{60} The name "Baie de Monti" was given to the inlet in honor of De Monti, the officer who first landed. The location of this bay, as described in the narrative and indicated on the map accompanying the report of the voyage, shows that it corresponds with the Yakutat bay of modern maps. Observations made at this time by M. Dagelet, the astronomer of the expedition, determined the elevation of Mount St. Elias to be 1,980 toises. Considering the toise as equivalent to 6.39459 English feet, this measurement places the elevation of the mountain at 12,660 feet. What method was used in making this measurement is not recorded, and we have therefore no means of deciding the degree of confidence to be placed in it. After failing to find an anchorage at Yakutat bay. La Pérouse sailed eastward, and on June 29 discovered another bay, which he supposed to be the inlet named "Bering's bay" by Captain Cook. It will be remembered that Cook's "Bering's bay" is Yakutat bay as now known. It is evident that the French navigator made an error in his identification, as the inlet designated as Bering's bay on his chart corresponds with that now known as Dry bay. On the maps referred to, a stream is represented as emptying into the head of this bay and rising a long distance northward; this is evidently Alsek river, the existence of which was for a long time doubted, but has recently been established beyond all question. Finding it impossible to enter Dry bay, La Pérouse continued eastward and discovered Lituya bay, as now known, but which he named "Port des Francais." Here his ships anchored, after experiencing great difficulty in entering the harbor, and remained for many days, during which trade was carried on with the Indians, while surveys were made of the adjacent shores. DIXON, 1787.[4] [Footnote 4: The Voyage around the World; but more particularly to the Northwest Coast of America. Performed in 1788-1789, in the _King George_ and _Queen Charlotte_; Captains Portlock and Dixon: 4°, London, 1789.] Although the actual discovery of Yakutat bay is to be credited to the French, the first exploration of its shores was made by an English captain. On May 23, 1787, Captain George Dixon anchored his vessel, the _Queen Charlotte_, within the shelter of its southeastern cape, and, in honor of Constance John Phipps, Lord Mulgrave, named the haven there discovered "Port {61} Mulgrave." The harbor is described in the narrative of Dixon's voyage as being "entirely surrounded by low, flat islands, where scarcely any snow could be seen, and well sheltered from any winds whatever." The voyage of the _Queen Charlotte_ was not made for the purpose of increasing geographic knowledge, but with a commercial object. Trade was at once opened with the natives, but resulted less favorably than was desired, as only sixteen sea-otter skins and a few less valuable furs were secured.