240 PASSAGE THROUGH THE STRAIT OF FUCA. [1792. 



north-westward as far as the 50th degree of latitude ; and then, on 

 the 13th of July, the English took leave of their Spanish friends, 

 who, from want of force, were unable to keep up with them. 



On parting with the Spaniards, the English entered a passage, 

 named by them Johnstone's Strait, leading from the north-west ex- 

 tremity of the gulf; and after a long and difficult navigation through 

 it, they, on the 10th of August, emerged into the Pacific at Queen 

 Charlotte's Sound, about one hundred miles north of Nootka. 

 Having been, from the commencement, persuaded that the land on 

 the western side of the strait was an island, they had devoted their 

 attention particularly to the eastern shores, through which a passage 

 might be found to Hudson's Bay or the Arctic Sea ; but their search 

 proved vain, and, after tracing to their terminations in the interior a 

 number of long and intricate inlets, they became convinced that 

 the continent extended uninterruptedly northward, at least to the 

 51st parallel of latitude. Immediately on entering the Pacific, the 

 Discovery struck on a rock, and scarcely had she been got off ere 

 a similar misfortune befell the Chatham ; both vessels, however, 

 escaped with little injury, and they soon after arrived at Nootka 

 Sound. Galiano and Valdes also passed through the strait by the 

 same route, and reached Nootka in safety on the 4th of September. 



After the arrival of the Sutil and Mexicana at Nootka, Vancouver 

 and the Spanish commander, Quadra, compared together the notes 

 and charts of the two voyages through the Strait of Fuca ; and it 

 was agreed between them, that the great island which that arm of 

 the sea separated from the American continent should bear the 

 names of them both. It has, in consequence, ever since been dis- 

 tinguished on maps by the long and inconvenient appellation of 

 Island of Quadra and Vancouver, which it will scarcely be allowed 

 to retain, when that part of the world shall be occupied by a civil- 

 ized people. 



This survey of the Strait of Fuca was conducted in the most 

 complete and effectual manner possible by Vancouver, whose ac- 

 count of it, filling a large portion of his journal, together with his 

 charts, afford unequivocal testimony of the skill and perseverance of 

 the British navigators. Galiano and Valdes seem also to have done 

 as much as could have been expected, considering the smallness 

 of their force and the miserable scale of their equipments. Had 

 they not met the British ships, they would, doubtless, have found 

 their way through the strait ; but they could never have made even 

 a tolerable survey of it, as they must have left a number of passages 



