The Letter from Bernarda being dated the 27th of June, it is impossible he should finish all that Business in four Days, which he gives de Fonte an Account of: This also confirms its being a Mistake as to the 22d of June, being the Time he received his Dispatches. It might well take Bernarda from the fourteenth of June to the twenty-seventh to receive his Dispatches, to pass up the River, and to the Peninsula in Lake Valasco, procure the Natives, who were not under his Command, get all Things fitted, and set out. And what this Letter contains, makes it evident it could be no Account of his Voyage that was before-mentioned.
This Letter is apparently an Answer to the Dispatches Bernarda received from de Fonte. He mentions, that he had left his Ship, agreeable to Orders, and in a safe Port; gives an Account how he was equipped to proceed; the Number of the Persons he had with him; that he had thirty-six of the Natives, which is conformable to the Character given of them, a friendly honest People, and shews the Influence of the Jesuits. These Natives, by joining in the Expedition, were Hostages for the good Behaviour of the others towards his People left behind, and an Assurance to Bernarda for the Security of his Ship left at the Port, were of great Use as Pilots as to the Coast, and also in sailing and managing their Periagos. Their having these Periagos implies they had a Country abounding with Waters; and it was their usual Way of passing from one Part to another, Time and Experience had made them expert in the Management of them; and by shifting from one Part to the other as the Seasons required for hunting or fishing, and by Excursions out of their own Country either for War or Curiosity, as is the Nature of Indians, they were become acquainted not only with the inland Waters, but also the Sea Coasts.
De Fonte had ordered Captain Bernarda that he should sail one Hundred and fifty Leagues West (but is rather to be believed a Mistake from not understanding the Compass, Oeste and Este being so similar) and then four Hundred and thirty-six Leagues East North East to 77 Degrees of Latitude. In Answer to which Bernarda here mentions, that from the Lake Valasco there was a River in which there was three Falls, eighty Leagues in Distance, and fell into the Tartarian Sea, in Latitude 61; that the Land trended away North East, and that he would do what was possible. By which Expression it is plain, that he did not pursue the exact Course that de Fonte directed; probably that Course was pointed out to Bernarda by which the Jesuits had travelled to Latitude 66, but pursued a Course more immediate and direct to attain to Latitude 77, the Back of Baffin's Bay, as to which the Natives had informed him; and that though he did not pursue the Course directed by de Fonte, which he found not to be so consistent with the Design he was sent on, yet he would do all that was possible to answer that Design. And the Expression also implies, that he was sensible he should meet with Difficulties, which he might expect from the Climate, the Ice, and the Fatigue; but as to the Article of Provisions, was in no Fear on that Account. As to what is mentioned as to Venison of three Sorts, they were the small Deer, the Moose, and the Elk, all which are in the Northern Parts about Hudson's Bay, and the Labrador Coast.
The Name of Haro given to the River is a particular Compliment to Don Haro, who was the Head of the Houses of Valasco; and the Name of Valasco, in Compliment to the other Houses, of that Family. Which Respect shewn by de Fonte seems to indicate a particular Connection with, or his being related to that Family, as already mentioned. Valasco, as here wrote, with a va, as those Families did write it at that Time, and one of that Family, who was Constable of Castile, in his Titles is named John Ferdinandes de Vallasco, Constable of Castilia, &c. now Lord of the Houses of Vallasco, &c. and by the Orthography in the Letter being so conformable with that which was used at that Time, and not with a ve as at present, we have very good Reason to suppose, that the Letter was not only wrote in Spanish, but also by de Fonte on his return from his Voyage. Don Ferdinandez was living in 1610, and succeeded by his Son, in his Title and Honour of Constable of Castile, Don Bernardino, who was living at the Time of the Voyage.
'The Admiral entered the Lake an Hour before high Water, and there was no Fall or Cataract, and 4 and 5 Fathom Water, and 6 and 7 Fathom Water generally in the Lake Belle. There is a little Fall of Water half Flood, and an Hour and Quarter before high Water the Flood begins to set gently into Lake Belle: The River is fresh at 20 Leagues Distance from the Mouth or Entrance of the River Los Reyes. The River and Lake abounds with Salmon, Salmon Trouts, Pikes, Perch and Mullets, and two other Sorts of Fish peculiar to that River, admirable good; and Lake Belle also abounds with all those Sorts of Fish large and delicate: And Admiral de Fonte also says, the Mullets catched in Rios Reyes and Lake Belle, are much delicater than are to be found, he believes, in any Part of the World.'
De Fonte was not inactive from the 14th to the 22d of June. Various Courses, contrary Winds, waiting for the Tides at times; from the Circumstance of the Tide as to Lake Belle, that there is a Fall until half Flood, and it is an Hour and Quarter only before high Water that the Flood makes in, evidences that there was a Current against him; and it is further evident, as on his return he was but two Days running from Conosset to the Entrance of the River Los Reyes.
De Fonte is very particular in his Account, being now to take a Survey of the Parts through which a Passage was expected, and in which Parts he now was. He mentions the Trial of the Tides at Los Reyes and Haro; gives a particular Account of the Navigation up Los Reyes, and to Lake Belle; that it was fresh Water after they were sixty Miles up the River; and what is no immaterial Circumstance in this Affair, shews how far the Waters from Westward flowed up, which he instances in the Account of the Fish. That such as came out of the Sea into the Land or fresh Waters to spawn at those Seasons, and afterwards return to the Sea, went no further than Lake Belle; for here he found the Mother Fish, as he describes them, large and delicate, superior to those in the River, and indulges his Fancy, so delicate as, he believes, they are not to be exceeded in any other Part of the World. De Fonte, in his Orders to Bernarda, shewed it was fresh Water in Part of Haro, and in the Lake Conibasset, from the Salmon and Perch, in which he means Sea Perch, which come into fresh Waters at this Season of the Year.
'The first of July 1640, Admiral de Fonte sailed from the rest of his Ships in the Lake Belle, in a good Port, covered by a fine Island, before the Town of Conosset, from thence to a River I named Parmentiers, in Honour of my industrious judicious Comrade Mr. Parmentiers, who had most exactly marked every Thing in and about that River.'
We now proceed to consider the Remainder of Admiral de Fonte's Letter, which was published in June 1708.
Admiral de Fonte, when he received the Letter from Capt. Bernarda, was arrived at an Indian Town called Conosset, in the Lake Belle; and as he entered such Lake the twenty-second, probably arrived at the Town the same Day; staid eight Days, and then sailed the first of July. That Bernarda should write, as to the Situation of his Affairs, must have been before concerted between them, they having been informed by the Jesuits or Parmentiers, that it was practicable for Bernarda to send such Message, that the Admiral might know whether Bernarda had met with any Accident as to his Ship, or any other Obstacle to his Proceeding, as he might assist him from those Ships Companies then with the Admiral. How the Letter was conveyed is not expressed; probably by a Seaman with an Indian Guide (the Distance between the Admiral and Bernarda, at this Time, will be considered hereafter) who would use all possible Expedition both by Land and Water: Had the Advantage of very short Nights. De Fonte would not proceed until he received this Account, though ready as soon as he received it. As de Fonte sailed on the first of July, that Account must have come to his Hand the thirtieth of June.