ouncing, that there is no navigable passage
between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, unless there may be a possibility
of sailing through the strait between Asia and America, and navigating the
Frozen Ocean. The surveys which were made during this voyage, may justly be
said to have rendered perfect the geography of that part of the north-west
coast of America to which it extended, and indeed to have completed the
whole geography of this coast, which, from the multitude of its creeks,
inlets, islands, &c., presents formidable as well as petty and troublesome
difficulties in the way of its accurate and complete survey. Captain
Vancouver, however, was extremely fortunate in the weather which attended
him during the whole of the three summers which he spent on this coast.

Upwards of twenty years elapsed after the voyage of Vancouver, before
another attempt was made to find out a passage from the north Pacific into
the Atlantic Ocean. This attempt proceeded from Russia: not however from
the government, but an individual. Count Romanzoff, a Russian nobleman, is
well known for his liberal and judicious encouragement of every thing which
can promote useful knowledge, especially in what relates to the improvement
and benefit of his country. His first design was to fit out an expedition
to explore the north-west passage by Hudson's Bay or Davis' Straits; but
learning that the British government were making preparations to attempt it
by that route, he changed his plan, and resolved to fit out an expedition
to attempt the discovery of a passage from the eastward.

A ship was accordingly built and equipped, and the command given to
Lieutenant Kotzebue. He sailed from Russia in the autumn of 1815, and on
the 19th of June in the following year he reached Kamschatka. This he left
on the 15th of July and on the 20th of that month, Behring's Islands were
seen to the northward of Cape Prince of Wales. A tract of low land was
ascertained to be an island about seven miles long, and a mile across, in
the widest part: beyond it was a deep inlet running eastward into the
continent. Lieutenant Kotzebue, animated and encouraged by this appearance,
proceeded in a northerly direction, and found that the land continued low,
and tended more to the eastwards. On the 1st of August the entrance into a
broad inlet was discovered, into which the current ran very rapidly. The
opening of this inlet was known before, and is indeed laid down in the
charts at