in general were of a much lighter brown than those at Nootka, were far superior to them in fineness; whereas the last, which, as well as the martins, were far more plentiful than at Nootka, seemed greatly inferior in the fineness and thickness of their fur, though they greatly exceeded them in size, and were almost all of the glossy black sort, which is doubtless the colour most esteemed in those skins. Bear and seal skins were also pretty common, and the last were in general white, very beautifully spotted with black, or sometimes simply white; and many of the bears here were of a brown, or sooty colour.

Besides these animals, which were all seen at Nootka, there are some others in this place which we did not find there; such as the white bear, of whose skins the natives brought several pieces, and some entire skins of cubs, from which their size could not be determined. We also found the wolverene, or quickhatch, which had very bright colours; a larger sort of ermine than the common one, which is the same as at Nootka, varied with a brown colour, and with scarcely any black on its tail. The natives also brought the skin of the head of some very large animal; but it could not be positively determined what it was; though, from the colour and shagginess of the hair, and its unlikeness to any land animal, we judged it might probably be that of the large male ursine seal, or sea-bear. But one of the most beautiful skins, and which seems peculiar to this place, as we never saw it before, is that of a small animal about ten inches long, of a brown or rusty colour on the back, with a great number of obscure whitish specks, and the sides of a blueish ash colour, also with a few of these specks. The tail is not above a third of the length of its body, and is covered with hair of a whitish colour at the edges. It is no doubt the same with those called spotted field mice, by Mr Stæhlin,5 in his short account of the New Northern Archipelago. But whether they be really of the mouse kind, or a squirrel, we could not tell, for want of perfect skins; though Mr Anderson was inclined to think that it is the same animal described under the name of the Casan marmot, by Mr Pennant. The number of skins we found here, points out the great plenty of these several animals just mentioned; but it is remark

5 In his account of Kodjak, p. 32 and 34.

able,

able, that we neither saw the skins of the mouse nor of the common deer.

Of the birds mentioned at Nootka, we found here only the white-headed eagle, the shag, the alcyon, or great king fisher, which had very fine bright colours, and the humming-bird, which came frequently and flew about the ship, while at anchor, though it can scarcely live here in the winter, which must be very severe. The water-fowls were geese, a small sort of duck, almost like that mentioned at Kerguelen's Land; another sort which none of us knew; and some of the black seapyes, with red bills, which we found at Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand. Some of the people who went on shore, killed a grouse, a snipe, and some plover. But though, upon the whole, the water-fowls were pretty numerous, especially the ducks and geese, which frequent the shores, they were so shy, that it was scarcely possible to get within shot; so that we obtained a very small supply of them as refreshment. The duck mentioned above is as large as the common wildduck, of a deep black colour, with a short pointed tail, and red feet. The bill is white, tinged with red toward the point, and has a large black spot, almost square, near its base, on each side, where it is also enlarged or distended. And on the forehead is a large triangular white spot, with one still larger on the back part of the neck. The female has much duller colours, and none of the ornaments of the bill, except the two black spots, which are obscure.

There is likewise a species of diver here, which seems peculiar to the place. It is about the size of a partridge, has a short, black, compressed bill, with the head and upper part of the neck of a brown black, the rest of a deep brown, obscurely waved with black, except the under-part, which is entirely of a blackish cast, very minutely varied with white; the other (perhaps the female) is blacker above, and whiter below. A small land bird, of the finch kind, about the size of a yellow-hammer, was also found; but was suspected to be one of those which change their colour with the season, and with their migrations. At this time, it was of a dusky brown colour, with a reddish tail, and the supposed male had a large yellow spot on the crown of the head, with some varied black on the upper part of the neck; but the last was on the breast of the female.

The only fish we got were some torsk and halibut, which were chiefly brought by the natives to sell; and we caught a few sculpins about the ship, with some purplish star-fish, that had seventeen or eighteen rays. The rocks were observed to be almost destitute of shell-fish; and the only other animal of this tribe seen, was a red crab, covered with spines of a very large size.

The metals we saw were copper and iron; both which, particularly the latter, were in such plenty, as to constitute the points of most of the arrows and lances. The ores, with which they painted themselves, were a red, brittle, unctuous ochre, or iron-ore, not much unlike cinnabar in colour; a bright blue pigment, which we did not procure; and black-lead. Each of these seems to be very scarce, as they brought very small quantities of the first and last, and seemed to keep them with great care.

Few vegetables of any kind were seen; and the trees which chiefly grew here, were the Canadian and sprucepine, and some of them tolerably large.

The beads and iron found amongst these people, left no room to doubt, that they must have received them from some civilized nation. We were pretty certain, from circumstances already mentioned, that we were the first Europeans with whom they had ever communicated directly; and it remains only to be decided, from what quarter they had got our manufactures by intermediate conveyance. And there cannot be the least doubt of their having received these articles, through the intervention of the more inland tribes, from Hudson's Bay, or the settlements on the Canadian lakes; unless it can be supposed, (which, however, is less likely,) that the Russian traders, from Kamtschatka, have already extended their traffic thus far; or at least that the natives of their most easterly fox islands communicate along the coast with those of Prince William's Sound."

VOL. XVI.

T

As

There is a circumstance mentioned by Muller, in his account of Beering's voyage to the coast of America in 1741, which seems to decide this question. His people found iron at the Schumagin Islands, as may be fairly presumed from the following quotation: "Un seul homme avoit un couteau pendu à sa ceinture, qui parut fort singulier à nos gens par sa figure. Il étoit long de huit pouces, et fort épais, et large à l'endroit où

devoit

As to the copper, these people seem to procure it themselves, or at most it passes through few hands to them; for they used to express its being in a sufficient quantity amongst them, when they offered any to barter, by pointing to their weapons; as if to say, that having so much of this metal of their own, they wanted no more.

It is, however, remarkable, if the inhabitants of this Sound be supplied with European articles, by way of the intermediate traffic to the east coast, that they should, in return, never have given to the more inland Indians any of their sea-otter skins, which would certainly have been seen, some time or other, about Hudson's Bay. But, as far as Í know, that is not the case; and the only method of accounting for this, must be by taking into consideration the very great distance, which, though it might not prevent European goods coming so far, as being so uncommon, might prevent the skins, which are a common article, from passing through more than two or three different tribes, who might use them for their own cloathing, and send others, which they esteemed less valuable, as being of their own animals, eastward, till they reach the traders from Europe.

SECTION

devoit être la pointe. On ne peut savoir quel étoit l'usage de cet outil." Découvertes des Russes, p. 274.

If there was iron amongst the natives on this part of the American coast, prior to the discovery of it by the Russians, and before there was any traffic with them carried on from Kamtschatka, what reason can there be to make the least doubt of the people of Prince William's Sound, as well as those of Schumagin's Islands, having got this metal from the only probable source, the European settlements on the north east coast of this continent?-D.

1

SECTION VI.

Progress along the Coast.-Cape Elizabeth.-Cape St Hermogenes. Accounts of Beering's Voyage very defective.Point Banks-Cape Douglas.-Cape Bede.--Mount St Augustin-Hopes of finding a Passage up an Inlet.-The Ships proceed up it.-Indubitable Marks of its being a River-Named Cook's River.- The Ships return down it.Various Visits from the Natives.-Lieutenant King lands, and takes Possession of the Country-His Report.-The Resolution runs aground on a Shoal - R flections on the Discovery of Cook's River.-The considerable Tides in it accounted for.

AFTER leaving Prince William's Sound, I steered to the S.W., with a gentle breeze at N.N.E.; which, at four o'clock, the next morning, was succeeded by a calm, and soon after, the calm was succeeded by a breeze from S.W. This freshening, and veering to N.W., we still continued to stretch to the S.W., and passed a lofty promontory, situated in the latitude of 59° 10′, and the longitude of 207 45'. As the discovery of it was connected with the Princess Elizabeth's birth-day, I named it Cape Elizabeth. Beyond it we could see no land; so that, at first, we were in hopes that it was the western extremity of the continent; but not long after, we saw our mistake, for fresh land appeared in sight, bearing W.S.W.

In

The wind, by this time, had increased to a very strong gale, and forced us to a good distance from the coast. the afternoon of the 22d, the gale abated, and we stood to the northward for Cape Elizabeth, which at noon, the next day, bore W., ten leagues distant. At the same time, a new land was seen, bearing S. 77° W., which was supposed to connect Cape Elizabeth with the land we had seen to the westward.

The wind continued at W., and I stood to the southward till noon the next day, when we were within three leagues of the coast which we had discovered on the 22d. It here formed a point that bore W.N.W. At the same time more land was seen extending to the southward, as far as S.S. W., the whole being twelve or fifteen leagues distant. On it

was