THE FOKESTS 153 



sweet and fresh as long as trees and flowers are 

 loved. His first visit to the Pacific Coast was made 

 in the year 1825. The Oregon Indians watched him 

 with curiosity as he wandered in the woods collect 

 ing specimens, and, unlike the fur-gathering stran 

 gers they had hitherto known, caring nothing about 

 trade. And when at length they came to know 

 him better, and saw that from year to year the grow 

 ing things of the woods and prairies were his only 

 objects of pursuit, they called him " The Man of 

 Grass," a title of which he was proud. During his 

 first summer on the waters of the Columbia he 

 made Fort Vancouver his headquarters, making ex 

 cursions from this Hudson Bay post in every direc 

 tion. On one of his long trips he saw in an Indian's 

 pouch some of the seeds of a new species of pine 

 which he learned were obtained from a very large 

 tree far to the southward of the Columbia. At the 

 end of the next summer, returning to Fort Vancou 

 ver after the setting in of the winter rains, bearing 

 in mind the big pine he had heard of, he set out 

 on an excursion up the Willamette Valley in search 

 of it; and how he fared, and what dangers and 

 hardships he endured, are best told in his own 

 journal, from which I quote as follows: 



October 26, 1826. Weather dull. Cold and cloudy. 

 When my friends in England are made acquainted with 

 my travels I fear they will think I have told them nothing 

 but my miseries. ... I quitted my camp early in the 

 morning to survey the neighboring country, leaving my 

 guide to take charge of the horses until my return in the 

 evening. About an hour's walk from the camp I met an 

 Indian, who on perceiving me instantly strung his bow, 



