University of Virginia Library

CHAP. XV.

Monday 4th. A fine morning. We embarked early;
passed two large islands, and a beautiful part of
the river. The tide raised the water last night two
feet. We went about 7 miles and came to a large
Indian village, where they informed us that in two
days we would come to two ships with white people
in them. The Indians here have a great deal of new
cloth among them, and other articles which they
got from these ships. We got some dogs and roots
from the natives. The roots are of a superior quality
to any I had before seen: they are called whapto;
resemble a potatoe when cooked, and are about as
big as a hen egg. Game is more plenty here chan
up the river, and one of the men killed a deer this
mo rning. At this camp of the natives they have 52
canoes, well calculated for riding waves. We proceeded
on, and passed some handsome islands, and
down a beautiful part of the river. We also passed a
number of Indian lodges: and saw a great many
swans, geese, ducks, cranes, and gulls. We went
28 miles and encamped on the north side. In the
evening we saw Mount Rainy on the same side. It
is a handsome point of a mountain with little or no
timber on it, very high, and a considerable distance
off this place.

Tuesday 5th. We embarked very early. Some
rain fell last night about 2 o'clock, and the morning
was cloudy. We passed several handsome islands,
generally near the shore, on the one side or the other
of the river. The country on both sides is somewhat
higher than what we passed yesterday, and
closely covered with spruce timber. The bottoms

are large, covered with cotton wood, maple, and the
like kinds of wood. We passed a great many Indian
camps, their lodges made chiefly of poles and cedar
bark. At noon we stopped about an hour at an island,
and some of the men went out and killed nine brants
and a swan. Three of the brants were quite white
except the points of their wings, which were black.
We proceeded on in the afternoon, during which
some rain and a little hail fell; went 31 miles and
encamped on the north side. Here the tide rises and
falls 4 feet.

Wednesday 6th. We set out early in a cloudy
morning after a disagreeable night of rain. Saw a
number of the natives, going up and down the river
in canoes. Also passed some of their lodges. The
Indians in this part of the country have but few horses
their intercourse and business being chiefly by water.
The high land comes more close on the river in this
part. Having gone 29 miles we encamped on the
south side.

Thursday 7th. We set out again early in a foggy
morning; went about 6 miles and came to an Indian
camp, where we got some fresh fish and dogs. The
dress of the squaws here is different from that of those
up the river; it consists of a long fringe made of
soft bark, which they tie round the waist, and which
comes down almost to their knees; and of a small
robe, made out of small skins cut into thongs and
wove somewhat like carpeting. We remained here
about two hours and then proceeded on. At this place
the river is about three miles wide, with a number of
small islands, and the country broken. In the evening
we came to a part of the river, where it is 5 miles
broad. We went 34 miles and encamped on the
south side at the mouth of a fine spring.

Friday 8th. We embarked early. The morning
was cloudy, and there was a hard wind from the east.
We went about 5 miles and came to a bay 12 or 14

miles wide. We had to coast round it, as the wind
raised the waves so high we could go no other way.
We halted and dined at a point on the north side of
the bay where a small river comes in. We again
proceeded on coasting, till we came to a point of land
where the bay becomes much narrower; and the
water quite salt. The waves here ran so high we
were obliged to lie to, and let the tide leave our canoes
on dry ground. This point we called Cape
Swell; and the bay above, Shallow Bay, as there
is no great depth of water. In crossing the bay when
the tide was out, some of our men got sea sick, the
swells were so great. In it there are a great many
swans, geese, ducks and other water fowls. The
whole of this day was wet and disagreeable; and the
distance we made, in a straight line, was not more
than 9 miles; though the distance we coasted was
above 20 miles.

Saturday 9th. The morning was windy, rainy and
disagreeable, and we were obliged to remain at Cape
Swell all day and unload our canoes to prevent them
from sinking; notwithstanding some of them did
sink when the tide came in at noon. We had no
fresh water, except what rain we caught by putting
out our vessels. We remained here all night, and
the rain continued.

Sunday 10th. We had a rainy morning, but the
wind was not so high as it had been yesterday; and
we set out from Cape Swell, coasted along for 8 miles,
passed some high cliffs of sandy rocks, and then
came to a point; where we found the swells so high,
the wind having risen, that we could not proceed: so
we had to return back about a mile to get a safe harbour.
Here we dined on some pounded salmon, that
we had procured from the Indians; and unloaded our
canoes. After we had been here about 2 hours, it
became more calm and we loaded our canoes again,
but could not get round the point, the swells were still

so high; we therefore put too at a branch of fresh water,
under high cliffs of rocks and unloaded again.
Here we scarcely had room to lie between the rocks
and water; but we made shift to do it among some
drift wood that had been beat up by the tide. It rained
hard all night and was very disagreeable. While
on our way down to day we saw some porpoises, sea
otter and a great many sea gulls. The water is become
very salt.

Monday 11th. The morning was wet and the
wind still blowing, so that we could not proceed; we
therefore built large fires and made our situation as
comfortable as possible, but still bad enough, as we
have no tents, or covering to defend us, except our
blankets and some mats we got from the Indians,
which we put on poles to keep off the rain. It continued
raining and blowing all day; and at 4 o'clock
in the afternoon the tide was so high that we had to
leave our lodges, until it got lower in the evening.
Some of the men went about 40 perches up the
river and caught 15 fine large fish.

Tuesday 12th. A cloudy wet morning, after a terrible
night of rain, hail, thunder and lightening.
We thought it best to move our camp, and fixed our
canoes and loaded them with stones to keep them
down. We went about the eighth of a mile from
this place, and fixed ourselves as well as we could,
and remained all night. The rain still continued,
and the river remained very rough.

Wednesday 13th. This was another disagreeable
rainy day, and we remained at camp being unable to
get away. At 9 o'clock in the forenoon it became a
little more calm than usual; and 3 men took a canoe,
which we got from the Indians of a kind excellent for
riding swells, and set out to go to the point on the
sea shore, to ascertain whether there were any white
people there, or if they were gone.

Thursday 14th. We expected last night to have

been able to proceed on this morning, but the rain
continued, and the river still remained rough; and
we are therefore obliged to lie by. About noon one
of the 3 men who had gone in the eanoe, returned
having broke the lock of his gun: but the other two
went on by land, as the swells ran so high that
they could not possibly get the canoe along. About
the same time some Indians in a canoe came up the
river, and had stolen a gig from the men; but the
one who returned got it from them again when he
came up. In the evening Captain Lewis with 4 men
started by land to see if any white people were to be
found. The rest remained in camp; and the weather
continued wet, and the most disagreeable I had
ever seen.

Friday 15th. This morning the weather appeared
to settle and clear off, but the river remained still
rough. So we were obliged to continue here until
about 1 o'clock, when the weather became more
calm, and we loaded and set out from our disagreeable
camp; went about 3 miles, when we came to the
mouth of the river, where it empties into a handsome
bay. Here we halted on a sand beach, formed a
comfortable camp, and remained in full view of the
ocean, at this time more raging than pacific. One
of the two men who first went out came to us here,
the other had joined Captain Lewis's party. Last
night the Indians had stolen their arms and accoutrements,
but restored them on the arrival of Captain
Lewis and his men in the morning.

Saturday 16th. This was a clear morning and the
wind pretty high. We could see the waves, like
small mountains, rolling out in the ocean, and pretty
bad in the bay.