Digitale Ausgabe

The progress of agriculture,in this peaceful conquest of in-dustry is so much the more in-teresting, as the natives of thiscoast, very different from thoseof Nootka and Norfolk bay, wereonly thirty years ago a wanderingtribe, subsisting on fishing andhunting, and cultivating no sortof vegetables. The Indians ofthe bay of S. Francisco were e-qually wretched at that time withthe inhabitants of Van Diemen’sLand. The natives were foundsomewhat more advanced in civi-lization in 1769 only in the canalof Santa Barbara. They con-structed large houses of a pyra-midal form close to one another.They appeared benevolent andhospitable; and they presentedthe Spaniards with vases verycuriously wrought of stalks ofrushes. M. Bonpland possessesseveral of these vases in his col-lections, which are covered within with a very thin layer of as-phaltus, that renders them impe-netrable to water, or the strongliquors which they may happento contain.

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* 24 6-10 feet. Trans. |316| |Spaltenumbruch| The northern part of Califor-nia is inhabited by the two na-tions of the Rumsen and Esce-len.* They speak languages to-taily different from one another,and they form the population ofthe presidio and the village ofMonterey. In the bay of SanFrancisco the language of thedifferent tribes of the Matalans,Salsen, and Quirotes, are derivedfrom a common root. I haveheard several travellers speak ofthe analogy between the Mexicanor Aztec language, and the idi-oms of the north-west coast of North America. It appeared tome, however, that they exagge-rated the resemblance between |Spaltenumbruch|these American languages. Onexamining carefully the vocabu-laries formed at Nootka andMonterey, I was struck with thesimiliarty of tone and termina-tion to those of Mexico in seve-ral words, as, for example, in thelanguage of the Nootkians; ap-quixitl (to embrace,) temextixitl(to kiss,) cocotl (otter,) hitlzitl(to sigh,) tzitzimitz (earth,) andimcoatzimitl (the name of amonth.) However, the languagesof New California and the islandof Quadra differ in general es-sentially from the Aztec, as maybe seen in the cardinal numbersbrought together in the followingtable.

Mexican.	Escelen.	Rumsen.	Nootka.
1. Ce	Pek	Enjala	Sahuac
2. Ome	Ulhai	Ultis	Atla
3. Jei	Julep	Kappes	Catza
4. Nahui	Jamajus	Ultitzim	Nu
5. Macuilli	Pamajala	Haliizu	Sutcha
6. Chicuace	Pegualanai	Halishakem	Nupu
7. Chicome	Julajualanai	Kapkamaishakem	Atlipu
8. Chicuei	Julepjualanai	Ultumaishakem	Atlcual
9. Chiucnahui	Jamajusjualanai	Pakke	Tzahuacuatl
10. Matlactli	Tomoila	Tamchaigt	Ayo

|Spaltenumbruch| The Nootka words are takenfrom a manuscript of M. Mozino,and not from Cook’s vocabulary,in which ayo is confounded withhaecoo, nu with mo, &c. &c. Father Lasuen observed thaton an extent of 180 leagues ofthe coast of California from SanDiego to San Francisco, no fewer |Spaltenumbruch|than 17 languages are spoken,which can hardly be consideredas dialects of a small number ofmother-languages. This asser-tion will not astonish those whoknow the curious researches ofMM. Jefferson, Volney, Barton,Hervas, William de Humboldt,Vater, and Frederic Schlegel,* on

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* Manuscript of Father Lasuen. M.de Galiano calls them Rumsien andEslen.* See the classical work of M.Schlegel, on the language, philoso-phy, and poetry of the Hindoos, in|317| |Spaltenumbruch|the subject of the American lan-guages. The population of New Cali-fornia would have augmented stillmore rapidly if the laws by whichthe Spanish presidios have beengoverned for ages were not direct-ly opposite to the true interests ofboth mother country and colonies.By these laws the soldiers sta-tioned at Monterey are not per-mitted to live out of their bar-racks and to settle as colonists.The monks are generally averseto the settlement of colonists ofthe white cast, because beingpeople who reason, (gente de ra-zon.*) they do not submit so ea-sily to a blind obedience as theIndians. “It is truly distress-ing,” (says a well informed andenlightened Spanish navigator,†)“that the military who pass apainful and laborious life, cannotin their old age settle in the coun-try and employ themselves inagriculture. The prohibition ofbuilding houses in the neighbour-hood of the presidio is contraryto all the dictates of sound policy.If the whites were permitted toemploy themselves in the culti-vation of the soil and the rearingof cattle, and if the military, byestablishing their wives and chil-dren in cottages, could prepare |Spaltenumbruch|an asylum against the indigenceto which they are too frequentlyexposed in their old age, NewCalifornia would soon become aflourishing colony, a resting placeof the greatest utility for theSpanish navigators who trade be-tween Peru, Mexico, and thePhilippine islands.” On remov-ing the obstacles which we havepointed out, the Malouine islands,the missions of the Rio Negro,and the coasts of San Franciscoand Monterey, would soon bepeopled with a great number ofwhites. But what a striking con-trast between the principles ofcolonization followed by the Spa-niards, and those by which GreatBritain has created in a few yearsvillages on the eastern coast ofNew Holland! The Rumsen and Escelen In-dians share with the nations ofthe Aztec race, and several ofthe tribes of northern Asia, astrong inclination for warm baths.The temazcalli, still found atMexico, of which the Abbe Cla-vigero has given an exact repre-sentation,* are true vapour baths.The Aztec Indian remains stretch-ed out in a hot oven, of whichthe flags are continually watered;but the natives of New Califor-nia use the bath formerly recom-mended by the celebrated Frank-lin, under the name of warm airbath. We accordingly find inthe missions beside each cottagea small vaulted edifice in theform of a temazcalli. Return-ing from their labour, the Indiansenter the oven, in which a fewmoments before, the fire has beenextinguished; and they remain

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which are to be found very enlargedviews relative to the mechanism, Imay say the organization, of the lan-guages of the two continents.* In the Indian villages the nativesare distinguished from the gente derazon. The whites, mulattoes, ne-groes, and all the casts which are notIndians go under the designation ofgente de razon; a humiliating ex-pression for the natives, which had itsorigin in ages of barbarism.† Journal of Don Dionisio Galiano.* Clavigero, II. p. 214.|318| |Spaltenumbruch|there for a quarter of an hour.When they feel themselves co-vered over with perspiration, theyplunge into the cold water of aneighbouring stream, or wallowabout in the sand. This rapidtransition from heat to cold, andthe sudden suppression of thecutaneous transpiration which aEuropean would justly dread,causes the most agreeable sensa-tions to the savage, who enjoyswhatever strongly agitates himor acts with violence on his ner-vous system.* The Indians who inhabit thevillages of New California havebeen for some years employed inspinning coarse woollen stuffs,called frisadas. But their prin-cipal occupation, of which theproduce might become a veryconsiderable branch of commerce,is the dressing of stag skins. Itappears to me that it may not beuninteresting to relate here whatI could collect from the manu-script journals of colonel Costan-zo, relative to the animals whichlive in the mountains betweenSan Diego and Monterey, andthe particular address with whichthe Indians got possession of thestags. In the cordillera of small ele-vation which runs along thecoast, as well as in the neighbour-ing savannas, there are neitherbuffaloes nor elks; and on thecrest of the mountains whichare covered with snow in themonth of November, the beren-dos, with small chamois horns,of which we have already spoken,feed by themselves. But all the |Spaltenumbruch|forest and all the plains coveredwith gramina are filled with flocksof stags of a most gigantic size,the branches of which are roundand extremely large. Forty orfifty of them are frequently seenat a time: they are of a browncolour, smooth, and without spot.Their branches, of which theseats of the antlers are not flat,are nearly 15 decimetres* (4 ½feet) in length. It is affirmedby every traveller, that this greatstag of New California is one ofthe most beautiful animals of Spanish America. It probablydiffers from the wewakish of M.Hearne, or the elk of the UnitedStates, of which naturalists havevery improperly made the twospecies of cervus canadensis, andcervus strongyloceros.† Thesestags of New California, not tobe found in Old California, for-merly struck the navigator Se-bastian Viscaino, when he putinto the port of Monterey on the15th December, 1602. He as-serts “that he saw some, ofwhich the branches were threemetres (nearly nine feet) inlength.” These venados run withextraordinary rapidity, throwingtheir head back, and supportingtheir branches on their backs.The horses of New Biscay, whichare famed for running, are inca-pable of keeping up with them;and they only reach them at themoment when the animal, who

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* Most readers probably know thatthis transition from hot to cold bath-ing is practised also in Russia. Trans. * 4 feet 11 inches English. Trans. † There still prevails a good deal ofuncertainty as to the specific charac-ters of the great and small stags (ve-nados) of the new continent. See theinteresting researches of M. Cuvier,contained in his Memoire sur les osfossiles des ruminans. Annales duMuseum, An. VI. p. 353.|319| |Spaltenumbruch|very seldom drinks, comes toquench his thirst. He is thentoo heavy to display all the ener-gy of his muscular force, and iseasily come up with. The hun-ter who pursues him gets thebetter of him by means of anoose, in the same way as theymanage wild horses and cattle inthe Spanish colonies. The Indi-ans make use, however, of ano-ther very ingenious artifice to ap-proach the stags and kill them.They cut off the head of a vena-do, the branches of which arevery long; and they empty theneck, and place it on their ownhead. Masked in this manner,but armed also with bows and ar-rows, they conceal themselvesin the brushwood, or among thehigh and thick herbage. By im-itating the motion of a stag whenit feeds, they draw round themthe flock, which becomes thevictim of the deception. Thisextraordinary hunt was seen byM. Costanzo on the coast of thechannel of Santa Barbara; and itwas seen twenty four years after-wards in the savannas in theneighbourhood of Monterey* bythe officers embarked in the ga-letas Sutil and Mexicana. Theenormous stag-branches which Montezuma displayed as objectsof curiosity to the companions of Cortez belonged, perhaps, to thevenados of New California. Isaw two of them, which werefound in the old monument ofXoachicalco, still preserved inthe palace of the viceroy. Not-withstanding the want of interiorcommunication in the fifteenthcentury, in the kingdom of Ana-huac, it would not have been ex- |Spaltenumbruch|traordinary if these stags hadcome from hand to hand fromthe 35° to the 20° of latitude, inthe same manner as we see thebeautiful piedras de Mahagua ofBrazil among the Caribs, nearthe mouth of the Orinoco. The Spanish and Russian esta-blishments being hitherto the on-ly ones which exist on the north-west coast of America, it maynot be useless here to enumerateall the missions of New Califor-nia which have been founded upto 1803. This detail is more in-teresting at this period than ever,as the United States have showna desire to advance towards thewest, towards the shores of thegreat ocean, which, opposite toChina, abound with beautiful fursof sea otters. The missions of New Califor-nia run from south to north inthe order here indicated: San Diego, a village foundedin 1769, fifteen leagues distantfrom the most northern missionof Old California. Population in1802, 1,560. San Luis Rey de Francia, a vil-lage founded in 1798, 600. San Juan Capistrano, a villagefounded in 1776, 1,000. San Gabriel, a village foundedin 1771, 1,050. San Fernando, a village found-ed in 1797, 600. San Buenaventura, a villagefounded in 1782, 950. Santa Barbara, a village found-ed in 1786, 1,100. La Purissima Concepcion, avillage founded in 1787, 1,000. San Luis Obispo, a villagefounded in 1772, 700. San Miguel, a village foundedin 1797, 600. Soledad, a village founded in1791, 570.

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* Viage a Fuca, p. 164.|320| |Spaltenumbruch| San Antonio de Padua, a vil-lage founded in 1771, 1,050. San Carlos de Monterey, capi-tal of New California, founded in1770, at the foot of the Cordilleraof Santa Lucia, which is coveredwith oaks, pines, (foliis ternis,)and rose bushes. The village istwo leagues distant from the pre-sidio of the same name. It ap-pears that the bay of Montereyhad already been discovered byCabrillo on the 15th November,1542, and that he gave it thename of Bahia de los Pinos, onaccount of the beautiful pineswith which the neighbouringmountains are covered. It recei-ved its present name sixty yearsafterwards from Viscaino, in ho-nour of the viceroy of Mexico,Gaspar de Zunega count de Mon-terey, an active man, to whom weare indebted for considerable ma-ritime expeditions, and who en-gaged Juan de Onate in the con-quest of New Mexico. Thecoasts in the vicinity of San Car-los produce the famous aurummerum (ormier) of Monterey, inrequest by the inhabitants ofNootka, and which is employedin the trade of otter skins. Thepopulation of San Carlos is 700. San Juan Bautista, a villagefounded in 1797, 960. Santa Cruz, a village foundedin 1794, 440. Santa Clara, a village foundedin 1777, 1,300. San Jose, a village founded in1797, 630. San Francisco, a village found-ed in 1776, with a fine port. Thisport is frequently confounded bygeographers with the port ofDrake further north, under the38th degree 10th minute of lati-tude, called by the Spaniards the |Spaltenumbruch|puerto de Bodega. Population ofSan Francisco, 820. We are ignorant of the num-ber of whites, mestizoes, and mu-lattoes, who live in New Califor-nia, either in the presidios or inthe service of the monks of St. Francis. I believe their numbermay be about 1,300; for in thetwo years of 1801 and 1802, therewere in the cast of whites andmixed blood 32 marriages, 182baptisms, and 82 deaths. It isonly on this part of the popula-tion that the government canreckon for the defence of thecoast, in case of any military at-tack by the maritime powers ofEurope!

Recapitulation of the total popula-tion of New Spain.

Indigenous, or Indians	2,500,000
Whites or Spaniards
Creoles 1,025,000
Europeans 75,000	1,100,000
African Negroes	6,100
Casts of mixed blood	1,231,000
Total,	5,837,100

These numbers are only theresult of a calculation by approx-imation. We have judged pro-per to adopt the sum total alreadymentioned.*

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* The reader will perceive on sum-ming up the above table that the a-mount is only 4,837,100, consequentlythere is a million of deficiency some-where. M. de Humboldt elsewherestates the Indians at two-fifths of thewhole population of New Spain, sothey are not underrated here. In thecommencement of the 7th chapter theauthor observes that the whites wouldoccupy the second place, considered|321| |Spaltenumbruch| After this view of the provin-ces of which the vast empire ofMexico is composed, it remainsfor us to bestow a rapid glanceon the coast of the Great Ocean,which extends from the port ofSan Francisco, and from capeMendocino to the Russian es-tablishments in Prince William’sSound. The whole of this coast hasbeen visited since the end of the16th century by Spanish naviga-tors; but they have only beencarefully examined by order ofthe viceroys of New Spain since1774. Numerous expeditions ofdiscovery have followed one ano-ther up to 1792. The colony at-tempted to be established by theSpaniards at Nootka fixed forsome time the attention of allthe maritime powers of Europe.A few sheds erected on the coast,and a miserable bastion defendedby swivel guns, and a few cabba-ges planted within an enclosure, |Spaltenumbruch|were very near exciting a bloodywar between Spain and England;and it was only by the destructionof the establishment founded atthe island of Quadra and of Van-couver that Macuina, the tays orprince of Nootka was enabled topreserve his independence. Se-veral nations of Europe have fre-quented this latitude since 1786,for the sake of the trade in seaotter skins; but their rivalry hashad the most disadvantageous con-sequences both for themselvesand the natives of the country.The price of the skins as theyrose on the coast of America fellenormously in China. Corruptionof manners has increased amongthe Indians; and by following thesame policy by which the Africancoasts have been laid waste, theEuropeans endeavoured to takeadvantage of the discord amongthe Tays. Several of the mostdebauched sailors deserted theirships to settle among the natives ofthe country. At Nootka, as well asat the Sandwich islands, the mostfearful mixture of primitive bar-barity with the vices of polishedEurope is to be observed. It isdifficult to conceive that the fewspecies of roots of the old conti-nent transplanted into these fer-tile regions by voyagers, whichfigure in the list of benefits thatthe Europeans boast of havingbestowed on the inhabitants ofthe South Sea islands, have prov-ed any thing like a compensationfor the real evils which they intro-duced among them. At the glorious epoqua in the16th century, when the Spanishnation, favoured by a combinationof singular circumstances, freelydisplayed the resources of theirgenius and the force of their cha-racter, the problem of a passage

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only in the relation of number. In theabove table, however, they are inferiorin number to the casts of mixed blood.In the second paragraph of the 7thchapter the author states the amountof the whites at 1,200,000. We aretempted to think that the two first fi-gures of this number ought to changeplace with one another, which wouldthen make 2,100,000. This wouldgive us the additional million wantingin the above table. However, the authoradds that nearly a fourth part of thewhite population of 1,200,000 inhabitthe provincias internas. Now the wholepopulation of the provincias inter-nas, including whatever Indians or o-ther races there may be in them,amounts only to 423,300. So that de-ducting the Indians, &c. this numberwould approach nearer perhaps to afourth of 1,200,000 than of 2,100,000.Amidst these difficulties the readermust decide for himself. Trans. |322| |Spaltenumbruch|to the north-west, and a directroad to the East-Indies, occupiedthe minds of the Castilians withthe same ardour displayed by someother nations within these thirtyor forty years. We do not alludeto the apocryphal voyages of Fer-rer Maldonado, Juan de Fuca and Bartolome Fonte, to which for along time only too much impor-tance was given. The most partof the impostures published un-der the names of these three na-vigators were destroyed by thelaborious and learned discussionsof several officers of the Spanishmarine.* In place of bringingforward names nearly fabulous,and losing ourselves in the un-certainty of hypotheses, we shallconfine ourselves to indicate herewhat is incontestibly proved byhistorical documents. The fol-lowing notices partly drawn fromthe manuscript memoirs of DonAntonio Bonilla and M. Casasola,preserved in the archives of theviceroyalty of Mexico, presentfacts which, combined together,deserve the attention of the rea-der. These notices displaying, asit were, the varying picture of thenational activity, sometimes exci-ted and sometimes palsied, willeven be interesting to those whodo not believe that a country in-habited by freemen belongs to theEuropean nation who first saw it. The names of Cabrillo and Ga- |Spaltenumbruch|li are less celebrated than Fuca and Fonte. The true recital of amodest navigator has neither thecharm nor the power which ac-company deception. Juan Rodri-guez Cabrillo visited the coast ofNew California to the 37th degree10th minute, or the Punta delAno Nuevo, to the north of Mon-terey. He perished (on the 3dJanuary, 1543) at the island ofSan Bernardo, near the channelof Santa Barbara.* But Bartolo-me Ferrelo, his pilot, continuedhis discoveries northwards to the43d degree of latitude, when hesaw the coast of Cape Blanc, cal-led by Vancouver Cape Orford. Francisco Gali, in his voyagefrom Macao to Acapulco, discov-ered in 1582 the north west coastof America under the 57th de-gree 30th minute. He admired,like all those who since his timehave visited New Cornwall, thebeauty of those colossal moun-tains, of which the summit is co-vered with perpetual snow, whiletheir bottom is covered with themost beautiful vegetation. Oncorrecting† the old observationsby the new in places of which theidentity is ascertained, we findthat Gali coasted part of the Ar-chipelago of the prince of Wales,or that of king George. Sir Fran-cis Drake only went as far as the48th degree of latitude to thenorth of cape Grenville in NewGeorgia. Of the two expeditions under-taken by Sebastian Viscaino in

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* Memoirs of Don Ciriaco Cevallos.Researches into the archives of Se-ville, by Don Augustin Cean. Histo-rical introduction to the voyage of Ga-liano and Valdez, p. xlix, lvi, andlxxvi, lxxxiii. Notwithstanding allmy inquiries, I could never discoverin New Spain a single document inwhich the pilot Fuca or the admiral Fonte were named.* According to the manuscript pre-served in the archivo general de Indi-as at Madrid.† These corrections have been al-ready made in this work whereverthe latitudes of the old navigatorsare cited. Viage de la Sutil, p. xxxi.|323| |Spaltenumbruch|1596 and 1602, the last only wasdirected to the coast of New Ca-lifornia. Thirty two maps, drawnup at Mexico, by the cosmogra-pher Henry Martinez,* prove thatViscaino surveyed these coastswith more care and more intelli-gence than was ever done by anypilot before him. The diseasesof his crew, the want of provision,and the extreme rigour of theseason, prevented him, however,from ascending higher than capeS. Sebastian, situated under the42d degree of latitude, a little tothe north of the bay of the Trini-ty. One vessel of Viscaino’s ex-pedition, the frigate commandedby Antonio Florez, alone passedcape Mendocino. This frigatereached the mouth of a river inthe 43d degree of latitude, whichappears to have been already dis-covered by Cabrillo in 1543, andwhich was believed by Martin deAguilar to be the western extre-mity of the straits of Anian.† Wemust not confound this entry orriver of Aguilar, which could notbe found again in our times, withthe mouth of the Rio Columbia(latitude 46th degree 15th mi-nute) celebrated from the voya-ges of Vancouver, Gray, and cap-tain Lewis. The brilliant epoqua of the dis-coveries made anciently by the |Spaltenumbruch|Spaniards on the north-west coastof America ended with Gali andViscaino. The history of the na-vigations of the 17th century, andthe first half of the 18th, offers usno expedition directed from thecoast of Mexico to the immenseshore from cape Mendocino tothe confines of eastern Asia. Inplace of the Spanish the Russianflag was alone seen to float inthese latitudes, waving on thevessels commanded by two in-trepid navigators, Beering andTschiricow. At length, after an interruptionof nearly 170 years, the court ofMadrid again turned its attentionto the coast of the Great Ocean.But it was not alone the desire ofdiscoveries useful to science whichroused the government from itslethargy. It was rather the fear ofbeing attacked in its most northernpossessions of New Spain; it wasthe dread of seeing European es-tablishments in the neighbourhoodof those of California. Of all theSpanish expeditions undertakenbetween 1774 and 1792 the twolast alone bear the true characterof expeditions of discovery. Theywere commanded by officers whoselabours display an intimate ac-quaintance with nautical astrono-my. The names of AlexanderMalaspina, Galiano, Espinosa,Valdez, and Vernaci, will everhold an honourable place in thelist of the intelligent and intrepidnavigators to whom we owe anexact knowledge of the north-west coast of the new continent.If their predecessors could notgive the same perfection to theiroperations, it was because, settingout from San Blas or Monterey,they were unprovided with in-struments and the other meansfurnished by civilized Europe.

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* The same of whom we have al-ready spoken in the history of theDesague Real de Huehuetoca.† The straits of Anian, confoundedby many geographers with Beering’sstraits, meant in the 16th centuryHudson’s straits. It took its namefrom one of the two brothers embark-ed on board the vessel of Gasper deCortereal. See the learned research-es of M. de Fleurieu in the historicalintroduction to the voyage de Mar-chand, t. i. p. v.|324| |Spaltenumbruch| The first important expeditionmade after the voyage of Viscai-no was that of Juan Perez, whocommanded the corvette Santia-go, formerly called la Nueva Ga-licia. As neither Cook nor Bar-rington, nor M. de Fleurieu, ap-pear to have had any knowledgeof this important voyage, I shallhere extract several facts from amanuscript journal,* for which Iam indebted to the kindness ofM. Don Guillermo Aguirre, amember of the audiencia of Mex-ico. Perez and his pilot, Este-van Jose Martinez, left the portof San Blas on the 24th January,1774. They were ordered to ex-amine all the coast from the portof San Carlos de Monterey tothe 60th degree of latitude. Af-ter touching at Monterey theyset sail again on the 7th of June.They discovered on the 20th Ju-ly the island de la Marguerite,(which is the north-west point ofQueen Charlotte’s island,) and thestrait which separates this islandfrom that of the Prince of Wales.On the 9th of August they an-chored, the first of all the Euro-pean navigators, in Nootka road,which they called the port of SanLorenzo,† and which the illus-trious Cook four years afterwardscalled King George’s Sound.They carried on barter with thenatives, among whom they sawiron and copper. They gavethem axes and knives for skins |Spaltenumbruch|and otter furs. Perez could notland on account of the roughweather and high seas. His sloopwas even on the point of beinglost in attempting to land; andthe corvette was obliged to cutits cables and to abandon its an-chors to get into the open sea.The Indians stole several articlesbelonging to M. Perez and hiscrew; and this circumstance, re-lated in the journal of FatherCrespi, may serve to resolve thefamous difficulty attending theEuropean silver spoons foundthere by captain Cook in 1778 inthe possession of the Indians ofNootka. The corvette Santiagoreturned to Monterey on the 27thAugust, 1774, after a cruise ofeight months. In the following year a secondexpedition set out from San Blas,under the command of Don Bru-no Heceta, Don Juan de Ayala,and Don Juan de la Bodega yQuadra. This voyage, which sin-gularly advanced the discoveryof the north-west coast, is knownfrom the journal of the pilot Mau-relle, published by M. Barrington,and joined to the instructions ofthe unfortunate La Perouse.Quadra discovered the mouth ofthe Rio Columbia, called entradade Heceta, the pic of San Jacin-to, (Mount Edgecumbe,) nearNorfolk Bay, and the fine port ofBucareli (latitude 55 degrees 24minutes) which from the resear-ches of Vancouver we know tobelong to the west coast of thegreat island of the archipelago ofthe Prince of Wales. This port issurrounded by seven volcanoes, ofwhich the summits, covered withperpetual snow, throw up flamesand ashes. M. Quadra foundthere a great number of dogswhich the Indians use for hunt-

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* This journal was kept by twomonks, Fray Juan Crespi, and FrayTomas de la Pena, embarked on boardthe Santiago. By these details maybe completed what was published inthe voyage of La Sutil, p. xcii.† The entrada de Perez of the Spa-nish maps.|325| |Spaltenumbruch|ing. I possess two very curioussmall maps* engraved in 1788, inthe city of Mexico, which givethe bearings of the coast fromthe 17° to the 58° of latitude, asthey were discovered in the expe-dition of Quadra. The court of Madrid gave or-ders in 1776 to the viceroy ofMexico, to prepare a new expe-dition to examine the coast of America to the 70° of north lati-tude. For this purpose two cor-vettes were built, la Princesaand la Favorita; but this build-ing experienced such delay, thatthe expedition commanded byQuadra and Don Ignacio Arteaga,could not set sail from the portof San Blas till the 11th Februa-ry, 1779. During this interval Cook visited the same coast.Quadra and the pilot Don Fran-cisco Maurelle carefully examin-ed the port de Bucareli, theMont-Sant Elie, and the island dela Magdalena, called by Vancou- |Spaltenumbruch|ver Hinchinbrook island, (latitude60° 25 minutes,) situated at theentry of prince William’s bay andthe island of Regla, one of themost sterile islands in Cook river.The expedition returned to SanBlas on the twenty first Novem-ber, 1779. I find from a manu-script procured at Mexico, thatthe schistous rocks in the vici-nity of the port of Bucareli inprince of Wales’s island containmetalliferous seams. The memorable war whichgave liberty to a great part of North America prevented theviceroys of Mexico from pursu-ing expeditions of discovery tothe north of Mendocino. Thecourt of Madrid gave orders tosuspend the expeditions so longas the hostilities should endurebetween Spain and England. Thisinterruption continued even longafter the peace of Versailles;and it was not till 1788 that twoSpanish vessels, the frigate laPrincesa and the packet-boat SanCarlos, commanded by Don Este-ban Martinez and Don GonsaloLopez de Haro, left the port ofSan Blas with a design of exam-ining the position and state of theRussian establishments on thenorth-west coast of America.The existence of these establish-ments, of which it appears thatthe court of Madrid had noknowledge till after the publica-tion of the third voyage of theillustrious Cook, gave the great-est uneasiness to the Spanish go-vernment. It saw with chagrinthat the fur trade drew numerousEnglish, French, and Americanvessels towards a coast which,before the return of lieutenantKing to London, had been as lit-tle frequented by Europeans asthe land of the Nuyts, or that ofEndracht in New Holland.

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* Carta geografica de la costa occi-dental de la California, situada al Nor-te de la linea sobre el mar Asiatico quese discubrio en los anos de 1769 y1775, por el Teniente de Navio, DonJuan Francisco de Bodega y Quadra ypor el Alferez de Fragata, Don JoseCanizares, desde los 17 hasta los 58grados. On this map the coast ap-pears almost without entradas andwithout islands. We remark l’ensena-da de Ezeta (Rio Colombia) and l’en-trada de Juan Perez, but under thename of the port of San Lorenzo,(Nootka,) seen by the same Perez in1774. Plan del gran puerto de SanFrancisco discubierto por Don Josede Canizares en el mar Asiatico. Van-couver distinguishes the ports of St. Francis, Sir Francis Drake, and Bode-ga, as three different ports. M. deFleurieu considers them as identical.Voyage de Marchand, vol. i. p. liv.Quadra believes, as we have alreadyobserved, that Drake anchored at theport de la Bodega.|326| |Spaltenumbruch| The expedition of Martinez and Haro lasted from the 8th ofMarch to the 5th of December,1788. These navigators madethe direct route from San Blas tothe entry of prince William,called by the Russians the gulfTschugatskaja. They visitedCook river, the Kichtak (Kodi-ak) islands, Schumagin, Unimak,and Unalaschka, (Onalaska.) Theywere very friendly treated in thedifferent factories which theyfound established in Cook riverand Unalaschka, and they evenreceived communication of seve-ral maps drawn up by the Rus-sians of these latitudes. I foundin the archives of the viceroyaltyof Mexico a large volume in fo-lio, bearing the title of Riconoci-miento de los quatros estableci-mientos Russos al Norte de laCalifornia, hecho en 1788. Thehistorical account of the voyageof Martinez contained in thismanuscript furnishes, however,very few data relative to theRussian colonies in the new con-tinent. No person in the crewunderstanding a word of theRussian language, they could on-ly make themselves understoodby signs. They forgot, beforeundertaking this distant expedi-tion, to bring an interpreter fromEurope. The evil was withoutremedy. However, M. Marti-nez would have had as great dif-ficulty in finding a Russian in thewhole extent of Spanish Ameri-ca as Sir George Staunton had todiscover a Chinese in England orFrance. Since the voyages of Cook, Dixon, Portlock, Mears, andDuncan, the Europeans began toconsider the port of Nootka asthe principal fur market of thenorth-west coast of North Ame- |Spaltenumbruch|rica. This consideration inducedthe court of Madrid to do in1789 what it could easier havedone 15 years sooner, immedi-ately after the voyage of JuanPerez. M. Martinez, who hadbeen visiting the Russian facto-ries, received orders to make asolid establishment at Nootka,and to examine carefully thatpart of the coast comprised be-the 50° and the 55° of latitude,which captain Cook could notsurvey in the course of his navi-gation. The port of Nootka is on theeastern coast of an island, which,according to the survey in 1791by MM. Espinosa and Cevallos,is twenty marine miles in breadth,and which is separated by thechannel of Tasis from the greatisland, now called the island ofQuadra and Vancouver. It istherefore equally false to assertthat the port of Nootka, called bythe natives Yucuatl, belongs tothe great island of Quadra, as itis inaccurate to say that CapeHorn is the extremity of Terradel Fuego. We cannot conceiveby what misconception the illus-trious Cook could convert thename of Yucuatl into Nootka,*

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* There does not seem to be anydifficulty in the matter. It is very ea-sy for any one at all acquainted with theembarrassment experienced by theear in catching, and, as it were, dis-entangling the sounds of a foreignlanguage, to conceive that when thecommon standard of writing cannot beresorted to, hardly two persons willreport the same word alike. In lan-guages even already familiar to us bywriting, it requires a long experiencebefore we can follow the conversationof the natives; what must it there-fore be in languages affording no suchassistance, and of which many of the|327| |Spaltenumbruch|this last word being unknown tothe natives of the country, andhaving no analogy to any of thewords of their language except-ing Noutchi, which signifiesmountain.* |Spaltenumbruch| Don Esteban Martinez, com-manding the frigate La Princesa,and the packet-boat San Carlos,anchored in the port of Nootkaon the 5th May, 1789. He wasreceived in a very friendly man-ner by the chief Macuina, whorecollected very well having seenhim with M. Perez in 1774, andwho even showed the beautifulMonterey shells which were thenpresented to him. Macuina, thetays of the island of Yucuatl, hasan absolute authority; he is the Montezuma of these countries;and his name has become cele-brated among all the nations whocarry on the sea-otter skin trade. Iknow not if Macuina yet lives;but we learned at Mexico in theend of 1803, by letters fromMonterey, that more jealous ofhis independence than the kingof the Sandwich Islands, whohas declared himself the vassalof England, he was endeavouringto procure fire-arms and powderto protect himself from the in-sults to which he was frequentlyexposed by European navigators. The port of Santa Cruz ofNootka (called Puerto de SanLorenzo by Perez, and Friend-ly cove by Cook) is from sevento eight fathoms in depth.* Itis almost shut in on the south-

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sounds are new to European ears.Thus captain Cook and Mr. Ander-son, a surgeon in his expedition, hard-ly agree in the representation of anyone word. It would appear, however,from what is said of captain Cook byMr. King, that his ear was by nomeans very accurate in distinguishingsounds. Trans. shell, while the rest of the people (whoeven in the other world have a sepa-rate paradise called Pinpula) dare nottrace their origin farther back than toyounger branches; the calendar ofthe Nootkians, in which the year be-gins with the summer solstice, and isdivided into fourteen months of 20days, and a great number of interca-lated days added to the end of severalmonths, &c. &c.* Memoirs de Don Francisco Mozi-no. The worthy author was one ofthe botanists of the expedition of M. Sesse, and remained at Nootka withM. Quadra in 1792. Wishing to pro-cure every possible information withregard to the north-west coast of North America, I made extracts in1803 from the manuscript of M. Mo-zino, for which I was indebted to thefriendship of professor Cervantes, di-rector of the botanical garden atMexico. I have since discovered thatthe same memoir furnished materialsto the learned compiler of the Viagede la Sutil, p. 123. Notwithstandingthe accurate information which we oweto the English and French navigators,it would be still interesting to pub-lish the observations of M. Mozino onthe manners of the Indians of Nootka.These observations embrace a greatnumber of curious subjects, viz. theunion of the civil and ecclesiasticalpower in the persons of the princesor tays; the struggle between Quauzand Matlox, the good and bad princi-ple by which the world is governed;the origin of the human species at anepoqua when stags were without horns,birds without wings, and dogs with-out tails; the Eve of the Nootkians,who lived solitary in a flowery groveof Yucuatl, when the god Quautzvisited her in a fine copper canoe; theeducation of the first man, who, as hegrew up, past from one small shell toa greater; the genealogy of the nobi-lity of Nootka, who descend from theoldest son of the man brought up in a* From nearly 7 1-2 to 8 1-2 fa-thoms English. Trans. |328| |Spaltenumbruch|east by small islands, on one ofwhich Martinez erected the bat-tery of San Miguel. The moun-tains in the interior of the islandappear to be composed of thons-chiefer, and other primitive rocks.M. Mozino discovered amongthem seams of copper and sul-phuretted lead. He thought hediscovered near a lake at about aquarter of a league’s distancefrom the port the effects of vol-canic fire in some porous amyg-daloid. The climate of Nootkais so mild, that under a morenorthern latitude than that ofQuebec and Paris the smalleststreams are not frozen till themonth of January. This curiousphenomenon confirms the obser-vation of Mackenzie,* who as-serts that the north-west coastof the new continent has a muchhigher temperature than the eas-tern coasts of America and Asia situated under the same parallels.The inhabitants of Nootka, likethose of the northern coast ofNorway, are almost strangersto the noise of thunder. Elec-trical explosions are there ex-ceedingly rare. The hills arecovered with pine, oak, cypress,rose bushes, vaccinium, and an-dromedes. The beautiful shrubwhich bears the name of Linneus |Spaltenumbruch|was only discovered by the gar-deners in Vancouver’s expedi-tion in higher latitudes. JohnMears, and a Spanish officer inparticular, Don Pedro Alberoni,succeeded at Nootka in the cul-tivation of all the European ve-getables; but the maize andwheat, however, never yieldedripe grain. A too great luxuri-ance of vegetation appears to bethe cause of this phenomenon.The true humming-bird has beenobserved in the islands of Qua-dra and Vancouver. This im-portant fact in the geography ofanimals must strike those whoare ignorant that Mackenzie sawhumming birds at the sources ofthe river of Peace under the 54thdegree 24th minute of north la-titude, and that M. Galiano sawthem nearly under the samesouthern parallel in the straits ofMagellan. Martinez did not carry his re-searches beyond the 50° of lati-tude. Two months after his entryinto the port of Nootka he sawthe arrival of an English vessel,the Argonaut, commanded by James Collnett, known by his ob-servations at the Galapagos is-lands. Collnett showed the Span-ish navigator the orders which hehad received from his govern-ment to establish a factory atNootka, to construct a frigateand a cutter, and to prevent e-very other European nation frominterfering with the fur trade.*

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* Voyage de Mackenzie, traduit parCastera, vol. III. p. 339. It is even be-lieved by the Indians in the vicinity ofthe north-west coast that the wintersare becoming milder yearly. Thismildness of climate appears to beproduced by the north-west winds,which pass over a considerable extentof sea. M. Mackenzie, as well asmyself, believes, that the change ofclimate observable throughout all North America cannot be attributedto petty local causes, to the destruc-tion of forests for example.* There had been formed in Eng-land in 1785 a Nootka company; un-der the name of the King George’sSound Company; and a project waseven entertained of forming at Nootkaan English colony similar to that ofNew Holland.|329| |Spaltenumbruch|It was in vain Martinez replied,that, long before Cook, Juan Pe-rez had anchored on the samecoast. The dispute which arosebetween the commanders of theArgonaut and the Princesa was onthe point of occasioning a rup-ture between the courts of Lon-don and Madrid. Martinez, toestablish the priority of his rightsmade use of a violent and veryillegal measure: he arrested Coll-nett, and sent him by San Blas tothe city of Mexico. The trueproprietor of the Nootka coun-try, the Tays Macuina, declaredhimself prudently for the van-quishing party; but the viceroy,who deemed it proper to hastenthe recall of Martinez, sent outthree other armed vessels in thecommencement of the year 1790to the north-west coast of Ame-rica. Don Francisco Elisa and Don Salvador Fidalgo, the brother ofthe astronomer who surveyed thecoast of South America * fromthe mouth of the Dragon toPortobello, commanded this newexpedition. M. Fidalgo visitedCook creek and Prince William’sSound, and he completed the ex-amination of that coast, whichwas only afterwards examined bythe intrepid Vancouver. Underthe 60 degrees 54 minutes of la-titude, at the northern extremityof Prince William’s Sound, M. Fidalgo was witness of a pheno-menon, probably volcanic, of amost extraordinary nature. TheIndians conducted him into aplain covered with snow, wherehe saw great masses of ice andstone thrown up to prodigious |Spaltenumbruch|heights in the air with a dreadfulnoise. Don Francisco Elisa re-mained at Nootka to enlarge andfortify the establishment foundedby Martinez in the precedingyear. It was not yet known inthis part of the world, that bya treaty signed at the Escurialon the 28th October, 1790, Spainhad desisted from her preten-sions to Nootka and Cox channelin favour of the court of Lon-don. The frigate Dedalus, whichbrought orders to Vancouver towatch over the execution of thistreaty, only arrived at the port ofNootka in the month of August,1792, at an epoqua when Fidalgo was employed in forming a se-cond Spanish establishment tothe south-east of the island ofQuadra on the continent, at theport of Nunez Gaona, or Quini-camet, situated under the 48 de-grees 20 minutes of latitude, atthe creek of Juan de Fuca. The expedition of captain Elisawas followed by two others, which,for the importance of their astro-nomical operations, and the ex-cellence of the instruments withwhich they were provided, maybe compared with the expedi-tions of Cook, Laperouse, and Vancouver. I mean the voyageof the illustrious Malaspina, in1791, and that of Galiano andValdes, in 1792. The operations of Malaspina and the officers under him, em-brace an immense extent of coastfrom the mouth of the Rio de laPlata to Prince William’s Sound.But this able navigator is stillmore celebrated for his misfor-tunes than his discoveries. Afterexamining both hemispheres, andescaping all the dangers of theocean, he had still greater to suf-fer from his court; and he drag-

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* See my Recueil d’ObservationsAstronomiques, vol. i. liv. i.|330| |Spaltenumbruch|ged out six years in a dungeon,the victim of a political intrigue.He obtained his liberty from theFrench government, and returnedto his native country; and he en-joys in solitude on the banks ofthe Arno the profound impres-sions which the contemplationsof nature and the study of manunder so many different climateshave left on a mind of great sen-sibility, tried in the school of ad-versity. The labours of Malaspina re-main buried in the archives, notbecause the government dreadedthe disclosure of secrets, the con-cealment of which might be deem-ed useful, but that the name of thisintrepid navigator might be doom-ed to eternal oblivion. Fortunately,the directors of the Deposito Hy-drografico of Madrid* have com-municated to the public the prin-cipal results of the astronomicalobservations of Malaspina’s expe-dition. The charts which haveappeared at Madrid since 1799,are founded in a great measureon those important results; butinstead of the name of the chief,we merely find the names of thecorvettes la Descubierta and l’A-trevida, which were commandedby Malaspina. His expedition,† which set outfrom Cadiz on the 30th July,1789, only arrived at the port of |Spaltenumbruch| Acapulco, on the 2d February,1791. At this period the courtof Madrid again turned its atten-tion to a subject which had beenunder dispute in the beginning ofthe 17th century, the pretendedstraits by which Lorenzo FerrerMaldonado passed in 1588 fromthe Labrador coast to the GreatOcean. A memoir read by M. Buache at the Academy of Scien-ces revived the hope of the ex-istence of such a passage; andthe corvettes la Descubierta andl’Atrevida, received orders to as-cend to high latitudes on thenorth-west coast of America, andto examine all the passages andcreeks which interrupt the conti-nuity of the shore between the53d and 60th degree of latitude. Malaspina, accompanied by thebotanists Haenke and Nee, setsail from Acapulco on the 1st ofMay, 1791. After a navigationof three weeks, he reached CapeS. Bartholomew, which had al-ready been ascertained by Quadrain 1775, by Cook in 1778, and in1786 by Dixon. He surveyedthe coast, from the mountain ofSan Jacinto, near Cape Edge-cumbe, (Cabo Engano,) latitude57 degrees 1 minute 30 secondsto Montagu Island, opposite theentrance of Prince William’sSound. During the course ofthis expedition, the length of thependulum and the inclination anddeclination of the magnetic nee-dle were determined on severalpoints of the coast. The eleva-tion of S. Elie* and Mount Fair-

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* This deposito was established bya royal order on the 6th of August1797.† Extract from a journal kept onboard the Atrevida, a manuscript pre-served in the archives of Mexico. Vi-age de la Sutil, p. cxiii.—cxxiii. Be-fore the expedition in 1789, M. Malas-pina had already been round the globein the frigate l’Astré, destined forManilla.* The expedition of Malaspina found the height of Mount Elie 5,441metres, (6507.6 varas,) and the heightof Mount Fair-weather 4,489, (5368.3varas,) consequently the elevation of|331| |Spaltenumbruch|weather, (or Cerro de buen Tem-po) which are the principal sum-mits of the Cordillera of NewNorfolk, were very carefully mea-sured. The knowledge of theirheight and position may be ofgreat assistance to navigatorswhen they are prevented by un-favourable weather from seeingthe sun for whole weeks; for byseeing these pics at a distance ofeighty or a hundred miles, theymay ascertain the position of theirvessel by simple elevations andangles of altitude. After a vain attempt to disco-ver the straits mentioned in theaccount of the apocryphal voy-age of Maldonado, and after re-maining some time at Port Mul-grave, in Beering’s Bay, (latitude59 degrees 34 minutes 20 se-conds,) Alexander Malaspina di-rected his course southwards.He anchored at the port of Noot-ka on the 13th August, soundedthe channels round the island ofYucuatl, and determined by ob-servations purely celestial the po-sitions of Nootka, Monterey, andthe island of Guadaloupe, at whichthe galleon of the Philippines (laNao de China) generally stops,and Cape San Lucas. The cor-vette l’Atrevida entered Acapul-co, and the corvette la Descubier-ta entered San Blas in the monthof October, 1791. A voyage of six months wasno doubt by no means sufficient |Spaltenumbruch|for discovering and surveying anextensive coast with that minutecare which we admire in thevoyage of Vancouver, which las-ted three years. However, theexpedition of Malaspina has oneparticular merit, which consistsnot only in the number of astro-nomical observations, but also inthe judicious method employedfor attaining certain results. Thelongitude and latitude of fourpoints of the coast, Cape SanLucas, Monterey, Nootka, andPort Mulgrave, were ascertainedin an absolute manner. The in-termediate points were connect-ed with these fixed points bymeans of four sea watches of Ar-nold. This method, employedby the officers of Malaspina’s ex-pedition, MM. Espinosa, Ceval-los, and Vernaci, is much betterthan the partial corrections usu-ally made in chronometrical lon-gitudes by the results of lunar dis-tances. The celebrated Malaspina hadscarcely returned to the coast ofMexico, when discontented withnot having seen at a sufficientnearness the extent of coast fromthe island of Nootka to CapeMendocino, he engaged count deRevillagigedo, the viceroy, to pre-pare a new expedition of discove-ry towards the north-west coastof America. The viceroy, whowas of an active and enterprisingdisposition, yielded with so muchthe greater facility to this desire,as new information, received fromthe officers stationed at Nootka,seemed to give probability to theexistence of a channel, of whichthe discovery was attributed tothe Greek pilot, Juan de Fuca, inthe end of the 16th century. Mar-tinez had indeed, in 1774, percei-ved a very broad opening under

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the former of these mountains is near-ly the same as that of Cotopaxi; andthe elevation of the second is equal tothat of Mont-Rose. See vol. i. p. 48,and my géographie des plantes, p. 153. Author. The height of the first of thesemountains is 17,850, and of the se-cond, 14,992 feet English. Trans. |332| |Spaltenumbruch|the 48th degree 20th minute oflatitude. This opening was suc-cessively visited by the pilot ofthe Gertrudis, by ensign DonManuel Quimper, who comman-ded the Bilander la Princesa Re-al, and in 1791 by captain Elisa.They even discovered secure andspacious ports in it. It was tocomplete this survey that the ga-leras Sutil and Mexicana left Ac-apulco on the 8th of March 1792,under the command of Don Dio-nisio Galiano and Don CayetanoValdes. These able and experiencedastronomers, accompanied byMM. Salamanca and Vernaci,sailed round the large islandwhich now bears the name ofQuadra and Vancouver, and theyemployed four months in thislaborious and dangerous naviga-tion. After passing the straitsof Fuca and Haro, they fell inwith, in the channel del Rosario,called by the English the gulf ofGeorgia, the English navigators Vancouver and Broughton, em-ployed in the same researcheswith themselves. The two expe-ditions made a mutual and unre-served communication of theirlabours; they assisted one ano-ther in their operations; and theresubsisted among them till the mo-ment of their separation, a goodintelligence and complete harmo-ny, of which, at another epoqua,an example had not been set bythe astronomers on the ridge ofthe Cordilleras. Galiano, and Valdes, on theirreturn from Nootka to Monte-rey, again examined the mouthof the Ascencion which Don Bru-no Eceta discovered on the 17thof August, 1775, and which wascalled the river of Columbia bythe celebrated American naviga- |Spaltenumbruch|tor Gray, from the name of thesloop under his command. Thisexamination was of so much thegreater importance, as Vancou-ver, who had already kept veryclose to this coast, was unable toperceive any entrance from the45th degree of latitude to thechannel of Fuca; and as thislearned navigator began then todoubt of the existence of the Riode Columbia,* or the Entrada deEceta.

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* I have already spoken of the faci-lity which the fertile banks of the Co-lombia affords to Europeans for thefounding a colony, and of the doubtsstarted against the identity of this ri-ver and the Tacoutche-Tesse, or Ore-gan of Mackenzie, I know not whe-ther this Oregan enters into one of thegreat salt-water lakes, which, accord-ing to the information afforded by Fa-ther Escalante, I have representedunder the 39th and 41st degree oflatitude. I do not decide whetheror not the Oregan, like many greatrivers of South America, does notforce a passage through a chain ofelevated mountains, and whether ornot its mouth is to be found in one ofthe creeks between the port de la Bo-dega and Cape Orford; but I couldhave wished that a geographer, inother respects both learned and ju-dicious, had not attempted to recog-nise the name of Oregan in that ofOrigen, which he believes to designatea river in the map of Mexico, publish-ed by Don Antonio Alzate. (Géogra-phie Mathematique, Physique, et Po-litique, vol. xv. p. 116, and 117.) Hehas confounded the Spanish word Ori-gen, the source or origin of a thing,with the Indian word Origan. Themap of Alzate only marks the Rio Co-lorado, which receives its waters fromthe Rio Gila. Near the junction weread the following words: Rio Colora-do ó del Norte, cuyo origen se ignora,of which the origin is unknown. Thenegligence with which these Spanishwords are divided (they have engrav-ed Nortecuio and Seignora) is un-|333| |Spaltenumbruch| In 1797 the Spanish govern-ment gave orders that the chartsdrawn up in the course of the ex-pedition of MM. Galiano and Val-des should be published, “in or-der that they might be in thehands of the public before thoseof Vancouver.” However, thepublication did not take place till1802; and geographers now pos-sess the advantage of being ableto compare together the charts of Vancouver, those of the Spanishnavigators published by the De-posito Hydrografico of Madrid,and the Russian chart publishedat Petersburgh in 1802, in thedepot of the maps of the chartsof the emperor. This compari-son is so much the more neces-sary, as the same capes, the samepassages, and the same islands,frequently bear three or four dif-ferent names; and geographicalsynonymy has by that means be-come as confused as the synony-my of cryptogameous plants hasbecome from an analogous cause. At the same epoqua at whichthe vessels Sutil and Mexicanawere employed in examining inthe greatest detail, the shores be-tween the parallels of 45 and 51degrees, the count de Revillagi-gedo destined another expeditionfor higher latitudes. The mouthof the river of Martin de Aquilarhad been unsuccessfully soughtfor in the vicinity of Cape Orfordand Cape Gregory. Alexander Malaspina, in place of the famouschannel de Maldonado, had onlyformed openings without any out-let. Galiano and Valdes had as-certained that the strait of Fucawas merely an arm of the sea, |Spaltenumbruch|which separates an island of morethan 1,700 square leagues,* thatof Quadra and Vancouver fromthe mountainous coast of NewGeorgia. There still remaineddoubts as to the existence of thestraits, of which the discoverywas attributed to the admiral Fu-entes or Fonte, which was suppo-sed to be under the 53d degreeof latitude. Cook regretted hiswant of ability to examine thispart of the continent of New Ha-nover; and the assertions of cap-tain Collnett, an able navigator,rendered it extremely probablethat the continuity of the coastwas interrupted in these lati-tudes. To resolve a problem ofsuch importance, the viceroy ofNew Spain gave orders to lieute-nant Don Jacinto Caamano, com-mander of the frigate Aranzazu,to examine with the greatest carethe shore from the 51st to the56th degree of north latitude. M.Caamano, whom I had the plea-sure of seeing at Mexico, setsail from the port of San Blas onthe 20th March, 1792; and hemade a voyage of six months.He carefully surveyed the nor-thern part of Queen Charlotte’sisland, the southern coast of theprince of Wales’s island, which hecalled Isla de Ulloa, the islandsof Revillagigedo, of Banks, (orde la Calamidad,) and of Aristi-zabal, and the great inlet of Mo-nino, the mouth of which is op-posite the archipelago of Pitt.The considerable number of

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doubtedly the cause of this extraordi-nary mistake.* The extent of the island of Quadraand Vancouver, calculated accordingto the maps of Vancouver, is 1,730square leagues of 25 to the sexagesi-mal degree. It is the largest island tobe found on this west coast of Ameri-ca.|334| |Spaltenumbruch|Spanish denominations preservedby Vancouver in his charts provesthat the expeditions, of whichwe have given a summary ac-count, contributed in no small de-gree to our knowledge of a coast,which, from the 45 degrees oflatitude to cape Douglas to theeast of Cook’s creek, is nowmore accurately surveyed thanthe most part of the coasts ofEurope. I have confined myself to thebringing together at the end ofthis chapter all the informationwhich I could procure with re-gard to the voyages undertakenby the Spaniards, from 1553 toour own times, towards the wes-tern coast of New Spain to thenorth of New California. Theassemblage of these materialsappeared to me to be necessaryin a work embracing whateverconcerns the political and com-mercial relations of Mexico. The geographers who are ea-ger to divide the world for thesake of facilitating the study oftheir science, distinguish on thenorth-west coast an English part,a Spanish part, and a Russianpart. These divisions have beenmade without consulting thechiefs of the different tribes whoinhabit these countries! If thepuerile ceremonies which theEuropeans call taking possession,and if astronomical observationsmade on a recently discoveredcoast could give rights of pro-perty, this portion of the newcontinent would be singularlypieced out and divided amongthe Spaniards, English, Russians,French, and Americans. Onesmall island would sometimes beshared by two or three nations atonce, because each might havediscovered a different cape of it. |Spaltenumbruch|The great sinuosity of the coastbetween the parallels of 55 de-grees and 60 degrees embracethe successive discoveries of Ga-li, Beering, and Tschiricow, Qua-dra, Cook, Laperouse, Malaspi-na, and Vancouver! No European nation has yetformed a solid establishment onthe immense extent of coast fromcape Mendocino to the 59 de-grees of latitude. Beyond thislimit the Russian factories com-mence, the most part of whichare scattered and distant fromone another, like the factoriesestablished by European nationsfor these last three hundred yearson the coast of Africa. Themost part of these small Russiancolonies have no communicationwith one another but by sea; andthe new denominations of Russian America, or Russian possessionsin the new continent, ought notto induce us to believe that thecoast of the basin of Beering, thepeninsula Alaska, or the countryof the Tschugatschi have becomeRussian provinces, in the sensewhich we give to this word speak-ing of the Spanish provinces ofSonora or New Biscay. The western coast of Ameri-ca affords the only example of ashore of 1,900 leagues in length,inhabited by one European na-tion. The Spaniards, as we havealready indicated in the com-mencement of this work,* haveformed establishments from fortMaulin in Chili to S. Francis inNew California. To the north ofthe parallel of 38 degrees succeedindependent Indian tribes. It isprobable that these tribes will be

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* See vol. I. p. 6.|335| |Spaltenumbruch|gradually subdued by the Russiancolonists, who, towards the endof the last century, passed overfrom the eastern extremity of Asia to the continent of Ameri-ca. The progress of these Rus-sian Siberians towards the southought naturally to be more rapidthan that of the Spanish Mexi-cans towards the north. A peo-ple of hunters, accustomed tolive in a foggy, and excessivelycold climate, find the tempera-ture of the coast of New Corn-wall very agreeable; but this coastappears an uninhabitable country,a polar region to colonists from atemperate climate, from the fer-tile and delicious plains of Sono-ra and New California. The Spanish government since1788 has begun to testify uneasi-ness at the appearance of theRussians on the north-west coastof the new continent. Consider-ing every European nation in thelight of a dangerous neighbour,they examined the situation ofthe Russian factories. The fearceased on its being known atMadrid that these factories didnot extend eastwards beyondCook’s Inlet. When the em-peror Paul, in 1799, declaredwar against Spain, it was sometime in agitation at Mexico toprepare a maritime expedition inthe ports of San Blas and Mon-terey against the Russian colo-nies in America. If this projecthad been carried into executionwe should have seen at hostilitiestwo nations who, occupying theopposite extremities of Europe,approach each other in the otherhemisphere on the eastern andwestern limits of their vast em-pires. The interval which separatesthese limits becomes progressive- |Spaltenumbruch|ly smaller; and it is for the poli-tical interest of N. Spain to knowaccurately the parallel to whichthe Russian nation has alreadyadvanced towards the east andsouth. A manuscript which ex-ists in the archives of the vice-royalty of Mexico, already citedby me, gave me only vague andincomplete notions. It describesthe state of the Russian esta-blishments as they were twentyyears ago. M. Malte Brun, inhis universal geography, gives aninteresting article on the north-west coast of America. He wasthe first who made known theaccount of the voyage of Bil-lings,* published by M. Saryts-chew, which is preferable to thatof M. Sauer. I flatter myselfthat I am able to give from ve-ry recent data, drawn from anofficial production,† the position of

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* Account of the geographical andastronomical expedition, undertakenfor exploring the coast of the Icy sea,the land of the Tshutski, and the is-lands between Asia and America, un-der the command of captain Billings,between the years 1785 and 1794, byMartin Sauer, secretary to the expe-dition. Putetchestwie flota-kapitanaSarytschewa po severowostochnoitschasti sibiri, ledowitawa mora, iwostochnogo okeana, 1804.† Carte des decouvertes faites suc-cessivement par des navigateurs Rus-ses dans l’Ocean Pacifique, et dans lamer glaciale, corrigee d’apres les ob-servations astronomiques les plus re-centes de plusieurs navigateurs, etran-gers, gravee au depot des Cartes desa Majeste l’Empereur de toutes lesRussies, en 1802. This beautifulchart, for which I am indebted to thekindness of M. de St. Aignan, is1m, 231 (4.037 feet) in length, and0m, 722 (2.367 feet) in breadth, andembraces the extent of coast and seabetween the 40 degrees and 72 de-grees of latitude, and the 125 degrees|336| |Spaltenumbruch|the Russian factories, which aremerely collections of sheds andhuts, that serve, however, as em-poriums for the fur trade. On the coast nearest to Asia,along Beering’s straits, betweenthe 67 degrees and 64 degrees10 minutes of latitude, under theparallels of Lapland and Iceland,we find a great number of hutsfrequented by the Siberian hun-ters. The principal posts, reck-oning from north to south, are,Kigiltach, Leglelachtok, Tugu-ten, Netschich, Tchinegriun,Chibalech, Topar, Pintepata, A-gulichan, Chavani, and Nugran,near cape Rodney, (Cap du Pa-rent.) These habitations of thenatives of Russian America areonly from thirty to forty leaguesdistant* from the huts of the |Spaltenumbruch|Tchoutskis of Asiatic Russia.The straits of Beering, whichseparates them, is filled with de-sert islands, of which the mostnorthern is called Imaglin. Thenorth-east extremity of Asia forms a peninsula, which is onlyconnected with the great mass ofthe continent by a narrow isth-mus between the two gulfs ofMitschigmen and Kaltschin. The Asiatic coast which borders thestraits of Beering, is peopled by

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and 224 degrees of west longitudefrom Paris. The names are in Rus-sian characters. and Japan to the southern cape of thepeninsula of Kamtschatka, betweenthe 33 degrees and the 51 degrees oflatitude. The great island of Tchoka,connected with the continent by animmense sand-bank, (under the 52degrees of latitude,) facilitates com-munication between the mouths ofl’Amour and the Kurile islands. An-other archipelago of islands, by whichthe great basin of Beering is termi-nated on the south, advances from thepeninsula of Alaska 400 leagues to-wards the west. The most westernof the Aleutian islands is only 144leagues distant from the eastern coastof Kamtschatka, and this distance isalso divided into two nearly equalparts, the Beering and Mednoi islands,situated under the 55 degrees of lati-tude. This rapid view sufficientlyproves that Asiatic tribes might havegone by means of these islands fromone continent to the other withoutgoing higher on the continent of A-sia than the parallel of fifty five de-grees, without turning the sea ofOchotsk to the west, and without apassage of more than twenty-fouror thirty-six hours. The north-westwinds which, during a great part ofthe year blow in these latitudes, fa-vour the navigation from Asia to A-merica between the 50 and 60 degreesof latitude. It is not wished in thisnote to establish new historical hypo-theses, or to discuss those which havebeen hackneyed these forty years: wemerely wish to afford exact notions asto the proximity of the two conti-nents.* As it is more than probable thatAsiatic and American tribes havecrossed the ocean, it may be curiousto examine the breadth of the arm ofthe sea which separates the two con-tinents under the 65 degrees 50 mi-nutes of north latitude. Accordingto the most recent discoveries by theRussian navigators, America is near-est to Siberia on a line which crossesBeering’s Straits in a direction fromthe south-east to the north-west, fromprince of Wales’s cape to capeTschoukotskoy. The distance be-tween these two capes is 44 minutes,or 18 3-10 leagues of 25 to the de-gree. The island of Imaglin is al-most in the middle of the channel,being one-fifth nearer the Asiatic cape.However, it is not necessary for ourconceiving that Asiatic tribes esta-blished on the table-land of ChineseTartary should pass from the old to the new continent, to have recourse toa transmigration at such high latitudes.A chain of small islands in the vicinityof one another, stretches from Corea|337| |Spaltenumbruch|great numbers of cetaceous mam-miferi. On this coast the Tchout-skis, who live in perpetual warwith the Americans, have col-lected together their habitations.Their small villages are calledNukan, Tugulan, and Tschigin. Following the coast of thecontinent of America from capeRodney and Norton creek to capeMallowodan, cape Littlewater, wefind no Russian establishment;but the natives have a great num-ber of huts collected together onthe shore between the 63 de-grees 20 minutes and 60 degrees5 minutes of latitude. The mostnorthern of their habitations areAgibaniach and Chalmiagmi, andthe most southern Kuynegach andKuymin. The bay of Bristol, to the northof the peninsula Alaska, (or A-liaska,) is called by the Russiansthe gulf Kamischezkaia. Theyin general preserve none of theEnglish names given by captain Cook, and captain Vancouver, intheir charts, to the north of the55 degrees of latitude. Theychoose rather to give no namesto the two great islands whichcontain the Pic Trubizin, (themount Edgecumbe of Vancou-ver, and Cerro de San Jacinto ofQuadra,) and cape Tschiricof,(cape San Bartholome,) than a-dopt the denomination of KingGeorge’s Archipelago and princeof Wales’s Archipelago. The coast from the gulf Ka-mischezkaia to New Cornwall, isinhabited by five tribes, who formas many great territorial divisionson the colonies of Russian Ame-rica. Their names are Kaniagi,Kenayzi, Tschugatschi, Ugalach-miuti, and Koliugi. |Spaltenumbruch| The most northern part of A-laska, and the island of Kodiak,vulgarly called by the RussiansKichtak, though Kightak, in thelanguage of the natives in gene-ral means only an island, belongsto the Kaniagi division. A greatinterior lake of more than 26leagues in length, and 12 inbreadth, communicates by theriver Igtschiagick with the bayof Bristol. There are two fortsand several factories on the Ko-diak island, (Kadiak,) and thesmall adjacent islands. The fortsestablished by Schelikoff bear thename of Karluk and the threeSanctifiers. M. Malte Brun saysthat, according to the latest in-formation, the Kicktak archipe-lago was destined to contain thehead place of all the Russiansettlements. Sarytschew asserts,that there are a bishop and Rus-sian monastery in the island ofUmanak, (Umnak.) I do notknow whether there has been anysimilar establishment elsewhere;for the chart published in 1802indicates no factory either at Um-nak, Unimak, or Unalaschka. Iread, however, at Mexico, in themanuscript journal of Martinez’s voyage, that the Spaniards foundseveral Russian houses, and abouta hundred small barks, at the is-land of Unalaschka in 1788. Thenatives of the peninsula Alaska call themselves the men of theeast, (Kagataya-Koung’ns.) The Kenayzi inhabit the wes-tern coast of Cook creek, or thegulph Kenayskia. The Radafactory, visited by Vancouver, issituated there under the 61 de-grees 8 minutes. The governorof the island of Kodiak, a Greeknamed Ivanitsch Delareff, assur- |338| |Spaltenumbruch|ed M. Sauer, that notwithstandingthe rigour of the climate, grainwould thrive well on the banksof Cook river. He introducedthe cultivation of cabbages andpotatoes into the gardens at Ko-diak. The Tschugatschi occupy thecountry between the northern ex-tremity of Cook Inlet and theeast of prince William’s bay,(Tschugatskaia gulf.) There areseveral factories and three smallforts in this district: Fort Alex-ander, near the mouth of PortChatham, and the forts of theTuk islands, (Green island ofVancouver,) and Tchalca, (Hin-chinbrook island.) The Ugalachmiuti extend fromthe gulf of prince William to thebay of Jakutal, called by Van-couver Beering’s bay.* The fac-tory of St. Simon is near capeSuckling, (cape Elie of the Rus-sians.) It appears that the cen-tral chain of the Cordilleras ofNew Norfolk is considerably dis-tant from the coast at the Pic ofSt. Elie; for the natives informedM. Barrow, who ascended the ri-ver Mednaja (copper river) fora length of 500 werst, (120leagues,) that it would requiretwo day’s journey northwards to |Spaltenumbruch|reach the high chain of the moun-tains. The Koliugi inhabit the moun-tainous country of New Norfolk,and the northern part of NewCornwall. The Russians markBurrough bay on their charts(latitude 55 degrees, 50 minutes,)opposite the Revillagigedo island of Vancouver, (Isla de Gravinaof the Spanish maps,) as themost southern and eastern boun-daries of the extent of countryof which they claim the proper-ty. It appears that the great is-land of the king George archipe-lago has, in fact, been examinedwith more care and more minute-ly by the Russian navigators thanby Vancouver. Of this we mayeasily convince ourselves by com-paring attentively the westerncoast of this island, especially theenvirons of cape Trubizin, (capeEdgecumbe,) and of the port ofthe Archangel St. Michel, in Sit-ka bay, (the Norfolk sound of theEnglish, and Tchinkitane bay of Marchand,) on the charts pub-lished at Petersburgh in the im-perial depot in 1802, and on thecharts of Vancouver. The mostsouthern Russian establishmentof this district of the Koliugi isa small fortress (crapost) in thebay of Jakutal, at the foot of theCordillera which connects mountFairweather with mont St. Elienear port Mulgrave, under the 59degrees 27 minutes of latitude.The proximity of mountains co-vered with eternal snow, and thegreat breadth of the continentfrom the 58 degrees of latitude,render the climate of this coastof New Norfolk, and the countryof the Ugalachmiuti, excessivelycold and inimical to the progressof vegetation. When the sloops of the expe-

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* We must not confound the bay ofBeering of Vancouver, situated at thefoot of Mount St. Elie, with the Beer-ing’s bay of the Spanish maps, nearMount Fairweather (Nevado de Bu-entiempo.) Without an accurate ac-quaintance with geographical syno-nymy, the Spanish, English, Russianand French works on the north-westcoast of America are almost unintel-ligible; and it is only by a minutecomparison of the maps that this sy-nonymy can be fixed.|339| |Spaltenumbruch|dition of Malaspina penetratedinto the interior of the bay ofJakutal as far as the port of De-sengano, they found the northernextremity of the port under the59 degrees of latitude covered inthe month of July with a solidmass of ice. We might be in-clined to believe that this massbelonged to a glacier* which ter-minated in high maritime alps;but Mackenzie relates, that onexamining the banks of the Slavelake, 250 leagues to the east, un-der 61 degrees of latitude, hefound the lake wholly frozen overin the month of June. The dif-ference of temperature observa-ble in general on the eastern andwestern coast of the new conti-nent, of which we have alreadyspoken, appears only to be verysensible to the south of the paral-lel of 53 degrees, which passesthrough New Hanover, and thegreat island of Queen Charlotte. There is nearly the same abso-lute distance from Petersburghto the most eastern Russian fac-tory on the continent of America,as from Madrid to the port ofSan Francisco in New California.The breadth of the Russian em-pire embraces under the 60 de-grees of latitude an extent ofcountry of nearly 2,400 leagues;but the small fort of the bay ofJakutal is still more than 600leagues distant from the mostnorthern limits of the Mexicanpossessions. The natives of thesenorthern regions have, for a longtime, been cruelly harassed bythe Siberian hunters. Women andchildren were retained as hostages |Spaltenumbruch|in the Russian factories. The in-structions given by the empressCatharine to Cap. Billings, drawnup by the illustrious Pallas,breathe the spirit of philanthro-py, and the most noble sensibili-ty. The present governmentis seriously occupied in dimin-ishing the abuses, and repress-ing the vexations; but it is dif-ficult to prevent these evils at theextremities of a vast empire; andthe American is doomed to feelevery instant his distance fromthe capital. Moreover, it appearsmore than probable that beforethe Russians shall clear the in-terval which separates them fromthe Spaniards, some other enter-prising power will attempt to es-tablish colonies either on the coastof New Georgia, or on the fertileislands in it’s vicinity.