FROM ASTORIA TO VANCOUVER. 



proach Vancouver, and at the lowest ebb the channel is deep 

 enough for vessels drawing fourteen feet water. The current 

 does not appear to be very strong, and the water as it flows 

 past looks turbid, but when it is taken up, it is perfectly clear. 

 The country on both sides rises gradually to the height of 

 some thousand feet, and is well timbered. We saw on both 

 banks many Indian villages, some of which were at the time 

 without inhabitants. This last feature was attributed to the 

 ravages of the fever and ague, and the appearance of the bury- 

 ing-grounds in the vicinity served to confirm the statement ; 

 they were large, and thickly studded with graves. The first 

 case of the kind occurred in the year 1830, when an European 

 vessel, commanded by Captain Dominis, was lying at anchor 

 in the river, and the Indians have always believed that he 

 brought the disease among them. In the opinion of the phy- 

 sicians of the Hudson's Bay Company, the disease would not 

 prove so fatal if they would adopt the European mode of 

 treating it, but this they will not do ; they prefer their own 

 treatment, which consists in taking a series of cold baths. 

 The manner of disposing of the dead does not appear to be the 

 same at all the burial grounds. In some, the coffins (which 

 were canoes planked over) rested on limbs of trees, while in 

 others they stand in an upright position, with about one-third 

 of their length buried in the ground. The coffins are all 

 painted red, the favorite color, and have hung around them 

 mats, baskets, bows and arrows ; in short, everything supposed 

 to be of use to the departed on their journey to the world of 

 Spirits and future Hunting Grounds. 



On the third day out, about 4 P. M., we passed the brig 

 " Porpoise," employed in surveying the ^er, and in about 

 half an hour more we landed at Vancouver, and reported 

 to Captain Wilkes, who congratulated us upon our safe 



