OF THE NORTH PACIFIC 25

Carlos was surrounded and attacked by the natives of
Destruction Island, north of Cape Mendocino. When
Hecata heard the news, the Santiago returned to
Monterey. Bodega, in charge of the Sonora, however,
kept on his journey, and about the 15th day of August
he saw Mount Edgecumbe. He sailed down the coast
and finally reached the Queen Charlotte Islands. He
coasted along the shores of these islands, and with great
ceremony, named the strait North of the Queen
Charlotte Islands Perez Inlet; it is now called Dixon’s
Entrance. As they cruised a considerable distance from
the shore, they did not map its configurations. They
were probably nervous of the Haidas, and so in reality
accomplished nothing more than was done by Perez the
year before. When they got abreast of Dixon’s
Entrance they set sail Southward and returned to
Monterey. The Spanish expeditions to these islands
in regard to geographical data did not benefit the world
at large, for apparently the information gained was kept
carefully concealed by those in authority. Contrary to
all preconceived opinions, Captain Cook never visited
the Queen Charlotte Islands. He left Nootka (then
called King George’s Sound) for the North, April, 1778,
but owing to stormy weather did not see land again till
he reached latitude 55° 20’.

La Perouse coasted along the West shores of these
islands in 1786, and was the first to observe that they
were distinct and separated from the mainland. He
satisfied himself by sailing down what we now know as
Hecate Straits and Queen Charlotte Sound that a deep
inlet extended between the islands and the mainland.
The islands on the main coast South and East of the
Queen Charlotte Islands he called Les iles Fleurieu,
and they are now the Princess Royal Islands, so named
by Duncan. La Perouse did not even take the trouble