4°4 A V O Y A G E O F D I S C O V E R Y
September, remain in this port, before any copy fhould be difpofed of; but Sen*- Oua-
----- ' dra wifhing to make certain of fuch information as we had acquired, and
conceiving the further corrections we might be enabled to make of little
importance, folicited fuch a copy as I was then able to procure ; which,
Thurfday 20. with a formal reply to his laft letter, I tranfmitted to him on tuefday
evening. In this letter I Hated the impoffibility of my receiving the cef-
fion of the territories in queftion on the conditions propofed by Sen'-
Quadra, and tliat in confequence o f the exifting differences in our opi-
nions on this fubjeft, I fhould immediately refer the whole of the négociation
to the court o f London, and wait the determination thereof, for
Friday si. the regulation o f my future conduft. The next day Sen*- Quadra acknowledged
the receipt of my laft letter with the charts of this coaft, &c.
which concluded our correfpondence.
As Sen*- Quadra intended to fail the next day, accompanied by moft o f
the Spanifh officers, he did me the honor o f partaking of a farewell dim
ner, and was on this occafion received with the cuftomary marks o f ceremony
and refpeft due to his rank, and the fituation he here filled. The
day palled with the utmoft cheerfulnefs and hilarity : Monterrey was appointed
as the rendezvous where next we fhould meet.
Having underftood that Mr. Robert Duffin, the fuper-cargo on board
the Portugoefe veffel that had arrived on the 17th, had accompanied Mr.
Meares in the year 1788, and was with him on his firft arrival in Nootfca
found, I requefted he would furnifh me with all the particulars he could
recoiled! o f the tranfaftions which took place on that occafion. This
he very obligingly did, and at the fame time voluntarily made oath to the
truth o f his affertions. The fubftance of which was, that towards the
clofe of the year 1787, two veffels were equipped for the fur trade on
the n .w . coaft of America, by John Henry Cox and Co. merchants at
Canton. That the command and conduft o f the expedition was given
to John Meares, Efq. who was a joint proprietor alfo ; that for the
purpofe of avoiding certain heavy dues, the veffels failed under Por-
tuguefe colours, and in the name and under the firm of John
Cavallo, Efq. a Portuguefe merchant at Macao, but who had not
any property either in the veffels, or their cargoes, which were in*
tirely
R O U N D T H E W O R L D .
tirely Britifh property, and were wholly navigated by the fubjefts
of His Britannic Majefty; That Mr. Duffin accompanied Mr.
Meares in one of thefe veffels to Nootka, where they arrived in may,
1788, when Mr. Meares attended by himfelf and Mr. Robert Funter, on
the 1:7th' or 18th o f the fame month, went on fhore, and bought of
the two chiefs, Maquilla and Calicum, the whole o f the land that forms
Friendly cove, Nootka found, in His Britannic Majefty’s name, for eight
or ten fheets of copper, and fome trifling articles : That the natives
were perfeftly fatisfied, and, with the chiefs, did homage to Mr. Meares
as their fovereign, according to the cuftom o f their country: That
the Britifh flag, and not the Portuguefe flag, was difplayed on fhore,
whilft thefe formalities took place between the parties: That Mr.
Meares caufed a faoufe to be erefted on the fpot which was then occupied
by-the Chatham’s tent, as being the moft convenient p lace: That
the chiefs and the people offered to quit their refidence, and to retire to
Tahfheis, that Confoquently the Englifh were not confined to that particular
fpot, but could have erefted houfes, had they been fo inclined, m
any other part of the co v e : That Mr. Meares appointed Mr. Robert
Funter to refide in the houfe, which confifted o f three bed-chambers,
with a mefs-room for the officers, and proper apartments for the men ;
thefe were elevated about five feet from the ground, the under part
ferving as warehoufes : That, exclufive o f this houfe, there were feve-
ral ont-houfes and ffieds, built for the convenience o f the artificers to
work in : That Mr. Meares left the houfes in good repair, and enjoined
Maquilla to take care of them, until he, or fome o f his affociates, fhould
return : That he, Robert Duffin, was not at Nootka when Don Martinez
arrived there ; that he underftood, no veftige of the houfe remained
at that time, but that on his return thither in july, 1789, he found the
cove occupied by the fubjefts of His Catholic Majefty : That he then
faw no remains of Mr. Meares’s houfe; and that on the fpot on which
it had flood were the tents and houfes of fome o f the people belonging
to the Columbia, commanded by Mr. John Kendrick, under the flag
and protection of the United States of America: That His Catholic
Majefty’s fhips, Princiffa and San Carlos, were at this time at anchor in
Friendly
405
<792.
September.