246 survey of bulfinch's harbor. [1792. 



accordingly, despatched Lieutenant Mudge, by way of China, to 

 England, with communications for his government ; and he then 

 prepared for his own departure towards the south, being resolved to 

 examine the Columbia River and Bulfinch's Harbor, of which he 

 had received from Quadra copies of the charts given to that officer 

 by Gray. 



Vancouver sailed from Nootka, with his three vessels, on the 13th 

 of October, and, on the 18th, he was opposite Bulfinch's Harbor, 

 to examine which he detached Lieutenant Whidbey, in the Daeda- 

 lus, while he himself proceded with the other vessels to the mouth 

 of the Columbia. Into that river Broughton penetrated, in the 

 Chatham, on the 20th : the Discovery was unable to pass the bar 

 at the mouth ; and Vancouver, being persuaded that the stream was 

 inaccessible to large ships, " except in very fine weather, with 

 moderate winds, and a smooth sea," sailed to the Bay of San 

 Francisco, where he had ordered the other officers to join him in 

 case of separation. In December following, the whole squadron 

 was reunited at Monterey, where Whidbey and Broughton pre- 

 sented the reports of their observations. 



Whidbey's account of Bulfinch's Harbor was less favorable than 

 Gray's ; from both, however, it appears that the place possesses 

 advantages which must render it important, whenever the surround- 

 ing region becomes settled. It affords a safe retreat for small 

 vessels, and there are several spots on its shore where boats may 

 land without difficulty : moreover, it is the only harbor on the coast, 

 between Cape Mendocino and the Strait of Fuca, except the mouth 

 of the Columbia ; and, under such circumstances, labor and inge- 

 nuity will certainly be employed to correct and improve what nature 

 has offered. Upon the strength of this survey, the place has been 

 frequently distinguished on British, and even on American maps, 

 as Whidbey's Harbor, although Vancouver himself has not pre- 

 tended to withhold from Gray the merit of discovering it. 



Broughton, as before mentioned, entered the Columbia with the 



ported his evidence with well-grounded reasoning; yet Captain Vancouver steadily- 

 adhered to the demands he first made, and refused every kind of discussion. The 

 definitive letter from Senor Quadra was transmitted on the 15th of September; but, 

 it being of the same nature with the preceding ones, Captain Vancouver only re- 

 plied by a repetition of his former avowal, and informing the Spanish commandant 

 that he could receive, on the part of his master, the king of Britain, no other terri- 

 tories than those he had pointed out in his other letters, with which if Senor Quadra 

 did not comply, he must retain them for his Catholic majesty, until the respective 

 courts should determine what further proceedings they might deem necessary." 



