It was natural to hope, that fomething would have been
done in one or other, or in both thefe voyages of the Lion,
that might have opened our views with regard to the practicability
of a pailage from this fide of America, But, unfortunately,
the execution did not anfwer the expedtations
conceived. Pickerfgill, who had acquired profeffional experience
when a&ing under Captain Cook, juftly merited the
cenfure he received, for improper behaviour when intruded
with command in Davis’s Straits; and the talents o f
Young, as it afterward appeared, were more adapted to contribute
to the glory of a victory, as Commander of a line of
battle ihip, than to add to geographical difcoveries, by
encountering mountains o f ice, and exploring unknown
coafls *.
Both Pickerfgill and Young having been ordered to proceed
into Baffin’s Bay; and Captain Cook being directed
not to begin his fearch till he fliould arrive in the latitude of
65“, it may not be improper to fay fomething here of the
reafons which weighed with thofewho planned the voyages,
and framed the inftruitions, to carry their views fo far
Northward, as the proper fituation, where the pailage, i f it
exifted at all, was likely to be attempted with fuccefs. It
may be aiked, Why was Hudfon’s Bay neglefted on our
fide of America ; and why was not Captain Cook ordered to
begin his fearch on its oppofite fide, in much lower lati-
* In the Philofophical Tranfaftions, Vol. lxviii. p. 1057, we have the track of
Kekerfgill's voyage, which, probably, may be of life to our Greenland lhlps, as it
contains many obfervations for fixing the longitude and latitude o f the coafts in Davis’s
Straits. But it appears that he never entered Baffin’s Bay, the higheft Northern
latitude to which he advanced being 68’ 14'. As to Young’s proceedings, having
failed abfolutely in making any difcovery, it is of lefs confequence, that no commu-
fjication of his journal could be procured.
tudcsi
tudes ? Particularly, why not explore the ftrait leading into
the Weftern fea o f John de Fuca, between the latitudes of
47 and 48°; the Archipelago of St. .Lazarus of Admiral de
Fonte, between 50° and 55°; and the rivers and lakes
through which he found a pailage North Eaftward, till he
met with a ihip from Bolton i
As to the pretended difcoveries o f de Fuca, the Greek
Pilot, or of de Fonte, the Spaniih Admiral, though they
have fometimes. found their way into fiititious maps, or have
been warmly contended for by the efpoufers of .fanciful
fyitems; to have directed Captain Cook- to fpend any time
in tracing them, would have been as wife a meafure as if
he had been directed to trace the fituation of Lilliput or Brob-
dignac. The latter are, indeed, confefiedly, mere objects
of imagination; and the former, deftitute of any fufficient
external evidence, bear lo many itriking marks of internal
abfurdity, as Warrant our pronouncing them to be the fabric
of impofture. Captain Cook’s inftruitions were founded
on an accurate knowledge of what had been already
done, and of what ftill remained to do; and this knowledge
pointed out the inutility of beginning his fearch for a paf-
fage till his arrival in the latitude of 65°; of which every
fair and capable inquirer will he abundantly convinced, by
an attention to the following particulars.
Middleton, who commanded the expedition in 1741 and
1742, into Hudfon’s Bay, had proceeded farther North than
any of his predecefibrs in that navigation. But though,
from his former acquaintance with that Bay, to which he
had frequently failed in the fervice of the company, he had
entertained hopes of finding out a pailage through it into
the Pacific Ocean, the obfervations which he was now
Vot, I. f enabled