OBSERVATIONS ON THE P AS S A G E II li X W I t N T II 1. ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS. O B S E R V A T I O ON THE PASSAGE, ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCE 1 N T W O MEMOIRS ON Til E STRAITS OF ANIAN, AND THE DISCOVERIES OF DE FONTE. ELUCIDATED BY A NEW AND ORIGINAL MAP. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED A N HISTORICAL ABRIDGEMENT O F DISCOVER IES IN THE NORTH OF AMERICA. By WILLIAM GOLDSON. NOS SEQUIMUR P ROB AMU A. CICERO. PORTSMOUTH: Printed by W. MOWBRAY, and fold by Mr. JORDAN, Fleet-Street, M,DCC,XCII 11 Published at the. . let ttircets, Sept.'.! s memory, it mould be remarked that, notwithstanding Behaim, with Roderic and Jofeph, two Jew phyficians, agreeably to th"* orders of the King of Portugal, adapted the ailrolabe to the purpofes of navigation in 1487, yet he did not make his globe until he went to refide at Nuremberg in 1492 ; confequetitly it is more likely that the idea of reaching Japan by a wellern route originated with Columbus than with Behaim, as Bartholomew, his brethcr, delineated it on his map, which he prefented to the King of England in 1488. Chefapeak, being mod undoubtedly the original difcoverer of the continent of America. SEn. c.vnoT. II. The Portugueze, anxious to fuperfede their neighbours, and to profit by the difcoveries which were daily made, as foon as it was known that Cabot had vifited the coalTs of Newfoundland, difpatched Gafpar de Cortereal to follow the fame track. He failed from the Tagus in 1500, and having coafled the eaflern fide of Newfoundland, ftII1 continuing his courfe to the northward, fell in with a country which he called Terra de Labrador, the name it ftill retains. Some authors contend that he faw the opening of a ttrait, which he fuppofed to have communication with the fea of Japan, to which he gave the name of Anian. He made a fecond voyage to explore this difcovery, but perifhed in the attempt, as did likewife Michael de Cortereal, who undertook the fame voyage with two (hips, in order to determine the fate of his brother. Spain and Portugal being envious of each others power, to prevent difputes, Pope Alexander VI. drew a line to limit their refpeclive expeditions, dividing the globe into two equal parts of 180 degrees each, beyond which neither power was at liberty to extend its refearches. This famous boundary was denominated the linea de demarcation, and was adjufted at Tordefillas by a treaty figned in 1494. But both nations having reciprocally broken the stipulations agreed upon by the treaty, commiflioners were were appointed to adjuft the differences, and they were at length finally fettled by a treaty figned at Saragofla in 1529, by which it was agreed, that the limits of 1494 mould remain in full force, and that the Spaniards fhould give up their pretentions to the Molucca Iflands, in confederation of 350,000 ducats, to be paid them by the Court of Portugal. This agreement between the two Courts accounts for our not hearing of any more attempts,, on the part of the Portugueze, to difcover a palTage. There is indeed an hearfay account of a voyage, made by one Martin Chaque, in 1555, who, according to the affidavit of one Cowles preferved by Purchas, pafled many iflands and a gulph near Newfoundland, in about 59 deg. north latitude. Mr. Buache likewife, in his Confiderations Geographiques et Phyfiques, relates an expedition under the command of David Melguer, in 1660, who went from Japan to 84 deg. north latitude, and then paffed between Greenland and Spitzbergen. The Englifh, in the reign of Oueen Elizabeth, turned their attention towards America, and the government began to think of reaping fome advantages from the difcoveries of Cabot. During the reign of Henry VII. there appears to have been too much indolence in the administration to attend to concerns of this nature, and his fucceffor was too much involved in his wars with France and Scotland, and his difputes with the Pope, to be at Ieifure to reap any advantage from the difcoveries made in the reign of his father (/). The reigns of Edward VI. and Mary were too fhort for the nation to exert itfelf in any great degree. A company was, however, eftablifhed, and fome voyages made to the north eafl, under the direction of Cabot, who was chofen their governor, and at whofe inflance the expeditions were fet on foot, by Willoughby, Burrow, Sec. But as foon as Elizabeth had eftabliflied herfelf on the throne, under her aufpices, the company began to flourifh, and Sir Martin Frobifher was intrufled with the command in three fucceffive voyages, fet on foot by them to the north weft between the years 1576 and 1578. III. In his firft voyage, he went out with three fmall fhips, and faw the land, in 61 deg. north latitude, on the 1 ith of July, which he fuppofed to be the Friefland heretofore difcovered by Zeno. On the 28th of the fame month, he faw land again, which he took for the coaft of Labrador difcovered by Cortereal in 1500. On the 11th of Auguft, he found himfelf in a ftrait, and loft a boat with fome of his failors. Having feized one of the Indians, he returned home. IV. In his fecond voyage, he arrived in the fame ftrait, which he had called Frobifher's Straits ; but finding it blocked up with ice (/) Cabot failed under the patronage of Henry the VHth ; but the principal expence of the voyage was defrayed by the merchants of Briftol, and in the reign of Henry the VHIth two (hips were fent on difcoveries at the inflance of Robert Thorne, of Briftol, whofe father was the chief fupporter of Cabot's expedition. ice on the 4th of July, he was obliged to land with his boats, and returned without having been able to come to anchor. V. The Queen, however, being fatished with his report of the probability of reaching the country of Kathai, bellowed upon the new difcovered land the name of Meta Incognita, and ordered him to proceed on a third voyage, with materials to build a fort, and to leave three fhips with a hundred men, under the command of Captains Fenton, Bed and Filpot. He failed on the 31 ft of May, 1578, and difcovered Weft Friefland, which he called Weft England. He landed here, and took pofleiTion of it, finding the huts, tents and furniture to be the fame as he had heretofore feen in Meta Incognita. When he arrived at Frobiflier's Straits, he could not penetrate through the ice; but, in the attempt, loft one of the fhips, which contained part of the materials for the intended fettlement. The Admiral fent one of his veffels into an inlet, through which fhe paffed into the Straits, j He explored the numerous iflands in the vicinity, and came to an anchor in Warwick Sound. As great part of the timber for building the fort was loft, he gave up the defign of leaving the men who were intended to winter here, and returned to England. On his return, the Bufs Bridgewater faw land in 57 deg, 30 min. north latitude, the coaft of which fhe failed along for three days (g). From (jf) Quere. Is this the Bufs Ifiand ftill retained in the newell charts ? TROniSHF.P. >5?7 From this relation it appears, that Frobifher difcovered a flrait Vrf fomewhere about the latitude of 62 deg. 30 min. This has been placed upon the charts in the fouthern parts of Greenland; and, notwithstanding the authority of Egede, who, in his Hiftory of Greenland, not only from reports received from the natives, but from his own furveys, denies the exiflence of thefe straits, yet the Meta Incognita has been continued on the maps of Greenland. Mr. Arrowfmith lays down Frobifher's difcoveries on the other fide of Davis' Straits. In testimony of his accuracy, I have attended to this voyage more than might be thought necefTary; but whenever a geographer deviates from a long eflablifhed po~ fition in refpecl. to the fituation of a country, it is necefTary that the obfervations of the different explorers fhould be thoroughly examined. Egede appears to have been the firfl to have ftarted any objection againft the existence of thefe difcoveries of Frobifher, in the fouthern part of Greenland (A). If the above account of thefe voyages be examined, Arrowfmith's alteration will appear to be well founded. In the first voyage, Frobifher faw the land, which he fuppofed to be the Friefland of Zeno, on the D 11th {b) ' There are a great many inlets and rivers to be met with in Greenland, among which ' the principal is Baals River, in 64 degrees, which has been navigated 18 or 20 Norway * miles up the country, where the firft Danifh fettlement was made in 1721. In all fea charts ■ you will find laid down Frobifher's Straits and Baer Sound, which, they pretend, form two « large iflands adjacent to the main land ; which, I think, are not to be found, at leaft, not « upon the coaft of Greenland ; for I could not meet with any thing like it in the voyage I « undertook, in the year 1723, fouthward, going upon difcoveries, though I went to 60 degrees < that way ; but at prefent the newer charts lay them down, the northern flrait in 63, the * fouthern in 62 degrees. Some of the ancients, which Thermoder follows in his Greenland * Hiftory, place them between 61 and 60 degrees/—Egede's Hiftory of Greenland. nth of July, on the 28th he was on the coaft of Labrador, and on the 11th of Auguft he entered the flrait. In the fecond voyage he could not enter it on account of the ice. After his return from this voyage, the Queen gave the name of Meta Incognita to the new difcovered country, and in the next he gave the name of Wejl England to Weft Friejland, which he difcovered on the 20th of June, where he found the huts, &c. of the natives hmilar to thofe which had been feen before in the Meta Incognita. I think it is very clear that Frobifher went from Weft Frief-land, or what he then called Weft England, in fearch of the land he had formerly feen; as in the firfl voyage he fd\v the Friefland of Zeno on the 11th of July, and touched at the Coaft of Labrador on the 28th following, after which he faw the flrait he called by his own name. In this flrait was the Countefs of Warwick's Sound; and when Davis named this paflage afterwards, Lumley's Inlet, and the Cape, Warwick's Foreland, it was from the knowledge he had of Frobifher's difcoveries upon the fame fpot. Frobifher having effected very little in thefe voyages, the attention of the company was again turned to the profecution of the difcovery to the north eafl. But a new aiTociation of merchants, to whom were joined feveral noblemen and perfons of property, was formed in 1585. They appointed John Davis, an experienced navigator, to conduct an expedition to the parts which Frobifher had vifited. He continued in the command during three voyages, and it is but justice to his memory to remark, that the refult confirmed the opinion they had entertained of him. A tolerably accurate account of thefe voyages has been preferved by Hackluyt and Purchas, and as they are of confiderable importance, I (hall attempt to give a concife detail of them. VI. He failed on his first voyage from Dartmouth, on the 7th June, 1585. Steering a north welt courfe he faw the land on the 20th of July, to which, on account of its barren appearance, he gave the name of the Land of Defolation. On the 29th, he entered Gilbert's Sound, an opening on the welt coast of Greenland, which is called by the Danes the Bay of Good Haap. Standing from thence across the channel, which has fince attained the name of Davis' Straits, after this navigator, he anchored in Totnefs Road, in 66 deg. 40 min. north latitude, on the ealtern fide of an ifland, which he called Cumberland Iiland. This was the northmoft extent of his voyage; for failing in a S. S. W. direction, he faw the fouth part of the iiland, which he named the Cape of God's Mercy, on the 11th August. Opening an inlet, in fome places 20 leagues broad, he proceeded 60 leagues to the westward, where he found feveral iflands with a pasfage on both fides of them. The tide flowed fix or feven fathoms, and came from the eastward. He could get no ground with a line of 330 fathoms. As he continued his courfe to the fouth-weft, he met with a counter tide, which gave him great hopes of being able to attain the object: of his voyage ; but thick fogs and D 2 bad bad weather obliged him not only to defiftfrom any further exa* mination, but to fail out of the inlet, which he named Cumberland Strait, and to return home. j. DAVIS. VII. He was more amply equipped on his fecond voyage, and great expectations were formed, from the circumftance of the counter tide which had checked his progrefs to the weftward. He failed on this voyage a month earlier than he did the lad year, and firfl made the land on the eafl fide of Greenland, about Staten-hoeck. Having weathered the fouth part of the Land of Deflation, he again touched at Gilbert's Sound, where he had refrefhed his crew in the former voyage. From thence he stretched over to Cumberland Straits, which he entered, and proceeded up them until he arrived at the iflands where he had met with the weftern tide in the preceding year, failing on the north fide of them fome considerable diftance to the north-weft: but the account of this voyage is not perfectly intelligible, from our having no astronomical obfervations to guide us, in determining how far he continued this courfe. On his return, he visited the coaft of Labrador, and faw two inlets in the latitudes of 56 (i) and 54 deg. 30 min. ]. davjs. VIII.The third voyage, which was made in 1587, is well worthy our attention. He failed from Dartmouth, with three fhips, on the (/) The inlet in 56 deg. which was fuppofed to have a communication with Hudfon's Bay, was explored in the year 1753, and found to run about 20 leagues in a north-weft direction ; but the other, which is the Bay of Eikimaux, remains ilill unknown. the 19th of May. After a third time vifiting Gilbert's Sound, in-flcad of following his former tracks to Cumberland Straits, he went along the coaft of Greenland to the northward, and arrived at Difko, in latitude 67 deg, 40 min. where he traded with the natives. Continuing his courfe ftill to the northward, his latitude was 72 deg. 12 min. north, on the 30th of June, and the variation 28 deg. weft. He gave the name of London Coaft to thofe parts of the country, and a projecting point of land he called Hope Sanderfon. The wind at length coming to the northward, he was obliged to (land to the weftward, which courfe he continued for 40 leagues, when his further progrefs was flopped by the ice, which obliged him to return to the fouthward. He went along the coaft of the land which he had formerly feen, and again entered Cumberland Straits on the 20th July, fleering to the weftward, with an intention to comply with the tenor of his orders, which were to profecute his former difcoveries. Having gone 60 leagues, the fame diftance he failed before, within the inlet, he arrived at the iflands where the tide had given him hopes of a paffage. The only agronomical obfervation that we have, is, that the variation was 30 deg. weft. Failing in his attempts to find a patTage through, he returned, and went to the "fouthward. Between the latitude 62 and 63, he faw an inlet which he called Lumly's Inlet (k). Continuing ftill to the fouthward, on his paffage home, he difcovered Warwick's Foreland and Cape Chidley, the two promontories forming the opening which (*) The inlet which Frobifher had vifited in 1578. Vide page 16 which was foon after vifited by Hudfon, and called after him Hudfon's Straits. The impenetrable fecrecy which has always been obferved by the Spaniards in refpect to their voyages of difcovery, has prevented our obtaining any perfect information, and the accidental, or perhaps wilful, inaccuracies which appear upon the face of thofe which have been publifhed, have conduced to bring them into general difcredit. As their objeel, however, has been the difcovery of the Straits of Anian, and as thofe Straits will be the fubject of a feparate part, I (hall defer taking any notice of them at prefent. The refources of the Englifh nation, and the whole of the maritime flrength of the kingdom, being directed to repel the inva-fion threatened by the Spaniards with their invincible armada, is a probable reafon why thefe important difcoveries of Davis were not purfued. But the companies of Ruflia and Turkey merchants, after fome years, formed a joint flock to fit out an expedition under the command of George Weymouth, in 1602. c. wr.YMoi'TH IX. He failed on the 2d of May with two flyboats, and, after 1602 weathering the Orkney iflands, faw the fouth part of Greenland, off of which he founded, and found 120 fathoms of water, which was black and very muddy, while in other places it was perfectly clear. He penetrated among the ice, and had very near loft his fhips T. PAVIv fhips by the burlting afunder of an ifland very near them. He was often retarded by fogs, which froze as they fell. In latitude 68 deg. 53 min. he fell in with an inlet forty leagues broad, th rough which he failed, weft and by fouth, a hundred leagues. The variation of the needle was 35 degrees to the weft. Being prevented by the crew from proceeding any further, he returned, and, after exploring the Labrador Coaft, failed for England. This account of Weymouth's voyage has been doubted in refpect to the extent of his courfe, and it has been generally fuppofed that the flrait which he difcovered was that which Hudfon failed through afterwards, Guided by this idea, it has been the opinion of moft geographers, that, inftead of failing as far to the northward as 68 deg. 53 min. he only reached as high as 63 deg. 53 min. and that the miftake was owing to the latitude having been marked in figures. By which means the opening which he faw, and through which he failed a hundred leagues, would appear to be the entrance into Hudfon's Bay. If any dependence could be placed upon his obfervations of the variation of the compafs, we might be led to conclude that he followed the track of Davis, and went as far to the northward as 68 deg. but the variation of the needle is fo very uncertain, particularly near the land, in thofe feas, that we can have no firm reliance upon the beft obfervations. It may, however, be proper to remark, that the fucceeding navigators only found 28 deg, in Hudfon's Straits, while Davis, a few years before, found 30 deg. in Cumberland Cumberland Straits; and as the variation was ftill encreafing, if the obfervation could be depended upon, it would be an argument in favour of his having attained to a higher degree of latitude than is generally agreed upon. It will here be necefTary to remark, that the united companies of Ruflia and Turkey merchants were difappointed by the refult of this voyage. They began to think, that the obftacles, which the (hips continually met with from the ice, would not only render the paflage precarious, but that the advantages likely to be gained were of lefs confequence than had been fuppofed. They feem to have been led to this conclufion by the return of Raymond, Lancaster and Middleton, who had feverally made fuc-cefsful voyages to India, by which means the paffage by the Cape of Good Hope began to be better known. Oueen Elizabeth had likewife granted an exclufive charter to the merchants trading to the Eafl: Indies for 15 years, which could not fail to damp the fpirit of difcovery to the northward. The company, therefore, appear in confequence to have diffolved the joint flock, and to have difcontinued their refearches. X. In the year 1605, Christian the IV. King of Denmark, fitted out a fleet under the command of Godfke Lindenau, with an intention to fearch after the ancient fettlement of Eafl Greenland. The fleet confifled of three fhips, two of which were under the command of Englifh mariners, Hall and Knight. Lindenau attempted I.1NDKNAU and hall. tempted a landing on the eaft coaft, while Hall patted Cape Farewell, and went over to the weft fide of Davis' Straits, where he firft came to an anchor in 66 deg. 33 min. north Iati~ tude, and afterwards entered another harbour near Mount Cunningham, which he named Denmark's Haven. The utmoft extent of his voyage was 69 deg. north. XL In the year 1606, Lindenau went again, and Hall commanded one of the (hips. They both weathered Cape Farewell; but how far north they proceeded is uncertain, as we have no accurate account of this voyage. In that age of enquiry, men of property were not long wanting in England to revive the fpirit of enterprize. A fociety was accordingly formed, of which Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Dudley Digges, Mr. Wolftenholme, and Alderman Jones, Directors of the Eaft India Company's affairs, appear to have been the principals. XII. Immediately after Knight's return from his voyage in the Danifh Service, in 1605, he appears to have been fent for by this fociety, who appointed him to a command in 1606 (/). He failed from the Orkneys on the 12th of May, and was encompaffed by the ice, on the coaft of Labrador, in latitude 57 deg. 23 min. E north, (/) This was very early after the charter was granted to the Eaft India Company. Vide Observations on thefe Voyages, in the Memoir on the Straits of Anian. KNIf.HT. 160S north, by which he was drifted to the fouthward, and his (hip being much damaged, he was obliged to run her on fhore. While he was fearching for a convenient place to repair her, he was killed by a party of the natives. His death fruftrated the intention of the expedition, as his fucceffor in the^ command, after repairing the fliip at Fogo, in Newfoundland, returned to England. RICHARDS »nJ HA 1.1.. XIII. In the next year, 1607, Carflen Richards was fent by the King of Denmark with another (hip, which Hall commanded; but they could not get near the fhore on account of the ice, and the crew mutinying, they were obliged to return without effecting a landing. XIV, In 1610, the Englifh company fitted out a fecond expedition, to the command of which they appointed Henry Hudfon, whofe abilities as a navigator had been fufBciently difplayed, in three voyages he had made to the northward, prior to his engagement with the company. Hudfon failed in May, 1610. The diffentions among his crew, which ended at length in an open mutiny, began fo early as the latter end of May, off the coaft of Iceland. He weathered the Land of Defolation on the 15th of June, and directed his courfe acrofs Davis' Straits, as far as the latitude 62 deg, 19 min. north, in which latitude he made the land. On the 8th of July, he named a part of the coaft, Defire Provoked; continuing to the weftward weftward within the Straits, he difcovered an opening between two capes, which were named after two of the gentlemen who were at the ex pence of fitting out the expedition, c. Digges and and c. Wolftenholme. PalTing through this opening, he difcovered that extenfive bay, which has been fince called after his name. Following the direction of the coaft, with hopes of effecting a paffage, the ice fet in, and obliged him to feek for a harbour upon the eaftern fhore, where he might moft fecurely pafs the winter. This long feafon of inactivity gave full fcope to the mutinous inclinations of the crew, and immediately after they failed, finding that Hudfon meant to continue his refearches, they forced him and eight others into a fmall boat, and left them to their fate. In their return home, the mutineers ran the fliip afhore to the fouthward of Digges' Ifland, when, according to the narrative which was afterwards publifhed by one of them, named Habakkuk Pricket, they found the tide to flow from the weftward. XV. To render affiftance to the unfortunate Hudfon, in cafe button-. 161* he fhotild have furvived, as his misfortunes could not fail to in-tereft his employers, independent of the frefli hopes which were excited by his difcoveries, was a fufheient inducement for the company to continue their refearches. Prince Henry's name was added to the lift of adventurers, " by whofe affiftance," Purchas fays, " they purfued the action in more royal fafhion, with greater fliipping, under the command of a worthy feaman, fervant to Prince Henry, Captain Thomas Button," E 2 Button Button failed in May, 1612, as early after the fate of Hudfon was known as the feafon would admit. After pairing Digges' Ifland, he faw the land to the weftward, which he named Carey Swan's Neft. Steering thence to the fouth weft, he again faw the land in latitude 60 deg. 40 min. north, which, as it appeared to fet afide the idea of a paffage that way, he named Hopes Checked. Upon the approach of winter, he fecured his (hip in an harbour, in latitude 57 deg. 10 min. north, which he called Port Nelfon, after his mate. He named the bay Button's Bay, and to the whole of the coaft he gave the name of New Wales. The winter being patted, he again proceeded to the northward on difcoveries, as high as the latitude 65 deg. north, when being (lopped by the ice, he called that part Ne Plus Ultra, and returned to England. XVI. Hall, after he left the fervice of Denmark, returned to England, and was fitted out at Kingfton upon Hull for the Greenland feas. He came to an anchor in Cocking Sound, in 65 deg. 20 min. north latitude, on the weft coaft of Greenland, on the 19th of July, and went from thence to Rommel's Fiord, on the fame coaft, in 67 deg. north, where he was killed by one of the natives, in revenge, as it was fuppofed, for carrying off his brother, when in the Danifh fervice, in 1606. On account of the death of Hall, the fhips were obliged to leave the coaft and return to England, after having made a fearch for minerals without fuccefs. In XVII. In 1614, the company fitted out Captain Gibbons in the Difcovery, the fame (hip in which Button had made the preceding voyage ; but upon his approach to Hudfon's Straits, he was furrounded by ice, and the current drifted him to the fouthward, fo that he was obliged to put into a bay on the Labrador coaft, in 58 deg. 30 min. north latitude, which was called Gibbons' Hole. In this bay he was detained fo long, that he was obliged to give over all thoughts of any further attempt, and return to England. XVIII. Although the adventurers experienced a very confi-derable lofs by the death of their patron, Prince Henry, yet they continued their exertions. For notwithflanding the preceding voyage had been the means of afcertaining that the fea, into which Hudfon had failed, was bounded to the weftward by a traci of land between the latitudes of 57 and 65 deg. north, and confequently their hopes of finding a paflage in that place were diminifhed; yet, in 1615, they fitted out the fame fhip, and the command of her was given to Robert Bylot, William Baffin being appointed to a6l as pilot or mate, both of whom were experienced navigators, and had been with Button in the preceding voyage. They failed the 18th of April, and anchored in a harbour on the weftern fide of Refolution Bland the 27th of May, where they found the tide to flow five fathoms, and the variation to be 24 deg. weft; continuing their courfe to the weftward, along the the the north more of Hudfon's Straits, on the iff of July they difcovered a groupe of iflands, which, from the violence of the tide, were called the Mill Iflands. Standing on to the north weft, they faw land again in latitude 65 deg. north, which was called Cape Comfort; as they proceeded, they fhoaled their water in latitude 65 cleg. 25 min. north, and as the land trended to the north eafl, they lofl all hopes of making a paflage; it was therefore refolved to give up any further attempt. After having determined that the-flood came from the fouth call, and the ebb from the north-ward, they repaffed the Araks, and returned home. XIX. Notwithstanding, like their predecelfors, they had failed in attaining their object in this voyage, yet the company were fo well fatisfied with their conduct, and formed fuch expectation from the report they made, that they refolved to fit them out again the next year; and they accordingly failed fo early as the 26th March. It appears, that they, did not make the land, until they got fo high within Davis' Straits as the latitude 65 deg. 20 min. north, and did not come to an anchor until they entered a found in latitude 70 deg. 20 min. north, on that part of the weft coaft of Greenland which had been before named by Davis the London Coaft; in this found they found the tide to rife only eight or nine feet. They reached Sanderfon's Hope, the moft northern extreme of former difcoveries, fo early as the 30th of May, which lies in latitude 72 deg. 20 min. north; about eight leagues further to the northward they fell in with fome iflands, to to which, on account of feeing none but female inhabitants, they BVIOj™1 gave the name of Womens Ides. Very foon after their departure from thefe iflands, they found their further progrefs impeded by the ice, which obliged them to come to an anchor in a found, in latitude 73 deg. 45 min. north, where they traded with the natives for feal fkins and the horns of the fea unicorn, whence it obtained the name of Horn Sound. In a few days the ice began to difperfc, when they got under weigh ; but as the wind was contrary, they could not follow the direction of the coaft, but were obliged to fland to the weftward, 20 leagues beyond Womens Ifles, where the fea was open and clear from ice. In latitude 76 deg. 35 min. north, they named a projecting part of the land Cape Digges, twelve leagues from which was a confiderable inlet, where the current was fo ftrong, as to drive the fhip from the two anchors by which fhe rode. This inlet, which extends itfelf into the land in feveral directions, obtained the name of Wolftenholm's Sound. In latitude 77 deg. 30 min. and 78 deg. they faw two inlets, which they called Smith's and Whale Sound ; between thefe two inlets is an ifland, which they named Hakluyt's Iiland. In Smith's Sound the variation was found to be 56 deg. weft; ftanding along the land to the fouth weft, they faw two more large inlets, to which they gave the names of Jones and Lancaster's Sounds. To the fouthward of Lancafter's Sound they were prevented fee- ing "u°hnd "AF" ing the land on account of the ice, until they arrived in latitude 1616 71 deg. 16 min. north, when it was feen extending in a fouth eaflerly direction, as far as the latitude 70 deg. 30 min. But they could not follow its direction for the fame reafon, being obliged to fleer to the eastward, and did not get fight of it again until the 24th of July, when they were in latitude 68 deg. 41 min. north. This proved to be the north part of Davis' Cumberland Ifles, they having paffed the ftrait between them and James1 Iiland (m)9 which has been fince called Baffin's Straits. After re-frefhing themfelves on the weft coaft of Greenland, they finifiied this important voyage, arriving fafe, the goth of Auguft, in Dover Road. This appears to have been the laft expedition fitted out under the patronage of this company. hawiwbrioge XX, Until the voyages of Fox and James, in the year 1631, there is no account of any other attempt being made from England, excepting a very imperfect relation, by Fox, of a Captain Hawksbridge, who went as far as the latitude 65 deg. north, into the inlet, where Bylot failed in his firft voyage; but in what year, or at whofe expence, we are not informed. XXI. The («) From want of accuracy in the early navigators, great confufion prevails in the geography of this part of the world. Every one has followed his own idea. Moft geographers have laid down a groupe of iflands between Greenland and the Cumberland Iflands of Davis. Among them the name of D' Anville bears a refpedtable authority. But in the new map of* the world, by Arrowfmith, thefe iflands are omitted, and the Straits of Davis and Baffin have no difUn&ion, Cape Bedford, which made the fpttth cape of James' Iflands, being transferred to the north eaft part of the Cumberland Ifles; at the fame time, a point due eafl from this Cape, and in the middle of Davii' Straits, is laid down, as having been feen by Lieutenant Charlefon, in the floop Jackall, in 1787. XXI. The Court of Denmark being induced to profit by the difcoveries of Hudfon, fitted out two fhips in the year 1619, under the command of Jens Munck. They failed from Elfineur on the 16th of May, and on the 20th of June faw Cape Farewell. Munck gave the name of Marc Chriftianum to the northern parts of Hudfon's Bay, and the fouthern parts he called Marc Novum, and, at the fame time, he gave the name of Fretum Chrifliani to Hudfon's Straits. They met with fo much ice in the Welcome, in the latitude of 63 deg. 20 min. north, that they were obliged to put into an harbour, where they wintered. From the great mortality among the crew during the winter, Munck was obliged to leave one of his fhips in this harbour, to which he gave his own name. After a variety of diflreffes, he arrived fafe, with only two failors, in Copenhagen, without making any further difcoveries. XXII. Lucas Fox, in conjunction with one Sterne,who followed the profeffion of making globes, had collected all the information they were able, of the progrefs which had been made in the preceding voyages, from whence they drew feveral reafons for the probable exiflence of a paffage in thofe places where the navigators had been difappointed in tracing the coafl. Their obfervations were confidered, to be fo well founded, that Henry Briggs, the mathematician, Sir John Brooke, Sir John Wolffen-holme, and Sir James Roc, were induced to form a fund to fit out another expedition; and the King, upon their reprefenta- F tions, lions, aided them with a fhip of 80 tons, called the Charles, which was victualled for 18 months. Thus equipped, Fox fet fail from Deptford on the 5th of May, 1631, and faw land the 30th of June, in latitude 62 deg. 25 min. north ; on the 15th of July he made Salifbury and Nottingham Iflands, but was obliged to go to the fouthward of them, on account of the ice, the ebb bringing it from the north weft. He made Cape Pembroke, and fteered to the fouthward into Hudfon's Bay, and then changed his courfe to the weftward, anchoring at what is now called Marble Iiland. Proceeding up the found, between the land of Carey Swan's Neft and the weftern coaft, which is called the Welcome, he found the tide toencreafe in height, the farther he went. On the 9th of Auguft, he returned to the fouthward, and anchored, for a few days, in NeL-fon River. Hitherto he had done little more than follow the track of Button. From this place he fteered to the eaftward, difcovering the land as far as Cape Henrietta Maria, in latitude 55 deg. 10 min. north, without having feen any profpect of an opening to the weftward. He was now induced to make a frefh attempt beyond Nottingham Iiland, where he had been prevented before from getting to the northward by the ice. On the 7th of September, he faw Carey Swan's Neft, and reached the Mill Ifles by the 15th. Three days after, he difcovered two capes, bearing north tUCA1fox 1631 north and fouth from each other, which he named King Charles' Promontory and Cape Maria; the firfl: is in latitude 64 deg. 46 min. and the latter in 65 deg 13 min. On the 20th, he fell in with another head land, fome leagues within the arctic circle, which obtained the name of Lord Wefton's Portland; a little further to the northward of this Iaft cape, the land flretches away to the fouth eafl. The winter approaching fail, he was obliged to defift from continuing his courfe, on which account he called this part Fox's Fartheft. He left Hudfon's Straits the 5th of October, and arrived in the Downs on the 31ft of the fame month. I.tTCAS VOX Fox was of opinion, from the obfervations which he made during this voyage, that there was a great profpecl; of a paffage by the Welcome, on account of the tide rifing higher there than in any other part of the bay. XXIII. While Fox was fitting out for this voyage, the mer- tames. 1631 chants of Briftol difpatched Thomas James, to follow the fame track. James was a very accurate obferver, and his journal, which was publifhed in 1633, contains a variety of judicious remarks, from which Mr. Boyle confeffes he took many paflages with regard to the flate of the atmofphere ; but as it contains little more than an enumeration of the hardfliips which the crew fuffered during the winter, they were obliged to pafs in the bottom of the bay, which, from this commander's name, has been F 2 called called James'Bay, I mall proceed without taking any further notice of it (»J. The civil war which broke out in England, foon after the return of Fox and James, prevented any further attempts being made; and as a charter was granted, as early after the refloration as 1669, to Prince Rupert and others, giving them an exclufive right to the country and trade, a total check was given to the fpirit of difcovery, which, from the enterprifing genius of the nation, would no doubt have revived, as foon as it had recovered from the anarchy and confufion, into which it had been thrown by the late revolution in its government. XXIV. This charter was granted, in confequence of their having undertaken, at their own colls and charges, to difcover a paffage to the fouth feas. Through the intereft of Prince Rupert, the Nonfuch ketch, one of the King's veffels, was fitted out for this purpofe, and Captain Zachary Gillam was appointed to command the expedition. All the accounts of this voyage agree that he reached the latitude of 75 deg. north, in fearch of a paffage, after which he went into the bay where James had wintered in 1631. Here he like-wife («) It mould be obferved, that James, not only in his paflage out, but likewife on his return home, made an attempt, to enter the inlet where Fox did, to the northward of the Mill Iflands, and eJFefted a paflage as far as Bylot and Hawksbridge had done before. wife wintered in a river, which, from the patron of the expedition, was named Prince Rupert's River. At this place he built a fort, in which he left a garrifon on his return to England in 1669. I have never been able to obtain, any original account of this voyage to determine, what courfe Gil lam followed while he was in fearch of a pafiage, fo as to reach fo high a latitude in Baffin's Bay. But in a publication of 1711, containing an account of Narbrough's voyage to thecoafl of Chili, and Woods attempt to difcover a paffage by the north caff, the editor has given a very fhort account, by way of introduction, of voyages to the northward. Treating of Gillam's voyage, he fays, " In the year 1667, " this defign was renewed, and undertaken by feveral of the no-'* bility of England, and merchants of London, who equipped " and fent out Zachariah Gillam commander, in the Nonfuch tf ketch. He paffed through Hudfons Straits, then into Baffin's " Bay, to the latitude of 75 deg. north; from thence foutherly to " the latitude of 51 deg. or thereabouts, in a river now called " Prince Rupert's River." And the editor of Churchill's voyages, in the introductory difcourfc, obferves, that in 1667, " Zachariah " Gillam, in the Nonfuch ketch, palled through Hudfon's Straits, " and then into Baffin's Bay, to 75 deg. of latitude, and thence foutherly into 51 degrees." If thefe accounts be accurately copied from the original journal »al of Gillam, and of which I fee no reafon to entertain any doubt, the circumfrance of his having paffed through Hudfon's Straits, before he went into Baffin's Bay, is well worth attending to; for if this were really the fact, he muff have followed the fame track which Fox did, during the latter part of his voyage in 1631 ; and, after palling beyond the extent of Fox's courfe, have gone as high as Lancafter Sound, which is fuppofed to be between 74 and 75 degrees north latitude. Now, I believe, it has been a generally received opinion among geographers, that no perfon went fo far to the northward in that place as Fox did, and they have had their doubts, whether that inlet had any communication with Baffin's Bay. The firfl dif-coverers of Baffin's Bay have been likewife fuppofed, to be the only perfons who have ever navigated thofe feas. But, if thefe accounts be true, Gillam not only went into the bay, but he like-wife found a paffage into it where Bylot and Baffin failed in their firfl voyage, in the year 1615. w,6Sw.BA* XXV. The company being thus eflablifhed, inflead of profe-cuting the object of their charter, their whole attention was taken up in carrying on a trade with the natives for furs; as it does not appear, that they ever attempted any thing like a voyage for that purpofe for full 50 years, when they fent a fhip and floop under the command of Knight and Barlow, in 1719, who never returned, and no account was ever heard of their fate. XXVI. Some XXVI. Some vague reports of the Indians gave room to hope that they had efcaped from fhipwreck, and were ftill alive fome-where about the latitude of 63 deg. north. In confequence of thefe reports, Captain Scroggs failed in a floop from Churchill River, in 1722. In latitude 62 deg, 48 min. he found, drifting in the fea, part of a foremaft, which was the only mark left of their miferable fate (0). After this, Scroggs proceeded for,the Welcome, and came to an anchor in Piftol Bay. The northern Indians, who came down to the company's factories to trade, had given an account of a copper mine, eafy to be worked, which was to be found upon the coaft. Two of thefe Indians, Scroggs had on board with him. They had drawn a line of the coaft from Churchill to this part, which, as far as they had proceeded, correfponded with its real fituation. While they continued at anchor heie, one of the Indians wifhed to be difmiffed ; as, according to his account, he was within a few days journey of his place of abode, informing them, at the fame time, that the fhip could not go any further on account of a ridge of rocks, which would obftru£l her paffage, and over which a boat could only find a fufficient depth of water. On this account they returned to Churchill. XXVII. To (0) It is now pretty well afcertained, that Knight and Parlow were fhipwrecked on Marble Ifland, as the remains of the wreck have been feen ; and Mr. Duncan, who was lately employed by the company on furvey, informs me, that he not only faw part of the wreck, but fuch appearances of hewn timber as led him to fuppofe, fome of them mull have furvivcd the lofs of the mips, and afterwards attempted to build a veflel, to convey them from the iOand, "scmRiKcn"i' XXVII. To civilize his fubjcct.s, and give refpe£tability to Rullia as a maritime power, was a defign worthy the mind of the immortal Peter. But the prejudices of the nation would foon have deflroyed the fabric he left, if his fucceffors had not fortunately pofleffed a greatnefs of mind equal to the emulation of his glory. In 1738, an expedition was fet on foot under the command of Captain Behring, which determined, that the two continents of Aha and America approximated each other within a few leagues. And, in 1741, the fame commander, in conjunction with TfchirikofF, vifited the coaft of America betwen the latitudes of /j6 and 59 deg. north. Under the direction of the pre-fent Emprefs, different commanders have fuccefhvely difcovered the Aleutian, Andrcanoff and Fox Iflands, to the whole of which, Ruffian geographers have, very properly, given the name of the Catherina Archipelago (ft). ^nnr.r.TON XXVIII. The probability of a paffage, through the Welcome, was flrongly contended for by Mr. Arthur Dobbs (q). In 1741, he puflied his reprefentations to government fo ffxenuoufly, and formed (/>) One of the ftaple commodities of Ruflia being furs, they have formed fettlements for colleiling them, even on the very inhofpitable fliorcs of Spitzbergen. The fettlers are relieved once in two years ; and, according to Mons. Pages, they even fent fome fhips of war into thofe feas a few years fince, fo mindful is the policy of RufTia, as he properly remarks, to her affairs, as, amidll the concerns of fuch an extenfive empire, not to neglect, a few miserable hunters fcattered in thofe frozen regions of the north. {q) Mr. Dobbs' attention was drawn to this object fo early as the year 1733, and by repeatedly foliciting the company, he at length obliged them, to get rid of his importunities, (for formed fo powerful a party in his favour, that Sir Charles Wager, who then prefided at the Admiralty, was induced to fit out two veffels, one of which was the Furnace, a bomb ketch, and the other a pink, called the Difcovery; the command of the firfl was given to a Captain Middleton, and the other to one Moore. Middleton, who was the principal officer, had for feveral years failed as commander of a ftiip in the fervice of the Hudfon's Bay Company, He was acknowledged by every body to have been a man of very great abilities, and the mofl proper perfon, from his local knowledge, to conduct a voyage of that nature. Mr. Dobbs had received confiderable information from Middle-ton, and it was at his inflance that Sir Charles Wager appointed him to command the expedition. The arguments of Mr. Dobbs were founded on the voyages of Button and Fox, the only perfons who had navigated the Welcome. Both of them had obferved the tides to rife higher in proportion as they proceeded to the northward, whence they were of opinion, that there was great profpect of an opening by purfuing this route. He had likewife been at great pains to collect; information from Indians trading to the factories, which led him to conclude, that, fome diftance to the northward, there was an G opening (for it does not appear on the face of their tranfaaions, in this or any other expedition, that it was ever ferioufly their intention to efF<& a difcovery) to fend two fmall veffels in the year x737. They went no further than 62 deg. 30 min. north latitude, where they faw the i/lands about Corbet's and Rankin's Inlets, and found the tide to rife n feet, flowing from the north. This is all that has ever tranfpired from this voyage. opening communicating with a collection of water which had a direction confiderably to the fouthward and weft of Churchill, affording ftrong probability of a paffage (r). The fhips were fitted out with provifions and ftores for two feafons, and they were, if neceffary, to winter at Churchill. On the iff of July, 1742, they failed from Churchill to the northward, and, according to his inftructions, he fteered for Marble Ifland, where he arrived fo early as the 4th. On the 15th following, a point of land was feen, which was called Cape Dobbs. To the north weft of this cape, he difcovered a very confiderable inlet, which he explored with great perfeverance, until the water was found to be brackifh. After fome weeks fpent in this inlet, which was called Wager River, he fteered along the coaft to the north eaft, round a cape, which he called Cape Hope, as the land from thence trended away to the weftward ; but it was found to terminate in a large bay, in which no opening could be found, excepting a flrait, in the latitude 67 deg. north, about 18 or 20 leagues in length, running to the fouth eaft, which divided the land of Carey Swan's Neft from the north main, by which means it was difcovered, that the eaflern part of the Welcome was an ifland. (r) Indian information has been laughed at: but I am among thofe who do not wifli wholly to reject it. It is from want of fufficient knowledge of their language in us, and not from a deficiency in geographical knowledge in them, that millakes have been made. Time and further inveftigation of the country have fhewn that thefe Indiana were correct. A confiderable lake, called the Shethany, which communicates with the fea at Seal River, appears to be the collection of water they underftood him to be enquiring after. MIPPLFTQW y/4> of discoveries. ifland. The bay was accordingly called Repulfe Bay. The flood tide came through the flrait from the fouth caff, and the ice was fo firmly fixed from fide to fide, that there was no probability of fucceeding in any attempt to pafs it. It appears that Middleton, as well as Scroggs, had carried with him two northern Indians, to direct him in his route to the copper mine. Thefe Indians were well acquainted with the coaft as far as Marble Ifland; but as they went beyond that to the northward, it became very clear, that they were totally ignorant of their fituation, and repeatedly preffed to return to Marble Ifland, which feemed to be the extent of their knowledge in that direction. Middleton returned to England in the latter end of the year. XXIX. The difpute which arofe in confequence of the event MOnRr 1 *■ smith of this voyage, between Mr. Dobbs and Captain Middleton, is very well known. The arguments adduced by the former were fo generally credited, that the fum of ten thoufand pounds, in fhares of an hundred pounds each, was fubfcribed in order to fit out an expedition, which might finally determine the queftion. Moore, who commanded one of the veffels which went with Middleton, was appointed to command the Dobbs galley, and the other veffel, which was called the California, was given to one Smith. Their conduct was fubjecl to the controul of a council, appointed by the fubfcribers for that purpofe, G 2 The The two (hips failed on the 20th of May, 1746. In this expedition, it was likewife thought necefTary, that they fhould winter at Port Nelfon. The 24th of June, 1747, they departed on their voyage. Near Marble Ifland an inlet was feen by the perfons detached in the boats, which was called Bowden's by fome, after the mate of the California, and by others it was named the Chef-terheld Inlet. They afterwards went into Wager River, and failed up as far as they could with fafety with the fhips, and then difpatched the boats to explore the fource of it. The boats proceeded until it was found to terminate in a frefh water lake, into which, at high water, the tide flowed from the inlet; two fmall rivers, from a lake to the fouth weft, falling into it at the weft end. The object of the voyage being completed, the fhips returned without making any further attempts, and arrived in England in the autumn of the fame year. The fate of poor Middleton is to be lamented. The event of this voyage evinced the malevolence of his enemies, and fatisfied the world of the integrity of his conduct, and accuracy of his obfervations; but being neglected by the Admiralty, and deprived of his employ under the company, borne down by the weight of his misfortunes, he retired to a village near Gainfbo-rough, where he died in diftrefs fome few years fince. Anxious to fupport a character which he was confcious had been unjuftly attacked, he expended the little property he had faved, and was at length obliged to difpofe of Sir Godfrey Copley's medal, which which had been prefented to him by the Royal Society, for a paper they thought worthy of that mark of their approbation. The company continued to enjoy the profits arifing from their trade for a long time, without entertaining any thoughts of making difcoveries. The Indians brought their furs down to the different fettlements, fo that they were totally unacquainted with the interior parts of the country, excepting by the information they could receive from them during their annual vifits; but the French having extended their refearches by the upper lakes of Canada, and having likewife eftabliihed polls there, for the purpofe of more effectually cultivating their trade with the northern nations of Indians, they were obliged, in order to counterbalance the advantages thus gained by their rivals, to form fettlements further back, and factors were accordingly fent to receive thofe furs for which the Indians had begun to find a nearer market. XXX. After an interval of twenty years, they were, however, ™nT™r roufed by the general opinion, that the opening into Chefterfield 61 ° Inlet afforded confiderable profpect of a paffage. A floop was accordingly difpatched, under the command of Captain Chrifto-pher, for determining this point, in the year 1761. On his return, he reported, that he had navigated the inlet for more than 150 miles, in a wefterly direction, until he found the water nearly frefh, but that he had not feen the end of it. To preclude preclude every opportunity of cavil, he was fent again the next year, in company with Mr. Norton, in a tender, with orders to trace it to its fource, if practicable. The event of this voyage was, that they found a frefh water lake emptied itfelf into the inlet, which lake was furveyed by the tender, and found to be twenty-four leagues in length, and fix or feven in breadth. They perceived themfelves to be landlocked on every point of the compafs, except to the weftward : here they faw the mouth of a river, They likewife furveyed this river in their boat, until they were flopped by four falls, one over the other; over which they could not find water enough to go any further. A party was landed, who, following its banks above the falls for fome miles, obferved fevcral ridges of rocks extending from fide to fide, which were in mod places dry. HKARNi _ XXXI. The fpecimens of pure copper ore, which the Indians repeatedly brought to the factory at Churchill, left no room to doubt of the veracity of the reports, which had been received for feveral years, concerning a mine of that metal. They agreed in all their fcparate accounts, that it was fituated near the furface of the ground, at the mouth of a river which emptied itfelf into the frozen ocean. To afcertain the exact fituation of this river was an object of confiderable importance, as it was fuppofed that it would remove every idea of a paffage to the fouthward of the fpot CHSMTOrHBR ■nid norton 17b!—1762 fpot at which it mould be found to fall into the fea. To fettle this point, Mr. Hearne, one of the company's fervants, was dif-patched by land in 1771, with fome of the northern Indians, to furvey and determine its fituation. He built canoes in the computed latitude and longitude of 62 deg. 57 min. north, and 18 deg. weft from Churchill. Having traverfed a chain of lakes, on the 21ft of June, he arrived at an Indian fettlement, called Congecathawhachaga, the latitude of which he determined, by aftronomical obfervations, to be in 68 deg. 46 min. north, and, by computation, 24 deg. 2 min. weft from the meridian of Churchill. This place is near a lake which difcharges its waters by a river, according to the Indian accounts, in an eafterly direction, and communicates with the fea. Mr. Hearne does not appear to have taken any other obfervation to fettle his track, than that which has been before mentioned. So that the exact latitude, in which the mouth of the copper mine river is fituated, is rather uncertain; but he thinks himfelf, that, from the accuracy of his remarks in his rate of travelling, he cannot err more than 20 miles, when he fixes it in 72 deg. north latitude (s). The longitude muft, however, be left to future ob- fervers (j) Mr. Hearne's quadrant was damaged by fome accident, fo that there appears to be an inaccuracy in his obfervations. This delect has been examined into, and it is fuppofed that the latitudes mould be reduced about a degree further fouth. This journal never was made public during his life j but I am informed, the manufcript is purchafed by Mr. Wales, who intends committing it to the prefs. It will be a curious recital of almoft unparalleled hard-ftiujs in the frozen regions he vifited. fervers, as his welting, through the whole of his journey, does not, in any inflance, appear to be regulated, further than by computation. Having finifhed the object of his journey, he returned by a route which carried him in a direction to the weftward of his former track The moft remarkable circumftance in his return is, that he paffed a lake, named by him the Arathapefcow, which, from the accounts of the Indians, is one of the largefl in the continent, being 400 miles, or more, from eaft to weft (£). XXXII. The expeditions of the Ruffians, from the coaft of Kamchatfka, excited the jealoufy of the Court of Spain. The whole coaft being defencelefs, they eftablifhed polls at Monterey and St. Francifco, in the year 1769, and, in the year 1775, f°me fhips were fent out by the Viceroy of Mexico, under the command of Don Bruno Heceta. From fome circumftances, it appears, that an expedition had been fitted out in the preceding year; but we have no account of it. Heceta failed, from the port of Saint Bias, on the 16th of March. On the 9th of June, they put into an harbour in 41 deg. 7 min. north latitude, which they named de la Trinidad. They failed again from this harbour, and, after attempting to land on an ifland, which they called de Dolores, they made the land on the 17th of Augufl, in 57 deg. 2 min. north latitude, which they called Cabo del En- ganno, (/) This lake has been partly furveyed by the Canadian traders from Montreal, fince Mr. Hearne's expedition, and called the Great Slave Lake. Another colleftion of water to the fouthward, which difcharges itfelf into this lake, is called Arabafka, or, as Mr. Hearne underftood the Indians, Arathapefcow. ganno, and the mountain of Elias, which Behring had difcovered before, was called de St. Hyacintho. Near this cape they entered two harbours, called Guadaloupe and de Remedios, taking pofTeffion of the country in the name of the King of Spain. On their return they wooded and watered in a harbour called Bu-karelli, in 55 deg. 17 min. north latitude. They were much afflicted by the fcurvy in their voyage home, but got fafe back to St. Bias on the 16th of November, in the fame year. XXXIII. Captain Cook, with an ardour and perfeverance hardly ever equalled, had already determined the nonexiflence of a fouthern continent. As a reward for his fervices, he was appointed, foon after his return from this voyage, one of the Captains of Greenwich hofpital. But his Majefty, fliinulated by the zeal for difcovery which will make his name famed in the annals of navigation, called him from his retirement once more, to accept a command, and endeavour to terminate the difpute about the exiftence of a north-weft paffage. In this expedition, he was to follow a track hitherto unat-tempted by any Englifh navigator, and notwithftanding he failed in the attempt, yet, in following his orders, he fhewed a zeal to determine the queftion, equal to that which fo remarkably dif-tinguifhed him in his former voyage. Thefe orders appear to have been framed, from a comparifon of the difcoveries of Middleton and Moore with the journals of Chriftopher and H Hearne. Hearne. Moore had fully fettled, that Wager Inlet, which Middleton difcovered, was impaffable; and Chriflopher, in 1762, had afcertained the extent of the Cheflerfield Inlet, the mouth of which was feen by Moore, in 1746. Hence it was concluded, that there could be no profpecl of fuccefs to the fouthward of the latitude 67 deg. north. This opinion fcemed to be further confirmed by Hearne's journey to the copper mine river, particularly as the Ruffians, under Behring, had feen, what was fuppofed to be the weftern coaft of the continent, in fo high a latitude as 65 deg. north. In confequence of this received opinion, Cook was directed to fall in with the coafl of New Albion, and explore it to the northward ; but not to fpend fo much time in examining it, as to pre* vent him from being in the latitude of 65 deg. north by July. From this latitude he was to endeavour, to penetrate by any opening he might find, which, trending to the eallward, might give him any profpecl; of a paffage into Baffin's Bay. Conforming ftriclly to the letter of his inflruclions, he made no attempts to examine thole inlets, which bear the names of Defuca and Defonte, but made the beft of his way to the place of his defii-nation. The event of this voyage is well known ; but before I difinifs the fubjeft, I cannot help remarking how unfortunate it is to the caufe of geography, that the prejudices of this celebrated navigator gator mould fo far accord with the opinion which operated in the conftruction of his orders. That thefe prejudices influenced his conduct, when near thofe latitudes, in fome degree, is very apparent from an inflection of the narrative at thofe places. The fubfequent voyages which have been made to the north well coaft of America, in purfuit of commercial advantages, by means of the fur trade to the ports of China, have, in a degree, removed the doubts, which were fo generally entertained, of what have been called the pretended difcoveries of the Spanifh navigators. The perfeverance of Captain Cook would molt undoubtedly have determined the queftion, and left but little for his fuc-ceffors to explore, had not his own opinion coincided with that of his fuperiors. XXXIV. In order more effectually to infure tiie fuccefs of Cook's expedition, Lieutenant Pickerfgill was fent out in a fmall brig, to furvey the coaft of Baffin's Bay. This voyage fell fhort of its object. The abilities of the commander gave great room to hope for fuccefs, but his irregularities were a bar to the full completion of its object. The latitude of 68 deg. 30 min. north was the full extent of his courfe, and Baffin's Bay, to the prefent time, remains unknown, except from the imperfect imformation of its firft difcoverers (u). H 2 The («) Vide Obfervations on Gillam's Voyage, page 38. XXXV. The Lords of the Admiralty, after Pickerfgill was dif-mifTed, appointed Lieutenant Young to the fame command, yet he returned with even lefs fuccefs than his predeceffor. To ufe the expreffion of the editor of Cooks Voyage, " Young was " more calculated to fhare in the glories of a victory, than to " make difcoveries in the frozen regions of the north(^)." XXXV. The veffels fent by the Englifh merchants to the north well coaft of America, after the return of Captain Cook, having difcovered feveral confiderable inlets on that part of the coaft which he did not examine, the Admiralty intended to attempt a pafiage through Hudfon's Bay. For this purpofe Mr. Duncan, a mafter in the navy, who had commanded a final 1 (loop of 59 tons burthen, in the fur trade to China, in the years 1787 and 1788, was confidered to be a proper perfon to conduct the voyage. His having explored the Archipelago of St. Lazarus, as far as the commercial concerns of his owners would permit him, added to his nautical obfervations made on the fpot, were a fufficient recommendation. The Admiralty appears to have referred their intentions to the Hudfon's Bay Company, as Mr. Duncan was employed as an officer in their fervice. Matters being (.v) How far the Danes have navigated this bay is uncertain. Within the 70 years they have been fettled on the weft coaft of Greenland, they have gradually extended their fcttle-ments as far to the northward as the Womens Ides of Baffin, where they have now a factory called Opernwick. Their trade to this part of the world is confined to a company, who extend their factories according as they find it nccelTary, for the convenience of the hfheries, without paying any attention to the further difcovery of the coaft. ing arranged, he went out in one of their fhips, in 1790, to take the command of a country floop, On his arrival, the floop was condemned as unfit to go the voyage. He offered, notwithftand-ing, to go in her, thinking that the defects, for which fhe was condemned, would not render her unfafe for the purpofe intended; but in this he was difappointed, as none of the feamen could be perfuaded to accompany him. Unable to be of any fervice by remaining in the country, he returned in one of the annual fhips in the autumn of the fame year. In the next feafon he was fitted from London, in a brig belonging to the company, called the Beaver; in a manner, as he expreffed himfelf in a converfation I had with him on the fubject, which does credit to the liberality of the directors; as he was provided with every thing that could conduce to the fafely of the veffel, or enfure the health of his people. He was directed, by his orders, to explore Corbet's Inlet, the only place to the fouthward of Marble Ifland which had not been explored; whence he was to proceed to the Chefter-field, and, by means of his boats, or by land, he was to furvey the river which falls into the lake, at the head of it; which Norton had before examined, a few miles to the weftward, in 1768, and found impaflable. After having accomplifhed this object, he was to go to the northward. He arrived at Marble Ifland, from England, time enough to examine thoroughly the firft object of his inflructions, Corbet's Inlet, as he foon found, what there was every rcafon to expect, that it terminated in a bay, which was the mouth of a river, navigable only for canoes at any great diftance from from the fea. After wintering at Churchill, he proceeded to execute the fecond part of his inftruclions, the examination of the Cheflerfield Inlet. When he arrived there, he thought proper to leave the brig in Lake's Harbour, as a place of fafety, while he went in the boat to Norton's Falls. From thefe falls he followed the courfe of the river, by land, until he found it come from the northward, in which direction he traced it near 30 miles, when, being convinced that it muft be the drain of fome lake in 1 hat line, and not an outlet from the Dobaunt, he returned, being fatisfied that his following it further could not lead to any ufeful difcovery. Had its courfe been from the weftward, he would not have left it, he fays, until he had feen its fource. This voyage of Duncan was the Lift made to difcover a paffage between the two oceans. Having now concluded my plan, of giving an abridgement of the fcveral attempts, in the order they were undertaken, I mall endeavour, in the fucceeding pages, to produce fome arguments, which, I believe, will tend to place this long conteffed queftion in a different light from that in which it has been generally con-fidered. To make the fubjeel; more clear, it will be necefTary to divide it into two parts j the firfl of which will treat of that fuppofed paffage, called the Straits of Anian; and the other will be confined to the difcoveries, faid to be made by Defonte, in 1640. A MEMOIR MEMOIR ON THE STRAITS OF ANIAN. MEMOIR ON THE STRAITS OF ANIAN, containing Introduction-Cortes difcovers California—Coronado difcovers Teguayo and Quivira-Voyage of Alarcon—Obfervations on the Gulph of California-Voyages of Cabrillo and Juan De Fuca—Obfervations on his Difcoveries—Straits and Sea which bear his name, recognized in 1787—Communicate with the Sea of Quivira—Remarks on the Padoucas, or Welch Indians— Voyages made in confequence of De Fuca'i Difcoveries—Viz-caino—Ship St. Auguftin—Ferrer de Maldonado—Vizcaino'^ fecond Voyage—Martin Aguilar—Obfervations on Maldonado'j Voyage—Difcoveries of the Canadian Traders-Vifit the frozen Ocean—Obfervations on the Japanefe Map of Ksempfer—* Cook's Difcoveries—Obfervations on his Report—Lancafler'i Account of a North Weft Paffage—Voyages made in confequence of his Information—His Knowledge of Maldonado'.* Voyage— Inquiry into the origin of the Name of Anian—Not ufed before the ljth Century—Obfervations on the Navigation of the Northern Seas—Conclufion. JTlIE exiftence of a paffage, which, from its fituation in refpeel; to Europe, is called the north weft paffage, has been the fubjeft I of of public difcuflion in this country for more than two centuries. A communication between the two feas had always been con-fidered worthy the attention of the legillature; but as foon as it was determined, on the return of Moore and Smith, in the year 1746, that there was no profpecl of a paffage through the Welcome, all idea of any further attempts was given up, on account of the high latitude in which any other opening mult be fituated. At that time this country had no trade which could be benefited by it, excepting that which is under the charter of the Eafl India company, and it was thought that the navigation of Hudfon's Straits alone would be too hazardous for fuch fhips as they employ ; but circumflances are altered in the prefent day, when we are extending our commerce beyond what could have been conceived at any former period, and have, at a very confiderable expence, eflablifhed ourfelves on the north well coaft of the American continent. A paflage, even in the higher latitudes, would now be defirable, and might, in fome future time, amply compenfate for the expence of exploring it. This communication between the two oceans has been denominated the Straits of Anian To examine what probability there is of its being paffable, and upon what circumflances the general opinion of its exiftence is founded, will be the fubjeel of the following Memoir. In {a) It will be necefliry for me to remark, that, according to the regular method of treating the fubjeft, I mould, in this place, make fome enquiry into the origin of the name of Anian. It is my intention to take notice of it; but, for reafons which will then be obvious, I propofe deferring it until I come £0 treat of Lancafter's account of a north weft paflage. In the Hiftorical Abridgement of Difcoveries in the North of America, I deferred giving any account of the Spanifh voyages, as they were moftly made on the weft coaft of America, and were more particularly connected with the fubject which will be treated of in the following pages. It will therefore be proper, in this place, to take notice of them in the order in which they were feverally undertaken. After the empire of Mexico was compleatly fubdued by the Spaniards, Cortes the Conqueror was appointed Admiral of the South Sea, while the government of the province was given to Don Antonio de Menaoza with the title of Viceroy. The hopes of enriching themfelves by the difcovery of new countries, excited them both to turn their attention towards this object. Cortes, as admiral of the feas, confined himfelf to the fitting out a fleet for this purpofe, while Mendoza, as viceroy of the province, not only fent an army by land, but a fmall fquadron like-wife, to further their refearches along the coaft. Thefe expeditions were fet on foot in confequence of the return of Mark de Niza, a prieft, who, accompanied by a black fervant, had travelled by land, as far as 38 or 39 deg. north latitude, where he reported he had difcovered a civilized people in a place called Cibola, who dwelt in fortified towns, and were pof-feffed of great quantities of gold(£J. I 2 Cortes [b) Herrera, Dec. 6, lib. 7. v«r"rrbnycf.^' Cortes fent out three fhips under the command of Francifco de Ulloa, and it is faid that he embarked himfelf to give greater effect to the expedition. They went as high as 30 deg. north, difcovering the eaft coaft of California, whence the gulph between it and the main has obtained the name of the Sea of Cortes. Herrera fays, that one of the fhips was loft, and that Ulloa, proceeding on to the northward, was never heard of afterwards. The third fhip left him, when they got as high as 30 deg. and returned to new Spain (c). r-vc°R"o~Q ^ne Party whicn tne viceroy fent by land, was under the command of Francifco Vafquez Coronado. The foldiers which com-poled this little army, were collected together at the fea port of Culiacan, about 200 leagues to the northward of Mexico. After proper arrangements were made for a co operation with the fquadron, which was fitted out at the fame place, Coronado departed to the northward, fome time in the year 1740, After a variety of fkirmifhes with the natives, he arrived at a country in 37 deg. north latitude, which is ftill called Teguayo, where the cold was fo extreme, that the horfes and men paffed over the river on the ice. After a fiege of more than forty days, they took the capital town of the province, but not without very considerable lofs; for the Indians being ftraitened for provifions, after dcftroying every thing that was valuable, fallied forth the town; town ; but, after a defperate refinance, were cut to pieces by the Spaniards. From the province of Teguayo he is faid to have gone as far niftovcr '' as 40 deg. north latitude, to a country called Quivira, where, notwithstanding it was further to the northward than the place he had left, by three degrees, yet he found the air quite temperate ; and, contrary to the manners of the inhabitants of Teguayo, who live in towns, the people of Quivira lead a wandering life, following the feafons, and roaming in fearch of the heft padurage for their cattle. They faw here veifels in the fea, which, to accord with the rage of that period, are reported to have been laden with merchandize from Cathay, and to have had gold and filver pelicans for their prows. Coronado returned to Mexico in the end of the year 1542, leaving behind forne ecclefiaftics, who were flain by the people of Quivira, excepting one, who made his efcape, and got back fafe to the Spanifli territories. The viceroy expended fix thoufand ducats on this expedition ; but it does not appear that any advantage ever refult-ed from it (d). The command of the fquadron, which confided of two fhips, f. alarcqv 15.40 was given to Fernando Alarcon. He failed from Culiacan at the fame time Coronado's party fet off by land, it being the intention of the viceroy that they fhould follow the direction of the coaft, t.alarcow C0anj f0 tnat t]1Cy might be able to give each other affiftance, if necefTary. Being arrived at the bottom of the Gulf of California, he found a large river, the current of which was fo ftrong, that the fhips could fcarce ftem it. Leaving the fhips, he manned and armed two boats, with which he went up the river, calling it Buena Guia, a name which is now changed to Colorado, or North River. After a familiar intercourfe with the natives, he underftood, by his interpreter, that the banks of the river were inhabited by twenty- three nations, who fpoke as many languages; and that the river fometimes overflowed its banks (e). This is the fubftance of Ramufio's account of this expedition ; but Herrera fays, that Alarcon went as far north as 36 degrees, when, his fhips being in bad condition, and his crew fickly, the coaft moreover beginning to trend to the northward, in which cafe he muft have removed ftill farther from the troops, who were even then at the diftance of ten days march from hirn, he returned home. wferviUjoiM Herrera's account of this voyage, when compared with the the Gu'ph of C.ll- J O 7 r fornix. «... preceding journal of Coronado's expedition, gives great reafon to fuppofe, that the fea extends as high as the latitude 40 deg. or more, north. In conformity to this opinion, it was for a long time generally fuppofed that California was an ifland, feparated from the continent by the fea difcovered by Cortes. But in the beginning (<•) RamuAo, Vol. 3, Ed 1613. beginning of the prcfent century, a narrative, written by Father Kino, a Jefuit, was publifhed in the Ldtrcs Edifiantcs. By this it appears, that Ramufio's account is exact in refpecl. to the river which Alarcon called Buen Guia, and which, he fays, falls into the bottom of the Gulph of California ; as this Father Kino, be* tween the years 1698 and 1701, according to the map annexed to the narrative, difcovered a paffage by land to California, after paffmg this river, the mouth of which he found to be in about 32 degrees north latitude. To reconcile the difference between this account, and the defcription as above given from Herrera, we muff fuppofe that Herrera muff: mean the fame as Ramufio; that Alarcon went as far as 36 deg. north, where he found the courfe of the river, inftead of the trending of the coaft, carried him in a direction which would encreafe his diftance from the troops, if he proceeded any further. Indeed the two narratives cannot be reconciled in any other way (f )i Alarcon appears to have arrived at Mexico fome time before j.r.cABmixg the return of the troops; for Juan Rodriguez de Cabrilio was appointed to command another fquadron, for the fame purpofe, in the year 1542. Cabrilio directed his courfe along the weft coaft of California, and although he did not proceed fo far as his inftructions (/) Hcrrera's account Teems, however, to be very clear, and if it be at all admitted, it makes directly againft the Jefuit's account. Alarcon went, accoiding to Herrera, Dec. 6, lib. 9, up this river 85 leagues, and then, hearing no news of Coronado, in fearch of whom he went, he failed down again to his mips, and continued along the coaft many days after, go?ng four degrees farther than the fhips fent by Cortes. j.r.ca_briixo inftructions directed him, on account of want of provifions and ficknefs among his crew, yet he faw a point of land in 42 deg. north latitude, which he named Cape Mendocino, in compliment to the viceroy (g). juan detl'ca The relation, which I am now going to enter upon, has made great noife in the world, and within a very few years I fhould have been laughed at, if I had attempted to confider it in any other light, than as an ingenious contrivance to deceive the world, and raife the expectations of perfons concerned in promoting expeditions in fearch of a paffage. Juan de Fuca was a Greek, from the ifland of Cephalonia, and his real name was Apottolos Valerianos. He had been pilot to three fhips which were fent out under the command of a Spaniard, by the viceroy of Mexico, to difcover the Straits of Anian; but the voyage was frultrated by a mutiny among the crew. In the year 1592, the viceroy again fitted out a caravel and a pinnace with the fame intent, and entrufled the fole command to De Fuca. In the latitudes 47 and 48 deg. north, he law an inlet, through which he failed into an extenfive fea. He continued navigating this fea for the fpace of twenty days, during which time he landed in different places, and the people of the country were clothed in fkins, The coaft varied, fometimes ftretching to the north-weft, at others to the north-eaft, and in fome places to the fouth fouth-eaft. A number of iflands were fcattered in different JU~DK™£ parts, and the mouth of the inlet where he entered was 30 leagues wide. Suppofing that he had palled into the northern ocean, and actually difcovered the object of his expedition, he returned to Acapulco in the latter end of the fame year. After waiting two years in expectation of a reward from the viceroy, De Fuca went to Spain, where he waited fome confiderable time, without meeting with any compenfation for his difcoveries, and it appears that his refidence in Spain was under coercion ; for when he left it, he fet out by Health, with an intention of returning to his own country. At Venice he gave an account of this voyage to one Dowlafs, an Englifh mariner, who gave the narrative to Mr. Michael Lock. De Fuca offered to command any expedition in the fervice of England, on confideration of being reimburfed a confiderable fum which he faid he had loft fome years before, when in an Acapulco fhip taken by Caven-difh. This fum, which was 60,000 ducats, being fo very confiderable, his offer was not immediately accepted, and he appears to have died before fufficient arrangements could be made, to enter into any other agreement with him (k). Thefe difcoveries were admitted into the maps of that period : ow*™....... x ' the difcovcrici of but as there were feveral parts of his account which appeared to be fabulous, the whole became in procefs of time to be difcre-dited, and molt of the latter geographers have thought proper K to (b) Fox's N. W. ?ox. Purchas Pilgrims, Book IV. part 3, to reject it. That great navigator, Captain Cook, was too much led away by the current of general opinion, and De Fuca's veracity continued to be doubted fo late as the year 1787, when the commanders of fome Englifh veltels, fitted out with a view to commercial advantages only, had the fatisfaction of doing juftice JS^iXSl to his memory. They found thefe flraits fituated about a degree more to the northward than De Fuca reported them to be, and the entrance was found not much more than half the extent he reprefents ; but there cannot be the leaft doubt of the inlet being the fame, as they faw an ifland, with a remarkable pinnacle rock, off the point of land forming the fouth fhore of the {trait, exactly as it is defcribed in the accounts of De Fuca's voyage. Having vifited this coaft without any intention of proceeding upon difcoveries, this inlet was not examined beyond fifteen leagues within the entrance. At that diftance a clear and extenfive horizon was feen, as far as the eye could reach to the eaflward. Their commercial concerns prevented them from making a more accurate examination; but at the fame time an AmtrfcMibipdir- American veffel, in the fame trade, followed their track, and the covers the fea of * * De Fuca, mailer of her reported, that he navigated eight degrees of latitude in a confiderable fea, the full extent of which he could not determine (z). In confirmation of this, Mr. Duncan, who then commanded a fmall floop at Nootka, fays, that while he was in the entrance of the flrait, he was fully convinced of fome confiderable extent of water beyond it, as, in one part, he found . ■ . the (<) Vide Mears' Voyages to the North Weft Coaft of America. the flood tide to come from the eaflward. The extent of this fea can only be determined by future obfervations, and any opinion that may be formed, in the prefent day, mufl be founded upon conjecture; but there are certainly ftrong reafons to fuppofe, that it extends a confiderable diftance to the fouthward, as well as to the northward, communicating perhaps with the fea of Quivira. The earlier tranfactions of the Spaniards in the weftern world have been recorded by a variety of hiftorians, who have uniformly agreed, that the province of Ouivira is fituated to the north of New Mexico, and is bounded by a large extent of water to the weftward (k). To difcover this fea, was an object much, deli red by the Court of France, during the whole time they were in poffeffion of Loui-fiana For this purpofe, the miffionaries, diftributed along the banks of the Miflifipi, were directed to gain all the information in their power from the natives of their different miftions. It will not be digrefting too much from the fubject, to make fome extracts from the publication which contains their reports. It appears that the Sioux, Outaouacs, and feveral other nations, agree, that " fome of the rivers, which have their fourcc " in the mountains at the head of the Miflifipi, take a weftern " courfe, and, after running through a country inhabited by men K 2 who (*) Vide Herrera,-— Gonur*,—De Laet. memoir on the " who have beards, live in fortified towns, and are armed and " cloathed like Europeans, fall into the fea, or great lake, which st is full of large veffels very different from their canoes (/). Father Marquette, in particular, a miftionary among the Ou-taouacs, found out the fource of a river, which, from its courfe, is called the River of the Weft, " at the mouth of which, the fa-" vages told him, they had feen four large veffels under fail(w)." Father Charlevoix fays, that a Miamis Squaw informed him, " fhe had been carried by a party of the Sioux to a village of " that nation, which bordered on the fea (n)" And Father Hennepin was told by fome of the Sioux who live to the weftward, that, " from the mountains which form the " fource of the Miflburi, veffels might be feen failing on the " fea (oy Monfieur Buache mentions a letter he received from the Sieur Dumont, who was employed by the French Court for more than twenty years, in furveying Louifiana. In this letter he informed him, (/) Vide Relation de la Nouvelle France de Fan. 1632, 1641, 1666, &c. (w) Ibidem, Relation de 1' an. 1670. («) Vide Journal du Pere Charlevoix 1744, Lettre xxviii, (<►) Father Hennepin's Relation, 1698. him, " that he had been guided in 1722 by a map, given to him " by M. Bienville, commandant of New Orleans. This was made " for the direction of the Spanifh caravan from New Mexico to " the Miflburi, having been taken by fome of the Miflouri In-te dians among the baggage of fome Spaniards whom they made ** prifoners, and prefented by them to the commandant at Fort «' Illinois. Upon this map was reprefented the coaft of a fea, " which they approached near to in their route (p)" The Indians who come down to trade at the factories in Hudfon's Bay, likewife concur in fimilar reports, of a large fea being to the fouth-welt, the coafl of which is inhabited by people who have beards, and who fail from one place to another in (hips (q\ And in further confirmation, the Canadians who are employed in collecting furs on the northern Jakes, have found ftray horfes, which have been marked with Roman letters on the haunches, and the Indians have bartered with them, weapons ap; arently of European manufa£ture (r). So many accounts received at various times, and from Indians who are fo very diftantly fituated from each other, leave us (/) Buache Confiderations Geograph, ct Phyf. Paris, 1753, p. 36. (?) Ellis'Voyage, 8vo. 1748, p. 304. (r) TJrafreville's prefcnt State of Hudfon's Bay, p, 178. us no room to doubt of fome foundation for their reports; but to account for the particular circumflances of men having beards, (which is contrary to the cuflom of all other Indian nations of America, who pluck them out) and of their navigating the fea with (hips carrying fails, it has been fuppofed, that the Spaniards have fettlements not far from the fources of the Miflifipi and Miffburi rivers, or, at leaft, that they have traders fent from New Mexico, among the nations on the borders of the Englilh fettlements ; but even before the Spaniards were in poffeffion of New Mexico, or what they call their Miffion of Santa Fe, we have fimilar accounts. For independent of the information brought by Coronado and Alarcon, in J540, which has been taken notice of before; when D' Efpejo, in 1583, penetrated into the fame country by another route, from Vera Cruz in the Gulph of Mexico, by means of the Rio Bravo, or North River, he found, that to the northward, beyond the mountains, was a nation of Indians, who were drelfed fomewhat after the European fafhion, and who lived in towns on the borders of a great lake, or fea (s). Hence it is very clear, that, before the Spaniards fettled to the northward of Old Mexico, there were nations who dwelt in towns, on the borders of a weftern fea, or lake, which they navigated in veffels larger than common canoes, dreffmg themfelves in cloaths, which made them appear like Europeans, and defending themfelves againft (j) Laet. lib. 7, ch. 22, 23, 24. againft their invaders, in a manner unufual to what had been found among the nations through which they had paffed before. I (hall here venture to offer an opinion, which may not meet the entire approbation of every one of my readers; but fuch advances have been made, of late years, in the fcience of geography, that we are daily led to examine, with ftria attention, accounts which have been exploded for want of ftifBcient information. This has been the cafe with the hiftory of Madoc, or Madog's voyage from Wales to America. It is well known that the Welch Chronicles make mention of his leaving that country, on account of fome quarrel with his brothers, and on his return, he gave an account of a new country, which he had difcovered acrofs the weftern ocean, to form a fettlement in which, he afterwards failed with ten fhips, but never returned(/), I (hall not enter into any arguments, to defend this narrative againft the objections which have been offered, on account of the polarity of the magnet not having been-applied to the pur-pofes of navigation in thofe days, without which it has been advanced, he could not have fucceeded, either in returning to Wales, (/) This happened towards the end of the twelfth century, and is recorded in the poems of Meredydh ap Rhys, who flourimed in the year 1470; of Gutwin Owen, in 1480; and Cvnfrig ap Gronw, near the fame period. Thefe bards preceded the expedition of Columbus, and relate, or allude to, that of Madoc, as an event well known, and univerfally received, to have happened three hundred years before. Vide Jones's Mufical Relics of the Welch Bards, p. 19. andHumfrey Lhuyd. Welch Chron. p. 22S. Wales, or finding the country on his return. I fhall reft myfelf entirely upon the opinion which is now entertained of the authenticity of the account. No traces of this colony were found for many years after fettlements were made in America; but fubfequent refearches have brought to light a very numerous tribe, in a fertile country on the banks of the Upper Miffouri, the people of which are white, and are a diftinct fpecies from the aborigines who fur-round them. They are likewife faid to have written records of their defcent, and many remains of European manners. To this nation the French have given the name of Padoucas. Per-fons verfed in the Welch language fay, that Madoc's followers would have been denominated Madogwys; now, when we con-fider that the French have always been famed for adapting names to their own vernacular idiom, and by that means rendering them very different from the original pronunciation, we may be led to conclude, that Padoucas is the fame name, with the alteration of the initial letter, but to which they have given their own termination of cas, inftead of the Welch gwys, (people) (u). Father Charlevoix obferves, from the information he received, " that the Padoucas, and their neighbours the Panis, are fittiated very («) Gentleman's Magazine, vol. for 1790. very near the coaft of the weftern fea (x). That thofe coafts were formerly inhabited by other nations, we have two evidences to produce. In the firft place, according to fome of the mifTionaries, " the Illinois," before the French arrived in Louifi-ana, " were feated near the fea to the weftward, from whence " they were driven by their enemies (jy)." And we are informed, in another place, by Charlevoix, " that not only the Illinois, ** but likewife the Miamis, came from the fea coaft to the weft-" ward (z)." Comparing thefe circumflances with the others, I mall venture to take it for granted, (without entering into any further arguments on their migrations from the eaftern coaft, where they muft have landed, fo far into the country,) that the Padoucas are defcended from the people who went over with Madoc. Being fituated fo contiguous to the weftern fea, it is natural to fuppofe, that a people, accuftomed to navigation, would turn their attention to the advantages of their fituation; fo that we can by thefe means, not only account for the men with beards, and horfes marked with Roman letters, without having recourfe to the fup-pofition that the Spaniards have fettlements further to the north- L ward f» Diclionnaire Gcograph. de la Martenicre. Ed. 1741 at Word Miflbun. [y) Relation de la nor. France, 1' an. 1670, 1671, («) Journal du Pere Charlevoix, 1744, Lettrexx, ward than is generally agreed upon in Europe [a) ; but likewife, allowing for the prejudices of the times, give fome credit to the report of Coronado having feen large fhips, loaded with merchandize, without fuppofing, with him and fome later authors, that they were from China or Japan {b}. The jealoufy of the Spaniards, and the great precautions which they took while the French were in poffefTion of Louifiana, left they fhould penetrate to the weftward by means of the Miffouri, gives great room to fuppofe, that they meant to conceal that part of the continent from the knowledge of other nations. They made feveral attempts to gain the command of the Miffouri, which is reported to be navigable 1300 miles from its junction with the Miflifipi. In one of thefe attempts, the map, which I have before taken notice of on the authority of Monf. Buache, fell into the hands of the Indians, who gave it to the commandant at Fort Illinois. What they were not able to effect by force, they gained by the policy of the family compact;, and the Miflifipi is now a barrier againft the intrufions of their neighbours ; but, perhaps, the rapid advances which the back fettlers are making in the United States will foon tranfgrefs the boundary, (a) This circumftance is worthy the attention of government; for the late convention with Spain confines the limits of our trade on the coaft, to the northward of where the Spaniards arc already fettled. This is an indefinite term, and may give rife to a future queflion of right. As their northern fettlement is at St. Francifco, in California, that fhould have been fixed as the extent of their boundary. (f>) Vide Memoire Delifie fur la Mer de TOucft. dary, and what the French were unable or unwilling to do, the Americans will effect in the courfe of a {fiort time, and by that means extend their empire to the other fea. Before I conclude this account, I (hall jufl take notice, that when De Fuca obferves he had failed into the north fea, we are not to fuppofe, as fome authors have done, that thereby he meant the Atlantic, and intended to convey an idea that he had paffed from the weftern to the eaftern fide of the continent. It is very clear that the frozen ocean to the northward of the continent of America, is the fea which he calls the north fea, whence we are led to conclude, that there muft be a communication between them. This appears to be corroborated by modern obfer-vation, if the account can be depended upon, that Sir John Macpherfon, when at the Cape of Good Hope, was informed by fome Spaniards of an inlet in the latitude of 47 deg. 45 min. north, which was navigated in twenty-feven days, as far as the vicinity of Hudfon's Bay. The veil of myftery, which was thrown for a number of years over this account, being removed, we may prefume that it could not long fail to draw the attention of the Spanifh government ; and we might even venture to rifk an opinion, that the fucceeding voyages of the Spaniards were made in confequence of this difcovery, inftead of having a reference entirely, as the Spanifli hiftorians would have us believe, to the expeditions of Drake and Cavendilh. Within four years after the return of De Fuca a fquadron was fitted out under Sebaftian Vizcaino ; but for want of provifions, and having loft feventeen of his men, he did not go more than 100 leagues to the northward of Mazatlan on the coaft of New Spain. jhj, . \n„,^n. Cabrera Bueno, an Admiral in the Spanifh fervice. publifticd a folio volume on fpeculative and practical navigation, at Manilla, in the year 1734. In one of the chapters, containing " Directions from Cape Mendocino, towards the port of Aca-t( pulco, along-fhore," fpeaking of the port of San Francifco, he fays, " To the fouth fouth-weft of this port are fix or feven fmall M Farellons, of different fizes, little more than a league in cir-u cuit; in coming from Cape Mendocino for this port, being fix " leagues of the point to fouth-eaft by fouth, you will make the " Punta de los Reyes, and fee the Farellons, which is a good " mark to know it. Here the (hip St, Auguftin was loft in 1595, " on difcovery, and the caufe of her lofs was more in thofe on " board than by ftrefs of weather." This is the only account we have of this voyage. WAtnoyAno £ voyage is fail! to have been made in the year 3598. The only account we have of it is from a memoir read at a meeting of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, Nov. 13, 1790, by Mr. Buache, Geographer to the French King. The fubflance of this memoir is, that M. De Mendoza, a Captain in the Spanifh navy, employed employed to form a collection for the ufe of that fervice, having fearched various archives, found an account of this voyage, which was made under the command of Lorenzo Ferrer de Maldonado. From an infpection of this journal it appears, that when he arrived in latitude 60 deg. north, and longituch 325 deg. eafl: from Ferro, he fleered to the weftward, leav*^- Hudfon's Bay to the fouth, and Baffin's Bay to the north, and in the latitude 65 deg. north, and longitude 297 deg. eaft from Ferro, (from which meridian the longitude is reckoned through the whole journal) he altered his courfe to the northward, failing through, what he calls, the Straits of Labrador, until he found himfelf in latitude 76 deg. north, and longitude 278 deg. eaft, in the frozen ocean ; he then held his courfe fouth-weft, and paffed through the flrait which feparates Afia from America. In latitude 60 deg. north, and longitude 235 eaft, he entered the fouth fea, naming the flrait through which he paffed Anian, but which Mr. Buache would have called Ferrer's Straits, in memory of its difcoverer. Thefe three voyages appear to have been connected with each other, and to have had the fame object in view, and it will not be prefuming too much to fuppofe, that they were fitted out in the fame year. The diftance of time, and the inaccuracy of the hiftorians in refpect to the dates, give fome fupport to this opinion ; for notwithstanding Bueno fays, that the St. Auguftin was loft near Port San Francifco, in 1595, yet Mr. Dalrymple has given given a copy of a chart of the weft coaft of California, from a Spanifh manufcript, in his account of the fettlements at San Diego and Monte Rey, where thefe rocks are laid down, with this remark, " Farellones donde fe perdio cl navio St. Augujlin, " 159*>v" Here is a difference of three years in the two accounts; but as i m> date in Bueno is in figures, and as Mr. Dalrymple remarks, that his publication is in many places very obfcure, I fhall venture to place the molt dependence upon the chart, and fix it in 1598, the fame year in which Maldonado failed from Europe. From thefe premifes I fhall venture to draw the conclufion, that, in confequence of De Fuca's report, the Court of Madrid was determined to fearch for the paffage, which his voyage had rendered probable, by three different tracks. While Vizcaino proceeded through the Gulph of California, and the commander of the fhip St. Auguflin, whofe name is not handed down to us, furveyed the weftern coaft of the continent, Maldonado was dif-patched from Europe, to feek for an opening on the eaftern fide, where confiderable inlets had been feen in the then recent expeditions of Frobifher and Davis. •vmcaino The Count of Monte Rey, viceroy oT Mexico, by order of 1002 the Court of Spain, difpatched Vizcaino on a fecond voyage, with orders to fearch for a fafe port on the weft coaft of California, where the fhips from Manilla, which, in their return to New Spain, % Spain, ufually made Cape Mendocino, might either find flielter from the ftrong northerly winds, or refuge from an enemy. For this purpofe, he failed on the 2d of May, 1602, from Acapulco, with three fhips and a pinnace, and coafted within fight of the fhore as high as Cape Mendocino. During the voyage they difcovered the ports of San Diego, in 32 deg. 30 min. and Monte Rey, in 36 deg. 40 min. north latitude (c). Cape Mendocino was the extent of Vizcaino's voyage; as from ficknefs among his crew he was obliged to return. He difpatched, however, the A^ O 1 • ■ in Opening ne.ir • .<■ f 1 Cape BluKO pinnace under Martin Aguilar, who faw the cape called Cape Blanco, in 43 deg. north latitude, near to which, it is faid, he difcovered a confiderable opening, which has been retained in fome charts under the name of Aguilar. The lateft maps leave an opening near Cape Blanco, and the map which illuflrates the journal of the Spanifh fettlements at San Diego and Monte Rey, places Rio de los Reyes in 43 deg. the fituation of Aguilar's opening. From the obfervations of the Englifh veffels in the fur trade in thofe parts, it is highly probable that there are feveral openings to the fouthward of De Fuca's Straits, as the whole of the coaft appears to be broken land, (<■) Thefe difcoveries of Vizcaino were never taken poffeffion of until the years 1769 and 1770 ; when the Court of Spain having received information of the repeated attempts of the Ruffians upon the north weft coaft of America, the viceroy of New Spain eftablilhed forts both at San Diego and Monte Rey, with an intention to guard that part of the empire from infult. The journals of thefe eftabliftiments were lately publifhed by Mr. Dairy mple, from a manufcript communicated by the late hiftorian Dr. Robertfon, land, with very extenfive founds, forming, in all probability, an archipelago from De Fuca's Straits to Cape Blanco, fimilar to what has been found to the northward, communicating with an inland fea. One Thomas Peche, in ltj/tj, is faid to have failed 120 leagues within the Straits of Anian, intending to return to England that way; but the feafon being far advanced, and the wind continuing to the northward, he was obliged to defift, and return by Cape Horn, in the year 1677. ^s ^iere are no accounts of any agronomical obfervations, we cannot determine in what latitude he entered thefe ftraits. However, it appears, that he found the current, along the coaft of California, to fet north-eaft from Cape Mendocino more than twenty leagues within the channel. From this obfervation, if any opinion be formed, it will lead us to fuppofe, that Aguilar's Inlet about Cape Blanco is the place where he entered ; and in thofe charts which make California to be an ifland, the coaft between thefe two capes is laid down in that direction. Several authors have given accounts of a paffage having been effected between the two feas; no reliance, however, is to be placed upon their informations; but for the fake of taking fome notice of every thing which has come to my knowledge relating to the fubjeft, I (hall juft obferve, that in 1568, it is faid, Salva-tierra, a Spaniard, landing in Ireland, in his paffage home from the the Weft Indies, informed the Lord Lieutenant, that a paffage had been found, and actually palfed, about 12 years before, by-one Andreas Urdanietta, and that he had feen a map on which the paffage was delineated. Bergeron fays, that in the reign of Queen Elizabeth reports of fome Portugueze having failed between the two feas were prevalent ; in particular, that an Admiral named Garcias Loaria, in the reign of Charles the Fifth, paffed from the Moluccas by the coafts of Newfoundland and Labrador, and it appears, that Button, in his memorial to King James, recited fome other fuch in-ftances(d). And Charlevoix relates, that a fhip from Acapulco, being driven by a ftorm out of her courfe, about the year 1609, paffed into the Atlantic: but the King of Spain ordered the pilot's journals to be burnt, for fear other nations fhould get intelligence of her route (c). All thefe accounts are mere vague affertions, without any in- „ ^"j™ ? O * J F. cie Mdldonado s voyage. ternal evidence to warrant their authenticity. This is not the cafe, however, with the voyage of Maldonado, which we have noticed on the authority of Monf. Buache, as the latitudes and longitudes are marked in feveral places; and the character of Mr. Buache is fo well known, that whatever information we re- M ceive {d) Pere Bergeron, Traite des Navigat. p. 129. (e) Pere Charlevoix les Faftes Chron. du Nouveau Monde. 1744. ceive from the authority of a man fo highly diftinguifhed as a geographer, certainly deferves attention ; but it is impolfible to fay, how far he might have been impofed upon, and the world may be led to fufpend their opinion until they receive fome further evidence, particularly when it is recollected, that M. de la Lande, a man equally high in the eflimation of the literary world, was fo far deceived as to publifh, in the Journal des Sca-vans for November, 1773, a letter on the fame fubject, which ftated, that Baron von Uhlefield, in a Danilh (hip of war, had paffed from Hudfon's Bay, and returned by the ftraits of Le Maire, between the years 1769 and 1773. The refpeclability of the communication, however, carries with it fuch weight, that when I firfl faw the account, I could not help examining it with the later difcoveries, which are more fully authenticated. I found fuch a general concurrence of circumflances in its favour, as to leave very little room in my own mind to doubt of its credibility. If we attend to the track which appears to have been purfued by this navigator, we fhall find, that he failed through Hudfon's Straits, between the latitudes 60 and 65 degrees north, after which he paffed through the opening between the Cumberland Ifles of Davis and the land of Point Comfort, which he named the Straits of Labrador, and in latitude 76 deg. north, and Ion-gitude 278 deg. ealt from Ferro, or 260 deg. eafl from Greenwich, found himfelf in the frozen ocean. Now Now the only evidence we have of the exiftence of that confiderable extent of fea called Baffin's Bay, is from the journal of its difcoverer (/). The chart which accompanied his journal is loft, and the maps we have of that part of America have been framed from his relation, in which the latitudes may nearly approach to the truth, but the longitudes muft certainly be indeterminate. The latitude in which Maldonado entered the frozen ocean, is nearly the fame in which Lancafter's Sound is placed in the maps of the Bay, and the longitudes are fo nearly corref-ponding, as to leave us little room to doubt of its being the fame inlet. This inlet is faid by Baffin to be of very confiderable extent, and from the fituation of the coaft ftretches away to the weftward ; but he takes no further notice of it, than that fuch an inlet does exift in nearly that latitude and longitude. I fhall, as I proceed, have further occafion to fpeak of this inlet feen by Baffin, and fhall then endeavour to prove, that the name of Lancafter, which was given to it, was in confequence of the information he brought to Europe, on his return from India, of a voyage having been made from Europe to the Japanefe feas by this route. Thus far we are able to follow his courfe with fome degree of precifion; as from Baffin's account we have fome little authority, from whence we may fix a foundation for our arguments; but after entering the frozen ocean, we have lefs to guide us, and are M 2 neceffarily (/) Vide Obfervations on Gillam's Voyage, page 38. neceffarily led to have recourfe to conjecture. Aware of the inaccuracies which often attend arguments fo (lightly founded, I fhall endeavour to be careful, and not permit myfelf to be carried beyond the bounds of reafonable probability. After leaving Baffin's Bay, in latitude 76 deg. north, and longitude 260 deg. eafl: from Greenwich, he (leered a fouth-weft courfe the whole way, until he entered the fouth fea, in latitude 60 deg. north. The coaft of the American continent, bordering upon the frozen ocean, muff confequently continue in a fimilar direction. To afcertain this, we have but two authorities to pro-duce upon which we can with any degree of certainty rely; for between Icy Cape to the weft, the extent of Cook's difcoveries, and Baffin's Bay to the eaft, there are only two places where the frozen ocean has been feen. The fea has been difcovered where the copper mine river difcharges itfelf, in the latitude of 71 degrees north, and which, as I have before obferved, was fuppofed by Mr. Hearne, in 1772, to be nearly in the longitude of 240 deg. eaft. The difference of latitude and longitude between the mouth of this river, and the place where he left Baffin's Bay, will give a fouth-weft courfe, and it may be inferred that the intermediate lands follow in fome degree that direction. It has been remarked before, that the French, when in poffef-fion of Canada, pufhed their trade fo far to the northward, by means means of the interior lakes, as to oblige the Hudfon's Bay Company to eflablifh inland polls, to preferve their connections with the Indians. Since England has been in poffellion of that province, and more particularly fince the peace in 1783, the Canadian fur trade has been carried on to an aflonifhing extent, by means of a company formed at Montreal for that purpofe The Perfons employed by this company have traverfed the interior part of the continent, in fearch of furs, as far to the northward as the latitude 62 north, and have fixed factories upon that very extenfive lake, which was crofted by Mr. Hearne in his return to Churchill from the copper mine river, in the year 1772, and called by him the Arathapefcow Lake, but which they have named the Great Slave Lake. The factories were eflablifhed for the fake of carrying on a more extenfive trade with the natives. The perfons who were left to winter at thefe potts were informed by the Indians, that a river, which had its fource at the north-weft end of the lake, difcharged itfelf into the fea, which was at no great diflance, to the northward. To afceitain the truth of this report, was confi-dered to be an object: worthy their attention; for this purpofe, a Mr. M'Kenzie was difpatched in the fummer of the year 1789, with fome of the natives, in feveral canoes, to gain all the information in his power. By permifhon of Simon MTavifh, Efq; his journal was fubmitted to the infpection of Mr. Arrowfmith, who has delineated his track on the map of the world which he has lately publifhed. publiihed. It appears that he found a fice navigation from the lake to the fea, the river being feveral fathoms deep, except at its mouth, where it is divided into feveral branches, with only five feet of water in the channels. Two rapids were formed in two different parts of the river, from the current being confined between the rocks; but thefe were found to be navigable. There were feveral fmall iflands near the mouths of the river, and to the largeft of them he gave the name of Whale Ifland, from the great numbers found there. Upon this ifland he erected a poll to record his difcovery, with the latitude, which was found to be 69 deg. 14 min. north, his own name, the number of men and canoes, and the date, 12th July, 1789, marked upon it. He fup-pofes the ifland to be about 225 deg. eafl from the meridian of Greenwich. He appears to be fully fatisfied that it has a communication with the fea, as he obferved the water to rife and fall by the fhore feveral inches. ( wemtfenjwi While the geographers of Europe were warmly engaged in a of Ktcuipfer, ... n t * • difpute about the vicinity of the two continents, fome contending that they were feparateg^by a large extent of fea, and others afferting that they were joined to each other, the Chinefe and Japanefe appear to have been well acquainted with the northern parts of both countries. It is well known that thefe nations formerly extended their voyages to a greater diftance than they are accuftomed to at prcfent, and it has been faid that the mariners compafs was known in China long before it was ufed in Europe, fome fome perfons contending that it was brought from thence by Marco Polo, or fome other traveller; and Monf. Guignes, in a memoir read before the Academy of Belle Lettres and Infcrip-tions at Paris, upon the navigation of the Chinefe in America, fuppofes that they even vilited the eaftern Ihores of the Pacific Ocean fo early as the fifth or fixth century, near the latitude 53 deg. north, to which they gave the name of Fou-Sang. The Japanefe were acquainted with the peninfula of Kamt-chatka, under the name of Oku-Jefo, long before it was known to the Ruffians; and Kaempfer, in his hiftory of Japan, fays, " that a jonk, difpatched from one of the eaftern ports about the " year 1680, difcovered a large country between 40 and 50 deg. " north latitude, which he fuppofes to be America, where they " found a fafe harbour, in which they paffed the winter, and re-" turned the next year to Japan (g)" During his refidence in that country, Kaempfer likewife obtained a map of the world, which being afterwards prefented to Sir Hans Sloane, is now depofited with the reft of his collection in the Britifh Mufeum. Japan is placed in the centre of the map, which is oval, and it appears to have been conftru&ed from the joint knowledge of the Chinefe and Japanefe geographers, affifted, perhaps, by the European miftionaries ; as the names are written partly in one, and partly in the other language. {g) Kx-mpfer's Hiilory of Japan, Vol. I. p. 59. guage, Its date has been generally fixed fomewhere about the conclufion of the 16th century, Monf. Buache fuppofing it to have been laid down after one made by Father Ricci, for the Court of Pekin, in the year 1585(A). According to this map, the north-weft part of the American continent extends from Icy Cape, feen by Cook, as high as 82 deg. north (t), between which and the land forming the north-eaftern part of Baffin's Bay, the fea makes a large gulph, which extends as far fouth as 68 deg. 30 min. north. Mr. M'Kenzie having afcertained the exiftence of the fea at the mouth of his river, is a circumftance which ftamps a credit upon this map, and gives us much reafon to pay it greater attention. This large gulph is again divided into two inlets, one of which goes into 65 deg. and the other as far as 62 deg. 30 min. north latitude. As Mr. M'Kenzie's own obfervations confirm the Japanefe geography of this part, in refpecl to the large gulph, fo the information he received from the Indians, during his journey, gives great credit to the two inlets ; as about the latitude 66 deg, north, he was informed, that the fea, or great lake, was at no great diftance both to the eaft and weft of the river. Through the wefternmoft inlet, which extends into 62 deg. 30 min. north latitude, I fuppofe Maldonado to have paffed. Having (£>) Buache's Confideration Geograph. et Ph. p. 47. Quere. Does not this ftamp fome credit upon the relation of David Melguer having failed to 84 deg. north, and then paffed between Greenland and Spitsbergen ? Vide p. 14. Having fucceeded thus far in tracing the coaft in a fouth-weft direction, between Baffin's Bay and the copper mine river, from the authentic teftimony of Mr. Hearne's journal, and having like-wife produced very confiderable authority, by means of the Ja~ panefe map, corroborated by Mr. M'Kenzie's obfervation and information, that it follows the fame direction as far as the latitude 62 deg. 30 min. north, there only remain two degrees and an half of latitude to complete the connection between the two feas, and to add full authenticity to the voyage of the Spanifli navigator. This fhort diftance mull be totally left to conjecture; but I .hope to bring feveral arguments, deduced from fuch concurring circumftances, as will carry with them a very confiderable degree of probability, in fupport of it. Maldonado fays, that after having paffed the frozen ocean, he „ouma«n« * * O 1 » Cnok s account oi 1 /-t • 1 • • . in • • Prince William1* failed through a flrait, which he named the Straits of Anian, into Soimd-the Pacific Ocean. This part of the track is not corroborated by the Japanefe geographers, as the inlet, which we have before noticed upon their authority, terminates, according to their map, in 62 deg. 30 min. north ; but Captain Cook, among his difcoveries on the north-weft coaft of America, vifited a found, which was named Prince William's Sound, the entrance to which is in 60 degrees north latitude, extending more than a degree and an half to the northward. This opening is exactly in the latitude, and nearly in the fame longitude, as the weftern part of the Straits of Anian, where Maldonado is faid to have completed his paffage. N In In another place I have juft obferved, how unfortunate it is for the caufe of geography, that. Captain Cook fhould have fuf-fered himfelf to be fo much prejudiced, againft the accounts of inlets having been feen in thefe latitudes, as not to deviate from his immediate courfe, to prove or difprove their exiflence. During the time he was in this found, it was more particularly apparent. There was an opening obferved, extending confiderably to the northward of the place where the fhips were anchored. In order to examine this opening, one of the boats was difpatched under the command of Captain Gore, who was then the firfl; Lieutenant of the Refolution. On his return, he reported, that he had feen an inlet in the direction of north-eaft, through which he thought there was a probability of a paflage ; but Captain Roberts, who was then one of the mates, and who was fent in the boat to take the bearings of the lands, differed from the Lieutenant, as he fuppofed he had feen its termination. Being anxious to arrive at the place of his deftination, he declined further refearches to reconcile this difference of opinion. The flood coming from the weftward, is one of the rea-fons which he gives for not proceeding up the found, which, although he does not allow it to be a pofitive fign of there being no paffage, yet he remarks, is a ftrong argument againft it. Sailing up the Englifh Channel as far as the Ifle of Wight in fearch of a paffage, and finding the flood ftill coming from the weftward, would equally make againft any opening between Dover. Dover and Calais. Arguments drawn from the tides have heretofore been made ufe of both for and againft a paflage; but have been generally exploded fince the difpute between Middle-ton and Dobbs; I am therefore furprized that this able navigator (hould have had recourfe to them. Thus the fhort diftance between the northernmoft part of Prince William's Sound and the latitude 62 deg. 30 min. north, which is not much more than 100 miles, is the only part of the coaft, to afcertain the line of which we have no authority; yet this is the very fpot where Maldonado found the ftrait, which he called the Straits of Anian. I muft now appeal to the candour of my readers, and beg juua^jg. . weft Paffagi:. their indulgence to advance fome arguments, which, being founded upon conjecture, want that fupport the journals of Hearne and the Canadian traders, compared with the Japanefe map, have afforded me in the preceding pages, in order to prove, that the Straits of Anian, through which he failed from the frozen ocean into the fouth feas, are fituated in the latitude where one of the Japanefe inlets appears to terminate. At the fame time, I (hall make fome obfervations in fupport of an opinion, that the feveral attempts made by this country in fearch of a north-weft paffage, from 1598, the date of his voyage, until the Hudfon's Bay Company was founded by charter, were fet on foot in confequence of fome information received of his fuccefs. In N 2 order t order to do this, I mud advert to the account of Lancafter's fecond voyage to the Eaft Indies. It is well known, that the (hip in which he returned being likely to founder near the Cape, he directed the commander of the veflel which was in company, to proceed home with his dif-patches, the purport of which was, after alluring his owners that every thing fhould be done to fave the fhip, " that the paflage to " the Eaft Indies was in the north-wejl of America, in latitude 62 " deg. 30 min. north." By great perfeverance, and unremitted endeavours, he kept the fhip above water, and arrived fafe in England. What reafons he gave for fuppofing the paflage to be in that latitude have not been handed down to us ; but it has been conje&ured, that fome Portugueze failing along the coaft of Japan, went a confiderable diftance to the north-eaft, from whence he was led to conclude, that Lumley's Inlet, which had been feen by Davis in his laft voyage, afforded a profpecl of communication between the two oceans It is very certain that Lumley's Inlet is in 62 deg. 30 min. north ; but notwithflanding it happens to be in the fame latitude in which he fays the paflage is, yet its fituation does not correfpond with his account of its being in the north-weft of America (i). That (»')The inlets which were afterwards feen on the weft coaft of Hudfon's Bay, being in the feme latitude, afforded ample room for fpeculation, until they were determined to be nothing more than outlets from lakes in the interior part of the country. That Lancafter founded his opinion upon fome information he had received in the Eaft Indies, is very obvious 5 and if I be able to point out, that the navigators who were fent in fearch of a paffage after his return followed the track, which we have been endeavouring to illuftrate, as far as circurnftances would permit, in order to effect the object of their voyage, it will not perhaps be ftretching the bounds of probability for me to fup-pofe, that he had heard of Maldonado's arrival in thofe feas, and received fome account of his voyage. To place this idea in a clearer light, and to bring this fubject before the reader in one view, it. will be necelfary to make a few fhort obfervations on the feveral voyages, in the order in which they were performed. Frobisher only pointed out the probability of a paffage, from the deep inlets which he difcovered on the coaft to the weftward of Greenland. Davis, who followed the fame track, being difappointed in accomplifhing his objecl in the openings which he found near the fame place, endeavoured to effecl it more to the northward in the open fea to the weft of Greenland. Weymouth, in all probability, followed the fteps of his pre-deceffors. It has however been afferted, that he was fent out in, in confequence of the account brought by Lancafter; but if this be admitted, and at the fame time it be allowed that his voyage was made in 1602, we fhall be guilty of an anachronifm, which cannot be eafily removed, as Lancafter did not return to Europe before the end of 1603. If it fhould be argued, that he fent home the information before he returned himfelf, it is not likely that, in thofe days, he fhould have had any opportunity of conveying difpatches, excepting by fome of the fhips of his own fquadron. Now his journal of this voyage, which is publifhed, only makes mention of the return of one fhip, which was on the 9th of November, 1602, fome months after Weymouth had arrived in England from his expedition. Confidering thefe circumflances I am clearly of opinion, that Weymouth's, as well as the preceding expeditions of Davis and Frobifher, was under the direction of the united companies of Turkey and Ruflia merchants; and that all the fucceeding attempts were under the direction of the new chartered company trading to the Eaft Indies. Now, as they had formerly been fo repeatedly defeated, it is not likely that they would, in the very infancy of their trade, have run the rifque of fo many expenfive equipments, if they had not been well affured of fuccefs; and it will appear probable, by the following obfervations, that they had only one object in view, which was to explore the opening where Maldonado paffed from Hudfon's Straits into Baffin's Bay, forming a part of what he calls the Straits of Labrador. To To enfure fuccefs to this undertaking, it was necefTary to have a perfon to command who had been accuflomed to thofe feas. The Danes, about that time engaged in fearching after their ancient fettlements in Greenland, had employed the mofl eminent of our northern navigators for that purpofe. But it is one of the chara£leriftics of an Englifh feamen, that he leaves his country with regret. Neceffity alone obliges him to enter into the fervice of foreigners, and the pleafure with which he returns, when an opportunity oilers, is equal to the regret with which he left it. As Weymouth, who had commanded the lafl fhips on that fervice, was then engaged in a voyage to Virginia, Knight, returning from Denmark, was employed : the fame abilities which obtained him a command with the Danes, recommended him to the Eafl India Directors. Knight was accordingly fent out as commander of their firfl attempt, and that fo early after the ellablifhment of the company as if5oS, which was within three years after Lancafter returned from the Eaft Indies. The misfortunes attending this voyage, from the ice driving him fo far to the fouthward, in one inftance, and from his being killed by the natives, in the other, totally prevented his inftruclions from being carried into execution. Hudson, in the fecond attempt, difcovering a fpacious opening to the fouthward, was naturally led to trace its direction; but but his unhappy fate alfo prevented him from following his instructions, fo as to give us any idea of what was their purport. Button, commander of the third, was, without the lead doubt, directed to profecute the unfinifhed difcoveries of his pre-dcceffor, as the company were naturally led to fuppofe, that a fea, fo very extenfive as that in which Hudfon had wintered, afforded them ftrong hopes of being able to accomplifh the object of their equipment by following its direction. Hall was fitted out in the fame year as Button; but it is very clear that it was by fome company which had no connection with Button's employers ; as he was fitted out at Hull, and the object of his voyage was merely commercial in fearch of minerals and feal fkins. Gibbons, the fucceffor and relation of Button, who commanded the fourth equipment, met with the fame misfortunes Knight did in the firlt attempt, being drifted by the ice out of his courfe. From the accidental circumflances which occurred in the pro-fecution of thefe expeditions, we are deprived of any evidence to prove, what was the object of their equipment; for notwithstanding we have fome extracts from their journals, yet we have no records of what directions were given to the different commanders. manders. The track followed by the perfons who commanded the fucceeding voyages will, however, tend to clear up this point, and the intention of the company be more evident. We fhall have reafon to fuppofe, that the former inftructions were the fame, and that they were feverally founded upon the report made by Lancafter, as I have before contended. Baffin.—If we compare Baffin's account of his firfl voyage with that of Maldonado, he appears to have followed the fame courfe, and to have gone as far as 65 deg. 25 min. north, in the fame ftraits which the Spanifh navigator called the Straits of Labrador. In the next, notwithstanding he followed a different courfe, yet in all probability he had the fame purpofe in view; for Davis having failed as far as latitude 72 deg. 20 min. north, to the eaflward of Cumberland Ifles, and found an open fea, it was likely that the object of the voyage would be obtained in an eafier way by profecuting his courfe, inftead of following the narrow channels, where they had heretofore directed their refearches. This idea is in fome meafure confirmed by the name of Sir James Lancafter, which was given to one of the founds difcovered during this voyage, fituated nearly in the fame place where Maldonado muft have paffed from Baffin's Bay into the frozen ocean. Hawksbridge, the account of whofe voyage is very imperfect, failed however in the fame opening as far as 65 deg. north. O The The difficulties attending the navigation of feas in fuch high latitudes, fuppofing a paflage practicable, appears to have checked the hopes of the company, and Hawksbridge's expedition was moft likely the laff they fitted out; but if we examine the journals of the three fucceeding voyages, we fhall find that their principal object was the fame, viz. to find a paffage between the Cumberland Ifles and the main. Fox and James, before they proceeded into Hudfon's Bay, attempted to get to the northward of Carey Swan's Neft ; but each of them were prevented by the ice. On their return, both of them made a fecond attempt, Fox even penetrating, notwith-ftanding the latenefs of the feafon, within the arctic circle. Gillam, when he was fent by the fociety which afterwards obtained the charter for the Hudfon's Bay Company, went as far as 75 deg. north, and if the obfervations which I have made on his voyage be admitted (k), it is very apparent that his inftructions were finilar to thofe of his predeceffors ; as he not only went as high as Lancafter's Sound, but even failed into Baffin's Bay, by the fame inlet which Maldonado had before named the Straits of Labrador (/). The {k) Vide Hiftorical Abridgement of Difcoveries, page 38. (i) There is one circumflance in Torquemada's account of Vizcaino's fecond voyage, which may lead us to fuppofe, that he was fent out in confequence of Maldonado's difcovery. He The few voyages which have been made fmce that period have been confined to the Welcome, and the cxiilence of the paffage in queflion feems not only to be doubted, but the original caufe of the feveral attempts to pafs it appears to be totally forgotten. Ihis has happened in confequence of the orders given by the Hudfon's Bay Directors, that none of their fhips fhould go round the north end of Manfel's Ifland, for fear of their being hemmed in with the ice, which was flrictly obeyed, even on the homeward bound paffage, fo late as 1735. And according to Middleton's account, " All the north bay between " the north end of Manfells, Nottingham, Mill Ifles, Seahorfe *f Point, and the North Main, are the places laft clear of ice (m)" How far policy might have guided the Directors, when thefe orders were firfl framed, the reader will judge for himfelf. If Lancafler's account were formed, as I have fuppofed, on Mai- O 2 donados He fays, that a fhort time before the death of Philip the Second a Dutch (hip failed by the coaft of Newfoundland, and palTed into the fouth fea. Philip, on his death-bed, recom-commended it to his fon Philip the Third to explore this difcovery ; for which purpofe he difpatched Vizcaino, in 1602. Now this account is different from what is generally reported of his voyage, (vide page 78) ; as, inftead of having been fent to fearch for a fafe port on the coaft of California, he was evidently difpatched in confequence of fome recent difcovery.—Torquemada, Monarq. Ind. Lib. v. chap. 45, edit. 1615. (;«) Vide Middleton's Reply, p. 58.—In direct contradi&ion to this account, I have been informed by Mr. Duncan, that, in his paffage out in the Beaver brig, in 1791, when he was as high as Cape Charles, on the 11th of Auguft, he found the ice wedged in between the fouthern iflands and the main, while the fea to the northward was quite free ; for which rea-* fon he regretted, that he could not take the advantage of fo favourable a circumftonce, as he was obliged, by his orders, to proceed into the Bay. donado's voyage, they were in poITelTion of the knowledge that this inlet had been paffed, and communicated with Baffin's Bay, which, by means of Lancafler's Sound, afforded a paffage to the Pacific Ocean. Now it is a well known fact, that the company, until within a few years, were very much averfe to voyages, which might lead to the difcovery of a paffage ; and as the inlet in queflion had been fucceffively navigated before their charter was granted, by Bylot, Hawksbridge, Fox and James, beyond the 65th degree of north latitude, and as Gillam, immediately preceding their efla-blifliment, had probably paffed by the fame opening into Baffin's Bay, it is very natural to fuppofe, that they would order thofe perfons who were under their immediate controul, not to navigate a place likely to afford a profpect. of making a difcovery, which by its confequences might endanger their very exif-tence as a corporate body. Tnquiry into the I fhall now proceed to inquire into the origin of the name of Origin 01 the name Anian, and endeavour to afcertain the time when it firfl began to be made ufe of. M. Buache, in one part of the work which we have fo often alluded to, endeavours to fupport an idea, that that the fea feparating Afia from America, is the flrait which preceding geographers had fome cognizance of under this name. Notwithflanding, with due deference to his opinion, I venture to differ from him; yet as his obfervations are made with the flrict- eft accuracy, and as he has recited various authorities for the different fituations in which thefe ftraits have been placed in former maps; I (hall give a brief account of them in chronological order, for the fake of perfpicuity, referring the reader to the original, which I have quoted in the note below; as his memoir, for want of being tranflated, is not perhaps fufEciently known in this country (w). In 1508, he fays, that a map intended to illuftrate an edition of Ptolemey, printed at Rome, which was in the library of the Sorbonne, reprefcnting the early difcoveries of the Spaniards and Portugueze in America, makes the north-eaft of Afia to join with the north-weft parts of America, In (n) Buacbe's ConJiJcration: Gcograpbiqucs et Pbyjiptes, page 16—20. 11 y a plus de 180 arts que les meilleurs ge >graphes de ce temps ont commence a mettre un detroit entre l'Afie & 1'Amerique, auquel ils dormoient le nom d'ifl/ssj dont l'entree meridionale etoit i 180011 icpdegredelo ngitude, & qui s'etcndoit depuis le 56 de latitude jufqu'au de -la du 62. On marquoit afon entree vers 1'eft un Cap Fortune, jufqu'ou Ton defignoit une longue cote qui ve- noit du Cap S. Lucas de la Californie. Jaiexprime ccttc cote dans ma ii. carte, conforme-ment a cellcs de 1570, d'Ortelius, &c. d'apres une ancienne carte marine Hollandoife qui paroit faite avec foin,* & qui aeteimprimee en 8 feuilles vers 1600. L'attention qu'on fit enfuite furtout a la navigation de Francois Drack (qui aborda en 1579, vers le 40 degre de latitude de la Californie, & qui monta au nord jufqucs vers le 45, d'ou les glaces l'obligcrcnt de defcendre au fud, pour gagner les Moluques) fit retrancher la partie la plus fud de la longue cote en queftion, dont il femble ne.intmoins qu'on auroit du conferver une idee plus au nord. En 1625, Purchas fit connoitre un travail geographique que Ton avoitfait quelques anneesau-paravant en Angleterre, ou l'on croyoit que la mer du Japon venoit au nord de la Californie, alorsreputee ifle, St communiquoit par lc nord-eft avec la Baye d'Hudfon, Divers * Voici le titre de cette carte : America Tabula nova mult is locis tarn ex terrejlri peregrina-thne, quam retention navigation*, ab exploratijjimis nauderis, & multo quam antea exaftior edit a, In 1520, according to the publication of one Scotto, a Ge-noefe, printed at Paris in 1619, the Portugueze viftted the weft coaft of America, as high as 60 deg, north latitude, and 180 deg. eaft longitude from Paris. lie remarks, that it was more than 180years before the publication of his memoir, which was prefented to the academy in 1752, fince the ftrait was placed between Afia and America, the fouth Divers Ecrivains celebrcs f chercherent enfuite les fondemens du Detroit d'Anian ; & leurs efforts n'ayaot pu rien produire, ce detroit devint fort incertain, & peu a peu il difparut des meilleures cartes, quoique les fcavans convinffent qu'il devoh y avoir un detroit au nord de la mer du fud ; ce que Ton conjecluroit des violents courans qu'on eprouvc entre le MeAique & la Californie, de certains poisons que l'on rencontre ordinairement pres des detroits, & en particnlier de quelques Baleines que Ton a^trcuve au norde de la Mer du Sud avec des harpons Hollandois & Francois qu'elles avoientrecu au Spitzberg. Cependant, avant qu'on en vint jnfqu'a. retrancher entitlement le Detrtit d'Anian, re-tranchement qui faifoit perdre toute idee du tableau des ancienncs connoiffances, ce detroit fut tranfporte dans la carte originale de Texeira, % du 180 degre de longitude ou il etoit au- paravant, f Laet, dans fa preface de Phifloire des Indes Occidentales; Hornius, dans fes origin. Amcric. lib. Ill, cap 9. Varenius, lib. I, cap. 12, prop. 7. &c. Diction. Geographiq. de la Martini ere, au mot Anian. I Cette carte qne Texeira fit a Lifbonne en 1649, Sc que Ton donnoit manufcriteaux navi-gateurs Portugais etoit plus etendue en longitude d'environ 40 degres, que celle qu'a public en 1664. Thevenot, dans fon Recueil de voyages curieux, Sc fur laquelle il paroit qu'on avoit corrige celle de Texeira, y ajoutant fui tout la decouverte de Iefo faite par les Hollandois en 1643. II y aau depot des cartes Sc plans de la marine, une carte en Velin manufcrte de la premiere efpece. Thevenot en publiant la fienne, difoit qu'on y apprenoit, " qu'il n'y avoit « point de Detroit d'Anian, & qu'elle auroit pu fauver aux Hollandois, fi clle avoit paru a la " fin du fiecle precedent, plufieurs tonnes d'or qu'ils ont employe pour naviger ft la Chine *' par le nord-elt, Sc par ce Detroit d'Anian que tout le moade fuppofoit (dit-il) entre la " Chine Sc le Japon." Dans la carte originale le Detroit d'Anian etoit marque. fouth entrance being at 180 or 190 degrees of eaft longitude, extending between 56 and 62 degrees of north latitude. A point of land, named Cape Fortune, forming its eaftern headland, from whence a line of coaft was traced out to the fouth part of California. For this he refers to the map of Ortelius, in 1570, and remarks that the return of Sir Francis Drake, in 3579, produced the firfl alteration. In 1625, Purchas reprefented California to be an ifland, extending the fea of Japan to the northward of it, until it has a communication with Hudfon's Bay. But foon after this period feveral authors of eminence, as De Laet, Hornius, Varenius, &c. beginning to fufpeci the exiftence of thefe ftraits, they were left out of the beft maps. Before this happened, however, feveral alterations paravant, vers le zoo Dans le meme temps Dudley prolongeant I l'exces la cote meridionale de i'lfle de Iefo, mit en 1647, le Cap Fortune, k par confequent le Detroit d'Anian pres du 220 de longitude (felon lui le 229). En fin ce detroit ell tranfporte pres du 240 degrc entre les latitudes de 51 & 53 par l'Ecrivain du vaifieau du Californie, d'apres quelque carte Angloife qui defigne un palTage au norde-efl de la Mer du Sud, ou de la Mer du Japon, a la Baye d'Hudfon. Guillaume San fon en 1667, 1669, &c. nemarqua plus le Detroit d'Anian, (que Nicolas fon Pere avoit conferve en 1650, a 1'exemple des premiers geographes modernes) & cependant il deligna le paffage dont je viens de parler, mais fans y mettre le nom de Detroit d'Anian, qu'il ne croyoit apparemment pas qu'on put tant eloigner des cotes de laTartarie. En meme temps ilmarquoit entre le Detroit d'Uriez k la Californie reprefentee comme une ifle, laTcrrede lefo, qu'il con fond avec celles de la Compagnic k de Jean de Gama, & qu'il femble avoir regarde comTie faifant partie l'Amerique, auffi bien que Nicolas Sanfon fon Pere. Toutes ces incertitudes engagerent Guillaume Delifle a ne Hen mettre, du cote de l'Amerique, au de-la du Cap Blanc; k fe fervantavec difcernementdes relation* qu'on avoiL fur la Terre de Iefo, il ne l'etendit pas plus de 5 degres a Pelt du Japon. Aujourd'lmi alterations were made, which gradually effaced, he fays, every idea of the ancient opinions. In 1647, Dudley placed Cape Fortune, without giving any name to the flraits, about 220 or 229 deg. of eafl longitude. In 1649, Texeira retained the name, and fixed them at 200 deg. eafl longitude ; at the fame time, he laid down fome land, feen by one Joao de Gama, extending to the coafl of America. In 1650, it appears that Nicholas Sanfon retained the name likewife in his chart of America. In Aujourd'hui que nous connoiflbris un detroit vers le nord, pres des cotes dc la Tartaric, qui font bien plus avancees au nord-cit qu'on n'avoit lieu de croire ci-devant, ne pouvons-nous pas dire que c'elt celui auquel nos Anciens ont donne le nom d'Anian ? Lc3 reiTem-blances me paroiflcnt a remarquer, L'un Sc l'autre a fon entree au Sud vers le 180 degre : ils fe trouvent entre les cotes orientales d'Afie ou de Tartaric, Sc celles du nord-ouefl de l'Amerique ; ils s'ctendent jufqu'au Cercle Polairc, apres quoi les Terres tournent du Cote dc l'Amerique fcptentrionale au nord-eft, & du cote de la Tartaric ou dc 1'Afie au nord-oucft : enfin nos Anciens marquoient dans leur Detroit d'Anian, prc-sdu 60 ou 61 degre de latitude, du cote de l'Amerique, une grande riviere nommte Granges Corientes, quirt-pond a la riviere de Bernarda. Tout cela ne peut-il pas faire conjecturer qu'ils ont eu recellement la connoif-fancc du detroit en queftion, & 1'idee d'une fuite de cote que leurs fuccelTeurs ont trop rabaifle, Sc qu'ils ont rcmpli de diverfes chofes prefque a l'aventure. Voici deux obfervations qui pcuvent engager les Scavans a faire de nouvelles rechcrches fur ce fujet, furtout en Italic Sc en Portugal. I. Les cartes les plus anciennes que j'ai vu, Sc qui fon toutcs Latines, marquent cependant ce Detroit en Italicn, Stretto di Anian: ce qui me fait fouptjonncr que le premier qui en a fait mention, eft quelque mathematicien d'ltalie, ou apres les premieres decouvertes des deux Indcs, l'on a fait a ce fujet des cartes encore aujourd'hui curieufes pour ccux qui veulcnt fuivrc le Progres des Connoiftances Geographiques. 2. Benedetto Scotto Genois, propofant a Louis XIII. en 1619. un Globe Maritime, & une Nai'giation In 166*1, Thevenot, in his edition of Texeira's chart, rejects them entirely, and fays, he is convinced that there is no fuch paflage. In 1667 and i66g, William Sanfon, differing in opinion from his father, rejecled the name, but retained the opening; repre-fenting California as an ifland, and De Gamas' Land as part of America. P In Navigation a faire par dcjfius le Pole Arclique (Tune manicre qu'il pretendoit auiTi aifee que courte, vers ce qu'il appclle la Partie Occidintale du Canada, Sc vers les Indes Orientates, dit page 5, d'un Di/cours imprime a Paris in-folio. " Ccttc partie occidentalc du Canada *« (qu'il met dans un.; dc fes cartes pres du 180 degre felon notre facon de compter,) ft|t re-'* connue par les Portugais en 1'annee 1520, en la hauteur de 60 degrcs, pour etre habitcc " de gens raifonnables &humains, & remplie de quantite (d'animaux,) & de bons paturages. " lis n'abandonnerent cette Terre qu'a caufe de la trop grande navigation qui contient 4590 " licues (en y venant par la Mer des Indes)." Cependant, en finilTant cet article, jecrois devoir ajouter, que dans quelqnes-unes des plus anciennes cartes, on reptefente les Terres de l'Amerique feptentrionalc comme une continuite de celles du nord-eft de l'Afie ; & ellcs y fout jointes par un ifthme afl'ez large, qui eft au nord du Japon. Ce fentiment a eu pendant un aiTez long-temps plufieurs feftateurs, Sc meme de celebres. Le P. Kircher etoit de ce nombre, & il defoit en 1636, (in Prodrome Copto) qu'il en etoit prefque convaincu par des raifons mathematiques. tl paroit que ce fen'iment eft le plusancien. Car dans une belle edition de Ptolcmee faite a Rome en 1508. & quej'ai vue dans la Bibliotcque de Sorbonne, il y a une carte qui repr<-fente les premieres decouvertes des Efpagnols Sc des Portugais en Amcrique, don la partie du nord-eft, e'eft a-dire le Labrador Sc l'Acadie font fuppofes etre la continuite des Terres de la Tartarie ; & ce qu'on venoit de reconnoitre du Mexique Sc de la Floride, eft repreTcntc comme des ifles. Au refte lorfque le detroit du nord-eft gele, l'Ameiiqac dent a l'Afie par une efpece d'ifthme ; & ft on a eu anciennement quelque indicede paffage a pied, independamment de toutes les reflemblances qui fe trouvent entre les Tartares Sc les Americains Septentrionaux, le fentiment dont je viens de parler, a pu dans ce cas avoir quelque fondemcnt ; fans qu'on doive fuppofcr avec les Anglais auteurs de 1'Hiftoire Univerfelle, que l'Afie Sc l'Amerique ont etc autrefois jointet enfemble par un ifthme, qu'un tremblcmcnt de terre a pu detruire. In 1714, William Delifle, from comparing thefe different accounts, was induced to leave both the name and opening entirely out, and place nothing to the north of Cape Blanco, rejecling at the fame time the land of De Gama. In 1748, Drage, the clerk of the California, retaining both the name and the opening, removes them as far to the eaflward as 240 degrees eafl: longitude, and between 51 and 53 degrees north latitude. Monf. Buache likewife remarks, that, in fome of the moft ancient maps, there is laid down a large river in 60 or 61 deg. of north latitude, which is called Grandes Corientes ; and that in moft of the maps he has feen, which are Latin, the opening is named Stretio di Anian. From this account it appears, that the oldcfl charts give the moft accurate reprefentation of the north-weft coaft of America, agreeably to the later difcoveries; as they lay down the land extending from California as high as 60 deg. north latitude, from whence it follows a different direction inclining towards the weft. The Rio Grandes Corientes, which they place in 60 or 61 deg. north, is a confirmation of this opinion, as it correfponds exactly in its latitude with Cook's River, and its name anfwcrs to his defcription of it, as the current there was found to be fo very rapid, that the boats could not row againft it. The firfl alteration tion that was made appears to have originated with the Englilh geographers, who reduced not only the longitude, but likewife the latitude, and placed the flrait juft above the north part of California. This was done, according to Bergeron, in confe-quence of the intelligence obtained from De Fuca (0), and Pur-chas fays, that he followed a map which had been publifhed in London. As it is natural to fuppofe De Fuca would draw a map of his difcoveries during his negociation with Lock, it is mofl likely Purchas copied his own account from it; and as he was rending in Venice, it accounts for the flrait being named Stretto di Anian. Although it was brought down by this means as low as 47 or 48 deg. north latitude, yet the coaft, which is now known by the name of Alafhka, ftretching away to the weftward, was not removed until the map of Texeira, in the year 1649, *a*d down his coaft of De Gam a, extending from the ifland of Jefo to the northern entrance of thefe ftraits, about the latitude 50 deg. The greater part of this coaft has been rejected, and Mr. Forfter fuppofes it to be no other than the ifland of Urup, or Schimuf-fyr f p); but as Texeira fays, it was feen by him in his paffage from China to New Spain (tj\ I think it very probable that he might have been driven to the northward in fearch of variable * 2 winds, (j>) Bergeron. Traite de Tartar. Ch xxi, p. 125. (^) Former's Voyages and Difcoveries in. the Notth, p. 464. (£) Terra q vio Do Joao de Gama Indo, da China pera Nova Efpaha. winds, and feeing the land, which was afterwards named by the Ruffians, the Aleutian and Fox Ifles, fuppofed it to communicate with the continent of America, and Texeira, confonant with the opinion then entertained in confequence of De Fuca's report, joined it with the Straits of Anian, about the latitude of 50 deg. north. This idea was iirft of all ffarted by Green, in 1751, foon after the Ruffians difcovered Bhering's and the Copper Illands, to the eafl of Kamptchatka. In confequence of this difference of fituation, which was altered according to the caprice of every fucceeding geographer, joined with the general difcredit into which De Fuca's account fell after the death of Mr. Lock, Delifle began to be perfuaded that the former maps were erroneous. His opinion was univer-fally followed, and the original maps were totally negle6ted, until the voyages of Bhering and Tfchirckow, in 1741, recognized the coaft, which, according to Scotto, the Genoefe geographer, fome Portugueze had feen fo early as 1520 (r). The fituation of the coaft being altered, by bringing it 10 degrees further to the fouthward in confequence of De Fuca's report, might be advanced as an argument againft Maldonado's voyage (»•) I cannot here omit doing jufticc to the unaftuming conduct of Capt. Cook. Whenever he had occafion in his journal, to mention the river which in England ftill bears his name, he always left a blank, which Lord Sandwich defired might be filled up as it now ftands. Now I am clear that his intention was to infert the Ruffian name whenever he had an opportunity to obtain it, and I am equally confident had it come to his knowledge, he would have given it its original name of Grandes Corientes. voyage having been known at that time, and confequently againft Lancafler's paflage being in 62 deg. 30 min. north, on the weft fide of the continent ; but when we confider that the Eaft India Company were then newly chartered, and that only for 15 yeans, we may be led to fuppofe, they would fupprefs the information Lancafter had brought as much as they could ; but as fome account of it had gone abroad, when Mr. Lock held his negocia-tion with De Fuca, it might be prefumed he had fome knowledge of it. Now as De Fuca reported, that after he entered the flrait, he failed into the north fea, it is very natural to fuppofe, that his account, the truth of which was fo much contended for by Mr. Lock and his friends, would fuperfede the vague reports of the information received by the newly eftablifhed company. I would from thefe premifes infer, that the opening was in confequence placed about 50, inflead of 60 deg. north, where Maldonado found it. The map to illuftrate the edition of Ptolemy, in 1508, was conftrucled in the very dawn of maritime difcoveries, confequently it becomes an objecl well worthy the attention of the geographer; as nothing can afford more pleafure than to trace back fcience to its infancy, and then follow it, ftep by ftcp, through its feveral progrefhve improvements to a flate of maturity. At that time America, excepting the few iflands of Hifpani-ola, Cuba, Jamaica, &c. and fome fmall portions of the continent, muff have been delineated on conjecture, confequently we find that that the whole of it was reprefented as an affemblagc of illands-, but in another edition of the fame author, by Scbaftian Munfter, printed at Balil in 156G, we find his knowledge of this country to have been very accurate, as not only the iflands, but the continent, are laid down nearly as they are known to be fituated. On the wefl fide he reprefents California as an ifland, fuppofing it to be Zipangri or Japan, and that part of the continent which is to the eafl of it he calls Chaumayo (perhaps Teguayo) and Temiflitan. Afia and America are feparated by a flrait, while Europe is joined to the north-eafl part of Greenland by a narrow ifthmus. But what is very remarkable, the communication between the two feas is placed in 60 deg. north latitude, forming a fhort flrait anfwering to Hudfon's Straits, after which it opens into a very extenfive bay directly in the meridian of Cuba, correfponding exactly with what we know to be the fituation of Hudfon's and James' Bays. I think it very improbable this fhould have been done from theory, as it is not reafonable to fuppofe, that fuch a very particular coincidence of fituations, both in refpect to latitude as well as longitude, fhould be the mere effect of chance. He mull have had fome foundation for this opinion ; and, as he has marked upon the iiland of Newfoundland the word Corterati, I am very much inclined to believe, that what has been reported of Cortereal's difcoveries has fome foundation in truth (s}, and that (/) Vide Forfter'a Voyages and Difcoveries in the North, p. 460. that he not only failed along the Coafl of Labrador, but that he likewife vifited the flraits and bay afterwards feen by Hudfon and James (t). Notwithstanding which, I cannot agree that the name of Anian originated with Cortereal, according to the opinion of fome authors; as, in that cafe, it would have been placed on the eaft, and not on the weft coaft of the continent. In fupport of this idea, it might likewife be remarked, that when Maldonado palled through Hudfon's Straits, he gave them the name of Labrador, a name which had been given to the adjoining country (#) If the Portugueze difcovered the north-weft coaft of America, as Scotto fays, fo early as 1520, it muft have b^en before any account could have been received of Magellan's fuccefs ; but as the two countries were afterwards united, and as Portugueze officers were often employed in the Spanifh fervice, it is not unlikely his information might have arofe in confequence of Loaria's voyage in 1625, which he might have attributed to the Portuguese. At page 81, upon the authority of Bergeron, I have o jferved, that he is faid to hive failed from the Moluccas by the coal's of Newfoundland and Labrador. Herrera gives a particular account of this voyage, but calls him Loayfa, inftead of Loam. He does not fay th.it he effected a paffage ; but there are feveral circumflances which are much in favour of fome part of the fquadron having failed along the north-weft coaft of thi continent. He was fitted out with fix fhips and a tender, in the autumn of 1625. After a variety of accidents, they pafTed the Strairs of Magellan, when they were feparated in a violent fh-rm ; the tender being provided with a fmall allowance of provifions, was obliged to bear away for the coaft of New Spain, waSrt they were firft of all relieved by the natives, and afterwards by Cortes froift Mexico. Bergeron fays, that Loayfa himfelf effected a paflage; but Herrera, on the contrary, reports that he was feparated from the reft of the fleet, and after patting fi the northward of the line, fell Tick and died.—Herrera, D:c. vii. lib. 7, S, 9. It will be necefTary for me to obferve, that it is faid a mmufcript collection of marine charts drawn in 1436, and accounts of voyages undertaken by the Venetians in the 13th and 14th centuries, have been lately difcovered in St. Mark's Library at Venice, which make ic probable that the Antilles and the northern parts of America were difcovered long before the time of Columbus or Cabot; but I own that I want faith in this account, as J confider it in the fame light as I do fhe attempt, to take the credit of delinking the weftern route to Japan from Columbus, and gwing it to Martin Behaim, as I have obferved in page 12, country by his predeceffor, while the name of Anian was re-ferved for the ftrait through which he palfed into the fouth fea, in 60 deg. north latitude, correfponding with the difcoveries of the Portugueze more than 70 years before, and on the fame fide of the continent where it has always been fituated. Mr. Buache fays, that thefe (traits were known fo early as the date of Ortelius' map, in 1570; or as he notices in another place a map, the date of which is 1566 (u) ; yet I do not fuppofe it was his intention to convey any idea that the name of Anian was inferted in them. On the contrary, I am of opinion, it was not known earlier than the very beginning of the 17th century, and that it originated from Lancafter's account, which he brought home in 1603. The Burgomafter Witfen's opinion may be brought in fupport of this idea. He fuppofes the name to have originated from a cape in the ifland of Jefo, which, according to the relation of the Dutch voyagers, Van Uriez and Schaep, in the Caftricom and Brelkes, in the year 1643, *s called the point of Aniwa (x). Now, if the name were deduced from a difcovery (k) Buache, p. 66. La plus anciermc carte que j'aye trouve jufqu'a prefent, qui marque cette continuation de terres jufqu'au Detroit d'Anian, ell une carte Italienne de l'Amerique fcptentrionale faite en 1566 —Is not this the fame authority as Munfler's ? The date is the fame, and he delineates a fimilar line of coaft, but makes no mention of any name to the 4ftrait. (*) Buache, page 114.. Avant que d'aller plus loin, je dois dire pour fuivre 1'ordre des terns, que M. Witfen & quelques autres fcavans Hollandois ayant conjecture que la terre de la Compagnic etoit une pointe de l'Amerique, & que !e Detroit d'Anian avoit vraifembla- blemcnt a difcovery which was made fo late as the middle of the 17th century, by a geographer whofe knowledge and reading were fo very extenfive, I may be warranted to conclude, that, although his pofition be ill founded, yet the name could not have been known long before that period. Purchas, in his pilgrimage, publifhed in 1629, appears to have obtained better information than he had when he publifhed the former edition, in 1614; as he there fays, " As for the more northerly parts, both within " land, and the fuppofed Strait of Anian, with other things men-" tioned in maps, becaufe I know no certainty of them, I leave " them (y) " for which reafon it may be fuppofed that the account was then recent, or elfe, as he dealt fo much in the marvellous, and gave credit to almoft every ftory that was circu* lated, he would have taken further notice of it. Nor is any notice taken of thefe (traits in the accounts of Frobifher's or Davis' expeditions in fearch of a paffage; for which reafon, comparing all the circumflances together, I am inclined to venture an opinion that they were not known before the voyage of Maldonado, in 1598 (z); but as we are fo very liable to be led into Q errors blcmcnt tire fon nom du Pays d'Ania ou d'Aniwa reconnu par les Hollandois (a la partie Scptcnrionale du Jcfo. 11 falloit que ccs Scavans fuppofalfent que dans les premiers terns des decouvertes, le Pays d'Aniwa avoit ete reconnu ; car ils ne pouvoicnt ignorer que 1'idee du Detroit d'Anian, ainft que fon nom, etoit plus ancienne que la decouverte des Hollandois. Mais ils ne s'accordoient pas avec les anciennes relations & cartes, qui mcttcnt le Payi d'Anian a l'eft fur la Cote d'Amerique, & non comme Anivva a l'Oueft. (_y) Purchas' Pilgrimage, Ed. 1619, page 782. («) I am aware that the account of De Fuca's voyage might be brought againft me, as he was laid to have been fent by the viceroy to difcover the Straits of Anian: but this account was errors in tracing the geography of countries fo little known, I muff beg leave to refer the reader to the next fentence, where I (hall take fome further notice of the name, and from whence it was derived, if it be not prefuming too much to attempt what fo eminent a geographer as Witfen failed to accomplifh. owrrvtionson As the coaft of California was difcovered under the direction li;e uri}*m ol trie iuiqc of Aiiuii, of Cortes, the fea which divides it from the continent was named, after him, the Sea of Cortes ; but, at fome fubfequent period, it obtained the appellation of the Red Sea. Whether this arofe, as Wytfliet, in his Description of the New World, remarks, from its being joined to the main land by an ifthmus, which gave it a fimilarity tQ the fea between Egypt and Arabia, or whether it obtained the name from the colour of its water, which the name of the river (Colorado) feems to authorize, I will not contend; but as it was at that period very much the cuftom in all new difcoveries, to form allufions to places fituated in the old continent, wherever there was the lead refemblance (a), it was not written by him; it was the report of Mr. Michael Lock ; and as Lancaftcr's account was r.t that time jult made public on his return, the ilraits which De Fuca was fent in fearch of were fuppofed to be the fame, and obtained from Mr. Lock the name which Maldonado had given them. {a) Munfter's map, in 1566, is an example how far the earlier geographers have carried their opinions in refpeft to the refemblance between the new difcoveries in America, and the maps of the old world ; as he fuppofes the coait of Peru, in about 9 degrees fouth latitude, to be the Catigara of Ptolomey. This theory of adapting the new difcoveries to the ideas of the ancients was very prevalent in thofe days, as Mercator and Hondius fuppoled the iflands to the northward of Japan to be the l»fulajl;ts and Senus rivers, in the Sinus Magnus, down to Catigara, in all probability gave rife to the opinion, that it was fituatcd to the northward of the line ; but as he received his data from various fources collected at the different Emporia, fo it appears to mc, he confounded the accounts from Perimula refpecting Borneo, with thofe brought to Sinda relative to China, Cambodia and Siam, from whence he fuppofed Catigara to be a continuation of the America, as marking the country about New Albion or California, before the fuppofed ftraits between the two feas obtained the name; and this I am rather induced to do, as Wytfliet, in the edition of his work, publifhed fo early as 1607, takes notice of it along with the country of Quivira. * N«i|»2£5 If we pay attention to the currents which prevail in the arctic the Northern Sc»». 1 1 latitudes, we find that they fet to the eaflward between the north cape and Greenland, fo that it is very rare to find any ice in the Norwegian the fame continent. Jt is fome confirmation to this idea, that where the fea which feparates Borneo from Cambodia is filtiated, Ptolomey places a gulph which he calls Sinus Strict** This fhort digreflion will be confidercd as a conjecture only, which, as it has not been offered before, may tend to throw fome new light on a part of ancient geography, which has been fo often conteftcd. Before I difmifs the fubject entirely, I cannot help taking notice of an error into which, I apprehend, that venerable fcholar Lord Monboddo, and his late learned friend Sir John Pringle, have accidentally fallen, in refpedt to the illuftration of the following line in Horace : Quid tibi vis, mulier, nigrii JigniJJima Bar r it ? which they fuppofe alludes to a fpecics of ape on the coaft of" Africa named Barn's. Hit Lordfhips fays (Origin and Progrejs of Language, Vol. i. page 275), '« 1 think this muft be ** the animal meant by Horace. By Barri, all the commentators that I have confulted un-" derftand elephants; but this is certainly not the meaning, as neither the epithet black agrees n to an elephant, nor the known character of that animal for chaftity, make fuch a conjunc-" tion proper; and, befides, the difproportion betwixt the fize and fhape of a woman and " an elephant is fo great, that we cannot fuppofe, that fo correct a writer as Horace would " have ufed fo extravagant an hyperbole. Whereas an animal, fuch as the phyfician Noelle " defcribes, would make a very fit match for a lewd woman. This is a critiufm which I " owe to my learned and worthy friend Sir John Pringle, Prefidcnt of the Royal Society." When it is recollected that the people of Siam, who are black, and where the greateft number of elephants in any part of the world arc bred, were called BARRyE by Ptolomey, we cannot hefitatc a moment to conclude, that Horace had this nation in view, without having recourfe to a conjecture, that the Romans had fome knowledge of Africa beyond what their geographers have handed down to us. Norwegian feas. This fet of the current is fimilar to what takes place in the antarctic latitudes, as (hips doubling Cape Horn, unlefs they keep near the fhore of Terra del Fuego, are behind their reckoning feveral degrees, as was inflanced in the fquadron under Lord Anfon. This fimilarity between the currents towards the two poles arifes from the rotatory motion of the globe. As the fea which has a conftant movement to the welt, between the tropics, mull return in an eddy, to find its natural level, in a contrary direction, which direction will conflantly be altered according to the bearing of the coaft it pafles by. The arctic eddy, if I may be allowed the exprefhon, forms the immenfe fields of ice between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, and after traverfing the polar feas, vents itfelf at the Straits of Bhering between the two continents. Now, as a rapid current conflantly fets out of Davis' Straits, it is reafonable to fuppofe that it arifes from the fame fource, bringing with it thofe mountains of ice which are fometimes found floating as far fouth as the banks of Newfoundland. This opinion is founded on the report of the original difcoverers, who obferved ftrong currents fetting out of the inlets to the northward, which, from the numbers they faw there, they named Whale Sound. This great quantity of ice is a confiderable obftacle to the navigation of thofe feas; but, at the fame time, the ftrength of the current is a reafon why the ice is feldom or ever collected in fields, excepting near the fouthern coafts, or where it may be accidentally accidentally accumulated by eddies, as Baffin found it during his voyage. The Danes having eflablifhed factories as high as 72 deg. north, is a proof that the navigation is not fo difficult as has been generally represented, which accords with Pickerfgill's account, whofe journal was publifhed in the Philofophical Tranf-actions. Perhaps the earlier fhips are fitted out for thofe feas the better, before the fummer is advanced enough to fet the ice adrift; as it is obfervable, that the earlier the voyages of difcovery were fet on foot, the further they reached to the northward. Baffin, who traverfed the whole of the bay fo early as the month of July, failed from England on the 26th of March. There are fome circumflances which may lead us to fuppofe, that thofe Teas are moft encumbered with ice at the very time they are moft navigated; as, in more than one inflance, the Hudfon's Bay Company's {hips have been accidentally delayed in the flraits until Chriflmas; and have then found them free from ice. The fmall number of veffels they lofe, and the fuccefs of the unfortunate Peyroufe during the laft war, who navigated the whole of the bay without any accident, with a line of battle fhip and two or three frigates, are fufficient proofs that the navigation is not fo hazardous as they reprefent it to be. The northern parts of the Pacific Ocean are not at all encumbered with ice; as, during the two feafons which Captain Cook was in thofe feas, it does not appear that he met with any until he was flopped by the frozen barrier in 70 deg. north latitude, after after paffing the flrait which feparates the two continents ; and the different voyagers who were embarked in the fur trade in thofe feas agree, that the northern Pacific is navigable through the whole year, and that no ice whatever is to be met with between March and October. One of the firfl of thefe adventurers, Captain Mears, in the brig Nootka, was obliged to winter in Snug Corner Cove, in Prince William's Sound, and though the veffel was frozen up for fome months, yet during the whole of the winter the found was free from ice. Now this difference between the feas on the two fides of the continent arifes from the narrow flrait between Afia and America, where there are only 18 or 20 fathoms of water, and the lands of both continents converging together, the ice is prevented from paffmg to the fouthward, in fuch bodies as it does through the openings into Baffin's Bay. That the fame caufe, which prevents the ice from being carried through Bhering's Strait into the fea of Kamtchatka, exifts likewife to the northward of the frozen ocean, is very probable, as neither Mr. Hearne nor Mr. M'Kenzie found the fea frozen, excepting near the fhore. If this be* the cafe, lefs difficulties may be found in navigating thofe feas than are generally imagined; and I am very much perfuaded, that after paffmg Baffin's Bay, the greater part of them would be furmounted; as what ice there is to be found in the Japanefe inlets drifts to the fouth-wefl confequently it mufl occafion lefs reliflance than the ice in Baffin's fin's Bay, which conflantly follows a direction contrary to the courfe which muft be held to get to the northward. conclusion. I (hall venture to conclude, that, from the variety of obfervations offered in the preceding pages, there is a great probability, if not an abfolute certainty, of the exiflence of a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; the difficulties attending the navigation of which may be furmounted, and from the prefent improved flate of maritime knowledge, the currents may be fo afcertained, as to render it as fafe and as certain as the paffage through Hudfon's Straits. The legiflature has confidered it a fubject of fuch importance, as to offer a reward of 20,000k to effect the difcovery. Until within a few years this could only have been an object worth the attention of perfons fitting out fhips for the Davis' Straits fifhery. No advantages whatever have accrued in confequence of this great reward, and the reafon is very obvious. If the owners of a fhip employed in that fifhery fhould be induced to order the mafler, to endeavour to get to the northward, fo as to effect a difcovery, in hopes of obtaining the reward, and he fhould be fo fortunate as to get three parts of the way through to the weft* ward, but not fucceed, neither his owners nor himfelf would be entitled to the fmallefl gratuity. For which reafon, the perfons engaged in that fifhery are contented with falling in with the ice jufl within the flraits, where they get a cargo of fea loil and {kins, without without running any rifk to get farther to the northward. This was an overfight in the a£l which originally offered the reward, and likewife in that which extended it to the officers employed in his Majefty's navy, and ought to be remedied; as it has not only tended to cramp the fpirit of difcovery, but, at the fame time, has been a check, I may venture to call it fo, to the commercial intereft of the country; as many perfons, in hopes of a reward, might be induced to penetrate into Baffin's Bay, when they might not venture to run the rifk of an attempt to effect, a paffage. For thefe reafons, I fhall beg leave to fubmit to the attention of the legiflature, if it would not be for the advantage of the nation at large, whether we confider it in a commercial or a geographical view, to divide the premium into three feveral proportions, which fhould be given to the perfons firfl difcover-ing as far as certain fixed fituations from each fide of the continent. Thefe fituations I would propofe to be, iff. The communication between Baffin's Bay and the frozen ocean, whether by Lancafter's or any other opening to the weftward. 2d. The mouth of the Copper-mine River, as determined by Mr. Hearne, 3d. Whale Ifland, as determined by Mr. M'Kenzie, at the mouth of the river discharging itfelf from the Great Slave Lake. R It It might be objected, that this method would be adding an additional expence beyond the original fum voted by parliament; but as it would not amount perhaps to more than io,oool, it ought not to be placed in competition with the national advantage which might in future accrue from it: as fetting afide the idea of finding a paffage, owners of veffels in the Davis' Strait trade may be more induced, by means of thefe regulations, than they are at prefent, to explore Baffin's Bay, which may lay a foundation for a whale fifhery in a part of the world hitherto neglected. A MEMOIR MEMOIR ON THE DISCOVERIE O F D E F O N T E. . A MEMOIR ON THE DISCOVERIES of DE FONTE. CONTAINING Introduclion—Intention of the Spaniards in communicating Mail-relies Journal—Account of De Fonte'j Narrative—Archipelago of Lazarus recognized in 1785 and 1787—Obfervations on Bernarda's Track—Lake Velafco fuppofed to be Part of the Great Slave Lake of the Canadian Traders-BernardaYIfle and Peninfula of Conibaffet recognized m 1789—Obfervations on Peter Pond's Narrative-Lake Belle probably Part of the Great Slave Lake—De Fonte'j Lake fuppofed to be the Edland Lake of Hearne—Straits of Ronquillo fuppofed to be the Co-gead Lake of Hearne—Obfervations on its Communication with Repulfe Bay-Objeclions againft De Fonte's Narrative con- fdered—Obfervations on the Northern Part of the American Continent—Affinity between the Nootka Names and thofe in De Fonte's Narrative—Conclvjion. SlNCE the free navigation of the Pacific Ocean, and a fettlement on the weftern coaft of America, has been fecured to us by the convention lately made with the Court of Spain, the fub-jeft I am now going to enter upon muft be confidered of great importance to the commercial interefl of this country. Impref- fed fed with an opinion of the advantages that mull refult from"it, the fociety for the encouragement of arts and fciences have offered a reward, for the difcovery of a communication between the government of Upper Canada and the weftern coaft of the continent. The profits to be gained by carrying the furs of America to the Chinefe market were no fooner made public, by the obfervations contained in the narrative of Captain Cook's laft voyage, than feveral enterprifing merchants, difdaining the great rifque, which, from the immenfe diftance, muft be naturally expected, fitted out feveral veffels to embark in that trade, Thefe expeditions led them to thofe places which the Spaniards were faid to have vifited under the command of De Fonte and De Fuca; a fhort time only had elapfed before an entire flop was put to their trade, by the force fent againft them from the Spanifh fettlements by order of the Court of Spain. During this time, they difcovered, however, enough of the coaft to prove, diat fuch inlets, as the ftraits named after thofe two navigators, have a real exiftence, and that the accounts given of them were not the productions of idle vifionaries calculated to amufe the world. Intention nf tlit It is aftonifhing what care the Court of Spain takes to conceal Spaniards in com- " iXi jm*"* any difcoveries made in thofe feas. Some were made as far to the northward as 55 deg. north, by fhips fent from St. Bias in the year 1774* and another voyage was made in the next year under the the command of Don Bruno Heceta, as far as 57 deg. 18 min. north. A journal kept by Don Antonio Maurelle, fecond pilot on board one of the fhips, was communicated to the Honourable Mr. D. Barrington and fome flight information of this expedition appears to have been given to Captain Cook, before he failed in 1776. The editor of his laft voyage makes the following remarks, in fupport of his not exploring De Fonte's Straits when navigating thofe feas. " The perufal of the following extract from their journals " may be recommended to thofe (if any fuch there be) who 11 would reprefent it as an imperfection in Capt. Cook's voyage, n that he had not an opportunity of examining the coaft of <( America, in the latitude afligned to the difcoveries of Admiral " Fonte, u We now attempted to find out the Straits of Admi-" ral Fonte, though as yet we have not difcovered the Archipe-" lago of St. Lazarus, through which he is faid to have failed. " With this intent, we fearched every bay and recefs of the coaft, " and failed round every headland, lying to in the night, that we " might not lofe fight of this entrance. After thefe pains taken, " and favoured by a north-weft wind, it may be pronounced that " no fuch ftraits are to be found (5)." The fallacy of thefe obfervations has been clearly proved, and we are ftrongly led to believe, that the communication of MaureJle's («) Hiftorkal Abridgement of Difcoveries, p. 48. (A) Preface to Cook's lafl Voyage. Maurelle's journal was made for no other purpofe, than to mislead the Admiralty in framing the inftructions for the then intended expedition in fearch of a north-weft paffage. As I fhall have frequent occafion to refer to particular parts of De Fonte's account, it will be necefTary lor me to give f me particulars from the narrative, which was inferted in the Memoirs of the Curious, in the year 1708. In the year 1639, the Court of Spain having intelligence of fome expeditions attempted in that year by the people of Bof-ton, in New England, Bartholomew De Fonte was appointed to command a Squadron fitted out at Callao in Peru to oppofe them. His own veffel was named the Holy Ghoft, and he had under his command Don Diego PenelolTa in the Saint Lucia, Peter Bernardo in the Rofary, and Philip de Ronquillo in the King Philip. He failed April 3d, 1640, and arrived at Chiametlan on the 26th, where he engaged a Captain and fix Sailors, who had been trading for pearls with the natives of the country to the eaft of California, who fifh for them on a bank which is 19 degrees of latitude more to the northward than the pearl banks of St. Jean, in 24 deg. north latitude. De Fonte was informed by this Captain, that, about 200 leagues to the northward of Cape St. Lucas, he had found a flood from the north, which met that coming from the fouth, from which circumftance there was a certainty of California being an ifland. He therefore difpatched Don D. Peneloffa PenelofTa, nephew of Don Louis de Haro, prime miniffer of Spain, to afcertain the fact. He went in his own veffel, accompanied by the Chiametlan Captain, and four (hallops, adapted by their draft of water for (hallow feas. The narrative takes no notice of the refult of PenelolTa's expedition ; but it mould be remarked, on the authority of De- lifle f Memoir fur la Mer de IVuefJ, that a Count de PignaloiTe was viceroy of Mexico, and publilhed a map which placed Quivira to the eaft of New Mexico; and Monf. Buache obferves, that he has feen fome extracts of Deliile the elder, wherein mention is made of the Count de Pignaloffe retiring into France about the year 1680, and prefenting a memorial to the King, in which he offered to make him mafter of the kingdoms of Tegu-ayo and Quivira (c). If this account be true, we may be led to believe, that the relation of Father Kino was publilhed with no other view, than to counteract, the accounts which had got abroad of De Fonte's and PenelolTa's difcoveries, particularly as it was tranfmitted to Eng- S land (c) Je ne f9.11 fi ce jeune Seigneur qu'on nomme ici de PenelofTa, ne feroit pas le meme que celui qui fut enfuitc viceroy du Mexique, Sc que Guillaume Dclifle appclle le Comte de Pignaloffe (Mem, fur la Mer de VOueJl). Celt le meme nom en Efpagnol, ecrit divcrfe-ment. J'ai lu dans quelques Extraits dc M. Delifle le pere, que ce viceroy avant eu quel-ques demelcs avec PArchcveque du Mexique (vers Pan 1680) fe retiraen France, & y pre-fenta au Roy un memoire par lequel il fe faifoit fort, moyennant certaines conditions, de le rendre maitre du Royaume de Teguaio Sc de la Grande Quivira, qu'il defoit avoir mille lieucs d'etendue (dans Popinion qu'elle alloit jufqu'au veritable Detroit d'Anian du cote de POucit) & qu'il pretendoit n'etre pas c-loignee de la Nouvelle France du cote de l'Eft.—B. C, p. 73. land nearly about the fame time as the journal of De Fonte was made public. De Fonte afterwards failed himfelf with the reft of his fqua* dron, to put in execution the orders he had received. He entered the Archipelago of St. Lazarus, in latitude 53 deg. north, on the 14th of June, and continued failing through it for 260 leagues, in intricate channels among iflands, until he arrived at the mouth of a river, which he named Rio de los Reyes. From this place he difpatched the fhip under the command of Bernardo, on the 28th of the fame month, to difcover the Tartarian fea. To effect this, Bernardo failed up a river, the courfe of which was north north-eaft and north north-weft. This river was named Rio del Haro, and came from a lake full of iflands, which he called Velafco. A fouth fouth-eaft moon made high water in both the rivers, and it flowed from 22 to 24 feet in each of them. He appears to have held a wefterly courfe in the lake 60 leagues, until he arrived at a large peninfula, called by the natives Coni-baffet; he left the fhip there in a fafe port, formed by an ifland called by him Bernarda, and the Peninfula; and then proceeded in three Indian boats, each made of a tree 50 or 60 feeet long, accompanied by two Jefuits, 20 of his own feamen, and 36 of the natives, down a river, which had three falls, 80 leagues, un-til he came into the Tartarian fea, in latitude 61 degrees north. The Jefuits, who went with him, are faid to have been before as far north as 66 degrees. From From this place he difpatched a letter, dated June 27th, to De Fonte, to inform him of his fuccefs, and then followed the direction of the coaft, which trended to the north-eaft. He failed by different courfes north-eaft, eaft-north-eaft, and north-eaft and by eaft, as far as 77, or, as it is faid in another place, 79 degrees north latitude, 436 leagues, where he found the land to extend to the northward, and the ice fixed to the fhore. At this place, one of his feamen went with the natives to a frefh water lake, about 30 miles in circumference, which emptied itfelf into Davis* Straits. This lake was in 80 degrees north latitude, and on the north of it were very high mountains. After which he returned, and joined the fleet on the 11th of Auguft. The fame day he fent away Barnarda, De Fonte failed up the river which he had called De los Reyes, into a lake named Belle. In the river there is a fall of water until half flood; but an hour and quarter before high water the flood begins to fet ftrongly into the lake, and the water in the river was found to be frefh 20 leagues from the entrance. On the iff of July, he left his fhips in a harbour called Conoffet, formed by a fine iiland, and failed to a river, which he named Rio Parmentire, from a perfon who accompanied him, and who is faid to have exactly furveyed it. In paffing the river, he went over eight falls, in all 32 feet perpendicular from its fource; following the courfe of the river, he came, on the 6th of July, to a large lake, which he named De Fonte, after himfelf. This lake is 160 leagues long, and 60 S 2 broad, broad, extending eafl north-eaft and weft fouth-weft, and is from 20 to 60 fathoms deep, abounding in cod and ling, There are feveral large iflands and fome fmall ones in it, particularly on the fouth fide, where there is a very large one well peopled. In eight days he palled the eafl north-eaft end of the lake, and entered another, which he named Eftrecho de Ronquillo : this lake was 24 leagues long and 3 broad, and from 20 to 30 fathoms of water. In this place he found a tide, and being favoured with the ebb and a ftrong gale, was able to pafs it in 10 hours. Three days afterwards he came to an Indian town, where the inhabitants told his interpreter, Mr. Parmentire, of a fhip which was anchored at a little diftance. This fhip De Fonte found came from Bofton, commanded by one Shapely, and the owner, Major Gibbons, was on board. He purchafed Shapeleys charts and journals, and then returned, with as much wind as they could carry fail to, the 6th of Auguft, and were at the firft hill of the Parmentire River on the 11th, 86 leagues, and on the 16th arrived fafe on board his fhip in the port of Conoffet. Septem. ber the 2d, he failed on his return home, and on the morning of the 5th he anchored between Arenna and Mynhaffet, Arenna being about 20 leagues from the Rio los Reyes, and Mynhaffet near it: after paffing the river, he returned home. In the con-clufion of his account he fays, that the chart will make it clear, that there is no entrance into the fouth fea by the north-wefl paiTage ; but no chart accompanies the relation. That a very confiderable opening, in every refpect anfwering l«! to the defcription he gives of the Archipelago of St. Lazarus, exifts in the fame latitude in which he lays it down, has been proved by feveral authentic teflimonies ; and if future difcove-rers fhould likewife prove as fuccefsful in exploring his courfe through the Jakes, there cannot remain a doubt but the moft important advantages may be derived from it to the commerce of this country, by opening fo direct a navigntion to Nootka Sound. To flimulate the future adventurers in that part of the world to profecute his track, and to excite their endeavours to eftablifh fo defirable a communication between the two feas, is the object of this Memoir. Between Nootka Sound and Cape Edgecumbe, exactly in the latitude where the Archipelago of St. Lazarus is Situated, according to De Fonte's nariative, Captain Cook was prevented from feeing the land ; but Captain Roberts, who conftructed the chart which is annexed to his lafl voyage, marks the line of coaft which the Spaniards under Don Heceta are faid to have feen. The exact fituation of this land was afcertained by Captain Low-rie and Guife in the year 1786, while on a voyage of commercial adventure, and afterwards found by Captain Dixon, who corn-commanded a fhip in the fame trade, to be an affemblage of ifles, which he called Charlotte Ifles, the name they ftill retain. Thefe iflands are feparated from the eaftern fhore by an opening as wide as the Englifh channel, and exactly in the latitude of 53 deg. cleg, north. Captain Hanna, who was trading on the coafl in the year 1785, difcovered iflands with extenfive founds ft retching to the eaflward, correfponding with the defcription of De Fonte's Archipelago of St. Lazarus. In 1787, Captain Duncan examined thefe founds, and proceeded among the iflands in a north north-eaft direction, until he found a fcarcity of fea otter fkins, which was the object of his voyage, when he was obliged reluctantly to return. Thefe iflands, he fays, are fo very mountainous that the fnow remains perpetually upon their fummits, and the fea is fo deep clofe to the fhore, that he very feldom came to an anchor, but made his floop faft to the trees near the water. Thefe trees were generally fir, of the firfl quality for malts As he entered the archipelago, the mountains gradually encreafed in height, towering above each other ; but he obferved, at the extent of his refearches, that they gradually decreafed to the eaflward of him, from whence he fuppofes, the account which the commander of the American floop Wafhington gave (d)} of his having failed through an open fea, according with that which De Fuca is faid to have navigated, might be credited. This archipelago having been certainly afcertained to be Situated in the fame latitude in which De Fonte places it, (lamps a credit on his account, and leads us to place the greater confidence in his narrative, in thofe places where we have not an equal authority to guide us. From (J) Vide page 66. From the entrance of the Archipelago of St. Lazarus to the place where the two rivers, Rio Haro and Rio de los Reyes, fall into the fea, he fays, that he failed 260 leagues, in intricate paf-fages among iflands, keeping the boats a mile a-head to found. Now the commander of the American floop having afcertained the exiltence of an extenfive mediterranean fea beyond thofe iflands, which form the entrance of the archipelago, gives fome authority to this part of his account, and if we allow for the different courfes he muff have failed among the iflands, the diftance will give him a pofition near the Arathapefcow Lake of Hearne, or the Great Slave Lake of the Canadian traders. If we examine Mr. Hearne's draught of this lake, which was made from the Indian accounts, we fhall find on the fouth coaft. of it a bay, which is marked Salt Water Bay, into which a river appears to difcharge itfelf, which is called Salt Water River; and this is further confirmed by a draught of the inland country brought to England by Norton, which is publifhed, from the original in the Hudfon's Bay Company's polfeflion, by Mr. Dalrymple, as the word Salt is written in that exactly in the fame fituation. I would therefore infer from this obfervation, that the lake which De Fonte difcovered, and entered with his fhips after paffmg the Archipelago of St. Lazarus, is the Grand Slave Lake of the Canadian traders, or the Arathapefcow of Mr. Hearne. We fhall, in the firfl place, proceed to examine the route okfcmti«*o« * * Bcmarda'j Track, which Bernarda followed after he entered the Lake Velafco by g^&STjS JLakc. means means of the Rio Haro. He failed to the weftward 60 leagues, until he came to a port at the mouth of a river running to the weftward, which was formed by an ifland, to which he gave his own name, and a peninfula which was called Conibaffet. This river, we have before remarked, has been navigated by a Mr. M'Kenzie, who found it to iiTue out of the weft end of the lake (e\ and the traders having furveyed part of the north coaft of the lake, found a deep bay, which, from its direction, feems p ,i! .,1 to form a peninfula at the north part of the river, corresponding exactly with the peninfula of Conibaffet. When Mr. M'Kenzie furveyed the river, he found that its courfe was to the northward, inftead of weftward, and that it did not communicate with the Sea to the Southward of the latitude 69 deg. north. barTetrocogllistd in 17H9. ObfervntinnJ on F>tcr Pond's Nar- This is certainly againft the account we have of Bernarda's track to the Tartarian fea, which he entered by means of this river, in the latitude of 61 deg. north ; but I mult beg leave to refer the reader to an account publifhed in the Gentleman's Ma-zine fome little time fince from one Peter Pond, where he will obferve, that the river we are fpeaking of was fuppofed by him to have a communication to the weftward, either with Cook's River or Prince William's Sound; as fome of the traders had traced it as far as 141 deg. weft longitude, in that direction, when they were flopped by falls the largeft in the world, the river being two miles wide at that place, and that he himfelf faw an Indian in (