WILLAMETTEVALLEY. 349 



at the mission, to hold a consultation relative to the establishment of 

 settled governments. Johnson, trapper-like, took what I thought the 

 soundest view, saying that they yet lived in the bush, and let all do 

 right, there was no necessity for laws, lawyers, or magistrates. 



Having our camp equipage with us, together with plenty of pro- 

 visions, our servant managed without putting him or his wife to much 

 inconvenience ; and although we passed an uncomfortable night, fight- 

 ing with the fleas, yet we both agreed it w T as better than if we had 

 been in our tents. 



In the morning we found horses waiting, under charge of Michel 

 La Framboise, who is in the employ of the Company, and was very 

 happy to see us. He originally came out in the ship Tonquin, and 

 was one of the party that landed at Astoria, where he has resided ever 

 since, either in the employ of the Northwest or Hudson Bay Com- 

 pany. Michel is of low stature, and rather corpulent, but he has 

 great energy and activity of both mind and body, indomitable courage, 

 and all the vivacity of a Frenchman. He has travelled in all parts of 

 the country, and says that he has a wife of high rank in every tribe, 

 by which means he has insured his safety. From him I derived 

 much information, and to him all parties refer as possessing the most 

 accurate knowledge of the country. He generally has charge of a 

 party, and was formerly engaged in trapping ; but of late years pass- 

 ing through the country to California and back. Had it not been for 

 his proneness to dissipation, I am informed he would have risen in 

 the Company's service. To me he complained that he had not re- 

 ceived what he considered his due, and that he was no better off than 

 twenty years before, saying, " he was still Michel La Framboise, only 

 older." 



I was glad to meet with a guide of such intelligence ; and having 

 mounted our horses, we rode through the Willamette Valley. In it 

 w r e passed many small farms, of from fifty to one hundred acres, 

 belonging to the old servants of the Company, Canadians, who have 

 settled here : they all appear very comfortable and thriving. We stop- 

 ped for a few hours at the Catholic Mission, twelve miles from Cham- 

 pooing, to call upon the Rev. Mr. Bachelet, to whom I had a note of 

 introduction, from Dr. M'Laughlin, and who received me with great 

 kindness. Mr. Bachelet is here settled among his flock, and is doing 

 great good to the settlers in ministering to their temporal as well as 

 spiritual wants. 



He spoke to me much about the system of laws the minority of the 

 settlers were desirous of establishing, but which he had objected to, 

 and advised his people to refuse to co-operate in; for he was of opinion 



2E 



