[Illustration: _GENERAL MAP_ of the RUSSIAN EMPIRE.] ACCOUNT OF THE RUSSIAN DISCOVERIES BETWEEN ASIA AND AMERICA. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA, AND THE HISTORY OF THE TRANSACTIONS AND COMMERCE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA. By WILLIAM COXE, A. M. Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of MARLBOROUGH. LONDON, PRINTED BY J. NICHOLS, FOR T. CADELL, IN THE STRAND. MDCCLXXX. TO JACOB BRYANT, ESQ. AS A PUBLIC TESTIMONY OF THE HIGHEST RESPECT FOR HIS DISTINGUISHED LITERARY ABILITIES, THE TRUEST ESTEEM FOR HIS PRIVATE VIRTUES, AND THE MOST GRATEFUL SENSE OF MANY PERSONAL FAVOURS, THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED, BY HIS FAITHFUL AND AFFECTIONATE HUMBLE SERVANT, WILLIAM COXE. Cambridge, March 27, 1780. PREFACE. The late Russian Discoveries between Asia and America have, for some time, engaged the attention of the curious; more especially since Dr. Robertson's admirable History of America has been in the hands of the public. In that valuable performance the elegant and ingenious author has communicated to the world, with an accuracy and judgement which so eminently distinguish all his writings, the most exact information at that time to be obtained, concerning those important discoveries. During my stay at Petersburg, my inquiries were particularly directed to this interesting subject, in order to learn if any new light had been thrown on an article of knowledge of such consequence to the history of mankind. For this purpose I endeavoured to collect the respective journals of the several voyages subsequent to the expedition of Beering and Tschirikoff in 1741, with which the celebrated Muller concludes his account of the first Russian navigations. During the course of my researches I was informed, that a treatise in the German language, published at Hamburg and Leipsic in 1776, contained a full and exact narrative of the Russian voyages, from 1745 to 1770[1]. [Footnote 1: The title of the book is, Neue Nachrichten von denen Neuendeckten Insuln in der See zwischen Asia und Amerika aus mitgetheilten Urkunden und Auszuegen versasset von J. L. S.]