war of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States, British fur-traders were prohibited by Congress from carrying on their business within the territory of the United States, so that Mr. Astor found himself with no more advantages than others.

THE ILL-FATED SHIP "TONQUIN."-To supply Mr. Astor's establishment at Astoria, the ship Tonquin, Captain Jonathan Thorn, left New York in September, 1810, and entered the Columbia in March, 1811. Captain Thorn had for principal officer, Alexander Mackay, who had in 1792-93 accompanied Alexander Mackenzie in his journey to the Pacific coast. After landing the Astoria portion of the cargo and arranging the preliminary work of the post, Captain Thorn departed on a trading voyage northward with a company of twentythree men, including officers. They sailed until they reached Vancouver Island and Clayoquot Sound, which was then, the report says, inhabited by a powerful tribe the Wah-en-ishes. These people came aboard to barter furs for merchandise, and conducted themselves in the most friendly manner during the first day. The same evening information was brought on board by an Indian, whom the officers had engaged as an interpreter, that the tribe was ill-disposed and intended attacking the ship next day. Captain Thorn, whose conduct during the voyage, and especially during the short stay made at the Sandwich Islands, showed him to be tyrannical and obstinate, affected to disbelieve the news.

DEATH OF ALEXANDER MACKAY.-Next morning the savages came around the vessel in great numbers. Mackay advised caution, and ordered seven men aloft to unfurl the sails. In the meantime the captain permitted about fifty Indians to come on board. They immediately began to exchange otter skins for blankets and knives. The blankets they threw into their canoes, but secreted the knives. As had been previously arranged by them, when armed they moved from the quarter-deck to different parts of the vessel, so that when everything was in readiness they were so distributed that at least three savages were opposite to every man on the ship. At a given signal they rushed on their prey, and notwithstanding the brave resistance of the crew on deck, every individual was butchered in a few minutes.

FIVE OF THE CREW RETREATED TO THE CABIN.-The men aloft, in attempting to descend, lost two of their men, besides one mortally wounded, who, notwithstanding his weakened condition, made good his retreat with the four others to the cabin. The interpreter escaped

and was secreted by the women. He afterwards reached Astoria and reported the affair. Those in the cabin found loaded arms, and began firing on their savage assailants through the skylights and the companion-way, which had the effect of clearing the ship in a short time, and long before night the five men had full possession. Whether from lack of ability to navigate the vessel back to the Columbia River or want of courage, the four men who were unhurt left in the long boat early the following morning. They wished the wounded man to accompany them, but he refused, saying he must die before long and was as well in the vessel as elsewhere.

MAGAZINE BLOWN UP.---Soon after sunrise, the Tonquin was surrounded by a great number of Indians in canoes. They came for the purpose of unloading her, but from the warm parting they got on the previous day, did not seem forward in boarding. The wounded man, however, showed himself at the railing, made signs that he was alone and wanted their assistance, on which some ventured on board and found what he said was true. They spoke to their people, who then came aboard quickly, so that in a very short time the deck was considerably thronged, and they proceeded to undo the hatches without any further ceremony. No sooner were they completely engaged in this, than the only survivor of the crew descended to the cabin, and having everything in readiness, set fire to the magazine, containing nearly nine thousand pounds of gunpowder, which, in an instant, blew the vessel and everyone on board to atoms. The Indian nation acknowledged having lost one hundred warriors, beside a vast number of wounded, by the explosion, which included those in canoes around the ship. The four men who set off in the long boat were, two or three days afterwards, driven ashore in a gale and massacred by the natives. The interpreter was detained two years in slavery before he effected his escape.

INTOXICATING LIQUOR PLAYS HAVOC.-Whilst on the sea-board of the Pacific, the natives were yearly becoming more demoralized, more passionately fond of intoxicating liquor, which was supplied to them ad libitum by many of the masters of trading-vessels to whom the demoralization of the people was a matter of indifference so long as they were enabled to fill their ships with furs, the North-West Company were extending their trade westward, following at first the course of travel which Sir Alexander Mackenzie took in his exploratory trip to the Pacific coast in 1792-93.

CHAPTER IX.

FURTHER EXPLORATIONS AND FUR-TRADING.

THE NORTH-WEST COMPANY.- Mr. Simon Fraser's explorations next come in order. They have exercised considerable influence on the history of British Columbia. Fraser entered the service of the North-West Company in 1792, at the age of nineteen; ten years later he became a partner. In 1805 a conference was held at Fort William, north shore of Lake Superior, to discuss the advisability of extending the operations of the Company beyond the Rocky Mountains, for the purpose of occupying the territory. This action was taken to anticipate the United States explorers and traders who might advance northward and establish a claim to ownership by right of discovery and occupation. It was decided that trading-posts should be established in the then unknown territory, and possession should in this way be taken of it. The duty of carrying out this project was assigned to Mr. Fraser. He soon afterwards left Fort William, made his way to Lake Athabasca, and ascended Peace River to a suitable place in the mountains, where he established a trading post, which he named Rocky Mountain Portage. Placing men in charge, he continued his journey to McLeod Lake, which he discovered, and where he established Fort McLeod.

STUART RIVER AND LAKE.--He portaged to Fraser River in 1806. At that date it was regarded as the main stream of the Columbia, or one of its principal affluents. Leaving the Fraser River, he ascended a tributary flowing from the westward, now known as Stuart River, and so named from a companion in the service, Mr. John Stuart. He traced this stream to Stuart Lake; he here established a tradingpost, the present Fort St. James. He penetrated to Fraser Lake, another of his discoveries, and there also he established a tradingstation.

ARRIVAL OF CANOES AND SUPPLIES.-In 1807, two canoes with goods from Athabasca reached him, under the charge of Messrs. Quesnel and Farries; at the same time he received letters urging him to carry on his explorations to the ocean, by the river flowing through

the country to the south, in anticipation of parties from the United
States who were displaying some activity at this date; Lewis and
Clark having been sent out by the United States government to the
Pacific coast.
This year Mr. Fraser established another post, Fort
George, on the main stream. The name New Caledonia was applied

to the whole territory.

PREPARATIONS COMPLETED. In the spring of 1808, Mr. Fraser, with Messrs. John Stuart, Jules Maurice Quesnel, and a crew of nineteen men and two Indians, embarked in four well-furnished canoes to explore the unknown waters, which were regarded as the main affluent of the Columbia. They left Fort George on May 26th, where the river is described as three hundred yards wide, with a strong current. They reached its mouth on July 1st, and found the latitude to be about 49°, establishing that the river was a separate and distinct stream and not the Columbia, which it was then known entered the ocean in 46° 20'.

FRIENDLY INDIANS. For a few days after leaving Fort George, the expedition made rapid progress. Sir Alexander Mackenzie had, fifteen years earlier, passed over some extent of the distance to the point where, on the advice of the Indians, he turned back, to follow a trail westward to the sea. The Indians whom Mr. Fraser met were friendly, and gave him similar advice; they informed him that the descent of the river was extremely dangerous, that he could not go on, and that the whole party would meet destruction if they made the attempt. The object of the undertaking being to follow the river to the mouth, Fraser declined to turn back. The verification of the Indian description of the navigation was not long delayed, for in a short time appalling difficulties were encountered.

On

FRASER'S JOURNAL.-A narrative of the journey in Fraser's journal, published a few years ago by Senator Masson, furnishes the following extracts: "On June 1st, five days after they started, the river narrowed to a canyon, in which they lost one of their three canoes." the 5th, the river contracted to a width of not over thirty yards, between precipices, the water "turbulent, noisy and awful to behold." They made a portage of a mile over most difficult ground, leaving the men harassed by fatigue. On the 6th, finding a cascade and whirlpool hemmed in by huge rocks, to avoid portaging they lightened the canoes and ran the rapids. On the 9th, "the channel contracted to about forty yards, and is enclosed by two precipices of immense height, which, bending towards each other, make it narrower above

than below. The water which rolls down this extraordinary passage in tumultuous waves and with great velocity, had a frightful appearance. However, it being absolutely impossible to carry canoes by land, all hands without hesitation embarked as it were a corps perdu upon the mercy of the awful tide. . . . Skimming along as fast as lightning, the crews, cool and determined, followed each other in awful silence, and when we arrived at the end, we stood gazing at each other in silent congratulation on our narrow escape from total destruction."

ABANDONED THE CANOES.-Fraser's journal further states: "This afternoon the rapids were very bad; two in particular were worse, if possible, than any we had hitherto met with, being a continual series of cascades, intercepted with rocks and bounded by precipices and mountains that seemed at times to have no end." At last they found the navigation wholly impracticable, while the precipitous river sides had a most forbidding aspect. Even men of their nerve could proceed no further on the foaming stream. On the 10th they were compelled to abandon the canoes and many articles not absolutely required. They started to travel the rugged banks on foot, each with a load of eighty pounds.

REACHED THE CONFLUENCE OF A LARGE RIVER. To describe the walking would baffle description; only those who know the river can imagine what these travellers endured, passing along the declivity of mountains, ascending and descending rugged rocks, crossing ravines. and climbing precipices. Thus they continued for nine days, until they reached a large and rapid river flowing from the east. This was named Thompson River, after David Thompson, astronomer to the North-West Company, who shortly afterwards founded Fort Kamloops at some distance up the river.

JACKASS MOUNTAIN.-That part of the bank now known as Jackass Mountain was reached on the 20th. The journal reads: "The ascent was dangerous; stones and fragments of rocks were continually giving way from our feet and rolling off in succession. The ascent (on the 25th) was perfectly perpendicular; one of the Indians climbed to the summit, and by means of a long pole, drew us up one after the other. This work took three hours; thus we continued our course, up hills and down, and along the steep declivities of mountains, where hanging rocks and projecting cliffs at the edge of the bank of the river, made the passage so small as to render it at times difficult for one person to pass sideways."