NISQUALLY AND COLUMBIA RIVER. 331 



The interior of the houses in the fort are unpretending. They are 

 simply finished with pine board panels, without any paint : bunks are 

 built for bedsteads ; but the whole, though plain, is as comfortable as 

 could be desired. 



I was introduced to several of the missionaries : Mr. and Mrs. Smith, 

 of the American Board of Missions ; Mr. and Mrs. Griffith, and Mr. 

 and Mrs. Clarke, of the Self-supporting Mission ; Mr. Waller of the 

 Methodist, and two others. They, for the most part, make Vancouver 

 their home, where they are kindly received and well entertained at no 

 expense to themselves. The liberality and freedom from sectarian 

 principles of Dr. M'Laughlin may be estimated from his being thus 

 hospitable to missionaries of so many Protestant denominations, al- 

 though he is a professed Catholic, and has a priest of the same faith 

 officiating daily at the chapel. Religious toleration is allowed in its 

 fullest extent. The dining-hall is given up on Sunday to the use of the 

 ritual of the Anglican Church, and Mr. Douglass or a missionary reads 

 the service. 



Mr. and Mrs. Smith had been in the country two years, and were 

 about leaving it for the Hawaiian Islands, in consequence of the ill 

 health of Mrs. Smith. Mr. Smith informed me that he had been 

 settled on the Kooskooskee, at a station called Kamia. There were no 

 Indians near that station, and consequently little duty for a missionary 

 to perform. All the above-named missions, except the Methodist, 

 came across the Rocky Mountains : they represented the pass through 

 them as by no means difficult, and that they had entertained no appre- 

 hension of the hostile Indians. They had accompanied a party of 

 fur-traders from St. Louis, and gave a deplorable account of the dis- 

 sipation and morals of the party. Messrs. Griffith and Clarke were 

 entirely disappointed in finding self-support here, and had it not been 

 for the kindness of Dr. M'Laughlin, who took them in, they would 

 have suffered much. They were advised to settle themselves on the 

 Faulitz Plains, where I have understood they have since taken land, 

 and succeeded in acquiring quite respectable farms. 



There are two large entrance gates to the " fort" for wagons and 

 carts, and one in the rear leading to the granaries and the garden : 

 the latter is quite extensive, occupying four or five acres, and contains 

 all kinds of vegetables and many kinds of fruit, with which the tables 

 are abundantly supplied by the gardener, "Billy Bruce." After 

 William Bruce's first term of service had expired, he was desirous of 

 returning to England, and was accordingly sent. This happened 

 during the visit of Dr. M'Laughlin to England. One day an acci- 

 dental meeting took place in a crowded street of London, where he 



