THE
GREAT PROBABILITY
OF A
NORTH WEST PASSAGE:

33

REMARKS
ON
The LETTER of Admiral DE FONTE.

The Viceroys of New Spain and Peru, having Advice from the Court of Spain, and not from the Court and the Council of Spain; which latter is the common Form of Expression used in any Matter which had been under the Consideration of the Supreme Council of the Indies, implies that such Advice must have proceeded from the Secret Council, or from the King through his Minister, that the Design of the Equipment of the four Ships, and the Attempt of the Industrious Navigators from Boston might remain a Secret.

The Appellation of Industrious Navigators was conformable to the Characters of Gibbons and Shapley. Sir Thomas Button, in the Extract which there is from his Journal, gives Gibbons a great Eulogium as to his being an able Navigator; and this was the Character of Shapley amongst his Cotemporaries.

The Court of Spain knew that this Attempt to discover a Passage between the Atlantick and the Western Ocean, was intended by the Northward and Westward; and though they allude to all the Attempts to make such Discovery which had been at any Time made, by mentioning the several Reigns in which any such Attempts were made, yet they hint more particularly, that they expect this Attempt will be by Hudson's Bay, as they mention expresly in their Advice the two Voyages of Hudson and James. For what is here said, That the several Attempts, &c. is a Recital from the Advice sent by the Court to the Viceroys, or from the Orders that de Fonte received.34

This Expedition from Boston particularly commanded the Attention of the Court of Spain, as Captain James had not absolutely denied there was a North-west Passage; and Fox, though not mentioned here, had published an Account in 1635, by which he had positively declared that there was a North-west Passage; and Sir Thomas Button, who kept his Journal a Secret, was very confident of a Passage, and is said to have satisfied King James the First. The Death of his Patron Prince Henry prevented his being fitted out again. Gibbons, his Intimate, had made the Voyage with him: Afterwards had made a second Attempt by himself, but lost his Season by being detained in the Ice. And now, though a married Man, had a Family, a Person in Trust and Power where he resided, engages in a third Attempt from Boston.

The second, third, and fourth Year of the Reign of King Charles refers solely to the Voyage of Captain James; to the Time he was engaging Friends to fit him out; and the Time when such Voyage was concluded on. As the English used the Julian, and the Spaniards the Gregorian Account, these Transactions which refer to Captain James's Expedition, could not be made to coalesce as to the Time, from the Difference there was between these two Computations, in any other Manner than by putting the Year of the King of England's Reign. As King Charles began his Reign the 27th of March 1625, two Days after the Commencement of the Year, according to the Julian Account, and the second Year of his Reign would not begin until the 27th of March 1626, two Days also after that Year commenced, but according to the Gregorian Account, the Year 1626 began in January; from the 1st of January to the 27th of March, the Year 1626, according to the Gregorian Account, would correspond with the first Year of the Reign of King Charles. As to this Expedition from Boston, it is mentioned to be in the Year 1639, and in the fourteenth Year of the Reign of King Charles; but the Year 1639, according to the Julian Account, is the fifteenth Year of that King's Reign; but according to the Gregorian Account, the Year 1639 corresponds from January to March with the fourteenth Year of that King's Reign.

The Times mentioned in this Letter do not refer to the Times when the Voyages were actually set out on, but when undertaken or resolved35 on, as it is expressed in the Letter, undertaken by some industrious Navigators from Boston. Captain James did not sail until the Year one Thousand six Hundred and Thirty-one, not getting the King's Protection early enough in one Thousand six Hundred and Thirty, to proceed that Year, or in the fourth Year of the King's Reign. That is, he did not get it early enough in Spring to be ready by the latter End of March, as he must have been to proceed that Year; so the fourth Year of the King well agrees with this Proceeding. And de Fonte did not sail until one Thousand six Hundred and Forty, which was a Year after the Court of Spain had received Intelligence of such Undertaking from Boston. Which they would use the first Opportunity to transmit to New Spain; de Fonte therefore had at least six Months for the Equipment of the four Ships to go on this Expedition; a Time sufficient, in so fine a Climate, and every Thing that was necessary to be done was enforced by Orders of the Crown. Had this Equipment been executed in a much smaller Space of Time, there would have been nothing so admirable in it: Therefore the Objection, as to the Impossibility that Ships should be fitted between the Time the Court received this Information, and their sailing, drops to the Ground.

It is not any way strange that this Design, as it appears to have been, was made known to the Court of Spain the Year before that it was set out on; as that Court entertained a continual Jealousy of these Undertakings, as is apparent from their sending Vessels to intercept Davis; their having Informations as to Captain James's Voyage also, and the Consequences of it, as may be collected from this Letter.

Major General Gibbons, if he had not the King's Protection, yet he had Friends at the Court of England who made Application for him to be Captain of the Fort at Boston, and one of the Council, the latter End of the Year one Thousand six Hundred and Thirty-eight, or in the Beginning of the Year one Thousand six Hundred and Thirty-nine. That the most secret Affairs of the Court were at that Time betrayed, I believe will be admitted, and the Secret of his designed Attempt might be known, by his applying for Leave of Absence from his Post during the Time that he should be engaged in this Undertaking. Or the Persons with whom he36 corresponded in England might be apprized of his intended Voyage, he could not, at that Time of Day, be supplied with every Thing that was necessary thereto in America; and as he intended to trade, he would be for procuring his Goods from England. By some of these Means probably his Design perspired, and was secretly and unexpectedly, transmitted to the Court of Spain.

There are several Reasons to be assigned why both Viceroys should be informed, not only the Viceroy of Peru, in whose District the Ships were to be fitted, but the Viceroy of New Spain also. That if a Passage was made by any other Way than where the Ships were to be stationed to intercept the Boston Men, or they accidentally passed such Ships, the Viceroys might order a Look-out also to be kept. And such a Provision being made, it would be scarce possible, if a Passage was obtained, that the Boston People should get clear out of those Seas, and not fall into the Hands of the Spaniards. Another Reason is, that such Particulars as de Fonte was to put in for on the Coast of Mexico might be ready, that de Fonte might not meet with the least Delay, as such Delay might occasion the Disappointment of his Design.

The Letter proceeds, 'Upon which, I Admiral de Fonte, received Orders from Spain and the Viceroys to equip four Ships of Force.' These Words, upon which, I understand not to allude to the Advice given the Viceroys, but refer to the Attempt intended from Boston, and as to which he had received his Orders from Spain. But from the Viceroys he received Orders only as to the Equipment of the four Ships, as Orders of that Nature would regularly proceed from them. If it was otherwise, and he had also received his Orders from them, containing Instructions as to the Conduct of his Voyage, he would have made his Report to the Viceroys as to the Manner in which he had conducted his Voyage, and they would have reported it to the Court.

De Fonte mentioning the Viceroys so simply and plainly, without any respectful or distinguishing Additions, is an Instance that this Letter was wrote to the Court of Spain, it not being proper, in a Letter so addressed, to mention the Viceroys in any other Manner; and as it is also evident from the Expression, I Admiral de Fonte, that he did not write37 this Letter in his private Capacity, but as an Admiral, therefore this Letter could not be otherwhere addressed than to such Court, to transmit an Account how he had executed these Orders, which he had received immediately from Spain.

De Fonte mentioning that the Advice which the Viceroys received was from the Court of Spain, and that the Orders he received were from Spain, carries a Distinction with it as though the Advice and the Orders were not transmitted from the same Persons. Those who transmitted the Advice to the Viceroys were not seemingly in the Secret, as to the particular Orders or Instructions which were sent to de Fonte, as to the Manner in which he was to conduct his Voyage. It was the Province of the Admiral of Castile, who was stiled Captain General of the Sea, who was subject to no Controul but the King's, to issue all Orders relative to maritime Affairs, and therefore de Fonte's Orders might come from him. Or otherwise these Orders were immediately transmitted by the Conde de Olivarez, who was on ill Terms with the Admiral, and regarded no Forms, under the Sanction of the Favour he had with the King, whom he influenced to authorize all his Measures. It is also consistent with the Conduct of Don Olivarez that this Affair should be managed in this Manner, who was always mysterious, confided in his own Judgment, singular in his Manners, and therefore was called a Lover of Projects, and supposed a meer Visionary in some of them. He did not want for Persons of the greatest Abilities to assist him, and the Accuracy with which the Orders are composed that were sent to de Fonte, (as may be collected from the Manner in which the Voyage is conducted, and in which it cannot be supposed de Fonte was left to his Discretion) is an Instance there had been no Want of the Assistance of able, sagacious and experienced Persons in the composing of such Orders and Instructions.

The Design of this introductory Part is to shew the Proceedings in this Affair previous to his Voyage; that the Advice was received, and the Orders subsequent were obeyed; and it is drawn with peculiar Care and a Conciseness which would be censured in a Voyage Writer, but is used with the greatest Propriety on this Occasion.

The Names of the Ships are agreeable to the Manner that the Spaniards name theirs; and by Ships of Force is not meant either their Caracks or Galeons, but Country Ships, which the Equipment seems to38 imply, made defensible against any Attacks of the Natives, and to have nothing to fear from the Boston Men, and these Ends could be obtained in Vessels which had no great Draught of Water, as the Rivers they were to pass up and the Lakes required, and of a Tonnage suitable to those Northern Seas, therefore de Fonte only expresses their Names, and their Commanders, says nothing of their Rates.

De Fonte, in his Course from the Callao of Lima, and in all his subsequent Courses through the Voyage, computes his Distance after the Marine Manner, from that Land from where he takes his Departure to the Land made when he enters a Harbour, or the Termination of the Land which makes such Harbour to Seaward; and here takes his Departure from the extreme Part of the Callao of Lima, which is in the Latitude 11° 5´ S. Longitude 80° 39´ W. and from which to St. Helena, being North of the Bay of Guiaguil, in Lat. 2° 5´ S. Long. 84° 6´ W. is two hundred Leagues; and there is no Fault in the Impression, as hath been supposed. Though these Words, on the North Side of the Bay of Guiaguil seem to be an Interpolation.

The Distance said to be run between the Callao of Lima and St. Helena is not reconcileable with the Accounts published by Dampier, Wood Rogers, or the Accounts in general, excepting with a Copy of a Spanish Manuscript, of the Latitudes and Longitudes of the most noted Places in the South Seas, corrected from the latest Observations, by Manuel Monz. Prieto, Professor of Arts in Peru, whose Computation of Longitude is from the Meridian of Paris; but he fixes Lima at full eighty Degrees. I use Prieto's Tables in this, and principally in all my subsequent Computations, though de Fonte no where mentions the Longitude in this Letter, as he only regards the Difference of the Meridian of Lima. And it by no Means invalidates but favours the Authenticity of this Account, that de Fonte differs in his Computation from the English and French Accounts at, and after those Times, which also differ from each other, as they only ranged along the Coasts of those Seas, judged of their Distances according to their Journals, and must have made many vague Observations, as to the Latitude of Places, by Inspection of the Land from Sea, and which Land they might not certainly know. Their best Directions they got from Manuscript Journals,39 or Sea Waggoners, composed for their own Use by Coasters. But the navigating of the King's Ships were better provided for in this respect; and we may well suppose that de Fonte was not, on this Occasion, deficient in Artists well versed in the Theory as well as the Practice of Navigation, and under this Character of an Artist we may consider Parmentiers. The Truth, as to the Latitude, once fixed is not variable by Time; and in this respect de Fonte and Prieto must agree, though a Century between the Time of their Computations.

The Expression, 'anchored in the Port of St. Helena (in Spanish, Santa Elena) within the Cape,' hath something more particular in it than appears on a transient View. The Point of St. Helena is thus described in the sailing Directions in the Atlas Maritimus, published in 1728. 'The Point itself is high, but as you come nearer in there is a lower Point runs out sharpening towards the Sea. And there are two distinct Anchorages within this Port, one within the lower Point, here Vessels ride without Shelter, and amongst Banks and Shoals. Under the high Land, there is the other Anchorage, deep Water, and secure riding.' Under this high Land, being called the Port within the Cape, is a Distinction which I do not find made by the Voyage Writers, or in any other of the sailing Directions for these Parts that I have seen; and de Fonte particularly mentions, as it may be supposed, being in Conformity with his Instructions.

De Fonte taking in the Betumen must have been in pursuance of his Instructions, and there provided for him by Order of the Viceroy.

That which follows, called vulgarly Tar, &c. seems to be an Interpolation, or additional Comment, though not distinguished as such; and it may be observed here is a different Mode of Expression, and a Want of that Conciseness which apparently precedes. If with these Words took a Quantity of Betumen, we connect on the 10th we passed the Equinoctial, then that Conciseness and Simplicity of the Narration is preserved. It is inconsistent that de Fonte should inform the Court, that it was not for Want of Tar that he put into this Port, and that he did not procure this Betumen to use instead of Tar, but to make Use of it as Medicine. The taking the Betumen aboard sufficiently intimated his Compliance40 with his Instructions. The Expression, we took it in for Medicine, hath something particular in it, seems to be a Note or Memorandum added by some Person who made the Voyage, to instruct a Friend for whom he made, or to whom he gave, a Copy of this Letter.

The one Degree seven Minutes of Latitude is misplaced, Cape St. Francisco being by no Geographers or Voyage Writers placed in that Latitude; the one Degree seven Minutes is the Latitude of the River St. Jago, and which Prieto lays down in one Degree eight Minutes.

As to the Courses and Distances eighty Leagues N. N. W. and twenty-five Leagues E. and by S. which were placed in the Margin in the first Edition, but are since crept into the Text. N. N. W. is a Course entirely contrary, and instead of one there is two Courses, North and North East, and which two Courses are consistent with the E. and by S. Course twenty-five Leagues, as that Course will then terminate in the Latitude and Longitude of the River Jago. This Error of North West for North East may be accounted for by remarking, that in the Spanish Compass North East and North West are rendered Nord Este and Nord Oeste: The Omission of the O in este is a Fault which may be committed even by a careful Transcriber, or may be a Mistake in the Translator, for Want of due Attention to the Compass.

In the Passage from St. Helena he would keep the Coast aboard, for the Benefit of a fair and fresh Wind, and which he would have without any Interruption from the Land Breezes, and by standing N. W. to clear the Islands of Solango and Paita, and then stand North Easterly would form a North Course of one Hundred and Thirty-two Miles, or forty-four Leagues, and then be off Cape Passao, in N. Lat. 8´. Long. 83° 59´ W. and well in with such Cape, as it is evident he was from the Expression in the Letter by the Cape del Passao with a North East Course, thirty-six Leagues, they would be in Lat. 1° 23´ North, Long. 82° 50´, and so have passed Cape Francisco, N. Lat. 50´, Long. 82° 55´, and with an East and by South Course twenty-five Leagues, would be in the Lat. 1° 8´, Long. 81° 36´, the Latitude and Longitude of the River St. Jago.41

There was not such a Provision Country, it appears from later Accounts, on any Part of the Coast between this and Lima; nor could the Ships be any where brought up with greater Safety: St. Helena is described as a poor and barren Part of the Country.

The Health of his People, liable to scorbutick Disorders in the northern Climates whither he was going, was an Object that must be attended to, in order that the Voyage should meet with the desired Success. Therefore after the Betumen, he recruits what he had consumed of his fresh Provision in his run from Lima, and lays in a great additional Store, as is apparent if we consider that their Consumption in this respect is not proportionable to ours, from their Mode of dressing it. And we may judge from having so great a Quantity of Fowl ready, with Goats and Hogs, the People had received Orders to be thus provided against the Ships Arrival; the Sailors would be a great Assistance in curing the Provisions, the Flesh as well as the Fish, and would do it in the most suitable Manner for the Sea Service; a Number of Hands, gave an Expedition so as the Provisions would not be spoiled by the Heat of the Sun; and his Victualling detained de Fonte four Days.

Six Miles and a half, or the Left Hand the River is navigable for small Vessels, and all that follows seems by Way of Comment, and to be a spurious Interpolation, as also, which are there wild and in plenty.

'The 16th of April we sailed from the River of St. Jago to the Port and Town Raleo, 320 Leagues W. N. W. a little westerly, in about 11 Degrees 14 Min. of N. Latitude, leaving Mount St. Miguel, &c.'

The Point of Yeaxos, or the Sandy Strand, in Lat. 11° 58´, Long. 93° 31´, which covers the Port of Raleo (or Realejo) is three Hundred and twenty Leagues from the River St. Jago; but the Course N. 47° 30´ W. or N. W. almost a Quarter West, and by the Expression a little Westerly, the W. N. W. seems to mean, he steered first West from the River St. Jago, until he made the high Land, and then North-west, a little Westerly.42

Between Mount Miguel and Point Cazarnina (rightly Caravina) is the Entrance in the Bay of Amapalla, which is to the Northward of the Port of Realejo; therefore the leaving Mount St. Miguel on the Larboard, &c. being an absolute Contradiction to de Fonte entering the Port of Realejo, is an Interpolation and not inserted by the Person who wrote the Letter, but a Comment very injudiciously added by Way of Explanation. From this Circumstance the Truth of my Assertion appears, as to there being Glosses and Comments added to the original Text, and that I had good Reason to believe several Places in the preceding Part of this Account to be Interpolations added by Way of Comment.

The great Ships that are built in New Spain are built in Raleo is disposed in the Margin in the first Edition; but in all the subsequent Editions hath crept into the Text. We may suppose the W. N. W. Course hath crept into the Text in the first Edition to make room for this Comment, as may be judged from the Course between St. Helena and St. Jago being placed in the Margin: And there is an apparent Reason for the Course and Distances being so placed, for when inserted in the Text, they interrupt the Attention; and as the Courses and Distances were all that was necessary to be mentioned, the Latitudes have been since added by some injudicious Person.—The Latitude of Passao, of Cape St. Francisco, is not mentioned, and the Latitude of Raleo is wrong, which the Course and Distance shews, and its Latitude is in most Maps agreeable to the Course and Distance here given. The Run, allowing de Fonte eight Days, would be but one hundred Miles in twenty-four Hours, which is very moderate going. Nor can there be any Objection, as to the Truth of this Account, from the Time that de Fonte is sailing between the Callao of Lima to St. Helena, from St. Helena to St. Jago.

All that belongs to the original Letter I take to be this, The 16th of April we sailed from the River St. Jago to the Port and Town of Raleo; here we bought (which probably might as well be rendered procured) four long well-sailed Shallops, built express for sailing, riding at Anchor, &c. The 320 Leagues W. N. W. a little Westerly, I suppose to have been placed in the Margin.43

It cannot be supposed that Boats so fitted, and four of them, could be procured in so small a Time as de Fonte staid here, it implies they were previously provided before that he arrived, to be ready at the Arrival of the Ships.

'The 26th we sailed from Raleo for the Port of Saragua, or rather of Salagua, within the Islands and Shoals of Chamily, 480 Leagues N. W. and by West, a little Westerly from Raleo. From the Town of Saragua, a little East of Chamily at Saragua, and from Compostilo in the Neighbourhood of this Port, we took in a Master and six Mariners accustomed to trade with the Natives for Pearl the Natives catched on a Bank in 19 Degrees of Latitude North from the Baxos of St. Juan in 24 Degrees of North Latitude, 20 Leagues N. N. E. from Cape Saint Lucas, the South-east Point of California.'

The Point of Yeaxos is laid down in Lat. 11 Deg. 58 Min. Long. 93 Deg. 31 Min. and with a Course North-west and by West, a little Westerly, Distance four Hundred and eighty Leagues, de Fonte would be at the Islands of Chiametlas, in Lat. 22 Deg. 10 Min. Long. 114 Deg. 29 Min.

The Port of Saragua, or rather of Salagua (which is properly Zuelagua) is thus described. 'The Mount of Sant Jago is in the Port of Zuelagua. There are two very good Harbours which have good anchoring Ground, and will hold a great many Ships, by reason they are great and are called the Calletas. On the North-west Side of the said Bay is another very good Port, which is called likewise the Port of Zuelagua. You will find in it a River of fresh Water, and several Plantations. At the Sea Side is a Pathway that leads to the Town of Zuelagua, being four and a half Miles from the Port within Land. Between the Port of Zuelagua and the white Ferrelon (or Rock) is a very good Port, in which you are Land-locked from all Winds.'

From this Description it is easy to comprehend what is de Fonte's Meaning as to the Port of Zuelagua, where he took in his Master and Mariners on the North-west Side of the Bay, and which he expresses by, at Saragua a little East of Chamily; and which Master and Mariners44 were not promiscuously taken, but were chosen Men, as they were taken both from Zuelagua and Compostilo, in the Neighbourhood of the Port. Zuelagua seems originally the City which was called Xalisco; but from its unhealthy Situation, Compostilo was built more within Land; yet the former continuing to be a Port, some Inhabitants remained there.

The Islands and Shoals of Chiametla, which the Translation renders Chamily, which is a Name given to Islands South of Cape Corientes. But the Distinction is the Islands to Northward of Cape Corientes are called Chiametla, those to Southward Chametla and Camilli. Prieto agrees with de Fonte's Account first mentioning the Islands of Chiametlas in Lat. 22. 10. Long. 114. 29. and then El mal Pays y mal outradu.

This Master and Mariners were accustomed to trade with the Natives for Pearl, which the Natives catched on a Bank in nineteen Degrees of Latitude, being North from the Baxos of St. Juan, or the Bank of St. John, which is in twenty-four Degrees of North Latitude, and twenty Leagues North North-east from Cape Saint Lucas, the South-east Point of California; and this Account de Fonte had either from themselves, or the Character that was sent with them, to shew the most proper Persons had been provided to answer the Purpose for which they were procured. And all that belongs to the Text is, which the Natives catched on a Bank North from the Baxos St. Juan, twenty Leagues N. N. E. from Cape St. Lucas.

'The Master Admiral de Fonte had hired, with his Vessel and Mariners, who had informed the Admiral that, 200 Leagues North from Cape St. Lucas, a Flood from the North met the South Flood, and that he was sure it must be an Island, and Don Diego Pennelossa undertook to discover whether it was an Island or not, with his Ship and the four Shallops they bought at Raleo, and the Master and Mariners they hired at Zuelagua.'

Here the Thread of the Letter is broke, and the Translator proceeds as with a common Narrative of a Voyage. The Master might be easily deceived as to the Tide, as Time hath shewn in many Instances as to other Persons having been deceived in like Manner in other Parts.45 That we have no Account of what was the Event of this Expedition Pennelossa, who had undertaken the Charge, being no more to join de Fonte, as it was unnecessary and to no Purpose, Pennelossa would return first and send his Account to Court. De Fonte could in this Case do no further than shew he had sent him on this Service, it must be supposed, agreeable to his Instructions. Which, from the Boats brought from Realejo, (and must be of a particular Constructure, the like of which were not to be any where else on the Coast) and the Master and Mariners hired here, it is evident, was before proposed, that Pennelossa should go on this Part of the Expedition, not on the Master's declaring that there was a Tide from the Northward, and so California an Island. This was only mentioned by de Fonte, to shew what Intelligence he had got in this Affair.

The Account given of Pennelossa could be evidently no Part of the Letter. What is said as to his Descent, his being a Nobleman, his Address to Cosmography, and the Undertaking of this Discovery, must evidence as already said, whoever inserted the Account was satisfied as to their being such a Person so accomplished, and who aspired to undertake this Part of the Expedition. A Discovery of these Parts would carry, at this Time particularly, great Reputation and Honour with it, and by this Opportunity to intercept Persons on a Design so prejudicial to the Interests of the Court of Spain in those Parts, as it was then thought, had Pennelossa succeeded; he would have had no small Share of Merit; or if he did not succeed, the Merit of the Attempt would be accounted of, and not unjustly, it would be a Means of his Promotion through the Connections he had, as they would urge he did not pursue those Sciences for Speculation only, but to carry them into Practice for the Service of his Country. And according to the Regulations Don Olivarez had made, there was no Preferment but what was in consequence of Service.

Sister's Son of Don Lewis de Haro, and a young Nobleman, expresses as of the Time present, when the Copy was taken from which we have the Publication; and Don Haro, Prime Minister of Spain, was a Gloss added by another Hand. Neither is Don Luis de Haro the Person here meant, for he does not seem to have been of an Age to have had a Sister who could be Mother to Don Pennelossa; but Don Lopez de Haro46 is the Person meant, Marquis de Carpio, the Father of Don Luis, who was at that Time Gentleman of the Chamber to the King, and afterwards Prime Minister, and must be understood the Son of his Wife's Sister, who was a Daughter of Olivarez, married to the Marquis de Valderiabano.

'But Admiral de Fonte, with the other three Ships, sailed from them within the Islands of Chamilly the 10th May 1640, and having the Length of Cape Abel on the W. S. W. Side of California, in 26 Degrees of N. Latitude, 160 Leagues N. W. and W. from the Isles Chamilly; the Wind sprung up at S. S. E. a steady Gale, that from the 26th of May to the 14th of June he had sailed to the River Los Reys, in 53 Degrees of North Latitude, not having Occasion to lower a Topsail, in sailing 866 Leagues N. N. W. 410 Leagues from Port Abel to Cape Blanco, 456 Leagues to Rio los Reyes, all the Time most pleasant Weather, and sailed about 260 Leagues in crooked Channels, amongst Islands named the Archipelagus de St. Lazarus; where his Ships Boats always sailed a Mile a-head, sounding to see what Water, Rocks, and Sands, there was.'

De Fonte and Pennelossa both put out to Sea together; but as their Courses were various, one to the Westward of California, and the other to enter the Gulf. They parted within the Shoals of Chiametla the tenth of May 1640; and de Fonte attaining the Length of Cape Abel in Latitude 26, one Hundred and sixty Leagues North North-west and West from the Isles of Chiametla, he then meets with a fair Wind from South South-east. By the Latitude of Cape Abel, and the Distance run, it is apparent that the Islands Chiametla mentioned, are the Islands here meant.

De Fonte, after running one Hundred and sixty Leagues from the Isles of Chiametla, in Lat. 22 Deg. 10 Min. and Long. 114 Deg. 29 Min. attaining the Length of Cape Abel in Latitude 26, his Course could not be North-west and West, but North-west by West westerly, or 61° 22´. and, instead of, by, may be supposed an Error of the Press.

Dr. Heylin mentions a convenient Haven named St. Abad, who wrote near these Times. But it is Christabel, or Christeval, the Name of a47 Cape the Extremity of the Land, which forms a Harbour or Port of the same Name Christabel. Prieto mentions no Place on the main Land but the three Islands of Casonas, which lie off at Sea, so more to Westward than this Cape. They are in Lat. 26 Deg. Long. 122 Deg. 24 Min. the Longitude of Cape Abel I make in 122 Deg. 11 Min. and he lays down the Point of Madelena in 26 Deg. 30 Min. and the Long. 123 Deg. 24 Min. which seems to be the northermost Land of such Harbour. By de Fonte mentioning the Latitude of this Cape, and not any other, he may be supposed to take from hence a new Departure, as was usual with the Spaniards when they came to this Length in these Seas, so Prieto mentions Las Bajas de los Abraja, Primier Meridiano. Lat. 25° 15´. Long. 121 Deg. 54 Min. from Lima.

De Fonte in his Run from Chiametla met with contrary Winds; but when the Length of Cape Abel, he had Wind and Weather rather unexpected in those Parts; and the Spring not being much advanced, he rather expected to have been, at Times, under his Courses, which is meant by the Expression afterwards used, that he never had occasion to lower a Topsail, and is conformable with its being a steady Gale, or did not overblow. As the Run to Los Reys terminated the fourteenth of June, de Fonte, for the whole eight Hundred and sixty Leagues, sailed after the Rate of forty-five Leagues in twenty-four Hours, which is consistent with and agreeable to the Seamens common Experience, when favoured with such Wind and Weather. Amongst the Islands would have the Assistance of the Floods, and Wind enough to stem the Ebbs.

The Computation of the eight Hundred and sixty-six Leagues is four Hundred and ten Leagues to Cape Blanquial, to which there is a Course assigned North North-west; and as to four Hundred and fifty-six Leagues to Rio los Reys, no Courses are added, which we may assign to the Courses being originally in the Margin, when one was introduced into the Copy the other was neglected. And we have just Reason to suspect the Carelessness here, as it is first called Cape Abel, then Port Abel, and the River Los Reys in 53 Degrees, and afterwards Rio los Reys, as tho' they were distinct and separate. With the N. N. W. Course Rio los Reys could not be in the Latitude de Fonte mentions.48

Port Abel, Latitude 26, Long. 122° 11´, and the Callao of Lima, being laid down Longitude 60 West from the first Meridian of Fero, and hitherto we have carried on our Computation of Longitude 80 from Paris, we shall hereafter compute from Fero and London; and Cape Christabel we compute 102° 11´ from the Meridian of Fero, or 119° 46´ from the Meridian of London.

The Course four Hundred and ten Leagues North North-west, de Fonte made Cape Blanquial in Latitude 45, Longitude from London 129° 28´, from the Meridian of Fero 111° 53´, to Northward and Westward of the Entrance of Martin Aquilar. Sufficient Observations have not been made to determine by the Geographers as to the true Latitudes and Longitudes of these Places, and, until they attain more perfect Informations, must disagree.

The Course from Blanquial is not inserted, but is to be determined by the Distance two Hundred and sixty Leagues, ending in Latitude 53 at Rio los Reys. De Fonte had, during the whole Time between Abel and Los Reys, the Wind in his Favour. Therefore his Course must have been to the Northward of the East; and if he run two Hundred and sixty Leagues, with a Course East 52° North, he would make 2 Deg. 1 Min. Latitude, and 20 Deg. 24 Min. Longitude. To correspond with which de Fonte must, for the one Hundred and ninety-six Leagues, made his Course North 52 Deg. West, which would determine in Latitude 50 Deg. 59 Min. and in Long. 141 Deg. 12 Min. from London, in 123 Deg. 27 Min. West from Fero. De Fonte would then be about thirty Leagues from the Land, agreeable to the Russian Discoveries, tho' this Voyage was made so many Years before that Attempt; a great Evidence of the Authenticity of this Account. His Conduct also in this Case was necessary, consistent with the Character of a good Seaman, not to make the Coast direct, or immediately engage with this Archipelago, to which he was a Stranger, and in Parts unknown, or where he had no sailing Directions but to form such Course as gradually to fall in with the Land, and, as the Wind was, if he saw Occasion, could at any Time stand off.

De Fonte by this Course, agreeable to the Latitude of the Suesta del Estrech D'Anian, which is laid down by Prieto in Latitude 51, would be49 to the Southern Part of the Entrance into such Archipelago, had he been Northward, as the Wind was, he would have regained it with great Difficulty and Loss of Time.

As this Table of Prieto was composed before the Russian Discoveries, and this Land, the Suesta del Estrech D'Anian, is computed in Longitude 141 Deg. 47 Min. computing Lima at 80 Deg. answerable to 238 Deg. 13 Min. East Longitude from Fero, it is a little singular that these Accounts should agree so well, as to the Longitude of this Part of America; is an Instance that Prieto did not proceed upon vague Calculations; had acquired a more exact Account than could be even supposed in these unfrequented Parts, and in his Care and Exactness, as to the more known Parts, we have no Reason to doubt but he hath laid down the Latitude and Longitude of the Suesta del Estrech de Anian, with the greatest Certainty that he could attain to.

I shall not controvert it whether these are the proper Streights of Anian. This Entrance was commonly called amongst the Navigators into those Parts by that Name, as is evident from former Accounts; and Hornius, from his Maps, which may be seen in Purchase, lays it down in the same Manner. My Intention is answered in producing an Authority from the Spaniards of New Spain, that there is an Entrance here agreeable to the Account in this Letter; also, in all Appearance, a superior Entrance to that of Martin Aguilar, which Prieto doth not expresly mention; neither could he properly; but inserts Cape Escondido in Lat. 43, and Cape Blanquial in Lat. 45, an intermediate Distance of one Hundred and twenty Miles. Again mentions the Port of Salagua in Lat. 46, and then the Port of Salado in Lat. 48; in which Interspace the Entrance of de Fuca is supposed to be.

By the Name Archipelago, de Fonte, who would give the Name with Propriety, expresses it to be a Sea; and on his Return says, he sailed down the River Los Reys to the North-east Part of the South Sea; after that returned home. Where the Word Part, properly speaking, or to use the Word as it really imports, can be no otherwise understood than as an Arm or Branch of the South Sea. Had he steered eight Hundred and sixty-six Leagues North North-west, he must necessarily have traversed50 the Courses of those brave Discoverers Capt. Beering and Tschirikow, which were from Lat. 45 in Asia, to Lat. 56 and 58 in America, and who were not interrupted by any such Islands. Capt. Tschirikow positively says, the Coast was without Islands where he was in Lat. 56; by Capt. Beering's Account in Lat. 58, the Islands lay only along the Coast; and de Fonte in his Account mentions, that he sailed in crooked Channels, amongst Islands. These various Descriptions shew that these Accounts relate to various Parts. As de Fonte could not, in the whole Extent between Asia and America, meet with such Islands, and yet was under a Necessity to pass up crooked Channels, with no small Hazard, as the Boats being a-head express, his Course must have been to the Eastward of where Captain Tschirikow fell in with the Land, and for the Distance of the two Hundred and thirty Leagues before de Fonte came to a River, to Los Reyes, was then passing up the North-east Part of the South Sea, as he terms it, and in some Part of which there were Islands, which he names the Archipelagus of St. Lazarus. There is a Singularity of Expression in the Letter, where his Boats always sailed a-head, the Word where limits the Islands to a certain Space, and that they were not extended the whole two Hundred and thirty Leagues, which is consistent with the Expedition he made, as otherwise the Ships must have often shortened sail, and it could not be avoided, and must have frequently brought up at Night.

As de Fonte did neither make the South or North Shore of this Streight, the most comprehensive Way of expressing himself was to say, he passed up these Islands, by which those who had composed his Instructions well knew the Parts he meant. It must be considered de Fonte was not as to this Part on Discovery, the Whole would be pointed out to him by his Instructions, which being to fall in with the Islands, or Entrance in such a Latitude, to mention either the North or South Limit of the Entrance would be improper; whereas the contrary was the Case as to Cape St. Helena, Francisco, Passao, and Cape Abel, as his Instructions were express, as to the making these Lands.

As de Fonte made a true Course East 81° North, subtract the Longitude 20 Deg. 24 Min. from the Longitude 141 Deg. 12 Min. from London, and from the 123 Deg. 27 Min. from Fero. The Entrance to the51 River _Los Reys_ lies in Lat. 53 Deg. Long. 120 Deg. 48 Min. from _London_, and 103 Deg. 3 Min. West from Fero. And that his Course was now Easterly is plain from the subsequent Words of the Letter, as they sailed more Easterly. It was also confident with the Purpose they were sent on, to meet a Vessel from Boston.

'The 22d of June Admiral de Fonte dispatched one of his Captains to Pedro de Barnarda, to sail up a fair River, a gentle Stream, and deep Water, went first N. and N. E. N. and N. W. into a large Lake full of Islands, and one very large Peninsula full of Inhabitants, a friendly honest People in this Lake, he named Lake Valasco, where Captain Barnarda left his Ship; nor all up the River was less than 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Fathom Water, both the Rivers and Lakes abounding with Salmon Trouts, and very large white Perch, some of two Foot long; and with three large Indian Boats, by them called Periagos, made of two large Trees 50 or 60 Foot long. Capt. Barnarda first sailed from his Ships in the Lake Valasco, one Hundred and forty Leagues West, and then 436 E. N. E. to 77 Degrees of Latitude. Admiral de Fonte, after he had dispatched Capt. Barnarda on the Discovery of the North and East Part of the Tartarian Sea.'

We may suppose, from the Manner in which this Part was managed, that there was a great Necessity to get the Translation finished in any Manner. As the Difficulties of the Translation increased, the Design of this Account being only Amusement, the Translator thought it would answer the Purpose to give the Account in gross.

The Date, the 22d June, is an apparent Error, by reason de Fonte did not enter into Lake Belle, as will be shewn hereafter, until that Time.

Admiral de Fonte dispatched one of his Captains to Pedro de Barnarda, to sail up a fair River, gentle Stream, and deep Water. Then the Translation breaks off abruptly, and the Translator renders the following Part as an Account of Bernarda's Voyage, not observing how just a Connection there is with de Fonte dispatching one of his Captains to Bernarda; and what follows being the Orders sent by him, and the Instructions52 for Bernarda; instead of being Bernarda's Account of his Expedition, and not observing how consistent it is with being a summary Recital of those Instructions these Words are which follow, Admiral de Fonte, after he had dispatched Captain Bernarda on the Discovery, &c.

As to his dispatching one of his Captains, he must be supposed to have besides the Captain of the Ship he was in, also one called an Admiral's Captain. The Instructions were of such Consequence, that a less Person might not be so properly employed, nor consistent with the Respect due to Bernarda.

De Fonte and Bernarda were Strangers here; but these Parts had been already discovered, as it is expresly said that two Pater Jesuits had been here two Years, and made Observations as far as the Latitude 66. From their Discoveries we may conclude, that these Instructions were formed which Bernarda received, and those of the whole Course of the Voyage; and it was necessary that de Fonte should not only mention that he had dispatched Bernarda, but should also, with the Brevity due to a Letter, mention the Orders with which he dispatched him. And further from what is expressed in those Orders, as to the River, the Course and Soundings, what Fish were in the River and Lake, the Road or Harbour which was to be found in the Lake, the Temper and Disposition of the Inhabitants, it evidently appears that there had been a prior Discovery of these Parts, and Observations made of every Thing worthy of Consideration, and necessary also at this Time to be mentioned to Bernarda. To let him know that his Ship could pass up the River, would find a Harbour in the Lake, he had nothing to fear from the Natives, and would meet with Provisions. There leaving his Ship he might be furnished with Periagos to proceed. And I understand his Directions to steer first North and North-east, then North and North-west, that he might make no Mistake by pursuing or entering into any other Openings which might present themselves in his Course up, and which from their Appearance might perplex him, as to which of them he was to enter; no uncommon Thing, as those who have been to Northward on like Undertakings will allow.53

'The Admiral sailed up a very navigable River, which he named Rio los Reys, that run nearest N. E. but on several Points of the Compass 60 Leagues, at low Water, in a fair navigable Channel, not less than 4 or 5 Fathom Water. It flowed on both Rivers near the same Water, in the River Los Reys, 24 Feet Full and Change of the Moon; a S. S. E. Moon made high Water. It flowed in the River Haro, 22 Feet and a half Full and Change. They had two Jesuits with them, that had been on their Mission to 66 Degrees of North Latitude, and had made curious Observations.'

De Fonte, having dispatched Bernarda, sets out on his Part of the Expedition, and proceeds up the River Los Reys, at the Entrance of which he had arrived the fourteenth of June. During his Stay, until Bernarda was dispatched and sailed, he seems to have taken an accurate Account of the Tides in both Rivers. The Distance up the River was more than sixty Leagues, and though a good navigable Channel, yet would require a great Precaution in his Proceeding with the two Ships; Tide Times and the Night would make it necessary for him to bring too; for had he touched the Ground with either of them, the Delay that might have followed on such Accident, might have defeated this Part of the Undertaking, and the most important, and which, therefore, was allotted to him to execute.

Their having had two Jesuits with them seems an additional Note. That two Jesuits should be sent into those Parts to make Observations, is but consistent with the general Practice of the Jesuits to go on Missions into all Parts of the Globe, engaged by a special Vow, not injoined any other Order, to be always ready to go and preach whithersoever they shall be sent.

These Jesuits are by no Means a singular Instance of the People of that Order being great Adventurers, when we consider those who ventured to the Philippinas and Japan, enforced by the Vow, puffed up with the Vanity of popular Applause, the Favour of the President, and the Hope of being acceptable to the rest of the Order on their return from such Mission, expecting by such Mission to add to the Wealth or Reputation of the Order. The Effect of this Mission seems to have been they had acquired54 the Favour of the Natives. Had made some Observations of the Country, but principally to Northward, as to which they seem not to have got a perfect Account; though they did a great deal for the Time, the Unseasonableness of the Winter, and the melting Weather in the Spring considered; nor is it strange they should not get a perfect Account, in a Country so intermixed with Waters, which hide themselves in their Courses between inaccessible Mountains; and in many Places where they are to be come at, are deceitful in their Appearance, as to what they really are, whether Lakes, Gulphs of the Sea, or Inlets. As they proceeded to the Northward, they thought it the Part that principally claimed their Observation. Were of Opinion as to the Northward, that it was Part of the Continent of New Spain, or they would not have lead de Fonte to Los Reys, but caused him to proceed up that Streight which separated the Part they had been in from New Spain. As to this Mission not being known to the Publick, these Jesuits must have been sent from Europe into New Spain; and they would so far regard their Obedience to the Pope, as to pay due Respect to the King of Spain's Authority, in observing the established Maxim of the Time, as to keep their Discoveries a Secret from the Publick or other Nations. And as to all Missionaries who went into New Spain, the King of Spain hath a Power to call them to Account, by the Pope's Permission, though not permitted in Old Spain to meddle with ecclesiastical Affairs, or ecclesiastical Men.

'A Letter from Captain Barnarda, dated the 27th of June 1740, that he had left his Ship in the Lake Valasco, betwixt the Islands Barnarda and the Peninsula Conibasset, a very safe Port; it went down the River from the Lake 3 Falls, 80 Leagues, and fell into the Tartarian Sea in 61 Deg. with the Pater Jesuits, and 36 Natives, in three of their Boats, and 20 of his Spanish Seamen; that the Land trended away North East; that they should want no Provision, the Country abounding with Venison of three Sorts, and the Sea and Rivers with excellent Fish (Bread, Salt, Oil, and Brandy they carried with them) that he should do what was possible. The Admiral, when he received the Letter from Captain Barnarda, was arrived at an Indian Town called Conosset, on the South Side Lake Belle, where the two Pater Jesuits on their Mission had been two Years; a pleasant Place. The Admiral, with his two Ships, enter'd the Lake the 22d of June.'55

The Letter from Bernarda being dated the 27th of June, it is impossible he should finish all that Business in four Days, which he gives de Fonte an Account of: This also confirms its being a Mistake as to the 22d of June, being the Time he received his Dispatches. It might well take Bernarda from the fourteenth of June to the twenty-seventh to receive his Dispatches, to pass up the River, and to the Peninsula in Lake Valasco, procure the Natives, who were not under his Command, get all Things fitted, and set out. And what this Letter contains, makes it evident it could be no Account of his Voyage that was before-mentioned.

This Letter is apparently an Answer to the Dispatches Bernarda received from de Fonte. He mentions, that he had left his Ship, agreeable to Orders, and in a safe Port; gives an Account how he was equipped to proceed; the Number of the Persons he had with him; that he had thirty-six of the Natives, which is conformable to the Character given of them, a friendly honest People, and shews the Influence of the Jesuits. These Natives, by joining in the Expedition, were Hostages for the good Behaviour of the others towards his People left behind, and an Assurance to Bernarda for the Security of his Ship left at the Port, were of great Use as Pilots as to the Coast, and also in sailing and managing their Periagos. Their having these Periagos implies they had a Country abounding with Waters; and it was their usual Way of passing from one Part to another, Time and Experience had made them expert in the Management of them; and by shifting from one Part to the other as the Seasons required for hunting or fishing, and by Excursions out of their own Country either for War or Curiosity, as is the Nature of Indians, they were become acquainted not only with the inland Waters, but also the Sea Coasts.

De Fonte had ordered Captain Bernarda that he should sail one Hundred and fifty Leagues West (but is rather to be believed a Mistake from not understanding the Compass, Oeste and Este being so similar) and then four Hundred and thirty-six Leagues East North East to 77 Degrees of Latitude. In Answer to which Bernarda here mentions, that from the Lake Valasco there was a River in which there was three Falls, eighty Leagues in Distance, and fell into the Tartarian Sea, in Latitude56 61; that the Land trended away North East, and that he would do what was possible. By which Expression it is plain, that he did not pursue the exact Course that de Fonte directed; probably that Course was pointed out to Bernarda by which the Jesuits had travelled to Latitude 66, but pursued a Course more immediate and direct to attain to Latitude 77, the Back of Baffin's Bay, as to which the Natives had informed him; and that though he did not pursue the Course directed by de Fonte, which he found not to be so consistent with the Design he was sent on, yet he would do all that was possible to answer that Design. And the Expression also implies, that he was sensible he should meet with Difficulties, which he might expect from the Climate, the Ice, and the Fatigue; but as to the Article of Provisions, was in no Fear on that Account. As to what is mentioned as to Venison of three Sorts, they were the small Deer, the Moose, and the Elk, all which are in the Northern Parts about Hudson's Bay, and the Labrador Coast.

The Name of Haro given to the River is a particular Compliment to Don Haro, who was the Head of the Houses of Valasco; and the Name of Valasco, in Compliment to the other Houses, of that Family. Which Respect shewn by de Fonte seems to indicate a particular Connection with, or his being related to that Family, as already mentioned. Valasco, as here wrote, with a va, as those Families did write it at that Time, and one of that Family, who was Constable of Castile, in his Titles is named John Ferdinandes de Vallasco, Constable of Castilia, &c. now Lord of the Houses of Vallasco, &c. and by the Orthography in the Letter being so conformable with that which was used at that Time, and not with a ve as at present, we have very good Reason to suppose, that the Letter was not only wrote in Spanish, but also by de Fonte on his return from his Voyage. Don Ferdinandez was living in 1610, and succeeded by his Son, in his Title and Honour of Constable of Castile, Don Bernardino, who was living at the Time of the Voyage.

'The Admiral entered the Lake an Hour before high Water, and there was no Fall or Cataract, and 4 and 5 Fathom Water, and 6 and 7 Fathom Water generally in the Lake Belle. There is a little Fall of Water half Flood, and an Hour and Quarter before high Water the Flood begins to set gently into Lake Belle: The River is fresh at57 20 Leagues Distance from the Mouth or Entrance of the River Los Reyes. The River and Lake abounds with Salmon, Salmon Trouts, Pikes, Perch and Mullets, and two other Sorts of Fish peculiar to that River, admirable good; and Lake Belle also abounds with all those Sorts of Fish large and delicate: And Admiral de Fonte also says, the Mullets catched in Rios Reyes and Lake Belle, are much delicater than are to be found, he believes, in any Part of the World.'

De Fonte was not inactive from the 14th to the 22d of June. Various Courses, contrary Winds, waiting for the Tides at times; from the Circumstance of the Tide as to Lake Belle, that there is a Fall until half Flood, and it is an Hour and Quarter only before high Water that the Flood makes in, evidences that there was a Current against him; and it is further evident, as on his return he was but two Days running from Conosset to the Entrance of the River Los Reyes.

De Fonte is very particular in his Account, being now to take a Survey of the Parts through which a Passage was expected, and in which Parts he now was. He mentions the Trial of the Tides at Los Reyes and Haro; gives a particular Account of the Navigation up Los Reyes, and to Lake Belle; that it was fresh Water after they were sixty Miles up the River; and what is no immaterial Circumstance in this Affair, shews how far the Waters from Westward flowed up, which he instances in the Account of the Fish. That such as came out of the Sea into the Land or fresh Waters to spawn at those Seasons, and afterwards return to the Sea, went no further than Lake Belle; for here he found the Mother Fish, as he describes them, large and delicate, superior to those in the River, and indulges his Fancy, so delicate as, he believes, they are not to be exceeded in any other Part of the World. De Fonte, in his Orders to Bernarda, shewed it was fresh Water in Part of Haro, and in the Lake Conibasset, from the Salmon and Perch, in which he means Sea Perch, which come into fresh Waters at this Season of the Year.

'The first of July 1640, Admiral de Fonte sailed from the rest of his Ships in the Lake Belle, in a good Port, covered by a fine Island, before the Town of Conosset, from thence to a River I named Parmentiers,58 in Honour of my industrious judicious Comrade Mr. Parmentiers, who had most exactly marked every Thing in and about that River.'

We now proceed to consider the Remainder of Admiral de Fonte's Letter, which was published in June 1708.

Admiral de Fonte, when he received the Letter from Capt. Bernarda, was arrived at an Indian Town called Conosset, in the Lake Belle; and as he entered such Lake the twenty-second, probably arrived at the Town the same Day; staid eight Days, and then sailed the first of July. That Bernarda should write, as to the Situation of his Affairs, must have been before concerted between them, they having been informed by the Jesuits or Parmentiers, that it was practicable for Bernarda to send such Message, that the Admiral might know whether Bernarda had met with any Accident as to his Ship, or any other Obstacle to his Proceeding, as he might assist him from those Ships Companies then with the Admiral. How the Letter was conveyed is not expressed; probably by a Seaman with an Indian Guide (the Distance between the Admiral and Bernarda, at this Time, will be considered hereafter) who would use all possible Expedition both by Land and Water: Had the Advantage of very short Nights. De Fonte would not proceed until he received this Account, though ready as soon as he received it. As de Fonte sailed on the first of July, that Account must have come to his Hand the thirtieth of June.

The Ships being secure in a good Harbour, and the Command left with Ronquillo, the Admiral proceeds to the River Parmentiers, so named in Honour of Mons. Parmentiers, whom he stiles his Comrade, and commends his Industry and Judgment in the Survey of such River, and the Parts adjacent. From his being stiled his Comrade, he was in no Command, as he could not have a Commission without having been bred in the Service, and a Native of Spain. Therefore being a Person immediately necessary for to have on this Occasion, he is introduced under the Character of a Friend and Companion. Mr. Gage mentions, Chap. xv. of his new Survey of the West Indies, one Thomas Rocalono, a Frenchman, a Prior of the Cloister of Cemitlan, who, with himself, was the only Stranger in that Country, by which he means in that Part where he was;59 and it implies there being others in other Parts, which falsifies the Assertion that no Frenchman was ever admitted in Peru.

The Countries of Quivira and Anian were represented, at that Time, to be barren or desolate; as is also evident from the Description of the Inhabitants eating raw Flesh, drinking Blood, and in all Respects suitable to the Character of the Eskemaux Indians, who by Choice, not Necessity, make Use of such Diet when out a hunting or travelling, which expresses those Parts to be very inhospitable, and where the Indians only frequent at certain Seasons, in Pursuit of the wild Game, and for fishing. And Cibola is represented as a Country which hath a Cultivation, where the Indians constantly live, and seem a different People from those of Quivira and Anian. This is agreeable to the Accounts given at that Time, which is sufficient to shew that the Jesuits could not expect that they should be able, or would undertake to pass through such a Country as Quivira and Anian in Pursuit of their Discoveries to Northward; therefore must have taken some Opportunity of being conveyed there, which could only be by some Persons who had been on these Coasts, and had, through Necessity, Interest, or Curiosity, passed up these Waters, and surveyed the adjacent Country in Pursuit of something which might turn out to their private Emolument: Nor were such Attempts unprecedented, even on our Parts, though the Hazards were much greater. The private Trade carried on by the People from Boston, in Hudson's Bay, before there was a Grant to the Company; which Trading might not have come to the Knowledge of the People in England, or been known to the Publick for a Series of Years, had it not been for an Accident which happened to Captain Gillam, who thereupon made a Discovery of this Trade. Nor is there the least Improbability but that Parmentiers had, on some Occasion, introduced himself into these Parts, had invited the Jesuits to a Mission there, who, on other Missions, had undertaken what hath been much more hazardous, and succeeded. There were sufficient Motives for that Undertaking; the Northern Bounds were then unknown, so that they could not affirm America to be Continent, nor certainly to be an Island distinguished from the old World. This is the Account Mr. Gage gives us, Chap. xiii. and mentioning that he will not write, as many do, by Relation and Hearsay, but by more sure Intelligence, Insight and Experience. He says Quivira is seated on the60 most Western Part of America, just over against Tartary; from whence, being not much distant, some suppose that the Inhabitants came into this new World. The West Side of America, if it be not Continent with Tartary, it yet disjoined by a small Streight. Here then was a sufficient Matter to encourage a Mission of this Sort, and to keep a Progress to the Eastward, or in America, with the Discoveries that were going on by the Missionars sent to Japan; and there was a Propriety in this being done, as the Coasts of both were supposed to be at no great Distance from each other: And this was expresly the Purpose of their Mission, as it is said they had been to Latitude 66, and made curious Observations, on which Account they were with Bernarda. As Parmentiers went to the Eastward with de Fonte, who must have had a different Motive from them for coming into those Parts, he must have had his own private Emolument in view, his better Success in which depended on his Secrecy, as he thereby prevented others from interfering; which Consideration would prevail with him, as with all Traders, superior to any Satisfaction the Publick might have from his Informations; and as Trade would be carried on most successfully where the Inhabitants were more numerous, we find he had found his Way to Eastward, apparently the most populous, as the Jesuits had gone to the Northward and Westward, principally as most consistent with their Plan; tho' Conosset was where the Jesuits had been first introduced, where their courteous Behaviour and Management of the Natives, would be of Advantage to Parmentiers. In searching for the most popular and inhabited Part of the Country, he would become acquainted with the Geography of those Parts necessarily, Depths of Water, Shoals, Tides, which his own Preservation, and the better conducting of himself would naturally lead him to observe; but there might be a more particular Reason for his Observation of the River Parmentiers, and of all the Parts about it; and therefore he had been so exact as to the Falls, which were the Obstruction of the Ship Navigation through to the Eastern Sea, that lay beyond the Streights of Ronquillo, for his own private Advantage; by opening a new and extensive Trade, he would have greatly promoted it if he had found this Communication practicable for Ships of Burthen.

The People that Captain Tchirikow met with on the Coast is no Objection to the Character given of those within Land in this Letter, as it61 is from Experience known that the Eskemaux, who are along the Coast of the Labrador, are cruel and thievish; but that Indians of a different Disposition live within Land.

As to Parmentiers being the general Interpreter for all, he is not said to be so. He would, for the Benefit it would be to him in his Trade, endeavour to learn the Language, and would of course acquire something of it unavoidably, as he frequented amongst the Indians: And it must be observed, though there are many different Nations, and there is a Difference in Dialect, yet there is a Language which all those Nations will understand, called the Council Language.

That Voyages had been made to these Parts more than once is evident, as the Jesuits staid there two Years, therefore did not return with the same Opportunity by which they came there, but another; and it is probable that there had been a Voyage prior to that, which had encouraged them to undertake this Mission.

In what Manner de Fonte proceeded, the Boats and Number of Persons he had with him, the Translator hath omitted. It is mentioned, that de Fonte sailed from the rest of his Ships; the River Parmentiers hath Falls of thirty-two Feet perpendicular Height from its Source to where it issues into Lake de Fonte; so again, on the South Side Lake Belle on board our Ships; and had it been with his Ship, his Inference that there was no North-west Passage would have been unjust, as his meeting with this Ship the Vessel from Boston, would have effectually proved the contrary.

'We passed eight Falls, in all 32 Foot, perpendicular from its Source out of Lake Belle; it falls into the large Lake I named Lake de Fonte, at which Place we arrived the 6th of July. This Lake is 160 Leagues long, and 60 broad; the Length is East North East, and West South West, to twenty or thirty, in some Places sixty Fathom deep; the Lake abounds with excellent Cod and Ling, very large and well fed; there are several very large Islands, and ten small ones; they are covered with shrubby Woods; the Moss grows six or seven Foot long, with which the Moose, a very large Sort of Deer, are fat with in the62 Winter, and other lesser Deer, as Fallow, &c. There are Abundance of wild Cherries, Strawberries, Hurtleberries, and wild Currants; and also of wild Fowls, Heath Cocks and Hens; likewise Partridges and Turkeys; and Sea Fowl in great Plenty. On the South Side the Lake is a very large fruitful Island, had a great many Inhabitants, and very excellent Timber, as Oaks, Ashes, Elm and Fir Trees, very large and tall.'

We here again see the Form of the Letter, de Fonte expressing himself, as in the first Part of the Letter, I named Parmentiers, my industrious; and there are other Instances.

The River Parmentiers, which is the Communication by which the Waters of Lake Belle are conveyed into the Lake de Fonte, so named we may suppose not in Compliment to himself, which would be absurd, but of his Family, as the Expression is, I named Lake de Fonte, though it almost deserves the Name of a Mediterranean Sea; but from having a superior Water near it, with which it communicated, de Fonte calls it a Lake. It is not a casual naming of Places, or Waters, as Hudson's Bay, given to that great Mediterranean Sea, and continued, but the Names of the Waters he passed through, would be given with Exactness and Propriety. In the Lake de Fonte there was a great Depth of Water, also Banks, as there is said to be in some Parts twenty or thirty Fathom Water, as is also evident from the Cod and Ling there, and which instance it to be a Salt Water Lake. It was the Season when these Fish come to the Northward to spawn. The shrubby Wood on the Islands, the Moss for the Subsistence of the Deer hanging on the Trees, the wild Cherries and other Fruits ripening at that Season of the Year, are all corresponding Tokens of his being advanced to the North-east Part of America, is agreeable in all the above Respects to the Country Northward and Westward in Canada, about the River St. Lawrence, to the interior Parts of the Country of Labrador, in Lat. 56; but as you proceed further to Northward, the high rocky Mountains, which in this Part are only confined to the Coast, then extend more inland, increase in their Height, and in Lat. 59° and 60°, the whole Country, as far as Baffin's Bay, seems to consist only of Ridges of barren Mountains, interspersed with Waters; and the Progress of the Productions, as to Trees63 and Plants, gradually decreases from a more flourishing to an inferior Sort, as you proceed to Northward; in Lat. 59, on the Western Side of Hudson's Bay to the Northward of Seal River, there is no Wood, only Grass and a small Shrub of about a Foot in Heighth, which continues, as far as it is known to Westward, and a thin Soil, with a hard rocky Stone just below the Surface, and very frequently there are large Ponds of standing Water.

De Fonte seems to have made a Stop at the Island at the South of Lake de Fonte, to take Refreshment, and make Inquiry as to the Boston Ship, it being out of his Course, or on any other Account to go there.

'The 14th of July we sailed out of the East North-east End of the Lake de Fonte, and passed a Lake I named the Estricho de Ronquillo, thirty-four Leagues long, two or three Leagues broad, twenty, twenty-six and twenty-eight Fathom of Water; we passed this Streight in ten Hours, having a stout Gale of Wind, and a whole Ebb. As we sailed more Easterly the Country grew very sensibly worse.'

What follows, 'as it is in the North and South Parts of America,' appears to me an additional Comment.

De Fonte mentions, as he went more Easterly the Country grew worse; from which it may be supposed he found the Alteration to begin when he was come to the Eastern Part of the Lake, and more so, as he passed the Streights of Ronquillo.

Where the Streight of Ronquillo terminated de Fonte makes no mention; gives us no Account of the Soundings or Tides; but his Silence here, and the preceding Circumstances, sufficiently prove that he thought himself then in some Branch of the Atlantick Ocean. And it is to be observed there is the same affected Silence here as to the Part he was come into, as when he had left the Western Ocean and entered the North-east Part of the South Sea to pass up to Los Reys.

'The 17th we came to an Indian Town, and the Indians told our Interpreter Mons. Parmentiers, that a little Way from us lay a great Ship, where there never had been one before.'64

The Indian telling the Interpreter Parmentiers, which expresses a Kind of Acquaintance made between them, and de Fonte's passing out of the Lake into the Sea, coming to a Town, and Parmentiers knowing the Language, is an Evidence of Parmentiers' having been there before. And we may suppose, that from the Time they left the River Parmentiers, de Fonte had been on the Inquiry, it being now Time to expect the People from Boston; and what the Indian told him was in pursuance of such Inquiry.

'We sailed to them, and found only one Man advanced in Years, and a Youth; the Man was the greatest Man in the Mechanical Parts of the Mathematicks, I had ever met with; my second Mate was an Englishman, an excellent Seaman, as was my Gunner, who had been taken Prisoners at Campechy, as well as the Master's Son; they told me the Ship was of New England, from a Town called Boston. The Owner and the whole Ship's Company came on board the thirtieth; and the Navigator of the Ship, Captain Shapley, told me, his Owner was a fine Gentleman, and Major General of the largest Colony in New England, called the Maltechusets; so I received him like a Gentleman, and told him my Commission was to make a Prize of any People seeking a North-west or West Passage into the South Sea; but I would look on them as Merchants trading with the Natives for Bevers, Otters and other Furs and Skins, and so for a small Present of Provisions I had no need on, I gave him my Diamond Ring, which cost me twelve Hundred Pieces of Eight (which the modest Gentleman received with difficulty) and having given the brave Navigator Captain Shapley, for his fine Charts and Journals, a Thousand Pieces of Eight, and the Owner of the Ship, Seimor Gibbons, a quarter Cask of good Peruan Wine, and the ten Seamen, each twenty Pieces of Eight, the sixth of August, with as much Wind as we could fly before and a Current, we arrived at the first Fall of the River Parmentiers.'

De Fonte makes no Delay, but immediately proceeds as the Case required; finds an old Man aboard, the Man (as being a great Mechanick might be very useful on such an Expedition) and a Youth, might venture to stay, their Age would plead as to any Severity that might be intended by de Fonte; and through the Fear of which Severity the others65 retired into the Woods, where they could manage without being sensible of those Difficulties which Europeans apprehend. To leave the Ship without any one aboard, de Fonte could of Course have taken her as being deserted; and by their Retirement into the Woods, his Pursuit of them there would have alarmed the Indians, and more especially if he had attempted any Severity, it might have been fatal to him and his Company, from the Resistance they might have met with, not only from the Boston People, but the Indians assisting them, as they would have considered it as an Insult, an Exercise of Power which they would apprehend he had no Right to use in those Parts, as to a People who were trading with them, and been the Occasion that the Spaniards would have been no more received as Friends in those Parts.

De Fonte had particularly provided himself with some Englishmen, who, by a friendly Converse with the People from Boston, might endeavour to learn their Secrets, and prepare them the better by what they would be instructed to tell them to come to a Compliance with the Admiral's Intentions. The Result of this Affair de Fonte only mentions; but they would not have staid away so long, would have returned sooner aboard, had they only left the Ship on Account of Trade. Trade was only a secondary Object, the Discovery was the principal, and they would not have staid in one Place, at this Season, had they not been necessitated through a Fear of de Fonte so to do. It may be supposed the Englishmen who were with de Fonte, two of whom were from Campechy, and the other become Catholick, as he was married to the Master's Daughter, they would not act either with much Sincerity or Truth as to their own Countrymen, but managed with the old Man to bring the Owner, Navigator, and rest of the Crew aboard.

On their return the Navigator of the Ship was the first who waited on the Admiral, and he calls him Captain Shapley, his Name Nicholas Shapley, who was famous as a Navigator, for his Knowledge in the Mathematicks and other Branches of Science, that the common People supposed he dealt in the Magick Art, and had the Name given him of Old Nick, not by the People of Boston, but by a Set of Libertines as they termed them, and who had separated from the People of Boston, and gone to live by themselves at Piscatua, where he was settled at a66 Place called Kittery, in the Province of Main; the Name of Kittery given by his Brother Alexander Shapley, to a Tract of Land he had settled on there; and they write the Name Shapley exactly in the Manner in which it is wrote in the Letter. The Brother Alexander was a Cotemporary at Oxford with Captain James, who went on Discovery, and his Acquaintance. The Descendants of Alexander, a genteel People, were not many Years since living at Kittery; but Nicholas Shapley retired to New London, where he had a Son that was living in the Year one Thousand seven Hundred and fifty-two, a Fisherman. The Family at Kittery were very shy as to giving any Information as to what they knew in this Affair, upon an Application by the Author of these Observations, or looking into Alexander's Papers, as an officious Person had got beforehand, and discouraged them from giving any Gratification of this Sort, under Pretence, if their Papers were seen, it might give some Insight into a Lawsuit depending between the Branches of the Family, or expected to be commenced; and that there was a great Reward for the Discovery of a North-west Passage, which, if the Account was attained from them they would be intitled to a Part, which by this Means they would be deprived of. Jealousies of this Kind raised by a pretended, at least an ignorant Friend, against the Application of a Stranger, who assured them he was superior to any Trick of that Sort, and would give them any Satisfaction in his Power as they should propose, occasioned a Disappointment. The Son of Captain Nicholas, upon an Application made by the Author likewise, had nothing but his Father's Sea Chest, in which, there were once a great many Papers, and which his Mother, the Wife of Captain Nicholas, made a great Account of; but the Son being an illiterate Man, had made Use of them in the Family as waste Paper. I have mentioned him as illiterate, but he was a well meaning Man, and he had heard his Mother talk something about such an Affair; but I shall not lay a Stress upon the Account he gave, as he may be supposed prompted by the earnest Manner of the Inquiry to give grateful Answers, in Expectation of a Reward. The Number of Settlers in all Piscatua, the Province of Main included, did not at that Time exceed four Hundred People, but is now become a well settled Country; yet there was amongst the antient People about Kittery, a Tradition of Captain Nicholas having been on such a Voyage, and as to which, on proper Application to Persons who have Influence, and will make due Inquiry, it appears to me the Publick67 will receive a farther Satisfaction than they may at present expect. A considerable Merchant who lived at Falmouth in Piscatua, a Man of Character, no Way biassed for or against a North-west Passage, but as he is since dead, I may take the Liberty to say, married a Daughter of his late Excellency Governor Weymouth, mentioned an Anecdote respecting his Father, who was a very antient Man: That when the Dispute was between the late Governor Dobbs and Captain Middleton, he said, Why do they make such a Fuzz about this Affair, our Old Nick (meaning Captain Shapley) was through there? And this antient Gentleman had been an Intimate of Captain Shapley's.

Early in the Year before this Voyage Major General Gibbons went with others over to Piscatua, to have a Conference about Church Matters; and Mr. Alexander Shapley was one on the Part of the Settlers in Piscatua, and who had but returned from England the Fall before. At this Meeting, probably, they fixed on the Time and Manner of executing the Design, which they had before concerted. This whole Affair was concerted in an obscure Part, the Affair not known to the People of Boston, as it was more to the Purpose of those who undertook it to keep it a Secret; and probably Major Gibbons was more inclined it should be so, as he had before met with two Disappointments. The Characters of the Persons were such, as by whom it is very reasonable to suppose such an Expedition might be undertaken. Mr. Alexander Shapley was a Merchant, a lively, active, enterprising Man; sufficient to this Purpose hath been said of his Brother: And we may add to the Character of Major General Gibbons, it was said of him, that he was much of a Gentleman, a brave, social and friendly Man, had the latter End of the Year 1639 a Commission to be Captain of the Fort, was one of the Council, also concerned in Church Matters, as appears from Records. But during the Time that this Voyage was making, that worthy Pastor of Boston and great Antiquarian Mr. Prince, who, from a generous Disposition to get at the Truth, used extraordinary Industry in this Affair, by searching the Records in the old Church there in the Year 1752, could not find his Hand set to any Thing, or any Matters relating to Major General Gibbons, tho' he found Papers signed by him frequently before, and other Transactions in which he is mentioned to be concerned, also after the Time of this Voyage, and the only Objection that he could find was,68 that the Wife of Major General Gibbons must have had a seven Months Child, if he went on such Voyage, as it was a Custom in the Church of Boston, at that Time, that the Child should be brought to be baptized the Sunday after it was born; and by the Register it appears that this was the Case, according to the Time that it must be supposed he returned.

The Name was Edward Gibbons; and Seimor is a Mistake of the Translator, not observing that as de Fonte respectfully stiles Shapley Captain, he would not mention the Owner by his Christian Name only, a fine Gentleman and a Major General, but stiles him agreeable thereto after the Spanish Manner Sennor; and this Mistake of the Translator, as to the Name, and not observing that the Major General and the Owner were one and the same Person, shews that the Translator and Editors knew nothing of the Persons mentioned.

What is said of the largest Colony in New England, called the Maltechusets: The Dominions of New England consisted, at that Time, of the Colonies of Plymouth, Massachusets, and Connecticut, of which Massachusets was the largest, as New Hampshire, Piscatua, and the Province of Main, were under its Jurisdiction: And it is a little remarkable that the Admiral should call it the Maltechusets; he apprehended it a Mistake, though so exact as to the Names Shapley and Gibbons; seems to have given the Alteration agreeable to his own Ideas, and that it must have Reference to Malta.

The old Man told them the Ship was of New England, from the Town called Boston, which was the only Place where they could fit out properly or conveniently, the Part where Shapley lived consisting only of a few scattered Houses, and as it was very frequent from Boston to make Voyages to the Northward, their true Design for further Discoveries might remain a Secret to all but themselves.

De Fonte's Address to Gibbons as the Owner, represented so on this Occasion to serve the Purpose, though the Vessel seems to have been Alexander Shapley's, implies that he understood, or took the Advantage on finding they had been trading with the Indians, that they had two Purposes in their Undertaking, to discover a Passage, and to trade. As to the first, de Fonte tells him he had an Order to make a Prize of any69 People seeking a West or North-west Passage, speaking in general Terms, not of them only, so concealing the Advice he had received as to their particular undertaking of this Discovery; nor could it be peculiarly understood as to the Subjects of England, for the Danes also, to their immortal Honour, had before attempted the same Discovery; and in Consequence let him know that the Part he was in was of the Dominions of the Crown of Spain, as his Commission could be of no Force beyond the Extent of that Dominion. De Fonte's Address likewise implied, that as he would consider them only as Traders, that he would not make Prisoners of them on that Account; but expected after this Adventure that others would learn to keep nearer home, for Fear of falling into a like Accident, and meeting not with the same favourable Treatment. Nevertheless he takes effectual Measures to embarrass them on their Return, and obliges them to stay no longer in those Parts, as he takes from them what de Fonte calls a small Present of Provisions, which he had no Need on, but he knew they might, and as to which, the Affair of Provisions, he gave such an Attention to, through the Course of his Voyage; and though small what he accepted in respect to the Subsistance of those he had with him, yet as the Sequel will shew, was afterwards the Occasion of infinite Distress to the Boston People. The Gift in return, which is pompously mentioned at twelve Hundred Pieces of Eight, when we consider the Price Things bore of this Sort where he purchased it, in Peru, as he estimates by Pieces of Eight, the Manner of Valuation in those Parts, would not be to Gibbons a Hundred Pounds Sterling; and the Present to the Seamen must be considered as in lieu of these Provisions; and by this Means of mutual Presents countenanced what was absolutely extorted by Force, as was the Case with Shapley, as to his Charts and Journals, which he would not have parted with, but constrained through Fear; and by his English Seamen de Fonte could let them know that the Provisions, Charts, and Journals would be acceptable. He executed his Design in this Manner, that if the Boston People returned there could be no proper Foundation for the Court of England to take Umbrage at his Proceeding.

The Generosity of de Fonte so exceeding what their Present and the Charts and Journals could be worth, would be considered as to make them some Satisfaction for their Disappointment; for the Fears they had70 been put into, and their being detained there; the Gift of Wine, might be from a Respect to Major General Gibbons, as an Officer, whom de Fonte stiles modest, tho' he might perceive it to be the Effect of his Uneasiness on being thus intercepted. In all other Respects, what he gave was a Debt which the Crown of Spain would pay, would be considered as Money advanced in their Service; a Sum of no Consideration with them, as he had met with these People, procured their Charts by which they got into the Secret, by what Way they had advanced so far, and probably very particular Charts and Journals of the other Voyagers whom Gibbons was acquainted with; and he would endeavour to be furnished with all Materials which he could probably procure before that he set out. It would be greatly commended by the Court of Spain the artful Management of de Fonte in distressing these People, and not with a seeming Intention, and giving an absolute Discouragement to other Adventurers, who would be afraid of falling into the Spaniards Hands, whom it would be supposed constantly frequented those Parts.

De Fonte only mentions the Issue of this Affair, what would be immediately necessary for the Court to know; he mentions no intervening Circumstances, nor what Time there was between their Examination and the Presents, whether he or they sailed first, but it must be supposed they were more than a Day together, and that de Fonte would see them out of those Parts, as, if they had staid longer, they might probably have supplied themselves well with Provisions, and proceeded further; but as they were circumstanced, they would be put under a Necessity to set out for home, would be glad to leave him the first Opportunity; and as de Fonte seems to be waiting for a Wind, which he had the sixth of August, and it had in the interim been fair for the Boston People, they were certainly gone before that de Fonte set out on his Return.

In the Ecclesiastical History of New England, by the Reverend Cotton Mather, published at London in 1702, in Folio, in his Account of wonderful Sea Deliverances, Book the sixth, is The wonderful Story of Major Gibbons.

'Among remarkable Sea Deliverances, no less than three several Writers have published that wherein Major Edward Gibbons was concerned.71 A Vessel bound from Boston to some other Parts of America, was, through the Continuance of contrary Winds, kept so long at Sea, that the People aboard were in extreme straits for Want of Provision, and seeing that nothing here below could afford them any Relief, they looked upwards unto Heaven, in humble and fervent Supplications. The Winds continuing still as they were, one of the Company made a sorrowful Motion that they should, by a Lot, single out One to die, and by Death to satisfy the ravenous Hunger of the rest. After many a doleful and fearful Debate upon this Motion, they came to a Result, that it must be done! The Lot is cast; one of the Company is taken; but where is the Executioner that shall do the terrible Office upon a poor Innocent? It is a Death now to think who shall act this bloody Part in the Tragedy: But before they fall upon this involuntary and unnatural Execution, they once more went unto their zealous Prayers; and, behold, while they were calling upon God, he answered them, for there leaped a mighty Fish into their Boat, which, to their double Joy, not only quieted their outrageous Hunger, but also gave them some Token of a further Deliverance: However, the Fish is quickly eaten; the horrible Famine returns, the horrible Distress is renewed; a black Despair again seizes their Spirits: For another Morsel they come to a second Lot, which fell upon another Person; but still they cannot find an Executioner: They once again fall to their importunate Prayers; and, behold, a second Answer from above; a great Bird lights, and fixes itself on the mast; one of the Men spies it, and there it stands until he took it by the Wing with his Hand. This was a second Life from the Dead. This Fowl, with the Omen of a further Deliverance in it, was a sweet Feast unto them. Still their Disappointments follow them; they can see no Land; they know not where they are: Irresistable Hunger once more pinches them: They have no Hope to be saved but by a third Miracle: They return to another Lot; but before they go to the Heart-breaking Talk of slaying the Person under Designation, they repeat their Addresses unto the God of Heaven, their former Friend in Adversity; and now they look and look again, but there is nothing: Their Devotions are concluded, and nothing appears; yet they hoped, yet they staid, yet they lingered: At last one of them spies a Ship, which put a new Hope and Life into them all: They bear up with72 their Ship; they man their Longboat; they go to board the Vessel, and are admitted. It proves a French Pyrate: Major Gibbons Petitions for a little Bread, and offers all for it; but the Commander was one who had formerly received considerable Kindnesses of Major Gibbons at Boston, and now replied chearfully, Major Gibbons, not an Hair of you, or your Company, shall perish if it lies in my Power to preserve you. Accordingly he supplied their Necessities, and they made a comfortable End of their Voyage.'

There are nine other Accounts, in each of which the Places the Persons were bound to are particularly mentioned. In this Account (the Design being only to shew the wonderful Deliverance of Gibbons) Dr. Mather could not mention the Place to which the Voyage had been made in any other Manner, than to some other Parts of America, which hath an exact Correspondence with the Voyage in which Major Gibbons was intercepted by de Fonte; for that Voyage was properly to several Parts, not being to one particular Part of America; which Parts were, at that Time, nameless. It is said further, that their Misfortune was occasioned by contrary Winds. De Fonte had a fair Wind from the sixth of August to the fifth of September, and for a longer Time, so contrary to the Boston Ship; afterwards they had the Wind again contrary, when they came into the Ocean, being North-west or to Westward of it, as they could see no Land; the Land expected to be seen may be supposed the Land of Newfoundland, or they were to Eastward and Southward of the Gulph of St. Lawrence: And which Account of the Weather is agreeable to the Time of the Year that they were there, the latter End of September, or Beginning of October, being the Equinoctial Gales. Also as to the Fish which must have been a Sturgeon, which Fish frequently jump into Boats; and shews, as the Boat was out, that they had then moderate Weather, but contrary; though a hard Gale succeeded, as one of the Birds of Passage, which are also then going to Southward, was blown off the Coast and tired, rested on the Mast. Far be it from me to reckon these as mere Accidents, and not the Assistances of the Almighty, but a Relief which the Almighty sent them by Contingencies which are natural: And as to the Ship, which was a French Pirate, she had probably come with a fresh Wind out of the Gulph of St. Lawrence, and Standing to Eastward of Sables to clear that Island and Nautuchet,73 for which she had a fair Wind; and it is said the Commander had an Acquaintance with Major Gibbons, and received Favours from him at Boston; but I must add an Anecdote, to shew that there might also be another Reason assigned, which would not be suitable to be published with that Account; Alexander Shapley had used to hold a Correspondence with these Kind of Gentry, as is evident from a severe Censure on him on that Account, recorded in the Council Book at Boston. It was a Ship that Major Gibbons was in when intercepted by de Fonte; and this Account also mentions a Ship. After the Death of Major Gibbons, his Family, according to the Account of a very ancient Gentlewoman at Boston, removed to Bermuda; which Lady, who was near ninety Years of Age, had some traditional Account of the Major having been such a Voyage to discover a new Way to the East Indies, and suffered much from the Snow and Ice, went through a great many Hardships, and, she said, she thought it was from Boston that he set out. The Persons discovered by Mons. Groseliers, at what he calls an English Settlement, near Port Nelson, as it is now termed, were Benjamin the Son of Captain Zachary Gillam, and some others, from Boston, who were the same Year taken to Canada, whose Journal of that Voyage the Author hath seen, and this Circumstance is mentioned in it, which Persons have been mistaken for Major Gibbons and his Company.

'We arrived at the River Parmentiers the 11th of August 86 Leagues, and was on the South Side Lake Belle on board our Ships the 16th of August, before the fine Town Conosset, where we found all Things well, and the honest Natives of Conosset had, in our Absence, treated our People with great Humanity, and Capt. de Ronquillo answered their Civility and Justice.'

We have been before told, that the Admiral went sixty Leagues up Los Reyes, which I take to be the whole Distance between the Entrance of Los Reyes to Conosset in Lake Belle; and if we transpose the above Words, 'arrived at Parmentiers the eleventh of August, and was on the South Side Lake Belle eighty-six Leagues on board our Ships the sixteenth of August,' then we have the Distances respecting every Part of de Fonte's Course thro' Land, from Los Reyes to Conosset sixty Leagues, from Conosset to Lake de Fonte eighty-six Leagues, from the Entrance of Lake74 de Fonte to the Streight of Ronquillo one Hundred and sixty Leagues, from the Entrance of the Streight of Ronquillo to the Sea thirty-six Leagues. The Time that de Fonte was passing down the River of Parmentiers, and the Time he took to return, are equal, which is plainly owing to his being obliged to wait the Tides for getting over the Falls both Ways. The sixth of July they had entered the Lake de Fonte, and by the fifteenth were through the Streights of Ronquillo, and at the Indian Town the seventeenth, so they were eleven Days from their Entrance into the Lake de Fonte; but in their return the same Way only five, favoured by a strong Current which the Wind occasioned to set into the Lake, and having as much Wind as they could fly before, and now came directly back; whereas in their Passage out they had made some Delays. The Course to Conosset being nearest North-east, I compute it to be in Lat. 56 Deg. Long. 118° 2´ from London. The Entrance of Lake de Fonte (supposing the Course of the River Parmentiers and from Conosset East North East) in Lat. 59° 4´. Long. 113°. The Entrance of the Streights of Ronquillo East North East, in Lat. 61 Deg. 8 Min. Long. 98 Deg. 48 Min. the Course through the Streights to enter the Sea North by East, such Entrance to be in Lat. 62 Deg. 48 Min. Long. 98 Deg. 2 Min. which Course must be consistent with de Fonte's Account that a strong Current set in, as by this Course such Current must be accelerated, if it set to the Southward, by the Wind from the Northward, or if it was from the Southward, would be opposed in going to the Northward.

De Fonte proceeds to give an Account of the good Estate in which he found all Things on his Return; mentions the Honesty and Humanity of the Natives, and the prudent Conduct of Captain Ronquillo, who answered their Civility and Justice. For they had, during the Time of de Fonte's Absence, procured, by dealing with the Natives, Store of good Provisions to salt, Venison, Fish; also one Hundred Hogsheads of Indian Maiz; besides the Service this would be of on their Return, procured pursuant to de Fonte's Order, it employed the People, with the other necessary Work about the Ships after so long a Run, and kept them from brangling with the Natives. The Natives were also employed to their Interest, which preserved them in good Humour; and a Justice in dealing preserved their Friendship.75

'The 20th of August an Indian brought me a Letter to Conosset, on the Lake Belle, from Captain Bernarda, dated the 11th of August, where he sent me Word he was returned from his cold Expedition, and did assure me there was no Communication out of the Spanish or Atlantick Sea, by Davis Streight; for the Natives had conducted one of his Seamen to the Head of Davis Streight, which terminated in a fresh Lake, of about 30 Mile in Circumference, in the 80th Degree of North Latitude; and that there was prodigious Mountains North of it, besides the North-west from that Lake the Ice was so fixed, that from the Shore to 100 Fathom of Water, for ought he knew from the Creation; for Mankind knew little of the wonderful Works of God, near the North and South Poles: He writ further, that he had sailed from Basset Island North East, and East North East, and North East and by East, to the 79th Degree of Latitude, and the Land trended North, and the Ice rested on the Land.'

The Orders Bernarda received were to sail up a River North and North East, North and North West, which River I suppose to have emptied itself near to Los Reyes into the South-east Part of the South Sea; and it is not uncommon, in America, that two great Rivers should have their Entrances contiguous to each other; and I suppose Conabasset, afterwards called Basset, to be in Lat. 58 Deg. 10 Min. to the Westward of Los Reyes in Long. 122 Deg. 9 Min. from London. The Course up the River Haro North 14 Deg. West; and as Conosset is laid down in Lat. 56 Deg. Long. 118 Deg. 2 Min. the Distance from Basset to Conosset is one Hundred and seventy-seven Miles; the Course North 46 Deg. West. The Letter by the first Messenger was dated the 27th of June, and is received the fourth Day, as he could not come a direct Course, we may suppose he travelled fifty Miles a Day, which is an extraordinary Allowance, the greatest Part by Water, and Light most of the Night. We know he would go Part by Water in Lake Belle, and Lake Belle issuing its Waters both by Los Reyes and the River Parmentiers, must receive some considerable Influx of Waters by which it is formed, as well as to give a constant Supply of the Waters that issue from it, and which must be principally or only from the Northward, for it cannot be supposed to receive its Waters from the Southward, and discharge them there again, and which the Messenger76 would make Use of as soon as possible, and come down Stream. The second Messenger, who is expresly mentioned to be an Indian, is nine Days a coming. But Bernarda mentions nothing as to his Ship or People in this Account, only says he is returned from his cold Expedition, therefore probably he sent away the Indian as soon as he could after he entered the River, which ran into the Tartarian Sea, in Lat. 61. If this was the Case, we may suppose that the Waters which came into the Lake Belle head a great Way up in the Country.

Bernarda had Directions, after he left Lake Valasco, to sail one Hundred and forty Leagues West, and then four Hundred and thirty Leagues North East by East to seventy-seven Degrees of Latitude. Bernarda, in his Letter of the 27th of June observes, there was a River eighty Leagues in Length, not comprehended in his Instructions or Orders, and emptied itself in the Tartarian Sea; and says, in his Letter of the 11th of August, that he sailed from the Island Basset North-east; with that Course, when he entered the Tartarian Sea, in Latitude 61, his Longitude would be 116 Deg. he then begins the Course de Fonte directed him, one Hundred and forty Leagues East North East; and he mentions on his Return he had steered that Course, keeping the Land aboard. So that West and the Land trending North East, are Mistakes in the Publication in April; but the mentioning how the Land trended, shews he was then entering the Sea; for to talk of Land, with respect to a River, is absurd; and with the Course and Distance he steered would be in Lat. 63 Deg. 39 Min. and Long. 110 Deg. from London: Then he steers four Hundred and thirty-six Leagues North East and by East, and that brings him into Latitude 79 Deg. Long. 87 Deg. from London. But the Land trending North, and with Ice, which would be dangerous for the Periagos; and as the Land trended North, where he was appearing to him to be the nearest Part he could attain to to go to the Head of Davis Streight; and as to the Distance over Land, and the Propriety of sending a Messenger, the Indians would inform him; he sends a Seaman over with an Indian to take a Survey of the Head of such Streights, by us called Baffin's Bay; which Name was not at that Time generally received. Which Seaman reports, that it terminated in the eightieth Degree of Latitude, in a Lake of about thirty Miles in Circumference, with prodigious Mountains North of it, which indeed formed that Lake,77 or is a Sound, as that of Sir James Lancaster and of Alderman Jones; and along the Shore, from the Lake North-west, the Ice was fixed, lying a great Distance out, which was very consistent with there being no Inlets there, the Waters from which would have set it off. The Distance that the Indian and Sailor travelled would not exceed fifty Miles; and their mentioning the high Mountains to Northward imply, that they were in a more level Country where they were to take this View. Light all Night, the Snow off the Ground, and the Heighth of Summer there. It is no vain Conjecture to suppose that the Journey was practicable, even if performed all the Way by Land, and much easier, which is not the least improbable, if they had an Opportunity of making Part of it by Water. Bernarda proceeding thus far in the Tartarian Sea, and entering in Latitude 61, is no Way contradictory to the Russian Discoveries; and by the Tartarian Sea is meant, the Sea which washes the Northern Coasts of Tartary, and is supposed to extend round the Pole. Those Discoveries are agreeable to the Japanese Map, as to the North-east Parts of Asia, and North-west Parts of America, brought over by Kemper, and in which Map there is expressed a Branch of the Tartarian Sea or Gulph, extending to the Southward, agreeable to this Account of de Fonte. Who calls it, with respect to Asia, the North and East Part of the Tartarian Sea. Which compared with what de Fonte says, as to sailing down the River to the North-east Part of the South Sea, these Expressions cast a mutual Light on each other, and that the Archipelagus of Saint Lazarus is a Gulph or Branch of the Sea, in the like Manner.

Places which are in one and the same Latitude, have not an equal Degree of Heat or Cold, or are equally fertile or barren, the Difference in these Respects chiefly consists in their Situation. The Country of Labrador, which is to Eastward of Hudson's Bay, in Latitude 56, almost as high a Latitude as Port Nelson, is a Country capable of being improved by Agriculture, and would supply all the Necessaries of Life, though intermixed with rugged and craggy Mountains. The Winter's not so severe as in the more Southern Parts of Hudson's Bay, as the Earth is not froze there, as it is in the same and lower Latitudes about that Bay: Also People have wintered in the Labrador, wearing only their usual Cloathing: Therefore drawing a Parallel between Port Nelson and Conosset, as to the Infertility of one, therefore the other being in the78 same Latitude, could not produce Maiz to supply Ronquillo, is an Objection which hath no Foundation in it. The higher the Latitude the quicker is the Vegetation; and as Indian Corn or Maiz may be planted and gathered in three Months in lower Latitudes, it may be in an equal or less Time in higher Latitudes, in a good Soil. As to Port Nelson, or York Fort, in Hudson's Bay, it is a low Country through which two large Rivers pass, with the Bay in Front, and nothing is certainly known of the more inland Parts.

The physical Obstacles that are produced against our giving Credit to this Account of de Fonte, from the Depth of the Falls at the Entrance of Lake Belle in the River Parmentiers, and from the River Bernarda passed up, are, from not understanding what is expressed by the Word Falls amongst the Americans. They mean by a Fall wherever there is the least Declivity of the Water; and the Fall of thirty-two Feet in the River Parmentiers, doth not mean a perpendicular Fall, as the Objector would have it understood, however ridiculous to suppose it, but eight gradual Descents, from the Beginning of which to the Extremity of the last there was a Difference of thirty-two Feet, and which became level or even at the Time of high Water.

What Bernarda says as to his cold Expedition, a Person used to the Climate of Peru might justly say so, of the Nights and Evenings and Mornings, at that Time of the Year, in the Latitude of seventy-nine, though temperate in Latitude fifty-six; and the whole Disposition of the Country, the immense high Lands, their barren and desert Aspect, in Places their Summits covered with perpetual Snow, the Ice fixed to the Shores, Sheets of floating Ice in the Waters, the immense Islands, frequently seeing Whales, Sea-horse, and a great Variety of the Inhabitants of those Waters, which do not frequent the Southern Parts: The Whole a Scene so different from the Verdure and Delights of the Plains about Lima, and from the pleasing Views that present themselves on running along the Coasts of Peru, Bernarda might well be affected with such Scene as to express himself, that Mankind knew little of the wonderful Works of God, especially near the North and the South Poles. But he was not so ignorant as to report, that he saw Mountains of Ice on the Land, as well as in the Sea, though he might see them forming between79 Points of Land, which jetted out into the Sea; and such a Column of Ice would appear to him as something very curious.

That these Parts were inhabited does not appear, for it was a Native of Conibasset that conducted the Seaman over the Land; and, at that Season of the Year, the fresh Waters are thawed, no Snow on the low and level Lands, only on the extreme Summits of the Hills.

What is objected as to the Affability of the Inhabitants, that it is not consistent with the Character of the Indians. Hospitality is the Characteristick of the Indians towards Strangers, until such Time as they are prejudiced from some ill Treatment; and by the Account given by Sir Francis Drake, as to the Indians of California, and by the Spaniards who surveyed the Western Coasts, and the Islands lying off, they are represented in general as a kind, tractable People, and of a docile Temper.

As to the Dispatch used by Indians in carrying Expresses, or their Runners as they term them, to carry Messages from one Nation to another, they will gird themselves up with the Rhind of Trees, and keep going incessantly great Distances with a surprising Agility Night and Day, taking little either of Sleep or other Refreshments, and keep a direct Course, and in the Night steer either by the Moon or Stars. Nor is there any Thing miraculous in these Journeys, which the Expresses performed, either as to Distance or as to Time, especially as they passed through a Country abounding with Waters, and which Country being inhabited they could be supplied with Canoes, or they would find Floats at the Places where they usually pass the Waters.

Bernarda meeting de Fonte at a Port up the River Rio los Reyes, shews he had Persons aboard who could direct him there, therefore must have been previously there; and they can be supposed to be no other than the Jesuits, which is a further Proof of the Jesuits having been before in these Parts. It was consistent that the Ships should join and return home together. From where Bernarda came to with his Ship was one Hundred and twenty Miles to Conosset: His Letter from thence was dated the 29th of August, and de Fonte sailed the second of September: It may be supposed the Letter came to Hand the first of September, which is80 four Days, and the Express had now all the Way by Water, and mostly against Stream. De Fonte, to shew that he had preserved the Affection of the Natives, mentions that he was accompanied with them; and they were of Assistance to him in the Pilotage down the River. De Fonte adds, he had sent a Chart with the Letter, which is misunderstood, as if such Chart had come to the Hands of the Editors; which will make this much more demonstrative, were Words added by them; but it was usual in all the Naval Expeditions to have Persons aboard whom they called Cosmographers, to take Draughts of Places, and compose their Charts, and at that Time a very reputable Employment.

Miguel Venegas, a Mexican Jesuit, published at Madrid in 1758, a Natural and Civil History of California; a Translation of which was published in London in 1759, in two Volumes; and Vol. i. P. 185, says, 'To this Æra (the last Voyage he mentions was in 1636) belongs the Contents of a Paper published at London, under the Title of the Narrative of Bartholomew de Fuentes, Commander in Chief of the Navy in New Spain and Peru, and President of Chili, giving an Account of the most remarkable Transactions and Adventures in this Voyage, for the Discovery of a Passage from the South Sea, to that of the North in the Northern Hemisphere, by Order of the Viceroy of Peru in the Year 1640. This Writing contains several Accounts relating to California; but without entering into long Disputes, let it suffice to say, that little Credit is to be given to this Narrative. For the same Reason we have before omitted the Accounts of Voyages made from the South Sea to the North round beyond California, and those of a contrary Direction, of which an Account is given by Captain Seixas and Lobero, in Theatro Naval, in Spanish and French; and particularly of that Spaniard who is supposed, in three Months, to have come from Puerto de Navidad and Cabo Corientes to Lisbon. These and other Accounts dispersed in different Books, we designedly omit, as they want the necessary Authenticity.'

This Work was published with a Design to induce the Court of Spain to a further Conquest of, an intire Reduction of, and the full settling of California, as of the utmost Importance to Religion and the State; and one of the Arguments is, for their immediate putting what he recommends81 in Execution, the repeated Attempts of the English to find a Passage into the South Sea. And observes, 'Should they one Day succeed in this, why may not the English come down through their Conquests, and even make themselves Masters of New Mexico, &c.' which implies, that he did not look on such an Attempt as void of all Hopes of Success; and he again says, 'Whoever is acquainted with the present Disposition of the English Nation, and has heard with what Zeal and Ardour the Project for a North-west Passage has been espoused by many considerable Persons, will be convinced that the Scheme is not romantick, and it would not be surprizing if the Execution of it should one Day come under Deliberation.' Thus artfully hints, should the Scheme come under Deliberation, the Event would be to be feared; and though he ascribes his Opinion of its not being romantick, is, to many considerable Persons having espoused the Scheme, yet he tacitly applies to their own Knowledge, to what the Court of Spain knows as to this Passage. He then proceeds, 'If this should ever happen,' the Deliberation, 'what would be the Condition of our Possessions?' The Deliberation would, from Consequences that would follow on such a Deliberation, endanger our Possessions.

Don Cortez informed the King, by a Letter of the 15th of October 1524, that he was building two Ships, to get a Knowledge of the Coast yet undiscovered between the River of Panaco and Florida, and from thence to the Northern Coast of the said Country of Florida, as far as the Baccaloo, 'It being certain, as he expresses himself, that on that Coast is a Streight running into the South Sea'—'God grant that the Squadron may compass the End for which it is designed, namely, to discover the Streight, which I am fully persuaded they will do, because in the Royal Concerns of your Majesty nothing can be concealed; and no Diligence or Necessaries shall be wanting in me to effect it.' Again, 'I hereby inform your Majesty, that by the Intelligence I have received of the Countries on the upper Coast of the sending the Ships along, it will be attended with great Advantage to me, and no less to your Majesty. But acquainted as I am with your Majesty's Desire of knowing this Streight, and likewise of the great Service it would be to your Royal Crown.' Vol. i. P. 130.82

Agreeable to this Letter several Attempts were made by Sea to discover whether Florida was Part of the Continent, or separated by a Streight; but whether Cortez pursued his Design by searching between Florida along the Coast of Baccaloos, Newfoundland, and the Terra de Labrador, for a Streight, by which there was a Passage from the North to the South Sea is uncertain. Florida comprehended the Country from the Cape of Labrador to the Cape de los Martires, or of Martyrs, opposite to the Island of Cuba. From thence to the Streights of Magellan was called Peruan Part.

The King of Portugal, with a View of finding a shorter Passage to those Parts of the Indies, which he had discovered, than by the Cape of Good Hope, sent, in the Year fifteen Hundred, Gasper de Corte Real to the North of America, who landed on the Terra de Labrador; also gave his Name to a Promontory on that Coast which he called Promonterium Corteriale. The Name of Labrador implies a fertile Country, and given in Distinction from the high barren mountainous Country to Northward, which Gasper discovered in Latitude sixty, and to the Southward of it. But this Distinction seems to have been soon lost, and the Name of Labrador is now given to the whole Coast.

From the Knowledge we have of these Parts we may conclude, that the Promonterium Corteriale was what we at present name Cape Chidley, and the Islands de Demonios, where Gasper lost a Vessel, those Islands now named Button's Islands; and it was Hudson's Streights to which he gave the Name of the River of the Three Brothers, though the Reason of his giving that Name is not known to us.

We may perceive from this Account of Gasper's Voyage, who did not proceed to Westward to make a Passage, but coasted down the main Land, the Accounts of their being a Portuguese who made a Voyage through the Streights of Anian, calling a Promontory after his Name Promonterium Corteriale, hath had some Foundation in Truth; and in what is said by Frisius, an antient Geographer, calling it the Streights of Three Brothers, or Anian (which that Word imports) because three Brothers had passed through a Streight from the North to the South Sea. It is also apparent that the Name of Anian was first given by Gasper83 Corterialis (for some particular Reason unknown to us) to that Part, which is now Hudson's Streights. Though in Time this became a proper Name to express a Streight by which there is a Passage from the North to the South Sea, and is contended for to be the proper Name of the Streight that divides Asia from America, by which there is a Communication with the Tartarian and Southern Ocean. After a Discovery of these Coasts had been made to Northward, the following Year the King of Portugal sent Americus Vespusino to Southward, to discover the Land there.

Cortez's Designs seem to have their Foundation in these Expeditions of the Portuguese; but it was not until after the Year 1513, that the South Sea was discovered, and the Portugueze had discovered the Moluccas, that the finding a Streight to the Northward, by which a Passage might be made to the South Sea, became a Matter of particular Attention, and was the first and principal Object of Cortez's Attention after he had become Master of the Capital of Mexico in 1521; and this Opinion of a Passage to Northward continued during the Reign of Charles the Fifth. Who in the Year 1524 sent from Old Spain to discover a Passage to the Moluccas by the North of America, without Success; but Esteven Gomez, who was sent on that Expedition, brought some Indians home with him. Then in the Year 1526 Charles the Fifth wrote to Cortez, in Answer to his Letters, and orders him to send the Ships at Zacapila to discover a Passage from New Spain to the Moluccas.

From this Time, the Year 1526, the Opinion of there being a Streight was generally received, though on what Foundation does not appear. It was certainly on some better Reason than Gasper's Discoveries; and a Consideration of the Importance such a Passage would be of to the King of Spain with respect to the Spice Islands. It is not consistent with the Characters of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, and of Cortez, when there were so many other solid Projects to pursue and this was preferred, to suppose that they should go, at that Time, on a meer visionary Scheme.

The same Opinion of a Passage to Northward prevailed in the Time of Philip the Second, and in the Year 1596 he sent Orders to the Viceroy84 of Mexico for discovering and making Settlements in proper Parts of California, and one Reason assigned was, 'There was much Talk about the Streight of Anian, through which the South Sea was said to communicate with that of the North, near Newfoundland; and should the English find out a practicable Passage on that Side, our Dominions, which then included all Portuguese India, would be no longer secure, all the Coast from Acapulco to Culiacan being quite defenceless, and from Culiacan Northward, not one single Settlement was made on the whole Coast.' Hist. Cal. V. i. P. 163. That now not only the Opinion of there being a Streight prevailed, but it was also fixed as to the Part, and had the Name of Anian.

The Opinion of a Passage still existed in the Reign of Philip the Third; and the same political Motives induced him to order the Conquest of California to be undertaken with all possible Expedition; and one Reason assigned is, 'His Majesty also found among other Papers a Narrative delivered by some Foreigners to his Father, giving an Account of many remarkable Particulars which they saw in that Country, when driven thither by Stress of Weather from the Coast of Newfoundland; adding, they had passed from the North Sea to the South, by the Streight of Anian, which lies beyond Cape Mendocino; and that they had arrived at a populous and opulent City, walled and well fortified, the Inhabitants living under a regular Policy, and were a sensible and courteous People; with many other Particulars well worth a further Enquiry.' It must be considered this is given us in the History of California, V. ii. P. 239, from the Monarchia Indiana of Juan Torquemada, a learned Franciscan, published at Madrid in 1613, and republished in 1723, Vol. i. P. 629, That a Paper of this Sort was found in the Cabinet of Philip the Second, was thought deserving the Attention of Philip the Third. However the Matter of it is represented here, for nothing could be published but what was first perused and altered, so as to make it consistent with the Interest of Holy Church, the State, or good Manners, before it was licensed, such Paper must have contained some material Intelligence as to a Passage; and if is said to have contained some remarkable Particulars. Neither would the Work have been licensed, if what is related as to their having been such a Paper, had not been true.85

Torquemada, Vol. i. P. 20, quotes Francisco Lopez de Gomara, deemed a careful Writer, and Author of the History of the Indies. Who says the Snowy Mountains are in forty Degrees, and the furthermost Land that is laid down in our Maps; but the Coast runs to the Northward until it comes to form an Island by the Labrador, or as separated from Greenland; and this Extremity of the Land is five Hundred and ten Leagues in Length.

As to what is said as to the Latitude of forty Degrees in this Quotation from Gomara, Torquemada hath prefixed a Map to his Work, agreeable to that formed by the King's Cosmographers, in which he hath made the most Western and Northern Part of the Land in almost forty-seven Degrees, and then the Land trends to the Eastward, and the Serras Nevadas are represented to extend a great Length along the Coast, and to Latitude 57 Degrees. Mentions, Vol. i. P. 16, the Royal Cosmographers do not insert any Thing in their Charts of the Sea Coasts but what they have upon Oath, or from creditable Persons; and 'They make a Supputation in the Northern Parts of Islands, which do not lie near or contiguous to the Lands of Europe; as to which Islands, not long since discovered, the one is called Iceland, the other Greenland, which are the Bounds, Limits, or Marks, that divide the Land of the Indies from any other Part howsoever situated or disposed;' afterwards observes, which Islands are not far from the Labrador; from which it is plain he calls America an Island. And this is agreeable to what Acosta says, in the Sense which I understand him, that Quivira and Anian extend to the Western Extremity of America; and that the Extremity of the Kingdom of Anian to the North extends under the Polar or Artick Circle, and, if the Sea did not prevent it, would be found to join the Countries of Tartary and China; and the Streight of Anian takes its Course through the Northern Region, under the Polar Circle, towards Greenland, Iceland, England, and to the Northern Parts of Spain. By Greenland I understand the Land to Northward, which is the North Part of Hudson's Streights, and Cumberland Isles; and that this Streight should determine here is agreeable to what Cortez says he would send to search as far as the Baccallaos, (which was a Name given by Cabot in 1496) for the Streight by which he expected a Passage from the North to the South Sea. By Iceland is meant, as is apparent from a View of such Map hereunto annexed, the Land to Northward of Cape Farewel, or the Proper Greenland.86 Gomara mentions these Islands had not been long discovered. It is apparent from the Map, that they had a very imperfect Account of these Discoveries, which were made by Frobisher and Davis, who also were far from being exact in their Computations of the Longitude.

In this Map prefixed to Torquemada's Work, and here annexed, the Southern Part of Newfoundland is laid down in Lat. 55, nine Degrees more to the Northward than it ought to be, for which Reason the Labrador, Greenland, and Iceland, are placed much further to Northward than they ought to be placed, and are made to extend beyond the Polar Circle. It is from this Supposition of Newfoundland being in so high a Latitude that Acosta says, the Streight of Anian takes its Course through the Northern Region under the Polar Circle towards Greenland and Iceland. In the same Map the extremest Point of California, answerable to Cape St. Lucas, is laid down in Longitude 105 Degrees from the Meridian of Ferro, and the Extremity of the Land to Westward a Cape to Northward of Cape Fortunes, but to which no Name is given, and in Latitude 47, is placed in 135 Degrees from the Meridian of Ferro; the Difference of Longitude is 30 Degrees. This Map, published by Torquemada, was constructed before the Year 1612, therefore prior to a Map published in Holland in 1619, under the Title of Nova Totius Orbis Descriptio, prefixed to the Voyage of George Spilbergen, in which the Errors of Torquemada's Map, as to the Situation of Newfoundland, and the Places to Northward are corrected; yet great Errors are committed as to the Parts to Westward of America, making eighty-five Degrees of Longitude between Cape St. Lucas and the Extremity of the Land to Westward and Northward in Lat. 42; and ninety-five Degrees between Cape St. Lucas and the Extremity of the Land nearest to Asia. The Reason of this Difference is plain, they both err with respect to those Parts, of which they had not authenticated Accounts.

Cortez wrote to the Emperor that he had sent People on Discovery, both by Land and Water, it was not designed that their Discoveries should be communicated, as Cortez intended to turn them to his own private Advantage. But when Mendoza fitted out two Armaments, one by Land under the Command of Coronado, and the other by Sea under Alarcon; Alarcon was ordered to Latitude 53, to join the Land Forces, and to make a Survey of the Coast, and see if87 there was a Passage or a Communication by Water through those Countries which Coronado was to discover and subdue, with the South Sea. As to Coronado, the Franciscans had been before in those Parts, and they gave Information and Direction as to his Part of the Expedition; but as to the Part that Alarcon had, on what Information he was ordered to go to Latitude 53, and what Probability there was that it was possible for him to find such Passage, and join the Land Forces, does not appear. But from his not finding such Passage, not joining the Land Forces, and proceeding no further than the Lat. 36, though his Reason for not going further is, that the Land then trended to the Northward, which he supposed would put him further off from the Army, whom he knew were in ten Days March of him, and the Excuse of Sickness and ill Condition of his Vessels, occasioned him to return before his Time; yet his Conduct threw the whole Disgrace of the ill Success of that Expedition on Alarcon, both with the Emperor and the Viceroy: And what he wrote to the Emperor was not attended to. He wrote to the Emperor, 'That it was for him only, and not in Subordination to the Viceroy, that he had conquered, discovered, and entered on the Californias, and all those Lands on the Coasts of the South Sea; that he had learnt that some of those Lands were not far from the Coasts of Grand China; that there was but a small Navigation to the Spice Islands, which he knew was wished for at that Time; that it engaged all his Thoughts, and was his most ardent Desire to undertake such Navigation.' Torquem. Vol. i. P. 609.

On Alarcon's Return Juan Rodrique de Cabrillo was fitted out, who went as far as Lat. 44. Sickness, Want of Provisions, and his Ships not being of sufficient Strength for those Northern Seas, obliged him to return, though he was designed to go further to Northward. The Ships returning from the Philippines, which was also an Expedition in the Time of Viceroyship of Mendoza, fell in with the Land in Lat. 42, and found it all to be Terra Firma, from a Cape there, which they named Mendocino to the Port of La Navidad. In 1602 Vizcaino went, and then the Discovery was made by Martin de Aguilar; and Torquemada tells us, Vol. i. Lib. 5. P. 725. That if there had not been, only fourteen healthy Persons when they were at Cape Blanco, they were resolved to pass thro' the Streight, which they named Anian, and which Streight is said to be there; and P. 719, speaking of the Entrance of Martin Aguilar, it is88 understood to be a River, by which you may pass to a great City, which the Hollanders discovered coming through the Streight, which is the Streight of Anian, and which City, he says, was named Quivira.

These Voyages, and we have Accounts of no others, could not have furnished the Cosmographers the principal Materials for composing their Map, and it must have been agreeable to those Materials, besides the Accounts of these Voyages sent to Old Spain, that they set down the utmost Limits of the Western Coast to be in the Longitude of 135 Decrees from the Meridian of Ferro. Therefore it was their Opinion at that Time that one Hundred and thirty-five Degrees was near the Difference of Longitude of the Entrance of the Streight of Anian in the South Sea, accounting the Longitude from the Meridian of Ferro. For which Reason the Spaniards can never be understood to mean by the Streight of Anian the Streight which separates Asia and America, now named Beering's Streight, and by which there is a Communication between the Sea of Tartary, or the Frozen Ocean, and the South Sea.

It is something remarkable, and supports what hath been before said as to Deficiency of the Spanish Records, what Jesuit Venegas, the Author of the History of California, says, Vol. ii. P. 228, 'I was extremely desirous of finding Capt. Sebastian Vizcaino's Narrative, and the Representations of the Council to his Majesty Philip the Third, especially the Maps, Plans, Charts of his Voyage and Discoveries, in order to communicate the Whole to the Publick. Accordingly at my Request Search was made in the Secretary's Office of the Council of the Indies: But in this Intention of being serviceable to the Publick I have been disappointed.' And he again observes, on the Governor of Cinaloa being ordered to pass over and take a Survey of the Coasts, Islands, Bays, Creeks, and the Disposition of the Ground of California, in the Year 1642, Vol. i. P. 188, 'There would have been little Occasion, says he, for this preparatory Survey, after so many others which had been continually making for above a Century, had the Reports, Narratives, Charts, Draughts and Maps, which were made, or should have been made, by so many Discoveries still continued in being. But these are the Effects of a Want of a proper Care in preserving Papers, a Fault to be regretted by Persons in Power, to whom they would be of Service in the Conduct of Affairs, and by private Persons,89 on the Account of their Interest, or as Entertainments of a commendable Curiosity.'—'But by the Loss of some Papers, either thro' a Change in the Government, or Irregularity in the Records, the whole Advantage of an Expedition is lost.'

From this Declaration by one who being a Jesuit, and of Mexico, composing a Work entirely for the publick Service, under the Direction of the Jesuits; by their Influence could attain the Sight of any Papers which were thought interesting as to the Work he was composing; and his last Reflection is not confined to the Records of Old Spain only; it is apparent what Uncertainty there is of attaining any Evidence from such Records, as to the Discoveries made in the first Century after the Conquest of Mexico, and for a long Time after. The Narrative of Vizcaino's Voyage, and every Thing thereto relating, as to any remaining Records might have become disputable, had not Torquemada collected it, and published it amongst other Accounts; yet what Torquemada hath preserved is but imperfect, as is apparent from a Journal of that Voyage, preserved in a private Hand at Manilla, and a Sight of large Extracts from which the Author hath been favoured by a Gentleman in London. It is owing to what Torquemada and some others have collected of the Accounts which the Religious were the Authors of, that the Publick have the Accounts of those Parts; but such Voyages and Accounts as have not met with the same Means of being preserved, the Publick, from such Neglect, know nothing of them. It is plain from Gomara's Account, also from Acosta's, that great Discoveries had been made in these Parts, but as to many of such Discoveries, by whom is not known; and Venegas says, Vol. i. P. 30, the River Santo Thome was discovered in the Year 1684; 'And tho' I do not find, says he, in the Narratives of that Expedition (of Admiral Otondo) that Otondo ever went ashore only to visit the Harbours of the Eastern Coast and the Gulph; yet from the ardent Curiosity of Father Kino, and the great Concern he had in the Affairs of California, I cannot think that he should be mistaken in any Particular relating to the Discovery: That Father Kino, both in his large Manuscript Map, and likewise in the lesser Impression, places the River of Santo Thome as rising between the 26th and 27th Degrees of N. Latitude, and, after crossing the whole Peninsula,90 discharging itself into the South Sea, in the 26th Deg. and forming at its Mouth a large Harbour, which he calls Puerto de Anno Nuevo, being discovered in the Year 1685. On both Sides the River are Christian Villages, as is evident from their Names; Santiago, Santo Innocentes, &c. yet, in the Accounts of that Time, I do not meet with any Intelligence of this Discovery; to which I must add, that in the subsequent Relations no mention is made of any such River, Settlements or Harbours, though even little Brooks, are taken Notice of.' And he observes many other Difficulties occur about this Coast. This Harbour made by the River Santo Thome, is evidently that which de Fonte and others call Christabel. Some Settlements had been made there, as these Names were given, but either deserted from the Barrenness of the Country, or had been only frequented by those who went out private Adventurers, in order to trade with the Natives. But as to which River, Settlements and Harbour, were not the Names preserved by Father Kino, it would not have been known that any Persons had been in those interior Parts of California, or that there were such River and Harbour. Father Kino looked upon it as a Thing so well known, as he had no Occasion to defend himself, by giving the Reason of his inserting those Names to protect himself from the Reproach of Posterity. And Venegas before tells us, that as to the Discoveries which had been made for a Century passed, the Papers were lost.

Between the Year sixteen Hundred and eighty-five, and the Time of Venegas's Publication, though in the Year sixteen Hundred and eighty-five, it was well known that there was such a River as St. Thome, this River is exploded out of the Maps by the Geographers, on Account of the Uncertainty; not duly considering that there was as full a Proof as could be required with respect to so unfrequented a Part. The Account being from a Person whose Business it was to make Observations there, who had been so laborious and accurate as to discover, what had been so long desired to be known, whether California was an Island or not, as to which he was believed; and the Truth hath been confirmed by later Observations of what he had reported, That it was not an Island. Therefore there was no Foundation for any Uncertainty in this Case, the same as with respect to the Letter of de Fonte, owing to the Neglect of a proper91 Enquiry into the Circumstances relating to it, by such an Inquiry the Uncertainty would have been removed.

What hath been said is to shew that the Argument on which so great a Stress is laid, that there is no Account of this Voyage amongst the Spanish Records, is an Argument of no Weight against the Authenticity of this Account; and that as a Publication of this Voyage was not permitted, an Account of such Voyage could not be perpetuated by the Religious, the only probable Means at that Time of preferring it from Oblivion. As it was intended what was the Effect of this Expedition should be kept a Secret, it is not consistent there should be many written Accounts of it; the Officers concerned would be cautious of letting Transcripts be made from their Journals; and it may be attributed to an extraordinary Accident, rather than to what could be expected, that a Copy of the Letter of de Fonte should ever come into the Possession of the English.

These Observations being previously made, we are better enabled to consider, what we have before inserted, the Objection of Venegas for not inserting this Account of de Fonte, as being of little Credit; but he seems rather to wish that we would be of his Opinion, than to imagine that he could convince us by any Arguments; therefore excuses himself as to the Length of the Dispute he might be engaged in. His Manner of expressing himself with respect to this Disappointment in the Secretary's Office, shews he hath a Manner of Address that his Words will admit of a further constructive Meaning than what is set down. The principal Object of his Writing is to incite the Court of Spain to prepare in Time against the ill Consequences of the English making a Discovery of a Passage; and he is to be understood, that it is not only his Opinion that the finding of such a Passage is practicable, but he apprehends it is of the Opinion of the Court also. Declares, that such Opinion hath prevailed from the first settling of Mexico, and that there really is a Passage in such a Manner as a Person who published an Account of this Sort would be permitted to express himself, to have it pass the Approbation of the Licenser; and does not desire to suppress the Account of de Fonte, as it is an absolute Contradiction to what he would infer, there being a92 Passage, and in such Letter it is declared there is no North-west Passage. For he must have had further and better Authorities for his Assertions of there being a Passage than such, as that single Assertion would prevail against. But desired to suppress this Account, as it was an Account which he knew it was more consistent with the Designs of the Court, it should be continued in Oblivion than revived. Mentions it therefore as the Contents of a Paper published in London, which contained a Narrative of little Credit; and to give the better Authority to what he says, as he could not trust to the Opinion that might be had of such Account on a fair Representation of the Title; to support the Character he gave of it, therefore uses Art, misrepresenting such Title; says it was by Order of the Viceroy of Peru, in the Year 1640, and giving an Account of the most material Transactions and Adventures in this Voyage. Was the Letter so entituled, the Transactions and Adventures of a Commander in Chief of the Navy, in New Spain, he would not be singular in his Opinion, but it would be understood by every one as a Romance, and not deserving of Credit.

This Misrepresentation is intentionally done; for if he never saw the Letter, or had not a right Account of it, on what Authority could he assert it was of little Credit; and that it would engage him in a long Dispute, a Dispute which his Sagacity would point out to him how to determine in a very few Lines, by proving that there was no such Person as de Fonte, Admiral of New Spain; which it was in his Power to do had it been the Case. But what he mentions is so far from a Denial of there being such a Person Admiral of New Spain, that he gives us the Name, and sets forth the Character de Fonte was in, in a more proper Manner than we have it expressed in the Title of the Letter. Bartholomew de Fuentes, Commander in Chief of the Navy in New Spain and Peru, and President of Chili; and he is to be understood not to mean that there was no such Person, but that the Narrative is not credible as to any such Voyage having been made by Admiral de Fonte.

By a Schedule of the King of Spain in 1606 to the Governor of the Philippines, Vizcaino was to be again fitted out to discover a Harbour on the Western Coast of California, for the Reception of the Aquapulco93 Ship; but the Death of Vizcaino prevented that Design being carried into Execution; as the Court had found so many Disappointments, and such ill Success in these Undertakings, they did not think proper to entrust it to any other Person in the Philippines or New Spain. And Venegas says, Hist of Cal. Vol. i. P. 180. 'During the succeeding nine Years inconsiderable Voyages only were made to California, and these rather to fish for Pearls, or procure them by Barter, than to make any Settlement, and therefore they have been thought below any separate Account, especially as in the subsequent Royal Commissions they are only mentioned in general without any Circumstances.' Though Commissions were given to go into these Parts, without any Account remaining to whom, and on what particular Occasion; it is not to be doubted as in all Commissions of this Nature they would be under an Obligation to make a Report to the Court, and it is not to be understood that these Commissions were continued for nine Years only; and therefore what hath been said as to Parmentiers and the Jesuits, their having been in these Parts, is not the least improbable. By these Commissions they were not confined to the Gulph of California, is evident from Father Kino, as already mentioned, giving Names in his Map to Villages, or occasional Settlements rather, on the River Santo Thome: And he says, P. 299, what made Father Kino desirous of discovering whether California was an Island or not, 'That all the Moderns had placed it as an Island, there being extant also some Journals of Mariners, according to which they went round California through a Streight, and gave the Parts and Places through which they passed their own Names.' It appears from this Account they were permitted, by these Commissions, to rove about, though not to make Settlements, induced by their private Advantage, and the Advantage to the Government was from their Discoveries. Also Vol. i. P. 182, he mentions, 'That a great many private Persons, from the Coast of Culiacan and Chametla, made Trips in small Boats to the Coast of California, either to fish for Pearls, or purchase them of the Indians;' which is agreeable to de Fonte's Account of the Master and Mariners he procured at Zalagua and Compostilo. We may also observe what the Missionaries say, as to the Tides at the Head of the Bay, which still adds to the Authenticity of this Account. 'In those Parts the Tide94 shifts every six Hours; the Flood, with a frightful Impetuosity, rises from three to seven Fathoms, overflowing the flat Country for some Leagues, and the Ebb necessarily returns with the same dangerous Violence.—However the Pilot went on Shore in the Pinnace, at several Parts, in order to make a complete Drawing of it for his Chart; was equally convinced that this Cape was the Extremity of the Gulph of California, and that the Waters beyond it were those of the River Colorado.' Therefore it was, from the exact Observation of the Tide which this Pilot took so much Pains to make, an unsettled Point from whence the Tide proceeded. Which, at the Time of de Fonte's Expedition, was said to come from the Northward, agreeable to the then prevailing Opinion of California being an Island. According to the usual Practice, though the true Cause of a Phænomena is unknown, to quote that Phænomena that favours a System which there is a Desire to establish as a Truth, not only in support of but to confirm such System, as to render the Truth of it unquestionable.

After Vizcaino's Death, and though the Court of Spain was disappointed as to finding able and sufficient Persons in New Spain whom they could intrust, yet Adventures were made by private Persons, at their own Expence, both for Discovery and Settlements; yet these could not be undertaken without the Permission of his Majesty, who had taken it into his own Hand to grant such Commissions, and mostly required a Voyage to Old Spain to attain them; and the next Expedition that was made, at the Crown's Expence, was conducted by an Admiral from Old Spain, who arrived in New Spain in 1643, Admiral Cassanate, with full Power and Necessaries to equip a Fleet, and make Settlements in California; and he sailed on such Expedition in 1644. By which it is apparent that there were Ships at that Time in New Spain proper for such Expeditions. As he came into these Parts within three Years after de Fonte's Expedition, and took the Command as Admiral of New Spain when he arrived, it is to be supposed the Expedition Cassanate was sent on was too fatiguing for de Fonte, who was therefore retired to his Government of Chili. In the Year 1649 Admiral Cassanate, in Reward for his Services, being after the same Manner promoted to the Government95 of Chili, de Fonte must be dead at that Time. This Circumstance fixes the Period in which the Copy of this Letter was taken.

As what Venegas says as to the Account (which Account hath been before mentioned) given by Seyxas y Lovera, as to its wanting the necessary Authenticity. Besides the usual Licences, wherein the Licencers declare there is nothing contrary to good Manners, and besides being dedicated to the King in his Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies, Seyxas's Book hath the Licence and Approbation of the Professor of Divinity in the University of Alcara, Preacher to the King, and Principal of a College of Jesuits in Madrid. Hath also the Approbation and Licence of the Professor of Erudition and Mathematicks in the Imperial College of the Company of the Jesuits at Madrid. What unfavourable Opinion soever we may entertain of the Principles of these Persons, we must have such an Opinion of their Prudence, that they would not sign their Approbation to a Book while it contained an unnecessary Lie, which could be easily expunged, or until they were satisfied as to the Authenticity of this Account which Seyxas gives of Peche's Voyage, having been published in various Places. And it is indisputable from the Countenance his Book received, he was looked on at that Time as a deserving honest Man.

Venegas designedly omits other Accounts dispersed in various Books for Want of necessary Authenticity; but it is not to be understood that he absolutely denies that such Accounts are true. Neither is there so great an Improbability in such Discoveries having been made, as some of these Accounts mention, as is imagined, when such Accounts are duly considered.

We have already mentioned one Account which engaged the Attention of the King of Spain, therefore must have been of some Authority. There is another Account (unless it be the same Account differently represented) of a Ship that, to the Northward of Cape Blanco, on the Coast of California, passed through the Streight into the North Sea, and to Old Spain, which was also made known to the King of Spain, mentioned by Torquemada, Vol. i. P. 725.96

Most of the Discoveries are reported to have been made by Ships coming from the Moluccas, or from the Philippine Islands to the Eastward, and which have met with bad Weather. And what, in those Times, Ships were necessitated to do, if there was a Continuance of hard Gales of Wind, we may learn from the Schedule of Philip the Third, History of California, Vol. i. P. 175, after mentioning a Harbour found by Vizcaino, on the Western Coast of California, adds, 'And lies very convenient for Ships returning from the Philippine Islands to put into, and thus, in case of Storms, avoid the Necessity of making for Japan, as they have several Times done, and expended great Sums of Money. Besides, they usually have Sight of the Coast of China, which is an additional Benefit, as knowing where they are, they will not as formerly, in case of bad Weather, make for Japan, or those Islands, as the same Winds which would carry them thither, bring them into this Harbour. Again, P. 177, considering how much it concerns the Security of Ships coming from those Islands, in a Voyage of no less than 2000 Leagues, on a wide and tempestuous Sea, that they should be provided with a Port where they might put in and furnish themselves with Water, Wood, and Provisions: That the said Port of Monterey lies in 37 Degrees, nearly about half Way the Voyage.'

A Ship flying before the Wind, and the People steering her towards the Coast of America, to avoid Japan and the Islands, making a Cape Land on the Coast of California, would run for what they supposed a Harbour, and the bad Weather continuing might proceed up the Bay or Opening they were then in, to meet with the Inhabitants, in order to obtain Refreshments, and to learn where they were, by which Means find a Passage. As Ships were distressed in hard Gales of Wind, in the Manner the Schedule mentions, there is no Improbability of a Passage being first accidentally discovered by a single Ship coming from Sea with a leading Wind into a large Opening, in Expectation of a Harbour, though such Discovery hath not been made by Ships intentionally sent along Shore for that Purpose.

It is to be observed, the People of the Philippine Islands are those who most talked of a Passage: They informed Peche and others; and it is easily accounted for why they should do so: For if the Portugueze made97 the Discovery in a Ship from the Moluccas, there was a constant Intercourse between them and the People of the Philippines; and whether the Discovery was made by the Spaniards or Portugueze, some of the Company who were aboard such Ship as had passed through the Streight from the South to the North Sea, would return to the Moluccas or the Philippines; and others would meet their Acquaintance from thence in Portugal or Old Spain; who would take Pleasure in relating to them the Accounts of their Voyage, and which they who heard those Accounts would be equally fond of communicating to others, especially when they returned back to the Indies. By which Means it would be known that there had been such a Discovery; and it would be out of the Power of the King of Spain or Portugal to prevent its being so far known, but could prevent the Account of such Discovery being published, or the Particulars communicated to Foreigners.

In the Year 1568 Salvatierra, a Gentleman of Spain, who had accidentally landed in Ireland from the West Indies, gave an Account of a Passage having been made by one Andrew Urdanietta, and by the Circumstances of that Account it was about the Year 1556 or 1557. This Urdanietta was a Friar, was with and greatly assisted Andrew Miguel Lopez de Legaspi in the Expedition to the Philippine Islands in the Year 1564, and was called the celebrated Religious Andrew de Urdanietta. His being thus employed, and so serviceable in this Expedition to the Philippine Islands, as he is said to have been, implies, that he had a prior Knowledge of those Parts, and must have been there before; and the Character that Salvatierra gave of him to Sir Hugh Sydney, then Lord Deputy of Ireland, and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, was, that he was the greatest Discoverer by Sea that was in that Age.

Salvatierra said that a North-west Passage was constantly believed to be in America navigable; and that Urdanietta had shewed him at Mexico eight Years before Salvatierra arrived in Ireland, a Chart made from his own Observations in a Voyage in which he came from Mare del Zur into Germany, through this North-west Passage, wherein such Passage was expressed, agreeing with Ortelius's Map: That Urdanietta had told the King of Portugal of it as he came there from Germany in his return98 home; but the King earnestly intreated him not to discover this Secret to any Nation: For that (said he) if England had once a Knowledge and Experience of it, it would greatly hinder the King of Spain and me. And Salvatierra was himself persuaded of a Passage by the Friar Urdanietta, and by the common Opinion of the Spaniards inhabiting America.

It was this Account with some other that gained the Attention of the greatest Men of that Age to pursue the Discovery of a North-west Passage. Neither would Dudley, Walsingham, or Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and other honourable Persons about the Court, be deceived with fictitious Stories, and pursue a Phantom. Could the great Abilities and Penetration of a Walsingham be defective in this Respect, which was so perfect in all other Respects, as to be the Admiration of the present Age. Those who condemn this Account, and some other Accounts of this Sort, have not considered, that upon a slight Surmise or Suspicion only they put their Judgments in Competition with and in Contradiction to the Judgments of those great Men, who embraced no Opinion as to any Matter but what was founded in Reason, and all the Circumstances relating to which they had first fully considered, and which Opinion they adhered to. As to a North-west Passage, making a Distinction between the Disappointments as to the effecting the Discovery of a Passage, and the Probability there was of their being such Passage. The King of Spain was equally successless as to the Execution, and at the same Time as much assured of the Practicability of making it; for which Reason Secretary Walsingham was concerned at his Death, as the Attention of the Publick was drawn to a North-east Passage, by which nothing more was proposed than a Trade to Cathæy or China, and that a North-west Passage was neglected on the Part of the English.

It was an Opinion received in England in the Year 1560, or earlier, that there was such a Passage; and before the Philippines were settled by the Spaniards. Soon after the Discovery of Urdanietta, Frobisher, who set out in 1576, is said to have projected his Design, and made an Application for fifteen Years before. Did not succeed in the City probably, as they might not see any certain Advantage; but when he applied to the Court he succeeded. On what Plan he went is also evident, to find an Entrance to Northward of the Labrador; for when he fell in with99 the South-west Part of Greenland, it was supposed by him to be the Labrador Coast.

There is another Account on the Oath of Thomas Cowles of Bedmester, taken the 9th of April 1579, at a Time when Oaths were considered by all People as solemn and sacred Obligations to declare the Truth. He says that six Years before, he heard a Portugueze read a Book which he set out six Years before in print in the Portugal Tongue, declaring that he, Martin Chacke, had found, now twelve Years past, a Way from the Portugal Indies through the Gulph of Newfoundland, which he thought to be in Latitude 59° of the North Pole, by Means that he being in the said Indies with four Ships of great Burthen, and he himself being in a small Ship of eighty Ton, far driven from the Company of the other four Ships with a West Wind; after that he had passed along by a great Number of Islands, which were in the Gulph of the said Newfoundland, and after that he overshot the Gulph, he set no more Sight on any other Land, until he fell in with the North-west Part of Ireland; and from thence he took his Course homeward, and by that Means came to Lisbon four or five Weeks before the other Ships. But the Books were afterwards called in by the King's Order.

This Passage was made about ten Years after that of Urdanietta; and it is probable Chacke was encouraged to proceed through such Passage, from the Report or an Account which he had heard of such Passage having been before made. It is evident he met with some Difficulties in such Passage which delayed him, as the Ships were at Lisbon so soon after him, and as he expresses that he was far driven from the other four Ships he left them in a low Latitude, and being got to the Northward, without any Expectation of rejoining them, proceeded intentionally to make his Voyage by the Passage; which he would not have done to the Hazard of losing his Vessel and Cargo, for he was not on Discovery, but returning to Lisbon in Company with other loaden Vessels, from whom he was separated, unless he had been assured that what he undertook was practicable, and a Passage had been made by some Vessel before that Time. This Account was received as a Truth by the principal People of the Kingdom, who certainly made a due Enquiry as to the Character of the Person who made the Affidavit with respect to his100 Capacity, there would be a proper Precaution also, at the Time of administering such Affidavit, that it was exact and only what he knew positively as to this Matter, tho' there might be other Circumstances which he was not so positive in. And as this Account was at that Time believed, it must have been on better Reasons than can be at present urged by any one to call the Veracity of this Account in Question.

Juan de Fuca (the Account is from Purchase and North-west Fox) was an ancient Pilot, who had been in the West India of Spain for near forty Years, and had sailed as Mariner and Pilot to many Places thereof in Service of the Spaniards.

He was Pilot of three small Ships which the Viceroy of Mexico sent from thence, armed with a hundred Soldiers, under a Spaniard Captain, to discover the Streights of Anian along the Coast of the South Sea, and to fortify in that Streight, to resist the Passage of the English Nation, but by Reason of a Mutiny which happened amongst the Soldiers, for some ill Practices of the Captain, the Voyage was overset, and they returned to New Spain.

The Viceroy sent de Fuca out again in 1592, with a small Caravel and Pinnace, armed with Mariners only, for the Discovery of the said Streights. Finding the Land to trend North and North-east, with a broad Inlet between 47 and 48, he entered it, and sailing therein more than twenty Days, found the Land trending still, sometimes North-west, sometimes North-east, and also South-eastward, far broader Sea than at the said Entrance; and passed by diverse Islands in that Entrance.

He went upon Land in several Places, and saw some People on Land, clad in Beasts Skins; and that the Land was very fruitful, and rich of Gold and Silver, and Pearls, and other Things like Nova Hispania.

Being entered thus far in the said Streight, and come into the North Sea already, and finding the Sea wide enough every where, and to be about thirty or forty Leagues wide in the Streight where he entered; he thought he had well discharged his Office, and done the Thing he was sent to do; and that he not being armed to resist the Force of the101 savage People, that might happen to assault him, therefore set sail and returned to Nova Hispania, where he arrived at Aquapulco, Anno 1592, hoping to be well rewarded by the Viceroy for his Voyage so performed.

The Viceroy received him kindly, and gave him Promises; but after an Expectation of two Years the Viceroy wished him to go to Spain, where the King would reward him; and he accordingly went.

He was well received at Court; but after long Suit could get no Reward to his Content, so stole away and came to Italy, to live amongst his Kindred in his own Country, being very old, a Greek by Birth, born in the Island of Sepholonica, and his proper Name Apostollos Valerianos.

De Fuca went first to Leghorn, then to Florence, where he met one John Dowlass, an Englishman, a famous Mariner, ready coming for Venice, to be a Pilot for a Venetian Ship to England; they went in Company to Venice. Dowlass being acquainted with Mr. Lock, at least a considerable Merchant if not a Consul there; gave him an Account of this de Fuca, and introduced him to Mr. Lock, who gave Mr. Lock the preceding Account; and made a Proposal, if Queen Elizabeth would make up the Loss which he had sustained aboard the Aquapulco Ship taken by Captain Cavendish, which was to the Value of sixty Thousand Ducats, he would go to England, and serve her Majesty to discover the North-west Passage into the South Sea, and engage his Life for the Performance, with a Ship of forty Tons and a Pinnace. They had two several Meetings on this Occasion; and Lock, at de Fuca's Request, wrote to the old Lord Treasurer Cecil, Sir Walter Rawleigh, and Mr. Richard Hackluit, the Cosmographer, desiring a Hundred Pounds for to pay his Passage to England. His Friends wrote Lock Word, the Action was very well liked, if the Money could be procured. As no great Expectations were to be had from this Answer, de Fuca left Venice in a Fortnight after, pursued his Design of going to Greece, and there died.

There is nothing in this Relation but what is very natural and simple. De Fuca's Demand was excessive, for which Reason, probably, as a Man who over-rated his Services, he was not rewarded by the Viceroy or the King; yet the Viceroy availed himself of him, by sending him to Court to give an Account of his Voyage, which he might be ordered to do,102 as another Expedition was desired, and a Representation for that Purpose made by the Viceroy Luis Velasco, as is mentioned in the Schedule of the King. History of California, P. 173.

It did not appear that he could certainly perform what he undertook, concluding he was in the North Sea, from such Sea returned back to New Spain, therefore had not acquired a Knowledge of the Entrance into the Streights from the Eastward; which was the Difficulty that obstructed this Discovery on the Part of the English, and had been so much sought after, but unsuccessfully. His Age was also a very material Objection, that he would scarce be able to bear the Fatigue of such a Voyage, his Desire to undertake which immediately proceeded from his Avarice: Nor was it confident that the Hundred Pounds should be sent over to bring him to England, if the other Part of the Terms could not be complied with; which seems to be the Meaning of the Expression, the Action is well liked of if the Money could be procured. And de Fuca, whose Motive for proposing this Undertaking, was to be satisfied for his Loss by Captain Cavendish, would not have altered his Design of going into his own Country, and proceeded to England, unless he was assured of his being so gratified on a Performance of what he undertook.

Dowlass, who was a good Mariner, as he travelled with him, and kept his Company, would have had particular and frequent Conversation with de Fuca, and who, as a Mariner, was more capable of finding out if his Account was true, and was thoroughly satisfied it was so, as he spoke to Mr. Lock about him. Neither Lock nor Dowlass could have any sinister Views, but only animated by a publick Spirit to do their Country so acceptable a Service, which it was thought to be in England, as it is said the Action is well liked of.

As to de Fuca being taken Prisoner by Captain Cavendish, and how did he escape out of the Hands of the English? When the Ship was taken all the People were put ashore on the Coast of California, the Goods were taken out, and then the Ship was set a Fire, which burnt to the Water Mark, the Wreck floated ashore, they erected Jury-masts in her, and fortunately got to Aquapulco.103

De Fuca says, the Cause he thought of the ill Reward he had of the Spaniards was, that they understood very well the English Nation had now given over all their Voyages for the Discovery of a North-west Passage, wherefore they feared not them to come any more that Way into the South Sea; and therefore they needed not his Service therein any more: Which is so far agreeable to the Accounts of those Times, that, after the Death of Sir Francis Walsingham, the Discovery of a North-west Passage had no Patron at Court; and Sir Francis had particularly interested himself in procuring Davis to go on his last Expedition. The Discovery was not re-assumed until the Year 1602, by the Muscovy Company, who had never engaged as a Company in this Discovery; but having made some successless Attempts, as to the North-east Passage, fitted out Capt. George Weymouth for the Discovery of a North-west Passage, which it is observable was the same Year with Vizcaino's Expedition. And it is observable the next Expedition for the Discovery of a North-west Passage, was not until the Year 1606, when Mr. John Knight was fitted out; and the same Year the King of Spain orders Vizcaino on a third Expedition, but Vizcaino died, though in the interim Vizcaino had been to Old Spain, to make Application to make a fresh Attempt, at his own Expence, and he could not obtain Permission of his Majesty. As the Expeditions which the Court of Spain order peremptorily to be undertaken, correspond as to the Time with those from England, shews a Jealousy on the Part of the King of Spain that the English might succeed as to a Passage through the Streights. And though it is mentioned as the principal Design in the Expeditions by Order of the King of Spain, is the Discovery of a Harbour for the Aquapulco Ship, the Publick understood there was yet a farther Design, and as much may be collected from the King of Spain's Schedule in 1606. Count de Monterey, 'by pursuing the Discovery intended by Don Luis de Velasco, wrote to me concerning, and was of Opinion that small Vessels from the Harbour of Aquapulco were the fittest; and that in the Discovery might be included the Coasts and Bays of the Gulph of California, and of the Fishery, to which, in my Letter of the 27th of September 1599, I ordered to be answered, that the Discovery, and making Draughts, with Observations of that Coast, and the Bays along it, having appeared to me highly convenient, it was my Will he should104 immediately put it in Execution, without troubling himself about California, unless occasionally—And Sebastian Vizcaino carefully informed himself of these Indians, and many others, whom he discovered along the Coast for above eight Hundred Leagues; and they all told him, that up the Country there were large Towns, Silver, and Gold; whence he is inclined to believe that great Riches may be discovered, especially as, in some Parts of the Land, Veins of Metal are to be seen; and that the Time of their Summer being known, a farther Discovery might be made of them by going within the Country, and that the Remainder of it may be discovered along the Coast, as it reaches beyond 42 Degrees, the Limits specified to the said Sebastian Vizcaino in his Instructions.' Though these Orders were received in Mexico in 1599, no Voyage was set out on until 1602, the Time that Weymouth sailed, then probably enforced by additional Orders from the Court of Spain. The Expedition which was overturned by the Mutiny of the Soldiers, seems to have been about the Time of Captain Davis's Expedition; for de Fuca says, after the Voyage was so ill ended, the Viceroy set him out again in 1592, which implies a Distance of Time between the first and second Voyage.

The Instructions Vizcaino had in the first Voyage were given by the Viceroy, for it was the Viceroy who appointed him, and were formed according to the Opinion that the Land beyond forty-two Degrees took a Course to Westward and Southward of West. And the Maps were constructed agreeable thereto, therefore the King says, 'Vizcaino had represented to him that the Coast, as far as 40 Degrees, lies North-west and South-east, and that in the two other Degrees, which makes up the 42 Degrees, it lies North and South,' and, as before mentioned, says, 'and that the Remainder of it may be discovered along the Coasts, as it reaches beyond 42 Degrees, the Limits specified to the said Sebastian Vizcaino in his Instructions.' Therefore when Martin Aguilar got to 43 Degrees and found an Opening, he concluded, as the Coast was represented to be terminated to the Northward, by the Maps and Charts in Use, that this must be the desired Streights; and therefore said on their Return, 'they should have performed a great deal more, had their Health not failed them; for it is certain that only fourteen Persons enjoyed it at Cape Blanco. The General and those that were with 105him had a mind to go through the Streight, which they call of Anian, and is said to be thereabouts. It had been entered by the foreign Ship, who gave Intelligence of it to the King, describing its Situation, and how through that Passage one might reach the North Sea, and then sail back to Spain, along Newfoundland and the Islands of Baccalaos, to bring an Account of the Whole to his Majesty.' Torquemada, Vol. i. P. 725. But it is very plain the King had another Information of this Matter, and as to the Extent of the Land to Northward. Luis de Velasco was the Viceroy in whose Time the Expedition of de Fuca was; and the Expedition of Vizcaino was under the Direction of the Count de Monterey, who was either not informed of what had been done by de Fuca, or might not think de Fuca's Account of sufficient Authority to justify him, the Viceroy, in drawing his Instructions agreeable thereto; contrary to the general Opinion of the Cosmographers at that Time, and the Description they gave of the Coasts in their Maps.

It must appear from what hath been said that there are no such great Improbabilities in the Accounts of Salvatierre, Chacke, or de Fuca, as hath been represented. It is also evident that the English had great Expectations of succeeding; and the Court of Spain had great Apprehensions we should meet with Success, and be enabled to attain a Passage by the Streight of Anian into the South Sea; for which there must have been some reasonable Foundation both on the Part of the one and the other. The English were first induced to attempt the Discovery of such a Passage, from the Accounts which they had from Spain of there being such a Passage. The Court of Spain entertained, as hath been shewn, an Opinion of there being such a Passage from the Time they conquered Mexico; and, agreeable to what Torquemada says, had a certain Account of it, or at least an Account which appeared to the King to be authentick. What that Account really contained we do not know, nor was it consistent that it should be made publick; therefore what is said as to the Particulars of it are but Conjecture, and Representations upon Reports, for which the Reporters could have no real Authority. As Vizcaino regretted being prevented, by the Sickness of his People that he could not go round the World, and have carried home to Old Spain his Account of his Expedition. This firm Persuasion that he should have accomplished his Passage to Old Spain, by the Streight of Anian, must106 have been from some Information which he had received before he set out, that such Passage was practicable: Neither is it mentioned as if he proposed making a Discovery of it, but as of a Thing before done. It was the Opinion of all those who were with him, that it was practicable; which is agreeable to what Salvatierra informed Sir Hugh Sydney, and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, That a North-west Passage from us to Cathay was constantly believed in America navigable. Vizcaino, who is represented as a Commander of great Conduct and Discretion (and which the Account of his Voyage expresses him to have been) would not have attempted to make a Passage thro' such Streights, to the Hazard, perhaps entire Loss, of the King's Ships, and what he had before done rendered of no Effect, unless he had a discretionary Power either to pass to Old Spain by these Streights, or return to Aquapulco.

After the Expedition of Knight failed, and Vizcaino died, we hear of no other Expeditions at the Expence of or by the positive Order of the Court of Spain until that of Admiral Cassanate, who went the third Year after the Expedition of de Fonte, to make a Survey of the Coast of California; yet we have no Reason to conclude there were no other Expeditions, but it is rather to be supposed that, after the English had proceeded in their Discoveries as far as Hudson's Bay, the Court of Spain thought it necessary, and found an effectual Way of keeping their Expeditions, both in respect to their Equipment and what was done on such Expeditions a Secret, by sending Officers from Old Spain to conduct them, and as to which the Religious would not think themselves at Liberty to make any Publication without the Permission of the Court.

Having no Intercourse by Trade with those Parts, we cannot be acquainted with what is transacted in those Parts, any further than what the Spanish Writers are permitted to inform us, and the imperfect and uncertain Intelligence of those who have been cruizing in those Seas. The Spanish Nation have been particularly cautious of keeping the Knowledge of their Coast secret: Neither was it known, in the Year 1745, that an exact Survey was made of those Coasts until Pasco Thomas annexed to his Account of Lord Anson's Expedition, published in 1745, a Copy of a Manuscript, which Manuscript contained an Account of the Latitudes107 and Longitudes of all the most noted Places in the South Sea, corrected from the latest Observations by Manuel Monz Prieto, Professor of Arts in Peru, and are composed with as much Precision and Exactness, as Tables of that Sort are usually made; but when these Coasts were surveyed to the Northward, to attain a Knowledge of which was formerly attended with such immense Difficulty; and to what Purpose and what Trade is carried on there, we are at present entire Strangers to. It is by Accident only that we have this Account; and if the Spanish Nation have used this Precaution, with respect to the Knowledge of their Coasts, undoubtedly they would use the same Caution with respect to giving us any Insight as to how we might find a more ready Access to such Coasts by a North-west Passage.

The Point of Sueste del Estrech d'Anian, inserted in such Tables, shews the Opinion of the Streights is far from being exploded; but it is acknowledged by the Geographers of Peru and New Spain, at the present Time, that there are such Streights. The naming the South Point of the Streight implies there is Land to the Northward, as to which it doth not seem to be consistent with the Purpose of the Person who composed this Table to take any Notice, but that there is such Land is confirmed by the Russian Discoveries.

The Extent of America to Northward and Westward, that America and Asia were contiguous and only separated by a Streight, that California was an Island, that a Passage by the North-east was practicable, have been by later Geographers treated as Chimeras, contrary to the earliest Accounts, and the Reports of the first Discoverers, and which, by later Accounts, the Consequence of actual Observations are found to be true. There was a Simplicity and Honour in the People of that Age; there was no Motive for telling the Lie, that they faithfully reported the Discoveries they made, and if a Falshood was discovered it might be dangerous in the Consequences; their Voyages were not lucrative Jobs, in Hopes of a Repetition of which they formed their Accounts accordingly. There was no particular System to support, for the Parts they went to were entirely unknown, that a Reward and Reputation should be procured through a prevailing Interest to such as spoke in Favour of the System. While those to whose Fidelity and Assiduity alone108 it would be owing that such Discoveries were made, though repeated Endeavours were used to render the Undertaking ineffectual; and through whose Means alone the Truth would be made known to the Publick; should be ill spoken of, accused of Bribery, discountenanced, and the whole Merit ascribed to, where it would be least deserved, and, in Truth, where there could not be the least Pretension. Nevertheless the Reward given would be an Instance of a generous Regard in those who had Power to bestow of rewarding Merit, though they were inevitably deceived as to the proper Persons to whom such Reward should have been given.

No Authorities have been produced from Tradition or History which oppose the Probability of there being a North-west Passage, or the Reality of this Account of de Fonte, which the more we examine the less there appears to be of a Falsity, the Circumstances of it so consistent and united, and there are so many extra Circumstances which concur with that Account, that we cannot but admit to be an incontestable Truth. We have not had a full Account of the Voyages and Expeditions of the Spaniards in New Spain, as some of them have not been permitted to be published. Venegas particularly mentions, Vol. i. P. 14, and in other Parts, There are also Accounts of Voyages made to other Parts of the World, which are only preserved in the Collections of the Curious, and it is known but to few Persons that such Voyages were ever made. There are some Voyages which are mentioned to have been made, but cannot, after the most diligent Inquiries, be procured; yet it is no just Objection to the Authenticity of such Voyages, or as to their not having been made. What the first Discoverers represented as to the Extent of America, its being contiguous to Asia, as to California, and as to a North-east Passage, being in all Respects found to be true, there is the greatest Reason to believe that there is a North-west Passage; and it is consistent with that Precaution which the Spanish Nation have made Use of, that we should not have any authentick Accounts relating to such Passage, which they were desirous of discovering as a shorter Way to the Spice Islands and the Indies. But when the King of Portugal and Spain came to an Agreement as to the Moluccas, the principal Reason for making such Discovery was determined, and it became their mutual Interest that it should not be known that there was such a Passage. Their continued Silence with respect to such Passage, implies they are109 acquainted with there being such a Passage, though not to an Exactness. It cannot imply they are dubious, when we consider the Number of Circumstances there are already mentioned, which express the contrary.

There are Circumstances in de Fonte's Account which shew the Inference of there being no North-west Passage is not just, though just as far as it appeared to de Fonte, as the River Parmentiers was not navigable for Shipping. One Circumstance is, that in the River Haro, and Lake Velasco, there were Salmon Trouts and large white Perch; also in Los Reyes and Lake Belle, but in Lake de Fonte excellent Cod and Ling; which are Fish that always abide in the Salt Water, the others come out of the Salt Water into the fresh Waters to spawn. Which de Fonte would account for that they came into the Lake de Fonte from the North Sea, and when he passed the Streight of Ronquillo, supposed himself to be in that Sea, or from the Intelligence that he obtained from Shapley that he was in a Gulph or Branch of it. Another Circumstance, as it flowed in the River Los Reyes twenty-two Feet, and in Haro twenty-four, and but a small Tide went into Lake Belle, de Fonte concluded that the Western Tide terminated there, and that as the Waters rose to such a Heighth at the Entrance of those Rivers, that it was a Gulph he was in which confined these Waters and occasioned their rise at such Entrances of the Rivers. That the Tides in Parmentiers, Lake de Fonte, and the Streights of Ronquillo, were from the North Sea. But by later Observations of the Rise of the Tides, a Tide cannot proceed from Hudson's Bay to that Sea where Shapley was met by de Fonte, than through the Streights of Ronquillo into the great Lake of de Fonte, and afterwards to rise so high in the River Parmentiers. Neither can such a Tide proceed through the broken Land to Northwards of Hudson's Streights, named Cumberland Isles (formerly Estotland) and which extend as far as Latitude 70; for it is evident the Strength of such Tides is spent in Hudson's Bay and Baffin's Bay: For at the Bottom of Hudson's Bay it flowed but two Feet, at the Bottom of Fretum Davis or Baffin's Bay, but one Foot. Which is agreeable to the Opinion of all the Discoverers of that Time, as to the Eastern Tide from the Proportion that the great Spaces or Seas which were to receive it bore to the Inlets by which it came in, that the Force of such Tide must be consumed in such Seas, and therefore expected to meet with a Tide from Westward, which counterchecked the Eastern Tide. On the other Hand, if we consider this Tide to be110 from the Western Ocean, such Tide forced through various Entrances up a Streight as that of de Fuca, must enter the Sea where Shapley was met, with great Impetuosity; rise in Heighth proportionable to the Width in all Openings that there are to receive it. As it is the Tide round Greenland, and that which comes from the Southward along the Coast of Labrador, being both received in those Indraughts of Hudson's Streights, and the broken Lands of Cumberland Isles, which causes the Rise of the Tides there. It may be supposed that the North-east Part of the South Sea, and the Streight of de Fuca, received the Tides which set to Eastward along the Western Main from Beering's Streights, and the Tide which comes from the Southward along the Coast of California. That the Tide is not from the Tartarian Sea, in Lake de Fonte, &c. is evident from Bernarda's Account, who shews there is no Communication with that Sea and the Sea that Shapley was met in.

As to the Cod and Ling in Lake de Fonte, or as to Salmon, it is not known that there are either Cod, Ling or Salmon in Hudson's Bay: Neither have there been found Shoals or Banks to which the Cod could repair; nor is it known that any Cod have been catched beyond Latitude 57; an Article to which Davis was particularly attentive: Therefore it is not probable that they should come from the North Sea through Hudson's Bay to Lake de Fonte. De Fonte mentions Shoals in the North-east Part of the South Sea, which he passed up. And in Vizcaino's Voyage there is an Account that, off the Island Geronymo on the Coast of California, the Ships Companies supplied themselves with Cod and Ling; which shews there are Cod and Ling in those Seas. It was reasonable for de Fonte to suppose that the Cod and Ling came from the Eastward from the Baccaloos, neither could he otherwise suppose, as the contrary is only known from Observations made much later than that Time.

Fox had advanced in 1635, when he published the Account of his Voyage, that there was a free and open Communication of the Western Ocean with Hudson's Bay: Which was looked on as an incontestable Fact until the Voyage of Captain Middleton. What Fox said was consistent with the Opinion which all the Discoverers had of the Proximity of the Western Ocean; who therefore judged of the Probability of their Success in the Parts they went into, from the Course of the Tides, which111 if there was no Western Tide there was no Passage. This probably prevented that Success, as to a Discovery of a Passage, which through their Assiduity might otherwise have been obtained, had they not paid such a Regard to the Tides, but made a due Survey of the Inlets and Openings of the Coast, which on their not finding that a Western Tide came from thence they deserted, which was also the Case as to Captain Moor in the Search of Pistol Bay as called, to Southward of Lord Southwell's Isles, there was no Western Tide; therefore a compleat Discovery of that Part was not made.

It is to be considered that the Northern and Eastern Parts of America, are more intermixed with Waters than the Parts to Southward are, being a high mountainous Country. The Mountains chiefly consisting of a brown rocky Substance, not penetrable by the melting Snows or Spring Rains, which therefore run off into the Levels and Valleys, and form inland Seas, great Lakes, and Inlets, which vent their Waters into the Ocean, necessary for carrying off that great Quantity and vast Bodies of Ice which are formed in the Winter in those Parts, not to be dissolved, as the greater Part is which is formed to the Southward, by the Influence of the Sun. The Northern and Westward Part of America is also mountainous, and high Ridges of Mountains were seen from the Head of Wager Bay on the opposite Shore of what appeared to be a Lake; therefore there must be Lakes and Seas to Westward, Reservoirs for the melting Snows and Rains, also some Outlet or Channel to carry off the great Quantities of Ice also formed in those Parts; and with which Barnarda's Account is consistent, and the greatest Reservoir and Discharge seems to be to the Northward by that North-east Part of the Tartarian Sea. The Lake Velasco, Lake Belle, Lake de Fonte, may be all supposed to proceed from the same Cause, the melting Snows and Rains, receive the Ice from the Waters which run into them, which, from the Strength of the Currents and Tides, is soon shot from the Shores of such Lakes, broken to Pieces and carried off into some Passage or Inlet into the South Sea; and such a Vent or Channel to carry off such Bodies of Ice must necessarily be, agreeable to what is known by Observation in other Parts. The Objection of the great Distance it is between the Ocean and the Sea at the Back of Hudson's Bay, and where Shapley was met, will appear of no Validity when we consider the Distance between112 the Streights of Gibraltar and the Northern Part of the Black Sea. Between the Entrance of the Sound to the Entrance of the White Sea, between which there is Communication of Waters, or very nearly so. And from Point Comfort in Hudson's Bay to Alderman Smith's Sound in Baffin's Bay, between which there is a Communication of Waters without entering into the Ocean or Davis Streights. From Lake Superior to the Streights of Belle Isle at the Back of Newfoundland, or to Cape Breton, is near forty Degrees of Longitude, or equal to 390 Leagues. And Lake Superior hath a Communication with Hudson's Bay.

This great Afflux of Waters form such Meanders and Labyrinths, as it is impossible to say whether there is a Communication of Waters, or whether the Waters are divided by smaller or larger Tracts or Slips of Land, without an absolute Survey. The Lands so double or fold one within the other, that unless you get a proper Sight of such Lands so as to distinguish this, to discover the Opening that is between them, there is an Appearance of a Continuance of the Land, and consequently of a Termination of the Waters. So long as the Tide Argument prevailed it was not thought necessary to be so accurate in the Searches. A Sight of the Land trending a Course contrary to that Course which the Discoverers were to pursue to make a Passage, and the Tide coming from the Eastward, rendered a Search any further in those Parts unnecessary: and it may be owing to the great Impropriety of adopting a particular System, more than to any other Cause, that the Discovery of a North-west Passage was not made by those brave industrious Discoverers, who in a Series succeeded each other from Frobisher to James and Fox.

This seems to be certain, that there must be one great Channel, as Hudson's Streights are to Eastward, also to Westward though intricate by which the Waters to Westward pass into the South Sea, and as that to Northward, the North-east Part of the Tartarian Sea. We already know there is not a Communication by Hudson's Bay, thro' any Inlet by which the Waters do come in there or sufficient for that Purpose; neither round the Head of Repulse Bay, for then the Current would have been met coming from Westward. Therefore such Channel must be to Southward and Westward, consistent with de Fuca's Account of a Streight, in some113 such Manner as is represented in the Map annexed. Which Account also agreeable to that of Peche.

De Fuca says, he sailed twenty-six Days up such Streight before he entered the Sea; that the Streight grew wider before he entered the Sea. If we allow him fifteen Leagues a Day, from the Entrance of such Streights out of the South Sea to where he entered the Sea, by him supposed the North Sea, the Distance is 390 Leagues. As he mentions that he found it wide enough every where, this Expression shews that he did not suppose himself in the Ocean, but in a Gulph of the Ocean. And Martin Chacke expresses himself, that after he overshot the Gulph, he set no more Sight on any other Land. Therefore the Distance is agreeable to that Distance which de Fuca must have gone to come into that Sea where de Fonte met Shapley; the Description that he saw both Shores, makes a Consistency also in those Accounts. Before de Fonte's Expedition, Hudson's Bay had been discovered, yet that Discovery made no Alteration as to the Accounts of de Fuca and Chacke, as Fox said beyond Lat. 64, round that Land there was incontestably a Communication with the Western Ocean. Here is an Agreement in three Accounts, by separate Persons at a Distance of Time, who had no Intelligence of what had been done by each other; for Chacke was a Portugueze; and as de Fuca had made his Report to the Viceroy of New Spain of what he had done, and what he had done seems to be mostly accounted of by himself, therefore no Regard might be had to it in drawing de Fonte's Instructions: All which three Accounts agree in there being a Sea to Westward of Hudson's Bay.

De Fuca mentions he was ashore; saw Marks of Gold and Silver; Marquisates the same which was made such an Account of after Frobisher's return from his first Voyage, and from which it may be inferred it was a barren mountainous Country which de Fuca passed through. He was afraid of the Natives, who were clad in Beast Skins; and from whose Behaviour he must have had some Apprehension that they would cut him off, as he mentions that he was not armed against them. De Fonte is very express as to the civil Behaviour of those Indians he met with, so contrary to the Character of those whom de Fuca saw. Therefore those whom de Fuca saw were the Eskemaux, who frequent the mountainous and desolate Parts, and near to the Salt Waters where they can catch114 Fish, also the Seal and the Whale, from which they get many Conveniencies besides what is necessary for their Subsistance; who are mentioned to be also on other Parts of the Coast of California; are represented as a fierce and barbarous People, who hold no Treaty or Amity with their Neighbours, who are always in Fear of them.

That de Fonte should not pass up the North-east Part of the South Sea, but go through Land, must have been, that the North-east Part of the South Sea was represented as a Gulph, not a Streight, from some Observations made prior to that Expedition, as to which the Observers might be deceived, by its taking a Southerly Course through some Inlet or Opening obscured by Islands, or the Entrance narrow, that they concluded it only to be some small Branch which soon terminated; having, at the same Time, a large open Channel before them, which they finding afterwards surrounded with Land, concluded there was no Communication with any other Waters, but that they had seen the Extremity of these Waters to Eastward. That these Waters took a Course through that desert mountainous Country, until they joined with the Waters of the Streights that de Fuca came up, the People of Conosset might not be able to give a just Account of, as they lived so far to Northward and Eastward. Though they, as the Natives of Conibasset also came occasionally into the North-east Part of the South Sea; the one mostly frequented to Northward and Eastward, the other to Northward and Westward, as is apparent from de Fonte's Account; where they had level and fruitful Tracts, as they produced so much Maiz; a hunting Country, as there were three Sorts of Deer; also Fish in their Waters. Whereas the Country on the opposite Shore of the North-east Part of the South Sea, as is apparent from being the Resort of the Eskemaux, would be rugged, rocky, and remarkably barren, with little Intermixtures of level and fruitful Spots. Therefore the People of Conosset, or Conibasset, would have no Inducements to go into those Parts. May be supposed the opposite Coast was the Limits of their Enemy's Country, with whom if they went to War, and knew that the Waters of the North-east Part of the South Sea did communicate to Southward with other Waters; yet it cannot be imagined that they went up those Waters so far in their Enemy's Country of so wild a Disposition, where they were always in Danger of being surprized, as to know whether those Waters joined with the Sea115 in which Shapley was met. Might also be jealous if the Jesuits, or Parmentiers, or others who came there, were very particular in their Enquiries, that they intended to go and reside amongst their Enemies, which, as the Nature of Indians is, would cause them to be on the Reserve, and slack in their Informations, as to those Parts.

That those Persons who were in those Parts before this Expedition of de Fonte, got no Information of this Streight, or of the Waters, as to the Course of them to Southward, there must be a considerable main Land to Southward of Lake Belle and Lake de Fonte, as is expressed in the Map, and as to the Sea to Eastward, that Part of it which was to Southward of Ronquillo, no more would be apprehended of it, being unacquainted as to the Streight, than that it was a Part of that Sea contiguous to Hudson's Bay; and it not being known at that Time but the Tides came from the Eastward, would have no Reason to infer, from the Sea running to Southward, that it communicated with a Streight there.

To take away the Improbability of what is here advanced, we should reflect what Assurances former Discoverers gave, that had but the Season permitted to proceed, they should certainly have made a Passage; though when an Attempt was again made they found their Mistake; and from Observations then made, they saw good Reason to have a different Opinion as to the Nature of the Passage from what they had before, and very reasonable, as their Searches were made in Parts entirely unknown; and as to the Appearance of the Land, the Course of the Waters, and the Set of the Tides, the most judicious might be deceived.

The Spanish Nation had not been able to make out a Passage by their various Attempts, agreeable to the Accounts of private Persons, which probably might give an Opportunity for the Representations of the Jesuits to be attended to, who would urge every Argument in Behalf of their Discovery, and endeavour to invalidate the former Accounts as to a Passage; which by that Time, from the ill Success as to discovering a Passage, might not be at that Time so much thought of; and as Difference in Time produces a Change in Opinions, whatever makes for the reigning Opinion is adopted, as every Thing that is contradictory is116 depreciated. The Arguments for the Opinion which prevailed before for a navigable Passage might be treated as fallacious and insignificant, and the Instructions for the Expedition of de Fonte might be drawn agreeable to the Jesuits Plan, whom it is evident knew nothing of a Streight, but considered the Land of America as one continued Continent to Latitude 66. And whatever Weight this Conjecture may have, it is apparent from the Consideration of de Fonte's Letter, that the Instructions were drawn from the Information of some who had been before in those Parts: And by whom can it be supposed more properly that the Court received the Information which they had than from the Jesuits, whose Understanding and Character would admit them to a free Converse with the Minister on a less Occasion than they would now have, to give an Account of those Parts they had been in.

The Court of Spain does not seem, from the Proceedings, to be of the same Opinion with the Jesuits, or de Fonte after his return. As the Governor of Cinoloa is immediately ordered to take a Survey of the Coasts and Harbours of California. And the next Year Admiral Cassanate is sent from Old Spain; and it is probable the Court was not of the Opinion of the Jesuits when they gave this Information, but formed the Instructions for de Fonte agreeable thereto. As the most expedient Method, at that Time, for intercepting the People from Boston, was to go the Way they gave an Account of with the Boats through Land, as the Ships might meet with Difficulties and Delays in passing up the Streights, also ran great Hazard; the Boston Ship might pass them unperceived. Whereas, on the Plan which was pursued, if they heard by the Natives that the Boston Ship had passed, and taken her Course further to Southward or Westward, de Fonte would have repaired aboard his Ship, proceeded down Los Reyes, and with the Diligence which he would have made Use of, fell in with the Boston Ship either in such North-east Part of the South Sea, or on the Coast of California, leaving Orders for Barnardo how to act in this Respect on his return. From which Conduct, and the Look-out that was kept on the Coast of Mexico and Peru, it would have been also impossible for the Boston People, unacquainted with these Parts, and not expecting such a Diligence was used to intercept them, to have made a successful Voyage.117

That there is a Sea to the Westward of Hudson's Bay is reported by the Indians, and is represented to have Ice in it like Hudson's Bay.

Governor Dobbs, in his Account of the Countries adjoining to Hudson's Bay (P. 19.) mentions from Joseph le France, that their Savages reported that in the Bottom of the Northern Bay there is a Streight, they can easily discover Land on the other Side: They had never gone to the End of that Streight. They say there is Ice there all the Year, which is drove by the Wind, sometimes one Way sometimes another.

The Indians, who are called Northern Indians, having their Habitations to North-west of Churchill, mention a Sea to the Westward of them, and which is from Churchill Factory in Hudson's Bay twenty-five Days Journey, not a direct Course, but from the round they are obliged to take. They speak of the Eskemaux Indians to Eastward of them, but never give an Account of any other Nations to Northward or Westward of them. Mr. Scroggs, who was sent out by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1722, had two Northern Indians, whom he carried with him, when he was in about Lat. 62. knew the Country very well, and had a great Desire to go home, saying they were but two or three Days Journey from their Family. And the Northern Indians who were with Captain Middleton, were desirous of his going near the Shore, between Lat. 62 Deg. and 64. In Lat. 63° and 14´, Captain Middleton put two of the Indians ashore, who were desirous of returning to their own Country. And the Author saw an Indian, whose Daughter had married a Northern Indian and been home with her, direct his own Son to sketch out on a Board with a burnt Stick, the Coast of that Sea, which his Son did, and the Father afterwards took and corrected it where he said the Son had mistook.

Governor Dobbs, in the Account mentioned P. 45, mentions, 'that Joseph le France was acquainted with an Indian, who lived at some Distance from Nelson River in Hudson's Bay, who, about 15 Years before that Time, went to War against a Nation living Northward on the Western Ocean of America. When they went they carried their Families with them, and hunted and fished from Place to Place for two Winters and one Summer, having left their Country in Autumn, and in April following came to the Sea Side, on the Western Coast,118 where they immediately made their Canoes. At some little Distance they saw an Island, which was about a League and a Half long when the Tide was out, or Water fell, they had no Water betwixt them and the Island, but when it rose it covered all the Passage betwixt them and the Island, as high up as the Woods upon the Shore. There they left their Wives and Children, and old Men, to conduct them home and provide them with Provisions, by hunting and shooting for them on the Road; and he, with thirty Warriors, went in Quest of their Enemies the Tete Plat. After they parted with their Families they came to a Streight, which they passed in their Canoes. The Sea Coast lay almost East and West; for he said the Sun rose upon his Right Hand, and at Noon it was almost behind him as he passed the Streight, and always set in the Sea. After passing the Streight they coasted along the Shore three Months, going into the Country or Woods as they went along to hunt for Provisions. He said they saw a great many large black Fish spouting up Water in the Sea. After they had coasted for near three Months, they saw the Footsteps of some Men on the Sand; then judged they were near their Enemies, quitted their Canoes, went five Days through the Woods to the Banks of a River, found their Enemy's Town, made an Attack, the Enemy rallied and put them to flight.' Then proceeds, 'upon which they fled to the Woods, and from thence made their Escape to their Canoes before their Enemies overtook them, and after a great deal of Fatigue got to the Streight; and, after getting over, they all died one after the other, except this old Man, of Fatigue and Famine, leaving him alone to travel to his own Country, which took him up about a Year's Time.' When he reached the River Sakie he met his Friends again, who relieved him.

The Indians that this antient Indian went to War against, (and this Indian was living at York Fort in Hudson's Bay in 1746) are mentioned to be the Tete Plat, or Plascotez de Chicus. The Part which they inhabit is variously laid down by the Geographers; by some in Lat. 67, Long. 265 East from Ferro, which is the extremest Longitude that their Country is laid down in. Mons. de Lisle and others place them in Lat. 63, and Long. 280 East from Ferro, so their true Situation is uncertain. Yet it is apparent that they do not live near to or on the Coast of the South Sea, or Western Ocean. For what Joseph le France in this Account, and so of all Indians,119 meant by the Word Sea is any Mass or Collection of Salt Waters which have a Tide. P. 38, in the same Work, giving an Account of the Indians passing down to York Fort. 'The River de Terre Rouge, and from that Place they descend gradually to the Sea.' By which Joseph le France means Hudson's Bay. Governor Dobbs mentioning the Western Ocean of America is a Mistake, which he was led into as having a Consistency with the System which he had adopted. These Warriors left their own Country in Autumn, are said to have lived near Port Nelson or York Fort, and were at the Sea Side in April. Their not being sooner is not to be attributed to the Length of the Journey but to the Season of the Year. The old Indian was a Year returning to his own Country; but he was fatigued and almost famished, so labouring under a great Debility, and had his Food to seek in whatever Manner he could procure it. The Winter also came on soon after his return from the Enemy. They were on the Western Side of the Land, which separates Hudson's Bay from that Sea, where they saw so great a Tide. Afterwards passed a Streight, which Streight lay North and South. The Sea they came from and the Sea they passed into after such Streight, laid East and West. They continually kept the Western Shore, as that was the Side on which their Enemy lived; and though they were so long as three Months in their Passage, they were obliged to go every Day ashore to hunt, being thirty in Company, required a pretty considerable Subsistance. Their Canoes can bear no Serge or Wave when the Wind blows, therefore are obliged to keep close to the Shore, and must go to the Bottom of each Bay.

This Account agrees both with that of de Fonte and de Fuca. The Sea they imbarked on was that at the Back of Hudson's Bay, and the Streight might be formed by some Island, or both the Shores approach each other, tho' the Account is not sufficiently intelligible to make any Description of it in the Map. De Fuca says the Streight grew wider when he entered such Sea, which seems to imply it had been narrow. And the Indians, as before-mentioned, said there was a Streight, and they can perceive the Land on the other Side. De Fuca also mentions he went ashore, and found the Land fruitful, and rich of Gold and Silver and Pearls, and other Things, like Nova Hispania. Which shews it was a mixed Country; for a fruitful Country and a Produce of Gold and Silver is not a120 Description compatible with one and the same Part. The one we may suppose the Description of the Parts nearer the Ocean, the other of the Parts where the Tete Plat live: But the old Indian seems also to make a Distinction; for he says they went to hunt in the Country and the Woods. When they had passed the Streight, they came into the broader Part of the Streight of Anian, which appeared to them to be a Sea. As to the Place of their Imbarkation, they would be directed by where they could procure Birch to make their Canoes.

The true Situation of the Part they went to, nor where they imbarked is not to be determined with any Certainty; but it doth not carry the least Probability that they went to War with a People more than a thousand Miles distant. It is scarce probable they had ever heard the Name of the Inhabitants of those Parts, much more so acquainted with their Situation as to be able to form a Plan of going to conquer them. There must have been some particular Cause for their going to War with a People so far off; what that was it would be difficult to imagine; if it was only to shew their Prowess, they must have had Enemies nearer home, against whom there was a greater Probability of succeeding. Neither could it be at that Distance, as they had one continued Scene of Fatigue until they reached the Streights; their Hearts broken by Reason of the Disappointment, the Heat of Summer, no venturing ashore but for a very short Time, either for Food or Refreshment, as they expected the Conquerors to follow them with Canoes, it would have been impossible for them to have reached the Streight. If they had a hundred Leagues a direct Course until they attained the Place of their Imbarkation, and by going round the Bays, might be near twice that Distance, the Current also against them, it would be sufficient, stout young Fellows, and full of Blood as they were, for what they underwent to be fatal to them. It is evident the Streight was not far from where they imbarked, and the Relation seems to express it so, as they had such a Fatigue in attaining to it. Allowing the Tete Plat to be in Long. 108 Degrees from London, and the true Course was W. S. W. or E. N. E. on their return, with a Distance of a hundred Leagues, they would alter their Latitude 114 Miles, and make 277 Miles Departure, which, with 27 Miles to a Degree, would make the Place of their Imbarkation to be in Longitude 98 from London, about the Longitude of Ronquillo. As to the121 Latitude where the Tete Plat Indians live, and as to the Longitude it is but conjecture; there is such a Discordancy and Contradiction in the Maps, there is such Uncertainty, that the North-west and West Parts beyond Hudson's Bay in the Latitude of Churchill, seem to be entirely unknown. But this is to be observed, and which has been my Direction in these Observations, the Northern Indians and the Home Indians about the Factory of York Fort, mention these Tete Plat Indians, and speak of them as their Enemies, therefore they cannot be at so great a Distance as the Western Ocean, neither further than where I have supposed their Country to be. For as the Time the Indians were going there three Months, that is not to be considered so much with respect to the Distance, as they would choose a proper Season, when there were the fewest Indians in the Towns, and were mostly engaged abroad in their Summer hunting. Perhaps there are no People who plan better in the Partizan Way, and execute with more Success. They fix the Time they intend to make their Attack before they set out, then proceed easily and gradually towards their Enemy's Country, allowing a Sufficiency of Time in which they may recover any Accident by which they might be delayed, as unseasonable Weather, Difficulty and Disappointments as to procuring Subsistance, or any Indisposition, that they go to Action in their full Strength and Vigour; as an Indian who conducts an Expedition would be as much contemned for Want of Prudence, on his Return to the Towns, as he would for his Want of Conduct in leading his People to an Attack, and when the Enemy was too powerful not bringing them off without the Loss of a Scalp. In either of which Cases the young People, who observe freely the most exact Discipline, and implicitly obey what he orders, would not go any more to War with him.

Which Way the Boston Ship made this Passage is uncertain. Gibbons was acquainted with Bylot, was Shipmate with him in Sir Thomas Button's Voyage. Bylot was also with Gibbons the Time he lost his Season, by being detained in the Ice. Bylot made an Expedition for Discovery of a Passage in the Year 1615, on Sir Thomas Button having at a Trial of a Tide off the Island of Nottingham, in Hudson's Streights, found it came from the North-west, and to be from an Opening at the Back of Cary's Swans-nest, this Tide he went in Pursuit of; and was as far up as Lat. 65 Deg. 26 Min. then supposed where he was was nothing but a Bay,122 but could not (he had gone up the East) return down the West Shore. Whether Gibbons took his Information from Bylot, and pursued his Plan, is uncertain, and found his Way round the Head of Repulse Bay. He was also acquainted with what Fox had done, who went into Lat. 66 Deg. 5 Min. so further than Bylot, who did not return down the Western Shore; but his People being indisposed, and not finding a North-west Tide, he hastened home. These Parts, therefore, were not properly searched, the Conclusion drawn for there not being a Passage there, being that the Tide came from the Eastward.

Or whether Gibbons went through Hudson's Bay is equally uncertain. The undiscovered Parts of which Bay, or the Openings that were not determined in the Expedition in the Year 1747, are in a Map hereto annexed. But the Termination of Chesterfield's or Bowden's Inlet hath been since searched by the Direction of the Hudson's Bay Company, and a Plan made of it, which I have not seen. Their Design was to go as far up such Inlet until it terminated, or there was a Passage into another Water. But as it is terminated by Land, and if there is no Inlet or Opening left on the North or South Shore unsearched, or a Survey taken from the Heights, by which they could be satisfied there was no Communication with any other Waters by which there could be a Passage, it is to be concluded that Chesterfield Inlet is no Streight or Passage as was expected, and it appeared to be as far as the Californias Boat went up, according to the Report made at that Time. The People who had been in the Boat belonging to the California, when the Ship was going up Wager Bay, where, from the Depth of the Water, the Breadth between both Shores, the high mountainous Land, there was great Reason to believe there was a Streight or Passage: Those People declared, if there was a Streight they were assured that Chesterfield Inlet was a Streight also.

There remains then to be searched for the Discovery of a Passage, the Opening called Pistol Bay, in Hudson's Bay. That Part which Bylot and Fox left undetermined, along the Coast to Southward of Baffins Bay called Cumberland Isles, which entirely consists of large Inlets and broken Lands. We may be too premature in our Conclusions as to the Impracticability of such a Passage from the high Latitude and the Shortness123 of the Season, as we have the Instance of the Boston Ship, which was so far advanced in the Sea to Westward of Hudson's Bay in the Month of August; and some Time would be taken up in finding out the Way. The strong Tides that set in, and the Current when to Westward, which there is apparently in the other Sea, may give an Expedition that may compensate against the Shortness of the Season. It is but a short Time that would be required to pass that Part of the Passage which lies in those high Latitudes, as the Course would be soon altered to the Southward.

Seyxas y Lovera, in his Theatro Naval Hydrographico, in the seventh Chapter, P. 426, says, 'North-east of America there is the Coast of Greenland, from sixty to sixty-eight Degrees, where there is to the East the Entrance of the Streight of Frobisher. North-west in the different Islands which compose the Northern Parts of America, there is the Entrance of the Streight of Hudson, where the North Sea communicates with the South Sea, passing out of the Entrance of the Streight of Anian, which runs North-east and South-west to the Northward of the Island of California, which Streight is hid by great Gulphs on the Part that is North of America, which contain such great Islands, as Cumberland (or Estoliland) that are more than one hundred Leagues in Length from North-east to South-west, and their Extremity from East to West more than seventy Leagues.'—Page 44. 'Some hold it for certain that you can sail from Spain to China through those Streights, or to Japan, or to the Lands of Eso, in three Months. As says also Doctor Pedro de Syria; but it is the Opinion of D. T. V. Y. Author of the History of the Imperial States of the World, that he holds it for uncertain whether there is such Streight by which you can pass from the North to the South Sea.—P. 45. There were some of the Subjects of the King of France, who offered themselves, if they could get his Majesty's Licence, to perform that Voyage in four Months; entering the Canal de Hudson from out of the Ocean, with a Course North-west or West North-west, taking always a Sight of the Coast at Noon, they should attain to the Height of the Arctic Circle, or one Degree more, as in making that Voyage they will be favoured in that Part by the Currents and Winds from the East and South-east, and afterwards in124 their Passage by the Streight of Anian, the Winds and Currents would be from the North.—It is said that some Strangers (on what Occasion is not said) have gone that Rout; and that there is in the Archives of the Admiralty of Lisbon, and of the Contratacion at Seville, a Copy of such Rout; what I here observe is the same with what Don Francisco de San Millan observes, from which or from the Copy of which Rout to be seen in various Languages, or the Disposition of the said Streights, he holds it for certain that there is such a Course, and relates, That a Hollander, on the Evidence of a Spaniard who was aboard his Ship, from the North of California, forced by the Winds from South-west, attained to sixty-six Degrees North-east, afterwards took a Course East, and East South-east, came into fifty-eight Degrees, when he entered the North Sea to Northward of Terra Nova, from thence to Scotland, and from Scotland to Lisbon, in less than three Months from the Port of Nativadad to Lisbon, of which Voyage he makes no Doubt.' And Seyxas observes, he hath seen many other Accounts of Voyages made from Holland, also from England, to the South Sea in three or four Months, which he much doubts, from the Shortness of the Time; also as in the Spanish Historians they have an Account of what passes in the several Parts of the South Sea, in Cathay, and China, and no such Thing is to be found in the Bibliotheca of the Licentiate Antonio de Leon, which sets forth all the Discoveries and Voyages which have been made from any Region from the Year 1200 in America.

It is plain from the Account of Seyxas, he doth not determine absolutely for a Passage, but that there is a Passage is his Opinion. His chief Objection is to the Accounts from the Brevity of the Time in which the Voyages were said to be performed, and there being no Account in a careful Writer of the Discoveries made in those Parts. He doth not confine the Passage to Hudson's Bay, as I understand him, but to the Streight and the other Openings to Northward through Cumberland Isles, and that they go up into as high a Latitude as the Arctic Circle. Which is agreeable to Acosta's Account, and gives a further Explanation to his Meaning than I have already done. As to which Isles, and to the Northward and Eastward of Cary's Swans-nest, it is apparent, from the Perusal125 of the Voyages, there hath been no certain Account on a compleat Discovery as to those Parts. What he says as to the Voyage of the Hollander, it must be observed it was while Holland was under the Spanish Government in the Reign of Philip the Second, and seems to be the same Voyage, of which Mention hath been made that an Account was found amongst the Papers of that Prince.

It hath been shewn to have been the constant Opinion of there being a North-west Passage, from the Time soon after which the South Sea was discovered near the Western Part of America, and that this Opinion was adopted by the greatest Men not only in the Time they lived, but whose Eminence and great Abilities are revered by the present Age. That there is a Sea to Westward of Hudson's Bay, there hath been given the concurrent Testimony of Indians; and of Navigators and Indians that there is a Streight which unites such Sea with the Western Ocean. The Voyage which lead us into these Considerations, hath so many Circumstances relating to it, which, now they have been considered, shew the greatest Probability of its being authentick; which carry with them as much the Evidence of a Fact, afford as great a Degree of Credibility as we have for any Transaction done a long Time since, which hath not been of a publick Nature and transacted in the Face of the World, so as to fall under the Notice of every one, though under the Disadvantage that the Intent on one Part must have been to have it concealed and buried in Oblivion. Transacted also by Persons in a private Part of the World, who only spoke of it amongst their Friends at home, being themselves Strangers to what they had effected, and made little Account of their Voyage. Besides the Chagrin of their Disappointment, and the illnatured Reflections it might subject them to, they might think it also best not to communicate it to the Publick, as it might encourage others to the like Undertaking, and so they fall into the Hands of the Spaniards, not only at the Hazard of their Ship, but their Lives, or at least subject them to many Hardships such as they had sustained to no Purpose. Therefore they thought proper to say little about their Discovery, as it might only be a Means of entrapping some brave Adventurers, who might be animated by their Example to a like Undertaking. These would be and were, by its being so little published on their Parts,126 (and no Accounts of it in England, which shews their Friends were under an Injunction not to make it publick) the Resolutions of such sensible and sagacious Men as Gibbons and Shapley were agreeable to which they acted. All which Circumstances considered, what Degree of Evidence can be required more than hath been given to authenticate this Account of de Fonte?

Those who argue against a North-west Passage have no better Foundation for their Arguments, Than that there is no Tide from Westward. Which is arguing only for the Truth of a System, and hath nothing to do with the Reality of a Passage, and in all Probability hath been the principal Occasion that a Passage hath not been compleated: For a different Course of the Land, and no Tide from Westward, concluded any further Searches in such Part, but on a due Survey made of the Map, as the Tide will enter up the Streight of de Fuca, and probably other contiguous Entrances which are not yet known, besides the North-east Branch of the South Sea, which we suppose to join with such Streight; the Tide would fill that Sea on the Back of Hudson's Bay, and the Openings but be checked to the Northward by the Current; and may be hindered from coming into Hudson's Bay through the Inlet from Causes not known, or there being great Indraughts on the opposite Shore, which may take off the Force of the Tide, and cause it to come but a small Way up such Inlet. There is Reason to believe the proper Passage is up the Streight of de Fuca, therefore that is the proper Streight of Anian, as de Fonte proceeded no further than Los Reyes, and declared there was no North-west Passage; but the North-east Part of the South Sea hath a Communication, as is expressed in the Map, in describing which a Certainty cannot be expected, or an Exactness but what may be contradicted if a Discovery be made. The Design of the Map, besides what relates to the Expedition of de Fonte, is to shew there is a Streight, called the Streight of de Fuca. A Sea at the Head of that Streight, at the Back of Hudson's Bay, from which Sea there is a Passage either by an Inlet into Hudson's Bay, or by a Streight at the Head of Repulse Bay, and so to Northward of Hudson's Bay; from which Streight there is a Passage into the North Sea, either to Eastward of the Land of Cary's Swans-nest into Hudson's Streight, or by Cumberland Isles, and expressed127 in the Map in the Manner that the respective Accounts represent, according to our Understanding of them, with a Submission to Correction and superior Judgment. But an absolute Contradiction without invalidating the Accounts on which such Map is constructed, or to say there is no North-west Passage, which it is impossible should be determined until a Search is made in the Parts which remain to be searched, are no Objections, are only Opinions, without any Authority to support them, which Time must rectify.

To make an Expedition to discover whether there is a Passage by those Parts which remain unsearched, purposely from England, is what I think an honest, disinterested, or impartial Person cannot recommend, as such Expeditions might be repeated with great Expence, and the Event uncertain. The Government gave their Assistance, and the Generosity of the Merchants hath been sufficiently experienced, both in England and America: Therefore it becomes every one whose Intention it is solely that such a beneficial Service should be done to avoid proposing what, might, in the Consequence, be an unnecessary Expence to Government, and abuse the Generosity of the Merchants.

The Ships which went on these Expeditions, after they left the Orkneys, had no Place to put into, neither could they there Wood or Water, or conveniently repair a Damage. If they met with a Delay in passing Hudson's Streights, they were obliged, from the small Part of the Season that was remaining, to go to the Hudson's Bay Factories to winter; that they might have the more Time the next Year; were obliged to go to the Factories earlier than they were necessitated on Account of the Weather, in order to get their Ships laid up, and every other Convenience for wintering prepared before that the Winter set in. The Hudson's Bay Company, jealous of a Design to interfere with their Trade, probably their Fears not ill grounded, the Consequence was, there was no Cordiality between the Factors and the Captains. The Ships People, by wintering, suffered in their Health, great Wages going on, a Consumption of Provisions, a Spirit of Discontent and Opposition amongst the inferior Officers, which obstructed the Success of the next Summer. To obviate all which in any future Proceedings, a Discovery was undertaken on the Coast of Labrador, to find Harbours on that Coast which Ships; could repair to if necessary on their Voyage out, or to repair to on their128 return, which they could be at sooner than at the Factories, stay longer on Discovery, and return the same Year to England. How well this Attempt answered the Design, may be collected from the Extract from a Journal of a Voyage hereunto annexed, performed in the Year 1753, giving an Account of the Coast of Labrador. As what is now to be done in the Discovery of a Passage in Hudson's Bay may be effected in a Summer, and if there is the desired Success, an Inlet found by which there is a Passage into the Sea adjacent out of that Bay, the Vessel which makes such Discovery, and all Ships at their return by such Inlet, will have no Occasion to go to the Southern Part of the Bay, it will be out of their Course, but proceed through the Streights to Labrador, there Wood and Water, get fresh Fish, and other Refreshments; can repair any Damage either as to their Masts, or their Hull, and return the same Year to England by the common Tract of the Newfoundland Ships, and not to go to the Orkneys.

That there was a good fishing Bank, a Coast convenient for carrying on a Fishery, a Fur Trade, also for Whalebone and Oil with the Eskemaux Indians, was a Discovery the Consequence of that Attempt from America. To take the Benefit of which Discovery seems now to be the Intention of the Publick. And a Survey of such Coast being ordered to be made by the Government, if such Survey is extended so far as to those Parts, in which as already mentioned such Passage must be, and without it is so far extended, the Design of attaining a true Geographical Account of the Northern Coasts of America would be incompleat. By this Means it must be known whether there is such a Passage, the Probability of which is unquestionable. Also by such Survey a better Account will be got which Way the Whales take their Courses, and consequently where it is best to go in Pursuit of them. Also as to those Eskemaux who frequent to Northward of Hudson's Streights, where they retire to, and a proper Place be found to keep a Fair with them. As these Eskemaux as well as those on Greenland Side, who have not come into those Parts any long Duration of Time, being the same Kind of Indians with those in the South Sea, and as they transport themselves and Families from one Part to another by Water, it seems highly probable that it is by such a Passage or Streight that they have got so far to Eastward. This Discovery of a129 Passage can be made without any additional Expence, wove in with other Services, as was in the Discoveries which were ordered to be made by the King of Spain on the Coasts of California. The Propriety of a Vessel to make such a Survey, and the Abilities and Fidelity of the Persons will be undoubtedly taken Care for. The Run from Labrador, let it be from any Harbour, will be but small to any where, where it is necessary to make the Survey. The Persons sent will go fresh out of Harbour, whereas, with a Run from the Orkneys, the People are fatigued; will now be refreshed as if they had not come from Europe. Will be out from such Harbour but a few Weeks, in a fine Season of the Year, no Way debilitated by the Scurvy, and in a few Summers will be enabled to compleat their Survey of that Coast; using such an Assiduity as they proceed as not to leave any Part on Supposition or Trust, but being assured where any Inlet or Opening determines. A Person who understands Eskemaux, and one or more Eskemaux to be procured, would be of Service as Pilots, and to give an Account of the adjacent Country. And there is no Vessel (it is mentioned as perhaps it is not so very well known) so proper and serviceable for this long-shore Work as a Marble-head Schooner, about sixty Tons, fortified as to the Ice, and would be at all Times a useful Tender, and a proper Boat if necessary to be left at the Labrador. What would give due Force to such Expeditions, would be the Commodore of the Man of War being so near, under whose Eye the Whole would be done, who would direct their fitting out, receive their Report on their return, order a Review if necessary, and be the Occasion of that due Subordination and Obedience both of Officers and Men, which it is often very difficult to effect on such Voyages. Merit will then be distinguished, and the Credulity of the Persons at home will not be imposed on, and no Discouragement of those who distinguish themselves in the Execution of such laudable Attempts. Such a Passage being discovered, and the Sea entered to Westward of Hudson's Bay, the Manner of proceeding afterwards must be left to superior Judgment.

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