xlii Prelimhiarji Chapter. 



liequented V)y the subjects of England, but a successful trade carried on by the 

 French ; to open a trade there, to improve the fishery and the whaling on these 

 coasts, fultivate a friendship Mith the natives, and make them serviceable in a 

 l>olitical way, wliich design of theirs of a publick nature, open and generous, was 

 in a great measiiic defeated by itrivate persons interfering, whose views were 

 niort' contracted. 



They did not succeed the first year as to their attempt in discovering a 

 Nurt Invest Passage, as it was a great year for ice; that it would be late in the 

 ye;ir liefore the western part of Hudson's liay could be attained to, and then im- 

 possible to explore the Labrador that year, therefore the first part of the design 

 was droi)i)ed, and the Labrador was explored. The next year a second attempt 

 was made as to a i»assage ; but three of the people who went beyond the place 

 appointed 1)y their orders, and inadvertently to look for a mine, [samples of which 

 liad been carried home the year before, and this at the instigation of a private 

 person liefore they set out from home, without the privity of the commander,] 

 were killed by Eskimaux, and the boat taken from them. After which accident, 

 with some disagreeable circumstances consequent thereon amongst the schooner's 

 company, and after an experiment made of their disinclination to proceed on any 

 further discovery, it was thought most prudent to return. This short account 

 is gi\en by the person mIio commanded in this affair to prevent any misrepre- 

 sentation hereafter of what was done on these voyages. 



The last three hnes of this paragraph point probably to an item 

 ill tlie tVdlowing" curious letter from the chief merchant of Philadelphia 

 of tliat (lay, and the chief "undertaker" of the voyage of 1752. 



Litter from Will. Allen, merehanf, (oid, at a later date, Chief Justice of the Province 

 of Penmylvania, to the xnoprietarij Thomas Penn. 



Philadelphia, Xor. ISth, 1753. 

 Siii : As I am quite assmed that everything that regards the interest and 

 reputation ol tiie I'ro\iiice of Pennsylvania will ever be regarded by you, 1 there- 

 ton- ])i"^ leave t<» solicite your favor in behalf of myself and many other merchants 

 of this )»hice. Notwithstanding the rei)eated attempts of Gentlemen in England 

 to discover th«' Nortli\v<'st Passage without success, yet there has api)eared 

 aiiionir us a spirit to undertake tliat noble design, which if eftected will redound 

 to tin- lionoiir ol your j)rovince and to the advantage of us the undertakers. 



