JUAN DE FUCA, a strait on the north-west coast of America, was surveyed by Captain Vancouver, and the entrance of which he places in N. Lat. 48. 20. and W. Long. 124. The object of this survey was to discover a communication between the North Pacific and North Atlantic oceans; but none of the inlets or channels in this broken coast was found to extend more than 100 miles to the eastward of the entrance into the strait.
Thus it appeared, that the land forming the north side of that strait is part of an island, or of an archipelago, extending nearly 100 leagues in length from south-east to north-west; and on the side of this land, most distant from the continent, is situated Nootka found. The most peculiar circumstance of this navigation is the extreme depth of water, when contralled with the narrowness of the channels.
The people of Juan de Fuca are said to be well versed in the principles of trade, which they carry on in a very fair and honourable manner. The commodities most prized by them are copper, fire-arms, and great-coats. Their dresses, besides skins, are a kind of woollen garments. According to Vancouver, the dogs belonging to this tribe of Indians are numerous, resembling those of Pomerania, though larger in general. The population even in the greatest towns or villages does not exceed 600, and the smallpox is reckoned to be a disease very fatal among them. Their method of disposing of their dead is singular. "Baskets (says Vancouver) were found suspended on high trees, each containing the skeleton of a young child, in some of which were also small square boxes filled with a kind of white paste, resembling such as I had seen the natives eat, supposed to be made of the faranee root: some of these boxes were quite full; others were nearly empty, eaten probably by the mice, squirrels, or birds."