376 WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 



difficulties such as they have to encounter, and overcoming them 

 vpith cheerfuhiess and good temper. 



Near the hospital are two other houses, built of logs, in one of which 

 Dr. Babcock, the physician of the mission, lives. 



We paid Dr. Babcock a visit in the evening, and found him com- 

 fortably lodged. He stated to me that the country was healthy, 

 although during the months of August and September, they were 

 subject to fever and ague on the low grounds, biit in high and dry 

 situations he believed they would be free from it. A few other dis- 

 eases existed, but they were of a mild character, and readily yielded 

 to simple remedies. He is also of opinion that the fever and ague 

 becomes milder each season, as the individuals become acclimated. 



The lands of the Methodist Mission are situated on the banks of 

 the Willamette river, on a rich plain adjacent to fine forests of oak 

 and pine. They are about eight miles beyond the Catholic Mission, 

 consequently eighteen miles from Champooing, in a southern direc- 

 tion. Their fields are well enclosed, and we passed a large one of 

 wheat, which we understood was self-sown by the last year's crop, 

 which had been lost through neglect. The crop so lost amounted to 

 nearly a thousand bushels, and it is supposed that this year's crop 

 will yield twenty-five bushels to the acre. About alb the premises of 

 this mission there was an evident want of the attention required to 

 keep things in repair, and an absence of neatness that I regretted 

 much to witness. We had the expectation of getting a sight of the 

 Indians on whom they were inculcating good habits and teaching the 

 word of God ; but with the exception of four Indian servants, we 

 saw none since leaving the Catholic Mission. On inquiring, I was 

 informed that they had a school of twenty pupils, some ten miles 

 distant, at the mill; that there were but few adult Indians in the 

 neighbourhood ; and that their intention and principal hope was to 

 establish a colony, and by their example to induce the white settlers 

 to locate near those over whom they trusted to exercise a moral and 

 religious influence. 



A committee of five, principally lay members of the mission, waited 

 upon me to consult and ask my advice relative to the establishment 

 of laws, &c. After hearing attentively all their arguments and rea- 

 sons for this change, 1 could see none sufficiently strong to induce the 

 step. No crime appears yet to have been committed, and the persons 

 and property of settlers are secure. Their principal reasons appear 



