Theodorus Swaine Drage

“ The Northern and Westward Part of America is also mountainous, and high Ridges of Mountains were seen from the Head of Wager Bay on the opposite Shore of what appeared to be a Lake; therefore there must be Lakes and Seas to Westward, Reservoirs for the melting Snows and Rains, also some Outlet or Channel to carry off the great Quantities of Ice also formed in those Parts; and with which Barnarda's Account is consistent, and the greatest Reservoir and Discharge seems to be to the Northward by that North-east Part of the Tartarian Sea. ”

“ It is pretty evident the Eskemaux only pass along this Coast, to go and trade with the Eskemaux in Hudson's Streights, and occasionally put in as Weather or other Occasions may make it necessary, which keeps the Native or inland Indians from the Coast, as they are their Enemies. The Eskemaux go up to Latitude 58, or further North; there leave their great Boats, pass a small Neck of Land, taking their Canoes with them, and then go into another Water which communicates with Hudson's Streights. Carry their Return of Trade into Eskemaux Bay, where they live in Winter ”

“ The Voyage which lead us into these Considerations, hath so many Circumstances relating to it, which, now they have been considered, shew the greatest Probability of its being authentick; which carry with them as much the Evidence of a Fact, afford as great a Degree of Credibility as we have for any Transaction done a long Time since, which hath not been of a publick Nature and transacted in the Face of the World, so as to fall under the Notice of every one, though under the Disadvantage that the Intent on one Part must have been to have it concealed and buried in Oblivion. ”

“ The Hudson's Bay Company, jealous of a Design to interfere with their Trade, probably their Fears not ill grounded, the Consequence was, there was no Cordiality between the Factors and the Captains. The Ships People, by wintering, suffered in their Health, great Wages going on, a Consumption of Provisions, a Spirit of Discontent and Opposition amongst the inferior Officers, which obstructed the Success of the next Summer. To obviate all which in any future Proceedings, a Discovery was undertaken on the Coast of Labrador, to find Harbours on that Coast which Ships ”

“ A Ship flying before the Wind, and the People steering her towards the Coast of America, to avoid Japan and the Islands, making a Cape Land on the Coast of California, would run for what they supposed a Harbour, and the bad Weather continuing might proceed up the Bay or Opening they were then in, to meet with the Inhabitants, in order to obtain Refreshments, and to learn where they were, by which Means find a Passage. ”

“ Still their Disappointments follow them; they can see no Land; they know not where they are: Irresistable Hunger once more pinches them: They have no Hope to be saved but by a third Miracle: They return to another Lot ”

“ As what is now to be done in the Discovery of a Passage in Hudson's Bay may be effected in a Summer, and if there is the desired Success, an Inlet found by which there is a Passage into the Sea adjacent out of that Bay, the Vessel which makes such Discovery, and all Ships at their return by such Inlet, will have no Occasion to go to the Southern Part of the Bay, it will be out of their Course, but proceed through the Streights to Labrador, there Wood and Water, get fresh Fish, and other Refreshments ”

“ The 17th we came to an Indian Town, and the Indians told our Interpreter Mr Parmentiers, that a little way from us lay a great Ship where there had never been one before; we sailed to them, and found only one Man advanced in years, and a Youth; the Man was the greatest Man in the Mechanical Parts of the Mathematicks I had ever met with; my second Mate was an English Man, an excellent Seaman, as was my Gunner, who had been taken Prisoners at Campechy, as well as the Master's Son; they told me the Ship was of New England, from a Town called Boston. ”

“ What is objected as to the Affability of the Inhabitants, that it is not consistent with the Character of the Indians. Hospitality is the Characteristick of the Indians towards Strangers, until such Time as they are prejudiced from some ill Treatment; and by the Account given by Sir Francis Drake, as to the Indians of California, and by the Spaniards who surveyed the Western Coasts, and the Islands lying off, they are represented in general as a kind, tractable People, and of a docile Temper. ”

“ In this Map prefixed to Torquemada's Work, and here annexed, the Southern Part of Newfoundland is laid down in Lat. 55, nine Degrees more to the Northward than it ought to be, for which Reason the Labrador, Greenland, and Iceland, are placed much further to Northward than they ought to be placed, and are made to extend beyond the Polar Circle. It is from this Supposition of Newfoundland being in so high a Latitude that Acosta says, the Streight of Anian takes its Course through the Northern Region under the Polar Circle towards Greenland and Iceland. ”

“ That there was a good fishing Bank, a Coast convenient for carrying on a Fishery, a Fur Trade, also for Whalebone and Oil with the Eskemaux Indians, was a Discovery the Consequence of that Attempt from America. To take the Benefit of which Discovery seems now to be the Intention of the Publick. ”

“ And if this Expedition of de Fonte was remembered, and the Papers relating thereto could be brought to light, it might immediately encourage us to proceed on making a further Attempt for the Discovery of a North-west Passage, therefore we can have no Reason to expect the Court of Spain would assist us with what might determine us to a Proceeding at which they must take Umbrage, as we are now become the only Power who share North America with them, from the Advantages that such a Discovery would give us in case of a future Rupture between the two Crowns ”

“ Here is more Plainness and Consistency than is usual in Fiction, with such a Variety of Particulars, and so circumstanced, as would perplex the most pregnant Fancy to invent, which can be no Way so naturally accounted for as by admitting that the Letter contains a genuine Account of a Voyage made by Admiral de Fonte, not a Forgery to support political Views; or that it is the Production of a sporting Fancy to contrast some other Performance, or in order to expose the Credulous to publick Ridicule. ”

“ Admiral de Fonte, after he had dispatch'd Captain Barnarda on the Discovery of the North and East part of the Tartarian Sea, the Admiral sail'd up a very Navigable River, which he named Rio los Reyes, that run nearest North East, but on several Points of the Compass 60 Leagues at low Water, in a fair Navigable Channel, not less than 4 or 5 Fathom Water. It flow'd in both Rivers near the same Water, in the River los Reyes, 24 foot Full and Change of the Moon; a S. S. E. Moon made high Water. ”

“ Places which are in one and the same Latitude, have not an equal Degree of Heat or Cold, or are equally fertile or barren, the Difference in these Respects chiefly consists in their Situation. The Country of Labrador, which is to Eastward of Hudson's Bay, in Latitude 56, almost as high a Latitude as Port Nelson, is a Country capable of being improved by Agriculture, and would supply all the Necessaries of Life, though intermixed with rugged and craggy Mountains. ”

“ Also as to those Eskemaux who frequent to Northward of Hudson's Streights, where they retire to, and a proper Place be found to keep a Fair with them. As these Eskemaux as well as those on Greenland Side, who have not come into those Parts any long Duration of Time, being the same Kind of Indians with those in the South Sea, and as they transport themselves and Families from one Part to another by Water, it seems highly probable that it is by such a Passage or Streight that they have got so far to Eastward. ”

“ The Truth, as to the Latitude, once fixed is not variable by Time; and in this respect de Fonte and Prieto must agree, though a Century between the Time of their Computations.
The Expression, 'anchored in the Port of St. Helena (in Spanish, Santa Elena) within the Cape,' hath something more particular in it than appears on a transient View. The Point of St. Helena is thus described in the sailing Directions in the Atlas Maritimus, published in 1728. 'The Point itself is high, but as you come nearer in there is a lower Point runs out sharpening towards the Sea. ”

“ If de Fonte was Governor or President of Chili, from the Nature of his Office it must appear, amongst some Records or Instruments of Writing, and we accordingly are informed, that there was a Person in that Office named Fuente, which is synonymous. That we have not more minute Particulars, is by reason that the Account is from those Parts where we have not a free and ready Access to make our Enquiries, and from a People, excepting a few Individuals, who are not very communicative to Foreigners. ”

“ Hath also the Approbation and Licence of the Professor of Erudition and Mathematicks in the Imperial College of the Company of the Jesuits at Madrid. What unfavourable Opinion soever we may entertain of the Principles of these Persons, we must have such an Opinion of their Prudence, that they would not sign their Approbation to a Book while it contained an unnecessary Lie, which could be easily expunged, or until they were satisfied as to the Authenticity of this Account which Seyxas gives of Peche's Voyage, having been published in various Places. ”

“ But the Censures that have been of late made by our Countrymen, and more particularly by Foreigners, our Ancestors have been treated as so many Fools, or infatuated Persons, busied to compleat an impracticable and a merely chimerical Project, and are accused by a foreign Geographer to have proceeded so far as to forge a fictitious Account under the Title of a Letter of Admiral de Fonte. ”

“ The Port of Raleo is a safe Port, is covered from the Sea by the Islands Ampallo and Mangreza, both well inhabited with Native Indians, and 3 other small Islands.2Raleo is but 4 Miles over Land from the head of the Lake Nigaragua, that falls into the North Sea in 12 Degrees of North Latitude, near the Corn or Pearl Islands. Here at the Town of Raleo, where is abundance of excellent close grain'd Timber, a reddish Cedar, and all Materials for building Shipping; we bought 4 long well sail'd Shallops, built express for sailing and riding at Anchor and rowing, about 12 Tuns each, of 32 foot Keel. ”

“ The more curious and inquisitive Persons would attain but an imperfect Account, by Inquiry from the People on board the Ships, as the Ships were divided, and they would receive no satisfactory Information of what was most material, and the principal Object of their Inquiry by those who went in the Boats, as Seamen delighting in Stories often tell what they neither heard or saw. The Consequences of the Voyage not known, because not understood, a weak Tradition of this Expedition would remain to Posterity ”

“ The Shore high and bold, to Northward a Number of Reefs of Rocks lying out a great Way into the Sea, in the Southern Part of the Bay many Islands and two Inlets. Sixty Islands of Ice of large Dimensions in Sight. In the ascending this Heighth, saw many Moose Deer Paths, Tracts of other Animals; and in the Ponds Trouts of about ten Inches in Length. On the Shores few Fowl but Ducks, and a Plenty of Muscles. The Weather very warm and pleasant. The Schooner's People found a Barrel, a Hogshead Stave, and a Piece of hewed Wood, on which it was conjectured that this was no unfrequented Harbour. ”

“ When the Boat got further into the Harbour two Eskemaux Indians came off, the one a Man in Years, the other a young Man. The elder Man had a small black Beard. The elder Man being presented with a Ring, immediately put it on his Finger; the young Man did the same when one was presented him. Both declined accepting Pieces of Iron Hoop, a very agreeable Present to the Eskemaux on the Western Side Hudson's Bay. They knew what Fire-arms were, which they saw in the Boat: Also asked for some Pork, which they saw, and had been taken into the Boat for Fear the Schooner and the Boat should be separated ”

“ As Ships were distressed in hard Gales of Wind, in the Manner the Schedule mentions, there is no Improbability of a Passage being first accidentally discovered by a single Ship coming from Sea with a leading Wind into a large Opening, in Expectation of a Harbour, though such Discovery hath not been made by Ships intentionally sent along Shore for that Purpose. ”

“ This Harbour made by the River Santo Thome, is evidently that which de Fonte and others call Christabel. Some Settlements had been made there, as these Names were given, but either deserted from the Barrenness of the Country, or had been only frequented by those who went out private Adventurers, in order to trade with the Natives. But as to which River, Settlements and Harbour, were not the Names preserved by Father Kino, it would not have been known that any Persons had been in those interior Parts of California, or that there were such River and Harbour. ”

“ The Mountains chiefly consisting of a brown rocky Substance, not penetrable by the melting Snows or Spring Rains, which therefore run off into the Levels and Valleys, and form inland Seas, great Lakes, and Inlets, which vent their Waters into the Ocean, necessary for carrying off that great Quantity and vast Bodies of Ice which are formed in the Winter in those Parts, not to be dissolved, as the greater Part is which is formed to the Southward, by the Influence of the Sun. ”

“ Captain Goff saw the Boat go round an Island, upon which there was a Number of Natives; but the Island hindered him from having any further Sight of the Boat. After the Boat had been gone about an Hour, he saw one or two of the Eskemaux with his Glass peep over the Rocks; but never after saw any more of the Boat, the Snow's People, or the Eskemaux. That the Snow lay at a League Distance from the Island; he had no other Boat, one being left with the Moravian Brethren. Capt. Goff waited three Days, and then returned with the Snow to the Harbour where the House was. ”

“ This Discovery of a129 Passage can be made without any additional Expence, wove in with other Services, as was in the Discoveries which were ordered to be made by the King of Spain on the Coasts of California. The Propriety of a Vessel to make such a Survey, and the Abilities and Fidelity of the Persons will be undoubtedly taken Care for. The Run from Labrador, let it be from any Harbour, will be but small to any where, where it is necessary to make the Survey. The Persons sent will go fresh out of Harbour, whereas, with a Run from the Orkneys, the People are fatigued ”