University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER III.

Saturday, November 2. We now examined the rapid below
more particularly, and the danger appearing to be too
great for the loaded canoes, all those who could not swim
were sent with the baggage by land. The canoes then passed
safely, and were reloaded; at the foot of the rapid we took
a meridian altitude of 59° 45′ 45″. Just as we were setting
out seven squaws arrived across the portage loaded with
dried fish and bear-grass, neatly packed in bundles, and soon
after four Indians came down the rapid in a large canoe. After
breakfasting we left our camp at one o'clock, passed the
upper point of an island which is separated from the right
shore by a narrow channel, through which in high tides the
water passes. But at present it contains no running water,
and a creek which falls into it from the mountains on the
right, is in the same dry condition, though it has the marks
of discharging immense torrents at some seasons. The
island thus made is three miles in length and about one in
width; its situation is high and open, the land rich, and at
this time covered with grass and a great number of strawberry
vines, from which we gave it the name of Strawberry
island. In several places we observed that the Indians had

been digging for roots, and indeed the whole island bears
every appearance of having been at some period in a state of
cultivation. On the left side of the river the low ground is
narrow and open: the rapid which we have just passed is
the last of all the descents of the Columbia. At this place
the first tide-water commences, and the river in consequence
widened immediately below the rapid. As we descended,
we reached at the distance of one mile from the rapid a
creek under a bluff on the left, at three miles is the lower
point of Strawberry island. To this immediately succeed
three small islands covered with wood; in the meadow to the
right, and at some distance from the hills, stands a high
perpendicular rock, about eight hundred feet high, and four
hundred yards round the base; this we called the Beacon
rock. Just below is an Indian village of nine houses, situated
between two small creeks.

At this village the river widens to nearly a mile in extent,
the low grounds too become wider, and they as well as the
mountains on each side are covered with pine, spruce-pine,
cottonwood, a species of ash, and some alder. After being
so long accustomed to the dreary nakedness of the country
above, the change is as grateful to the eye, as it is useful in
supplying us with fuel. Four miles from the village is a
point of land on the right, where the hills become lower, but
are still thickly timbered. The river is now about two
miles wide, the current smooth and gentle, and the effect of
the tide has been sensible since leaving the rapid. Six miles
lower is a rock rising from the middle of the river to the
height of one hundred feet, and about eighty yards at its
base. We continued six miles further, and halted for the
night under a high projecting rock on the left side of the
river opposite the point of a large meadow. The mountains,
which from the great shoot to this place are high, rugged,
and thickly covered with timber chiefly of the pine species,
here leave the river on each side; the river becomes two
and a half miles in width, and the low grounds are extensive

and well supplied with wood. The Indians whom we left at
the portage passed us, on their way down the river, and seven
others who were descending in a canoe for the purpose of
trading below, encamped with us. We had made from the
foot of the great shoot twenty-nine miles to-day. The ebbtide
rose at our camp about nine inches, the flood must rise
much higher. We saw great numbers of water-fowl, such
as swan, geese, ducks of various kinds, gulls, plover, and the
white and gray brant, of which last we killed eighteen.

Sunday 3. We were detained until ten o'clock by a fog
so thick that a man could not be discerned at the distance of
fifty steps. As soon as it cleared off we set out in company
with our new Indian acquaintances, who came from a village
near the great falls. The low grounds along the river
are covered so thickly with rushes, vines, and other small
growth, that they are almost impassable. At the distance
of three miles we reached the mouth of a river on the left,
which seemed to lose its waters in a sandbar opposite;
the stream itself being only a few inches in depth. But on
attempting to wade across, we discovered that the bed was
a very bad quicksand, too deep to be passed on foot. We
went up a mile and a half to examine this river, and found
it to be at this distance a very considerable stream one hundred
and twenty yards wide at its narrowest part, with several
small islands. Its character resembles very much that
of the river Platte. It drives its quicksand over the low
grounds with great impetuosity, and such is the quantity of
coarse sand which it discharges, that the accumulation
has formed a large sandbar or island, three miles long, and
a mile and a half wide, which divides the waters of the
Quicksand river into two channels. This sand island compresses
the Columbia within a space of half a mile, and
throws its whole current against the right shore. Opposite
to this river, which we call Quicksand river, is a large creek
to which we gave the name of Seal river. The first appears
to pass through the low country, at the foot of the high

range of mountains towards the southeast, while the second
as well as all the large creeks on the right side of the Columbia,
rise in the same ridge of mountains N. N. E. from
this place. The mountain, which we have supposed to be the
mount Hood of Vancouver, bears S. 85° E. about forty-seven
miles from the mouth of the Quicksand river. After dinner
we proceeded, and at the distance of three miles reached the
lower mouth of Quicksand river. On the opposite side a
large creek falls in near the head of an island, which extends
for three miles and a half down the river; it is a mile
and a half in width, rocky at the upper end, has some timber
round its borders, but in the middle is open and has several
ponds. Half a mile lower is another island in the middle
of the river, to which from its appearance we gave the
name of Diamond island. Here we met fifteen Indians ascending
the river in two canoes, but the only information we
could procure from them was, that they had seen three vessels,
which we presume to be European, at the mouth of the
Columbia. We went along its right side for three miles, and
encamped opposite to it, after making to-day thirteen miles.
A canoe soon after arrived from the village at the foot of
the last rapid, with an Indian and his family, consisting of
a wife, three children, and a woman who had been taken prisoner
from the Snake Indians, living on a river from the
south, which we afterwards found to be the Multnomah.
Sacajawea was immediately introduced to her, in hopes
that being a Snake Indian also, they might understand each
other, but their language was not sufficiently intelligible to
permit them to converse together. The Indian had a gun
with a brass barrel and cock, which he appeared to value
very highly.

Below Quicksand river the country is low, rich and
thickly wooded on each side of the river: the islands have
less timber, but are furnished with a number of ponds near
which are vast quantities of fowls, such as swan, geese,
brants, cranes, storks, white gulls, cormorants and plover.
The river is wide, and contains a great number of sea otters.

In the evening the hunters brought in game for a sumptuous
supper, which we shared with the Indians, both parties
of whom spent the night with us.

Monday 4. The weather was cloudy and cool, and the
wind from the west. During the night, the tide rose eighteen
inches near our camp. We set out about eight o'clock,
and at the distance of three miles came to the lower end
of Diamond island. It is six miles long, nearly three in
width, and like the other islands, thinly covered with timber,
and has a number of ponds or small lakes scattered
over its surface. Besides the animals already mentioned
we shot a deer on it this morning. Near the end of Diamond
island are two others, separated by a narrow channel
filled at high tides only, which continue on the right for
the distance of three miles, and like the adjacent low
grounds, are thickly covered with pine. Just below the
last, we landed on the left bank of the river, at a village of
twenty-five houses; all of these were thatched with straw,
and built of bark, except one which was about fifty feet
long, built of boards in the form of those higher up the
river, from which it differed however, in being completely
above ground, and covered with broad split boards; this
village contains about two hundred men of the Skilloot nation,
who seem well provided with canoes, of which there
were at least fifty-two, and some of them very large, drawn
up in front of the village. On landing we found the Indian
from above, who had left us this morning, and who
now invited us into a lodge of which he appeared to own a
part. Here he treated us with a root, round in shape, and
about the size of a small Irish potatoe, which they call
wappatoo, it is the common arrowhead or sagittifolia, so
much cultivated by the Chinese, and when roasted in the
embers till it becomes soft, has an agreeable taste, and is
a very good substitute for bread. After purchasing some
more of this root, we resumed our journey, and at seven

miles distance came to the head of a large island near the
left. On the right shore is a fine open prairie for about a
mile, back of which the country rises, and is supplied with
timber, such as white oak, pine of different kinds, wild crab,
and several species of undergrowth, while along the borders
of the river, there are only a few cottonwood and ash
trees. In this prairie were also signs of deer and elk.
When we landed for dinner, a number of Indians from the
last village, came down for the purpose, as we supposed, of
paying us a friendly visit, as they had put on their favourite
dresses. In addition to their usual covering they had
scarlet and blue blankets, sailors' jackets and trowsers,
shirts and hats. They had all of them either war axes,
spears and bow arrows, or muskets and pistols, with tin
powder flasks. We smoked with them and endeavoured to
show them every attention, but we soon found them very
assuming and disagreeable companions. While we were
eating they stole the pipe with which they were smoking,
and the great coat of one of the men. We immediately
searched them all, and discovered the coat stuffed under
the root of a tree near where they were sitting; but the pipe
we could not recover. Finding us determined not to suffer
any imposition, and discontented with them, they showed
their displeasure in the only way which they dared, by returning
in an ill humour to their village. We then proceeded
and soon met two canoes with twelve men of the same
Skilloot nation, who were on their way from below. The
larger of the canoes was ornamented with the figure of a
bear in the bow, and a man in the stern, both nearly as
large as life, both made of painted wood, and very neatly
fixed to the boat. In the same canoe were two Indians
finely dressed and with round hats. This circumstance induced
us to give the name of Image canoe to the large
island, the lower end of which we now passed at the distance
of nine miles from its head. We had seen two smaller
islands to the right, and three more near its lower
extremity. The Indians in the canoe here made signs that
there was a village behind those islands, and indeed we presumed
there was a channel on that side of the river, for one
of the canoes passed in that direction between the small
islands, but we were anxious to press forward, and therefore
did not stop to examine more minutely. The river
was now about a mile and a half in width, with a gentle
current, the bottoms extensive and low, but not subject to
be overflowed. Three miles below the Image canoe island
we came to four large houses on the left side, at which
place we had a full view of the mountain which we first
saw on the 19th of October, from the Muscleshell rapid,
and which we now find to be the mount St. Helen of Vancouver.
It bears north 25° east, about ninety miles distant;
it rises in the form of a sugar-loaf to a very great height,
and is covered with snow. A mile lower we passed a single
house on the left, and another on the right. The Indians
had now learnt so much of us, that their curiosity was
without any mixture of fear, and their visits became
very frequent and troublesome. We therefore continued
on till after night, in hopes of getting rid of them; but after
passing a village on each side, which on account of the lateness
of the hour we saw indistinctly, we found there was
no escaping from their importunities. We therefore landed
at the distance of seven miles below Image canoe island,
and encamped near a single house on the right, having
made during the day twenty-nine miles.

The Skilloots whom we passed to-day, speak a language
somewhat different from that of the Echeloots or Chilluckittequaws
near the long narrows. Their dress is similar,
except that the Skilloots possess more articles procured
from the white traders; and there is further difference
between them, inasmuch as the Skilloots, both males and
females, have the head flattened. Their principal food
is fish, and wappatoo roots, and some elk and deer, in
killing which with their arrows, they seem very expert, for

during the short time we remained at the village three deer
were brought in. We also observed there a tame brairo.

As soon as we landed we were visited by two canoes
loaded with Indians, from whom we purchased a few roots.
The grounds along the river continue low and rich, and
among the shrubs which cover them is a large quantity
of vines resembling the raspberry. On the right the low
grounds are terminated at the distance of five miles by a
range of high hills covered with tall timber, and running
southeast and northwest. The game as usual very abundant,
and among other birds we observe some white geese
with a part of their wings black.

Tuesday, 5. Our choice of a camp had been very unfortunate;
for on a sand island opposite to us were immense
numbers of geese, swan-ducks, and other wild fowl, who,
during the whole night, serenaded us with a confusion of
noises which completely prevented our sleeping. During
the latter part of the night it rained, and we therefore willingly
left our encampment at an early hour. We passed at
three miles a small prairie, where the river is only three
quarters of a mile in width, and soon after two houses on
the left, half a mile distant from each other; from one of
which three men came in a canoe merely to look at us, and
having done so returned home. At eight miles we came to
the lower point of an island, separated from the right side
by a narrow channel, on which, a short distance above the
end of the island, is situated a large village: it is built more
compactly than the generality of the Indian villages, and
the front has fourteen houses, which are ranged for a quarter
of a mile along the channel. As soon as we were discovered
seven canoes came out to see us, and after some traffic,
during which they seemed well-disposed and orderly,
accompanied us a short distance below. The river here
again widens to the space of a mile and a half. As we descended
we soon observed, behind a sharp point of rocks, a
channel a quarter of a mile wide, which we suppose must be

the one taken by the canoes yesterday on leaving Image
canoe island. A mile below the channel are some low cliffs
of rocks, near which is a large island on the right side, and
two small islands a little further on. Here we met two canoes
ascending the river. At this place the shore on the
right becomes bold and rocky, and the bank is bordered by
a range of high hills covered with a thick growth of pine:
on the other side is an extensive low island, separated from
the left side by a narrow channel. Here we stopped to dine,
and found the island open, with an abundant growth of grass,
and a number of ponds well supplied with fowls; and at the
lower extremity are the remains of an old village. We procured
a swan, several ducks, and a brant, and saw some
deer on the island. Besides this island, the lower extremity
of which is seventeen miles from the channel just mentioned,
we passed two or three smaller ones in the same
distance. Here the hills on the right retire from the river,
leaving a high plain, between which on the left bank, a
range of high hills running southeast and covered with pine,
forms a bold and rocky shore. At the distance of six miles,
however, these hills again return and close the river on
both sides. We proceeded on, and at four miles reached
a creek on the right, about twenty yards in width, immediately
below which is an old village. Three miles further,
and at the distance of thirty-two miles from our camp of
last night, we halted under a point of highland, with thick
pine trees on the left bank of the river. Before landing we
met two canoes, the largest of which had at the bow the
image of a bear, and that of a man on the stern: there were
twenty-six Indians on board, but they all proceeded upwards,
and we were left, for the first time since we reached
the waters of the Columbia, without any of the natives with
us during the night. Besides the game already mentioned,
we killed a grouse much larger than the common size, and
observed along the shore a number of striped snakes. The
river is here deep, and about a mile and a half in width.
Here too the ridge of low mountains running northwest and
southeast, cross the river, and form the western boundary
of the plain through which we have just passed. This great
plain or valley begins above the mouth of Quicksand river,
and is about sixty miles wide in a straight line, while on the
right and left it extends to a great distance: it is a fertile
and delightful country, shaded by thick groves of tall timber,
watered by small ponds, and running on both sides
of the river. The soil is rich, and capable of any species
of culture; but in the present condition of the Indians, its
chief production is the wappatoo root, which grows spontaneously
and exclusively in this region. Sheltered as it is on
both sides, the temperature is much milder than that of
the surrounding country; for even at this season of the year
we observe very little appearance of frost. During its whole
extent it is inhabited by numerous tribes of Indians, who
either reside in it permanently, or visit its waters in quest
of fish and wappatoo roots: we gave it the name of the Columbia
valley.

Wednesday, 6. The morning was cool, wet, and rainy.
We proceeded at an early hour between the high hills on
both sides of the river, till at the distance of four miles we
came to two tents of Indians in a small plain on the left,
where the hills on the right recede a few miles from the
river, and a long narrow island stretches along the right
shore. Behind this island is the mouth of a large river a hundred
and fifty yards wide, and called by the Indians, Coweliske.
We halted for dinner on the island, but the red wood
and green briars are so interwoven with the pine, alder,
ash, a species of beech, and other trees, that the woods form
a thicket, which our hunters could not penetrate. Below the
mouth of the Coweliske a very remarkable knob rises from
the water's edge to the height of eighty feet, being two
hundred paces round the base; and as it is in a low part of the
island, and some distance from the high grounds, the appearance
of it is very singular. On setting out after dinner

we overtook two canoes going down to trade: one of the Indians,
who spoke a few words of English, mentioned, that
the principal person who traded with them was a Mr. Haley,
and he showed a bow of iron and several other things
which he said Mr. Haley had given him. Nine miles below
that river is a creek on the same; and between them three
smaller islands; one on the left shore, the other about the
middle of the river; and a third near the lower end of the
long narrow island, and opposite a high cliff of black rocks
on the left, sixteen miles from our camp. Here we were
overtaken by the Indians from the two tents we passed in
the morning, from whom we now purchased wappatoo roots,
salmon, trout, and two beaver skins, for which last we
gave five small fishhooks. At these cliffs the mountains,
which had continued high and rugged on the left, retired
from the river, and as the hills on the other side had left
the water at the Coweliske, a beautiful extensive plain
now presented itself before us: for a few miles we passed
along side of an island a mile in width and three miles long,
below which is a smaller island, where the high rugged
hills, thickly covered with timber, border the right bank of
the river, and terminate the low grounds: these were supplied
with common rushes, grass, and nettles; in the moister
parts with bullrushes and flags, and along the water's edge
some willows. Here also were two ancient villages, now
abandoned by their inhabitants, of whom no vestige remains,
except two small dogs almost starved, and a prodigious quantity
of fleas. After crossing the plain and making five miles,
we proceeded through the hills for eight miles. The river is
about a mile in width, and the hills so steep that we could
not for several miles find a place sufficiently level to suffer
us to sleep in a level position: at length, by removing the
large stones, we cleared a place fit for our purpose above
the reach of the tide, and after a journey of twenty-nine
miles slept among the smaller stones under a mountain to
the right. The weather was rainy during the whole day;
we therefore made large fires to dry our bedding and to kill
the fleas, who have accumulated upon us at every old village
we have passed.

Thursday 7. The morning was rainy and the fog so thick
that we could not see across the river. We observed however,
opposite to our camp, the upper point of an island, between
which and the steep hills on the right we proceeded
for five miles. Three miles lower is the beginning of an
island separated from the right shore by a narrow channel;
down this we proceeded under the direction of some Indians
whom we had just met going up the river, and who returned
in order to show us their village. It consists of four houses
only, situated on this channel behind several marshy islands
formed by two small creeks. On our arrival they gave us
some fish, and we afterwards purchased wappatoo roots, fish,
three dogs, and two otter skins, for which we gave fishhooks
chiefly, that being an article of which they are very
fond.

These people seem to be of a different nation from those
we have just passed: they are low in stature, ill shaped, and
all have their heads flattened. They call themselves Wahkiacum,
and their language differs from that of the tribes
above, with whom they trade for wappatoo roots. The houses
too are built in a different style, being raised entirely
above ground, with the eaves about five feet high, and the
door at the corner. Near the end opposite to this door is a
single fireplace, round which are the beds, raised four feet
from the floor of earth; over the fire are hung the fresh
fish, and when dried they are stowed away with the wappatoo
roots under the beds. The dress of the men is like that
of the people above, but the women are clad in a peculiar
manner, the robe not reaching lower than the hip, and the
body being covered in cold weather by a sort of corset of fur,
curiously plaited, and reaching from the arms to the hip; added
to this is a sort of petticoat, or rather tissue of white
cedar bark, bruised or broken into small strands, and woven

into a girdle by several cords of the same material. Being
tied round the middle, these strands hang down as low as
the knee in front, and to midleg behind, and are of sufficient
thickness to answer the purpose of concealment whilst the
female stands in an erect position, but in any other attitude
is but a very ineffectual defence. Sometimes the tissue is
strings of silk grass, twisted and knotted at the end.

After remaining with them about an hour, we proceeded
down the channel with an Indian dressed in a sailor's jacket
for our pilot, and on reaching the main channel were visited
by some Indians who have a temporary residence on a marshy
island in the middle of the river, where is a great abundance
of water fowl. Here the mountainous country again
approaches the river on the left, and a higher mountain is
distinguished towards the southwest. At a distance of twenty
miles from our camp we halted at a village of Wahkiacums,
consisting of seven ill-looking houses, built in the same
form with those above, and situated at the foot of the high
hills on the right, behind two small marshy islands. We
merely stopped to purchase some food and two beaver skins,
and then proceeded. Opposite to these islands the hills on
the left retire, and the river widens into a kind of bay crowded
with low islands, subject to be overflowed occasionally
by the tide. We had not gone far from this village when
the fog cleared off, and we enjoyed the delightful prospect of
the ocean; that ocean, the object of all our labours, the reward
of all our anxieties. This cheering view exhilirated the
spirits of all the party, who were still more delighted on hearing
the distant roar of the breakers. We went on with
great cheerfulness under the high mountainous country
which continued along the right bank; the shore was however
so bold and rocky, that we could not, until after going
fourteen miles from the last village, find any spot fit for an
encampment. At that distance, having made during the day
thirty-four miles, we spread our mats on the ground, and
passed the night in the rain. Here we were joined by our

[ILLUSTRATION]

small canoe, which had been separated from us during the
fog this morning. Two Indians from the last village also
accompanied us to the camp, but, having detected them in
stealing a knife, they were sent off.

Friday 8. It rained this morning; and having changed
the clothing which had been wet during yesterday's rain, we
did not set out till nine o'clock. Immediately opposite our
camp is a rock at the distance of a mile in the river, about
twenty feet in diameter and fifty in height, and towards the
southwest some high mountains, one of which is covered with
snow at the top. We proceeded past several low islands in
the bay or bend of the river to the left, which is here five
or six miles wide. We were here overtaken by three Indians
in a canoe who had salmon to sell. On the right side
we passed an old village, and then, at the distance of three
miles, entered an inlet or niche about six miles across, and
making a deep bend of nearly five miles into the hills on the
right shore, where it receives the waters of several creeks.
We coasted along this inlet, which, from its little depth, we
called Shallow bay, and at the bottom of it halted to dine
near the remains of an old village, from which, however, we
kept at a cautious distance, as it was occupied by great
numbers of fleas. At this place we observed a number of
fowl, among which we killed a goose and two ducks, exactly
resembling in appearance and flavour the canvassback duck
of the Susquehannah. After dinner the three Indians left
us, and we then took advantage of the returning tide, to go
on about three miles to a point on the right, eight miles
distant from our camp; but here the waves ran so high, and
dashed about our canoes so much, that several of the men
became seasick. It was therefore judged imprudent to go
on in the present state of the weather, and we landed at the
point. The situation was extremely uncomfortable; the
high hills jutted in so closely that there was not room for
us to lie level, nor to secure our baggage free from the
tide; and the water of the river is too salt to be used; but

the waves increasing every moment so much, that we could
not move from the spot with safety: we therefore fixed ourselves
on the beach left by the ebb-tide, and having raised
the baggage on poles, passed a disagreeable night, the rain
during the day having wet us completely, as indeed we have
been for some days past.

Saturday 9. Fortunately for us, the tide did not rise
as high as our camp during the night; but being accompanied
by high winds from the south, the canoes,
which we could not place beyond its reach, were filled with
water, and were saved with much difficulty: our position
was very uncomfortable, but as it was impossible to move
from it, we waited for a change of weather. It rained,
however, during the whole day, and at two o'clock in the
afternoon, the flood tide set in, accompanied by a high wind
from the south, which, about four o'clock, shifted to the
southwest, and blew almost a gale directly from the sea.
The immense waves now broke over the place where we
were encamped, and the large trees, some of them five or
six feet thick, which had lodged at the point, were drifted
over our camp, and the utmost vigilance of every man could
scarcely save our canoes from being crushed to pieces. We
remained in the water and drenched with rain during the
rest of the day; our only food being some dried fish, and
some rain-water which we caught. Yet, though wet and
cold, and some of them sick from using the salt-water, the
men are cheerful, and full of anxiety to see more of the
ocean. The rain continued all night, and,

Sunday 10th, the following morning, the wind, however,
lulled, and the waves not being so high, we loaded our canoes
and proceeded. The mountains on the right are high,
covered with timber, chiefly pine, and descend in a bold and
rocky shore to the water. We went through a deep niche
and several inlets on the right, while on the opposite side is
a large bay, above which the hills are close on the river.
At the distance of ten miles the wind rose from the northwest

and the waves became so high that we were forced to
return for two miles to a place where we could with safety
unload. Here we landed at the mouth of a small run, and
having placed our baggage on a pile of drifted logs waited
until low water. The river then appeared more calm: we
therefore started, but after going a mile found the waves
too high for our canoes and were obliged to put to shore. We
unloaded the canoes, and having placed the baggage on a
rock above the reach of the tide, encamped on some drift logs
which formed the only place where we could lie, the hills
rising steep over our heads to the height of five hundred
feet. All our baggage as well as ourselves were thoroughly
wet with the rain, which did not cease during the day;
it continued violently during the night, in the course of
which the tide reached the logs on which we lay, and set
them afloat.

Monday, 11. The wind was still high from the southwest,
and drove the waves against the shore with great fury:
the rain too fell in torrents, and not only drenched us to the
skin, but loosened the stones on the hill sides, which then
came rolling down upon us. In this comfortless situation
we remained all day wet, cold, with nothing but dried fish
to satisfy our hunger; the canoes in one place at the mercy
of the waves; the baggage in another, and all the men scattered
on floating logs, or sheltering themselves in the crevices
of the rocks and hill sides. A hunter was despatched
in hopes of finding some fresh meat, but the hills were so
steep, and covered with undergrowth and fallen timber,
that he could not penetrate them, and he was forced to return.
About twelve o'clock we were visited by five Indians
in a canoe: they came from above this place on the opposite
side of the river, and their language much resembles
that of the Wahkiacum: they called themselves Cathlamahs.
In person they are small, ill made, and badly clothed; though
one of them had on a sailor's round jacket and pantaloons,
which, as he explained by signs, he had received from the

whites below the point: we purchased from them thirteen
red charr, a fish which we found very excellent. After
some time they went on board the boat, and crossed the
river, which is here five miles wide, through a very heavy
sea.

Tuesday, 12. About three o'clock a tremendous gale of
wind arose, accompanied with lightning, thunder, and hail:
at six it became light for a short time, but a violent rain
soon began and lasted during the day. During this storm
one of our boats, secured by being sunk with great quantities
of stone, got loose, but drifting against a rock, was recovered
without having received much injury. Our situation
became now much more dangerous, for the waves were
driven with fury against the rocks and trees, which till now
had afforded us refuge: we therefore took advantage of a
low tide, and moved about half a mile round a point to a small
brook, which we had not observed till now on account of the
thick bushes and driftwood which concealed its mouth. Here
we were more safe; but still cold and wet, our clothes and
bedding rotten as well as wet, our baggage at a distance,
and the canoes, our only means of escape from this place,
at the mercy of the waves: we were, however, fortunate
enough to enjoy good health, and even had the luxury of
getting some fresh salmon and three salmon trout in the
brook. Three of the men attempted to go round a point in
our small Indian canoe, but the high waves rendered her
quite unmanageable; these boats requiring the seamanship
of the natives themselves to make them live in so rough a
sea.

Wednesday, 13. During the night we had short intervals
of fair weather, but it began to rain in the morning,
and continued through the day. In order to obtain a view
of the country below, captain Clarke followed up the course
of the brook, and with much fatigue, and after walking three
miles, ascended the first spur of the mountains. The whole
lower country was covered with almost impenetrable thickets

of small pine, with which is mixed a species of plant resembling
arrowwood, twelve or fifteen feet high, with a
thorny stem, almost interwoven with each other, and scattered
among the fern and fallen timber: there is also a red
berry, somewhat like the solomon's seal, which is called by
the natives, solme, and used as an article of diet. This thick
growth rendered travelling almost impossible, and it was
rendered more fatiguing by the steepness of the mountain,
which was so great as to oblige him to draw himself up by
means of the bushes. The timber on the hills is chiefly of
a large tall species of pine, many of them eight or ten feet
in diameter at the stump, and rising sometimes more than
one hundred feet in height. The hail which fell two nights
since is still to be seen on the mountains: there was no game,
and no traces of any, except some old signs of elk: the cloudy
weather prevented his seeing to any distance, and he therefore
returned to camp, and sent three men in the Indian canoe
to try if they could double the point and find some safer
harbour for our canoes. At every flood-tide the seas break
in great swells against the rocks, and drifts the trees among
our establishment, so as to render it very insecure. We
were confined as usual to dried fish, which is our last resource.

Thursday, 14. It rained without intermission during last
night and to-day: the wind too is very high, and one of our
canoes much injured by being dashed against rocks. Five
Indians from below came to us in a canoe, and three of them
having landed, informed us that they had seen the men
sent down yesterday. At this moment one of them arrived,
and informed us that these Indians had stolen his gig and
basket: we therefore ordered the two women who remained
in the canoe, to restore them; but this they refused, till we
threatened to shoot, when they gave back the articles, and
we then ordered them to leave us. They were of the Wahkiacum
nation. The man now informed us that they had
gone round the point as far as the high sea would suffer

them in the canoe, and then landed; and that in the night he
had separated from his companions, who had gone further
down: that at no great distance from where we are is a
beautiful sand beach and a good harbour. Captain Lewis
concluded to examine more minutely the lower part of the
bay, and taking one of the large canoes was landed at the
point, whence he proceeded by land with four men, and the
canoe returned nearly filled with water.

Friday, 15. It continued raining all night, but in the
morning the weather became calm and fair: we therefore
began to prepare for setting out, but before we were
ready a high wind sprang up from the southeast, and obliged
us to remain. The sun shone until one o'clock, and we
were thus enabled to dry our bedding and examine our baggage.
The rain, which has continued for the last ten days
without an interval of more than two hours, has completely
wet all our merchandise, and spoiled some of our fish, destroyed
the robes, and rotted nearly one half of our few remaining
articles of clothing, particularly the leather dresses.
About three o'clock the wind fell, and we instantly
loaded the canoes, and left the miserable spot to which we
have been confined the last six days. On turning the point
we came to the sand beach, through which runs a small
stream from the hills; at the mouth of which is an ancient
village of thirty-six houses, which has at present no inhabitants
except fleas. Here we met Shannon, who had been
sent back to meet us by captain Lewis. The day Shannon
left us in the canoe, he and Willard proceeded on till they
met a party of twenty Indians, who never having heard of
us, did not know where they came from: they however behaved
with so much civility, and seemed so anxious that the
men should go with them towards the sea, that their suspicions
were excited, and they declined going on: the Indians,
however, would not leave them, and the men being confirmed
in their suspicions, and fearful if they went into the
woods to sleep they would be cut to pieces in the night,

thought it best to pass the night in the midst of the Indians:
they therefore made a fire, and after talking with them to a
late hour, laid down with their rifles under their heads. As
they awoke this morning they found that the Indians had stolen
and concealed their guns: having demanded them in vain,
Shannon seized a club, and was about assaulting one of the
Indians whom he suspected as a thief, when another Indian
began to load a fowling piece with an intention of shooting
him. He therefore stopped and explained by signs, that if
they did not give up the guns, a large party would come
down the river before the sun rose to such a height, and put
every one of them to death. Fortunately, captain Lewis
and his party appeared at this time, and the terrified Indians
immediately brought the guns, and five of them came
on with Shannon. To these men we declared, that if ever
any of their nation stole any thing from us he should be instantly
shot. They reside to the north of this place, and
speak a language different from that of the people higher
up the river. It was now apparent that the sea was at all
times too rough for us to proceed further down the bay by
water: we therefore landed, and having chosen the best spot
we could select, made our camp of boards from the old village.
We were now situated comfortably, and being visited
by four Wahkiacums with wappatoo roots, were enabled to
make an agreeable addition to our food.

Saturday 16. The morning was clear and beautiful.
We therefore, put out all our baggage to dry, and sent several
of the party to hunt. Our camp is in full view of the
ocean, on the bay laid down by Vancouver, which we distinguish
by the name of Haley's bay, from a trader who visits
the Indians here, and is a great favourite among them.
The meridian altitude of this day gave 46° 19′ 11″ 7/10 as
the latitude of our camp. The wind was strong from the
southwest, and the waves very high, yet the Indians were
passing up and down the bay in canoes, and several of them
encamped near us. We smoked with them, but after our

recent experience of their thievish disposition, treated
them with caution. Though so much exposed to the bad
weather, none of the party have suffered, except one, who
has a violent cold, in consequence of sleeping for several
nights in wet leather. The hunters brought in two deer,
a crane, some geese and ducks, and several brant, three of
which were white, except a black part of the wing, and
much larger than the gray brant, which is itself a size beyond
the duck.

Sunday 17. A fair cool morning and easterly wind. The
tide rises at this place eight feet six inches in height, and
rolls over the beach in great waves.

About one o'clock captain Lewis returned, after having
coasted down Haley's bay to cape Disappointment, and
some distance to the north along the sea coast. He was
followed by several Chinnooks, among whom were the principal
chief and his family. They made us a present of a
boiled root, very much like the common liquorice in taste
and size, and called culwhamo: in return we gave double
the value of their present, and now learnt the danger of accepting
any thing from them, since no return, even if ten
times the value of their gift, can satisfy them. We were
chiefly occupied in hunting, and were able to procure three
deer, four brant and two ducks, and also saw some signs of
elk. Captain Clarke now prepared for an excursion down
the bay, and accordingly started,

Monday 18, at daylight, accompanied by eleven men.
He proceeded along the beach one mile to a point of rocks
about forty feet high, where the hills retire, leaving a wide
beach, and a number of ponds covered with water-fowl, between
which and the mountain is a narrow bottom of alder
and small balsam trees. Seven miles from the rocks is the
entrance of a creek, or rather drain from the ponds and
hills, where is a cabin of Chinnooks. The cabin contained
some children, and four women, one of whom was in a
most miserable state, covered with ulcers, proceeding as we

imagine, from the venereal disease, with which several of
the Chinnooks we have seen appear to be afflicted. We
were taken across in a canoe by two squaws, to each of
whom we gave a fishhook, and then coasting along the
bay, passed at two miles the low bluff of a small hill, below
which are the ruins of some old huts, and close to it the
remains of a whale. The country is low, open and marshy;
interspersed with some high pine and a thick undergrowth.
Five miles from the creek, we came to a stream forty
yards wide at low water, which we called Chinnook
river. The hills up this river and towards the bay are
not high, but very thickly covered with large pine of several
species: in many places pine trees, three or four feet
in thickness, are seen growing on the bodies of large trees,
which though fallen and covered with moss, were in part
sound. Here we dined on some brant and plover, killed as
we came along, and after crossing in a boat lying in the sand
near some old houses, proceeded along a bluff of yellow
clay and soft stone to a little bay or harbour, into which
a drain from some ponds empties: at this harbour the
land is low, but as we went on it rose to hills of eighty or
ninety feet above the water. At the distance of one mile
is a second bay, and a mile beyond it, a small rocky island
in a deep bend, which seems to afford a very good harbour,
and where the natives inform us European vessels anchor
for the purpose of trading. We went on round another
bay, in which is a second small island of rocks, and crossed
a small stream, which rises in a pond near the sea coast,
and after running through a low isthmus empties into the
bay. This narrow low ground, about two or three hundred
yards wide, separates from the main hills a kind of
peninsula, the extremity of which is two miles from the
anchoring place; and this spot, which was called cape Disappointment,
is an elevated, circular knob, rising with a
steep ascent one hundred and fifty or one hundred and sixty
feet above the water, formed like the whole shore of the
bay, as well as of the seacoast, and covered with thick
timber on the inner side, but open and grassy in the
exposure next the sea. From this cape a high point of
land bears south 20° west, about twenty-five miles distant.
In the range between these two eminences, is the opposite
point of the bay, a very low ground, which has been variously
called cape Rond by Lapeyrouse, and point Adams by
Vancouver. The water for a great distance off the mouth
of the river, appears very shallow, and within the mouth
nearest to point Adams, is a large sandbar, almost covered
at high tide. We could not ascertain the direction of the
deepest channel, for the waves break with tremendous force
the whole distance across the bay, but the Indians point
nearer to the opposite side as the best passage. After remaining
for some time on this elevation, we descended
across the low isthmus, and reached the ocean at the foot
of a high hill, about a mile in circumference, and projecting
into the sea. We crossed this hill, which is open
and has a growth of high coarse grass, and encamped on
the north side of it, having made nineteen miles. Besides
the pounded fish and brant, we had for supper a flounder,
which we picked up on the beach.

Tuesday 19. In the night it began to rain, and continued
till eleven o'clock. Two hunters were sent on to kill
something for breakfast, and the rest of the party after drying
their blankets soon followed. At three miles we overtook
the hunters, and breakfasted on a small deer, which
they had been fortunate enough to kill. This, like all those
we have seen on this coast, are much darker than our common
deer. Their bodies too, are deeper, their legs shorter,
and their eyes larger. The branches of the horns are similar,
but the upper part of the tail is black, from the root
to the end, and they do not leap, but jump like a sheepfrightened.
We then continued over rugged hills and steep
hollows, near the sea, on a course about north 20° west, in
a direct line from the cape, till at the distance of five miles,

we reached a point of high land, below which a sandy beach
extends, in a direction north 10° west, to another high point
about twenty miles distant. This eminence we distinguished
by the name of point Lewis. It is there that the highlands,
which at the commencement of the sandy beach, recede
towards Chinnook river, again approach the ocean.
The intermediate country is low, with many small ponds,
crowded with birds, and watered by the Chinnook, on the
borders of which resides the nation of the same name. We
went four miles along the sandy beach to a small pine tree,
on which captain Clarke marked his name, with the year
and day, and then returned to the foot of the hills, passing
on the shore a sturgeon ten feet long, and several joints of
the back bone of a whale, both which seem to have been
thrown ashore and foundered. After dining on the remains
of the small deer, we crossed in a southeastern direction to
the bay, where we arrived at the distance of two miles, then
continued along the bay, crossed Chinnook river, and encamped
on its upper side, in a sandy bottom.

Wednesday 20. It rained in the course of the night. A
hunter despatched early to kill some food, returned with
eight ducks, on which we breakfasted, and then followed the
course of the bay to the creek or outlet of the ponds. It
was now high tide, the stream three hundred yards wide,
and no person in the cabin to take us across. We therefore
made a small raft, on which one of the men passed and
brought a canoe to carry us over. As we went along the
beach we were overtaken by several Indians, who gave us
dried sturgeon and wappatoo roots, and soon met several
parties of Chinnooks returning from the camp. When we
arrived there we found many Chinnooks, and two of them being
chiefs, we went through the ceremony of giving to each
a medal, and to the most distinguished a flag. Their names
were Comcommoly and Chillahlawil. One of the Indians
had a robe made of two sea-otter skins, the fur of which was
the most beautiful we had ever seen; the owner resisted

every temptation to part with it, but at length could not resist
the offer of a belt of blue beads which Chaboneau's wife
wore round her waist. During our absence the camp had
been visited by many Indians, and the men who had been
employed in hunting killed several deer, and a variety of
wild fowls.

Thursday 21. The morning was cloudy, and from noon
till night it rained. The wind too was high from the southeast,
and the sea so rough that the water reached our camp.
Most of the Chinnooks returned home, but we were visited
in the course of the day by people of different bands in the
neighbourhood, among whom are the Chiltz, a nation residing
on the seacoast near Point Lewis, and the Clatsops,
who live immediately opposite on the south side of the Columbia.
A chief from the grand rapid also came to see us,
and we gave him a medal. To each of our visiters we made
a present of a small piece of riband, and purchased some
cranberries and some articles of their manufacture, such as
mats, and household furniture, for all which we paid high
prices. After we had been relieved from these Indians, we
were surprised at a visit of a different kind; an old woman
who is the wife of a Chinnook chief, came with six young
women, her daughters and nieces, and having deliberately
encamped near us, proceeded to cultivate an intimacy between
our men and her fair wards.