[Footnote 151: See N^o VIII. of this Appendix.]
[Sidenote: Number of the Aleütian Isles.] I take this opportunity of adding, that the anonymous author, in describing the Aleütian Isles, both in the first and last chapter of the account of the Russian discoveries, mentions only three; namely, Attak, Semitshi, Shemiya. But the Aleütian Isles consist of a much larger number; and their chain includes all the islands comprehended by the islander in the two groups of Khao and Sasignan[152]. Many of them are laid down upon the general map of Russia; and some of them are occasionally alluded to in the journals of the Russian voyages[153].
[Footnote 153: See p. 30, and particularly p. 46, where some of these islands are mentioned under the names of Ibiya, Kiska, and Olas.]
Conjectures concerning the proximity of the _Fox Islands_ to the continent of _America_.
The anonymous author, in the course of his account of the Russian discoveries, has advanced many proofs drawn from natural history, from which he supposes the Fox Islands to be at a small distance from the continent of America: hence he grounds his conjecture, that "the time is not far distant when some of the Russian navigators will fall in with that coast."
[Sidenote: Proofs of the Vicinity of the Fox Islands to America.] The small willows and alders which, according to Glottoff, were found growing upon Kadyak, do not appear to have been sufficient either in size or quantity to ascertain, with any degree of certainty, the close vicinity of that island to America. River-otters, wolves, bears, and wild boars, which were observed upon the same island, will perhaps be thought to afford a stronger presumption in favour of a neighbouring continent; martens were also caught there, an animal which is not known in the Eastern ports of Siberia, nor found upon any of the other islands. All the above mentioned animals, martens alone excepted, were seen upon Alaksu, which is situated more to the North East than Kadyak, and also rein-deers and wild dogs. To these proofs drawn from natural history, we must add the reports of a mountainous country covered with forests, and of a great promontory called Atachtak, lying still more to the N. E. which were prevalent among the inhabitants of Alaksu and Kadyak.