CXXXVIII 
Captain Cook. 
CLs; LAME e oN ih A 
fion of in the name of his royal miftrefs. We may be thankful that we never 
clamed the ceflion : it forms at prefent part of New Mexico; and probably is re- 
ferved for future contefts between the Spaniards and the offspring of our late 
colonifts. Sir Francis found this country a warren of what he calls, ‘a ftrange 
© kind of Conies, with heads as the heads of ours; the feete of a Want, z.¢. a 
‘ Mole, and the tail of a Rat, being of a great length: under her chinne is on 
‘ either fide a bag, into the which fhe gathereth her meat when fhe hath filled her 
© bellie abroad.’ The common people feed on them, and the king’s coat was made 
of their fkins *. This fpecies is to be referred to the divifion of Rats with pouches 
in each jaw; and has never been obferved from that period to this. 
Exatly two hundred years from that time the coaft was again vifited by an 
Englifhman, who in point of abilities, fpirit, and perfeverance, may be compared 
with the greateft feaman our ifland ever produced. Captain James Cook, on 
March 7th 1778, got fight of New Albion, in lat. 44. 33 north, and long. 235. 20 
eaft, about eight leagues diftant. The fea is here (as is the cafe the whole way 
from California) from feventy-three to ninety fathoms deep. The !and is mode- 
rately high, diverfified with hills and vallies, and every where covered with 
wood, even to the water’s edge. To the moft fouthern cape he faw he gave the 
name of Cape Gregory, its latitude 43. 30: the next, which was in 44. 6, he 
called Cape Perpetua; and the firft land he faw, which was in 44. 55, Cape 
Foul-weather. ‘The whole coaft, for a great extent, is nearly fimilar, almoft 
ftrait, and harborlefs, with a white beach forming the fhore. While he was 
plying off the coaft, he had a fight of land in about lat. 43. 10, nearly in the 
fituation of Cape Blanco de St. Sebaftian, difcovered by Martin d’ Aguilar in 
1603. A little tothe north, the Oregon, or great river of the We/?, difcharges 
itfelf into the Pacific Ocean, Its banks were covered with trees; but the vio- 
lence of the currents prevented D’ Aguilar from entering intoit¢. This, and the 
river of Bourbon, or Port Nelfon, which falls into Hud/on’s Bay ; that of St. Laurence, 
which runs to the eaft ; and the AZ/fi/ipi, which falls into the bay of AZexico, are faid 
to rife within thirty miles of each other. The intervening fpace muft be the 
higheft ground in North America, forming an inclined plane to the difcharges of 
the feveral rivers. An ill-fated traveller, of great merit, places the fpot in lat. 
47, weft long. from London 98, between a lake from which the Oregon flows, 
and another called White Bear lake, from which the AZifypi t. 
* Hackluyt, iii. 738. + Hift. California, ii. 292. 
t Carver's Travels, 76, 121.——Mr. Carver, captain of an independent company, penetrated 
far inland into America ; and publifhed an interefting account of his travels. This gentleman was 
fuffered to perifh for want, in London, the feat of literature and opulence. 
This 
e 
