408 '^'^^ -^ L L A W A L L A. 



waves and wind too heavy for them to run without great danger ; 

 they in consequence put on shore to wait until it abated. In these 

 forty miles of the river, it usually blows a gale from the westward in 

 the summer season, almost daily. 



In the evening, they reached within seven miles of the Dalles, and 

 four below the mission. Here the roar of the water at the Dalles was 

 heard distinctly. 



The country had now assumed a different aspect ; the trees began 

 to decrease in number, and the land to look dry and burnt up. Before 

 pitching their tents, the men were beating about the bushes to drive 

 away the rattlesnakes : a number of which were killed, and preserved 

 as specimens. 



In the morning they were again on their route, and reached Little 

 river, from which the station of the Methodist Mission is three- 

 fourths of a mile distant. Here they were met by Mr. Perkins, who 

 was waiting for his letters and some packages of goods the brigade 

 had brought. Mr. Drayton accompanied Mr. Perkins to the mission, 

 while the brigade moved on towards the Dalles. Mr. Daniel Lee, 

 the principal of the mission, was found near the house, reaping his 

 wheat. 



At this station there are three families, those of the Rev. Mr. Lee, 

 Mr. Perkins, and a lay member, who is a farmer. Their reception of 

 Mr. Drayton was exceedingly kind. 



The mission consists of two log and board houses, hewn, sawed, 

 and built by themselves, with a small barn, and several out-houses. 

 The buildings are situated on high ground, among scattered oaks, 

 and immediately in the rear is an extensive wood of oaks and pines, 

 with numerous sharp and jagged knolls and obelisk-looking pillars of 

 conglomerate, interspersed among basaltic rocks ; in front is an 

 alluvial plain, having a gradual descent towards the river, and ex- 

 tending to the right and left. This contains about two thousand 

 acres of good land, well supplied with springs, with Little river, 

 and other smaller streams passing through it. The soil is made 

 up of decomposed conglomerate, and in places shows a deep black 

 loam. Around this tract the land is high, devoid of moisture, and 

 covered with basaltic rocks or sand. 



They here raise wheat and potatoes by irrigation : the latter grow 

 in great perfection, and \vheat yields twenty to thirty bushels to the 

 acre. They had just gathered a crop of two hundred bushels from 

 land ^\hich they irrigate by means of several fine streams near their 



