120 HECETA DISCOVERS A GREAT RIVER. [1775. 



50th degree of latitude, (on the south-west side of the great island 

 of Vancouver and Quadra,) and, passing by the Port San Lorenzo, 

 (Nootka Sound,) discovered in the previous year by Perez, he came 

 on the coast of the continent near the 48th parallel, without observ- 

 ing the intermediate entrance of the Strait of Fuca, for which he, 

 however, sought between the 47th and 48th parallels. Thence he 

 ran along the shore towards the south, and, on the 15th of August, 

 arrived opposite an opening, in the latitude of 46 degrees 17 min- 

 utes, from which rushed a current so strong as to prevent his enter- 

 ing it. This circumstance convinced him that it was the mouth of 

 some great river, or, perhaps, of the Strait of Fuca, which might 

 have been erroneously placed on his chart: he, in consequence, 

 remained in its vicinity another day, in the hope of ascertaining 

 the true character of the place ; but, being still unable to enter the 

 opening, he continued his'voyage towards the south.* 



On the opening in the coast thus discovered Heceta bestowed 

 the name of Ensenada de Asuncion f — Assumption Inlet ; calling the 

 point on its north side Cape San Rogue, and that on the south Cape 

 Frondoso — Leafy Cape. In the charts published at Mexico, soon 

 after the conclusion of the voyage, the entrance is, however, called 

 Ensenada de Heceta — Heceta' 's Inlet — and Rio de San Roque — 

 River of St. Roc. It was, undoubtedly, the mouth of the greatest 

 river on the western side of America ; the same which was, in 1792, 

 first entered by the ship Columbia, from Boston, under the command 

 of Robert Gray, and has ever since been called the Columbia. 

 The evidence of its first discovery by Heceta, on the 15th of August, 

 1775, is unquestionable. 



From Assumption Inlet, Heceta continued his course, along the 

 shore of the continent, towards the south, and arrived at Monterey, 

 with nearly two thirds of his men sick, on the 30th of August. In 

 his journal, he particularly describes many places on this part of the 

 coast which are now well known ; such as — the remarkable promon- 

 tory, in the latitude of 45£ degrees, with small, rocky islets in front, 

 named by him Cape Falcon, the Cape Lookout of our maps — the 

 flat-topped mountain, overhanging the ocean, a little farther south, 

 noted, in his journal, as La Mesa, or The Table, which, in 1805, 



* See extract from the Journal of Heceta, among the Proofs and Illustrations, 

 under the letter E, in the latter part of this volume. 



t The 15th of August is the day of the Assumption, and the 16th is the day of St. 

 Roque, or Roc, and St. Jacinto, or Hyacinth, according to the Roman Catholic 

 calendar. 



