446 
TRAVELS IN OREGON, NO. 1. 
harbors of the territory are within the Straits of Juande 
Fuca, where the largest vessels can go safely. The 
rise and fall of the tides is eighteen feet. In attempting 
to cross the bar of the Columbia River, sometime alter 
his arrival on the coast, Captain Wilkes lost one of the 
vessels of the Exploring Expedition. That officer says, 
mere description can give little idea of the terrors of the 
bar of the Columbia. All who have seen it have spoken 
of the wildness of the scene, and the incessant roar of 
the waters, representing it as one of the most fearful 
sights that can possibly meet the eye of the sailor. The 
difficulty of its channels, the distance of the leading sail¬ 
ing marks, their uncertainty to one unacquainted with 
them, the want of knowledge of the strength and direc¬ 
tion of the currents, with the necessity of approaching 
close to unseen dangers, the transition from clear to 
turbid water, all cause doubt and mistrust. 
At Astoria, Captain Wilkes was met by Mr. Birnie, 
the agent to the Hudson’s Bay Company, at the landing 
and warmly welcomed. He carried them to his quart¬ 
ers, and his fires burned brightly, and his board bent be¬ 
neath good cheer, although it was past midnight. After 
supper they were made comfortable for the night, and 
in the morning they were enabled to take a survey of 
Astoria. 
Half a dozen log houses, with as many sheds, and a 
pig-sty or two, are all that it can boast of, and even 
these are rapidly going to decay. The Company have 
long since given up the idea of holding or improving it 
as a post, and in consequence pay little attention to it. 
They have removed the head-quarters of their opera¬ 
tions to Vancouver, eighty miles further up the river, 
and hold Astoria principally for the convenience of their 
vessels. Once it had its gardens, forts, and banqueting 
halls; and, when it was the head-quaters of the North¬ 
west Company during their rivalship with the Hudson’s 
