TJie Home of tJie Wolrcrcne and Beaver. 215 



with renewed vigour. New expeditions were set 

 afoot, two for the estabhshment of additional 

 trading stations at the forks of the Columbia, where 

 the rivalry of the North-West Company was feared ; 

 one for Oakanagan, and a fourth for New York 

 with despatches for Mr. Astor ; and the command 

 of the latter, a work of great enterprise and danger, 

 was entrusted to Mr. Robert Stuart, under whose 

 command were placed four of the most experienced 

 hunters in the settlement. McLellan determined 

 on accompanying them, and to the surprise of 

 everybody Mr. Crooks, undeterred by the fearful 

 hardship he had just undergone, announced that he 

 also should make one of the party. 



As in the case of the former expeditions their 

 road was the same for several hundred miles, and 

 on the 29th of June the flotilla set forth in two 

 barges and ten canoes, manned by about sixty 

 hands, inclusive of the leaders. Before the first 

 day had expired, John Day, the Kentucky hunter, 

 and the companion of Mr. Crooks in his fearful 

 journey, who was one of the men told off to 

 accompany Stuart to the States, showed great 

 agitation, and it became evident that privation and 

 misery had affected his intellect. During their 

 wanderings on the Snake River, Mr. Crooks had 

 noticed symptoms of derangement, but hoping that 



