FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 23 , 1909 . 
130 
for the passengers, troubled by the constant 
quarrels between them and the captain of the 
ship. At the mouth of the Columbia a number 
of the men were lost, apparently through neglect 
of the captain to take ordinary precautions for 
their protection. Among those of the two boat’s 
crews who were rescued was Stephen Weeks, 
who subsequently perished on the Tonquin. 
The early days at Astoria have been written 
of by Alexander Ross, Ross Cox and Fran- 
chere, and are more or less familiar from these 
accounts. Houses had to be built, the country 
explored, and friendly relations cultivated with 
the natives. Evidently, Franchere’s tempera¬ 
ment was such as to make him especially use¬ 
ful in dealing with the Indians, and he was^ 
•constantly sent off to lead expeditions, either 
for opening up trade, for pacifying natives who 
had been offended, or to pursue deserters who 
had taken refuge in Indian camps. 
The arrival of a portion of the land party, 
under Donald Mackenzie, was a pleasant and 
unexpected incident of January, 1812. The 
party had wintered on the Missouri, in 1810, and 
in the spring of 1811 had ascended the Missouri 
to the country of the Arikaras, where they had 
sold their boats and goods in part to the well- 
known Manuel Lisa. 
A party of sixty-five persons, with 130 horses, 
now started west, bending southward to avoid 
the Blackfeet Indians, and then turning north¬ 
west till they finally reached the old fort or 
trading post which had been established by a 
trader named Henry. This was on a stream 
flowing to the westward—perhaps Henry’s fork 
of Snake River. They supposed that this stream 
■would bring them to the Columbia, and made 
canoes for the purpose of descending it, but 
flnding this impracticable, they abandoned 
fheir canoes to go southward on foot. Then, 
•depositing most of their property in a cache, 
they divided into four parties and followed the 
stream, two parties on one bank, and two on the 
•other. They suffered greatly from hunger and 
thirst, and lost many men, and Mackenzie sup¬ 
posed that the other party had all perished; but 
this was not the case, for a month later Mr. 
Hunt arrived with a party of thirty men, one 
woman and two children, having left Mr. 
Crook’s with some men among the Snakes. 
That spring several of the partners started 
up the river, but were attacked by the Indians 
and obliged to return. It was not until August, 
1813, that the Astorians received the account of 
the destruction of the Tonquin from an eye wit¬ 
ness, an Indian who, it was said, was the only 
soul that had escaped from that vessel. His 
story is given as follows: 
“After I had embarked on the Tonquin, that 
vessel sailed for Nootka. Having arrived oppo¬ 
site a large village called Newity, we dropped 
anchor. The natives having invited Mr. McKay 
to land, he did so and was received in the most 
cordial manner; they even kept him several days 
at their village and made him lie every night 
on a couch of sea-otter skin. Meanwhile the 
captain was engaged in trading with such of the 
natives as resorted to his ship, but having had 
a difficulty with one of the principal chiefs in 
regard to the price of certain goods, he ended 
by putting the latter out of the ship and in the 
act of so repelling him, struck him on the face 
with a roll of furs which he had brought to 
trade. This act was regarded by that chief and 
his followers as a most grievous insult, and they 
resolved to take vengeance for it." To arrive 
more surely at their purpose, they dissembled 
their resentment and came as usual on board 
the ship. 
“One day, very early in the morning, a large 
pirogue, containing about a score of natives, 
came alongside. Every man had in his hand 
a packet of furs and held it over his head as 
a sign that they came to trade. The watch let 
them come on deck. A little after arrived a 
second pirogue, carrying about as many men as 
the other. The sailors believed that these also 
came to exchange their furs and allowed them 
to mount the ship’s side like the first. Very 
soon the pirogues, thus succeeding one another, 
the crew saw themselves surrounded by a mul¬ 
titude of savages who came upon the deck from 
all sides. Becoming alarmed at the appearance 
of this, they went to apprize the captain and 
Mr. McKay, who hastened to the poop. I was 
with them, and, fearing from the great multi¬ 
tude of Indians whom I saw already on the 
deck, and from the movements of those on 
shore, who were going to embark in their canoes 
to approach the vessel, and from the women 
being left in charge of the canoes of those who 
had arrived, that some evil design was on foot, 
I communicated my suspicions to Mr. McKay 
who himself spoke to the captain. The latter 
affected an air of security, and said that with 
the firearms on board there was no reason to 
fear even a greater number of Indians. 
“Meanwhile these gentlemen had come on 
deck, unarmed, without even their firearms. The 
trader, nevertheless, did not advance; the In¬ 
dians offered less than was asked, and pressing 
with their furs close to the captain, Mr. McKay 
and Mr. Lewis, repeated the word, ‘Makoke! 
makoke’—trade! trade ! I urged the gentlemen 
to put to sea, and the captain at last, seeing the 
number of Indians increase every moment, al¬ 
lowed himself to be persuaded. He ordered 
a part of the crew to raise the anchor, and the 
rest to go afloat and unfurl the sails. At the 
same time he warned the natives to withdraw, 
as the ship was going to sea. A fresh breeze 
was then springing up, and in a few moments 
more their prey would have escaped them; but 
immediately on receiving this notice by a pre¬ 
concerted signal the Indians, with a terriffic yell, 
drew forth their knives and war bludgeons they 
had concealed in their bundles of furs and 
rushed upon the crew of the ship. Mr. Lewis 
was struck and fell over a bale of blankets. 
Mr. McKay, however, was the first victim whom 
they sacrificed to their fury. 
“Two savages, who from the crown of the 
poop where I was seated, I had seen follow 
these gentlemen step by step, now cast them¬ 
selves upon him, and having given him a blow 
on the head with a potumagan, felled him to 
the deck, then took him up and flung him into 
the sea where the women, left in charge of the 
canoes, quickly finished him with their paddles. 
Another set flung themselves upon the captain, 
who defended himself for a long time with his 
pocket knife, but overpowered by numbers, per¬ 
ished also under the blows of these murderers. 
I next saw the sailors who were aloft slip down 
the rigging and get below through the steerage 
hatchway. There were five, I think, in number, 
and one of them in descending received a knife 
stab in the back. I then jumped overboard to 
escape a similar fate to that of the captain and 
Mr. McKay. The women in the canoes, to 
whom I surrendered myself as a slave, took me 
in and bade me hide myself under some mats 
in the pirogue, which I did. Soon after I heard 
the discharge of firearms, immediately upon 
which the Indians fled from the vessel and 
pulled for the shore as fast as possible, nor did 
they venture to go alongside of the ship again 
the whole of that day. The ne^t day, having 
seen four men lower a boat and pull away from 
the ship, they sent some in chase, but whether 
those men were overtaken and murdered, or 
gained the open sea and perished there, I never 
could learn. Nothing more was seen stirring 
on board the Tonquin. The natives pulled cau¬ 
tiously around her and some of the more dar¬ 
ing went on board. At last the savages, finding 
themselves absolute masters of the ship, rushed 
on board in a crowd to pillage her, but very 
soon, when there were about four or five hun¬ 
dred, either huddled together on deck or cling¬ 
ing to the sides, all eager for plunder, the ship 
blew up with a horrible noise. I was on the 
shore when the explosion took place and saw 
the great volume of smoke burst forth in the 
spot where the ship had been, and high in the 
air above, arms, legs, heads and bodies flying 
in all directions. The tribe acknowledge the 
loss of over two hundred of their people on 
that occasion.” 
News of the war between the United States 
and Great Britain reached Astoria in the autumn 
of 1813 by a light express from the Northwest 
Company. And now followed the news that a 
British privateer was going to capture Astoria. 
But the Northwest Company agreed to buy out 
Mr. Astor, to pay the wages of the servants of 
the Pacific Fur Company, and in some cases 
offered to hire them. It was but a little later 
that Alexander Henry, the younger, made his 
appearance on the scene, remaining at Astoria 
until his death. Franchere had never been satis¬ 
fied with the sale of the Pacific Fur Company 
to the Northwest Company, nor did he care to 
take service with the Northwesters. He started 
up the river with a party, bound for the eastern 
side of the mountains, the party numbering 
ninety persons, in ten canoes. The journey was 
long, difficult and interrupted by many adven¬ 
tures, but at length the, east side of the moun¬ 
tains was reached and Franchere finally came 
to his beloved Montreal. , 
During his journey across the mountains we 
find what is an early mention of the practice 
of the natives of the northwest coast of weav¬ 
ing blankets from the fleece of the white goat. 
At a point on the Columbia River, above the 
entrance of the Coutenais River, Franchere says: 
“The women at this camp were busy spinning 
the coarse wool of the mountain sheep; they 
had blankets or mantles woven or plaited of 
the same material, with a heavy fringe all 
around.” It is not likely that Franchere ever 
saw a mountain sheep or goat in his whole 
life. 
The last chapter in the book, written thirty- 
three years after the publication of the original 
narrative, or in 1852, contains some interesting 
matter which bears on the history of Astoria as 
written by Mr. Irving and by other people dur¬ 
ing the twenty-five years following its abandon¬ 
ment. Franchere’s narrative is one of the most 
charming of the books of that day. 
