254 



DOUGLAS' JOURNAL 



Columbia, they seem to be most rugged ; on the left, rising from the bosom 

 of the Columbia, stands a peak much higher than the former, with a smooth 

 surface. Although I have been travelling for the last fifteen days 

 surrounded by high snowy mountains, and the eye has become familiar to 

 them and apt to lose that exalted idea of their magnitude, yet on beholding 

 those mentioned impresses on the mind a feeling beyond what I can express. 

 I would say a feeling of horror. Arrived at the boat encampment 12 a.m. 

 a low point in the angle between the two branches, the Columbia flowing 

 from the east and Canoe from the north ; the former sixty yards wide, the 

 latter forty, but very rapid. At low water, as it is at present, the former 

 has three channels, the latter two, which are not seen at high water, the 

 space at that season being a perfect circle about six hundred yards diameter. 

 Around the camp on the point the woods are Pinus taxifolia,^ P. canadensis,^ 

 Thuya occidentalis, Populus, sp., all of large growth. The underwood, 

 Cornus, Corylus, Juniferus, and two species of Salix not yet in flower. 

 lAnnaea borealis found on the coast, and on the highest mountains a species 

 of Lilium just peeping through the ground. Examined the seeds in my 

 tin-box and found them in good order ; repacked them without delay 

 and at the same time tied up all my wardrobe, toilet, &c., which is as 

 follows : four shirts (two linen and two flannel), three handkerchiefs, two 

 pair stockings, a drab cloth jacket, vest and trousers of the same, one pair 

 tartan trousers, vest and coat ; bedding, one blanket ; seven pairs of deer- 

 skin shoes, or as they are called, moccasins ; one razor, soap-box, brush, 

 strop, and one towel, with half a cake of Windsor soap. In addition to 

 these I was presented with a pair of leggings by Mr. Ermatinger, made 

 out of the sleeves of an old blanket-coat or capot of the voyageurs. 

 This, trifling as it may appear, I esteem in my present circumstances as 

 very valuable. When the half of these my sole property is on my back, 

 the remainder is tied in a handkerchief of the common sort. Now that 

 I conceive my wanderings on the Columbia and through the various parts 

 west of the Rocky Mountains to be over, I shall just state as near as 

 possible their extent : — 



In 1825. 



From the ocean to Fort Vancouver, on my arrival in April 



In May, to and from the ocean to Fort Vancouver 



In June, to and from the Great Falls .... 



In July, to and from the ocean and along the coast 



In August, journey on the Multnomah River 



In September, to the Grand Rapids .... 



On the mountains of the Grand Rapids 



In October and November, to the sea 



In the same, trip to Cheecheeler River or Whitbey Harbour 



Ascending said river ...... 



Portage from it to the Cowalidsk River 



Miles 



90 



180 



210 



216 



133 



96 



47 



90 



53 



65 



35 



' Pseudotsuga Douglasii, Mast, in Journ. R. Hort. Soo. xiv. p. 245. 

 * Tsugu canadensis. Mast., loc. cit., p. 255. 



