THE PACIFIC OCEAN, 
by that means, finally to determine whether the low land on 
the Eaft fide of the river was an ifland, as we had fuppofed, 
or not. With this purpofe in view, we weighed with the 
firft of the flood, and, having a faint breeze at North Eaft, 
flood over for the Eaftern fhore, with boats ahead, founding. 
Our depth was from twelve to five fathoms; the bottom a 
hard gravel, though the water was exceedingly muddy. At 
eight o’clock, a frefh breeze fprung up at Eaft, blowing in 
an oppofite direction to our conrfe; fo that I defpaired of 
reaching the entrance of the river, to which we were plying 
up, before high water. But thinking that what the fhips 
could not do, might be done by boats, I difpatched two, un¬ 
der the command of Lieutenant King, to examine the tides, 
and to make fuch other obfervations as might give us fome 
infight into the nature of the river. 
At ten o’clock, finding the ebb begun, I anchored in nine 
fathoms water, over a gravelly bottom. Obferving the tide 
to be too ftrong for the boats to make head againft it, I made 
a fignal for them to return on board, before they had got 
half way to the entrance of the river they were fent to ex¬ 
amine, which bore from us South 8o° Eaft, three leagues 
diftant. The principal information gained by this tide’s 
work, was the determining that all the low land, which we 
had fuppofed to be an ifland or iflands, was one continued 
tracft, from the banks of the great river, to the foot of the 
mountains, to which it joined ; and that it terminated at the 
South entrance of this Eaftern branch, which I (hall diftin- 
guifti by the name of River Turnagain', On the North fide 
of this river, the low land again begins, and ftretches out 
from the foot of the mountains, down to the banks of the 
great river ; lo that, before the river Turnagain, it forms a 
large bay, on the South fide of which we were now at an- 
3 E 2 chor; 
