THE MONGOLIAN RACE. 



39 



SOUTHWESTERN OREGON. 



I am indebted to the notes of Mr. Aj^ate and Mr. Brackenridge, for 

 the following particulars, respecting the natives seen on the journey 

 from the Columbia to San Francisco in California. 



" The party left the Willamette settlement on the 9th of September; 

 and on the same day, met with some Klickatats from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Vancouver, who had come on a hunting excursion. 

 This tribe is distinguished by having the lower part of the septum 

 of the nose cut away. 10th. Crossed a creek, near a large native 

 burial-place, where wooden utensils and other articles were deposited. 

 On the 13th, footsteps of natives were seen, and also a fish-weir. 



" On the 14th, the party fell in with an old Kalapuya, whose por- 

 trait was sketched by Mr. Agate. He wore moccasins, an elk-skin 

 dress, a cap of fox-skin with the ears remaining, and his quiver was 

 of seal-skin. Mr. Agate remarked, further, that the costume of the Ka- 

 lapuya women is not unlike the Polynesian. For the last four days the 

 prairies were found to be stripped of herbage by fires, some still burn- 

 ing; that had been kindled, it was said, to facilitate the gathering of 

 sunflower seed." No marks of fire, had been observed in Interior 

 Oregon. 



"On the 15th, the party crossed the Kalapuya or Elk Ridge ; which 

 is upwards of a thousand feet in elevation, and separates the waters 

 of the Willamette and Umpqua Rivers ;" and likewise, to all ap- 

 pearance, the Kalapuya from the Umpqua tribe. " 16th. Mr. Agate 

 was of the party that visited the Fort. The Canadian in charge, was 

 in daily expectation of an attack from the natives, partly in conse- 

 quence of a refusal to supply them with ammunition : he attributed 

 the hostile disposition of the natives south of this place, to the circum- 

 stance of the smallpox having been accidentally introduced among 

 them ; and he discouraged any attempt to proceed further. 17th. In 

 the mean time, the camp was visited, both on this and on the preced- 

 ing day, by different natives, who appeared friendly and inoffensive, 

 and soon went away. 



" On the ISth, the journey was resumed, and the part}^ crossed a 



