184 ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 



moral character, which I shall not even mention, have tended 

 very considerably to lower the estimation in which I have always 

 held the red man of the forest, and serve to strengthen the 

 opinion which I had long since formed, that nothing but the intro- 

 duction of civilization, with its good and wholesome laws, can 

 ever render the Indian of service to himself, or raise him from 

 the state of wretchedness which has so long characterized his 

 expiring race. 



The next morning, we ran down into Baker's bay, and anchored 

 within gunshot of the cape, when Captain Lambert and my- 

 self went on shore in the boat, to examine the channel, and 

 decide upon the prospect of getting out to sea. This passage is 

 a very dangerous one, and is with reason dreaded by mariners. 

 A wide bar of sand extends from Cape Disappointment to the 

 opposite shore, — called Point Adams, — and with the exception of 

 a space, comprehending about half a mile, the sea at all times 

 breaks furiously, the surges dashing to the height of the mast 

 head of a ship, and with the most terrific roaring. Sometimes 

 the water in the channel is agitated equally with that which 

 covers the whole length of the bar, and it is then a matter 

 of imminent risk to attempt a passage. Vessels have occasion- 

 ally been compelled to lie in under the cape for several weeks, 

 in momentary expectation of the subsidence of the dangerous 

 breakers, and they have not unfrequently been required to 

 stand offshore, from without, until the crews have suffered ex- 

 tremely for food and water. This circumstance must ever form 

 a barrier to a permanent settlement here ; the sands, which com- 

 pose the bar, are constantly shifting, and changing the course 

 and depth of the channel, so that none but the small coasting 

 vessels in the service of the company can, with much safety, pass 

 back and forth. 



Mr. N. and myself visited the sea beach, outside the cape, in 

 the hope of finding peculiar marine shells, but although we 



