Early Days in Old Oregon Author:Katharine Berry Judson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III Captain Meares At Nootka Sound. Launching Of The "northwest America" ON a bright May day in 1788 two little trading ships sailed into Nootka So... more »und. It was just ten years after Captain Cook, with his two exploring ships, had entered this same Sound. All the world by this time knew about this fur trade, and ships were beginning to go up the Northwest Coast of America on trading voyages. The larger of these two trading ships was commanded by Captain John Meares, though both were owned by his company and under his control. This was the captain's second voyage. His first had been up to Alaska, where he had been caught in the ice all winter and with all his men had come near dying from the cold. But two other English captains had found him there and helped him out. On his way south in that first voyage, after getting out of the ice, Meares had stopped at Nootka Sound, and again at the Sandwich Islands, as the Hawaiian Islands were then called. At Nootka Sound he found a chief called Co-me-ke-la, a brother of the great chief Maquinna, who wanted to see the world. Meares took Co-me-ke-la on board. At Oahu he found a Sandwich Island chief,Tianna, who also wanted to go sight-seeing. So Meares took him also and they sailed away for China. Now, on this bright May day in 1788, Captain Meares was entering Nootka Sound on his second fur-trading voyage, and Co-me-ke-la and Tianna were both on board; so were many Chinese carpenters. His crew were Lascars from the Asiatic coast. Meares had a curious shipload with him. They came to anchor in that same Friendly Cove in the Sound where Captain Cook had found shelter ten years before. Maquinna, the chief, came to welcome him with all his people. Captain Meares went on shore. He said Co-me-ke-la would shortly land. So the I...« less