£.12, A V O Y A G E O F D I S C O V E R Y
179-4.
July, ^
made life of, mufleets produced, and preparations made for hoifting out
a boat, that he was permitted to quit the canoe, into which, the Indian
on board, immediately returned.
It is not eafy to determine on what were the intentions'of thefe people,
whether they were friendly, or whether, otherways inclined; but judging
from appearances the former would feem to have been the cafe, as
their behaviour was - civil and orderly, and. they were alfo very good
humoured. No fooner had our man got on boardsthe fhip, than he was
prefented with a fea otter Ikin, and fome other trifles, by a pCrfon who
appeared to be the principal or chief of the party, and to whom I made
a very ample return. After this they departed : finging fongs, and we
.proceeded up Crofs found, which is a very fpacious opening in the coaft;
and as Captain Cook very correftly obferves, branches into feveral.arms,
the Iargeft appearing to take a northerly direction. On the furfece of
the water in the found were a great number of fmall, though hardpieces
■ of loofe ice ; fome of which, at firft fight, occafioned confiderable. alarm;
from their ftrong refemblance to fea-beaten rocks; juft level with the
furfaCe of the water, which had the appearance of breaking; over them
with great violence, and prefented the navigating of this-.inlet as an extremely
intricate and difficult tafk; efpecially, as no bottom could be
■ reached with- 80 arid go fathoms offline, clofe to thefe apparent dangers;
A little time however foon difeovered them to . be nothing more than
dark-coloured and dirty pieces of ice; which left me without any appre-
henfions for our fafety, and I had afterwards every reafon to believe that
(this found is free to navigate, and is not incommoded with either rocks
or fhoals, that are not fufficiently confpicuous to be eafily avoided.
The fouth-weft wind was too faint to admit of our reaching a place of
Tucfday 8.
anchorage on either Ihore, and as in the evening it was fucceeded bya calm,
accompanied by thick foggy weather, we were obliged to fubmit during
the night to the influence of the exifting tides or currents; not being able
to gain bottom with 140 fathoms of line, until about eight in the morning
; when the roaring of the furf on the rocks in an eaftern direction,
announced we were fall approaching them; and at that time we gained
. foundings
foundings at 46 fathoms; but as the next caft, decreafed the depth to 40 ’ 794-
fathoms, we immediately anchored on a bottom of fand and mud. i_ 1
About ten o’clock in the forenoon the fog difperfed, and we difeovered
that pur fituation-was on the eaftern -fide of the found, nearly midway
between two rocks about a mile afunder, and each lying about half a mile
to the weftward of two points- of land, the one forming the north, and
the other the fouth point of a fpacious harbour, without any vifible danger
or obftru&ion to our entering; and as it appeared to be an eligible
ftation for the- veffels, whilft the boats fhould be employed in the examination
of this fpacious inlet, Mr. Whidbey was lent to examine, and fix
upon a convenient fituation.
' About noon the Chatham arrived off the entrance of the found, on
which Mr. Manby was difpatched,. to condufl her to our ftation. Mr.
Whidbey . returned: about three, -o’clock in the afternoon, after having
found a,tolerably convenient cove behind the land that forms the northern
point of the. harbour, which is a fmall ifland. This place being
fufficient to anfwer all our immediate pnrpofes, we loft no time in proceeding
thither, and juft as the anchor was up, the depth of water fud-
denly decreafed from 40 to 11 fathoms. The channel was afterwards
founded but no danger-was 'difeovered, the fhalloweft water being g fathoms
clofe to our former foundings of 11 fathoms, which was found to
be upon a fmall patch of rocky bottom, with 30 to 40 fathoms all
around it. Wefoon reached the cove, and moored in 14 fathoms, water,
ftiff clayey, bottom, within about a cable’s length of the Ihore ; where, in
the evening, the Chatham moored likewife.
. In the courfe of the day we had been vifited by fome of the natives in
a,very civil and friendly manner; they fold us,a few fifti; and fome indifferent
fea otter {kins, for our various articles of traffic; but for the
{kins they preferred old clothes of any „defeription, to doth in the piece.
As . the view we had hitherto obtained of Cfols found had been very
imperfeft, the next morning I rowed about the found; in order to deter- Wcdnef. g.
mine on the beft mode of carrying the examination of it into effefh
Having left nothing behind us unascertained without the-found,! it ap-
peared. to me very .evident, that only one boat party could' be advantageoufly