"He pretends to have proposed three different routes to be followed in order to discover what was still unknown. The first, to sail straight to Japan, pass Yeco, or rather the straits which separate it from the island of the States and the land of the Company, to discover what is to the north of Yeco and search for the passage between that country and the coast of eastern Tartary. This is what is called giving advice after the event. In the original memoir there is not a word said about any such researches. M. de l'Isle contents himself with proposing three different routes for finding the countries lying near to Kamshatka on the east. {225} The first two, we must admit, agree well enough with the second and third routes mentioned in the Paris memoir. They are expressed in these terms: "1. 'If one advances to the most northern extremity of Asia, and at the same time the most eastern point reached by Captain Bering (wrong supposition, as I have already remarked), one cannot fail to reach America, no matter what route one takes between the northeast and southeast, at a distance of not more than 600 leagues (great error in estimating the distance of the opposite lands of Asia and America, since they are only separated in the north by a narrow strait which widens as it goes south).' "2. 'Without going so far, it would perhaps be easier to start from the eastern coast of Kamshatka, sail directly east and reconnoitre the neighboring land, of which M. Bering discovered indications on his first voyage.' "In regard to the third route, M. de l'Isle conjectures as follows: "3. 'Perhaps the countries seen by Don Juan de Gama might be found more speedily and with more certitude by seeking them to the southeast of Kamshatka;' the outcome of which project showed him his mistake, which is apparently the reason that induced him to change it to that of the route by Japan and Yeco. "Nothing is so imperfect in detail, and withal so dry, as the recital of M. Bering's voyage with which M. de l'Isle regales us. He makes him start in 1741 to look to the east of Kamshatka for the land which he had seen indications of in his first voyage. 'He did not go very far,' he says, 'for, being assailed by a violent storm during thick weather, he could not remain at sea, and brought up on a desert island in latitude 54°, only a short distance from the Port of Avatcha from whence he had sailed.' "M. Bering, then, did nothing but fail, and he did so soon after leaving port. I must therefore supplement the meagreness of M. de l'Isle's relation by giving an account of the voyage of M. Bering and the other officers, chiefs of these expeditions, which will be so much the more easy as I took part in them and as I can, besides, refer to the charts and journals of each vessel as proofs of my correctness.