verts rather too strictly on the chart made in the voyage of the Kastrikom, which, considering the stormy weather which she encountered, and the state of navigation at that time, has a much nearer agreement with the charts of the modern discoveries than we could have expected. The interesting descrip tion given of the inhabitants of Jesso, in the account of the Kastrikom's voyage, extremely well accords with the observations of the Russians. Captain K. says;

Aino is the proper name of the native of Jesso, and thus also the people of the south of Sachalin (or of Aniwa Bay) are called.The Ainos are rather below the middle stature, of a dark nearly black complexion, with a thick bushy beard, and black rough hair hanging strait down.-The women are sufficiently ugly. However, I must do them the justice to say that they are modest in the highest degree. The characteristic quality of an Aino is goodness of heart, which is expressed in the strongest manner in his countenance; and so far as we were enabled to observe their actions, they fully answered this expression. Their looks evince something simple but noble.'

The Japanese had establishments in the Bay of Aniwa: but the Russians found the inhabitants, both Japanese and Ainos, not in the least unwilling to have intercourse with them, though they were under great apprehension of its being noticed by the Government-officers. Vessels came here from different parts of Japan; and Captain Krusenstern went on board one which had arrived from Osacca with a cargo of salt and rice, and was to return with a cargo of salted and dried fish. The author speaks of the ease with which the Russians could take possession of the country about Aniwa Bay; and he deems it probable that such an event as the establishment of a Russian colony in the Sachalin is at no great distance. He has not, indeed, made this conjecture without reasonable foundation, considering the constant and not slow progress of Russian usurpation over the eastern and northeastern parts of Asia, which has for such a length of time been unremittingly advancing. His argument, however, in defence of such an appropriation, we cannot approve. Bad example must never be quoted as a precedent in justification of wickedness. He adds, however, with candour, L honestly confess my doubts whether the Ainos, the original natives, would gain by such a change of masters, for they appeared to me to be treated with great humanity by the Japanese.'

When he had traced the eastern coast of Sachalin from La Pérouse's Strait to Cape Patientie, Captain K. sailed for Kamtschatka, passing between the Kurile islands, and arrived in the harbour of St. Peter and St. Paul on the 5th of June (1805). His Ex

cellency

cellency M. Resanoff was landed here, and Captain Krusenstern intended to have immediately put to sea again: but discontents, which had appeared among the natives of Kamtschatka, occasioned by the extortions of some Russian merchants, made it necessary for the Nadeshda to remain at St. Peter and St. Paul till the end of the month. On July the 5th, the Captain sailed again for Sachalin, and completed his examination of the east coast.

The inhabitants of the north end of Sachalin were found to be a different people from the Ainos. In a village there," every man among the inhabitants appeared armed with a dagger; and the chiefs had sabres, and wore coloured silk dresses. These people were supposed to be Tartars. The north end of Sacharin is recommended by the author as a commodious situa tion for a Russian colony.

Though the Voyages of La Pérouse and Captain Broughton ascertained the geography of the greater part of Sachalin, doubts remained whether Sachalin be a peninsula joined to the continent, or an island; yet it seems to have been satisfactorily determined that, if it be a separate land, it has no navigable channel through which ships can pass between it and the continent. Captain K. was anxious to settle this point in geography, and also to make a full discovery of the, entrance of the river Amur. La Pérouse and Broughton had made their examinations from the southward, advancing between Sachalin and the coast of Tartary, in a sea or arm of the sea now intitled in the charts the Gulf of Tartary. Captain Krusenstern would have had to attempt the discovery from the north part of Sachalin; and, by exploring southward between Sachalin and Tartary, to have joined his track to those of La Pérouse and Broughton, or to have ascertained the obstructions more exactly than they are now known: but from aiming at the accomplishment of this plan, he was deterred by directions given to him at Kamtschatka.

Gladly,' he says, as I would have continued our discovery in the channel, and along the whole coast of Tartary, even from the river Amur to the Russian frontiers, by which means the geography of this part of Asia would have been greatly benefited, I did not dare to undertake it. Upon our last departure from Kamtschatka, I had been most particularly warned by no means to approach that part of the coast of Tartary which belongs to the Chinese, that I might not occasion any suspicion in the minds of this jealous and timid government, and thereby lead to a rupture that would be immediately followed by the suspension of the trade with Kiachta, so extremely advantageous to the Russians.'

The opportunity then possessed for prosecuting these discoveries is said to have been as favourable as the writer could

1

wish: but the caution enjoined on him might not be neglected. In order to reconnoitre, however, where he was restrained from making full discovery, he proceeded from the north part of Sachalin to the southward, between it and Tartary, 20 leagues. He there found that the land of Sachalin approached within two leagues of the land of Tartary, at two capes which he named, after two of his lieutenants, Cape Romberg and Cape Golowatscheff.

This then,' he says, 'seemed to be the channel leading to the mouth of the Amur, and to this I now bent my course: we were at the most five miles from its centre, and our soundings had diminished to six fathoms; and not thinking it safe to venture farther with the ship, I sent Lieutenant Romberg with orders first to row towards the point of Sachalin, until he came into three fathoms water, and then directly to the cape of Tartary, sounding across the whole width of the channel. At six in the evening he returned upon my firing signal guns, as we had entirely lost sight of him for two hours. He informed me that the rapidity of the current from the southward had rendered the advance very laborious, and he therefore could not have proceeded till within three fathoms, and have had still time left to sound in the channel. He had gone, however, in a direct line towards the point of Sachalin, until he got into four fathoms water, where he calculated upon being about midway between the ship and the land, and two miles and a half from both. He then rowed over towards the coast of Tartary, finding the soundings at first the same, but gradually decreasing to three fathoms and a half. At this moment the signal was made, and he returned: he brought with him a pailful of water, which he had dipped exactly in the middle of the channel, at the farthest point to which he had proceeded. It was perfectly sweet, and only one grain heavier than what we had shipped at the harbour of St. Peter and St. Paul, and precisely of the same specific gravity as the fresh water from Nangasaky; the water which was drawn up alongside the ship being of the same weight, and perfectly fit to drink. During our stay at the mouth of this channel, the current ran with great rapidity from the south and S. S. E., and I had every reason to believe we were very near the mouth of the Amur, which was probably at no great distance from the promontory on the coast of Tartary.'

We venture to give our opinion, judging from the strength of the stream between the Capes Romberg and Golowatscheff, and from the freshness of the water in a depth sufficient for a ship to anchor, that it is extremely probable, indeed next to certainty, that these two capes form the mouth of a great river, in fact, of the Amur. We think, also, that it may be admitted as substantiated that the Sachalin is not a separate land from the continent. This is the most important part of the Nadeshda's navigation, with respect to geography. From the coast of Sachalin, Captain Krusenstern returned to Kamtschatka, where he arrived at the end of August, 1805.

Many particulars of the voyage we must now omit to no tice, for want of room. We just mention the escape of seven Japanese sailors from Kamtschatka, who had been shipwrecked on the coast, (related in chap. 7th of the iid vol.) to remark it as an instance of the courage and ability of the people of Japan. Captain K. has devoted a chapter to a description of the present state of Kamtschatka, to which we have before paid suffcient attention. On the 9th of October 1805, he set sail from the Bay of Awatchka, in order to return to Europe by the way of China. He chose a track that appeared most proper for the verification of some islands which are laid down in the early charts, but he had not the satisfaction of finding any land till he came to the South and Sulphur Islands, which were seen in the last voyage of Captain Cook.

We must refrain from entering into detail respecting the transactions of the navigators with the Chinese, and the au thor's account of the political disorders of China, of the slow progress of the attempts to propagate Christianity in that empire, of the mode of trading in the interior, &c. &c.: but we must not omit to report that they effected their commercial purposes by disposing of their furs and skins, and taking on board cargoes of tea, &c. These objects, however, were not accomplished without some difficulty, and the aid of the English merchants at Macao; and, on reaching Petersburgh, Capt. K. received a letter informing him that, only 24 hours after he left Whampoa, a very positive order arrived from Pekin to detain the ships.

At Macao, the Nadeshda had been re-joined by her former consort the Neva, with a rich cargo of furs, from the Aleutic islands; and they sailed together in company for Europe in the passage, they were again separated, but both arrived at home in safety. The Nadeshda anchored at Cronstadt, August the 19th, 1806, having been absent 3 years and 12 days, in all which time she lost but one of her crew, the ambassador's cook, who was in a decline when he embarked. The Neva had been equally fortunate.

Having given so ample an account of this first Russian circumnavigation, which is creditable to that nation as being planned for useful purposes, and honourable to its conductor as having been executed with every attention to science that was compatible with his instructions, we shall now add a few remarks directed more especially to the publication. The origi nal in the Russian language is handsomely printed, without any approach to the unreasonable magnificence of which some late voyagers have given the public much reason to complain, and the charts are engraved with a very satisfactory clearness;

but

but of the style we judge only by the translation before us, which, in the general course of the narrative, where science is not concerned, we find to be easy and natural. We cannot now be the first to notice the inaccuracies in Mr. Hoppner's translation of the geographical and nautical details of the voyage: a letter having been inserted in "The Naval Chronicle" by Captain Krusenstern himself, in which he complains of the defects of the English version in these particulars. He observes: " the first thing that will strike a seaman on perusing it is, that it has been translated by one totally ignorant of nautical science; for there is hardly a single scientific or technical term that has not been disfigured in the translation to such a degree, that frequently the meaning cannot even be guessed at." This charge is supported by the evidence of a long string of quotations from the translation. We should ourselves, in the course of the preceding strictures, have remarked on many instances of nautical mistakes but we deferred our notice of them to the conclusion, in preference to interrupting a narrative or a discussion in which we felt interest; and we now refer to Capt. K.'s letter, above mentioned, for specific examples of error.

It is certainly requisite to the translation of a scientific work, if designed for publication, that the translator should possess some skill in the science treated. The translator of mathematical demonstrations should have attained some proficiency in mathematics; and a medical work translated without some professional knowlege would be dangerous. The same may be said of the translation of nautical remarks and pilotage. If unconscious error speak in the tone of confident knowlege, as in the following passage, this convinced us that there must be a strong current to the north, which was confirmed by our observations the next day; for by our reckoning we ought to have been thirty-five miles more northward,' how may it not perplex or mislead? No care or revision can prevent a translator from falling into such mistakes, if he be uninformed in the nature of his subject.

Another fault in the present volume is the neglect to render the margin useful. In the Russian original, every page gives information of the date; and the want of it has made the translation provokingly troublesome. The chart, also, is too defective to escape censure. It is professed to be a reduced copy of the original: (be it noticed that the charts in the atlas to the Russian edition are drawn with great correctness :) but the first view of this reduced copy will immediately inform any person, who is even the least instructed in geography, that the distances between the parallels of latitude are out of all order or proportion.

In