STEEP TRAILS 



called Abies), and from the seeds which he 

 then collected and sent home tall trees are 

 now growing in Scotland. 



In one of his trips that summer, in the 

 lower Willamette Valley, he saw in an Indian's 

 tobacco-pouch some of the seeds and scales of 

 a new species of pine, which he learned were 

 gathered from a large tree that grew far to 

 the southward. Most of the following season 

 was spent on the upper waters of the Colum- 

 bia, and it was not until September that he 

 returned to Fort Vancouver, about the time 

 of the setting-in of the winter rains. Never- 

 theless, bearing in mind the great pine he had 

 heard of, and the seeds of which he had seen, 

 he made haste to set out on an excursion to 

 the headwaters of the Willamette in search 

 of it; and how he fared on this excursion and 

 what dangers and hardships he endured is 

 best told in his own journal, part of which I 

 quote as follows : — 



October 26th, 1826. Weather dull. Cold and 

 cloudy. When my friends in England are made 

 acquainted with my travels I fear they will think 

 that 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 

 302j 



