43§ 
A VOYAGE TO 
1779 . 
December. 
they proceed, as many fkins as they are able, without 
lofmg too much time, fince they ought to fleer again to the 
Southward, and trace the coaft with great accuracy from 
the latitude of 56° to 50°, the fpace from which we were 
driven out of fight of land by contrary winds. It fhould 
here be remarked, that I confider the purchafe of fkins, in 
this expedition, merely as a fecondary objedt, for defraying 
the expence; and it cannot be doubted, from our expe¬ 
rience in the prefent voyage, that two hundred and fifty 
fkins, worth one hundred dollars each, may be procured 
without any lofs of time; efpecially as it is probable they 
will be met with along the coaft to the Southward of Cook’s 
River. 
Having fpent three months on the coaft of America, they 
will fet out on their return to China early in the month 
of Odtober, avoiding in their route, as much as pof- 
fible, the tracks of former navigators. I have now only 
to add, that if the fur trade fhould become a fixed objedt 
of Indian commerce, frequent opportunities will occur 
of completing whatever may be left unfinifhed, in the 
voyage of which I have here ventured to delineate the 
outlines. 
The barter which had been carrying on with the Chinefe 
for our fea-otter fkins, had produced a very whimfical 
change in the drefs of all our crew. On our arrival in the 
Typa, nothing could exceed the ragged appearance both of 
the younger officers and feamen; for, as our voyage had 
already exceeded, by near a twelvemonth, the time it was 
at firft imagined we fhould remain at fea, almoft the whole 
of our original ftock of European clothes had been long 
worn out, or patched up with fkins, and the various manu- 
fadtures we had met with in the courfe of our difcoveries. 
3 Thefe 
