162 | NARRATIVE OF 1853. 
and Francis, received them the next day with the kindest hospitality, and gave him much 
important information as to the country and its inhabitants. 
Their industrious labors, during the nine years since the Mission was established, are shown 
in the fact that they have a large dwelling-house of hewn timber, a windmill, a blacksmith's 
and carpenter's shops, barns, cow-sheds, and a large church. 
In the church they had made and put up a carved and gilded altar, an image of the Virgin, 
brazen crosses, and rich bronzed fonts, all made by laborious industry with tools imported from 
Europe. They had made, also, a grindstone, blacksmith's bellows, ploughshares, bricks, &c.; 
while théy manufacture their own soap, candles, and vinegar. All the buildings are of hewn 
timber, except those for the cattle, which are of logs. The farm consists of 160 acres of 
cleared land, on which they raise wheat, barley, onions, cabbages, parsnips, peas, beets, 
potatoes, and carrots. They have also hogs and poultry, and make their own butter and cheese. 
Around their houses are those of the Indians, also of hewn timber, sixteen in number, and 
several huts of mats and skins, this being the headquarters of the tribe, where they prefer to 
live and die rather than to move to other tracts higher up, where the priests wished them to 
go on account of the superiority of the land. "Their condition has been vastly improved since 
the arrival of the missionaries, before which it required their utmost exertions to provide fora 
subsistence. 
His canoe being now so rotten that, to continue down the river, he must make or buy a new 
one, and from receiving the false information that I had sent positive orders to him to go by 
land from the Mission to Fort Colville, he reluctantly left on horseback, November 10, and 
reached the fort on the 13th. 
He supposed from what he could gather, that he might have descended the river, proceeding 
cautiously and making portages, though the Indians were not in the habit of going by that 
route. After a rest of four days in the pleasant society of Mr. Macdonald and the missionaries, 
he again embarked below Kettle Falls with two canoes and three Indians, and travelling 
about three and a half miles an hour reached Vancouver on the 6th of December. The only 
portage of consequence made in this part of the river was at the Dalles, of 800 paces. At 
the Cascades he transported his canoes by the usual route over the wooden railway. Just 
below the mouth of the Spokane there are a number of rock islands scattered through the 
river, and others occur at several other points on the river, affording an excellent support for 
the arches of a bridge. 
Dr. ау also collected much valuable information concerning the manners and customs 
of the Indians; the habits of the salmon, which supply them with such a large share of their 
subsistence; the kinds and amount of game and other animals; 
specimens et natural history and geology, in spite of the numerous disadvantages under which 
he labored in exploring an almost unknown river at a season so late and inclement. 
The whole time, including stoppages, was 53 days, two less than had been occupied by Lieu- 
tenant Donaldson and the main train in the land journey. Th 
hours, and the approximate distance along 
average speed of 3,574; miles ап hour. 
s oth PIRE и ues сн: season of the year show the force of character and sagacity 
аы i 2 = : e survey he received his appointment as assistant surgeon m 
His созы ко 2. EH years өр Puget Sound and at the Dalles of the Columbia. 
tory of this route, and especially that of the country west 
and procured some interesting 
e actual travelling time was 2853 
the windings of the river 1,049 miles, allowing an 
