A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. y 233 



of furs, took every means to stifle accounts at the factory, 

 if such accounts appeared to throw Ught on the subject of 

 the north-west passage. Such conduct was looked upon as 

 extremely illiberal, particularly after the great expense and 

 danger which had been incurred, and out of which the 

 very existence of that company's monopoly originally 

 sprang. 



Mr. Dobbs, supported in his views with such a powerful 

 argument, laboured incessantly in the affair ; and the 

 matter appeared of such importance, that the legislature 

 offered a reward of 20,000/. to such persons as would 

 succeed in penetrating through the northern waters of the 

 Atlantic, by a westward course, into the Pacific Ocean. 



Such a bounty, as might be expected, became a most 

 powerful stimulus to exertion, and Mr. Dobbs was gratified 

 in seeing an expedition fitted out, in the year 1746, for the 

 purpose of effecting his favourite project. 



Accordingly, in the above year, two vessels, die Dobbs 

 Galley, commanded by Capt. William Moore, and the 

 California, under the command of Capt. Francis Smith, 

 were fitted out with the utmost care for the comfort and 

 preservation of the people. In order to afford the greater 

 advantage to the occasion, the celebrated Mr. Henry Ellis 

 was invited to undertake the office of agent to the company, 

 at whose expense the outfit was made, which he cheerfully 

 complied with, and to that gentleman the public is indebted 



