—_— eS

Spanish and Russian America 97

fore in the name and to the use of her Majesty, Queen
Elizabeth, he took the sceptre, crown, and dignity of the
country into his hands,” bestowing upon the country thus
legitimately added to the English dominions the name of New
Albion, and erecting on the shore of the bay a monument
with an inscription commemorative of the transfer.

The Viceroy of New Spain received orders from Madrid
to explore and settle the coast of America northward.
Vizcaino had spoken favourably of San Diego and Monterey,
hence these points were selected for colonisation. Portola
was dispatched with a small party of priests, soldiers and
colonists from the Gulf of California overland to San Diego
where the first Spanish settlement on the Pacific Coast
north of the Mexican sea-board was established, 1769. One
of the land parties overshot Monterey and reached the Bay
of San Francisco, but turned southward back to San Diego.
By 1779 San Francisco had become a Presidio as it boasted
a mud fort and a small garrison.

When Captain Cook arrived on the coast in 1778 Spain
had small settlements at San Diego, Monterey, and San
Francisco. In the 200-year period between Drake’s landing
in California and Cook’s arrival, the Spaniards had made no
explorations north of Vizcaino’s sailing in 1603. The north-
west coast had in fact been forgotten.

Captain Cook passed Cape Flattery without discovering
the Strait of Juan de Fuca, spent four weeks at Nootka,
and considered himself the first to land there. His next
important landfall was off Mount Edgecumbe, near Sitka.
He sighted Mount St. Elias under latitude 60°, and entered the
great gulfs of Prince William Sound and Cook’s River, and
passed on to Unalaska. His ships were frequently visited
by the natives, none of whom appeared to have had previous

intercourse with civilised peoples. Passing the south-western