4>8 A V O Y A G E O F D I S C O V E R Y
Se'tlmber ^ie foutLward of Monterrey, I was induced to yield to the ^ meafuresu—
---- 1 which prudence dictated, and to decline entering on any new northern
inquiries. It was now alfo become highly expedient, that the veflels
fhould retire to fome milder region, where refrelhments might be ol>
tained; and where fuch relaxation and eafe as now became neceflary
might be given to thofe under my command, whofe zeal and laborious
exertions, during the fummer, had juftly intitled them to my bell thanks
and higheft commendation.
My mind was by no means latisfied with the Imall extent, in a direct
line, which had been examined during the late fummer ; yet I derived
great confolation in the reflection that, in all probability, we had overcome
the moll arduous part o f our talk, and that our future refearches
would be attended with lefs difappointment and fatigue. And further,
that fhould the information we had thus obtained reach Europe, there
would no longer remain a doubt as to the extent or the fallacy o f the
pretended difcoveries faid to have been made by De Fuca, and De Fonte,
De Fonta, or Fuentes.
The very intricate paflages by which our late refearches-were carried
into effe£t, I have taken much pains to defcribe; yet it may not be
amifs to endeavour, by afligning names to fome particular places, and by
a more concile account, to render fo unentertaining a narrative at leaft
more comprehenfible.
It is in the firft place neceflary to premife, that our refearches were
not carried on m a continued or direct line, but through part of a very ex-
tenfive, and hitherto unexplored, region, in various directions, bounded
to the eaftward by the continent, and to the weftward by the ocean; our
navigation in the veflels on fome occafions leading between iflands, and
on others along the'eontinenta! fhore.
That part of the archipelago, comprehended between the Chatham’s
and Fitzhugh’s founds, lies immediately behind, or to the eaftward of,
Queen Charlotte’s iflands, admitting of a fpacious navigable channel, between
the weftem fhore o f the archipelago and the eaftern fhore o f thofe
iflands. This* region, as I have already had occalion to obferve, had been
vifited before our arrival in it by feveral traders, particularly by a Mr.
Duncan, but from whom no certain information could be obtained, whether
R O U N D T H E W O R L D .
ther it was a part of the continent, or whether it was wholly compofed
o f iflands; this gentleman however was right in conjefturing the latter,
and he named thofe parts between Nepean’sand Fitzhugh’s founds, P r i n c
e s s R o y a l ’s I s l a n d s , which name I have continued.
The continent adjacent to thofe iflands, from point Staniforth at the
entrance of Gardner’s' canal, to Defolation found, the northern extent
o f New-Georgia, I have diftinguifhed by the name of N e w H a n o v e r ,
after His Majefty’s hereditary German dominions. T o the northward
from Nepean’s found, along the continental fhore, is a continuation of
this archipelago, feparated from the continent by Grenville’s canal and
Chatham’s found, nearly in a ftraight line; and north-weftward front
Chatham’s found, is a further and more extenfive continuation o f the
fame group of iflands, feparated from the continental fhore by various,
channels ; the moft fpacious of which is that by which the veflels arrived
at this ftation, and which, in honor of His Royal Highnefs Prince
William Henry, I have called T h e D u k e o f C l a r e n c e ’s S t r a i t ; it
is bounded on the eaftern fide by the Duke o f York’s iflands, part of the
continent about cape Caamano, and the ifles de Gravina. Its weftern
fhore is an extenfive traft o f land, which (though not vifibly fo to us) I
have reafon to believe is much broken, and divided by water, forming
as it were a diftinft body in the great archipelago. This I have honored
with the name o f T h e P r i n c e o f W a l e s ’s A r c h i p e l a g o ; and
the adjacent continent, to the northward from Gardner’s Canal, to point
Rothfay, the extent of our furvey to the north this feafon, I have diftinguifhed
with that of N e w C o r n w a l l . '
The fhoal extending from point Blaquiere to point Rothfay having
been found by Mr. Johnftone to be impaffable by our boats, the land to
the weftward of the former point was confidered as forming a part of
the continent; as alfo that to the weftward of Conclufion ifland, although
it had not been pofitively fo determined from point Barrie,
owing to the rocks and other dangerous impediments which prevented
Mr. Johnftone from keeping fuffieiently near to the main land for aft
certaining that faft: fhould however this conjecture be hereafter proved
to have been ill founded, and the land in queftion be found infular*,
the channel or channels by which it may be divided or feparated from
3 H 2 the
4 *9
„ ‘ 793-
September.
This was the
following
year proved
tobethefaft.