178 MEARES RETURNS TO CHINA. [1788. 



with the plenipotentiary of the United States at London, on the 

 subject of the claims of the respective parties to territories on the 

 north-west side of America, insisted that Meares, on this occasion, 

 discovered the great River Columbia, which actually enters the 

 Pacific at Deception Bay, and cited, in proof of their assertion, the 

 very parts of his narrative above extracted.* 



On his way back to Nootka, Meares visited the two large bays, 

 called by the natives Clyoquot and Nittinat, and by himself Port 

 Cox and Port Effingham, situated a little north-west of the entrance 

 of Fuca's Strait, where, he declares in his Memorial to Parliament, 

 " he obtained from Wicanish, the chief of the surrounding districts, 

 in consequence of considerable presents, the promise of a free and 

 exclusive trade with the natives of the district, as also permission 

 to build any storehouses or other edifices which he might judge 

 necessary ; and he also acquired the same privileges of exclu- 

 sive trade from Tatooche, the chief of the country bordering upon 

 the Strait of Fuca, and purchased from him a tract of land within 

 the said strait, which one of his officers took possession of, in the 

 king's name, calling the same Tatooche, in honor of the chief." 

 These purchases and cessions of territory are not, however, in any 

 manner noticed, either in the documents annexed to the Memorial, 

 or in the narrative of the voyage, which is most tediously minute 

 as to the circumstances of Mr. Meares's interviews with those chiefs. 



At the end of July, Meares returned to Nootka Sound, where 

 the Iphigenia soon after arrived from the northern coasts, laden with 

 furs. The small vessel, which had been begun at Friendly Cove, 

 was then launched, and received the name of the North- West 

 America ; and Meares, considering the season as not too far ad- 

 vanced for a voyage across the Pacific, transferred to the Felice 

 all the furs which had been collected, and sailed in her, on the 

 28th of September, for China, leaving directions that the Iphigenia 

 and the North-West America should proceed to the Sandwich 

 Islands for the winter, and return in the following spring to Nootka, 

 where he would rejoin them. 



Before the departure of Meares from Nootka, two other vessels 

 entered the sound, whose voyages merit particular attention. 



Immediately after the recognition of the independence of the 

 United States of America, the citizens of that republic resumed the 



* See British statement, among the Proofs and Illustrations, in the latter part of 

 this volume, letter H. 



