1 74 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 



kindly, and listened with much attention to the ac- 

 count of all the misfortunes so confidently predicted 

 by the latter, though there is little reason to sup- 

 pose these took deep root, for most of the Astorians 

 were old North-Westers themselves, and knew ex- 

 actly how much to believe and how much to discredit. 

 Mr. Thompson announced his intention of returning 

 in a few days to Canada by the same route that he 

 had come, and this was thought by McDougall a fit- 

 ting opportunity for sending out a small expedition 

 to establish a trading post in the interior ; and the 

 two parties agreed to proceed in company for the 

 sake of mutual protection. The Astorians told off 

 for this undertaking were Messrs, David Stuart, 

 Ross, Pillelte, McLennan, my father, two other 

 voyageiirs, and two Sandwich Islanders, and on the 

 22nd July, i8ii, they left the factory, accompanied 

 by Mr. Thompson's party and the two strange 

 Indians I mentioned before. Unlike the light bark 

 canoes to which he had been accustomed, the craft 

 in which my father now found himself was a 

 clumsy Chinook dug-out, deeply laden with goods 

 for the Indian trade. For nearly a hundred miles 

 the course of the river was about south-east, and 

 the canoes made the best of their way against a 

 strong current. On one occasion they passed a 

 sm^Tll rocky height called Mount Coffin, which was 



