518 
APPENDIX. 
Passed Midshipmen Eld and Colvocoressis, Messrs. Dana and 
Brackenridge, Sergeant Stearns, and Henry Waltham, an ordinary 
seaman, are added to your party. 
You will leave your encampment in the Willamette at the earliest 
possible hour. 
Your route from thence will be through the Willamette Valley, 
south towards California, and if possible west of the Shaste Moun¬ 
tains, thence to strike the waters of the Sacramento, passing over the 
head waters of various streams that empty into the ocean, viz., the 
Umpqua, Klamet, and their branches. 
Your party is now composed of twenty officers and men: the addi¬ 
tion of five or six more good and trusty men, will, I think, be amply 
sufficient to insure your safety, and enable you to proceed with all 
despatch: any more than is necessary to insure safety, I view as likely 
to retard your progress. 
After you start, which must not be later than the 5th or 6th, I give 
you twenty-five days to reach the forks of the Sacramento, where the 
boats of the Vincennes or squadron will be on the 30th of September. 
If you should fall upon the Sacramento, taking a more easterly route, 
you will, if you find it difficult to proceed with your horses, abandon 
them, and proceed in canoes down the river. 
It is possible you may have to construct them; and rough ones will 
answer your purpose for navigating the river to its mouth, where you 
will find the Vincennes at anchor. 
In conversation, I have impressed upon you the necessity of not 
losing time, and bear in mind that in order to gain this desirable end, it 
will be necessary for you to press your party all you can. The saving 
of a few horses must not impede your advance, particularly after you 
have passed the hostile Indians. 
I desire that you will endeavour to reach your destination in the 
time specified, as it may save the party sent to meet you, and the 
service, much delay. 
The route you will probably follow, is that usually taken by the 
Company’s party; but in your advance, when it is safe, it may be 
desirable for a part to deviate, for the purpose of gaining information. 
Although your orders are marked “ confidential,” you will show them 
to Passed Midshipmen Eld and Colvocoressis, that they may be aware 
of the duties to be performed in case of accident to you. And no 
important hostile step will be taken unless through a council, in which 
all the gentlemen accompanying you will join; and you will be parti¬ 
cularly careful that no act of aggrievance by youi party should bring 
about such an event. 
