THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
397 
Bays lefs probable; or, at leaft, ftiewed it to be of greater i 77 s. 
extent. It was a fatisfaction to me, however, to refle6t, J unc * 
that, if I had not examined this very confiderable inlet, 
it would have been aflumed, by fpeculative fabricators of 
geography, as a fa£t, that it communicated with the fea to 
the North, or with Baffin’s or Hudfon’s Bay to the Eaft; and 
been marked, perhaps, on future maps of the world, with 
greater precilion, and more certain ligns of reality, than 
the invilible, becaufe imaginary, Straits of de Fuca, and de 
Fonte. 
In the afternoon, I fent Mr. King again, with two armed 
boats, with orders to land, on the Northern point of the 
low land, on the South Eaft ftde of the river; there to dif- 
play the flag; to take pofleffion of the country and river, in 
his Majefty’s name; and to bury in the ground a bottle, 
containing fome pieces of Englifti coin, of the year 1772, 
and a paper, on which was infcribed the names of our fhips, 
and the date of our difcovery. In the mean time, the fhips 
were got under fail, in order to proceed down the river. The 
wind ftill blew freffi, Eafterly; but a calm enfued, not long 
after we were under way; and the flood-tide meeting us off 
the point where Mr. King landed (and which thence got the 
name of Point PoJfeJJion J, we were obliged to drop anchor in 
fix fathoms water, with the point bearing South, two miles 
diftant. 
When Mr. King returned, he informed me, that as he ap¬ 
proached the ftiore, about twenty of the natives made their 
appearance, with their arms extended; probably, to exprefs 
thus their peaceable difpofltion, and to ffiew that they were 
without weapons. On Mr. King’s, and the gentlemen with 
him, landing, with mufquets in their hands, they feemed 
alarmed, and made flgns expreffive of their requeft to lay 
them 
