US), 1792, been intirely fufpended. The prefent governor however was ftill
^ 1 unprovided with the credentials neceflary for finiftiing this bufinefs; but
~ on his, departure from St. Bias in june, thefe documents were hourly
expefled, and a veflel was waiting there in readinefs to be difpatched to
this port, provided they arrived, in time for her reaching Nootka on or
before, the 1.5th of oclober; but in the event of her not being able to
effect a paflage by that time, £he was to repair to Monterrey. In confe-
quence of this arrangement Senr' Alava: purpofed: to remain here until
that period Ihould arrive; and as no communication from England," either
of a public or private nature, had yet reached; me, I confidered it to
be highly probable, that; a duplicate of my inftruclions, for the like pur-
pofe might be tranfmit,ted by the fame conveyance..
Under this impreflipn, and- the conlideration of many other circum-
ftances, relative to the lituation of both velfels, I thought it moft advife-
able to determine on remaining till that pe.ripd with Sen'- AJa.vay -indeed it
was not very likely, from the various important, duties,we- had now to
execute, with the inadequate means we pofleffed for doing, fo, that we
Ihould be enabled, to .proceed,; much before that time. Our ftore o f cordage
was completely exhaufted, nor, had we, a fathom of 1 ope but what
was, .then in ufe; the whole , of it, was. much worn, and, had, been fpliced
in feveral places, and therefore it became neceflary; to contrive - fame
means, for procuring a fupply before we could venture to lea again. The
quantity which our, Spanilh friends, or the trading velfels in this, port,
were likely to afford, us, was. yery inadequate. to our neceflities, which
obliged us to refort' to the expedient of, converting fome of our cables
into cordage. This would:neceffarily prove a tedious,bufinefs, efpecially
as we had to conftruft a machine for that purpofe. The Chatham was
not only iqca fimilar predicament, with refpe£t to cordage, hut flie; required,
caulldng, and immediate repair in fome of her plank, that was found
to be rotten. Both velfels demanded many fpars to be. cut and prepared;
the, fails, and calks flood ,in meed ;of great repairs and ithad become .effen-
tially important, that the obfervatory Ihould be erefied;on,lhore,-,fpr the
purpofe of afcertaining more pofitively the. rate and .error of .our chronometers,
meters, itl Order tó Görfë'êt ö iir furvéy from cape Douglas to Cape
Decifion; for notwithftandirig that I had little doubt in my own mind 1
o f fhë mode that had been purfued, yet I was ferifible that correfpond-
irig ebfervatiohs St this place would be very fatlsfaclory.
With thefe óbjéfcts iii contemplation, our time was not likely to be
unprofitable employed; and although I would gladly have poftponed
the execution of thefe feveral talks until our arrival in a moré fouthern
èlime, where we had reafori to believe the Weather Would be m'ore favorable
to our willies, and where the neceflary refrelhmenfs of Which We
all flood fo much in need, might have been procured in greater abundance;
yet it would havé Been highly indifcréét, arid extremely dangerous;
for the velfels to have put to fea again, until a' fupply of cordage
could be provided; In addition to this, other circumftances feemed to
demand, that I Ihould remain within the reach of any difpatches that
might have'been-forwarded through New Spain; which could only be
done by Haying ^hefe; dr refotting to fome of the fouthern Spanilh
fettlements, where we Ihould lofe the advantage of procuring the fpars
and plank which- were now required; arid as moft of our bufinels muff
have been ill executed on board the velfels,- I felt little encouragement,
when I reflected on the treatment we had experienced the preceding year
from the afiiing governor of California, to expect being indulged' with
permiflion for performing it on fliore, in- any; of the ports under hisjurifdiftion.
• . .
Thefe weighty confiderations induced me to refolve on continuing at
Nootka until all our important operations were completed; and if in the
mean time I Ihould receive any inllruclions for thé government of my
conduct, as to the rcliitution of the«: territories, by the expected Spanilh
packet, or by any other conveyance, I Ihould be upon the fpot to aft
with Serf- Alava- as, the nature óf my orders might require. ;■
I took an early opportunity of reprefenting to Serf- AlaVa our neCefli-
tous condition, and requefted his permifliori to ereft our obfervatbry and
tents on fhore. To this requeft he gave his moft hearty concurrence,
and feemed very earneftly to regret, that the Hate óf their eftablilhment
precluded