[101] Although the son of an independent trader, Angus

Shaw was from an early date connected with the North

West Company. In 1789 he built a trading house on

Lac d’Original, Beaver River waters, and in 1792

built Fort George, one of the Saskatchewan posts

better known as “Fort des Prairies.” As one of the

wintering partners of the North West Company, he

signed by attorney the Montreal agreement of 1804,

by which the X Y Company was absorbed. In 1819 he

was one of the North West partners captured by the

agents of the Hudson’s Bay Company; after some

months’ imprisonment he was sent to England, and

there released. Shaw was nicknamed “Monsieur Le

Chat,” apparently a pun on his name.--ED.

[102] Alexander Stuart was in charge of a post on Lesser

Slave Lake in 1806 or earlier. During the summer of

1814 he brought his family to the Columbia. He was

at Spokane House, Okanagan, and Fort George until

September, 1815, when he again took charge of the

Lesser Slave Lake station.--ED.

[103] Alexander Henry--called “the younger” to distinguish

him from his uncle of the same name--was for fifteen

years a winterer of the North West Company, chiefly

in the Saskatchewan country. From the time of his

first venture (1799) until the day preceding his

death by drowning in the mouth of the Columbia (May

22, 1814), he kept a journal, which is valuable as

a source of information in regard to the Indians

and traders of that period in the Western regions

of Canada. See _Henry-Thompson Journals_ (Coues,

ed.).--ED.

[104] John McDonald of Garth--nicknamed “Bras Croche”

(Crooked arm), from a deformity due to an

accident--was a Scotch Highlander who came to Canada

in 1791, at the age of seventeen. He was in the

Western country, chiefly in the Saskatchewan, almost

continuously from 1791 to 1812. In the latter year

he returned to England, but left in February, 1813,

for the Columbia River. He was in the party, with

Franchère, which left Fort George April 4, 1814

(see chapter xxi, _post_). In 1816 McDonald retired

from the company and settled in Upper Canada, where

he lived until 1860. In 1859, he wrote a brief

sketch of his life. See Masson, _Les Bourgeois de

la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest_ (Quebec, 1890), ii, pp.

1-59.--ED.

[105] David Porter was born in Boston, February 1, 1780.

In 1799, when a midshipman on the “Constellation,”

he took part in her combat with the “Insurgente.” In

1799 he became lieutenant, and served in the West

Indies. During the Barbary War he led the expedition

which destroyed several vessels in the harbor of

Tripoli. In the War of 1812-15, he commanded the

Essex on her famous cruise. After the peace treaty,

he was a member of the board of navy commissioners

until 1823, when he resigned to command an

expedition against the West India pirates. From

1826 to 1829 Porter was commander-in-chief of the

Mexican navy, and later became United States consul

general to the Barbary states. From that position he

was transferred to Constantinople, first as chargé

d’affaires and then as minister, dying there in

1843.--ED.

[106] For a contemporary account of the voyage of the

“Isaac Todd” and the “Raccoon,” see McDonald’s

“Reminiscences” in Masson, _Bourgeois_, ii, pp.

43-49.--ED.

[107] McDonald contradicts this testimony of Franchère,

saying: “I heard of no expectation of prize money,

nor disappointment in any respect. The force was

sent to fulfil a duty to the North-West Company; it

was no government measure.”--ED.

{205} CHAPTER XVI

Expeditions to the Interior--Return of Messrs. John Stuart and D.

M’Kenzie--Theft committed by the Natives--War Party against the

Thieves.

On the 3d of January, 1814, two canoes laden with merchandise for

the interior, were despatched under the command of Mr. Alexander

Stuart and Mr. James Keith, with fifteen men under them.[108] Two of

the latter were charged with letters for the posts (of the Northwest

Company) east of the mountains, containing instructions to the

persons in superintendence there, to have in readiness canoes and

the requisite provisions for a large party intending to go east the

ensuing spring. I took this opportunity of advising my friends in

Canada of my intention to return home that season. It was the third

attempt I had made to send news of my existence {206} to my relatives

and friends: the first two had miscarried and this was doomed to meet

the same fate.

Messrs. J. Stuart and M’Kenzie, who (as was seen in a previous

chapter) had been sent to notify the gentlemen in the interior of

what had taken place in Astoria, and to transfer the wintering posts

to the Northwest Company, returned to Fort George on the morning of

the 6th. They stated that they had left Messrs. Clarke and D. Stuart

behind, with the loaded canoes, and also that the party had been

attacked by the natives above the falls.

As they were descending the river toward evening, between the first

and second portages, they had espied a large number of Indians

congregated at no great distance in the prairie; which gave them some

uneasiness. In fact, some time after they had encamped, and when all

the people (_tout le monde_) were asleep, except Mr. Stuart, who

was on guard, these savages had stealthily approached the camp,

and discharged some arrows, one of which had penetrated the {207}

coverlet of one of the men, who was lying near the baggage, and had

pierced the cartilage of his ear; the pain made him utter a sharp

cry, which alarmed the whole camp and threw it into an uproar. The

natives perceiving it, fled to the woods, howling and yelling like

so many demons. In the morning our people picked up eight arrows

round the camp: they could yet hear the savages yell and whoop in the

woods: but, notwithstanding, the party reached the lower end of the

portage unmolested.

The audacity which these barbarians had displayed in attacking a

party of from forty to forty-five persons, made us suppose that they

would, much more probably, attack the party of Mr. Stuart, which was

composed of but seventeen men. Consequently, I received orders to get

ready forthwith a canoe and firearms, in order to proceed to their

relief. The whole was ready in the short space of two hours, and I

embarked immediately with a guide and eight men. Our instructions

were to use all possible diligence to overtake Messrs. Stewart and

Keith, and to {208} convey them to the upper end of the last portage;

or to return with the goods, if we met too much resistance on the

part of the natives. We travelled, then, all that day, and all the

night of the 6th, and on the 7th, till evening. Finding ourselves

then at a little distance from the rapids, I came to a halt, to

put the firearms in order, and let the men take some repose. About

midnight I caused them to re-embark, and ordered the men to sing as

they rowed, that the party whom we wished to overtake might hear us

as we passed, if perchance they were encamped on some one of the

islands of which the river is full in this part. In fact, we had

hardly proceeded five or six miles, when we were hailed by some

one apparently in the middle of the stream. We stopped rowing, and

answered, and were soon joined by our people of the expedition, who

were all descending the river in a canoe. They informed us that they

had been attacked the evening before, and that Mr. Stuart had been

wounded. We turned about, and all proceeded in company toward the

fort. In the morning, when {209} we stopped to breakfast, Mr. Keith

gave me the particulars of the affair of the day preceding.

Having arrived at the foot of the rapids, they commenced the

portage on the south bank of the river, which is obstructed with

boulders, over which it was necessary to pass the effects. After

they had hauled over the two canoes, and a part of the goods, the

natives approached in great numbers, trying to carry off something

unobserved. Mr. Stuart was at the upper end of the portage (the

portage being about six hundred yards in length), and Mr. Keith

accompanied the loaded men. An Indian seized a bag containing

articles of little value, and fled: Mr. Stuart, who saw the act,

pursued the thief, and after some resistance on the latter’s part,

succeeded in making him relinquish his booty. Immediately he saw a

number of Indians armed with bows and arrows, approaching him: one of

them bent his bow and took aim; Mr. Stuart, on his part, levelled his

gun at the Indian, warning the latter not to shoot, and at the same

instant received an arrow, which pierced his left shoulder. {210} He

then drew the trigger; but as it had rained all day, the gun missed

fire, and before he could re-prime, another arrow, better aimed than

the first, struck him in the left side and penetrated between two of

his ribs, in the region of the heart, and would have proved fatal, no

doubt, but for a stone-pipe he had fortunately in his side-pocket,

and which was broken by the arrow; at the same moment his gun was

discharged, and the Indian fell dead. Several others then rushed

forward to avenge the death of their compatriot; but two of the men

came up with their loads and their gun (for these portages were made

arms in hand), and seeing what was going forward, one of them threw

his pack on the ground, fired on one of the Indians and brought him

down. He got up again, however, and picked up his weapons, but the

other man ran upon him, wrested from him his war-club, and despatched

him by repeated blows on the head with it. The other savages, seeing

the bulk of our people approaching the scene of combat, retired

and crossed the river. In the meantime, {211} Mr. Stuart extracted

the arrows from his body, by the aid of one of the men: the blood

flowed in abundance from the wounds, and he saw that it would be

impossible for him to pursue his journey; he therefore gave orders

for the canoes and goods to be carried back to the lower end of the

portage.[109] Presently they saw a great number of pirogues full

of warriors coming from the opposite side of the river. Our people

then considered that they could do nothing better than to get away

as fast as possible; they contrived to transport over one canoe, on

which they all embarked, abandoning the other and the goods, to the

natives. While the barbarians were plundering these effects, more

precious in their estimation than the apples of gold in the garden of

the Hesperides, our party retired and got out of sight. The retreat

was, notwithstanding, so precipitate, that they left behind an Indian

from the Lake of the Two Mountains, who was in the service of the

Company as a hunter.[110] This Indian had persisted in concealing

himself behind the rocks, meaning, he said, to kill some of those

{212} thieves, and did not return in time for the embarkation.

Mr. Keith regretted this brave man’s obstinacy, fearing, with good

reason, that he would be discovered and murdered by the natives. We

rowed all that day and night, and reached the factory on the 9th, at

sunrise. Our first care, after having announced the misfortune of our

people, was to dress the wounds of Mr. Stuart, which had been merely

bound with a wretched piece of cotton cloth.

The goods which had been abandoned, were of consequence to the

Company, inasmuch as they could not be replaced. It was dangerous,

besides, to leave the natives in possession of some fifty guns and

a considerable quantity of ammunition, which they might use against

us.[111] The partners, therefore, decided to fit out an expedition

immediately to chastise the robbers, or at least to endeavor to

recover the goods. I went, by their order, to find the principal

chiefs of the neighboring tribes, to explain to them what had {213}

taken place, and invite them to join us, to which they willingly

consented. Then, having got ready six canoes, we re-embarked on the

10th, to the number of sixty-two men, all armed from head to foot,

and provided with a small brass field-piece.

We soon reached the lower end of the first rapid: but the essential

thing was wanting to our little force; it was without provisions; our

first care then was to try to procure these. Having arrived opposite

a village, we perceived on the bank about thirty armed savages, who

seemed to await us firmly. As it was not our policy to seem bent on

hostilities, we landed on the opposite bank, and I crossed the river

with five or six men, to enter into parley with them, and try to

obtain provisions. I immediately became aware that the village was

abandoned, the women and children having fled to the woods, taking

with them all the articles of food. The young men, however, offered

us dogs, of which we purchased a score. Then we passed to a second

village, where they were already informed {214} of our coming. Here

we bought forty-five dogs and a horse. With this stock we formed an

encampment on an island called _Strawberry island_.[112]

Seeing ourselves now provided with food for several days, we informed

the natives touching the motives which had brought us, and announced

to them that we were determined to put them all to death and burn

their villages, if they did not bring back in two days the effects

stolen on the 7th. A party was detached to the rapids, where the

attack on Mr. Stuart had taken place. We found the villages all

deserted. Crossing to the north bank, we found a few natives, of

whom we made inquiries respecting the Nipissingue Indian, who had

been left behind, but they assured us that they had seen nothing of

him.[113]

{215} Not having succeeded in recovering, above the rapids, any part

of the lost goods, the inhabitants all protesting that it was not

they, but the villages below, which had perpetrated the robbery, we

descended the river again and re-encamped on _Strawberry island_. As

the intention of the partners was to intimidate the natives, without

(if possible) shedding blood, we made a display of our numbers, and

from time to time fired off our little field-piece, to let them see

that we could reach them from one side of the river to the other.

The Indian _Coalpo_ and his wife, who had accompanied us, advised

us to make prisoner one of the chiefs. We succeeded in this design,

without incurring any danger. Having invited one of the natives

to come and smoke with us, he came accordingly: a little after,

came another; at last, one of the chiefs, and he one of the most

considered among them, also came. Being notified secretly of his

character {216} by _Coalpo_, who was concealed in the tent, we seized

him forthwith, tied him to a stake, and placed a guard over him with

a naked sword, as if ready to cut his head off on the least attempt

being made by his people for his liberation. The other Indians were

then suffered to depart with the news for his tribe, that unless the

goods were brought to us in twenty-four hours, their chief would be

put to death. Our stratagem succeeded: soon after we heard wailing

and lamentation in the village, and they presently brought us part

of the guns, some brass kettles, and a variety of smaller articles,

protesting that this was all their share of the plunder. Keeping our

chief as a hostage, we passed to the other village, and succeeded in

recovering the rest of the guns, and about a third of the other goods.

Although they had been the aggressors, yet as they had had two

men killed and we had not lost any on our side, we thought it our

duty to conform to the usage of the country, and abandon to them

the remainder of the stolen effects, to cover, according to their

expression, {217} the bodies of their two slain compatriots.[114]

Besides, we began to find ourselves short of provisions, and it

would not have been easy to get at our enemies to punish them, if

they had taken refuge in the woods, according to their custom when

they feel themselves the weaker party. So we released our prisoner,

and gave him a flag, telling him that when he presented it unfurled,

we should regard it as a sign of peace and friendship: but if, when

we were passing the portage, any one of the natives should have the

misfortune to come near the baggage, we would kill him on the spot.

We re-embarked on the 19th, and on the 22d reached the fort, where we

made a report of our martial expedition. We found Mr. Stuart very ill

of his wounds, especially of the one in the side, which was so much

swelled that he had every reason to think the arrow had been poisoned.

If we did not do the savages as much harm as we might have done,

it was not from timidity but from humanity, and in order not to

shed human blood uselessly.[115] For after all, what good would

{218} it have done us to have slaughtered some of these barbarians,

whose crime was not the effect of depravity and wickedness, but of

an ardent and irresistible desire to ameliorate their condition?

It must be allowed also that the interest, well-understood, of the

partners of the Northwest Company, was opposed to too strongly marked

acts of hostility on their part: it behooved them exceedingly not

to make irreconciliable enemies of the populations neighboring on

the portages of the Columbia, which they would so often be obliged

to pass and repass in future. It is also probable that the other

natives on the banks, as well as of the river as of the sea, would

not have seen with indifference, their countrymen too signally or

too rigorously punished by strangers; and that they would have made

common cause with the former to resist the latter, and perhaps even

to drive them from the country.

I must not omit to state that all the firearms surrendered by the

Indians on this occasion, were found loaded with ball, and primed,

with {219} a little piece of cotton laid over the priming to keep

the powder dry. This shows how soon they would acquire the use of

guns, and how careful traders should be in intercourse with strange

Indians, not to teach them their use.

[108] James was a brother of George Keith, prominent in

the Athabasca department of the North West Company,

and after 1821 chief factor for the Hudson’s Bay

Company. James is chiefly known for his services on

the Columbia, whither he arrived as clerk in 1813.

His journeys are typical. In March, 1814, he left

Fort George for an exploring expedition into the

interior. In August of the same year, he started

with despatches for the East, and having crossed the

Rocky Mountains was in November again at the mouth

of the Columbia. The next summer finds him at Fort

William, on Lake Superior. By October, 1815, he had

reached Spokane House, and thence went down to Fort

George, returning to Okanagan in January, 1816. From

there he disappears from notice.--ED.

[109] Stuart never entirely recovered from the effect of

these wounds.--ED.

[110] The North West Company employed as hunters and

porters many Indians from the Canadian missions.

Henry gives the name of this Indian as Jean Baptiste

Saganakee.

For the mission at the Lake of Two Mountains, see

J. Long’s _Voyages_, vol. ii of our series, note

29.--ED.

[111] However, some cases of guns and kegs of powder

were thrown into the falls, before the party

retreated.--FRANCHÈRE.

[112] Strawberry Island was so named by Lewis and Clark.

It is situated at the foot of the Cascades, near the

present town of Cascade, Washington.--ED.

[113] This Indian returned some time after to the factory,

but in a pitiable condition. After the departure of

the canoe, he had concealed himself behind a rock,

and so passed the night. At daybreak, fearing to be

discovered, he gained the woods and directed his

steps toward the fort, across a mountainous region.

He arrived at length at the bank of a little stream,

which he was at first unable to cross. Hunger, in

the meantime, began to urge him; he might have

appeased it with game, of which he saw plenty, but

unfortunately he had lost the flint of his gun. At

last, with a raft of sticks, he crossed the river,

and arrived at a village, the inhabitants of which

disarmed him, and made him prisoner. Our people

hearing where he was, sent to seek him, and gave

some blankets for his ransom.--FRANCHÈRE.

[114] The custom of “covering the dead”--that is, paying

a ransom to the relatives of a murdered man to

appease their just vengeance--was common to all the

American tribes. For an example of this custom among

the tribes upon the Mississippi, see _Wisconsin

Historical Collections_, xvii, “Narrative of De

Boucherville.”--ED.

[115] This expedition appears to have been curiously

mismanaged, and to have excited the ridicule of

the Indians. Ross, volume vii of our series, gives

another account. The detailed narrative of the

leader is in _Henry-Thompson Journals_, ii, pp.

790-810.--ED.

{220} CHAPTER XVII

Description of Tongue Point--A Trip to the _Willamet_--Arrival of

W. Hunt in the Brig Pedlar--Narrative of the Loss of the Ship

Lark--Preparations for crossing the Continent.

The new proprietors of our establishment, being dissatisfied with the

site we had chosen, came to the determination to change it; after

surveying both sides of the river, they found no better place than

the head-land which we had named Tongue point.[116] This point, or to

speak more accurately, perhaps, this cape, extends about a quarter

of a mile into the river, being connected with the mainland by a

low, narrow neck, over which the Indians, in stormy weather, haul

their canoes in passing up and down the river; and terminating in an

almost perpendicular rock, of about 250 or 300 feet elevation. This

bold summit was covered with a dense {221} forest of pine trees;

the ascent from the lower neck was gradual and easy; it abounded in

springs of the finest water; on either side it had a cove to shelter

the boats necessary for a trading establishment. This peninsula had

truly the appearance of a huge tongue. Astoria had been built nearer

the ocean, but the advantages offered by Tongue point more than

compensated for its greater distance. Its soil, in the rainy season,

could be drained with little or no trouble; it was a better position

to guard against attacks on the part of the natives, and less exposed

to that of civilized enemies by sea or land in time of war.

All the hands who had returned from the interior, added to those who

were already at the Fort, consumed, in an incredibly short space

of time the small stock of provisions which had been conveyed by

the Pacific Fur Company to the Company of the Northwest. It became

a matter of necessity, therefore, to seek some spot where a part,

at least, could be sent to subsist. With these views I left the

fort on the 7th February {222} with a number of men, belonging to

the old concern, and who had refused to enter the service of the

new one, to proceed to the establishment on the _Willamet_ river,

under the charge of Mr. Alexander Henry, who had with him a number

of first-rate hunters.[117] Leaving the Columbia to ascend the

_Willamet_, I found the banks on either side of that stream well

wooded, but low and swampy, until I reached the first falls; having

passed which, by making a portage, I commenced ascending a clear

but moderately deep channel, against a swift current. The banks on

either side were bordered with forest-trees, but behind that narrow

belt, diversified with prairie, the landscape was magnificent; the

hills were of moderate elevation, and rising in an amphitheatre. Deer

and elk are found here in great abundance; and the post in charge

of Mr. Henry had been established with a view of keeping constantly

there a number of hunters to prepare dried venison for the use of the

factory. On our arrival at the Columbia, considering the latitude, we

had expected severe winter weather, {223} such as is experienced in

the same latitudes east; but we were soon undeceived; the mildness of

the climate never permitted us to transport fresh provisions from the

Willamet to Astoria. We had not a particle of salt; and the attempts

we made to smoke or dry the venison proved abortive.

Having left the men under my charge with Mr. Henry, I took leave of

that gentleman, and returned. At Oak point I found Messrs. Keith and

Pillet encamped, to pass there the season of sturgeon-fishing. They

informed me that I was to stay with them.

Accordingly I remained at Oak point the rest of the winter, occupied

in trading with the Indians spread all along the river for some 30

or 40 miles above, in order to supply the factory with provisions.

I used to take a boat with four or five men, visit every fishing

station, trade for as much fish as would load the boat, and send her

down to the fort. The surplus fish traded in the interval between the

departure and return of the boat, was cut up, salted and barrelled

for {224} future use. The salt had been recently obtained from a

quarter to be presently mentioned.

About the middle of March Messrs. Keith and Pillet both left me

and returned to the fort. Being now alone, I began seriously to

reflect on my position, and it was in this interval that I positively

decided to return to Canada. I made inquiries of the men sent up

with the boats for fish, concerning the preparations for departure,

but whether they had been enjoined secrecy, or were unwilling to

communicate, I could learn nothing of what was doing below.

At last I heard that on the 28th February a sail had appeared at

the mouth of the river. The gentlemen of the N. W. Company at

first flattered themselves that it was the vessel they had so long

expected. They were soon undeceived by a letter from Mr. Hunt,

which was brought to the fort by the Indians of _Baker’s bay_. That

gentleman had purchased at the Marquesas islands a brig called _The

Pedlar_: it was on that vessel that he arrived, having for pilot

Captain Northrop, formerly commander of {225} the ship _Lark_. The

latter vessel had been outfitted by Mr. Astor, and despatched from

New York, in spite of the blockading squadron, with supplies for the

_ci-devant_ Pacific Fur Company; but unhappily she had been assailed

by a furious tempest and capsized in lat. 16° N., and three or four

hundred miles from the Sandwich Islands. The mate, who was sick, was

drowned in the cabin, and four of the crew perished at the same time.

The captain had the masts and rigging cut away, which caused the

vessel to right again, though full of water. One of the hands dived

down to the sail-maker’s locker, and got out a small sail, which they

attached to the bowsprit. He dived a second time, and brought up a

box containing a dozen bottles of wine. For thirteen days they had

no other sustenance but the flesh of a small shark, which they had

the good fortune to take, and which they ate raw, and for drink, a

gill of the wine each man _per diem_. At last the trade winds carried

them upon the island of _Tahouraka_, where the vessel went to pieces

on the reef. The islanders saved the crew, and {226} seized all the

goods which floated on the water. Mr. Hunt was then at _Wahoo_, and

learned through some islanders from _Morotoi_, that some Americans

had been wrecked on the isle of _Tahouraka_. He went immediately to

take them off, and gave the pilotage of his own vessel to Captain

Northrop.[118]

It may be imagined what was the surprise of Mr. Hunt when he saw

Astoria under the British flag, and passed into stranger hands. But

the misfortune was beyond remedy, and he was obliged to content

himself with taking on board all the Americans who were at the

establishment, and who had not entered the service of the Company of

the Northwest. Messrs. Halsey, Seton, and Farnham were among those

who embarked. I shall have occasion to inform the reader of the part

each of them played, and how they reached their homes.

When I heard that Mr. Hunt was in the river, and knowing that the

overland expedition was to set out early in April, I raised camp at

Oak point, and reached the fort on the 2d of that month. But the brig

_Pedlar_ had that very day {227} got outside the river, after several

fruitless attempts, in one of which she narrowly missed being lost on

the bar.

I would gladly have gone in her, had I but arrived a day sooner. I

found, however, all things prepared for the departure of the canoes,

which was to take place on the 4th. I got ready the few articles

I possessed, and in spite of the very advantageous offers of the

gentlemen of the N. W. Company, and their reiterated persuasions,

aided by the crafty M’Dougal, to induce me to remain, at least

one year more, I persisted in my resolution to leave the country.

The journey I was about to undertake was a long one: it would be

accompanied with great fatigues and many privations, and even by some

dangers; but I was used to privations and fatigues; I had braved

dangers of more than one sort; and even had it been otherwise, the

ardent desire of revisiting my country, my relatives, and my friends,

the hope of finding myself, in a few months, in their midst, would

have made me overlook every other consideration.

{228} I am about, then, to quit the banks of the river Columbia, and

conduct the reader through the mountain passes, over the plains, the

forests, and the lakes of our continent: but I ought first to give

him at least an idea of the manners and customs of the inhabitants,

as well as of the principal productions of the country that I now

quit, after a sojourn of three years. This is what I shall try to do

in the following chapters.[119]

[116] Henry says that the partners had decided to remove

to the mouth of the Willamette, but could find no

suitable building site below Point Vancouver, which

was considered too high up the river. Thereupon,

this house at Tongue Point was begun.--ED.

[117] Franchère here makes a slip of the pen. The fort

on the Willamette was in charge of William Henry,

Alexander’s cousin. William was a son of Alexander

Henry, the elder, being born in Montreal about 1783.

Entering the North West Company’s service as clerk,

he was stationed in Manitoba (1801-09). The next

year, he was sent to command at Cumberland House,

Athabasca, and thence removed to Columbia waters,

where Thompson found him in 1812. He remained at his

Willamette post until 1816, being then transferred

to Slave Lake. After the North West Company was

merged in the Hudson’s Bay (1821), Henry removed

to Montreal, and became surveyor and engineer.

About 1848 he went to live at Newmarket, Ontario,

where he died in 1864. For his portrait, see Henry,

_Travels and Adventures_ (Bain, ed., Boston, 1901),

preface. The location of his Willamette post has not

definitely been determined. It was a short distance

above Pudding River. See _Henry-Thompson Journals_,

p. 815.--ED.

[118] The wreck of the “Lark” is described in more detail

by Henry (_Henry-Thompson Journals_, pp. 845-848),

who doubtless had his account directly from Captain

Northrop. “Morotoi” Island is the present Molokai;

“Tahouraka” is Maui.--ED.

[119] Some of my readers would, no doubt, desire some

scientific details on the botany and natural

history of this country. That is, in fact, what

they ought to expect from a man who had traveled

for his pleasure, or to make discoveries: but the

object of my travels was not of this description; my

occupations had no relation with science; and, as I

have said in my preface, I was not, and am not now,

either a naturalist or a botanist.--FRANCHÈRE.

{229} CHAPTER XVIII

Situation of the Columbia River--Qualities of its Soil--Climate,

&c.--Vegetable and Animal Productions of the Country.

The mouth of the Columbia river is situated in 46° 19′ north

latitude, and 125° or 126° of longitude west of the meridian of

Greenwich. The highest tides are very little over nine or ten feet,

at its entrance, and are felt up stream for a distance of twenty-five

or thirty leagues.

During the three years I spent there, the cold never was much below

the freezing point; and I do not think the heat ever exceeded 76°.

Westerly winds prevail from the early part of spring, and during a

part of the summer; that wind generally springs up with the flood

tide, and tempers the heat of the day. The northwest wind prevails

during the latter part of summer and commencement {230} of autumn.

This last is succeeded by a southeast wind, which blows almost

without intermission from the beginning of October to the end of

December, or commencement of January. This interval is the rainy

season, the most disagreeable of the year. Fogs (so thick that

sometimes for days no object is discernible for five or six hundred

yards from the beach), are also very prevalent.

The surface of the soil consists (in the valleys) of a layer of

black vegetable mould, about five or six inches thick at most; under

this layer is found another of gray and loose, but extremely cold

earth; below which is a bed of coarse sand and gravel, and next to

that pebble or hard rock. On the more elevated parts, the same black

vegetable mould is found, but much thinner, and under it is the trap

rock. We found along the seashore, south of Point Adams, a bank of

earth white as chalk, which we used for whitewashing our walls. The

natives also brought us several specimens of blue, red and yellow

earth or clay, which they said was to be found at a great distance

{231} south; and also a sort of shining earth, resembling lead

ore.[120] We found no limestone, although we burnt several kilns, but

never could get one ounce of lime.

We had brought with us from New York a variety of garden seeds, which

were put in the ground in the month of May, 1811, on a rich piece

of land laid out for the purpose on a sloping ground in front of

our establishment. The garden had a fine appearance in the month

of August; but although the plants were left in the ground until

December, not one of them came to maturity, with the exception of

the radishes, the turnips, and the potatoes. The turnips grew to a

prodigious size; one of the largest we had the curiosity to weigh

and measure; its circumference was thirty-three inches, its weight

fifteen and a half pounds. The radishes were in full blossom in the

month of December, and were left in the ground to perfect the seeds

for the ensuing season, but they were all destroyed by the ground

mice, who hid themselves under the stumps which {232} we had not

rooted out, and infested our garden. With all the care we could

bestow on them during the passage from New York, only twelve potatoes

were saved, and even these so shrivelled up, that we despaired of

raising any from the few sprouts that still gave signs of life.

Nevertheless we raised one hundred and ninety potatoes the first

season, and after sparing a few plants for our inland traders, we

planted about fifty or sixty hills, which produced five bushels the

second year; about two of these were planted, and gave us a welcome

crop of fifty bushels the year 1813.

It would result from these facts, that the soil on the banks of

the river, as far as tide water, or for a distance of fifty or

sixty miles, is very little adapted for agriculture; at all events,

vegetation is very slow. It may be that the soil is not everywhere so

cold as the spot we selected for our garden, and some other positions

might have given a better reward for our labor: this supposition

is rendered more than probable when we take into consideration the

great difference in {233} the indigenous vegetables of the country in

different localities.

The forest trees most common at the mouth of the river and near our

establishment, were cedar, hemlock, white and red spruce, and alder.

There were a few dwarf white and gray ashes; and here and there a

soft maple. The alder grows also to a very large size; I measured

some of twelve to fifteen inches diameter; the wood was used by us

in preference, to make charcoal for the blacksmith’s forge. But the

largest of all the trees that I saw in the country, was a white

spruce: this tree, which had lost its top branches, and bore evident

marks of having been struck by lightning, was a mere, straight trunk

of about eighty to one hundred feet in height; its bark whitened by

age, made it very conspicuous among the other trees with their brown

bark and dark foliage, like a huge column of white marble. It stood

on a slope of a hill immediately in the rear of our palisades. Seven

of us placed ourselves round its trunk, and we could not embrace

it by extending our arms and touching merely the {234} tips of our

fingers; we measured it afterward in a more regular manner, and found

it forty-two feet in circumference. It kept the same size, or nearly

the same, to the very top.

We had it in contemplation at one time to construct a circular

staircase to its summit, and erect a platform thereon for an

observatory, but more necessary and pressing demands on our time made

us abandon the project.

A short distance above Astoria, the oak and ash are plentiful, but

neither of these is of much value or beauty.

From the middle of June to the middle of October, we had abundance of

wild fruit; first, strawberries, almost white, small but very sweet;

then raspberries, both red and orange color. These grow on a bush

sometimes twelve feet in height: they are not sweet, but of a large

size.

The months of July and August furnish a small berry of an agreeable,

slightly acid flavor; this berry grows on a slender bush of some

eight to nine feet high, with small round leaves; they are in size

like a wild cherry: some are blue, while {235} others are of a

cherry red: the last being smaller; they have no pits, or stones in

them, but seeds, such as are to be seen in currants.[121]

I noticed in the month of August another berry growing in bunches or

grapes like the currant, on a bush very similar to the currant bush:

the leaves of this shrub resemble those of the laurel: they are very

thick and always green. The fruit is oblong, and disposed in two rows

on the stem: the extremity of the berry is open, having a little

speck or tuft like that of an apple. It is not of a particularly

fine flavor, but it is wholesome, and one may eat a quantity of

it, without inconvenience. The natives make great use of it; they

prepare it for the winter by bruising and drying it; after which it

is moulded into cakes according to fancy, and laid up for use.[122]

There is also a great abundance of cranberries, which proved very

useful as an antiscorbutic.

We found also the whortleberry, chokecherries, gooseberries, and

black currants with wild crab-apples: these last grow in clusters,

are of small size and very tart. On the upper part of {236} the

river are found blackberries, hazel-nuts, acorns, &c. The country

also possesses a great variety of nutritive roots: the natives make

great use of those which have the virtue of curing or preventing the

scurvy. We ate freely of them with the same intention, and with the

same success. One of these roots, which much resembles a small onion,

serves them, in some sort, in place of cheese. Having gathered a

sufficient quantity, they bake them with red-hot stones, until the

steam ceases to ooze from the layer of grass and earth with which

the roots are covered; then they pound them into a paste, and make

the paste into loaves, of five or six pounds weight: the taste is

not unlike liquorice, but not of so sickly a sweetness.[123] When

we made our first voyage up the river the natives gave us square

biscuits, very well worked, and printed with different figures. These

are made of a white root, pounded, reduced to paste, and dried in the

sun. They call it _Chapaleel_: it is not very palatable, nor very

nutritive.

But the principal food of the natives of the Columbia {237} is

fish. The salmon-fishery begins in July: that fish is here of an

exquisite flavor, but it is extremely fat and oily; which renders it

unwholesome for those who are not accustomed to it, and who eat too

great a quantity:[124] thus several of our people were attacked with

diarrhœa in a few days after we began to make this fish our ordinary

sustenance; but they found a remedy in the raspberries of the country

which have an astringent property.

The months of August and September furnish excellent sturgeon. This

fish varies exceedingly in size; I have seen some eleven feet long;

and we took one that weighed, after the removal of the eggs and

intestines, three hundred and ninety pounds. We took out nine gallons

of roe. The sturgeon does not enter the river in so great quantities

as the salmon.

In October and November we had salmon too, but of a quite different

species--lean, dry and insipid. It differs from the other sort in

form also; having very long teeth, and a hooked nose like the beak of

a parrot. Our men termed it in {238} derision “seven bark salmon,”

because it had almost no nutritive substance.[125]

February brings a small fish about the size of a sardine. It has an

exquisite flavor, and is taken in immense quantities, by means of

a scoop net, which the Indians, seated in canoes, plunge into the

schools: but the season is short, not even lasting two weeks.[126]

The principal quadrupeds of the country are the elk, the black and

white tailed deer; four species of bear, distinguished chiefly by

the color of the fur or _poil_, to wit, the black, brown, white and

grisly bear; the grisly bear is extremely ferocious; the white is

found on the seashore toward the north; the wolf, the panther, the

catamount, the lynx, the raccoon, the ground hog, opossum, mink,

fisher, beaver, and the land and sea otter.[127] The sea otter has

the handsomest fur that is known; the skin surpasses that of the land

variety in size and in the beauty of the _poil_; the most esteemed

color is the silver gray, {239} which is highly prized in the Indies,

and commands a great price.[128]

The most remarkable birds are the eagle, the turkey-buzzard, the

hawk, pelican, heron, gull, cormorant, crane, swan, and a great

variety of wild ducks and geese. The pigeon, woodcock, and pheasant,

are found in the forests as with us.

[120] Plumbago.--FRANCHÈRE.

[121] The blue or purple berry is that which Lewis

and Clark call the shallum, better known as the

salal-berry (_Gaultheria shallon_). The red berries

are those which the explorers designated as solme

(_Smilacina sessilifolia_). See descriptions

in _Original Journals of Lewis and Clark

Expedition_.--ED.

[122] The plant which Lewis and Clark call sacacommis,

otherwise known as the bearberry (_Arctostaphylos

uva-ursi_), the leaves of which are used in the

preparation of Indian tobacco.--ED.

[123] The root of the edible thistle, called by Lewis

and Clark channetakque (shanataque, _Cnicus

edulis_).--ED.

[124] The well-known quinnat (_Oncorhynchus chavicha_),

the salmon of the Pacific Coast, whose average

weight is twenty-two pounds, although often

attaining seventy. The spring run begins earlier

than Franchère states, varying however with the

season.--ED.

[125] Probably the dog-salmon (_Oncorhynchus keta_),

which is meagre when it runs up the rivers in the

fall.--ED.

[126] This is the small fish (_Osmerus thaleichthys_),

minutely described and portrayed by Lewis and Clark.

See _Original Journals_.--ED.

[127] Horses are abundant up the river; but they are not

indigenous to the country. They will be spoken of in

a future chapter.--FRANCHÈRE.

[128] Lewis and Clark describe all these animals, save the

“white bear,” by which term Franchère apparently

refers to the polar bear. The sea-otter (_Enhydris

marina_) has become rare.--ED.

{240} CHAPTER XIX

Manners, Custom, Occupations, &c., of the Natives on the River

Columbia

The natives inhabiting on the Columbia, from the mouth of that river

to the falls, that is to say, on a space extending about 250 miles

from east to west, are, generally speaking, of low stature, few of

them passing five feet six inches, and many not even five feet. They

pluck out the beard, in the manner of the other Indians of North

America; but a few of the old men only suffer a tuft to grow upon

their chins. On arriving among them we were exceedingly surprised to

see that they had almost all flattened heads. This configuration is

not a natural deformity, but an effect of art, caused by compression

of the skull in infancy. It shocks strangers extremely, especially

at {241} first sight; nevertheless, among these barbarians it is an

indispensable ornament: and when we signified to them how much this

mode of flattening the forehead appeared to us to violate nature

and good taste, they answered that it was only slaves who had not

their heads flattened. The slaves, in fact, have the usual rounded

head, and they are not permitted to flatten the foreheads of their

children, destined to bear the chains of their sires. The natives of

the Columbia procure these slaves from the neighboring tribes, and

from the interior, in exchange for beads and furs. They treat them

with humanity while their services are useful, but as soon as they

become incapable of labor, neglect them and suffer them to perish of

want. When dead, they throw their bodies, without ceremony, under

the stump of an old decayed tree, or drag them to the woods to be

devoured by the wolves and vultures.

The Indians of the Columbia are of a light copper color, active in

body, and, above all, excellent swimmers. They are addicted to

theft, or rather, they make no scruple of laying hands on {242}

whatever suits them in the property of strangers, whenever they can

find an opportunity. The goods and effects of European manufacture

are so precious in the eyes of these barbarians, that they rarely

resist the temptation of stealing them.

These savages are not addicted to intemperance, unlike, in that

respect the other American Indians, if we must not also except

the Patagonians, who, like the Flatheads, regard intoxicating

drinks as poisons, and drunkenness as disgraceful. I will relate a

fact in point: one of the sons of the chief Comcomly being at the

establishment one day, some of the gentlemen amused themselves with

making him drink wine, and he was very soon drunk. He was sick in

consequence, and remained in a state of stupor for two days. The old

chief came to reproach us, saying that we had degraded his son by

exposing him to the ridicule of the slaves, and besought us not to

induce him to take strong liquors in future.

The men go entirely naked, not concealing any part of their bodies.

Only in winter they throw {243} over the shoulders a panther’s

skin, or else a sort of mantle made of the skins of wood-rats sewed

together.[129] In rainy weather I have seen them wear a mantle of

rush mats, like a Roman toga, or the vestment which a priest wears

in celebrating mass; thus equipped, and furnished with a conical hat

made from fibrous roots and impermeable, they may call themselves

rain-proof.[130] The women, in addition to the mantle of skins, wear

a petticoat made of the cedar bark, which they attach round the

girdle, and which reaches to the middle of the thigh. It is a little

longer behind than before, and is fabricated in the following manner:

They strip off the fine bark of the cedar, soak it as one soaks hemp,

and when it is drawn out into fibres, work it into a fringe; then

with a strong cord they bind the fringes together. With so poor a

vestment they contrive to satisfy the requirements of modesty; when

they stand it drapes them fairly enough; and when they squat down in

their manner, it falls between their legs, leaving nothing exposed

but the bare knees and thighs. Some of the younger {244} women twist

the fibres of bark into small cords, knotted at the ends, and so form

the petticoat, disposed in a fringe, like the first, but more easily

kept clean and of better appearance.

Cleanliness is not a virtue among these females, who, in that

respect, resemble the other Indian women of the continent. They

anoint the body and dress the hair with fish oil, which does not

diffuse an agreeable perfume. Their hair (which both sexes wear long)

is jet black; it is badly combed, but parted in the middle, as is

the custom of the sex everywhere, and kept shining by the fish-oil

before-mentioned. Sometimes, in imitation of the men, they paint the

whole body with a red earth mixed with fish-oil. Their ornaments

consist of bracelets of brass, which they wear indifferently on the

wrists and ankles; of strings of beads of different colors (they give

a preference to the blue), and displayed in great profusion around

the neck, and on the arms and legs; and of white shells, called

_Haiqua_, which are their ordinary circulating medium. These shells

are found beyond the {245} straits of _Juan de Fuca_, and are from

one to four inches long, and about half an inch in diameter: they

are a little curved and naturally perforated: the longest are most

valued. The price of all commodities is reckoned in these shells;

a fathom string of the largest of them is worth about ten beaver

skins.[131]

Although a little less slaves than the greater part of the Indian

women elsewhere, the women on the Columbia are, nevertheless, charged

with the most painful labors; they fetch water and wood, and carry

the goods in their frequent changes of residence; they clean the fish

and cut it up for drying; they prepare the food and cook the fruits

in their season. Among their principal occupations is that of making

rush mats, baskets for gathering roots, and hats very ingeniously

wrought. As they want little clothing, they do not sew much, and the

men have the needle in hand oftener than they.

The men are not lazy, especially during the fishing season. Not

being hunters, and eating, consequently, little flesh-meat (although

they are {246} fond of it), fish makes, as I have observed, their

principal diet. They profit, therefore, by the season when it is to

be had, by taking as much as they can; knowing that the intervals

will be periods of famine and abstinence, unless they provide

sufficiently beforehand.

Their canoes are all made of cedar, and of a single trunk: we saw

some which were five feet wide at midships, and thirty feet in

length; these are the largest, and will carry from 25 to 30 men;

the smallest will carry but two or three. The bows terminate in a

very elongated point, running out four or five feet from the water

line. It constitutes a separate piece, very ingeniously attached,

and serves to break the surf in landing, or the wave on a rough sea.

In landing they put the canoe round, so as to strike the beach stern

on. Their oars or paddles are made of ash, and are about five feet

long, with a broad blade, in the shape of an inverted crescent, and

a cross at the top, like the handle of a crutch. The object of the

crescent shape of the blade is to be able to draw it, edge-wise,

through the {247} water without making any noise, when they hunt the

sea-otter, an animal which can only be caught when it is lying asleep

on the rocks, and which has the sense of hearing very acute. All

their canoes are painted red, and fancifully decorated.[132]

Their houses, constructed of cedar, are remarkable for their form

and size: some of them are one hundred feet in length by thirty or

forty feet in width. They are constructed as follows: An oblong

square of the intended size of the building is dug out to the depth

of two or three feet; a double row of cedar posts is driven into

the earth about ten feet apart; between these the planks are laid,

overlapping each other to the requisite height. The roof is formed

by a ridge-pole laid on taller posts, notched to receive it, and is

constructed with rafters and planks laid clapboard-wise, and secured

by cords for want of nails. When the house is designed for several

families, there is a door for each, and a separate fireplace; the

smoke escapes through an aperture formed by removing one of the

{248} boards of the roof. The door is low, of an oval shape, and is

provided with a ladder, cut out of a log, to descend into the lodge.

The entrance is generally effected stern-foremost.

The kitchen utensils consist of plates of ashwood, bowls of fibrous

roots, and a wooden kettle: with these they succeed in cooking

their fish and meat in less time than we take with the help of pots

and stewpans. See how they do it! Having heated a number of stones

red-hot, they plunge them, one by one, in the vessel which is to

contain the food to be prepared; as soon as the water boils, they

put in the fish or meat, with some more heated stones on top, and

cover up the whole with small rush mats, to retain the steam. In an

incredibly short space of time the article is taken out and placed

on a wooden platter, perfectly done and very palatable. The broth is

taken out also, with a ladle of wood or horn.

It will be asked, no doubt, what instruments these savages use in

the construction of their canoes and their houses. To cause their

patience {249} and industry to be admired as much as they deserve,

it will be sufficient for me to mention that we did not find among

them a single hatchet: their only tools consisted of an inch or

half-inch chisel, usually made of an old file, and of a mallet, which

was nothing but an oblong stone. With these wretched implements,

and wedges made of hemlock knots, steeped in oil and hardened by

the fire, they would undertake to cut down the largest cedars of

the forest, to dig them out and fashion them into canoes, to split

them, and get out the boards wherewith to build their houses. Such

achievements with such means, are a marvel of ingenuity and patience.

[129] The panther or cougar (_Felis concolor_) is the

same species found in all parts of America. The

wood-rat (_Neotama cinerea_) of the Rocky Mountains

and Pacific slope is characterized particularly by a

tail nearly as bushy as a squirrel’s.--ED.

[130] For drawing of a native hat, see _Original Journals

of Lewis and Clark Expedition_, under entry for

January 29, 1806.--ED.

[131] Ross, volume vii of our series, gives more detailed

account of the value of haiqua.--ED.

[132] Lewis and Clark, in their _Original Journals_, give

drawings of the native canoes, paddles, etc. The

canoes were sometimes adorned with carvings in the

fashion of figure-heads.--ED.

{250} CHAPTER XX

Manners and Customs of the Natives continued--Their Wars--Their

Marriages--Medicine Men--Funeral Ceremonies--Religious

Notions--Language.

The politics of the natives of the Columbia are a simple affair:

each village has its chief, but that chief does not seem to exercise

a great authority over his fellow-citizens. Nevertheless, at his

death, they pay him great honors: they use a kind of mourning, which

consists in painting the face with black, in lieu of gay colors;

they chant his funeral song or oration for a whole month. The chiefs

are considered in proportion to their riches: such a chief has a

great many wives, slaves, and strings of beads--he is accounted a

great chief. These barbarians approach in that respect to certain

civilized nations, among whom the worth of a man is estimated by the

quantity of gold he possesses.

{251} As all the villages form so many independent sovereignties,

differences sometimes arise, whether between the chiefs or the

tribes. Ordinarily, these terminate by compensations equivalent to

the injury. But when the latter is of a grave character, like a

murder (which is rare), or the abduction of a woman (which is very

common), the parties, having made sure of a number of young braves to

aid them, prepare for war. Before commencing hostilities, however,

they give notice of the day when they will proceed to attack the

hostile village; not following in that respect the custom of almost

all other American Indians, who are wont to burst upon their enemy

unawares, and to massacre or carry off men, women, and children;

these people, on the contrary, embark in their canoes, which on

these occasions are paddled by the women, repair to the hostile

village, enter into parley, and do all they can to terminate the

affair amicably: sometimes a third party becomes mediator between

the first two, and of course observes an exact neutrality. If those

who seek justice do not obtain it to their {252} satisfaction, they

retire to some distance, and the combat begins, and is continued for

some time with fury on both sides; but as soon as one or two men

are killed, the party which has lost these, owns itself beaten and

the battle ceases. If it is the people of the village attacked who

are worsted, the others do not retire without receiving presents.

When the conflict is postponed till the next day (for they never

fight but in open daylight, as if to render nature witness of their

exploits), they keep up frightful cries all night long, and, when

they are sufficiently near to understand each other, defy one another

by menaces, railleries, and sarcasms, like the heroes of Homer and

Virgil. The women and children are always removed from the village

before the action.

Their combats are almost all maritime: for they fight ordinarily in

their pirogues, which they take care to careen, so as to present the

broadside to the enemy, and half lying down, avoid the greater part

of the arrows let fly at them.

But the chief reason of the bloodlessness of {253} their combats

is the inefficiency of their offensive weapons, and the excellence

of their defensive armor. Their offensive arms are merely a bow

and arrow, and a kind of double-edged sabre, about two and a half

feet long, and six inches wide in the blade: they rarely come to

sufficiently close quarters to make use of the last. For defensive

armor they wear a cassock or tunic of elk-skin double, descending

to the ankles, with holes for the arms. It is impenetrable by their

arrows, which can not pierce two thicknesses of leather; and as their

heads are also covered with a sort of helmet, the neck is almost

the only part in which they can be wounded. They have another kind

of corslet, made like the corsets of our ladies, of splinters of

hard wood interlaced with nettle twine. The warrior who wears this

cuirass does not use the tunic of elk-skin; he is consequently less

protected, but a great deal more free; the said tunic being very

heavy and very stiff.

It is almost useless to observe that, in their military expeditions,

they have their bodies and {254} faces daubed with different paints,

often of the most extravagant designs. I remember to have seen a

war-chief, with one exact half of his face painted white and the

other half black.

Their marriages are conducted with a good deal of ceremony. When a

young man seeks a girl in marriage his parents make the proposals to

those of the intended bride, and when it has been agreed upon what

presents the future bridegroom is to offer to the parents of the

bride, all parties assemble at the house of the latter, whither the

neighbors are invited to witness the contract. The presents, which

consist of slaves, strings of beads, copper bracelets, _haiqua_

shells, &c., are distributed by the young man, who, on his part

receives as many, and sometimes more, according to the means or the

munificence of the parents of his betrothed. The latter is then led

forward by the old matrons and presented to the young man, who takes

her as his wife, and all retire to their quarters.

The men are not very scrupulous in their choice, and take small pains

to inform themselves what {255} conduct a young girl has observed

before her nuptials; and it must be owned that few marriages would

take place, if the youth would only espouse maidens without reproach

on the score of chastity; for the unmarried girls are by no means

scrupulous in that particular, and their parents give them, on that

head, full liberty. But once the marriage is contracted, the spouses

observe toward each other an inviolable fidelity; adultery is almost

unknown among them, and the woman who should be guilty of it would be

punished with death. At the same time, the husband may repudiate his

wife, and the latter may then unite herself in marriage to another

man. Polygamy is permitted, indeed is customary; there are some who

have as many as four or five wives; and although it often happens

that the husband loves one better than the rest, they never show any

jealousy, but live together in the most perfect concord.[133]

{256} There are charlatans everywhere, but they are more numerous

among savages than anywhere else, because among these ignorant and

superstitious people the trade is at once more profitable and less

dangerous. As soon as a native of the Columbia is indisposed, no

matter what the malady, they send for the medicine man, who treats

the patient in the absurd manner usually adopted by these impostors,

and with such violence of manipulation, that often a sick man, whom

a timely bleeding or purgative would have saved, is carried off by a

sudden death.

They deposit their dead in canoes, on rocks sufficiently elevated not

to be overflowed by the spring freshets. By the side of the dead are

laid his bow, his arrows, and some of his fishing {257} implements;

if it is a woman, her beads and bracelets: the wives, the relatives

and the slaves of the defunct cut their hair in sign of grief, and

for several days, at the rising and setting of the sun, go to some

distance from the village to chant a funeral song.

These people have not, properly speaking, a public worship.[134]

I could never perceive, during my residence among them, that they

worshipped any idol. They had, nevertheless, some small sculptured

figures; but they appeared to hold them in light esteem, offering to

barter them for trifles.

Having travelled with one of the sons of the chief of the Chinooks

(Comcomly), an intelligent and communicative young man, I put to

him several questions touching their religious belief, and {258}

the following is, in substance, what he told me respecting it: Men,

according to their ideas, were created by a divinity whom they name

_Etalapass_; but they were imperfect, having a mouth that was not

opened, eyes that were fast closed, hands and feet that were not

moveable; in a word, they were rather statues of flesh, than living

men. A second divinity, whom they call _Ecannum_, less powerful,

but more benign than the former, having seen men in their state of

imperfection, took a sharp stone and laid open their mouths and eyes;

he gave agility, also, to their feet, and motion to their hands.

This compassionate divinity was not content with conferring these

first benefits; he taught men to make canoes, paddles, nets, and, in

a word, all the tools and instruments they use. He did still more:

he threw great rocks into the river, to obstruct the ascent of the

salmon, in order that they might take as many as they wanted.

The natives of the Columbia further believe, that the men who have

been good citizens, good fathers, good husbands, and good fishermen,

who {259} have not committed murder, &c., will be perfectly happy

after their death, and will go to a country where they will find

fish, fruit, &c., in abundance; and that, on the contrary, those who

have lived wickedly, will inhabit a country of fasting and want,

where they will eat nothing but bitter roots, and have nothing to

drink but salt water.

If these notions in regard to the origin and future destiny of man

are not exactly conformed to sound reason or to divine revelation, it

will be allowed that they do not offer the absurdities with which the

mythologies of many ancient nations abound.[135] The article which

makes skill in fishing a virtue worthy of being compensated in the

other world, does not disfigure the salutary and consoling dogma of

the immortality of the {260} soul, and that of future rewards and

punishments, so much as one is at first tempted to think; for if

we reflect a little, we shall discover that the skilful fisherman,

in laboring for himself, labors also for society; he is a useful

citizen, who contributes, as much as lies in his power, to avert from

his fellow-men the scourge of famine; he is a religious man, who

honors the divinity by making use of his benefits. Surely a great

deal of the theology of a future life prevalent among civilized men,

does not excel this in profundity.

It is not to be expected that men perfectly ignorant, like these

Indians, should be free from superstitions: one of the most

ridiculous they have, regards the method of preparing and eating

fish. In the month of July, 1811, the natives brought us at first a

very scanty supply of the fresh salmon, from the fear that we would

cut the fish crosswise instead of lengthwise; being persuaded that

if we did so, the river would be obstructed, and the fishing ruined.

Having reproached the chief on that account, they brought us a

greater quantity, but all cooked, and which, {261} not to displease

them, it was necessary to eat before sunset. Re-assured at last by

our solemn promises not to cut the fish crosswise, they supplied us

abundantly during the remainder of the season.

In spite of the vices that may be laid to the charge of the natives

of the Columbia, I regard them as nearer to a state of civilization

than any of the tribes who dwell east of the Rocky mountains. They

did not appear to me so attached to their customs that they could

not easily adopt those of civilized nations: they would dress

themselves willingly in the European mode, if they had the means. To

encourage this taste, we lent pantaloons to the chiefs who visited

us, when they wished to enter our houses, never allowing them to

do it in a state of nudity. They possess, in an eminent degree,

the qualities opposed to indolence, improvidence, and stupidity:

the chiefs, above all, are distinguished for their good sense and

intelligence. Generally speaking, they have a ready intellect and

a tenacious memory. Thus old Comcomly recognised the mate of the

_Albatross_ {262} as having visited the country sixteen years before,

and recalled to the latter the name of the captain under whom he had

sailed at that period.

The _Chinook_ language is spoken by all the nations from the mouth of

the Columbia to the falls. It is hard and difficult to pronounce, for

strangers; being full of gutturals, like the Gaelic. The combinations

_thl_, or _tl_, and _lt_, are as frequent in the Chinook as in the

Mexican.[136]

[133] This appears improbable, and is, no doubt,

overstated; but so far as it is true, only shows

the degradation of these women, and the absence of

moral love on both sides. The indifference to virgin

chastity described by Mr. F., is a characteristic

of barbarous nations in general, and is explained

by the principle stated in the next note below; the

savage state being essentially one in which the

supernatural bond of human fellowship is snapped: it

is (as it has been called) the state of _nature_, in

which continence is practically impossible; and what

men can not have, that they soon cease to prize. The

same utter indifference to the past conduct of the

girls they marry is mentioned by MAYHEW as existing

among the costermongers and street population

of London, whom he well likens to the barbarous

tribes lying on the outskirts of more ancient

nations.--HUNTINGTON.

[134] It is Coleridge who observes that _every tribe is

barbarous_ which has no recognised public worship

or cult, and no regular priesthood as opposed to

self-constituted conjurors. It is, in fact, by

public worship alone that human society is organized

and vivified; and it is impossible to maintain such

worship without a sacerdotal order, however it be

constituted. _No culture without a cult_, is the

result of the study of the races of mankind. Hence

those who would destroy religion are the enemies of

civilization.--HUNTINGTON.

[135] It seems clear that this Indian mythology is a form

of the primitive tradition obscured by symbol. The

creation of man by the Supreme Divinity, but in an

imperfect state (“his eyes not yet opened”), his

deliverance from that condition by an inferior but

more beneficent deity (the Satan of the Bible), and

the progress of the emancipated and enlightened

being, in the arts of industry, are clearly set

forth. Thus the devil has his cosmogony as well as

the Almighty, and his tradition in opposition to the

divine.--HUNTINGTON.

[136] There can not be a doubt that the existing tribes

on the N. W. coast, have reached that country from

the _South_, and not from the North. They are the

_debris_ of the civilization of Central America,

expelled by a defecating process that is going

on in all human societies, and so have sunk into

barbarism.--HUNTINGTON.

{263} CHAPTER XXI

Departure from Astoria or Fort George--Accident--Passage of the

Dalles or Narrows--Great Columbian Desert--Aspect of the

Country--Wallawalla and Shaptin Rivers--Rattle-snakes--Some

Details regarding the Natives of the Upper Columbia.

We quitted Fort George (or Astoria, if you please) on Monday morning,

the 4th of April, 1814, in ten canoes, five of which were of bark

and five of cedar wood, carrying each seven men as crew, and two

passengers, in all ninety persons, and all well armed. Messrs. J. G.

M’Tavish, D. Stuart, J. Clarke, B. Pillet, W. Wallace, D. M’Gillis,

D. M’Kenzie, &c., were of the party.[137] Nothing remarkable occurred

to us as far as the first falls, which we reached on the 10th. The

portage was effected immediately, and we encamped on an island for

the night. Our numbers {264} had caused the greater part of the

natives to take to flight, and those who remained in the villages

showed the most pacific dispositions.[138] They sold us four horses

and thirty dogs, which were immediately slaughtered for food.

We resumed our route on the 11th, at an early hour. The wind was

favorable, but blew with violence. Toward evening, the canoe in which

Mr. M’Tavish was, in doubling a point of rock, was run under by its

press of sail, and sunk. Happily the river was not deep at this

place; no one was drowned; and we succeeded in saving all the goods.

This accident compelled us to camp at an early hour.

On the 12th, we arrived at a rapid called the _Dalles_: this is

a channel cut by nature through the rocks, which are here almost

perpendicular: the channel is from 150 to 300 feet wide, and about

two miles long. The whole body of the river rushes through it, with

great violence, and renders navigation impracticable.[139] The

portage occupied us till dusk. Although we had not seen a single

Indian in the course of the day, we kept {265} sentinels on duty all

night: for it was here that Messrs. Stuart and Reed were attacked by

the natives.

On the 13th, we made two more portages, and met Indians, of whom we

purchased horses and wood.[140] We camped early on a sandy plain,

where we passed a bad night; the wind, which blew violently, raised

clouds of sand, which incommoded us greatly, and spoiled every

mouthful of food we took. On the 14th and 15th, we passed what are

called the great plains of the Columbia. From the top of the first

rapid to this point, the aspect of the country becomes more and more

_triste_ and disagreeable; one meets at first nothing but bare hills,

which scarcely offer a few isolated pines, at a great distance from

each other; after that, the earth, stripped of verdure, does not

afford you the sight of a single shrub; the little grass which grows

in that arid soil, appears burnt by the rigor of the climate. The

natives who frequent the banks of the river, for the salmon fishery,

have no other wood but that which they take floating {266} down. We

passed several rapids, and a small stream called Utalah, which flows

from the southeast.[141]

On the 16th, we found the river narrowed; the banks rose on either

side in elevations, without, however, offering a single tree. We

reached the river _Wallawalla_, which empties into the Columbia on

the southeast. It is narrow at its confluence, and is not navigable

for any great distance.[142] A range of mountains was visible to the

S. E., about fifty or sixty miles off. Behind these mountains the

country becomes again flat and sandy, and is inhabited by a tribe

called the _Snakes_. We found on the left bank of the _Wallawalla_,

an encampment of Indians, consisting of about twenty lodges. They

sold us six dogs and eight horses, the greater part extremely lean.

We killed two of the horses immediately: I mounted one of the six

that remained; Mr. Ross took another; and we drove the other four

before us. Toward the decline of day we passed the river _Lewis_,

called, in the language of the country, the _Sha-ap-tin_. It

comes from the S. E., and is the {267} same that Lewis and Clarke

descended in 1805. The _Sha-ap-tin_ appeared to me to have little

depth, and to be about 300 yards wide, at its confluence.

The country through which we were now passing, was a mingling of

hills, steep rocks, and valleys covered with wormwood; the stems of

which shrub are nearly six inches thick, and might serve for fuel. We

killed six rattlesnakes on the 15th, and on the 16th saw a great many

more among the rocks. These dangerous reptiles appeared to be very

numerous in this part of the country. The plains are also inhabited

by a little quadruped, only about eight or nine inches in length, and

approaching the dog in form. These animals have the hair, or _poil_,

of a reddish brown, and strong fore-paws, armed with long claws which

serve them to dig out their holes under the earth. They have a great

deal of curiosity: as soon as they hear a noise they come out of

their holes and bark. They are not vicious, but, though easily tamed,

can not be domesticated.[143]

{268} The natives of the upper Columbia, beginning at the falls,

differ essentially in language, manners, and habits, from those of

whom I have spoken in the preceding chapters. They do not dwell in

villages, like the latter, but are nomads, like the Tartars and

the Arabs of the desert: their women are more industrious, and the

young girls more reserved and chaste than those of the populations

lower down. They do not go naked, but both sexes wear habits made

of dressed deer-skin, which they take care to rub with chalk, to

keep them clean and white. They are almost always seen on horseback,

and are in general good riders; they pursue the deer and penetrate

even to Missouri, to kill buffalo, the flesh of which they dry, and

bring it back on their horses, to make their principal food during

the winter. These expeditions are not free from danger; for they

have a great deal to apprehend from the _Black-feet_, who are their

enemies.[144] As this last tribe is powerful and ferocious, the

_Snakes_, the _Pierced-noses_ or _Sha-ap-tins_, the _Flatheads_,

&c.,[145] make common cause against them, when the former {269} go to

hunt east of the mountains. They set out with their families, and the

cavalcade often numbers two thousand horses. When they have the good

fortune not to encounter the enemy, they return with the spoils of an

abundant chase; they load a part of their horses with the hides and

beef, and return home to pass the winter in peace. Sometimes, on the

contrary, they are so harassed by the Blackfeet, who surprise them in

the night and carry off their horses, that they are forced to return

light-handed, and then they have nothing to eat but roots, all the

winter.

These Indians are passionately fond of horse-races: by the bets they

make on these occasions they sometimes lose all that they possess.

The women ride, as well as the men. For a bridle they use a cord of

horse-hair, which they attach round the animal’s mouth; with that

he is easily checked, and by laying the hand on his neck, is made

to wheel to this side or that. The saddle is a cushion of stuffed

deer-skin, very suitable for the purpose to which it is destined,

rarely hurting the horse, and not fatiguing the rider so much {270}

as our European saddles. The stirrups are pieces of hardwood,

ingeniously wrought, and of the same shape as those which are used

in civilized countries. They are covered with a piece of deer-skin,

which is sewed on wet, and in drying stiffens and becomes hard and

firm. The saddles for women differ in form, being furnished with the

antlers of a deer, so as to resemble the high pommelled saddle of the

Mexican ladies.

They procure their horses from the herds of these animals which are

found in a wild state in the country extending between the northern

latitudes and the gulf of Mexico, and which sometimes count a

thousand or fifteen hundred in a troop. These horses come from New

Mexico, and are of Spanish race. We even saw some which had been

marked with a hot iron by Spaniards. Some of our men, who had been

at the south, told me that they had seen among the Indians, bridles,

the bits of which were of silver. The form of the saddles used by

the females, proves that they have taken their pattern from the

Spanish ones destined for the same use. One {271} of the partners

of the N. W. Company (Mr. M’Tavish) assured us that he had seen

among the _Spokans_,[146] an old woman who told him that she had

seen men ploughing the earth; she told him that she had also seen

churches, which she made him understand by imitating the sound of a

bell, and the action of pulling a bell-rope; and further to confirm

her account, made the sign of the cross. That gentleman concluded

that she had been made prisoner and sold to the Spaniards on the

_Del Norte_; but I think it more probable it was nearer, in North

California, at the mission of _San Carlos_ or _San Francisco_.[147]

As the manner of taking wild horses should not be generally known to

my readers, I will relate it here in few words. The Indian who wishes

to capture some horses, mounts one of his fleetest coursers, being

armed with a long cord of horsehair, one end of which is attached to

his saddle, and the other is a running noose. Arrived at the herd,

he dashes into the midst of it, and flinging his cord, or _lasso_,

passes it dexterously over the head of the animal he selects; {272}

then wheeling his courser, draws the cord after him; the wild horse,

finding itself strangling, makes little resistance; the Indian then

approaches, ties his fore and hind legs together, and leaves him till

he has taken in this manner as many as he can. He then drives them

home before him, and breaks them in at leisure.

[137] In addition to the persons whom Franchère mentions

here, the brigade was commanded by John McDonald;

the “Nor’Westers” Alexander Stuart, Thomas (son of

Alexander) McKay, John Stuart, and Alexander Ross

were also in the party. For a complete list see

_Henry-Thompson Journals_, pp. 871-875.--ED.

[138] Henry reports that the natives at the Cascades had

in the early spring been defeated by a party of Nez

Percés from the interior. This doubtless accounts in

part for the mildness of their conduct.--ED.

[139] Lewis and Clark call the Dalles the “Long and Short

Narrows.” These they shot on descending the stream

in the autumn of 1805.--ED.

[140] These two portages were at the Great Falls of the

Columbia.--ED.

[141] Umatilla River is in a county of the same name, with

a town of like designation at the mouth.--ED.

[142] The word Wallawalla is said to mean “small rapid

river.” The stream is in a county of the same name

in the state of Washington.--ED.

[143] The prairie-dog (_Cynomys ludovicianus_), called by

Lewis and Clark “barking squirrel.”--ED.

[144] For the Blackfeet, see Bradbury’s _Travels_, vol. V

of our series, note 120.--ED.

[145] Franchère here mentions the three great Indian

stocks of the Upper Columbian waters. For the Snake

or Shoshoni, see Bradbury’s _Travels_, vol. V of our

series, note 123.

The Pierced-Noses (Nez Percés) belong to the Shahaptian

family, of which the Chopunnish, the principal

tribe, usually goes by the name of Nez Percé. Lewis

and Clark named eight bands of this tribe whom they

met or heard of in the mountains and on the waters

of the Snake or Lewis River (whose Indian name

was Shahaptin). Kindred tribes were the Umatilla,

Wallawalla, and Klikitat. There are at present about

one thousand five hundred Nez Percés (Chopunnish)

at their agency in Idaho, and about one hundred and

twenty-five at the Coville Agency in Washington.

Flathead is the generic name applied to the great

Salishan family, which occupied most of the coast

north of the Columbia, in Northwestern Washington,

a large part of Vancouver Island and British Columbia,

and spreading to the Northern branches of the Columbia

and Clark’s River. The Flatheads proper (sometimes

called Tushepaw) lived upon the upper waters of the

Columbia north of the Shoshoni, and the northwestern

tributaries of the Missouri. There are at present

upon the Flathead reservation in Montana over

one thousand five hundred of these Indians, from

different allied tribes.--ED.

[146] The Spokan are a Salishan (Flathead) tribe, who

dwelt upon the river to which they have given name.

They seldom crossed the mountains for buffalo. There

are now (1902) but seventy-four of this tribe,

with other Flatheads, upon the reservation in

Montana.--ED.

[147] The mission of San Carlos was founded (1770) by the

Franciscan friar, Junipero Serra. This was then the

northernmost line of Spanish settlement. Ruins of

the mission church (completed in 1797) are still

to be seen, six miles from the present Monterey.

San Francisco mission was founded in the present

city of that name, in 1776; the mission church has

been repaired, and is still used for services.

See Carter, _Missions of Nueva California_ (San

Francisco, 1900).--ED.

{273} CHAPTER XXII

Meeting with the Widow of a Hunter--Her Narrative--Reflections of

the Author--Priest’s Rapid--River Okenakan--Kettle Falls--Pine

Moss--Scarcity of Food--Rivers, Lakes, &c.--Accident--A

Rencontre--First View of the Rocky Mountains.

On the 17th, the fatigue I had experienced the day before, on

horseback, obliged me to re-embark in my canoe. About eight o’clock,

we passed a little river flowing from the N. W. We perceived, soon

after, three canoes, the persons in which were struggling with

their paddles to overtake us. As we were still pursuing our way, we

heard a child’s voice cry out in French--“_arrêtez donc, arrêtez

donc_”--(stop! stop!). We put ashore, and the canoes having joined

us, we perceived in one of them the wife and children of a man named

_Pierre Dorion_, a hunter, who had been sent on with a party of

eight, under {274} the command of Mr. J. Reed, among the _Snakes_,

to join there the hunters left by Messrs. Hunt and Crooks, near Fort

Henry, and to secure horses and provisions for our journey.[148]

This woman informed us, to our no small dismay, of the tragical

fate of all those who composed that party. She told us that in

the month of January, the hunters being dispersed here and there,

setting their traps for the beaver, Jacob Regner, Gilles Leclerc,

and Pierre Dorion, her husband, had been attacked by the natives.

Leclerc, having been mortally wounded, reached her tent or hut, where

he expired in a few minutes, after having announced to her that her

husband had been killed. She immediately took two horses that were

near the lodge, mounted her two boys upon them, and fled in all haste

to the wintering house of Mr. Reed, which was about five days’ march

from the spot where her husband fell. Her horror and disappointment

were extreme, when she found the house--a log cabin--deserted, and

on drawing nearer, was soon convinced, by the traces of blood, that

Mr. Reed also had been {275} murdered. No time was to be lost in

lamentations, and she had immediately fled toward the mountains

south of the _Wallawalla_, where, being impeded by the depth of the

snow, she was forced to winter, having killed both the horses to

subsist herself and her children. But at last, finding herself out

of provisions, and the snow beginning to melt, she had crossed the

mountains with her boys, hoping to find some more humane Indians,

who would let her live among them till the boats from the fort below

should be ascending the river in the spring, and so reached the

banks of the Columbia, by the Wallawalla. Here, indeed, the natives

had received her with much hospitality, and it was the Indians of

Wallawalla who brought her to us. We made them some presents to repay

their care and pains, and they returned well satisfied.

The persons who lost their lives in this unfortunate wintering party,

were Mr. John Reed, (clerk), Jacob Regner, John Hubbough, Pierre

Dorion (hunters), Gilles Leclerc, François Landry, J. B. Turcotte,

André la Chapelle and Pierre {276} De Launay, (_voyageurs_).[149] We

had no doubt that this massacre was an act of vengeance, on the part

of the natives, in retaliation for the death of one of their people,

whom Mr. John Clark had hanged for theft the spring before.[150] This

fact, the massacre on the Tonquin, the unhappy end of Captain Cook,

and many other similar examples, prove how carefully the Europeans,

who have relations with a barbarous people, should abstain from

acting in regard to them on the footing of too marked an inequality,

and especially from punishing their offences according to usages

and codes, in which there is too often an enormous disproportion

between the crime and the punishment. If these pretended exemplary

punishments seem to have a good effect at first sight, they almost

always produce terrible consequences in the sequel.

On the 18th, we passed _Priest’s Rapid_, so named by Mr. Stuart

and his people, who saw at {277} this spot, in 1811, as they were

ascending the river, a number of savages, one of whom was performing

on the rest certain aspersions and other ceremonies, which had the

air of being coarse imitations of the Catholic worship.[151] For our

part, we met here some Indians of whom we bought two horses. The

banks of the river at this place are tolerably high, but the country

back of them is flat and uninteresting.

On the 20th, we arrived at a place where the bed of the river is

extremely contracted, and where we were obliged to make a portage.

Messrs. J. Stuart and Clarke left us here, to proceed on horseback to

the Spokan trading house, to procure there the provisions which would

be necessary for us, in order to push on to the mountains.

On the 21st, we lightened of their cargoes, three canoes, in which

those who were to cross the continent embarked, to get on with

greater speed. We passed several rapids, and began to see mountains

covered with snow.

On the 22d, we began to see some pines on {278} the ridge of the

neighboring hills; and at evening we encamped under _trees_, a thing

which had not happened to us since the 12th.

On the 23d, toward 9, A. M., we reached the trading post established

by D. Stuart, at the mouth of the river _Okenakan_. The spot appeared

to us charming, in comparison with the country through which we had

journeyed for twelve days past: the two rivers here meeting, and the

immense prairies covered with a fine verdure, strike agreeably the

eye of the observer; but there is not a tree or a shrub to diversify

the scene, and render it a little less naked and less monotonous. We

found here Messrs. J. M’Gillivray and Ross, and Mr. O. de Montigny,

who had taken service with the N. W. Company, and who charged me with

a letter for his brother.[152]

Toward midday we re-embarked, to continue our journey. After having

passed several dangerous rapids without accident, always through a

country broken by shelving rocks, diversified with hills and verdant

prairies, we arrived, on the 29th, at the portage of the _Chaudieres_

or {279} Kettle falls. This is a fall where the water precipitates

itself over an immense rock of white marble, veined with red and

green, that traverses the bed of the river from N.W. to S.E. We

effected the portage immediately, and encamped on the edge of a

charming prairie.[153]

We found at this place some Indians who had been fasting, they

assured us, for several days. They appeared, in fact, reduced to

the most pitiable state, having nothing left but skin and bones,

and scarcely able to drag themselves along, so that not without

difficulty could they even reach the margin of the river, to get

a little water to wet their parched lips. It is a thing that

often happens to these poor people, when their chase has not been

productive; their principal nourishment consisting, in that case,

of the pine moss, which they boil till it is reduced to a sort of

glue or black paste, of a sufficient consistence to take the form of

biscuit. I had the curiosity to taste this bread, and I thought I had

got in my mouth a bit of soap. Yet some of our people, who had been

reduced to eat this glue, assured me that {280} when fresh made it

had a very good taste, seasoned with meat.[154] We partly relieved

these wretched natives from our scanty store.

On the 30th, while we were yet encamped at Kettle falls, Messrs.

J. Stuart and Clarke arrived from the post at Spokan. The last was

mounted on the finest-proportioned gray charger, full seventeen hands

high, that I had seen in these parts: Mr. Stuart had got a fall from

his, in trying to urge him, and had hurt himself severely. These

gentlemen not having brought us the provisions we expected, because

the hunters who had been sent for that purpose among the _Flatheads_,

had not been able to procure any, it was resolved to divide our

party, and that Messrs. M’Donald, J. Stuart, and M’Kenzie should go

forward to the post situated east of the mountains, in order to send

us thence horses and supplies. These gentlemen quitted us on the 1st

of May. After their {281} departure we killed two horses and dried

the meat; which occupied us the rest of that day and all the next.

In the evening of the 2d, Mr. A. Stuart arrived at our camp. He had

recovered from his wounds (received in the conflict with the natives,

before related), and was on his way to his old wintering place on

_Slave lake_, to fetch his family to the Columbia.

We resumed our route on the morning of the 3d of May, and went to

encamp that evening at the upper-end of a rapid, where we began to

descry mountains covered with forests, and where the banks of the

river themselves were low and thinly timbered.

On the 4th, after having passed several considerable rapids, we

reached the confluence of _Flathead_ river. This stream comes from

the S.E., and falls into the Columbia in the form of a cascade: it

may be one hundred and fifty yards wide at its junction.[155]

On the morning of the 5th, we arrived at the confluence of the

_Coutonais_ river. This stream also flows from the south, and has

nearly the same {282} width as the _Flathead_. Shortly after passing

it, we entered a lake or enlargement of the river, which we crossed

to encamp at its upper extremity. This lake may be thirty or forty

miles [long], and about four wide at its broadest part: it is

surrounded by lofty hills, which for the most part have their base

at the water’s edge, and rise by gradual and finely-wooded terraces,

offering a sufficiently pretty view.[156]

On the 6th, after we had run through a narrow strait or channel

some fifteen miles long, we entered another lake, of less extent

than the former but equally picturesque. When we were nearly in the

middle of it, an accident occurred which, if not very disastrous, was

sufficiently singular. One of the men, who had been on the sick-list

for several days, requested to be landed for an instant. Not being

more than a mile from the shore, we acceded to his request, and

made accordingly for a projecting head-land; but when we were about

three hundred or four hundred yards from the point, the canoe struck

with force against the trunk of a tree which was {283} planted in

the bottom of the lake, and the extremity of which barely reached

the surface of the water.[157] It needed no more to break a hole

in so frail a vessel; the canoe was pierced through the bottom and

filled in a trice; and despite all our efforts we could not get off

the tree, which had penetrated two or three feet within her; perhaps

that was our good fortune, for the opening was at least a yard long.

One of the men, who was an expert swimmer, stripped, and was about

to go ashore with an axe lashed to his back, to make a raft for us,

when the other canoe, which had been proceeding up the lake, and was

a mile ahead, perceived our signals of distress, and came to our

succor. They carried us to land, where it was necessary to encamp

forthwith, as well to dry ourselves as to mend the canoe.

On the 7th, Mr. A. Stuart, whom we had left behind at Kettle falls,

came up with us, and we pursued our route in company. Toward evening

{284} we met natives, camped on the bank of the river: they gave us

a letter from which we learned that Mr. M’Donald and his party had

passed there on the 4th. The women at this camp were busy spinning

the coarse wool of the mountain sheep: they had blankets or mantles,

woven or platted of the same material, with a heavy fringe all

round: I would gladly have purchased one of these, but as we were to

carry all our baggage on our backs across the mountains, was forced

to relinquish the idea. Having bought of these savages some pieces

of dried venison, we pursued our journey. The country began to be

ascending; the stream was very rapid; and we made that day little

progress.

On the 8th we began to see snow on the shoals or sandbanks of the

river: the atmosphere grew very cold. The banks on either side

presented only high hills covered to the top with impenetrable

forests. While the canoes were working up a considerable rapid, I

climbed the hills with Mr. M’Gillis, and we walked on, following

the course of the river, some five or six miles. The snow {285} was

very deep in the ravines or narrow gorges which are found between

the bases of the hills. The most common trees are the Norway pine

and the cedar: the last is here, as on the borders of the sea, of a

prodigious size.

On the 9th and 10th, as we advanced but slowly, the country presented

the same aspect as on the 8th. Toward evening of the 10th, we

perceived a-head of us a chain of high mountains entirely covered

with snow.[158] The bed of the river was hardly more than sixty yards

wide, and was filled with dry banks composed of coarse gravel and

small pebble.

[148] For the location of Fort Henry see Bradbury’s

_Travels_, vol. V of our series, note 124.--ED.

[149] Turcotte died of _King’s Evil_. De Launay was a

half-breed, of violent temper, who had taken an

Indian woman to live with him; he left Mr. Reed in

the autumn, and was never heard of again.--FRANCHÈRE.

[150] For this incident see Ross’s _Adventures_, volume

vii of our series.--ED.

[151] Priest Rapid, upon the Columbia in Yakima County,

Washington, still retains the name.--ED.

[152] Of Montigny nothing is known but what is related by

Franchère.

Ross was the author of several works on his Columbia

travels (see preface to volume vii of our series).

Franchère apparently errs in saying that Ross was

found at this post, unless he had pushed forward a

day or so in advance, for he was one of the brigade

which Franchère accompanied. Ross was, however, left

at the post, and remained upon the Columbia until

1817.

Joseph McGillivray was son of William (see note 62,

_ante_), and served in the Canadian chasseurs during

the War of 1812-15, being present at the capture of

Mackinac (1812). The next year he entered the North

West Company, and arrived on the Columbia in the

autumn, wintering at Fort Okanagan. See his letter

in Cox, _Adventures_, pp. 130, 131. After the union

of the North West and Hudson’s Bay companies (1821),

McGillivray was a factor of the latter in the

Columbia district, as late as 1827.--ED.

[153] Kettle Falls (Indian name, Ilthkoyape) in Stevens

County, northeast Washington, were named by David

Thompson, who arrived there June 22, 1811, and

started thence on his voyage to Astoria.--ED.

[154] The process of boiling employed by the Indians in

this case, extracts from the moss its gelatine,

which serves to supply the waste of those tissues

into which that principle enters; but as the moss

contains little or none of the proximates which

constitute the bulk of the living solids and fluids,

it will not, of course, by itself, support life or

strength.--HUNTINGTON.

[155] Flathead River (so called by Thompson) is not the

one at present so named in northwestern Montana,

but the larger stream, of which the Flathead is an

affluent, now known as Pend d’Oreille, or Clark’s

Fork of the Columbia. It flows into the latter very

near the boundary between Washington and British

Columbia.--ED.

[156] Kootenay River is one of the largest tributaries of

the Columbia, found chiefly in British Columbia,

but looping into Montana and Idaho. For a detailed

description of its course, see Coues’s note,

_Henry-Thompson Journals_, pp. 706, 707. The lake

which Franchère mentions is that enlargement of the

Columbia known as Lower Arrow Lake.--ED.

[157] A _snag_ of course, of the nature of which the Young

Canadian seems to have been ignorant.--HUNTINGTON.

[158] The Selkirk Range of the Rocky Mountains.--ED.

{286} CHAPTER XXIII

Course of the Columbia River--Canoe River--Footmarch toward the

Rocky Mountains--Passage of the Mountains.

On the 11th, that is to say, one month, day for day, after our

departure from the falls, we quitted the Columbia, to enter a little

stream to which Mr. Thompson had given, in 1811, the name of _Canoe_

river, from the fact that it was on this fork that he constructed the

canoes which carried him to the Pacific.[159]

The Columbia, which in the portion above the falls (not taking into

consideration some local sinuosities) comes from the N. N. E., takes

a bend here so that the stream appears to flow from the S. E.[160]

Some boatmen, and particularly Mr. {287} Regis Bruguier, who had

ascended that river to its source, informed me that it came out of

two small lakes, not far from the chain of the Rocky Mountains,

which, at that place, diverges considerably to the east. According

to Arrowsmith’s map, the course of the _Tacoutche Tessé_, from its

mouth in the Pacific Ocean, to its source in the Rocky Mountains, is

about twelve hundred English miles, or four hundred French leagues of

twenty-five to a degree; that is to say, from two hundred and forty

to two hundred and eighty miles from west to east, from its mouth to

the first falls: seven hundred and fifty miles nearly from S. S. W.

to N. N. E., from the first rapids to the bend at the confluence of

_Canoe_ river; and one hundred and fifty or one hundred and eighty

miles from that confluence to its source. We were not provided with

the necessary instruments to determine the latitude, and still less

the longitude, of our different stations; but it took us four or five

days to go up from the factory at Astoria to the falls, and we could

not have made less than sixty miles a day: and, as I have just {288}

remarked, we occupied an entire month in getting from the falls to

Canoe river: deducting four or five days, on which we did not travel,

there remain twenty-five days march; and it is not possible that we

made less than thirty miles a day, one day with another.[161]

We ascended Canoe river to the point where it ceases to be navigable,

and encamped in the same place where Mr. Thompson wintered in

1810-’11. We proceeded immediately to secure our canoes, and to

divide the baggage among the men, giving each fifty pounds to carry,

including his provisions. A sack of _pemican_, or pounded meat,

which we found in a _cache_, where it had been left for us, was a

great acquisition, as our supplies were nearly exhausted.[162]

On the 12th we began our foot march to the mountains, being

twenty-four in number, rank and file. Mr. A. Stuart remained at the

portage to bestow in a place of safety the effects which we could not

carry, such as boxes, kegs, camp-kettles, &c. We traversed first some

swamps, next a dense bit of forest, and then we found {289} ourselves

marching up the gravelly banks of the little _Canoe_ river. Fatigue

obliged us to camp early.

On the 13th we pursued our journey, and entered into the valleys

between the mountains, where there lay not less than four or five

feet of snow. We were obliged to ford the river ten or a dozen times

in the course of the day, sometimes with the water up to our necks.

These frequent fordings were rendered necessary by abrupt and steep

rocks or bluffs, which it was impossible to get over without plunging

into the wood for a great distance. The stream being very swift, and

rushing over a bed of stones, one of the men fell and lost a sack

containing our last piece of salt pork, which we were preserving as a

most precious treasure. The circumstances in which we found ourselves

made us regard this as a most unfortunate accident. We encamped that

night at the foot of a steep mountain, and sent on Mr. Pillet and the

guide, M’Kay, to hasten a supply of provisions to meet us.

On the morning of the 14th we began to climb {290} the mountain

which we had before us. We were obliged to stop every moment, to

take breath, so stiff was the ascent. Happily it had frozen hard

the night before, and the crust of the snow was sufficient to bear

us. After two or three hours of incredible exertions and fatigues,

we arrived at the _plateau_ or summit, and followed the foot-prints

of those who had preceded us. This mountain is placed between two

others a great deal more elevated, compared with which it is but a

hill, and of which, indeed, it is only, as it were, the valley. Our

march soon became fatiguing, on account of the depth of the snow,

which, softened by the rays of the sun, could no longer bear us as

in the morning. We were obliged to follow exactly the traces of

those who had preceded us, and to plunge our legs up to the knees

in the holes they had made, so that it was as if we had put on and

taken off, at every step, a very large pair of boots. At last we

arrived at a good hard bottom, and a clear space, which our guide

said was a little lake frozen over, and here we stopped for the

night. This lake, or {291} rather these lakes (for there are two)

are situated in the midst of the valley or _cup_ of the mountains.

On either side were immense glaciers, or ice-bound rocks, on which

the rays of the setting sun reflected the most beautiful prismatic

colors. One of these icy peaks was like a fortress of rock; it rose

perpendicularly some fifteen or eighteen hundred feet above the level

of the lakes, and had the summit covered with ice. Mr. J. Henry, who

first discovered the pass, gave this extraordinary rock the name of

_M’Gillivray’s Rock_, in honor of one of the partners of the N. W.

Company. The lakes themselves are not much over three or four hundred

yards in circuit, and not over two hundred yards apart.[163] Canoe

river, which, as we have already seen, flows to the west, and falls

into the Columbia, takes its rise in one of them; while the other

gives birth to one of the branches of the _Athabasca_, which runs

first eastward, then northward, and which, after its junction with

the _Unjighah_, north of the Lake of the Mountains, takes the name of

_Slave_ river, as far [as] the lake of that name, and afterward that

of {292} _M’Kenzie_ river, till it empties into, or is lost in, the

Frozen ocean.[164] Having cut a large pile of wood, and having, by

tedious labor for nearly an hour, got through the ice to the clear

water of the lake on which we were encamped, we supped frugally on

pounded maize, arranged our bivouac, and passed a pretty good night,

though it was bitterly cold. The most common wood of the locality was

cedar and stunted pine. The heat of our fire made the snow melt, and

by morning the embers had reached the solid ice: the depth from the

snow surface was about five feet.

On the 15th, we continued our route, and soon began to descend the

mountain. At the end of three hours, we reached the banks of a

stream--the outlet of the second lake above mentioned--here and there

frozen over, and then again tumbling down over rock and pebbly bottom

in a thousand fantastic gambols; and very soon we had to ford it.

After a tiresome march, by an extremely difficult path in the midst

of woods, we encamped in the evening under some cypresses. I had hit

my right knee against the branch {293} of a fallen tree on the first

day of our march, and now began to suffer acutely with it. It was

impossible, however, to flinch, as I must keep up with the party or

be left to perish.

On the 16th, our path lay through thick swamps and forest; we

recrossed the small stream we had forded the day before, and our

guide conducted us to the banks of the _Athabasca_, which we also

forded. As this passage was the last to be made, we dried our

clothes, and pursued our journey through a more agreeable country

than on the preceding days. In the evening we camped on the margin

of a verdant plain, which, the guide informed us, was called _Coro

prairie_. We had met in the course of the day several buffalo tracks,

and a number of the bones of that quadruped bleached by time. Our

flesh-meat having given out entirely, our supper consisted in some

handfuls of corn, which we parched in a pan.

We resumed our route very early on the 17th, and after passing a

forest of trembling poplar or aspen, we again came in sight of the

river which we had left the day before. Arriving then at an {294}

elevated promontory or cape, our guide made us turn back in order to

pass it at its most accessible point. After crossing it, not without

difficulty, we soon came upon fresh horse-prints, a sure indication

that there were some of those animals in our neighborhood. Emerging

from the forest, each took the direction which he thought would

lead soonest to an encampment. We all presently arrived at an old

house which the traders of the N. W. Company had once constructed,

but which had been abandoned for some four or five years. The site

of this trading post is the most charming that can be imagined:

suffice to say that it is built on the bank of the beautiful river

_Athabasca_, and is surrounded by green and smiling prairies and

superb woodlands. Pity there is nobody there to enjoy these rural

beauties and to praise, while admiring them, the Author of Nature. We

found there Mr. Pillet, and one of Mr. J. M’Donald’s party, who had

his leg broken by the kick of a horse.[165] After regaling ourselves

with _pemican_ and some fresh venison, we set out again, leaving two

of the party to {295} take care of the lame man, and went on about

eight or nine miles farther to encamp.

On the 18th, we had rain. I took the lead, and after having walked

about ten or twelve miles, on the slope of a mountain denuded of

trees, I perceived some smoke issuing from a tuft of trees in the

bottom of the valley, and near the river. I descended immediately,

and reached a small camp, where I found two men who were coming

to meet us with four horses. I made them fire off two guns as a

signal to the rest of our people who were coming up in the rear,

and presently we heard it repeated on the river, from which we were

not far distant. We repaired thither, and found two of the men, who

had been left at the last ford, and who, having constructed a bark

canoe, were descending the river. I made one of them disembark,

and took his place, my knee being so painful that I could walk no

further. Meanwhile the whole party came up; they loaded the horses,

and pursued their route. In the course of the day my companion

(an Iroquois) and I, shot seven ducks. Coming, at last, {296}

to a high promontory called _Millet’s rock_, we found some of

our foot-travellers with Messrs. Stewart and Clarke, who were on

horseback, all at a stand, doubting whether it would answer to wade

round the base of the rock, which dipped in the water. We sounded the

stream for them, and found it fordable. So they all passed round,

thereby avoiding the inland path, which is excessively fatiguing by

reason of the hills, which it is necessary perpetually to mount and

descend.[166] We encamped, to the number of seven, at the entrance

of what at high water might be a lake, but was then but a flat of

blackish sand, with a narrow channel in the centre. Here we made an

excellent supper on the wild ducks, while those who were behind had

nothing to eat.

[159] Canoe River is the northernmost tributary of the

Columbia, flowing into it in latitude 52° north. Its

source is near that of Fraser River. Thompson was

here in the winter of 1810-11.--ED.

[160] Mr. Franchère uniformly mentions the direction from

which a stream appears to flow, not that toward

which it runs; a natural method on the part of one

who was ascending the current.--HUNTINGTON.

[161] On Arrowsmith’s map of “British Possessions in

North America,” in his _Atlas_ (Boston, 1812), the

Tacoutché Tessé or Columbia is laid down with a

dotted or indefinite line. The former name was in

reality that of Fraser River (explored 1806-08), but

long supposed to be the headwaters of the Columbia.

Franchère’s description of the latter river is quite

accurate.--ED.

[162] The place of Thompson’s wintering camp is still

(according to Coues) called Boat Encampment. On the

method of making a cache, see _Original Journals of

Lewis and Clark Expedition_, under entry for June

10, 1805. For pemmican see note 197, _post._--ED.

[163] This is one of the earliest descriptions extant

of the Athabascan Pass between British Columbia

and Alberta. It was discovered in 1810-11 by David

Thompson (see his account in _Henry-Thompson

Journals_, pp. 668, 669). Franchère’s “J. Henry” is

unidentified, probably it refers to William Henry

who crossed the year following Thompson’s passage.

The lake which forms the source of the Athabasca is

known as “Committee’s Punch Bowl.”--ED.

[164] The correctness of Franchère’s geographical

assertions shows the completeness with which this

vast region had been explored by the “Nor’Westers,”

who were doubtless his informants. The small branch

of the Athabasca whose source they had reached, was

Whirlpool River. Athabasca River, flowing through

the lake of the same name (Franchère’s Lake of the

Mountains), unites with the Peace (Indian name,

Unjighah), and becomes the Slave and Mackenzie

rivers, as here described.--ED.

[165] Coues locates this abandoned trading house at the

junction of the Miette and Athabasca rivers, in

Western Alberta. It was founded by William Henry,

and commanded both the Athabasca and Yellowhead

passes, but was abandoned because of the difficulty

of securing provisions.

McDonald, in his journal (Masson, _Bourgeois_, ii,

p. 53) speaks of this man whose leg was broken.--ED.

[166] Millet’s rock is given in the original French

edition as “Le Rocher de Miette.” Ross Cox and his

party crossed it in 1817; he speaks of the steepness

of the ascent and the magnificence of the view from

the summit. See Cox, _Adventures_, pp. 253, 254.--ED.

{297} CHAPTER XXIV

Arrival at the Fort of the Mountains--Description of this

Post--Some Details in Regard to the Rocky Mountains--Mountain

Sheep, &c.--Continuation of the Journey--Unhappy

Accident--Reflections--News from Canada--Hunter’s Lodge--Pimbina

and Red Deer Rivers.

On the 19th we raised our camp and followed the shore of the little

dry lake, along a smooth sandy beach, having abandoned our little

bark canoe, both because it had become nearly unserviceable, and

because we knew ourselves to be very near the Rocky Mountains

House.[167] In fact, we had not gone above five or six miles when we

discerned a column of smoke on the opposite side of the stream. We

immediately forded across, and arrived at the post, where we found

Messrs. M’Donald, Stuart, and M’Kenzie, who had preceded us only two

days.

{298} The post of the Rocky Mountains, in English, _Rocky Mountains

House_, is situated on the shore of the little lake I have mentioned,

in the midst of a wood, and is surrounded, except on the water side,

by steep rocks, inhabited only by the mountain sheep and goat. Here

is seen in the west the chain of the Rocky Mountains, whose summits

are covered with perpetual snow. On the lake side, _Millet’s Rock_,

of which I have spoken above, is in full view, of an immense height,

and resembles the front of a huge church seen in perspective. The

post was under the charge of a Mr. Decoigne.[168] He does not procure

many furs for the company, which has only established the house as

a provision depot, with the view of facilitating the passage of

the mountains to those of its _employés_ who are repairing to, or

returning from, the Columbia.

People speak so often of the Rocky Mountains, and appear to know

so little about them, that the reader will naturally desire me to

say here a word on that subject. If we are to credit travellers,

and the most recent maps, these mountains {299} extend nearly in a

straight line, from the 35th or 36th degree of north latitude, to

the mouth of the _Unjighah_, or _M’Kenzie’s river_, in the Arctic

ocean, in latitude 65° or 66° N. This distance of thirty degrees

of latitude, or seven hundred and fifty leagues, equivalent to two

thousand two hundred and fifty English miles or thereabouts, is,

however, only the mean side of a right-angled triangle, the base of

which occupies twenty-six degrees of longitude, in latitude 35° or

36°, that is to say, is about sixteen hundred miles long, while the

chain of mountains forms the _hypotenuse_; so that the real, and as

it were diagonal, length of the chain, across the continent, must be

very near three thousand miles from S. E. to N. W. In such a vast

extent of mountains, the perpendicular height and width of base must

necessarily be very unequal. We were about eight days in crossing

them; whence I conclude, from our daily rate of travel, that they may

have, at this point, i. e., about latitude 54°, a base of two hundred

miles.

The geographer Pinkerton[169] is assuredly mistaken, {300} when

he gives these mountains an elevation of but three thousand feet

above the level of the sea; from my own observations I would not

hesitate to give them six thousand; we attained, in crossing them,

an elevation probably of fifteen hundred feet above the valleys, and

were not, perhaps, nearer than half way of their total height, while

the valleys themselves must be considerably elevated above the level

of the Pacific, considering the prodigious number of rapids and falls

which are met in the Columbia, from the first falls to Canoe river.

Be that as it may, if these mountains yield to the Andes in elevation

and extent, they very much surpass in both respects the Apalachian

chain, regarded until recently as the principal mountains of North

America: they give rise, accordingly, to an infinity of streams, and

to the greatest rivers of the continent.[170]

{301} They offer a vast and unexplored field to natural history:

no botanist, no mineralogist, has yet examined them. The first

travellers called them the Glittering mountains, on account of the

infinite number of immense rock crystals, which, they say, cover

their surface, and which, when they are not covered with snow, or

in the bare places, reflect to an immense distance the rays of the

sun. The name of Rocky mountains was given them, probably, by later

travellers, in consequence of the enormous isolated rocks which they

offer here and there to the view.[171] In fact, Millet’s rock, and

_M’Gillivray’s_ above all, appeared to me wonders of nature. Some

think that they contain metals, and precious stones.