manifest, that the Tschukotskoi Noss of Deshneff is no other than the
promontory called by Captain Cook the East Cape. Speaking of the Noss, he
says, "One might sail from the isthmus to the river Anadir, with a fair
wind, in three days and three nights." This exactly coincides with the
situation of the East Cape, which is about one hundred and twenty leagues
from the mouth of the Anadir; and as there is no other isthmus to the
northward between that and the latitude of 69°, it is obvious that, by this
description, he must intend either the cape in question, or some other to
the southward of it. In another place he says, "Over against the isthmus
there are two islands in the sea, upon which were seen people of the
Tschutski nation, through whose lips were run pieces of the teeth of the
sea-horse." This again perfectly agrees with the two islands situated to
the S.E. of the East Cape. We saw indeed no inhabitants on them, but it is
not at all improbable that a party of the Americans from the opposite
continent, whom this description accurately suits, might, at that time,
have been accidentally there; and whom it was natural enough for him to
mistake for a tribe of the Tschutski.[25]

These two circumstances are of so striking and unequivocal a nature, that
they appear to me conclusive on the point of the Tschukotskoi Noss,
notwithstanding there are others of a more doubtful kind, which we have
from the same authority, and which now remain to be considered. "To go,"
says Deshneff in another account, "from the Kovyma to the Anadir, a great
promontory must be doubled, which stretches very far into the sea;" and
afterwards, "this promontory stretches between N. and N.E." It was probably
from the expressions contained in these passages, that Mr Muller was
induced to give the country of the Tschutski the form we find in his map;
but had he been acquainted with the situation of the east cape, as
ascertained by Captain Cook, and the remarkable coincidence between it and
this promontory or isthmus, (for it must be observed, that Deshneff appears