«44 A V O Y A G E O F D I S C O V E R Y
»794*
May.
T uefday 13..
Wednef. *4,
eftablifhments on the Kodiak, and about the entrance into this inlet, I
did not depart as I had purpofed in the morning; but hearing nothing
further of him, with the firft of the ebb in the afternoon, and a light
breeze from the N.w. we proceeded to the fouthward. In the morning
we had been vifited by feveral of the natives, all of whom condu&ed
ihemfelv-es like their neighbours with the utmoft propriety. As we approached
point Bede, Portoff, to whom Mr. Puget had intrufted a letter
addrelfed to me off cape Douglas, came with it on board, accompanied
by two of his countrymen. From him we underftood that Berrenoff,
who was then on his way, would be with us in the courfe of the afternoon
or evening; that he was very anxious for an interview with us, and
that he requefted we would not proceed to fea. On their departure one
o f them pro mi fed to provide us with a large fupply of-fifh by the morning.
About day-light he met the Ihip off the Barren ifles, and pun&u-
ally performed his promife, by affording us halibut fufficient to ferve the
whole of the crew two or three days. Hearing no tidings of the commandant,
and having a fteady breeze from the eaftward, we plied towards
the ocean until noon, when the weather affirming a very unfavorable
appearance, attended with a heavy dwell from the eaftward, we anchored
off the north part of point Bede in 31 fathoms water, having the fouth-
ernmoft part of that point and cape Elizabeth in a line, bearing by com-
pafs s. 54 e.; the neareft fhore, being a detached rock with fome fmaller
ones about it, N. 51 e., three fourths of a mile diftant; land we fuppofed
to be the points of entrance into Graham’s harbour, from n. 35 e. to
N. 12 e„ the former at the diftance of 2, the latter at about 3 leagues ;
the volcano, N, 64 w „ and the Barren ifles from ;s.-8 s . to s. 18 e. In
Thm-rdayi 5. this fitiiation our obfervations on the following day fhewed the latitude
to be 590 lgf-', longitude 268*41'.; and the variation of the compafs by
three lets of azimuths, differing from 26* t& to 27*35', gave the mean
refult 26° 53' eaftwardly.
The friendly Ruffian, who had' fo amply fupphed us with halibut,
again appeared, and Rated, that Mr. Berrenoff would on a certainty be
with us in the courfe of the afternoon; and, as I now underftood he
would bring an Englilh interpreter with him, an interview became infinitely
nitely more defirable, from the profpeft we had of acquiring fome inte- >794-
refting intelligence refpeaing thefe regions; yet, as I had been twice <—^ 1—»
difappointed in fimilar affuranc.es, the third engagement by no means
warranted any further delay, efpecially as the caufe which had produced
our detention no longer exifted. For thefe reafons, with the affiftance
of the ebb tide, and a wefterly wind, we proceeded about two o’clock,
but it was fo flowly, that it was eight o’clock in the evening before we
had paired cape Elizabeth ; which, from the refult of our obfervations,
appeared to be fttuated in latitude 5g°g', longitude 208*53'; which portion)
like that of the reft of the coaft vifited by us this feafon, is considerably
to the eaftward of the longitude as ftated by Captain Cook, the
difference being from i° 8' to 1° 12' or 1° 14'. The delineation of the
fhores .of this inlet and its foundings will hkewife affume, in a few in-
ftanCes, a trivial difference from the reprefentation of that able and il-
luftrious navigator, in confequence of our having been able to appropriate
a greater length of time to the examination of it than it was in
Captain Cook s power to beftow ; yet the difagreement of the two fur-
veys is fo inconfiderable, that it will require the eye of a critical obfer-
ver to difcover the particulars in which they vary.
Thus we took our leave of Cook’s inlet, where, from our different interviews
with the Ruffians fettled on its fhores, it might have been reasonably
expefted that much information would have been derived,
concerning the objects and advantages in contemplation, from the ex-
tenfion of that empiré to fuch remote regions. Ignorance of each
odier’s language, that infurmountable obftacle to the attainment of fuch
kind of knowledge, attended on all our inquiries, and in moll inftances
rendered them extremely inconclufive, and often: very contradictory to
what we had at firft underftood. This difficulty was not a little increafed
by the want of information in moft of our Ruffian vilitors, with regard
to every thing that appertained to the fcience of geography. Our
repeated converfations with the perfon who conduaed us to the fettle-
ment on the eaftern fhore,- led us to imagine that a navigable branch of
this inlet extended from the eaftern fide, and communicated with an im-
menfe lake to the north-eaft, in which were whales, feals. fea otters and a
V ol. III. u variety