in Vancouver's Voyage, and yet Vancouver did not find either of these rivers!
June 22, 1792, as Vancouver was returning to his ship, he came on two Spanish naval vessels. He showed the Spanish officers the sketch he had made of his last excursion. Vancouver says: "They seemed much surprised that we had not found a river said to exist in the region we had been exploring, and named by one of their officers Rio Blancho in compliment to the then Prime Minister of Spain; which river these gentlemen had sought for thus far to no purpose."
The Journey of Mackenzie to the Pacific Ocean.
In 1789 Alexander Mackenzie, afterwards knighted for his discoveries, discovered the Mackenzie River. He went down that river to where it flows into the Arctic Ocean. In 1791 he went to London and returned to Canada in the spring of 1792. Very soon after he started with an expedition to cross the continent to the Pacific Ocean. October 10, 1792, he and his party arrived at Fort Chippewayan, on the Lake of the Hills, now known as Lake Athabasca. Into this lake flow the waters of Peace River. With his party he ascended Peace River until November i, 1792, when they came to a place to which Mackenzie had sent ahead two men to begin the preparation of winter quarters. On Mackenzie's map it is called Fork Fort. Its latitude is 56 degrees 9 minutes; its longitude, 117 degrees 35 minutes and 15 seconds, as ascertained by observations made by Mackenzie. Here Mackenzie and his party passed the winter. May 9, 1793, they started again on their journey, ascending Peace river. May 31 they came to the junction of Finlay and Parsnip Rivers, which form Peace River. The expedition ascended Parsnip River to its head waters. After making a short portage, it came to a river, named by Mackenzie Bad River. This river was descended to the place where the latter river joins the great river, which Mackenzie called Tacoutche Tesse (Tesse meaning river) being a name given
