206 Scientific Intelligence, 



across it. This winter has, however, been remarked as one of the se- 

 verest since the occupation of the Columbian territory by the Whites ; 

 there were from 3 to 4 feet of snow at Wallowalla, a place about 100 

 miles above this, where the sight of snow is a rare occurrence. It may 

 be imagined the poor natives suffered much in some districts from fa- 

 mine. It was not uncommon to see them burning fires to thaw the fro- 

 zen sod for the purpose of scraping up a few kumas roots. I have heard 

 of one instance where a man sold his son to procure ten fried salmon. 

 Fort Vancouver is by no means so lonely a winter residence as some of 

 the posts in the interior, being the metropolis, so to speak, of the Colum- 

 bia j from time to time there are arrivals and departures ; for the same 

 reason, too, a greater number of gentlemen are stationed here than any- 

 where else. Our complement for the winter has been, at table, besides 

 the governor, two chief traders, two clerks, and myself. — Letter from Dr 

 M, Gairdner, \Qth March 1834, Fort Vancouver. 



6. Geology. — The late traveller Douglas, who perished so miserably, in- 

 formed me, that, by some angles taken on shore, he made the height of 

 Mowna Roa Rock 16,773 feet. We have recently had an eruption of 

 Mount St Helens, one of the snowy peaks of the Marine Chain on the 

 north-west coast, about 40 miles to the north of this place (Fort Vancou- 

 ver). There was no earthquake or preliminary noise here : [the first thing 

 which excited my notice was a dense haze for two or three days, accom- 

 panied with a fall of minute flocculi of ashes, whicli, on clearing off, dis- 

 closed the mountain destitute of its cover of everlasting snow, and fur- 

 rowed deeply by what through the glass appeared to be lava streams. 

 There was no unusual fall of the barometer at this place. I believe this 

 is the first well ascertained proof of the existence of a volcano on the 

 west coast of America, to the north of California on the mainland. At 

 the same season in the year 1831, a much denser darkness occurred here, 

 which doubtless arose from the same cause, although at that time no one 

 thought of examining the appearance of this mountain. Indian report 

 says there is a burning crater on the southern declivity of Mount Hood, 

 another peak of the same chain to the south of the former. Earthquakes 

 are not uncommon, at least in the vicinity of the coast. I have ascertain- 

 ed the occurrence of three within the last two years ; none of them were 

 felt here. Hot springs are common in the vicinity of the Marine Chain to 

 the south of the Columbia, as well as in the space between it and the 

 Rocky Mountains. I have procured the localities of six not noticed by 

 Lewis and Clarke or in any published account of the country. The low 

 altitude of the snow line on the peaks of the Marine Chain is remarkable. 

 By some angles with an eight inch sextant and artificial horizon on a base 

 line 3270 yards long, I make the altitude of Mount Hood 7434 English 

 feet above the level of Vancouver, allowing the refraction to be one-four- 

 teenth of the angle, distance 38.7 geographical miles; now at least 

 '600 or 800 feet of the summit is covered with perpetual snow. Can this be 



