1792.] VANCOUVER MEETS GRAY NEAR THE STRAIT OF FUCA. 233 



Vancouver accordingly sailed onwards, to the entrance of the 

 Strait of Fuca, which he was eager to explore ; having, as he 

 believed, ascertained that " the several large rivers and capacious 

 inlets, that have been described as discharging their contents into 

 the Pacific, between the 40th and the 48th degrees of north lati- 

 tude, were reduced to brooks insufficient for our vessels to navigate, 

 or to bays inaccessible as harbors for refitting." Again he says, 

 " Considering ourselves now on the point of commencing an exami- 

 nation of an entirely new region, I cannot take leave of the coast 

 already known, without obtruding a short remark on that part of 

 the continent, comprehending a space of nearly two hundred and 

 fifteen leagues, on which our inquiries had been lately employed, 

 under the most fortunate and favorable circumstances of wind and 

 weather. So minutely has this extensive coast been inspected, that the 

 surf has been constantly seen to break on its shores from the mast- 

 head ; and it was but in a few small intervals only where our 

 distance precluded its being visible from the deck. Whenever the 

 weather prevented our making free with the shore, or on our haul- 

 ing off for the night, the return of fine weather and of daylight 

 uniformly brought us, if not to the identical spot we had departed 

 from, at least within a few miles of it, and never beyond the 

 northern limits of the coast which we had previously seen. An 

 examination so directed, and circumstances happily concurring to 

 permit its being so executed, afforded the most complete opportunity 

 of determining its various turnings and windings, as also the position 

 of all its conspicuous points, ascertained by meridional altitudes for 

 the latitude, and observations for the chronometer, which we had the 

 good fortune to make constantly once, and in general twice, every 

 day, the preceding one only excepted. It must be considered a very 

 singular circumstance, that, in so great an extent of sea-coast, we 

 should not until now have seen the appearance of any opening in its shore 

 which presented any certain -prospect of affording a shelter, the whole 

 coast forming one compact and nearly straight barrier against the sea." 



On the same day, the 29th of April, 1792, Vancouver writes in 

 his journal, " At four o'clock, a sail was discovered to the westward, 

 standing in shore. This was a very great novelty, not having seen 

 any vessel but our consort during the last eight months. She soon 

 hoisted American colors, and fired a gun to leeward. At six we 

 spoke her; she proved to be the ship Columbia, commanded by 

 Captain Robert Gray, belonging to Boston, whence she had been 

 absent nineteen months. Having little doubt of his being the same 

 30 



