1766.] APPREHENSIONS OF THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT. 183 



sea otter skins * obtainable there, and carry them for sale to Canton : 

 but the enterprise proved unsuccessful, as the agent could only ob- 

 tain a small number of furs, of inferior quality, the produce of the 

 sale of which in China did not cover the expenses of their trans- 

 portation. 



Considerable uneasiness was also created at Madrid, by the en- 

 deavors of the British government to advance the whale and seal 

 fishery in the seas surrounding the southern extremity of America. 

 A number of experienced whalers, especially from Nantucket, had 

 been induced, immediately after the peace of 1783, to engage in 

 this business, under the British flag ; and high premiums were 

 offered by act of Parliament, in 1786, to encourage perseverance in 

 the pursuit. As British vessels and subjects would thus necessa- 

 rily frequent the unoccupied coasts of Patagonia and the adjacent 

 islands, it was apprehended, by the Spanish government, that estab- 

 lishments might be formed in those regions, for their protection ; 

 the natural consequence of which would be, the introduction of 

 foreign merchandise, and of opinions contrary to the interests of 

 Spain, into the contiguous provinces. In order to provide against 

 these evils, the Spaniards increased their garrison at Port Soledad, 

 in the Falkland Islands, as well as their naval force in that quarter ; 

 and an attempt was made, under the patronage of their government, 

 to organize a company for the whale and seal fishery in the South- 

 ern Ocean, which proved entirely abortive. 



It was from Russia, however, that the Spanish government an- 

 ticipated the greatest danger to its dominions on the Pacific side of 

 America. Of the commerce and establishments of that nation on 

 the northernmost coasts of the Pacific, enough had been learned 

 from the narrative of Cook's expedition, and other works then re- 

 cently published, to show their advancement, and the enterprise of 

 those by whom they were conducted, as well as the determination 

 of the Russian government to maintain and encourage them ; and 

 La Perouse, during the stay of his ships at Conception, in Chili, in 

 1786, promised, at the particular request of the captain-general, to 

 communicate confidentially to the viceroy of Mexico the results of 

 the observations on those subjects which he might make in Kamt- 

 chatka and the islands and coasts of America adjacent. La Pe- 

 rouse, however, did not return to America after his visit to Kamt- 

 chatka, nor was any information on the points in question received 

 from him by the Spanish authorities ; and the viceroy of Mexico, 



* La Perouse — Portlock. 



