S88 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, sions and pueblos, the country is almost uninhabited ; yet the pro- 
ductive nature of the soil when it has been turned up by the mis- 
sions, and the immense plains of meadow land over which our tra- 
vellers passed, show with how little trouble it might be brought into 
liigh cultivation by any farmers who could be induced to settle there. 
The unwelcome intelligence brought by this party of the nature 
of the supplies to be obtained at Monterey, obliged me to relinquish the 
plan I had contemplated of completing the survey of that part of the 
coast of California which had been left unfinished by Vancouver ; and 
rendered it necessary that I should proceed direct either to Canton or 
to Lima, as the most likely places for us to meet with the medicines 
and stores of which we were in such imminent need. I’he western 
route of these two afforded the best opportunity of promoting the 
objects of the expedition, by bringing us in the vicinity of several 
groupes of islands of doubtful existence, at which, in the event of their 
being found, our time might be usefully employed until it should be 
necessary to proceed to Beering’s Strait. An additional reason for 
this decision was, a request which I had made to the consul of the 
Sandwich Islands, if possible, to purchase provision for the ship at that 
place. I, therefore, determined, after taking on board the few stores 
that were purchased at Monterey, to proceed to the Sandwich Islands, 
searching in our way thither for some islands said to have been dis- 
covered by an American vessel, and from thence to prosecute the voyage 
to Canton. 
While we remained in San F rancisco refitting the ship, the boats 
were constantly employed sounding and surveying the harbour, in 
which duty we received every assistance from Martinez, the governor, 
who allowed us to enter the forts, and to take what angles and measure- 
ments we pleased, requiring only in return for this indulgence a copy 
of the plan when finished for his own government : his proposal seemed 
so fair that I immediately acceded to it, and on my return to the place 
the following year, fully complied with his request. It is impossible to 
pass unnoticed the difference between this hberal conduct of Martinez 
and that of the former Spanish authorities, who watched all Vancouver s 
