342 



HYDROGRAPHY. 



and partakes of the same character as the Willamette. Its length is 

 17 miles. In making use of it much time and distance may be saved. 

 When there is a freshet in the Columbia, there is little or no current 

 in the Willamette, the water being backed up nearly to the falls ; 

 then it affords a slack-water navigation, and appears very much 

 swollen. Some of the richest lands in Oregon lie on the borders of 

 these streams. Wood and water may be obtained in abundance. 



The navigation of the Columbia and its branches requires care and 

 attention, particularly at those parts of the river where an abrasion of 

 its banks is liable to take place, and deposits of its sands are made. 

 These parts I need not point out, for they will readily occur to the 

 intelligent navigator. 



In proceeding southward from the Columbia River, the first remark- 

 able land is Killamook Head, a bold chalky bluff. It is 18 miles 

 south of Point Adams : the low land connected with that point reaches 

 to it. The coast is a sandy beach. Killamook Head may be readily 

 distinguished, and, during the winter season, should be sighted by 

 vessels bound to the Columbia, in order to be to the windward of their 

 port, the period when the southwest and southeast winds prevail. 



Cape Lookout lies 30 miles to the southward of Killamook Head. 

 It is described by Vancouver as having four rocks lying off it ; one of 

 them perforated. The coast between it and Killamook consists of a 

 sandy beach, rising almost immediately into well-wooded hills. The 

 same line of coast continues to Cape Foul Weather, which is situated 

 31 miles to the southward. It is a high, conspicuous bluff, projecting 

 from the coast, remarkable for a flat top hill to the north, while 

 on the south there is a round bluff. The coast continues to trend 

 nearly north and south, being a succession of sandy beaches, inter- 

 rupted occasionally by perpendicular cliffs : a few rocks lie about a 

 mile outside of the line of coast. The high land approaches within 

 a short distance of the sea. The coast-line to Cape Perpetua has the 

 same direction and character. This cape is a high, rocky bluff, on 

 which the ocean dashes with violence. Here, too, the coast is iron- 

 bound, the sandy coves giving place to high rocks and barren cliffs. 



Cape Gregory lies 35 miles to the southward of Cape Perpetua. 

 It is somewhat conspicuous, when seen from the northward, and 

 resembles a mound or hill, on the top of which are white, rocky cliffs. 

 The land between it and the coast range of hills, is low, giving it the 

 appearance, at a distance, of an island. The rocky and iron-bound 



