1825, JUNE. COLUMBIA RIVER 127 



above the Rapids ; the only tree which survives the intense heat and 

 drought on the high grounds ! 



June 20th. Towards midday left my residence for a journey up the 

 river in company with the canoes going to the different posts in the interior, 

 a few miles above the Great Falls, about two hundred miles from the ocean. 

 I was at a loss to decide whether my time would be better employed there 

 or between here and the ocean. In the latter, from what I have already 

 seen, I should reap a rich harvest, and leave it probably for a less fertile 

 one ; although, on the other hand, I might obtain some interesting objects 

 peculiar to the plains and mountains of the interior, as John McLoughlin, 

 Esq. (the chief factor), from whom I have experienced every attention 

 and assistance as to the furthering of my pursuit and comfort which he 

 has in his power to show, assures me there will be no obstacle to my 

 crossing the continent, and that he will use every means to make my 

 journey beneficial to the Society and agreeable to myself. Before the 

 vessel left the river for Nootka and thereabouts, I had some thought of 

 going there. But as he informed me, that my opportunities of collecting, 

 arising from the turbulent disposition of the natives, would be so limited 

 persons being under the necessity of meeting them armed and in a large 

 party in unison with his opinion I thought my time would be devoted to 

 the best advantage by remaining on the Columbia, and to make journeys 

 in various directions as opportunities would occur. My ascent was slow, 

 the current at this season being exceedingly powerful, so that I had many 

 excursions on the banks and adjoining hills. The water ran with such 

 rapidity that when the wind blows from a contrary direction it produces 

 a swell like an inland sea ; frequently we had to take shelter in the creeks, 

 and although our canoes were considered good, yet we could not see each 

 other except at a short distance, so great was the swell. The Grand Rapids, 

 as they are termed by Lewis and Clarke, are formed by the river passing 

 through a narrow channel about 270 yards broad in a south-west direction, 

 very rocky, the fall of water about 147 feet above which stand three small 

 islands ; one of them is the burial-place of the natives who inhabit the 

 southern banks of the river. The extreme length of the Rapids may be 

 about two miles, but for only a short space (about 600 yards where the 

 river makes a turn S.W.) the water passes with great agitation. At this 

 season they are seen to a disadvantage, the river being 9 feet higher water 

 than in May (from May 24 to July 16 the river rose 12 feet 8 inches) ; I 

 am informed it is lower this season than generally. The banks are high, 

 steep, and in many places rugged ; limestone, sandstone, on blue and 

 grey granite. Many large trees in a petrified state are to be seen lying in 

 a horizontal position between the layers of rock, the ends touching the 

 water in many places. There seem to be two kinds, a soft wood and a 

 hard ; one I take to be Pinus balsamea, 1 the other a species of Acer, which 

 must be A. macrophyttum, being the only hard wood of large dimensions 

 on the place ; some of both measure 5 feet in diameter. This being the 

 fishing season, the natives are numerous on the banks of the river ; they 

 come several hundred miles to their favourite fishing grounds. At the 

 1 Abies balsamea, Veitch, Man. Conif. ed. 2, p. 492. 



