158 THE ENGLISH SELL THEIR FURS AT CANTON. [1779. 



for the most part, without any reference to their value as merchan- 

 dise, and were used on board ship as clothes or bedding ; in conse- 

 quence of which, many of them had become spoiled, and others 

 were much injured, before the ships reached Petropawlowsk. At 

 that place, a few skins were sold to the Russian traders, who were 

 anxious to purchase the whole on similar terms ; but the English 

 officers, having, in the mean time, acquired information as to the 

 high prices paid for furs in China, prevailed upon the seamen to 

 retain those which they still possessed, until their arrival at Canton, 

 where they were assured that a much better market would be 

 found. 



The hopes thus excited did not prove fallacious. The ships 

 commanded by Gore were the only ones, with the exception of that 

 under Benyowsky, in 1770, which had ever arrived at Canton 

 directly from the coasts where furs were obtained ; and no sooner 

 was the nature of the merchandise which they brought known in 

 the city, than all became eager to purchase those precious objects 

 of comfort and luxury, either for their own use or upon speculation. 

 The Chinese, according to custom, began by offering prices much 

 below the ordinary ; but the English, being on their guard, refused 

 such terms, and, in the end, their whole stock of furs was sold for 

 money and goods, to the amount of more than ten thousand dollars. 

 The seamen, on witnessing these results, became, notwithstanding 

 the previous length of their cruise, " possessed with a rage to return 

 to the northern coasts, and, by another cargo of skins, to make 

 their fortunes, which was, at one time, not far short of mutiny : " 

 they were, however, restrained by their officers, and, after the com- 

 pletion of the business at Canton, the ships sailed around the Cape 

 of Good Hope to England, where they arrived in the beginning of 

 October, 1780. 



With regard to the novelty of the discoveries effected in this 

 voyage, it will be seen, on comparing the course of the English 

 ships with those taken by the Spaniards, in 1774 and 1775 — that 

 Cook saw no part of the west coast of North America, south of 

 Mount San Jacinto or Edgecumb, which had not been previously 

 seen by Perez, Bodega, or Heceta ; and, after passing that point, he 

 was, as he frequently admits, aided, and in a measure guided, by the 

 accounts of the Russian voyages. The observations of the English 

 were, however, infinitely more minute, and more important, in their 

 results, than those of any or all the other navigators who had pre- 



