WALL A WALL A. 381 



was not more than one hundred yards. The voyagenrs in general 

 have not the appearance of being very strong men. At these portages, 

 the Indians assist for a small present of tobacco. The boats seldom 

 escape injury in passing; and in consequence of that which they 

 received on this occasion, the party was detained the rest of the day 

 repairing damages. 



On their starting next morning, they found that the boats leaked ; 

 and put on shore again to gum them. This operation, Mr. Drayton 

 describes thus. On landing the goods, the boats are tracked up and 

 turned bottom up, when they are suffered to dry ; two flat-sided pieces 

 of fire-wood, about two feet long, are then laid together, and put into 

 the fire, until both are well lighted, and the wood burns readily at one 

 end and in the space between ; they then draw the lighted end slowly 

 along the gummed seam, blowing at the same time between the sticks : 

 this melts the gum, and a small spatula is used to smooth it off and 

 render the seam quite tight. The common gum of the pine or hemlock 

 is that used; and a supply is always carried with them. 



A short distance above the Cascades, they passed the locality of the 

 sunken forest, which was at the time entirely submerged. Mr. Drayton, 

 on his return* visited the place, and the water had fallen so much as 

 to expose the stumps to view : they were of pine, and quite rotten, so 

 much so that they broke when they were taken hold of. He is of 

 opinion that the point on which the pine forest stands, has been under- 

 mined by the great currents during the freshets; and that it has sunk 

 bodily down until the trees were entirely submerged. The whole mass 

 appears to be so matted together by the roots as to prevent their sepa- 

 ration. Changes, by the same undermining process, were observed to 

 be going on continually in other parts of the river. 



On the 30th of June, they had a favourable wind, but it blew so hard 

 that they were obliged to reef their sail, and afterwards found the 

 waves and wind too heavy for them to run without great danger ; they 

 in consequence put on shore to wait until it abated. In these forty 

 miles of the river, it usually blows a gale from the westward in the 

 summer season, almost daily. 



In the evening, they reached within seven miles of the Dalles, and 

 four below the mission. Here the roar of the water at the Dalles was 

 heard distinctly. 



The country had now assumed a different aspect ; the trees began to 

 decrease in number, and the land to look dry and burnt up. Before 

 pitching their tents, the men were beating about the bushes to drive 

 away the rattlesnakes, a number of which were killed, and preserved 

 as specimens. 



