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in an area where the walking would appear easy. This is the big speculation -that Narvaez did in fact land and go overland until he stood on the banks of the Fraser River. It is possible to interpret remarks made by Galiano and Valdes to Vancouver when they met off Spanish Banks to suggest that Narvaez saw the Fraser, but there is no other evidence - and surely Eliza would have noted the sighting in his report. But Narvaez was so confident that there was a major river in the area that it tempting to believe he did land and walk. If Narvaez did see the Fraser by land, it would have been doubly frustrating for him not to be able to locate its mouth from the sea. And quite understandably, he could not. The Fraser is, to begin with, a river with a delta mouth. The delta islands are built by sand deposited by the river itself where contact with the ocean has slowed its current. And beyond the delta islands are great reaches of sand not yet deep enough to appear above the sea, even at low tides. Today we call the great sand banks Roberts Bank and Sturgeon Bank, and mark them stretching four to five miles out to sea. Narvaez was a careful and cautious navigator. His charts show that he took constant soundings, and it is to be expected that he would stand well away from such dangerous waters. He would have had to search for his river mouth from five to six miles out to sea, and at that distance from his small boat he would have seen nothing but apparently unending water. Yet he knew there was a river in the area, even if he could not see its mouth. Eliza reported; It is believed that on the north side there must be some very copious river as, close to the Isla de Zepeda, and for a distance of two leagues, they sailed through a line of white water more sweet than salt. Naryaez could not see his river mouth, but for six miles he could taste its fresh water. Would he have checked the freshness of the water for six miles if he had not known there was a river? Unless his log is found, we will never know. On his chart he left a gap in his tracing of the coast line, marking it "Boca de Florida Blanca" - mouth of the Florida Blanca River. Narvaez moved on to anchor again off the cliffs of Point Grey. The evidence is on his chart. Each anchorage is marked with a small inverted anchor and there are two such anchors off "Isla de Langara". The second anchor and the "island" will be explained later. The next day, Indian canoes Where a canoe bending their the North Arm Major Matthews surmises that Narvaez or a crewman on watch saw' emerge from the apparently solid treeline on the shore opposite, can come out, a long boat can go in. With his twelve oarsmen backs,Narvaez steered his long boat for the spot and so entered of the Fraser. Going upstream, he would have seen the village of Musqueam on his left and Sea Island on his right. And in due course, he would have realized that the land to his right was an island as the river forked around it. Having extended his men enough, Narvaez took the second fork and returned to the sea. Did he do this? Yes, says Major Matthews, he must have. On his own chart, Narvaez delineated Sea Island accurately, something that he could not have down unless he had in fact sailed around it. But he would have realized that he had not found the mouth of his great river as the two arms he had entered could not explain the volume of water necessary to make the sea sweet for six miles. Leaving the riddle of his river unsolved, Narvaez moved around Point Grey and into English Bay. Almost at once there would have been an alarm. The man swinging the lead would report only four brazos and shallowing. ( The brazo was the Spanish fathom, measuring S'A feet. All the depths on the chart are in brazos.) As a result, another anchorage, this time at the edge of Spanish Banks. Again, Major Matthews postulates, Narvaez would leave his ship in safe moorage and carry on his investigations by long boat. His chart indicates that he found and entered False Creek, no doubt hoping it might be the mouth of his great river. It would soon be evident that it was not, but it might well have seemed