416 PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. [C. 



no vestige of any house remaining. As to the land Mr. Meares said he 

 purchased of Maquinna or any other chief, we cannot say further than we 

 never heard of any ; although we remained among these people nine 

 months, and could converse with them perfectly well. Besides this, we 

 have asked Maquinna and other chiefs, since our late arrival, if Captain 

 Meares ever purchased any land in Nootka Sound; they answered, No; 

 that Captain Kendrick was the only man to whom they had ever sold 

 any And. 



On the 8th of June, the schooner North-West America arrived, and 

 the next day the Spaniards took possession of her. Don E. J. Martinez 

 had an account taken of the property on board, particularly of the skins, 

 which he said should be given to the officers and seamen, that they might 

 be sure of their wages. On the 16th of June, the sloop Princess Royal 

 arrived from Macao, commanded by Thomas Hudson ; this vessel brought 

 accounts of the safe arrival of Captain Meares, and that Captain Colnett 

 was coming on the coast, commodore of the English trading vessels from 

 Macao for the ensuing season, in a snow named the Argonaut. Mr. 

 Hudson likewise brought accounts of the failure of Juan Cravalia & Co., 

 merchants of Macao, before mentioned. What right the commodore had 

 to detain the North-West America before, it is not for us to say ; but he 

 always said it was an agreement* between Captain Douglas and himself; 

 but, after the arrival of this vessel with the above news, he held her as 

 security for the bills of exchange drawn on said Cravalia & Co. in favor 

 of his Catholic majesty : this we have heard him say. On the 2d of July, 

 the Princess Royal sailed out of the port, having, to our knowledge, been 

 treated by the commodore and his officers with every possible attention, 

 which Captain Hudson himself seemed conscious of and grateful for. 

 Prior to this vessel's sailing, the commodore gave to Mr. Funter all the 

 skins he brought in in the North-West America, which were shipped on 

 board the sloop Princess Royal by Mr. Funter, for his own account. In 

 the evening of the 2d, a sail was descried from the Spanish fort. We 

 were among the first that went out to meet them. It proved to be the 

 Argonaut, Captain Colnett, before mentioned. The transactions of this 

 vessel were such, that we can give the sense of them in a few words, that 

 may answer eve/y purpose of the particulars, many of which are not im- 

 mediately to the point, or tending to what we suppose you wish to know. 



It seems Captain Meares, with some other Englishmen at Macao, had 

 concluded to erect a fort and settle a colony in Nootka Sound ; from what 

 authority we cannot say. However, on the arrival of the Argonaut, we 

 fieard Captain Colnett inform the Spanish commodore he had come for 

 that purpose, and to hoist the British flag, take formal possession, &c. : 



* The account of the seizure of the North-West America in the letter is thus 

 presented by Vancouver : — 



" The North-West America is stated by these gentlemen to have arrived on the 

 8th of June, and that, on the following day, the Spaniards took possession of her. 

 Ten days afterwards came the Princess Royal, commanded by Mr. Hudson, from 

 Macao, who brouoht the news of the failure of the merchant at Macao, to whom the 

 Iphigenia and other vessels belonged ; that Martinez assigned this as a reason for 

 his capturing the North-West America, (although she was seized before the arrival of 

 the Princess Royal ;) that he had detained her as an indemnification for the bills of 

 exchange drawn on her owner in favor of his Catholic majesty." 



The parenthesis is here inserted obviously with the intention of creating the im- 

 pression that Gray and Ingraham had committed a falsehood or inconsistency in their 

 evidence ; although this idea is specially contradicted in the letter. 



