WASHINGTON IRVING's ASTORIA. 555 



into a skin or cloth, in which it is conveyed to the stream and thrown into the 

 midst of the current, that it may be entirely carried off. Should the cache not 

 be formed in the vicinity of a stream, the earth thus thrown up is carried to a 

 distance, and scattered in such a manner as not to leave the minutest trace. 

 The cave being formed, is well lined with dry grass, bark, sticks, and poles, 

 and occasionally a dried hide. The property intended to be hidden is then laid 

 in, after having been well aired : a hide is spread over it, and dried grass, 

 brush, and stones, thrown in, and trampled down until the pit is filled to the 

 neck ; the loose soil, which had been put aside, is then brought, and rammed 

 down firmly, to prevent its caving in, and is frequently sprinkled with water, 

 to destroy the scent, lest the wolves and bears should be attracted to the place, 

 and root up the concealed treasure. When the neck of the cache is nearly 

 level with the surrounding surface, the sod is again fitted in with the utmost 

 exactness, and any. bushes, stocks, or stones, that may have originally been 

 about the spot, are restored to their former places. The blankets and other 

 coverings are then removed from the surrounding herbage : all tracks are ob- 

 literated : the grass is gently raised by the hand to its natural position, and 

 the minutest chip or straw is scrupulously gleaned up and thrown into the 

 stream. After all is done, the place is abandoned for the night, and, if all be 

 right next morning, is not visited again until there be a necessity for re-open- 

 ing the cache. Four men are sufficient in this way to conceal the amount of 

 three tons weight of provision or merchandise in the course of two days." 

 Vol. ii. pp. 183186. 



The party, now divided into two companies, set out on the 9th of 

 November on their several courses, Mr. Hunt, Pierre Dorion, and 

 eig'hteen others keeping 1 on the right bank, Mr. Crook and the 

 others pursuing their journey along the left or southern bank. Eight 

 weeks of disaster, privation, and almost literal starvation, at length 

 brought the weary explorers to a more genial climate arid to com- 

 fortable quarters among the Sciatoga Indians on the banks of the 

 Umatella, an important tributary of the Columbia, whose long sought 

 waters were at length reached on the 21st of January 1812, after 

 six months of perilous wayfaring over seventeen hundred miles. We 

 hurry on to the happy meeting of the two parties Mr. Hunt's 

 landsmen and the passengers of the ill-fated Tonquin at Astoria. 



''On the afternoon of the 15th of February, the canoes swept round an 

 intervening cape, and came in sight of the infant settlement of Astoria. After 

 eleven months' wandering in the wilderness, a great part of the time over 

 trackless wastes, where the sight of a savage wigwam was a rarity, we may 

 imagine the delight of the poor weatherbeaten travellers, at beholding the 

 embryo establishment, with its magazines, habitations, and picketed bulwarks, 

 seated on a high point of land, dominating a beautiful little bay, in which was 

 a trimbuilt shallop riding quietly at anchor. A shout of joy burst from each 

 canoe at the long wished for sight. They urged their canoes across the bay, 

 and pulled with eagerness for shore, where all hands poured down from the 

 settlement to receive and welcome them. Among the first to greet them on 

 their landing, were some of their old comrades and fellow- sufferers, who, 

 under the conduct of Reed, M'Lellan, and M'Kenzie, had parted from them at 

 the Caldron Linn. These had reached Astoria nearly a month previously, 

 and, judging from their own narrow escape from starvation, had given up Mr. 

 Hunt and his followers as lost. Their greeting was the more warm and 

 cordial. As to the Canadian voyageurs, their mutual felicitations, as usual, 

 were loud and vociferous, and it was almost ludicrous to behold these ancient 

 'comrades' and 'confreres' hugging and kissing each other on the river 

 bank." Vol. ii. p. 260. 



