The great probability of a North West Passage: deduced from observations on the letter of Admiral de Fonte
History
The great probability of a North West Passage: deduced from observations on the letter of Admiral de Fonte
Discoveries in geography -- Spanish; Fuentes, Bartolomé de, active 17th century; Labrador (N.L.) -- Discovery and exploration; Northwest Passage -- Discovery and exploration
The River _Parmentiers_, which is the Communication by which the Waters
of Lake _Belle_ are conveyed into the Lake _de Fonte_, so named we
may suppose not in Compliment to himself, which would be absurd, but
of his Family, as the Expression is, _I named Lake de Fonte_, though
it almost deserves the Name of a Mediterranean Sea; but from having a
superior Water near it, with which it communicated, _de Fonte_ calls it
a Lake. It is not a casual naming of Places, or Waters, as _Hudson_'s
Bay, given to that great Mediterranean Sea, and continued, but the
Names of the Waters he passed through, would be given with Exactness
and Propriety. In the Lake _de Fonte_ there was a great Depth of Water,
also Banks, as there is said to be in some Parts twenty or thirty
Fathom Water, as is also evident from the Cod and Ling there, and which
instance it to be a Salt Water Lake. It was the Season when these Fish
come to the Northward to spawn. The shrubby Wood on the Islands, the
Moss for the Subsistence of the Deer hanging on the Trees, the wild
Cherries and other Fruits ripening at that Season of the Year, are
all corresponding Tokens of his being advanced to the North-east Part
of _America_, is agreeable in all the above Respects to the Country
Northward and Westward in _Canada_, about the River _St. Lawrence_, to
the interior Parts of the Country of _Labrador_, in Lat. 56; but as you
proceed further to Northward, the high rocky Mountains, which in this
Part are only confined to the Coast, then extend more inland, increase
in their Height, and in Lat. 59° and 60°, the whole Country, as far as
_Baffin_'s Bay, seems to consist only of Ridges of barren Mountains,
interspersed with Waters; and the Progress of the Productions, as to
Trees and Plants, gradually decreases from a more flourishing to an
inferior Sort, as you proceed to Northward; in Lat. 59, on the Western
Side of _Hudson_'s Bay to the Northward of _Seal_ River, there is no
Wood, only Grass and a small Shrub of about a Foot in Heighth, which
continues, as far as it is known to Westward, and a thin Soil, with a
hard rocky Stone just below the Surface, and very frequently there are
large Ponds of standing Water.
_De Fonte_ seems to have made a Stop at the Island at the South of Lake
_de Fonte_, to take Refreshment, and make Inquiry as to the _Boston_
Ship, it being out of his Course, or on any other Account to go there.
'The 14th of _July_ we sailed out of the East North-east End of the
Lake _de Fonte_, and passed a Lake I named the _Estricho de Ronquillo_,
thirty-four Leagues long, two or three Leagues broad, twenty,
twenty-six and twenty-eight Fathom of Water; we passed this Streight in
ten Hours, having a stout Gale of Wind, and a whole Ebb. As we sailed
more Easterly the Country grew very sensibly worse.'
What follows, 'as it is in the North and South Parts of _America_,'
appears to me an additional Comment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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