Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/24

14 Chiefs, and made them a present of several sheets of copper, cloating, etc. etc. but before he returned, he says, his people had taken one of Captain Colinet's out of a boat not far from the ship. Since this, I have been informed by Captain Kendrick, that it is the opinion of the Spaniards at Nootka, that these people were murdered by the natives; and those of Clioquot were the instigators of it."

We may therefore conclude that Colnett spent the remainder of the season of 1790 in trading for furs along the Northwest Coast and wintered in Clayoquot Sound. This seems to follow from the fact that when he arrived in Macao on 21st May, 1791, he had a cargo of 1,200 sea-otter skins.

When Colnett left the coast is not exactly known; but, from Nootka on 28th February, 1791, he wrote a letter to Quadra. He must have sailed shortly afterwards; for the voyage to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands usually occupied about a month, and he was there on April 2, 1791, as Professor Kuykendall has shown. As he reached Macao on May 21, 1791, his visit must have been very brief.

Now, as regards the Princess Royal, Professor Kuykendall has traced her movements in the summer of 1790, when, under Quimper, she was employed in exploring the strait of Juan de Fuca. According to the "Viage" she sailed from Nootka on 31st March, 1791, and finished her work on 1st August following. Doubtless she was sailing southward under the circumstances mentioned by Professor Kuykendall, while Colnett in the Argonaut was pressing northward to obtain her. After her arrival the Princess Royal was, in a gale, driven ashore at San Bias. This further complicated the plans for her return, and in consequence, the Viceroy wrote to Captain Colnett stating that the sloop would now be sent to Canton in order to be