e ice in sledges to the islands opposite the mouth of
the Kovyma. There seems no reason for not supposing, that a subsequent
expedition of this sort might also be undertaken in 1773. Mr Coxe, p.
324, places the expedition on sledges in 1764, but Mr Pennant's MS.
may be depended upon.--D.]

[Footnote 8: There is nothing at all unlikely in the voyage now spoken
of. According to Captain Krusenstern, whose information is in all
probability quite unexceptionable, the Kuril islands and Jesso have
been often visited by Russian merchants since 1741, when Spanberg
and Walton reached the coast of Japan; though without any positive
advantage, he says, accruing either to science or commerce from their
visits.--E.]

The next morning, he would fain have made me a present of a sea-otter
skin, which, he said, was worth eighty rubles at Kamtschatka. However,
I thought proper to decline it; but I accepted of some dried fish, and
several baskets of the lily, or _saranne_ root, which is described at
large in the History of Kamtschatka.[9] In the afternoon, Mr Ismyloff,
after dining with Captain Clerke, left us with all his retinue,
promising to return in a few days. Accordingly, on the 19th, he made
us another visit, and brought with him the charts before-mentioned,
which he allowed me to copy, and the contents of which furnish matter
for the following observations:--

There were two of them, both manuscripts, and bearing every mark of
authenticity. The first comprehended the _Penschinskian Sea_, the
coast of Tartary, as low as the latitude of 41 deg., the Kuril islands,
and the peninsula of Kamtschatka. Since this map had been made,
Wawseelee Irkecchoff, captain of the fleet, explored, in 1758, the
coast of Tartary, from Okotsk, and the river Amur, to Japan, or 41 deg.
of latitude. Mr Ismyloff also informed us, that great part of the
sea-coast of the peninsula of Kamtschatka had been corrected by
himself, and described the instrument he made use of, which must have
been a _theodolite_. He also informed us, that there were only two
harbours fit for shipping, on all the east coast of Kamtschatka, viz.
the bay of _Awatska_, and the river _Olutora_, in the bottom of the
gulf of the same name, that there was not a single harbour upon its
west coast, and that _Yamsk_ was the only one on all the west side of
the Penschinskian Sea, except Okotsk, till we come to the river Amur.
The Kuril islands afford only one harbour, and that is on the N.E.