NOTES AND M ISC ELLLAN EOUS O BERVATIONS.
tain Shapely, the commander of the veffel, one thoufand pieces of eight
for his fine charts and journals. On the n th of auguft De Fonta arrived
at the firft fall in the river Parmentiers, and on the 16th on board
his {hip in lake Belle.”
The extenfive archipelago, in which De Fonta -had failed through
crooked channels 260 leagues ; the river navigable for (hipping that
flowed into it, up which he had (ailed in his (hip 60 leagues ; the water
becoming frelh after he had entered and pafled in it 20 leagues; its
communicating by other lakes and rivers with a paffage, in which a (hip-
had arrived from Bollon in New England; are all fo circumftantially
particularized, as to give the account, at firft fight, an air of probability;,
and on examination, had it been found reafonably conne&ed together,
which is by no means the cafe ; a trifling difference in point of defcrip-
tion or fituation would have been pardoned.
The Rio de los Reyes Mr. Dalrymple dates (according to the Spaniftr
geographers, under the authority- of which nation De Fonta is faid to
have failed) to be in the 43d; according to the Englifti in the 53d; and
according to the French, in the 63d degree of north latitude, on the
weftern coaft o f North America. I f it be neceffary to make allowance
for the ignorance of De Fonta, or the errors in his obfervations, any
other parallel along the coaft may be afligned with equal correftnefs.
Under the 43d parallel o f north latitude on this coaft, no fuch archipelago
nor river does exift; but between the 47 th and 57th degrees of
north latitude, there is an archipelago compofed of innumerable iflands,
and crooked channels; yet the evidence-of a navigable river flowing into
it, is (fill wanting to prove its identity; and as the- fcrupulous exaftnefs
with which our furvey of the continental (hore has been made within
thefe limits, precludes the polfibility of fuch a river having been pafled
unnoticed by us, as that defcribed to be of Rio de los Reyes, I remain in
full confidence, that fome credit will hereafter be given to the teftimony
refulting from our refearches, and that the plain truth undifguifed, with
which our labours have been reprefented, will be juftly appreciated, inrefutation
of ancient unfupported traditions..
Tdo
' I do not, however, mean pofitively to deny the difcoveries o f De Fonta,
I only wi(h to inveftigatethe fad, and to afcertain the truth; and I am
content with having ufed my endeavours to prove their improbability as
publiftied to the world. The broken region which fo long occupied our
attention, cannot poflibly be the archipelago of St. Lazarus, fince the
principal feature by which the identity of that archipelago could be proved
is that of a navigable river for (hipping flowing into it, and this certainly
does not exift in that archipelago which has taken -us fo much
time to explore; hence the fituation cannot be the fame, and for
that reafon I have not affixed the name of De Fonta, De Fonte, or Fuentes
to any part of thofe regions. It is however to be remembered, that- our
geography of the whole coaft of North Weft America is not yet complete,
and that the French navigators, who have dated the archipelago
of St. Lazarus to be in the 63d degree of north latitude, may yet not
be in an error.
The ftupendous barrier mountains certainly do not (eem to extend in
fo lofty and connected a range to the northward of the head of Cook s
inlet, as to the fouth-eaftward o f that ftation ; and it is poflible that in
this part, the chain of mountains may admit o f a communication with
the eaftern country, which feems to be almoft impraflicable further to
the fouthward. In this conjefture we are fomewhat warranted by the
fimilarity obferved in the race of people inhabiting the (hores o f Hud-
fon’s bay and thofe to the northward of North Weft America.
In all the parts of the continent on which we landed, we nowhere
found any roads or paths through the woods, indicating the Indians on
the coaft having any intercourle with the natives of the interior part of
the country, nor were there any articles of the Canadian or Hudfon s
bay traders found amongft the people with whom we met on any part
of the continent or external fea (hores of this extenfive country.
F I N I S .