126 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 



his brutal treatment, often pretended to be con- 

 sulting earnestly, and thus gave some colour to the 

 absurd suspicion. I could fill up the whole night 

 by telling you of the meaningless severity of this 

 man, but enough has been said for the present. 

 The Tonqiiiii reached the Sandwich Islands, where 

 she obtained fresh provisions, and arrived off the 

 mouth of the Columbia River on the 22nd of 

 March, 1 8 1 1 . 



" You may imagine how delighted my father and 

 all his fellow-sufferers were when their destination 

 was sighted ; for the captain had refused his per- 

 mission to the wish of the partners, that ^\■arm 

 clothing should be served out, so the poor fellows 

 had to shiver in their summer suits until most of 

 them were stricken down and confined to their 

 hammocks. The captain and the chief officer, j\Ir. 

 Fox, had been on bad terms for some time, owing 

 to the kindness for the unfortunate passengers 

 manifested by the latter, and the cloudy and stormy 

 state of the weather preventing the captain from 

 making out the coast, he ordered the chief mate to 

 examine the bai, giving him as a boat's crew, one 

 sailor, a very old Frenchman, and three lads wholly 

 unacquainted with the sea, two of them being 

 carters, the third a Montreal barber. Expostula- 

 tion with such a savage was useless, and, despite 



