C H A P . VI.
Progrefs along the Coajl.— Cape Elizabeth.— Cape St.
H er mo genes.— Accounts o f Beering’s Voyage very defective.—
Point Banks.— Cape Douglas.— Cape Bede.—
Mount S t. Augufiin.— Hopes o f finding a Pajfage up
an Inlet.— "The Ships proceed up it.— Indubitable Marks
o f its being a River.— Named Cook’s River.— The Ships
return down it .— Various Vifits from the Natives.—
Lieutenant King lands, and takes poffejfion o f the Coun-
try.— H is Report.— The Refolution runs aground on a
Shoal.— RefleElions on the Difcovery o f Cook’s River.—
“The confiderable■ Lides in it accounted fo r .
1 7 7 8 . /% F T E R lea v in g Prince W illiam ’s Sound, I fleered to
■ May’ , X \ the South Weft, with a gentle breeze at North North
Thorfday2“,'. E a ft; which, at four o’clock, the next morning, was fuc-
ceeded by a calm ; and foon after, the calm was fucceeded by
a breeze from South Weft. T h is freftiening, and veering to
North Weft, w e ftill continued to ftretch to the South, Weft,
and pafled a lofty promontory, fituated in the latitude o f
590 1 o’, arid the longitude o f 207° 45'. As the difcovery o f
it was connected with the Princéfs Elizabeth’s birth-day, I
named it Cape Elizabeth. Beyond it we could fee no land ; fo
that, at firft, we were in hopes that it was the Weftern extremity
o f the continent; bur not long after, we faw our
miftake ; fo r frefh land appeared in fight, bearing Weft
South Weft.
T he wind, b y this time, had inereafed to a ve ry ftrong .«%$•
gale, and forced us to a good diftance from the coaft. In ■ M*y- r
the afternoon o f the 22d, the g a le abated ; and we flood to Friday 22.
the Northward fo r Cape Elizabeth ; w hich at noon, the next Saturday 23.,
day, bore Weft, ten leagues diftant. A t the fame time, a
n ew land was feen, bearing South 77° Weft, w hich was fup-
pofed to conned): Cape Elizabeth w ith the land we had feen
to the Weftward.
T h e wind continued at Weft, and I flood to the Southward
till noon the next day, w hen we were within three leagues Sunday
o f the coaft which w e had- difcovered on the 23d. It here
formed a point that bore Weft North Weft. At the fame
time, more land was feen extending to the Southward, as
fa r as South South W e f t ; the whole b eing twelve or fifteen
leagues diftant. On it was feen a ridge o f mountains covered
w ith fnow, extending to the North Weft, behind the
firft land, which w e judged to be an ifland, from the very
inconfiderable quantity of. fnow that la y upon it. This
point o f land is fituated in the latitude: o f 5.3* 1.5', and in
the longitude o f 207* 42'; and by what I can gather
from the account o f Beering’s 'v o y a g e , and the chart th a t'
accompanies it in the Englifh edition*', I‘ conclude, that if
muft be what he called Cape St. Hermogenes. But the a c - *
count o f that voyage is fo ve ry much abridged, and the
chart fo extremely inaccurate, that it is hardly polfible,.
either by the one or by the other,. Or by comparing both together,
to find out any one place w hich that navigator either
faw or touched at. Were I to form a judgment of.' Beer- .
in g ’s proceedings on this coaft, I ihould fuppofe,- that he fell,
in with the continent near Mount Fair-weather, But I am.
*• Captain Cook means Muller’ s ; of which a tranilatio’n had been publi/hed in,
London fome time, before he failed»..