440 PUGET SOUND AND OKONAGAN. 



force, and is employed by them as an argument why the tribes should 

 embrace the Christian religion. There is little doubt that the fall of 

 ashes took place, for many traces of such phenomena are to be seen in 

 all parts of the middle section of Oregon ; # but they had knowledge of 

 the whites long before the epoch designated. A proof that the white 

 race was then known to them, may be cited in the person of a half- 

 breed Canadian, who is now living at Colville, who had served under 

 Burgoyne, and been fifty years in this country .f Besides the appear- 

 ance of the Spaniards, and English under Cook, on the coast, the 

 existence of white men must have become known through the inter- 

 communication of the different nations. 



Lieutenant Johnson left the mission the next afternoon for Colville, 

 under the guidance of the son of Cornelius, and travelled through an 

 extensive valley to the north, with hills on either side of from six 

 hundred to one thousand feet in height. This valley is crossed by 

 numerous streamlets and brooks, and appears to have a good and 

 extremely fertile soil. The largest stream passed was one near Col- 

 ville, on which the Hudson Bay Company have their grist-mill: this is 

 about fifty feet wide. Within ten miles of the fort, the house of the 

 Company's storekeeper was passed, and near to it is found a species of 

 white chalk or pigment, which is much used at the fort instead of the 

 common lime whitewash, from which it is scarcely distinguishable. 

 They reached Fort Colville late in the afternoon, and w r ere all soon 

 made to forget the fatigues of the journey by the kind attentions of 

 Messrs. M'Donald and Maxwell, who had charge of the post. 



* Within the last year, the craters on the top of Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helen's 

 have been in activity. 



t This man is still hale and hearty, though pretty much of a reprobate. His story 

 seemed to be credited by the officers of the Company at Fort Colville. 



INDIAN BASKETS OF OREGON. 



