shore southward in search of the river which the Spaniard, Heceta, had charted near the 46th degree of latitude and named Rio de San Roque, as related in the account of Heceta's voyage. Having examined this latitude, without observing the current of the river, Meares named the promontory which forms the southwest point of Washington Cape Disappointment, and the indentation in the shore Deception Bayvery appropriate names for the occasion-and made the following entry in his Journal: "We can now with safety assert that there is no such river as that of St. Roc exists, as laid down in the Spanish charts." This statement is somewhat ungrammatical, yet clear and explicit. In 1826 the commissioners appointed by the British government to treat with the plenipotentiary of the United States at London, on the claims of the two governments to territories in the northwest, insisted that Meares on this occasion discovered the Columbia River!

22. First Vessel Built on the Coast. Meares returned to Nootka and launched the small vessel, which some of his men had built during his absence, under the name of the Northwest America, the first vessel ever built on the North Pacific Coast. It is not known whether Meares placed her under British or Portuguese colors.

23. Voyages of the Columbia and Washington. When the United States had secured her independence, her citizens resumed the whale and seal fishery, which they had carried on before the revolution, and

also engaged in trade with India and China. In order to combine the fur trade of the North Pacific with the China trade a company of merchants at Boston, in the summer of 1787, fitted out two vessels, the ship Columbia and the sloop Washington. John Kendrick commanded the expedition and was master of the Columbia. Joseph Ingraham was mate of the Columbia. Captain Robert Gray was master of the Washington. The cargo of the vessels consisted of articles for trade with the Indians, blankets, knives, etc. They also carried with them a number of small copper coins, then recently issued by the state of Massachusetts. Alexander Mackenzie relates that in July, 1793, he found one of these coins bearing the inscription "half-penny of the state of Massachusetts Bay, coined in 1787," in possession of an Indian native of the country east of the Strait of Fuca. Copper medals were struck to commemorate the expedition. The following cut represents both sides of one of these medals.

1

The two vessels sailed from Boston on the 30th of September, 1787, and were separated in a storm near Cape Horn. The appointed place of rendezvous was Nootka Sound, where the Washington arrived on the 17th of September and the Columbia in October.

While passing northward along the coast Captain Gray observed an opening near latitude 46 degrees, which he attempted to enter in August, 1788, but did not succeed at that time. Before relating the important discoveries and explorations connected with this important expedition, the order of sequence requires us to give an account of the first occupation of the country.

24. The Spanish Occupy Nootka. On the 6th of May, 1789, Martinez arrived at Nootka Sound and took possession of the country in the name of the Spanish sovereign. He built a fort on a small island in the bay. During the year Martinez seized several vessels, among them the two under the command of Meares. Most of the vessels seized were British. The two American vessels he did not molest. This high-handed action of Martinez at Nootka led to a complicated controversy between Great Britain and Spain, the history of which belongs to another chapter.

25. Gray's First Explorations. In June, 1789, Gray in the Washington explored the whole East coast of Queen Charlotte's Island, which had never before been visited by civilized people. Gray named it Washington Island. On a subsequent voyage from Nootka Gray entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca,

through which he sailed, as he told Vancouver, in 1792, "fifty miles in an east-southeast direction, and found the passage five leagues wide." He then returned to the Pacific, where he met the Columbia on her way to China. The two captains exchanged vessels, Kendrick taking command of the Washington and remaining on the coast, while Gray took the Columbia to Canton, sold his furs and took a cargo of tea, with which he entered Boston harbor on the 10th of August, 1790, having carried the Stars and Stripes for the first time round the world.

26. Kendrick Sails Through the Strait of Fuca. When Kendrick took command of the sloop Washington he entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, through which he sailed, passing to the east of the island now called Vancouver, and entered the Pacific again on the north, thus proving Nootka Sound to be on an island. This was done in the autumn of 1789. Kendrick was the first civilized man to pass entirely through the Strait of Fuca.

In 1790

27. Spanish Explore the Strait of Fuca. Francisco Elisa, the Spanish Commandant at Nootka, sent Lieutenant Quimper to explore the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Quimper examined both shores of the strait to the distance of about a hundred miles from its mouth, where he noted that the strait had numerous small channels opening into it from the south, east and north, with islands between. Quimper did not penetrate any of these channels, but simply marked their entrances and assigned to them Spanish

names, some of which still cling to them, but the names afterward given by Vancouver have superseded most of them. Among these may be mentioned Canal de Caamano, now called Admiralty Inlet; the Boca de Flon, now Deception Pass; the Canal de Guemes, and Canal de Haro.

28. Ingraham's Voyage in the Hope. The American Brig Hope was equipped at Boston for the North Pacific trade and placed under the command of Joseph Ingraham, the former mate of the Columbia. She sailed from Boston on the 16th of September, 1790, doubled Cape Horn, and April 19th, 1791, Ingraham discovered six islands previously unknown, situated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, between the 8th and 10th parallels of latitude. Ingraham named these islands Washington, Adams, Franklin, Knox, Federal, and Lincoln, very appropriate names for islands first discovered by an American. These islands should belong to the state of Washington. Ingraham proceeded to Queen Charlotte's or Washington's Island, where he arrived on the 29th of June and anchored in a harbor on the southeast side, which he named Magee's Sound. He spent the summer on the coast of this island and the adjacent continent, collecting valuable information of the geography of the country.

29. Second Voyage of the Columbia. The Columbia left Boston on her second voyage September 28th, 1790, with Captain Gray in command, and arrived at Clyoquot, near the entrance of the Strait of Fuca, June 5th, 1791. Gray coasted along the shores of

on