Note 6 — Part I

8. Captain Bernarda, who had directed his course to the north, arrived at Minhaset, a village of America; he entered a lake four hundred and thirty-six leguas long (which he named Velasco), the extremity of which extends northeastward, as far as 77 degrees of latitude, and by a river which flows from the said lake to the southwest he came out at the sea. Again going to the north, he continued his navigation to the northeast in the sea of Tartaria, as far as 79 degrees of latitude, always following the coasts. He sent ashore a Spaniard, and he assured him that he had seen the extremity of the gulf of Davis’s Strait, or of Bafin’s Bay; and that in that place there was a freshwater lake at the latitude of 80 degrees, and mountains of ice toward the north and northwest. From this the said captain concluded that there was no passage or communication between the said strait and the Southern Sea; but the English regard these relations as the effect of the Spanish policy, which hides the actual discoveries of Admiral Fuente. As if there were not a similar refutation of error in the voyage which the merchants of Zelandia undertook in the year 1592, as Samuel Ricard6 relates, with the idea of passing over to China by way of the coasts of Tartaria! On the contrary, the English suspect that there is a passage to the Southern Sea by way of Hudson’s Bay; and they are continually searching for it, with the greatest ardor and perseverance—for which enterprise they will have, without any doubt, motives which encourage their expectations. It is enough for my purpose to show how substantial is the advantage that would result to the said English from being masters of these islands, in order that they may establish themselves in the coasts of the Californias, and thus render easy the illicit commerce and the discoveries that I have mentioned.