage up to the present period, so far at
least as has been published, no one has surpassed the limit of his
examination. But it is obvious, from the very circumstance of the
difference betwixt the two attempts recorded in this voyage, that a