or ALEUTSKY ISLANDS, a group or chain of islands on the north-east side of Kamchatka, and near the continent of America, which are subject to Russia. Part of these islands were discovered by Behring in the year 1741, and the rest at different periods since that time. Captain Cook visited these islands in 1778, and directed his researches and observations to a survey of them and of the adjacent coasts of Asia and America. On the Aleutian islands and the neighbouring coast, the Russians have formed numerous establishments for the support of the fur-trade, which is one of the most advantageous commercial concerns to the Russian empire. Captain Billings, who was sent out by the late empress Catherine to make discoveries in the north-east sea, explored, in the summer 1792, the whole chain of these islands. They seem to be of volcanic origin; have no wood, but what floats from the sea; and lie between the 51st and 56th degrees N. Lat. and the 164th and the 197th degrees of E. Long.