ACROSS THE KOCKV MOUNTAINS, ETC. 255 



At 11 o'clock next day we arrived at the cascades, where we 

 made the long portage, and at nine in the evening encamped in 

 an ash grove, six miles above Prairie de The. 



On the 8th, reached Vancouver, where we found two vessels 

 which had just arrived from England. 



On the 24th, I embarked in a canoe with Indians for Fort 

 George, and arrived in two days. Here I was kindly received 

 by the superintendent, Mr. James Birnie, and promised every 

 assistance in forwarding my views. 



SOth. — I visited to-day some cemeteries in the neighborhood of 

 the fort, and obtained the skulls of four Indians. Some of the bodies 

 were simply deposited in canoes, raised five or six feet fi'om the 

 ground, either in the forks of trees, or supported on stakes driven 

 into the earth. In these instances it was not difficult to procure 

 the skulls without disarranging the fabric ; but more frequently, 

 they were nailed in boxes, or covered by a small canoe, which 

 was turned bottom upwards, and placed in a larger one, and the 

 whole covered by strips of bark, carefully arranged over them. 

 It was then necessary to use the utmost caution in removing the 

 covering, and also to be careful to leave every thing in the same 

 state in which it was found. I thought several times to day, as I 

 have often done in similar situations before : — Now suppose an 

 Indian were to step in here, and see me groping among the 

 bones of his fathers, and laying unhallowed hands upon the 

 mouldering remains of his people, what should I say ? — I know 

 well what the Indian would do. He would instantly shoot me, 

 unless I took the most effectual measures to prevent it; but could 

 I have time allowed me to temporize a little, I could easily dis- 

 arm his hostility and ensure his silence, by the offer of a shirt or 

 a blanket ; but the difficulty in most cases would be, that in a 

 paroxysm of rage he would puta bullet through your head, and then 

 good bye to temporizing. Luckily for my pursuits in this way, there 

 are at present but few Indians here, and I do not therefore incur 



