318 COLUMBIA RIVER. 



oblique eye of the Chinese was not uncommon, and they had long 

 flowing hair : aquiline or Roman noses were prevalent. Their coun- 

 tenances wore an expression of wildness, and they had, in the opinion 

 of some of us, a melancholy cast of features. 



It was amusing to us, who had no very exalted opinion of the Fee- 

 jeeans, to observe the contempt our prisoner Vendovi entertained for 

 these Indians, which was such that he would hardly deign to look at 

 them. 



They manifested little curiosity, which was not excited even by 

 the appearance of a ship so much larger than any they could have 

 before seen, armed and manned in a manner so superior to what is 

 usual in the vessels that visit them for traffic. 



They wore but few ornaments, and that on which they seemed to 

 set the greatest value was a small silver tube stuck through the carti- 

 lage of the nose. A few of them had small brass bells suspended 

 around the rim of their ears. 



Their language was one of the most disagreeable we had yet heard, 

 full of gutturals, and the sounds Mick, Muck, and tsck. 



Late in the afternoon, we reached and weathered the low sand- 

 point, called by Vancouver New Dungeness, and stood over for his 

 Protection Island. We passed within less than a quarter of a mile 

 of the point, where we had three and a half fathoms water. 



After passing that island, an extensive bay opened, on whose shores 

 we saw the long poles mentioned by Vancouver, and represented in 

 his book. The use of these he was unable to discover, but the 

 Indians informed us that they were for the purpose of suspending 

 nets for taking the wild fowl that frequent these shores in great num- 

 bers. On these poles the nets are set up at night, at which time the 

 geese search these grounds for food : fires are then lighted, which 

 alarm the birds, and cause them to fly against the nets, by which 

 they are thrown upon the ground, where, before they have time to 

 recover themselves, they are caught and killed. 



The description of Vancouver is so exactly applicable to the present 

 state of this port, that it was difiicult to believe that almost half a cen- 

 tury had elapsed since it was written. The beautiful woods and lawns 

 of Protection Island, in particular, exist unchanged. The lawns still 

 produce the same beautiful flowers and shrubs, and although closely 

 surrounded by dense woods, do not seem to have been encroached 

 upon by tlieir luxuriant growth, although there is no apparent reason 

 why it should not long ere this have overrun them. 



