STEEP TRAILS 



"Puget Sound" only to the comparatively 

 small southern portion. The latter name, 

 however, is now applied generally to the en- 

 tire inlet, and is commonly shortened by the 

 people hereabouts to "The Sound." The nat- 

 ural wealth and commercial advantages of the 

 Sound region were quickly recognized, and 

 the cause of the activity prevailing here is not 

 far to seek. Vancouver, long before civiliza- 

 tion touched these shores, spoke of it in terms 

 of unstinted praise. He was sent out by the 

 British government with the principal object 

 in view of "acquiring accurate knowledge as 

 to the nature and extent of any water com- 

 munication which may tend in any consider- 

 able degree to faciUtate an intercourse for the 

 purposes of commerce between the northwest 

 coast and the country on the opposite side of 

 the continent," vague traditions having long 

 been current concerning a strait supposed to 

 unite the two oceans. Vancouver reported 

 that he found the coast from San Francisco 

 to Oregon and beyond to present a nearly 

 straight soUd barrier to the sea, without open- 

 ings, and we may well guess the joy of the old 

 navigator on the discovery of these waters 

 after so long and barren a search to the south- 

 ward. 

 His descriptions of the scenery — Mounts 



222 



