I cannot close this address to the reader without embracing with peculiar satisfaction the just occasion, which the ensuing treatises upon the Russian discoveries and commerce afford me, of joining with every friend of science in the warmest admiration of that enlarged and liberal spirit, which so strikingly marks the character of the present Empress of Russia. Since her accession to the throne, the investigation and discovery of useful knowledge has been the constant object of her generous encouragement. The authentic records of the Russian History have, by her express orders, been properly arranged; and permission is readily granted of inspecting them. The most distant parts of her vast dominions have, at her expence, been explored and described by persons of great abilities and extensive learning; by which means new and important lights have been thrown upon the geography and natural history of those remote regions. In a word, this truly great princess has contributed more, in the compass of only a few years, towards civilizing and informing the minds of her subjects, than had been effected by all the sovereigns her predecessors since the glorious æra of Peter the Great.
In order to prevent the frequent mention of the full title of the books referred to in the course of this performance, the following catalogue is subjoined, with the abbreviations.
Müller's Samlung Russischer Geschichte, IX volumes, 8vo. printed at St. Petersburg in 1732, and the following years; it is referred to in the following manner: S. R. G. with the volume and page annexed.
From this excellent collection I have made use of the following treatises:
vol. II. p. 293, &c. Geschichte der Gegenden an dem Flusse Amur.
There is a French translation of this treatise, called Histoire du Fleuve Amur, 12mo, Amsterdam, 1766.
vol. III. p. 1, &c. Nachrichten von See Reisen, &c.
There is an English and a French translation of this work; the former is called "Voyages from Asia to America for completing the Discoveries of the North West Coast of America," &c. 4to, London, 1764. The title of the latter is Voyages et Decouvertes faites par les Russes, &c. 12mo, Amsterdam, 1766. p. 413. Nachrichten Von der Hanlung in Sibirien.