Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/170

 150 F. W. Howay this Coast which was so much the subject of polemic con- versation in England before our departure. — We immedi- ately brought to & sent a Boat to the Columbia in which I accompanied U Puget in order to obtain what informa- tion we could, & the reader may easily conceive the eager- ness with which we interrogated the Commander when we found him to be the same man which our ideas had suggested, & indeed it may appear no less curious than interesting that here at the entrance of Juan de Fuca's Streights we should meet with the very man whose Voy- age up it in the Sloop Washington as delineated by the fertile fancy of Mr Mears gave rise to so much theoreti- cal speculation & chimerical discussion — I say interesting because it enables us to detect to the World a fallacy in this matter which no excuse can justify. Mr Gray informd us that in his former Voyage he had gone up the Streights of Juan de Fuca in the Sloop Washington about 17 leagues in an East by South direc- tion & finding he did not meet with encouragement as a Trader to pursue it further he returnd back & came out to Sea again the very same way he had enterd — he was therefore struck with astonishment when we informd him of the sweeping tract of several degrees which Mr Mears had given him credit for in his Chart & publication. He further informd us that in his present Voyage he had been 9 months on the Coast & wintered at Clioqimt a district a little to the Eastward of Nootka where he built a small sloop which was at this time employd in col- lecting Furs to the Northward about Queen Charlotte's Isles — That in the Winter the Natives of Clioquat calling to their aid 3 or 4 other Tribes collected to the number of upwards of three thousand to attack his Vessel, but their premeditated schemes being discovered to him by a Native of the Sandwich Islands he had on board whom the Chiefs had attempted to sway over to their diabolic plots in solliciting him to wet the locks & priming of the Musquets & Guns before they boarded. By this means he was for-