Sketch of the Life of Mr. David Doiiglas. 201 



" strung, while those who had guns and ammunition, brought their 

 " weapons charged and cocked. War caps, made of the Calumet 

 '' Eagle's feathers, were the only particle of clothing they had on. 

 " Just as one of these savages was discharging an arrow from his 

 " bow, aimed at a chief of the other party, Mr. Dease hit him 

 " such a blow on the nose as stunned him, aad the arrow fortunately 

 " only grazed the skin of his adversary, passing along the rib op- 

 "■ posite to his heart, without doing him much injury. The 

 '' whole day was spent in clamour and haranguing, and unable to 

 " foresee what the issue might be, we were prepared for the worst. 

 " Mr. Dease, however, succeeded in persuading them to make 

 " arrangements for peace, and begged this might be done without 

 " delay on the morrow, representing to them how little they had 

 ^' ever gained by their former wars, in which they had mutually 

 '' butchered one another like dogs. Unluckily for me, my guide, 

 " the Wolfe, is equally wanted by his party, whether to make war 

 " or peace, therefore, I am obliged to wait for him. 



On the 19th he bade adieu to Mr. Dease, taking horse 

 to Okawyan, where he procured a guide and small canoe. Soon 

 after embarking, in descending a rapid, he took the precaution 

 of walking along shore, carrying with him his papers, plants, seeds, 

 and blanket. While thus occupied, the canoe in descending was 

 struck by a surge in the rapid, and emptied of all its contents ex- 

 cept a little dried meat which had been fixed in hard, in the nar- 

 row part of the bow. Deprived thus of cooking utensils, or any 

 of the slightest comfort or convenience in the shape of travelling- 

 appointment, he pursued his course to Wallawalla, where finding 

 a fresh guide, he continued onward and, after some trouble, as well 

 as assistance from Indians, landed on the first day of August on 

 the Beach above Fort Vancouver. This journey is thus closed 

 very expressively in his own words. — 



" In poor plight, weary and travel-soiled, glad at heart, though 

 " possessing nothing but a shirt, leather trousers, and old hat, hav- 

 " ing lost my jacket and neck-kerchief, and worn out my shoes, I 

 " made my way to the fort, having traversed eight hundred miles 

 " of the Columbia valley in twelve days, unattended by a single 

 " person except my Indian guides." 



His collections were now shipped for England, consisting of a 

 great mass of dried specimens of plants besides Zoological subjects. 

 The seeds which he had forwarded these two first years on the 



