of paying a second visit to the Tschutski. At noon, our latitude, by
observation, was 65° 6', and longitude 189°. The south point of the bay of
St Laurence bore N. by W. 1/4 W., and was distant seven or eight leagues.
In the afternoon, the variation was found to be 22° 50' E.

Having now passed Beering's Strait, and taken our final leave of the N.E.
coast of Asia, it may not be improper, on this occasion, to state the
grounds on which we have ventured to adopt two general conclusions
respecting its extent, in opposition to the opinions of Mr Muller. The
first, that the promontory named East Cape, is actually the easternmost
point of that quarter of the globe; or, in other words, that no part of the
continent extends in longitude beyond 190° 22' E.; the second, that the
latitude of the north-easternmost extremity falls to the southward of 70°
N. With respect to the former, if such land exist, it must necessarily be
to the N. of latitude 69°, where the discoveries made in the present voyage
terminate; and, therefore, the probable direction of the coast, beyond this
point, is the question I shall endeavour, in the first place, to
investigate.

As the Russian is the only nation that has hitherto navigated these seas,
all our information respecting the situation of the coast to the northward
of Cape North, must necessarily be derived from the charts and journals of
the persons who have been employed at various times in ascertaining the
limits of that empire; and these are for the most part so imperfect, so
confused, and contradictory, that it is not easy to form any distinct idea
of their pretended, much less to collect the amount of their real
discoveries. It is on this account, that the extent and form of the
peninsula, inhabited by the Tschutski, still remains a point on which the
Russian geographers are much divided. Mr Muller, in his map, published in
the year 1754, supposes this country to extend toward the N.E., to the 75°