x INTRODUCTION. 
asking for 100/. to. bring over the mariner who 
possessed such a knowledge of the north-west 
coast. All thought the information invaluable, 
but no one felt disposed to pay the money. Time 
wore on; the old storm-worn pilot, growing feeble, 
left for his native island. Locke again and 
again urged his request. At last the long- 
coveted means came, but too late, the old sailor 
was no more. 
This strange story was current in England 
long after he who told it was dead and forgotten. 
A few believed it, but the many thought it an 
entire fabrication. 
In 1776, Captain Cook missed the entrance to 
the Straits, and, mistaking the west side of Van- 
couver Island for the mainland, reported the 
story to be a fiction as told by the old sailor. It 
will suffice for explanation to skip a crowd of 
events, and take up the narrative of the dis- 
covery of the island in 1792, when Captain 
Vancouver was sent to Nootka Sound, for what 
purpose does not matter now. Coasting south- 
wards, he entered the Straits, and eventually came 
out at Queen Charlotte Sound: which settled the 
question. The Island bears the name of its 
