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ERRATA.

Since the following pages were printed, the author has discovered two errors, which, though not bearing upon any important question, he regrets, and is anxious to correct; particularly as the misstatements are injurious to the memory of Captain Cook, one of the noblest men whom any age or country has produced.

In order to correct these errors,

1. Substitute for the two last sentences of the second paragraph, in page 46, the following: The Cape Blanco, mentioned as the northern limit of Aguilar's progress along the coast, is probably the same on which Vancouver, in 1792, bestowed the name of Cape Orford.

2. Expunge the last sentence but one of the third paragraph in page 79, containing the words "In this part of his voyage he recognised the Cape Blanco of Aguilar, near the 43d parallel, but he thought proper to bestow on it the name of Cape Gregory."

GEOGRAPHY

OF THE

WESTERN SECTION OF NORTH AMERICA.

INTRODUCTION.

I. THE northwest coast is the expression usually employed in the United States, at the present time, to distinguish the vast portion of the American continent, which extends north of the 40th parallel of latitude from the Pacific to the great dividing ridge of the Rocky Mountains, together with the contiguous islands in that ocean. The southern part of this territory, which is drained almost entirely by the River Columbia, is commonly called Oregon, from the supposition (no doubt erroneous) that such was the name applied to its principal stream by the aborigines. To the more northern parts of the continent many appellations, which will hereafter be mentioned, have been assigned by navigators and furtraders of various nations. The territory bordering upon the Pacific southward, from the 40th parallel to the extremity of the peninsula which stretches in that direction as far as the Tropic of Cancer, is called California; a name of uncertain derivation, formerly applied by the Spaniards to the whole western section of North America, as that of Florida was employed by them to designate the regions bordering upon the Atlantic. The northwest coast and the west coast of California, together, form the west coast of North America; as it has been found impossible to separate the history of these two portions, so it will be necessary to include them both in this geographical view.*

In order to show that the fortieth parallel of latitude is not assumed arbitrarily, and without adequate grounds, as the southern limit of the northwest coast, it would be sufficient to cite the fact, that this line crosses the American continent exactly midway between its most northern and its most southern points; but there are physical reasons for the assumption, no less strong than those based on such geometrical considerations. Almost immediately under the said parallel the coast makes an

*In the following pages, the term coast will be used, sometimes as signifying only the seashore, and sometimes as embracing the whole territory, extending therefrom to the sources of the river; care has been, however, taken to prevent misapprehension, where the context does not sufficiently indicate the true sense. In order to avoid repetitions, the northwest coast will be understood to be the northwest coast of North America; all latitudes will be taken as north latitudes, and all longitudes as west from Greenwich, unless otherwise expressed.

angle at a point called Cape Mendocino, from which one line runs due north for a great distance, while the other takes a southeast direction. Moreover, this cape is the western extremity of a ridge of lofty mountains, extending continuously from the Pacific to the Rocky Mountains, nearly in the course of the 40th parallel, and completely dividing the region of which the waters flow southward from that drained by streams entering the Pacific north of the cape. This transverse ridge, generally called the Snowy Mountains, appears, indeed, to be the boundary indicated by nature between California, on the south, and Oregon, or the country of the Columbia, on the north; not only does it serve as a barrier of separation almost impassable, but the differences in climate and productions between the territories on either side of it are much greater than could have been supposed, considering merely their respective distances from the equator. California is essentially a southern country, while Oregon exhibits the peculiarities of the north.

The coasts of this section of America have been carefully surveyed by distinguished scientific navigators, and they may be found accurately delineated on charts; with regard to the interior, however, little exact geographical information has been yet obtained. From all that can be learned respecting the continent north of the 58th parallel, it is a waste of rocky snow-clad mountains, incapable of sustaining a population, and, indeed, almost impenetrable. Of California, or the country south of the 40th parallel, no accounts are to be procured, except as to the portion immediately contiguous to the sea. It is only of the territory included between these two lines of latitude, which is drained principally by the great River Columbia, that we can speak with any confidence; even of this territory, all descriptions must be conveyed in general and qualified terms, and much remains to be done in it by the astronomer before our maps can present any other than very imperfect representations of its surface.

In the following geographical sketch, an attempt will be made to combine the results of information and inquiry, relative to the western section of North America, in such a manner as to produce distinct impressions of its most prominent and characteristic features, adding only those details which may be requisite or useful in order to illustrate the statements and views contained in the political and historical memoir. In so doing, it has been found convenient to adopt the territorial divisions indicated by nature, rather than those which have been agreed on between the Governments of various distant nations. The boundaries set. tled by these conventions will, however, be first described, and general ideas of the political questions at issue, with regard to this part of the world, will thus be easily communicated.

POLITICAL DIVISION OF THE WESTERN SECTION OF NORTH AMERICA.

II. By the Florida treaty, concluded in 1819 between the United States and Spain, a line drawn along the 42d parallel of latitude, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, was fixed as the northern limit of the Spanish territory and the southern limit of that of the United States in western America. By a subsequent treaty between the latter Power and Mexico, the same line was admitted to separate the possessions of the two republics, Mexico taking the place of Spain. The Mexicans, accord

ingly, claim the country as far north as the 42d parallel; but the Russians effectually bar the exercise of any Mexican authority beyond the Bay of San Francisco, near the 38th degree, by means of their colonies and garrisons in that quarter, established in 1812, and ever since maintained in defiance alike of Spain and of her republican successors.

By the convention of 1824, between the United States and Russia, it was agreed that the Russians should make no settlements on the west coasts of North America, or the adjacent islands, south of the latitude of 54 degrees 40 minutes, and the United States should establish none north of that parallel.

By the convention of 1825, between Russia and Great Britain, it was in like manner stipulated that the British should occupy no place on the coasts or islands north of 54 degrees and 40 minutes, and that the Russians should make no settlement south of the same latitude; it was, moreover, agreed that a line drawn from that parallel northward, along the summits of the mountains, within 20 miles of the sea, to its intersection with the 141st meridian of longitude west from Greenwich, (passing through Mount Saint Elias,) and thence, along that meridian, to the Arctic Sea, should be the "limit between the Russian and British possessions on the continent of America to the northwest."

Thus two lines of boundary appear on the map of Northwest America, running completely across it: one northward, from the latitude of 54 degrees 40 minutes, to the Arctic sea, as settled between Great Britain and Russia; and the other following the course of the 42d parallel, from the Pacific to the Rocky Mountains, as agreed on between the United States and Mexico. Of the intermediate region, no part has been as yet definitively assigned by convention to any one nation; the Americans claim the portion north from the 42d parallel, and the British claim that south from the other line of boundary-each party to an extent undefined, but so far as to secure for itself the large and valuable country drained by the Columbia River. These nations have provisionally compromised their pretensions by an arrangement, made in 1818, and continued in 1827 for an unlimited period, to the effect, that any territory in that section of America, claimed by either, should be equally free and open for navigation, trade, and settlement, to the citizens or subjects of both; the Government of each being at liberty to abrogate the arrangement, after giving due notice of twelve months to that of the other.*

III. The political questions at issue between the Governments of Great Britain, the United States, Russia, and Mexico having been summarily stated, we will now present a—

VIEW OF THE WESTERN SECTION OF NORTH AMERICA, ACCORDING TO ITS NATURAL DIVISIONS.

The northern extremity of the west coast of America is Cape Prince of Wales, in latitude of 65 degrees 52 minutes, which is also the westernmost spot in the whole continent; it is situated on the eastern side of

*The Russian settlements in America are under the control of the Russian-American Company, of which a particular account will be found at page 143 of the memoir. For notices of the Hudson's Bay Company, to which belong all the British establishments west of the Rocky Mountains, see pages 75 and 192; and, for copies of the treaties, see Appendix [F.]

Beering's Strait, a channel fifty-one miles in width, connnecting the Pacific with the Arctic (or Icy, or North Frozen) Ocean, on the western side of which strait, opposite Cape Prince of Wales, is East Cape, the eastern extremity of Asia. Beyond Beering's Strait the shores of the two continents recede from each other. The north coast of America has been traced from Cape Prince of Wales northeastward, to Cape Barrow, in latitude of 71 degrees 23 minutes, which is probably the northernmost point of America, and thence eastward for more than a thousand miles, though not continuously to the Atlantic; no vessel has, however, yet proceeded beyond Beering's Strait as far as Cape Barrow.

The southernmost point of the west coast of North America is Cape San Lucas, in latitude of 22 degrees 52 minutes, the extremity of the great Peninsula of California, which stretches from the American continent on the Pacific side, nearly in the same direction, and between nearly the same parallels of latitude as that of Florida on the Atlantic. The Californian peninsula joins the main land under the 33d parallel; south of which, it is separated from Mexico, on the east, by the long arm of the ocean called by the Spaniards the Vermillion Sea and the Sea of Cortes, but more generally known as the Gulf of California.

The coast extending between these two capes is not less than four thousand miles in length, and is bordered by a continuous line of mountains, which in most places overhang the sea, and are nowhere distant from it more than eighty miles. From Cape San Lucas the general direction of the shores is northwest as far as Cape Mendocino, near the 40th degree of latitude; thence it runs almost due north to Cape Flattery, at the entrance of the Strait of Fuca, near the 48th degree, where it makes an angle by turning to the east. South of Cape Flattery the coast is comparatively regular and free from great sinuosities, and there are only a few islands, all of which are small, in its vicinity; northward of that point, to Cape Spenser near the 58th degree, it is, on the contrary, indented by numerous bays and inlets penetrating the land, and it is completely masked by islands separated from each other and from the continent by narrow and intricate channels. These islands compose the Northwest Archipelago; they lie together in a recess of the continental coast between Cape Flattery and Cape Spenser, in length about seven hundred miles, and in breadth about one hundred and twenty; and they are, indeed, simply a continuation, through the sea, of the mountainchain which forms the westernmost rampart of America. Beyond Cape Spenser the American coast makes a bend, running northwest to the foot of Mount Saint Elias, the loftiest peak on the continent, and the most striking landmark on its western shore; thence westward nearly in the course of the 60th parallel, and then southwest to the extremity of the Peninsula of Aliaska, in 54 degrees 40 minutes, around which it again turns to the north, and continues in that course to Cape Prince of Wales. Aliaska is, like California, formed by the projection of a lofty mountain-ridge into the Pacific; from its extremity, and as if in continuation of it, a chain of islands, called the Aleutian Archipelago, extends westward, across the sea, to the vicinity of the opposite Asiatic Peninsula of Kamschatka.

IV. Of the northwesternmost division of the American coast, extending from Cape Prince of Wales, southward, to the extremity of Aliaska, little need be said. The part of the Pacific north of the Aleutian Islands,

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