COLUMBIA RIVER. 
119 
get up to search for food. They have many superstitions, that have 
been already noticed, of which that relating to the salmon is the most 
singular, and the most strictly adhered to. 
The god who made the Columbia river, and all the fish in it, they 
call Italupus. He taught their ancestors how to procure fire, make 
nets, and catch fish. The first salmon caught are all tabooed, and 
they dare not sell them ; they must all be cut up and cooked the day 
they are caught. A dog must never be permitted to eat the heart of 
a salmon; and in order to prevent this, they cut the heart of the fish 
out before they sell it. 
Italupus is supposed to nourish the salmon, and cause them to be 
abundant during the whole summer, that they may lay up their store 
of it for the winter. 
Having completed all the arrangements, and the weather becoming 
fine, on the 16th we resumed our duties in the survey, which was now 
carried on with spirit. The stations being established, and the trian¬ 
gulation completed, the tender, with two boats, was left to sound out 
the bay, while the remaining part of the force was moved up the river, 
to continue the surveys, in company with the Porpoise and Oregon; 
for I now found it necessary that both vessels should proceed up to 
Vancouver. This was not only to insure a more thorough outfit for 
the Oregon, but it also served to forward the surveying duties, and to 
afford the officers and men such quarters at night as would protect 
them from the sickly season, that was approaching, and of which we 
had received such unfavourable accounts. The plan adopted for the 
survey of this river will be given in the Hydrographical Memoir. 
On the 18th of August, I left Astoria, with the Porpoise and 
Oregon, to continue the survey. We reached Tongue Point, where 
we anchored, previously to crossing thence to the opposite side of 
the river, through the crooked channel which was then believed to 
be the only passage by which a vessel of any class could ascend the 
stream.* 
On the 19th, the vessels attempted to pass through this channel, 
but on entering it they both took the ground. The tide was at its full 
height and soon began to fall, when the Porpoise began to keel over, 
until she fell on her beam-ends. We were in hopes that the night tide 
would be sufficient to float her off, but we found its rise less by nearly 
a foot than that of the day ; it therefore became necessary to make 
extraordinary exertions to prepare for the next* day’s tide by buoying 
* A channel which we afterwards discovered, leads directly upwards from Tongue Point, 
and affords every desirable facility for the navigation of the Columbia river. 
