It is even more than probable, that the Aleütian, and some of the Fox Islands, now well known, are the very same which Beering fell-in with upon his return; though, from the unsteadiness of his course, their true position could not be exactly laid down in the chart of that expedition[28].
[Footnote 28: This error is however so small, and particularly with respect to the more Eastern coasts and islands, as laid down in Beering's chart, such as Cape Hermogenes, Toomanoi, Shumaghin's Island, and mountain of St. Dolmar, that if they were to be placed upon the general map of Russia, which is prefixed to this work, they would coincide with the very chain of the Fox Islands.]
As the sea of Kamtchatka is now so much frequented, these conjectures cannot remain long undecided; and it is only to be wished, that some expeditions were to be made North-east, in order to discover the nearest coasts of America. For there is no reason to expect a successful voyage by taking any other direction; as all the vessels, which have steered a more southerly course, have sailed through an open sea, without meeting with any signs of land.
A very full and judicious account of all the discoveries hitherto made in the Eastern ocean may be expected from the celebrated Mr. Muller[29]. Meanwhile, I hope the following account, extracted from the original papers, and procured from the best intelligence, will be the more acceptable to the public; as it may prove an inducement to the Russians to publish fuller and more circumstantial relations. Besides, the reader will find here a narrative more authentic and accurate, than what has been published in the abovementioned calendar[30]; and several mistakes in that memoir are here corrected.
[Footnote 29: Mr. Muller has already arranged and put in order several of the journals, and sent them to the board of admiralty at St. Petersburg, where they are at present kept, together with the charts of the respective voyages.]
[Footnote 30: A German copy of the treatise alluded to in the text, was sent, by its author, Mr. Stæhlin Counsellor of State to the Empress of Russia, to the late Dr. Maty; and it is mentioned, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1774, under the following title: "A New Map and Preliminary Description of the New Archipelago in the North, discovered a few Years ago by the Russians in the N. E. beyond Kamtchatka." A translation of this treatise was published the same year by Heydinger.]