In the mean time, the survey of the Strait of Fuca had been completed.

Vancouver and Broughton took their departure on the 1st of May, as already mentioned, from Cape Flattery, the point at the south side of the entrance of the Strait, and thence sailed slowly along the coast eastward, about a hundred miles, to its extremity in that direction, where they entered a harbor called by them Port Discovery, the same which had, in 1790, received from Quimper the name of Port Quadra. A little beyond this harbor, they found another opening in the coast towards the south, corresponding with that called by Quimper Canal de Caamano, through which they entered an extensive arm of the sea, with several branches, stretching in various southerly directions, to the distance of more than a hundred miles from the strait. This great arm, called Admiralty Inlet, with its principal branches, Hood's Canal on the west, Possession Sound on the east, and Puget's Sound, the southernmost, were carefully surveyed to their respective terminations; and the navigators, having thus ascertained that no passage through the continent was to be effected by those channels, returned to the strait. Of the beauty and apparent fertility of the country surrounding this arm of the sea, Vancouver speaks in glowing terms. The surface near the shores was generally undulating, presenting a succession of meadows, lawns, and hillocks, many of which were covered with noble forests of oak; "the soil principally consisted of a rich, black, vegetable mould, lying on a sandy or clayey substratum; the grass, of excellent quality, grew to the height of three feet, and the ferns, which, in the sandy soils, occupied the clear spots, were nearly twice as high." In the distance, on the east, the south, and the west, the view was bounded by lofty mountains, to the stupendous peaks of which Vancouver assigned the names of British admirals and diplomatists.

After completing this part of their survey, the English landed on the shore of Possession Sound, and celebrated the birthday of their sovereign, the 4th of June, by taking possession, in his name, and "with the usual formalities, of all that part of New Albion, from the latitude of 39 degrees 20 minutes south, and longitude 236 degrees 26 minutes east, to the entrance of the inlet of the sea, said to be the supposed Strait of Juan de Fuca, as also of all the coasts, islands, &c., within the said strait, and both its shores; " to which region they gave the appellation of New Georgia. With regard to this ceremony, it may be observed, that, although naval

officers are not expected to be minutely acquainted with diplomatic affairs, yet Captain Vancouver, who was sent to the North Pacific. as commissioner to execute the convention of October, 1790, should have recollected that, by the stipulations of that convention, every part of the north-west coast of America was rendered free and open for trade or settlement to Spanish as well as British subjects; and that, consequently, no claim of sovereignty, on the part of either of those nations, could be valid. It may seem pedantic, if not unjust, to make this remark with regard to what may have been nothing more than the result of an exuberance of loyal feeling in the officers and crews of the vessels; but this taking possession by Vancouver has been since gravely adduced, by the representatives of the British government, in support of its claims to the dominion of the territories above mentioned.*

On returning to the Strait of Fuca, the English examined several other passages opening into it, some of which were found to terminate in the land, at short distances from their mouths, and others to be channels between islands. Through one of these latter channels, opening immediately opposite the entrance of Admiralty Inlet, they passed into a long and wide gulf, extending north-westward; and, after proceeding a few miles within it, they, on the 23d of June, unexpectedly met the Spanish schooners Sutil and Mexicana,† commanded by Lieutenants Galiano and Valdes, which had left Nootka on the 4th of the month, and had advanced thus far along the northern shore of the strait. The meeting was, doubtless, vexatious to the commanders of both the parties, each being naturally anxious to secure to himself all the merit which might be acquired by determining the character of this famous arm of the sea: they, however, received and treated each other with the utmost civility, mutually exhibiting their charts and journals, and comparing their observations; and, having agreed to unite their labors, they remained together three weeks. During this time, they surveyed the shores of the great gulf above mentioned, called by the Spaniards Canal del Rosario, and by the English the Gulf of Georgia, which extended

* See statement of the British commissioners, among the Proofs and Illustrations, in the latter part of this volume, under the letter G.

+ Vancouver describes these vessels as "each about forty-five tons burden, mounting two brass guns, and navigated by twenty-four men; bearing one lieutenant, without a single inferior officer. Their apartments just allowed room for sleeping-places on each side, with a table in the intermediate space, at which four persons could with difficulty sit; and they were, in all other respects, the most ill-calculated and unfit vessels that could possibly be imagined for such an expedition."

north-westward as far as the 50th degree of latitude; and then, on the 13th of July, the English took leave of their Spanish friends, who, from want of force, were unable to keep up with them.

On parting with the Spaniards, the English entered a passage, named by them Johnstone's Strait, leading from the north-west extremity of the gulf; and after a long and difficult navigation through it, they, on the 10th of August, emerged into the Pacific at Queen Charlotte's Sound, about one hundred miles north of Nootka. Having been, from the commencement, persuaded that the land on the western side of the strait was an island, they had devoted their attention particularly to the eastern shores, through which a passage might be found to Hudson's Bay or the Arctic Sea; but their search proved vain, and, after tracing to their terminations in the interior a number of long and intricate inlets, they became convinced that the continent extended uninterruptedly northward, at least to the 51st parallel of latitude. Immediately on entering the Pacific, the Discovery struck on a rock, and scarcely had she been got off ere a similar misfortune befell the Chatham; both vessels, however, escaped with little injury, and they soon after arrived at Nootka Sound. Galiano and Valdes also passed through the strait by the same route, and reached Nootka in safety on the 4th of September.

After the arrival of the Sutil and Mexicana at Nootka, Vancouver and the Spanish commander, Quadra, compared together the notes and charts of the two voyages through the Strait of Fuca; and it was agreed between them, that the great island which that arm of the sea separated from the American continent should bear the names of them both. It has, in consequence, ever since been distinguished on maps by the long and inconvenient appellation of Island of Quadra and Vancouver, which it will scarcely be allowed to retain, when that part of the world shall be occupied by a civilized people.

This survey of the Strait of Fuca was conducted in the most complete and effectual manner possible by Vancouver, whose account of it, filling a large portion of his journal, together with his charts, afford unequivocal testimony of the skill and perseverance of the British navigators. Galiano and Valdes seem also to have done as much as could have been expected, considering the smallness of their force and the miserable scale of their equipments. Had they not met the British ships, they would, doubtless, have found their way through the strait; but they could never have made even a tolerable survey of it, as they must have left a number of passages

unexplored; and the world would, probably, never have received any detailed report of their operations.*

Before the arrival of these vessels at Nootka Sound, Captain Caamano returned from his search for the Rio de Reyes of Admiral Fonté, in which he had spent two months. During this period, he entered many of the openings in the coasts north and north-east of Queen Charlotte's Island, between the 53d and the 56th parallels of latitude; some of which were found to be the mouths of bays, or of inlets running far inland, and others to be channels separating islands. He appears to have displayed much skill and industry in his examinations, as Vancouver indirectly testifies in his narrative: but he effected no discoveries calculated to throw much light on the geography of that part of the coast; and his labors were productive of advantage only in so far as they served to facilitate the movements of the English navigator, to whom his charts and journals were exhibited at Nootka.

At Nootka, Vancouver found the store-ship Daedalus, which brought the instructions from the British government for his conduct as commissioner. She left England in the autumn of 1791, under the command of Lieutenant Hergest; and, passing around Cape Horn, she, in the latter part of March, 1792, fell in with the

The voyage of the Sutil and Mexicana was the last made by the Spaniards in the North Pacific Ocean, for the purposes of discovery; and the only one, since that of Vizcaino, of which an authentic account has been given to the world, with the sanction of the Spanish government. The Journal of Galiano and Valdes was published at Madrid in 1802, by order of the king, with an Introduction, often cited in the preceding pages, including a historical sketch of the exploring voyages of the Spaniards on the coasts of America, north-west of Mexico. This Introduction is the only valuable part of the work; the meagre and uninteresting details of the Journal having been superseded by the full and luminous descriptions of Vancouver: it was intended as a defence of the rights of Spain to the north-west portion of America, which were supposed to be endangered since the cession of Louisiana to France as a vindication of the claims of Spanish navigators to the merit of discovering those regions, which the British were endeavoring to monopolize — and as a reply to the charges, insinuations, and sarcasms, against the intelligence, liberality, and good faith, of the Spanish government and nation, brought forward by Fleurieu. It was compiled chiefly from the original journals and other documents, in the archives of the Council of the Indies, relative to the exploration of the North Pacific coasts; and, in this manner, many curious if not important facts were communicated, which might otherwise have remained forever buried. It is, however, to be regretted that the author should have disfigured his work—as he has in every part in which the honor or interests of Spain are concerned by gross and palpable misstatements of circumstances, respecting which he undoubtedly possessed the means of arriving at the truth. It may, perhaps, be considered a sufficient apology for him, that his book was published by the Spanish government, at Madrid, in 1802, as we know not what changes may have been made in it by insertions, suppressions, and alterations, after it left his hands.

islands in the centre of the Pacific, north of the Marquesas, which had been discovered by Ingraham in April of the preceding year. Sailing thence, she reached Woahoo, one of the Sandwich Islands, where Lieutenant Hergest and Mr. Gooch, the astronomer, were murdered by the natives, on the 11th of May; after which she came to Nootka Sound, under the command of Lieutenant New. Vancouver gave the name of Hergest's Islands to the group visited by the Dædalus, as above mentioned; and so they are called in his chart, although, as he says in his journal, he had been informed that they had been previously discovered and landed on by some of the American traders.

For his conduct as commissioner, Vancouver was referred by his instructions to the convention of October, 1790, and to a letter brought by the Dædalus from count de Florida Blanca, the Spanish minister of state, addressed to the commandant of the port of San Lorenzo of Nootka, ordering that officer, in conformity with the first article of the convention, to put his Britannic majesty's commissioner in possession of the buildings and districts, or parcels of land, which were occupied by his subjects in April, 1789, as well in the port of Nootka as in the other, said to be called Port Cox, and to be situated about sixteen leagues farther southward. A copy of this order had been given to Quadra, on his departure from Mexico; but it does not appear that either of the commissioners was furnished by his government with any evidence to assist him in ascertaining precisely what lands were to be restored, or for what buildings indemnification was to be made by the Spaniards.

In order to supply this want of information, Quadra had, immediately on arriving at Nootka, made inquiries on the subject of Maquinna and other chiefs of the surrounding tribes; all of whom, without hesitation, denied that any lands had been purchased, or any houses had been built there, by the English at any time. As the testimony of the savage chiefs could not, however, be of much value alone, he had next addressed his inquiries to Captains Gray and Ingraham, who arrived at Nootka in July, as already stated, and who had witnessed the proceedings at that place in 1789, when the former commanded the Washington, and the latter was first mate of the Columbia; and they, in answer, sent a letter, dated August 2d, containing a clear and particular statement of all the circumstances connected with the occupation of Nootka, and the seizure of the vessels by Martinez. With regard to the particular points in question, they declare unequivocally that, although they