THE LOG OF THE PRINCESA 23
the 17th he obtained the bond of Viana and Douglas to sur- render the Iphigenia if the Viceroy should declare her a good prize. The reason for releasing the vessel Martinez gives: it is his lack of men and provisions to take the captured vessel to- San Bias and at the same time secure Nootka. By May 24, he says, "I have reflected thoroughly that a different con- struction could be placed upon the instructions which were presented to me on the 8th inst., by ... Viana, . . . they being written in Portuguese, of which no one in our ship is master." The Iphigenia was released on May 25, after its officers had been admonished to cease trading at Nootka. It is apparent from the above that Manning's criticism (p. 320) that Martinez was silent as to his real reason for releasing the Iphigenia will have to be modified by the log entry for May 24, above cited.
As to the moot question of the quantity of supplies restored to Douglas, the diary gives no information in detail, except to say that on May 31, just before she sailed, the vessel re- ceived "the artillery, balls, powder, and other stores with which she had been fitted," and that the provisions which he furnished her were intended to last for the voyage to the Sandwich Islands. They must have been ample for this, as the Iphigenia spent a month on the coast before departing for Hawaii, as Manning notes.
Concerning the plea recorded by Douglas, made to Martinez, that he had entered Nootka in distress, Martinez says not a word, tho' he does give a circumstantial account (May 8) of the reasons given by Kendrick for entering. Neither is there any hint in| the log that there was unusual objection by the English to the treatment which they received as prisoners. It is regrettable also that neither the first nor the second transla- tions of the instructions to Viana are in the log, as from them might be gathered some knowledge as to what frankness Martinez showed in his effort to understand the situation. We have on this point only the entry of May 24th, above men-
