The west shore., July 01, 1884, Page 202, Image 4

202
THE WEST SHORE.
voyage, no allusion is made to Fuca or his straits. Had
such a voyage as Fuca's actually been made, this second
expedition would certainly have availed itself of the
knowledge thus gained Instead of doing so, the record
of that voyage conclusively shows that the commander
must have been utterly ignorant of Fuca and his alleged
voyage; and this proves, also, that he could have had no
secret institutions on the subject In viewing the matter
critically, it must be admitted that the evidences against
the authenticity of the voyage, though entirely of a nega
tive character, greatly outweigh the one circumstantial
evidence in ita favor the fact that a passage much sim
ilar to the one described actually exists a few miles to the
north of the location fixed in the narrative. Juan de
Fuca's voyage was probably a myth.
The third and last mythical passage to receive popu
lar credence and engage the attention of geographers and
explorers for years was the River of Kings, the Rio de
los Reyes of Admiral Fonte. Like the narratives of
Maldonado and Fuca, this did not reach the public until
many years had elapsed from the time assigned to the
voyage, and thin fact alone is almost conclusive evidence
of its manufactured character. Such a voyage as any of
thoso would have been made public soon after its comple
tion, so eager wore the learned men of the time to gain
all the information possible on these subjects. It was
natural for a person inventing such a tale to assign a
date bo far back that he need have no fear of a personal
contradiction.
A magazine entitled Munlhbj Mimrllantj, or Memoirs
of the Curioim, was published in London in 1708, con
taining a long account of a voyage alleged to have been
made in 1G40, sixty-eight years previously, from the
Paeifio to the Atlantic and return, through a Bystem of
riverg crossing North America about the fifty-third par
allel. The man who is credited with making this wonder
ful voyage is Admiral Pedro Bartolorae de Fonte, of the
Siwiish Marino. According to the account given in this
magazino, Admiral Fonte was instructed by the Viceroy
of Peru to explore the Pacific Coast of North America
for a passage leading into tho Atlantic, and to intercept
some Boston vessels which the Viceroy had learned had
sailod upon the same errand on the Atlantic Coast He
sailed from Callao in April, 1040, with four vessels. At
Cape San Lucob he disatohod one of these to explore
the Gulf of California, and with the remaining three
continued up the ooiwt In latitude 63 degrees, after
sailing a long distance among islands, which he christened
the "Archipelago de Lazarus," he observed the mouth of
a great river, which he decided to enter. One of his
vessels was sent further up the coast, under the command
of Captain Bernardo, while with the other two he ascended
the stream, whoaa great pn.jrtions won from him the
title of " Rio de U RoyV r iuVor of Kings." This
he followed in a northeasterly direction a long distance,
finally reaching it source in an immense lake, which U
named Lke Belle." This was the country oU weX
and curdued naUo whose chief town, on the south shore
of th. lake, wu called Conawot, and who entertained the
strangers who had so unexpectedly come among them in
a most hospitable manner. This lake was evidently on
the summit of the divide between the waters of the two
oceans, for flowing from it in an opposite direction from
the river he had ascended was another large stream,
which he called " Parmentier." Leaving his vessels at
Conasset, he descended the Parmentier until he entered
another lake, upon which he bestowed his own name,
from which he passed through a narrow strait into the
Atlantic Ocean. This last passage he named " Strait of
Ronquillo," in honor of the captain of one of his vessels.
Thus, through a continuous waterway of rivers and lakes,
he had passed through the entire continent of North
America. When that story was written the author little
dreamed that in the latitude assigned to this wonderful
passageway the continent was more than five thousand
miles in width. Having entered the Atlantic the Admiral
soon encountered the Boston vessel which it was feared
had designs upon the Spanish possessions in the Pacific.
The captain of the colonial craft was Nicholas Shapley,
and on board was its owner, one Seymour Gibbons, whom
Fonte described as " a fine gentleman, and major-general
of the largest colony in New England, called Maltechu
setts." Fonte decided to treat these strangers as peace
ful traders, and the representatives of these two nations
indulged in a series of mutual entertainments which
appear to have given the Admiral great satisfaction. He
then returned to the Pacific by the route he had come,
finding his vessels waiting for him in good condition in
Lake Belle, the inhabitants of Conasset having refrained
from molesting them. At the mouth of the River of
Kings he was joined by Bernardo, who had an equally
wonderful tale to relate. He, too, had discovered a great
river, in latitude 61 degrees, and had ascended it to its
source in a large lake. These he called " Rio de Haro"
and "Lake Velasco." From the lake he ascended an
other stream in canoes as high as the seventy-ninth
parallel, but observing the land "still trending north,
and the ice rested on the land, he became satisfied " that
there was no communication out of the Atlantic Sea by
Davis' Strait; for the natives had- conducted one of his
seamen to the head of Davis' Strait, which terminated in
a fresh lake, of about thirty miles in circumference, in
the eightieth degree of north latitude; and there were
prodigious mountains north of it" He therefore re
turned to the Pacific to rejoin his commander. Fonte
was satisfied from the report that the Straits of Anian did
not exist, and returned to Peru to report that fact and
the wonderful river route he had discovered through the
continent
This whole story is utterly absurd, in the light of our
present knowledge of geogrophy, but was far from being
so at the time it was promulgated Tet it contains
enough inconsistencies and palpable errors to hove even
then condemned it in the eyes of a critical reader. The
statement that in 1640, only ten years after Boston was
founded, the people of that struggling colony were
searching for the Straits of Anian is too improbable for
belief. This English historian should have known, also.