336 NISQUALLY AND COLUMBIA RIVER. 



dollars per thousand. I could not ascertain their cost here. About 

 twenty men (Canadians and Sandwich Islanders) are employed at the 

 mill. 



They have a large smith's shop here, which, besides doing the work 

 of the mill, makes all the axes and hatchets used by the trappers. 

 The iron and steel are imported: the tools are manufactured at a 

 much less price than those imported, and are more to be depended on. 

 A trapper's success, in fact, depends upon his axe; and on this being 

 lost or broken, he necessarily relinquishes his labours, and returns un- 

 successful. I was surprised at seeing the celerity with which these 

 axes are made. Fifty of them, it is said, can be manufactured in a 

 day, and twenty-five are accounted an ordinary day's work. They 

 are eagerly sought after by the Indians, who are very particular that 

 the axe should have a certain shape, somewhat like a tomahawk. 



From the mill we crossed over to one of the sheep-walks on the high 

 prairie. The soil on this is a light sandy loam, which yields a plentiful 

 crop of columbine, lupine, and cammass-flowers. Throughout these 

 upper prairies, in places, are seen growing pines of gigantic dimensions 

 and towering height, with their branches drooping to the ground, with 

 clumps of oaks, elders, and maple. These prairies have such an air 

 of being artificially kept in order, that they never cease to create sur- 

 prise, and it is difficult to believe that the hand of taste and refinement 

 has not been at work upon them. 



On our way back to Vancouver, we met the droves of horses and 

 cattle that they were driving to the upper prairie, on account of the 

 rise of the river, and the consequent flooding of the low grounds. 

 This was quite an interesting sight. A certain number of brood mares 

 are assigned to each horse ; and the latter, it is said, is ever mindful 

 of his troop, and prevents them from straying. An old Indian is em- 

 ployed to watch the horses, who keeps them constant company, and is 

 quite familiar with every individual of his charge. We reached the 

 fort just at sunset, after a ride of twenty miles. It was such a sunset 

 as reminded me of home : the air was mild, and a pleasant breeze pre- 

 vailed from the west ; Mount Hood showed itself in all its glory, rising 

 out of the purple haze with which the landscape was shrouded. 



On this night, (29th May,) the waters of the Columbia took a rise 

 of eighteen inches in ten hours, and apprehensions were entertained 

 that the crops on the lower prairie would be destroyed. The usual 

 time for the highest rise of the river is in the middle of June, but the 

 heat of the spring and summer is supposed to have caused its rise 

 sooner this year. 



The crop of wheat of the last year had been partially destroyed, 



