reason to think that the opening was closed by low land.  On this account I called the point of land to the north of it Cape Flattery.  It lies in the latitude of 48 deg. 15’ N., and in the longitude of 235 deg. 3’ E. There is a round hill of a moderate height over it; and all the land upon this part of the coast is of a moderate and pretty equal height, well covered with wood, and had a very pleasant and fertile appearance.  It is in this very latitude where we now were, that geographers have placed the pretended strait of Juan de Fuca.  But we saw nothing like it; nor is there the least probability that ever any such thing existed.[5]

[Footnote 5:  See Michael Locke’s apocryphal account of Juan de Fuca and his pretended strait, in Purchas, vol. iii. p. 849-852, and many later Collections.—­D.]

I stood off to the southward till midnight, when I tacked, and steered to the N.W. with a gentle breeze at S.W. intending to stand in for the land as soon as day-light should appear.  But, by that time, we were reduced to two courses and close-reefed top-sails, having a very hard gale, with rain, right on shore; so that, instead of running in for the land, I was glad to get an offing, or to keep that which we had already got.  The south-west wind was, however, but of short continuance; for in the evening it veered again to the west.  Thus had we perpetually strong west and north-west winds to encounter.  Sometimes, in an evening, the wind would become moderate, and veer to the southward; but this was always a sure prelude to a storm, which blew the hardest at S.S.E. and was attended with rain and sleet.  It seldom lasted above four or six hours, before it was succeeded by another gale from the N.W. which, generally, brought with it fair weather.  It was, by the means of these southerly blasts, that we were enabled to get to the north-west at all.

At length, at nine o’clock in the morning of the 29th, as we were standing to the N.E. we again saw the land, which, at noon, extended from N.W. by W. to E.S.E. the nearest part about six leagues distant.  Our latitude was now 49 deg. 29’ N. and our longitude 232 deg. 29’ E. The appearance of the country differed much from that of the parts which we had before seen; being full of high mountains, whose summits were covered with snow.  But the valleys between them, and the grounds on the sea coast, high as well as low, were covered to a considerable breadth with high, straight trees, that formed a beautiful prospect as of one vast forest.  The south-east extreme of the land formed a low point off which are many breakers, occasioned by sunken rocks.  On this account it was called Point Breakers.  It lies in the latitude of 49 deg. 15’ N., and in the longitude of 233 deg. 20’ E., and the other extreme in about the latitude of 50 deg., and the longitude of 232 deg..  I named this last Woody Point.  It projects pretty much out to the S.W. and is high land.  Between these two points the shore forms a large bay, which I called Hope Bay; hoping, from the appearance of the land, to find in it a good harbour.  The event proved that we were not mistaken.