capable of holding many hundred Inhabitants’. ‘During this Expedition’, crew member Thomas Manby noted, ‘we saw a great many deserted Villages some of them. The first, encountered south of Vancouver Island on the shores of Discovery Bay, was ‘over-run with weeds amongst which were found several human skulls, and other bones, promiscuously scattered about’.Īs Vancouver charted the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the scene repeated itself regularly. Instead, the British navigator found deserted villages. Where, he wondered, were all the natives? The land was abundant, with a seemingly unlimited supply of salmon and fresh water, but there were strikingly few people. Cruising the northwest coastline of America in 1792, Captain George Vancouver was troubled.
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