erroneous.

From this view of the time-keeper it appears, that, for near two years, it altered its rate very inconsiderably, and therefore, that its error, according to the Greenwich rate, if we had had no opportunities of correcting it, would have amounted only to 24°. That afterward, at King George's Sound, or Nootka, it was found to have varied exceedingly; of course, the longitude, by its Greenwich rate, was becoming considerably About this time, it should be remarked, the thermometer was varying from 65° to 41°. The greatest alteration we ever observed in the watch was, during the three weeks we were cruizing to the north; in which interval, it gave the longitude of the East Cape with a difference of twenty-eight miles. I have marked the longitude of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, as given by the time-keeper, notwithstanding it stopped a few days before we arrived there; this I was enabled to do, from comparing the longitude it gave the day before it stopped, with that given by Mr. Bayley's watch, and allowing for the error of the latter.

The use of so accurate a measure of time is sufficiently evident, from its furnishing in itself the means of approximating to the longitude at sea, as may be seen in the above table. But, besides this, we were enabled, by the same means, to give a degree of accuracy to the lunar observations, which they cannot otherwise pretend to; and, at the same time, by reducing a number of those observations to one time, obtain results approaching still nearer the truth. In surveying coasts, and ascertaining the true position of capes and head-lands, it reaches the utmost degree of practical exactness. On the other hand, it is to be observed, that lunar observations, in their turn, are absolutely necessary, in order to reap the greatest possible advantages from the timekeeper; since, by ascertaining the true longitude

of places, they discover the error of its rate. The original observations, that were made in the course of this voyage, have been published by order of the board of longitude; and to those I must refer the reader, for his further information on this subject.

N. B. The observatories were placed on the west side of the village of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

Latitude deduced from me

ridian zenith distances of the sun, and of five stars to the south, and five to the north of the zenith Longitude deduced from one hundred and forty-six sets of lunar observations

53° 0' 38" north.

158° 43′ 16′′ east.

173° 36' 0"

159° 20' 0"

6° 18′ 40′′ east.

63° 5' 0"

It was high water, on the full and change of the moon, at thirty-six minutes past four, and the

greatest rise was five feet eight inches. The tides were very regular every twelve hours. On the coast, near the bay, the flood came from the south, and the time of high-water was near two hours sooner than in the harbour of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

HOT SPRINGS. PRODUCTIONS. VEGETABLES. ANIMALS. -BIRDS.-FISH.

KAMTSCHATKA is the name of a peninsula situated on the eastern coast of Asia, running nearly north and south, from 52° to 61° north latitude; the longitude of its southern extremity being 156° 45′ E. The isthmus, which joins it to the continent on the north, lies between the gulf of Olutorsk and the gulf of Penshinsk. Its southern extremity is Cape Lopatka, a word signifying the blade-bone of a man, and is so called from its supposed resemblance to it. The shape of the whole peninsula is not unlike that of a shoe, widening from the toe (which we may suppose to be Cape Lopatka) toward the middle, and narrowing again toward the heel, the neck of land above-mentioned connecting it with the continent. Its greatest breadth is from the mouth of the river Tigil to that of Kamtschatka, and is computed to be two hundred and thirty-six miles, from whence it narrows very gradually toward each extremity.

It is bounded on the north by the country of the Koriacks; to the south and east, by the north Pacific Ocean; and to the west, by the sea of Okotsk. A chain of high mountains stretches the whole length of the country, from north to south, dividing it nearly into two equal parts, from whence a great number of rivers take their rise, and empty themselves, on each side, into the Pacific Ocean and the sea of Okotsk.

There are three rivers of much greater magnitude

than the rest; the Bolchoireka, or Great River, so called from bolchoia, which signifies great, and reka, a river; the river Kamtschatka, and the Awatska. The first empties itself into the sea of Okotsk, and is navigable for the Russian galliots upward of five leagues from its mouth, or within nine miles of Bolcheretsk, a town situated at the conflux of the Goltsoffka and the Bistraia, which here lose themselves in the Bolchoireka. The Bistraia itself is no inconsiderable river. It derives its source from the same mountain with the river Kamtschatka, and, by taking a direct contrary course, affords the Kamtschadales the means of transporting their goods by water, in small canoes, almost across the whole peninsula. The river Kamtschatka, after maintaining a course of near three hundred miles from south to north, winds round to the eastward, in which direction it empties itself into the ocean, a little to the southward of Kamtschatkoi Noss. Near the mouth of the Kamtschatka, to the north-west, lies the great lake called Nerpitsch, from nerpi, a Kamtschadale word signifying a seal, with which this lake abounds. About twenty miles up the river, reckoning from the mouth of the lake, is a fort called Nishnei Kamtschatska ostrog, where the Russians have built an hospital and barracks, and which, we were informed, is become the principal mart in this country.

The river Awatska arises from the mountains situated between the Bolchoireka and the Bistraia, and running, from north-west to south-east, a course of one hundred miles, falls into the bay of Awatska. The Tigil is likewise a river of considerable size, rising amidst some very high mountains, which lie under the same parallel with Kamtschatkoi Noss, and, running in an even course from south-east to northwest, falls into the sea of Okotsk. All the other rivers of this peninsula, which are almost infinite in number, are too small to deserve a particular enumeration.