This Was Soon Perceived By Some Of The
Indian Tribes, And The Consequence Was Increased Insolence Of
Deportment, And A Disposition To Hostility.
It was now the
fishing season, when the tribes from the northern coast drew into
the neighborhood of the Columbia.
These were warlike and
perfidious in their dispositions; and noted for their attempts to
surprise trading ships. Among them were numbers of the Neweetees,
the ferocious tribe that massacred the crew of the Tonquin.
Great precautions, therefore, were taken at the factory, to guard
against surprise while these dangerous intruders were in the
vicinity. Galleries were constructed inside of the palisades; the
bastions were heightened, and sentinels were posted day and
night. Fortunately, the Chinooks and other tribes resident in the
vicinity manifested the most pacific disposition. Old Comcomly,
who held sway over them, was a shrewd calculator. He was aware of
the advantages of having the whites as neighbors and allies, and
of the consequence derived to himself and his people from acting
as intermediate traders between them and the distant tribes. He
had, therefore, by this time, become a firm friend of the
Astorians, and formed a kind of barrier between them and the
hostile intruders from the north.
The summer of 1812 passed away without any of the hostilities
that had been apprehended; the Neweetees, and other dangerous
visitors to the neighborhood, finished their fishing and returned
home, and the inmates of the factory once more felt secure from
attack.
It now became necessary to guard against other evils. The season
of scarcity arrived, which commences in October, and lasts until
the end of January. To provide for the support of the garrison,
the shallop was employed to forage about the shores of the river.
A number of the men, also, under the command of some of the
clerks, were sent to quarter themselves on the banks of the
Wollamut (the Multnomah of Lewis and Clarke) , a fine river which
disembogues itself into the Columbia, about sixty miles above
Astoria. The country bordering on the river is finely diversified
with prairies and hills, and forests of oak, ash, maple, and
cedar. It abounded, at that time, with elk and deer, and the
streams were well stocked with beaver. Here the party, after
supplying their own wants, were enabled to pack up quantities of
dried meat, and send it by canoes to Astoria.
The month of October elapsed without the return of the Beaver.
November, December, January, passed away, and still nothing was
seen or heard of her. Gloomy apprehensions now began to be
entertained: she might have been wrecked in the course of her
coasting voyage, or surprised, like the Tonquin, by some of the
treacherous tribes of the north.
No one indulged more in these apprehensions than M'Dougal, who
had now the charge of the establishment. He no longer evinced the
bustling confidence and buoyancy which once characterized him.
Command seemed to have lost its charms for him, or rather, he
gave way to the most abject despondency, decrying the whole
enterprise, magnifying every untoward circumstance, and
foreboding nothing but evil.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 272 of 320
Words from 140170 to 140687
of 165649
