438 PUGET SOUND AND OKONAGAN. 



During this time we Iiad been steadily employed at the observatory, 

 and by the 4th I had completed the pendulum and astronomical ob- 

 servations. 



Wishing to give the crew a holiday on the anniversary of the Decla- 

 ration of our Independence, and to allow them to have a full day's 

 frolic and pleasure, they were allowed to barbecue an ox, which the 

 Company's agent had obligingly sold me. They were permitted to 

 make their own arrangements for the celebration, which they con- 

 ducted in the following manner. 



The place chosen for the purpose was a corner of the Mission 

 Prairie, before spoken of. Here they slaughtered their ox, and spitted 

 him on a sapling supported over the fire, which was made in a trench. 

 The carcass could thus be readily turned, and a committee of the crew 

 was appointed to cook him. Others were engaged in arranging the 

 amusements, &c. All was activity and bustle on the morning of the 

 5th, as the 4th fell upon Sunday. Before nine o'clock all the men 

 were mustered on board in clean white frocks and trousers, and all, 

 including the marines and music, were landed shortly after, to march 

 to the scene of festivity, about a mile distant. The procession was 

 formed at the observatory, whence we all marched off with flags 

 flying and music playing, Vendovi and the master-at-arms bringing 

 up the rear. Vendovi was dressed out after the Feejee fashion. It 

 was truly gratifying to me to see them all in such good health and 

 spirits, not a man sick, and their clothes as white as snow, with happy 

 and contented faces. 



Had it not been for the want of news from the Peacock, and the 

 consequent apprehensions in relation to her fate, I should have felt 

 and enjoyed the scene much more than I did. But the continual 

 feeling that the ship might have been lost on some coral reef, and 

 the idea of the sufferings her officers and crew would, in such case, 

 undergo, tended to repress all other thoughts. This anxiety was 

 not only felt by myself, but the officers and crew partook of it in 

 a great degree. It was impossible to conjecture her fate, yet her 

 continued absence and detention beyond the time of her anticipated 

 arrival, naturally excited many fears and surmises, which, as the 

 time passed on, made each one more certain that some disaster had 

 befallen them. 



Two brass howitzers were also carried to the prairie to fire the 

 usual salutes. When the procession reached Fort Nisqually, they 

 stopped, gave three cheers, and waited, sailor-like, until it Avas 



