THEPACIFIGOCEAN. 263 



deck. Between this ifland or rock, and the Northern ex- '778- 



March.. 



treme of- the land, there appeared to be a fmall opening, < . — -» 



■which flattered us with the hopes of finding an harbour. 

 Tlicfe hopes lefTcned as we drew nearer; and, at laft, we 

 had fome reafon to think, that the opening was clofed by 

 low land. On this account I called the point of land to the 

 North of it Cape Ilattery. It lies in the latitude of 48^ 15' 

 North, and in the longitude of 235° 3' EafI:. There is a 

 round hill of a moderate height over it ; and all the land 

 upon this part of the coaft is of a moderate and pretty equal 

 height, well covered with wood, and had a very pleafant 

 and fertile appearance. It is in this very latitude where we 

 now were, that geographers have placed the pretended 

 flrait of Juan de Fuca. But we faw nothing like it ; nor is 

 there the leaft probability that ever any fuch thing e.^- 

 iiled *. 



I flood off to the Southward till midnight, when I tack- 

 ed, and fleered to the North Wefl, with a gentle breeze at 

 South Weft, intending to fland in for the land as foon as 

 day-light fhould appear. But, by that time, we were re- Monday z?. 

 duced to two courfes and clofe-reefed top-fails, having a 

 very hard gale, with rain, right on fhore ; fo that, inftead 

 of running in for the land, I was glad to get an ofling, or to 

 keep that which we had already got. The South Well wind 

 •was, however, but of fliort continuance ; for, in the even- 

 ing, it veered again to the Weft. Thus had we perpetually 

 ftrong Weft and North Weft winds to encounter. Sometimes, 

 in an evening, the wind would become moderate, and veer 

 to the Southward; but this was always a fure prelude to a 



* See Michael Locke's apocryphal account of Juan de Fuca, and his pretended 

 Jirait, in Purchas, Vol. iii. p. 849 — 852. and many later CoUeftions. 



florm. 



