The exploring vessels, after parting with the San Carlos, doubled Cape Mendocino, and, on the 10th of June, anchored in a small roadstead beyond that promontory, in the latitude of 41 degrees 10 minutes. The officers, priests, and a portion of the men, immediately landed, and took possession of the country, in the name of their sovereign, with religious solemnities, bestowing upon the harbor the name of Port Trinidad; and they then engaged in repairing their vessels and obtaining a supply of water, which afforded them employment for nine days.

During this period, the Spaniards held frequent communications with the people of the country, who dwelt principally on the banks of a small stream, named by the navigators Rio de las Tortolas, Pigeon River, from the multitude of those birds in its vicinity. The Indians conducted themselves uniformly in the most peaceable manner, and appeared to be, on the whole, an inoffensive and industrious race. They were clothed, for the most part, in skins, and armed with bows and arrows, in the use of which they were very expert; their arrows were, in general, tipped with copper or iron, of which metals they had knives and other implements whence procured the Spaniards could not learn. No signs of religious feelings, or ceremonies of any kind, could be discovered among them, unless their howling over the bodies of the dead may be considered in that light.

Having completed their arrangements, Heceta and Bodega sailed from Port Trinidad on the 19th of June, leaving a cross erected near the shore, with an inscription, setting forth the fact of their having visited the place and taken possession of it for their sovereign this monument the Indians promised to respect; and they kept their word, for Vancouver found it there untouched in 1793. The Spaniards considered the discovery of the place important: the harbor being, according to their journals, safe and spacious, and presenting facilities for communication between vessels and the shore; and the surrounding country fruitful and agreeable. Vancouver, however, gives a much less favorable view of the harbor, which he pronounces to be in no respect a secure retreat for vessels, as it is entirely open to the south-west winds, which blow on that coast with the utmost violence at certain seasons of the year. The other accounts of the Spaniards, respecting the place and its inhabitants, are, in general, confirmed by those of the British navigator.

The Spaniards, after leaving Port Trinidad, were obliged to keep

at a distance from the coast for three weeks, at the end of which time they again came in sight of it, in the latitude of 43 degrees 27 minutes. From that parallel they examined the shore towards the south, in search of the strait said to have been discovered by Juan de Fuca in 1592, the entrance of which was placed, in Bellin's chart, between the 47th and the 48th degrees of latitude; and, having satisfied themselves that no such opening existed there, the two vessels cast anchor near the land, though at some distance from each other, in order to obtain water and to trade with the natives.

Here a severe misfortune befell the schooner on the 14th of July. Seven of her men, who had been sent ashore in her only boat, though well armed, were attacked and murdered, immediately on landing, by the natives; and the schooner was herself in much danger of being taken by those savages, who surrounded her, during the whole day, in great numbers, in their canoes, and were with difficulty prevented from boarding her. In commemoration of this melancholy event, the place at which it occurred was called Punta de Martires-Martyr's Point; it is in the latitude of 47 degrees 20 minutes, and on English maps is called Grenville's Point. A small island, situated a few miles farther north, the only one deserving that name between Cape Mendocino and the Strait of Fuca, was also named Isla de Dolores-Isle of Sorrows: twelve years afterwards, this same isle received, from the captain of the ship Imperial Eagle, of Ostend, the appellation of Destruction Island, in consequence of a similar massacre of some of his crew by the Indians, on the main land opposite.

This disaster, together with the wretched condition of the schooner, and the appearance of scurvy in the crews of both vessels, occasioned a debate among the officers, as to the propriety of continuing the voyage. The commander, Heceta, was desirous to return to Monterey, in which, however, he was opposed by his own pilot, Juan Perez, and by Bodega, the captain, and Maurelle, the pilot, of the schooner; and, their opinions having been given, as usual in the Spanish service, in writing, the unwilling assent of the commander was obtained, and the voyage towards the north was resumed on the 20th of July. Ere they had proceeded far in that direction, the vessels were separated in a storm; whereupon Heceta seized the opportunity to go back to Monterey, whilst Bodega persevered in his determination to accomplish, as far as possible, the objects of the expedition.

Heceta, after parting with the schooner, made the land near the

50th degree of latitude, (on the south-west side of the great island of Vancouver and Quadra,) and, passing by the Port San Lorenzo, (Nootka Sound,) discovered in the previous year by Perez, he came on the coast of the continent near the 48th parallel, without observing the intermediate entrance of the Strait of Fuca, for which he, however, sought between the 47th and 48th parallels. Thence he ran along the shore towards the south, and, on the 15th of August, arrived opposite an opening, in the latitude of 46 degrees 17 minutes, from which rushed a current so strong as to prevent his entering it. This circumstance convinced him that it was the mouth of some great river, or, perhaps, of the Strait of Fuca, which might have been erroneously placed on his chart: he, in consequence, remained in its vicinity another day, in the hope of ascertaining the true character of the place; but, being still unable to enter the opening, he continued his voyage towards the south.*

On the opening in the coast thus discovered Heceta bestowed the name of Enseñada de Asuncion † — Assumption Inlet ; calling the point on its north side Cape San Roque, and that on the south Cape Frondoso-Leafy Cape. In the charts published at Mexico, soon after the conclusion of the voyage, the entrance is, however, called Enseñada de Heceta - Heceta's Inlet-and Rio de San RoqueRiver of St. Roc. It was, undoubtedly, the mouth of the greatest river on the western side of America; the same which was, in 1792, first entered by the ship Columbia, from Boston, under the command of Robert Gray, and has ever since been called the Columbia. The evidence of its first discovery by Heceta, on the 15th of August, 1775, is unquestionable.

From Assumption Inlet, Heceta continued his course, along the shore of the continent, towards the south, and arrived at Monterey, with nearly two thirds of his men sick, on the 30th of August. In his journal, he particularly describes many places on this part of the coast which are now well known; such as the remarkable promontory, in the latitude of 45 degrees, with small, rocky islets in front, named by him Cape Falcon, the Cape Lookout of our maps — the flat-topped mountain, overhanging the ocean, a little farther south, noted, in his journal, as La Mesa, or The Table, which, in 1805,

* See extract from the Journal of Heceta, among the Proofs and Illustrations, under the letter E, in the latter part of this volume.

↑ The 15th of August is the day of the Assumption, and the 16th is the day of St. Roque, or Roc, and St. Jacinto, or Hyacinth, according to the Roman Catholic calendar

received, from Lewis and Clarke, the name of Clarke's Point of View-and the numerous rocky points and reefs bordering the shore, between those places and Cape Mendocino.

Meanwhile, Bodega and Maurelle, in their little vessel, were striving, if possible, to reach the 65th degree of latitude, agreeably to the instructions of the viceroy. With this object, after their separation from Heceta, they advanced towards the north, without seeing land, until they had passed the 56th degree of latitude, when they unexpectedly beheld it, on the 16th of August, at a great distance in the north, and much nearer on the east; though, by Bellin's chart, and their own calculations, they should have been one hundred and thirty-five leagues from any part of America. Steering towards the east, they discovered a lofty mountain, rising from the ocean in the form of a beautiful cone, and covered with snow, occupying the whole of what seemed to be a peninsula, projecting from the main land of an extensive and elevated territory: this mountain immediately received the name of San Jacinto, in honor of St. Hyacinth, on whose day it was discovered, the projecting point of land which it occupied being called Cape Engaño, or False Cape. In the angles between this supposed peninsula and the main land were two bays, or sounds, of which the northernmost was named Port Remedios, and the other Port Guadelupe, after the two celebrated shrines in the vicinity of the city of Mexico. There is no difficulty in identifying any of these places, as described in the journals of the Spanish voyage. They are situated on the west side of the largest island of the group distinguished, on English maps, as King George III.'s Archipelago: Mount San Jacinto was, three years afterwards, named by Cook Mount Edgecumb; Port Remedios is the Bay of Islands of the same navigator, and Port Guadelupe is the Norfolk Sound of the English geographers. The two bays have since been found to communicate with each other by a narrow passage, which completely separates the main land from the mountain. The Spaniards landed on the shore of Port Remedios, where they took possession of the country agreeably to the formalities prescribed, and obtained some water and salmon for the supply of their vessel. While thus engaged, they were surrounded by a crowd of natives of the country, who appeared to be more savage and determined than those of any other part of the coast, and also to entertain very distinct ideas of their own superior rights of property and domain. Thus the Spaniards were obliged to pay, not only for the fish, but also for

the water taken away by them; and the cross, and other marks which they planted on the shore, were torn up immediately on their departure, and treated with every indignity by the savages.

The voyage was resumed on the 20th of August, and was continued along the coast, to the 58th degree of latitude, beyond which it was found impossible to proceed, as nearly all on board were, from fatigue and sickness, incapable of performing duty, whilst the winds were daily increasing in violence, and rendering greater exertions necessary. They accordingly, on the 22d, turned towards the south; and, having passed Mount San Jacinto, they approached the coast, in order to seek for the Rio de Reyes, the great river through which Admiral Fonté was said to have penetrated far into the interior of the American continent, in 1640. "With this intent," writes Maurelle, in his journal, "we examined every bay and recess of the coast, and sailed around every head-land, lying to, during the night, in order that we might not miss this entrance; after which exertions, we may safely pronounce that no such passage is to be found." This conclusion was certainly correct, but it was as certainly not established by the exertions of the Spaniards on this occasion: for, in the first place, they confined their search to the part of the coast north of the 54th parallel, whereas, in the account of Fonté's voyage, the Rio de Reyes is made to enter the Pacific under the 53d; and, had their observations been as minute as Maurelle represents them, several passages would have been found, leading from the ocean towards the north and east, for the complete examination of any one of which, more time would have been required than was spent by the Spaniards in their whole search. Of the many openings in that part of the coast, the only one penetrated by these navigators was the extensive bay, named, by them, Port Bucareli, in the latitude of 55 degrees, on the west side of the largest island of the group called, on English maps, the Prince of Wales's Archipelago, where they landed, and took possession, on the 24th of August. Thence proceeding southward, they made the north-east extremity of Queen Charlotte's Island, which had received, from Perez, in the preceding year, the name of Cape Santa Margarita; and they observed, immediately north of that point, the wide passage which they called Entrada de Perez- the Dixon's Entrance of the English maps, separating Queen Charlotte's from the Prince of Wales's Islands.

From Cape Santa Margarita, the Spaniards sailed slowly towards the south, frequently seeing the land, though always at too great a