THE NORTHWEST COAST, &c.
CHAPTER I.
Voyage from San Francisco to Shoal-water Bay.—Brig Oriental.—Passengers on board the Brig.—Ship a heavy Sea.—Mouth of the Columbia.—Quantities of Drift-wood.—Cross the Bar at Shoal-water Bay.—Heavy Sea.
During the fall of 1852, having received an invitation from my friend, Mr. Charles J. W. Russell, of Shoal-water Bay, to make him a visit, I determined to accept his kind offer, and accordingly secured a passage on board the brig Oriental, Captain Hill, which was bound up the Bay for a cargo of piles and spruce timber. I had always, from my earliest recollections, a strong desire to see the great River Columbia, and to learn something of the habits and customs of the tribes of the Northwest. This desire had been increased by the visit of a chief of the Clalam tribe of Indians from Puget Sound, who arrived at San Francisco, where I was then residing, and who received a great deal of attention from me during his visit of two or three weeks.
This chief, whose name was Chetzamokha, and who is known by the whites as the Duke of York, was very urgent to have me visit his people. Subsequently, on his return home, he sent me a present of a beautiful canoe, and a bag containing a quantity of cornelians, which are found along the shores of the bays and rivers of Washington and Oregon Territories.
I found, on joining the brig, that there were several
