:8a A V O Y A G E T O T H E
■ s/tonber C? abled us t0 fllaPe our courfe agreeably to Captain Poftlock’s
l. — direction, though I mull own we left the cor It reluctantly, and
■ the more lo, as the prelent wind was what we wanted to carry us
into the found. Indeed it fhould be remembered, that the wind
for fome days pall had been as favourable as we could wilh, when
at a diftance from the 11 lore, but always grew light and variable,
as we drew near the land ; and there is every realon to imagine
this would have been the cafe at prefent: fo that on the whole, we
probably may havecaule to rejoice atthis unexpected determination.
At noon, the harbour bore North 40 deg.' Eall, diftant about
•twelve leagues 5 our latitude was-49 deg. 15 min. North ; and the
longitude 127 deg. 35 min. Well. Before night we had entirely
•loll light of the coall. Thus ended all our hopes of making King
George’s Sound this feafon.
I f we take a retrofpeCl view of occurrences fince our leaving
Cook’s River, we feem to have been peculiarly unfuccefsful in all
■ our attempts to gain a fecond harbour on this inhofpitable coall.
Twice indeed, (viz. at Grafs Sound, and the Bay of Iflands) our
mifcari iage was owing, in a great meafure, to mifinformation;
and that we did not make either Prince William’s, or Nootka
Sound, may jullly be attributed to unfavourable winds, and bad
weather, things which mull ever baffle the llrongell -efforts of
human wifdom; and, though we were unacquainted with Captain
Portlock’s motives for leaving the coall, yet he no doubt was convinced,
that every attempt had been made that prudence could
fuggelt, confillent with the fafety of the veffels, or the lives of the
people.
Thus ends our firft trading campaign, and though not abfolutely
smfficcefsful, yet it affords a moll ufeful leffon for many fituations
in
N O R T H - W E S T C O A S T OF A M E R I C A . S3
in life, and would furnilh me with an ample field for haranguing
on the uncertainty and unilability of all worldly expectations, &c.
&c. but thou wilt fufpeft me of an attempt to palm a pack of
rully thread-bare moral fentences on thee; fo that I lhall conclude:
at once. Thine ever,
W . B..
A t Sea, 1
2d Odtober. x
l e t t e r XXH
AVING pretty well’ reconciled ourlelves to the unavoidable:
difappointments we met with on the American Coall, our
thoughts, like the Ifraelites of old, were fixed on the flelh-pots of
Eg yp t; or, to drop the metaphor, we comforted ourfelves with the
hope of many a delicious regale among the hogs, yams, and others
good chear of Sandwich Iflands.
Perhaps from what I laid in my laft, refpecling our bad fuccefs,,
thou wilt conclude we left the coall without any thing worth:
notice. To fet thee right in that particular, I. lhall juft obferve,
that we colleaed in Cook’s River near fixty prime otter-fkins;.
about the lame quantity of an inferior kind; about twenty:fine:
marmot cloaks, together with racoons, foxes, &c. &c. fuffic-ient to ■
fill three puncheons ; fo that our purchafes, if not very great, were -
far - from defpicable. Captain Portlock’s fuccefs was, I believe,
nearly fimilar to our’s..
WA