WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 357 



rains. These hills are clothed to the very top with grass, and afford 

 excellent pasturage for cattle, of which many were seen feeding on 

 them. On our route through the Yam Hills, we passed many settlers' 

 establishments. From their top, the view is not unlike that from Mount 

 Holyoke, in Massachusetts, and the country appears as if it were as 

 much improved by the hand of civilization. The oak trees sprinkled 

 over the hills and bottoms have a strong resemblance to the apple- 

 orchards. The extent of country we looked over is from twenty-five to 

 thirty miles, all of which is capable of being brought to the highest state 

 of cultivation. There are in truth few districts like that of the valley 

 of the Faulitz. 



We passed one or two brick-kilns, and finally reached the new resi- 

 dence of George Gay, one of the most remote on this side of the river. 

 George had reached home with his wife and two children not long 

 before us. His dwelling was to all appearance a good shanty, which 

 contains all his valuables. George is of that lazy kind of lounging 

 figure so peculiar to a backwoodsman or Indian. He has a pretty and 

 useful Indian wife, who does his bidding, takes care of his children and 

 horses, and guards his household and property. The latter is not 

 bulky, for superfluities with George are not to be found, and when he 

 and his wife and children are seen travelling, it is manifest that his all 

 is with him. George is a useful member of society in this small com- 

 munity: he gelds and marks cattle, breaks horses in, and tames cows 

 for milking, assists in finding and driving cattle, — in short, he under- 

 takes all and every sort of singular business ; few things are deemed 

 by him impossibilities ; and lastly, in the words of one of the settlers, 

 " George is not a man to be trifled or fooled with." I felt, when I had 

 him for my guide, that there were few difficulties he could not over- 

 come. He is full as much of an Indian in habits as a white man can 

 be. He told me he bore the Indians no love, and is indeed a terror to 

 them, having not unffequently applied Lynch law to some of them with 

 much effect. The account he gave of himself is, that he was born of 

 English parents, but became, before he had grown up, more than half 

 Indian, and was now fully their match. I will add, that he is quite 

 equal to them in artifice. He passes for the best lasso-thrower in the 

 country, and is always ready to eat, sleep, or frolic: his wife and 

 children are to him as his trappings. He has with all this many good 

 points about him. I have seen him, while travelling with me, dart off 

 for half a mile to assist a poor Indian boy who was unable to catch his 

 horse, lasso the horse, put the boy on, and return at full gallop. All 

 this was done in a way that showed it to be his every-day practice ; and 



