The great probability of a North West Passage / deduced from observations on the letter of Admiral de Fonte

by Unknown

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.

As to the Dispatch used by Indians in carrying Expresses, or their Runners as they term them, to carry Messages from one Nation to another, they will gird themselves up with the Rhind of Trees, and keep going incessantly great Distances with a surprising Agility Night and Day, taking little either of Sleep or other Refreshments, and keep a direct Course, and in the Night steer either by the Moon or Stars. Nor is there any Thing miraculous in these Journeys, which the Expresses performed, either as to Distance or as to Time, especially as they passed through a Country abounding with Waters, and which Country being inhabited they could be supplied with Canoes, or they would find Floats at the Places where they usually pass the Waters.

Bernarda meeting de Fonte at a Port up the River Rio los Reyes, shews he had Persons aboard who could direct him there, therefore must have been previously there; and they can be supposed to be no other than the Jesuits, which is a further Proof of the Jesuits having been before in these Parts. It was consistent that the Ships should join and return home together. From where Bernarda came to with his Ship was one Hundred and twenty Miles to Conosset: His Letter from thence was dated the 29th of August, and de Fonte sailed the second of September: It may be supposed the Letter came to Hand the first of September, which is four Days, and the Express had now all the Way by Water, and mostly against Stream. De Fonte, to shew that he had preserved the Affection of the Natives, mentions that he was accompanied with them; and they were of Assistance to him in the Pilotage down the River. De Fonte adds, he had sent a Chart with the Letter, which is misunderstood, as if such Chart had come to the Hands of the Editors; which will make this much more demonstrative, were Words added by them; but it was usual in all the Naval Expeditions to have Persons aboard whom they called Cosmographers, to take Draughts of Places, and compose their Charts, and at that Time a very reputable Employment.

Miguel Venegas, a Mexican Jesuit, published at Madrid in 1758, a Natural and Civil History of California; a Translation of which was published in London in 1759, in two Volumes; and Vol. i. P. 185, says, 'To this Æra (the last Voyage he mentions was in 1636) belongs the Contents of a Paper published at London, under the Title of the Narrative of Bartholomew de Fuentes, Commander in Chief of the Navy in New Spain and Peru, and President of Chili, giving an Account of the most remarkable Transactions and Adventures in this Voyage, for the Discovery of a Passage from the South Sea, to that of the North in the Northern Hemisphere, by Order of the Viceroy of Peru in the Year 1640. This Writing contains several Accounts relating to California; but without entering into long Disputes, let it suffice to say, that little Credit is to be given to this Narrative. For the same Reason we have before omitted the Accounts of Voyages made from the South Sea to the North round beyond California, and those of a contrary Direction, of which an Account is given by Captain Seixas and Lobero, in Theatro Naval, in Spanish and French; and particularly of that Spaniard who is supposed, in three Months, to have come from Puerto de Navidad and Cabo Corientes to Lisbon. These and other Accounts dispersed in different Books, we designedly omit, as they want the necessary Authenticity.'

This Work was published with a Design to induce the Court of Spain to a further Conquest of, an intire Reduction of, and the full settling of California, as of the utmost Importance to Religion and the State; and one of the Arguments is, for their immediate putting what he recommends in Execution, the repeated Attempts of the English to find a Passage into the South Sea. And observes, 'Should they one Day succeed in this, why may not the English come down through their Conquests, and even make themselves Masters of New Mexico, &c.' which implies, that he did not look on such an Attempt as void of all Hopes of Success; and he again says, 'Whoever is acquainted with the present Disposition of the English Nation, and has heard with what Zeal and Ardour the Project for a North-west Passage has been espoused by many considerable Persons, will be convinced that the Scheme is not romantick, and it would not be surprizing if the Execution of it should one Day come under Deliberation.' Thus artfully hints, should the Scheme come under Deliberation, the Event would be to be feared; and though he ascribes his Opinion of its not being romantick, is, to many considerable Persons having espoused the Scheme, yet he tacitly applies to their own Knowledge, to what the Court of Spain knows as to this Passage. He then proceeds, 'If this should ever happen,' the Deliberation, 'what would be the Condition of our Possessions?' The Deliberation would, from Consequences that would follow on such a Deliberation, endanger our Possessions.

Don Cortez informed the King, by a Letter of the 15th of October 1524, that he was building two Ships, to get a Knowledge of the Coast yet undiscovered between the River of Panaco and Florida, and from thence to the Northern Coast of the said Country of Florida, as far as the Baccaloo, 'It being certain, as he expresses himself, that on that Coast is a Streight running into the South Sea'—'God grant that the Squadron may compass the End for which it is designed, namely, to discover the Streight, which I am fully persuaded they will do, because in the Royal Concerns of your Majesty nothing can be concealed; and no Diligence or Necessaries shall be wanting in me to effect it.' Again, 'I hereby inform your Majesty, that by the Intelligence I have received of the Countries on the upper Coast of the sending the Ships along, it will be attended with great Advantage to me, and no less to your Majesty. But acquainted as I am with your Majesty's Desire of knowing this Streight, and likewise of the great Service it would be to your Royal Crown.' Vol. i. P. 130.

Agreeable to this Letter several Attempts were made by Sea to discover whether Florida was Part of the Continent, or separated by a Streight; but whether Cortez pursued his Design by searching between Florida along the Coast of Baccaloos, Newfoundland, and the Terra de Labrador, for a Streight, by which there was a Passage from the North to the South Sea is uncertain. Florida comprehended the Country from the Cape of Labrador to the Cape de los Martires, or of Martyrs, opposite to the Island of Cuba. From thence to the Streights of Magellan was called Peruan Part.

The King of Portugal, with a View of finding a shorter Passage to those Parts of the Indies, which he had discovered, than by the Cape of Good Hope, sent, in the Year fifteen Hundred, Gasper de Corte Real to the North of America, who landed on the Terra de Labrador; also gave his Name to a Promontory on that Coast which he called Promonterium Corteriale. The Name of Labrador implies a fertile Country, and given in Distinction from the high barren mountainous Country to Northward, which Gasper discovered in Latitude sixty, and to the Southward of it. But this Distinction seems to have been soon lost, and the Name of Labrador is now given to the whole Coast.

From the Knowledge we have of these Parts we may conclude, that the Promonterium Corteriale was what we at present name Cape Chidley, and the Islands de Demonios, where Gasper lost a Vessel, those Islands now named Button's Islands; and it was Hudson's Streights to which he gave the Name of the River of the Three Brothers, though the Reason of his giving that Name is not known to us.

We may perceive from this Account of Gasper's Voyage, who did not proceed to Westward to make a Passage, but coasted down the main Land, the Accounts of their being a Portuguese who made a Voyage through the Streights of Anian, calling a Promontory after his Name Promonterium Corteriale, hath had some Foundation in Truth; and in what is said by Frisius, an antient Geographer, calling it the Streights of Three Brothers, or Anian (which that Word imports) because three Brothers had passed through a Streight from the North to the South Sea. It is also apparent that the Name of Anian was first given by Gasper Corterialis (for some particular Reason unknown to us) to that Part, which is now Hudson's Streights. Though in Time this became a proper Name to express a Streight by which there is a Passage from the North to the South Sea, and is contended for to be the proper Name of the Streight that divides Asia from America, by which there is a Communication with the Tartarian and Southern Ocean. After a Discovery of these Coasts had been made to Northward, the following Year the King of Portugal sent Americus Vespusino to Southward, to discover the Land there.