Menzics' Journal. 



Washington Coast. 15 



& kept posession of her for upwards of two hours, when the 

 united exertions of the Master & Crew happily Hberated 

 them from the impending destruction & made the Natives 

 quit their prize in a precipitate flight in which a vast number 

 of them lost their lives. On this occasion the Natives had 

 watchd an opportunity to posess themselves of the arm 

 chests on deck while open, by which stratagen they were able 

 to arm themselves & disarm the Ship's company, but the 

 latter rallying on them afterwards from below with what 

 arms they could collect, renderd their vile scheme abortive. 



As soon as the Boat was hoisted in we made sail & 

 pursued our course along shore till about noon when we 

 enterd the famous Streights of Juan de Fuca. The weather 

 was at this time so thick & hazy that we had no observation 

 to determine our Latitude. The whole shore we saild along 

 this forenoon is steep & rocky & entirely lind with a vast 

 number of elevated rocks & Islets of different forms & sizes, 

 but the land itself is of a very moderate height coverd with 

 Pines & stretching back with a very gradual acclivity to 

 form an inland ridge of high mountains in which Mount 

 Olympus claimd a just preeminence. / We saw no point 

 worthy of particular notice in the situation Cap* Cook places 

 Cape Flattery, the South point of de Fuca's entrance tho 

 about three leagues further to the Northward agrees better 

 with his description of it than any other on this part of the 

 Coast. 



About a Mile or two off this South point of entrance 

 is a flat naked Island coverd with verdure & facd round with 

 steep rocks, round the North end of which we hauld into 

 the Streights passing between it & a small Rock showing 

 above water about a mile to the Northward of it, where 

 we met a rippling of the Tide which at first occasiond some 

 alarm till the cause became evident. Some Canoes came 

 off to us from a village on this Island which was not seen 

 till we passed it as it is situated on a chasm on the East 

 Side of it. This is what Mr Mears called the village of 

 Tatootche, & though we had reason to believe that we saw- 

 most of its inhabitants at this time about the Rocks upon 

 the Beach & in their Canoes gazing on us as we passed, yet 

 we think that we should over rate their number if we were 

 to call it as many hundreds as that author has estimated 

 them thousands. 



1792. 

 Aiirll 29th. 



Juan de Faca'a 

 .Straits. 



Capt. Barclay's 

 " boat's crew, 

 however, was 

 despatched, 

 !ind discovered 

 the extraordi- 

 nary straits 

 John de Fuca, 

 and also the 

 coast as far as 

 Queenhythe." 

 ( ?Quenlult. ) 

 Meares, Voy., 

 (Jbservs. on 

 I'rob. Exist, of 

 N.W. Passage, 

 I>V. 



Mt. Olympus, 

 alt. 8,150 ft. 



See PI. IV., 

 Mem. I. of 

 this series. 

 Sketch of the 

 Entrance of the 

 Straits of Fuca, 

 by Duncan, 

 1788. 



