156 DOUGLAS' JOURNAL 



immediately seized the lynx by tlie ttroat and killed it without much 

 trouble. It was a full-grown female. This skin I preserved, being in 

 a good state. On the banks of the rivers and lakes are some curious 

 species of mice and rats. I have never been able to procure any more 

 of that singular species with pouches, which troubled me so much during 

 the autumn. The Ground Eat, or a species of Arctomys, the skin of which 

 the Chenooks and other tribes of Indians near the coast make their 

 robes, I have been unable to procure. They are plentiful in the upper 

 parts of the Cow-a-lidsk River. When there in November my broken- 

 down state prevented me from a day's hunting after them. I hope soon 

 to have specimens of them. On the 20th February, Jean Baptist McKay, 

 one of the hunters, returned to the establishment from his hunting excur- 

 sion on the Multnomah ; he brought me one cone of a species of Pinus 

 which I requested of him last August when there. The first thing that 

 gave me any knowledge of it, was the very large seeds and scales of the 

 cones which I saw in an Indian's shot-pouch ; after treating him to a 

 smoke, which must be done before any questions are put, I enquired 

 and found it grew a little to the south on the mountains. As McKay 

 was going in that direction I asked him to bring me twelve cones, a few 

 twigs, and a small bag of seeds and some of the gum. He informed me 

 that the seed was all gone before he went in the autumn, and he only 

 brought one cone to show me. The cone measures 16^ inches long, and 

 10 inches round at the thickest part. The pine is found on the moimtains 

 two degrees south of the Columbia in the country occupied by the Umptqua 

 tribe of Indians. He is in a few days to start for the same quarter, and 

 as he has left orders with some of the Indians to collect seed cones and 

 twigs, I am certain of obtaining it. It belongs to Pursh's second section. 

 The trees, 20 to 50 feet in circumference and 170 to 220 feet high, are 

 almost destitute of branches till within a short distance of the top which 

 forms a perfect umbel. The trunk is remarkably straight, the wood is 

 fine and yields a large quantity of resin. Growing trees that have been 

 biirned by the natives to save the trouble of collecting other fuel yield 

 a sugar-like substance which they gather and use in seasoning, in the 

 same manner as sugar in civilised society. At the end of summer the 

 seeds are gathered, dried, and pounded and baked into a sort of cake, 

 which is considered a great treat amongst them. As I have ofEered 

 McKay a reasonable compensation to bring it to me, lest it may be im- 

 possible for me to visit that quarter myself, I am pretty certain of gaining 

 more information of this very desirable tree. From the same person 

 I obtained an elk snare — a netted purse, made of a desirable sort of grass, 

 I think a different species of Helonias. This being also a plant worthy 

 of inquiry, I am to receive a quantity of seed and grass of the plant ; 

 from the little I have seen I have no doubt it will prove Helonias. I 

 have furnished him with a few paper bags, a little paper, and some fine 

 shots to procure me some small birds which will be sent to me in the 

 course of the summer. I was much indebted to Mr. McLoughlin for 

 the trouble he took to explain to him what I wanted, and at the same 

 time enjoined him to obtain them for me by some means or other. 



