An Agent, Appointed For The Term Of Five Years, Was To Reside At The Principal Establishment On The Northwest Coast, And Wilson Price Hunt Was The One Chosen For The First Term.

Should the interests of the concern at any time require his absence, a person was to be appointed, in general meeting, to take his place.

Such were the leading conditions of this ascociation; we shall now proceed to relate the various hardy and eventful expeditions, by sea and land, to which it gave rise.

* Carver's Travels, Introd. b. iii. Philad. 1796. ** Carver's Travels, p. 360. *** On this point Mr. Jefferson's memory was in error. The proposition alluded to was the one, already mentioned, for the establishment of an American Fur Company in the Atlantic States. The great enterprise beyond the mountains, that was to sweep the shores of the Pacific, originated in the mind of Mr. Astor, and was proposed by him to the government.

CHAPTER IV. Two Expeditions Set on Foot.- The Tonquin and Her Crew.- Captain Thorn, His Character.- The Partners and Clerks - Canadian Voyageurs, Their Habits, Employments, Dress, Character, Songs- Expedition of a Canadian Boat and Its Crew by Land and Water.- Arrival at New York.- Preparations for a Sea Voyage.- Northwest Braggarts. -Underhand Precautions- Letter of Instructions.

IN prosecuting his great scheme of commerce and colonization, two expeditions were devised by Mr. Astor, one by sea, the other by land. The former was to carry out the people, stores, ammunition, and merchandise, requisite for establishing a fortified trading post at the mouth of Columbia River.

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