154 COOK BEGINS HIS SURVEY OF THE COAST. [1778. 



under the 57th, which had received from Bodega, in 1775, the name 

 of Mount San Jacinto. This peak was called Mount Edgecumb by 

 Cook, who also gave the appellation of Bay of Islands to the Port 

 Remedios of the Spaniards, on its northern side. 



After leaving these places, the English observed a wide opening 

 on the east, called by them Cross Sound, and beyond it a very high 

 mountain, which obtained the name of Mount Fairiveather ; and, as 

 the latter was situated near the 59th parallel, they had then advanced 

 farther north than the Spaniards, or any other navigators, had 

 proceeded from the south along that coast, and were entering upon 

 the scenes of the labors of the Russians. Accordingly, as they ex- 

 pected, on the 4th of the month, they beheld, rising from the shore 

 in the north, at the distance of forty leagues, a stupendous pile of 

 rocks and snow, which they immediately recognized as the Mount 

 St. Elias, described in the accounts of Bering's voyage ; and, as 

 the coast from its base was found to " trend very much to the west, 

 inclining hardly any thing to the north," Cook determined to com- 

 mence his survey at that point, hoping soon to discover some strait, 

 or arm of the ocean, through which he might pass around the north- 

 western extremity of America, into the sea bathing the northern 

 shores of the continent. Of the existence of such a passage he 

 was assured by the Russian geographers, on whose maps the whole 

 space between Mount St. Elias and Kamtchatka was represented 

 as occupied by a collection of islands and channels. 



With this expectation, the English advanced slowly along the 

 coast, from the foot of Mount St. Elias, westward, to a considerable 

 distance, and then south-westward, as far as the latitude of 54J 

 degrees ; minutely examining, in their way, every sinuosity on the 

 shores of the ocean, and particularly those of the two great gulfs, 

 named by them Prince William's Sound and Cook's River, which 

 stretch northwardly into the land from the 60th parallel. They 

 were, however, in each instance, disappointed ; for the coast was 

 found to extend continuously on their right, bordered every where 

 by lofty, snow-capped chains of mountains along the whole line thus 

 surveyed : and, as Cook became convinced that these territories 

 formed part of the American continent, which thus " extended 

 farther to the west than, from the modern most reputable charts, he 

 had reason to expect," he saw, with regret, that the probability of 

 his finding a passage eastward into Baffin's or Hudson's Bays was 

 materially diminished, if not entirely destroyed. He endeavored, in 

 his course, to identify the places described in the narrative of 



