Chap, I. for difiovering ^ N o RT H-v/ est Pass age. 449 
give in his own Words, as he minuted it down 2it Marble 
JJland at the fame Time it happened, annexed to the 
rough Draught he made of the Cove, 'viz. 
This is the Cove upon Brook Cobham or Marble JJland ; 
it was almoft d^rk ; my Men were taking the Skin off 
the Bear they had killed in the Water. 
The Tide came fuddenly from Weft-north-weft, round 
the North-weft-end of the Ifland, upon us, and flowed 
fo fall that we had almoft loft the Bear ; we were forced 
to throw it into the Boat, our Men up to the Middle in 
Water, by the fudden Flowing of the Tide j as all the 
Men can prove. 
I am very certain that there is a great Probability of a 
i^affage or Streight leading to fome Weftern Ocean, 
from the above Reafon ; for I did obferve an Opening 
to the Weft ward of Marble IJl-and.^ and defired I might 
go there : But he told me it did not fignify much to go 
thither j but if I had a Mind to -go to Marble JJland tor 
Water, I might. So I did not come near the Opening 
I perceived to the Weftward ; it was almoft calm a) I 
the Day we lay there. 
jliigufi 12, John Rankin. 
1742. 
After the Lieutenant returned aboard, the Mafter was 
fent afhore ; upon his Return, he told him, the Tides rofe 
there very high, and wanted to go afhore again, to ob- 
ferve them, wFich he refufed, under Pretence he had 
ftaid too long afhore before. It appears from the Jour- 
nal, that by the Marks on the Shore, it fometimes rofe 
there twenty-tv/o Feet. 
It is allowed alfo, that a North-wefterly Wind, at 
Churchill, always raifed tiie Tides higher at Neap Tides, 
than a South-eafterly Wind did at Spring Tides. 
The two Northern Indians, who were aboard Captain 
Middleton, w^ere very intelligent Men ; and the other In- 
dian being a very bad Interpreter for them, Mr. rhomf- 
fon the Surgeon, who could fpeak fome of the Southern 
Indian Tongue, was endeavouring to learn their Lan- 
guage, and to teach them Englijh and was making out 
a Vocabulary of their Language, which the Captain ob- 
ferving, threatened to ufe him ill, or crop him, in cafe 
he had any Correfpondence with them *, fo that he was 
obliged to meet them in private ; and for that Reafon 
could not know fo much from them, as he otherwife 
would ", but from the beft Account he could get from 
them, they told him, that the Copper Mine, wFich they 
generally went to once in two Years, was not far from 
the Coaft where they were, between Latitude 62 De- 
grees and 64 Degrees j that it was upon an Arm of the 
Sea, the Water being fait j that they were five Days in 
paffing it in their Canoes ; that it was fo deep, that if 
they cut a Deer’s Skin into Thongs, it would not reach 
the Bottom ; that the Streight went towards the Sun al- 
moft at Noon, and that there were many large black Fifli 
in it, fpouting up Water. Lovegrove, one of the Fac- 
tory Men at Churchill, who had been often at Whale- 
cove, in Latitude 62 Degrees 30 Minutes, in the Com- 
pany’s Sloops trading for W'hale-Fin with the Natives, 
alfo told them, that the Coaft there was all a broken Land 
and Blands ; and that upon his going upon one of thefe 
Iflands, he faw an open Sea Weftward of it. Wiljon alfo, 
vrho has been Mafter of the Sloop which goes to Whale- 
cove, for feveral Years, told, at Churchill,' that he had 
the Curiofity to pafs in through thofe Iflands, near the 
Whalecove, and found the Opening enlarge itfelf South- 
weft, and became fo wide, that he could fee no Land on 
either Side. Yet though the Captain might have known 
this, and much more, which he had from Norton and 
Scroggs’s Crew, as well as Accounts from the Indians be- 
fore this Voyage to the fame Purpofe, he never once 
made an Eflay to land upon the Weftern Coaft, or to 
look out for a Weftern Tide or Inlet. 
What was ftill as unpardonable as negledfing the Dif- 
covery, was his putting the two Northern Indians afhore, 
at Marble IJland, againft their Inclinations, when they 
were defirous to come to England, in a very bad Boat 
he got at Churchill, which they did not know how to 
^lanage in an Ifland three Leagues from the fuppofed 
VoL. IL Numb., 
Main ; the EJkimaux Indians, their Enemies living upon 
that Coaft, and fome hundred Miles difliance from their 
own Country, infom'uch that one of them, v/ho was 
about forty Years old, when he parted with Mr. Thompjon 
the Surgeon, with Tears, told him, he did not know 
what would become of them. He told them, he was 
very much concerned at it, but fince it was the Captain’s 
Pleafure, it muft be complied v/ith. 
The Captain gave them fome Proyifions, Ammuni- 
tion, Hatchets, and Toys ; but leaving them in a defo- 
late Ifland, with a bad Boat among their Enemies, at fo 
great a Diftance from their own Country, was unpar- 
donable j when by a Day or two failing to the South- 
ward, he could have landed them in a Country they 
knew, where they had no Enemies to be afraid of. The 
Excufe he made for not bringing them to England was, 
That upon his Return his Friends might be out of the 
Admiralty, and as he had no Orders to take them 
home, they would be left a Charge upon him •, and 
when they learned to fpeak Englijh, they would be talk- 
ing of the Copper Mine and Paffage, and would put the 
Public to the Expence of fending out more Ships in 
queft of it. And this, no doubt, was the true Reafon 
for that Piece of Cruelty j for he thought if they came 
to England, he fhoiild not be able to conceal the Paf- 
fage. 
It is, however, to be obferved, that Captain Middle- 
ton, being an excellent Seaman, has very vigoroufly 
defended himfelf againft all thefe Objections and Impu- 
tations ; and has offered many plaufible Arguments to 
deftroy the moft weighty of thofe Reafon s alledged by 
Mr. Dobbs, to prove, that what he calls a River, ought 
to be accounted a Streight. Thus, in anfwer to what Mr. 
Dobbs fays of its increafing in Breadth and Depth the 
farther tliey advanced, Captain Middleton obferves, that 
this happens frequently in Rivers, more efpecially on 
the Swedijh and liorzveglan Coafts ; where, though they 
are narrow, and have no great Depth at their Entrance, 
perhaps, but ten or twelve Fathoms, yet they afterwards 
grow wider, and difeover no Ground with Lines of 
two or three hundred Fathoms. 
All this may be, and yet this Inlet may be a Streight 
and not a River *, for though there may be Rivers with 
thefe Properties, yet Experience fhews us that they be- 
long alfo to Streights ; and though the Argument, urged 
by Mr. Dobbs, muft be allowed not to be concluflve, if 
what the Captain fays be true, yet it ftill has great 
Weight, taking it in Conjundlion with the other Rea- 
fons offered ; becaufe if it is a Streight, we fhould natu- 
rally expedt to find things fo j and therefore their being 
found fo, ftill argues this to be a Streight, till fome 
pofitive Reafon can be fliewn that it is not fo. . In Ihort, 
what Mr. Dobbs fays amounts to no more than that pro- 
bably it may be a Streight ; and what the Captain an- 
fwers, allowing it to be true, proves no more than that 
poffibly it may be a River •, not that it is fo. 
As to the Fleight of the neighbouring Lands, the 
Captain fays, that the Lands about the Swedijh and Nor- 
wegian Rivers, are as high as any he faw about the River 
'Wager. But aliov/ing this alfo, it is not at all conclu- 
five. If the Lands had been lov/, it would have been 
very improbable that this fhould be a Streight i but as 
ft is on all Hands allowed that they are high, it is very 
probable it may be fo ; the Proof makes one Way as 
ftrong as the other, but then it depends entirely on the 
Strength of the Captain’s Memory ; and’ it would have 
been ftronger in his Favour, if he had mentioned the 
particular Rivers, on the Banks of which he had feen as 
high Lands, as he owns to be on this. 
As to the want of Trees and Shrubs, Captain Middle- 
ton fays, that all who have travelled the Country between 
the Latitude 58 and 66 Degrees 30 Minutes by Land, 
agree, that higher than 61 Degrees they faw neither 
Tree nor Shrub, but only Mofs, even among frefh Ri- 
vers and Lakes. This again is only a general Affertion, 
and does not at all prove that it is not a Streight; per- 
haps, however. Trees and Shrubs might be fhewn 
to grow on the Banks of Rivers in a more Northerly 
Latitude, at leaft fome Travellers tell us fo ; but the 
thing is not very material either Way j but if there had 
5 y been 
