WASHINGTON IRVINos ASTORIA. 



their own party. M'Lellan left them and " flung himself off alone 

 in a savage region where solitude itself was dismal, and every 

 encounter with man full of peril." Mr. Crooks fell ill of a fever, 

 and on the 1st of October a halt became absolutely necessary. An 

 " Indian sweat" proved serviceable to the invalid, and on the fifth 

 the party moved onwards. Passing over a fortnight of suffering and 

 almost actual starvation, so intense as almost to remind us of the 

 heart-rending anecdotes of Franklin's Narrative, we retrace them 

 with pleasure in the company of a friendly tribe of Snakes, who 

 however proved to be but Job's comforters to our forlorn wanderers 

 in the desert. On the 19lh the refreshed travellers were again on 

 the route, and on the 26th they struck one of the head-waters of the 

 Platte, a branch of the Missouri, near a cataract named by them 

 " The Fiery Narrows." Near this spot on the 2d of November Mr. 

 Stuart determined to fix his winter quarters as being the most eligible 

 in the hilly regions. The land, indeed, appeared one of promise; 

 for they now revelled in abundance. But, alas, how soon was that 

 promise destined to be broken in the sequel ! A troop of Indian 

 warriors interrupted the winter festivities, a herd of gourmands who, 

 if not in quality of taste, could in the quantity of consumption more 

 than vie with many of our aldermanic feasters, by whose unwelcome 

 gormandizing the winter stores were consumed, and all their hopes 

 nipped in the bud. The promise of a second visit to such good 

 quarters from such visitants was quite sufficient to set the wanderers 

 again on the move ; and accordingly on the 13th of December they 

 with many regrets left their comfortable five weeks' quarters. The 

 weather now became severe, the snow lay deep, but not hard, the 

 frost was severe, timber and fuel became scarce, game scanty ; and 

 at length they were without resources. It then became necessary to 

 retrace a three days' journey to a more desirable spot, where on the last 

 day of the year 1812 they fixed their winter quarters. The march 

 was resumed on the 20th of March 1813, and continued for upwards 

 of a hundred miles along the naked prairies. On the banks or in 

 the neighbourhood of the Platte they kept on travelling till the J6th 

 of April, when they took to their canoes, which speedily brought 

 them to the Missouri and past Fort Osage to St. Louis, where they 

 arrived all safe and sound on the 30th of April, after a perilous ex- 

 pedition often months. 



Having thus traced Mr. Stuart's party from Astoria to St. Louis, 

 we consider ourselves obliged, in deference to the great nabob Mr. 

 Astor, to notice the home department of the undertaking. He, as 

 president of the American Fur Company, had entered into certain 

 pacific and commercial agreements with the Russian company. 

 Many hopes were entertained from the success of this agreement ; 

 but, alas, all were destined to be blighted in the bud. 'War broke 

 out between the United States and England ; and some active mea- 

 sures for the security of the colony became necessary. In a case 

 of such emergency the most active measures were necessary, 

 and Mr. Astor was not a man to sleep on his post in the hour of 

 peril. Captain Sowle of the Beaver was advised to proceed forth- 

 tvith from Canton to the Columbia with supplies for the colony. 



