QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. 7 B 



coveries. It is customary to suppose that the account of this voyage Its supposed 

 is a mere fiction, and it may be so, but it is worth pointing out that it m 

 shows some signs of being at least founded on fact, though the distances 

 and other circumstances are evidently grossly exaggerated, whether 

 by De Fonte himself or some compiler of the account of the voyage. 

 The latitude given — for which somewhat wide limits of error must be 

 allowed — runs nearly through the centre of the Queen Charlotte 

 Islands. Such a navigation as De Fonte describes, among islands, may Reasons for 

 have been made anywhere on this part of the West Coast. His state- importance to 

 ment does not seem to iurply that the 260 leagues was made in any- 

 one direction, if any value be set on these figures. Subsequent writers 

 interested in making out a case for the North-west. Passage, have fitted 

 in De Fonte's descriptions with the view of making them reach as far 

 as possible across the continent.* The very statement of the exist- 

 ence of an extensive archipelago in this latitude should go some way 

 in proving the partial authenticity of the narrative, as the character 

 of that part of the West Coast then known was quite opposed to such 

 an idea. In a ' river' up which he sailed he says there was a fall of 

 water till half flood, but that an hour and a quarter before high water 

 the flood begins to set strongly into a ' lake.' Such places are not 

 uncommon among the intricate fiords of this coast. One between the 

 two expansions of Masset Inlet would almost precisely answer the 

 description. One of his officers, Bernardo, is said to have examined a 

 certain river with three Indian boats, each made of a tree 50 or 60 feet 

 long, accompanied by two Jesuits, 20 of his own people, and 36 natives. 

 In size, number of persons which they are fitted to contain, and mode 

 of construction from a single tree, these exactly correspond to the fine 

 canoes which the Indians of this part of the coast actually make. 

 Lastly, as Goldson points out, the names Conibasset, Conasset, Arenna 

 Mynhasset closely resemble some found on the coast. This resemblance 

 is more, however, with the names ending in at or aht of the Indians of 

 the west coast of Vancouver Island and Cape Flattery or Classet. 



In response to a request by Mr. J. F. Whiteaves, when engaged in ^ nfo ^ a ^ ti v' n 

 working out the collections of fossils obtained by Mr. J. Eichardson in/ w - n - DaU - 

 the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1872, Mr. W. H. Dall, well known by 

 his researches on the West Coast, furnished a memorandum on the 

 earlier voyagers to the Queen Charlotte Islands. f This I have made 

 the basis of the following chronological record of discoveries up to the 

 time of Vancouver, amplifying it considerably, and making a few 

 corrections. 



* This may be seen in a Map by Mr. De l'lsle, 1752, and in the Map accompanying- Goldson's 

 volume. 



t Published in Vol. I, Part 1, Mesozoic Fossils> 1870. 



