These are all small settlements, surrounded by palisades, with bastions at their corners, enclosing the houses and stores of the Company, sufficient to protect them against the Indians, but in no way to be considered as forts. A few Indians reside near them, who are dependant for their food and employment on them.
These forts being situated for the most part near the great fisheries, are frequented by the Indians, who bring their furs to trade for blankets, &c., at the same time they come to lay in their yearly supply of salmon.
Vancouver is the principal depot from which all supplies are furnished, and to which returns are made.
At Vancouver, the village is separated from the fort, and nearer the river. In addition to its being the depot of the Hudson’s Bay Company, there is now attached to it the largest farm of the Puget Sound Company, the stockholders of which are generally the officers and servants of the Hudson’s Bay Company. They have now {308} farms in successful operation at Vancouver, Cowelitz, Nisqually, Colville, Fort Langley, and the Tualatine plains, about ten miles from Vancouver, all of which are well stocked, and supply the Russian post at Sitka, under contract, with a variety of articles raised on them. They have introduced large herds and flocks into the territory from California, and during our stay there several thousand head were imported.[111]They are thus doing incalculablegood to the territory, and rendering it more valuable for future settlers. At the same time, this exerts an influence in domesticating the Indians, not only by changing their habits, but food, and attaching them to a locality.
The Indians of the Territory are not a wandering race, as some have asserted, but change for food only, and each successive season will generally find them in their old haunts, seeking it.
The settlements established by the missionaries, are at the Willamette falls and valley, Nisqually and Clatsop, in the western section, and at the Dalles, Wallawalla, Lapwai, and Chimekaine, on the Spokan, in the middle.[112]
Those of the middle section are succeeding well; and although little progress has been made in the conversion of the Indians {309} to Christianity, yet they have done much good in reforming some of the vices and teaching some of the useful arts, particularly that of agriculture, and the construction of houses, which has had the effect, in a measure, to attach them to the soil. The men now rear and tend their cattle, plant their potatoes and corn, which latter they exchange for buffalo meat with those who hunt. The squaws attend to their household, andemploy themselves in knitting and weaving, which they have been taught. They raise on their small patches, corn, potatoes, melons, &c., irrigating the land for that purpose. There are many villages of Indians still existing, though greatly reduced in numbers from former estimates.
Population.—It is extremely difficult to ascertain, with accuracy, the amount of population in the Territory. The Indians change to their different abodes as the fishing seasons come round, which circumstance, if not attended to, would produce very erroneous results.
The following is believed to be very nearly the truth; if any thing, it is overrated:
The whole Territory may be estimated as containing twenty thousand. Of whites, Canadians, and half-breeds, there are between seven hundred and eight hundred, of whom about one hundred and fifty are Americans; the rest are settlers, and the officers and servants of the Company. The Indians are rapidly decreasing in all parts of the country; the causes are supposed to be their rude treatment of diseases, and the dissipated lives they lead.
The white American population, as far as I have been able to judge of them, are orderly, and generally industrious; although they are, with the exception of the missionaries, men who have led, for the most part, dissolute lives.
{312} The absence of spirits, as long as it continues, will probably secure them from excesses. Very much to their credit, they have abandoned the use of spirituous liquors, by consent of the whole community.
I cannot but view this Territory as peculiarly liableto the vice of drunkenness. The ease with which the wants of man are obtained, the little labour required, and consequent opportunities for idleness, will render it so. The settlers of the Willamette valley have, with a praiseworthy spirit, engaged to prevent the establishment of distilleries, and there are, as yet, no places where spirits can be bought (to my knowledge) in the Territory.
It is highly creditable to the Hudson’s Bay Company, that on a vessel arriving on the coast with some spirits on board, in order to prevent its introduction, they have purchased the whole cargo, while, at the same time, their storehouses were filled with rum. They have, with praiseworthy zeal, interdicted its being an article of trade, being well satisfied that it is contrary to their interest, and demoralizing in its effects on all the tribes and people with whom they have to deal, rendering them difficult to manage, quarrelsome among themselves, {313} and preventing their success in hunting. Endeavours have likewise been made by the officers of the Company to induce the Russians, on their side, to adopt this example, and do away with it as an article of trade, but hitherto without success.[113]This no doubt has been one of the causes affecting the decrease of tribes, as it was formerly almost the only article of trade.
In the event of the territory being taken possession of, the necessity of circumscribing the use and sale of spirits cannot be too strongly insisted upon by legal enactment, both to preserve order and avoid expense.
As far as the Indians have come under my notice, they are an inoffensive race, except those in the northern parts. The depredations committed on the whites may be traced to injuries received, or arise from superstitious motives.
Missionaries.—Little has yet been effected by them in christianizing the natives. They are principally engaged in the cultivation of the mission farms, and in the care of their own stock, in order to obtain flocks and herds for themselves, most of them having selected lands. As far as my personal observations went, in the part of the {314} country where the missionaries reside, there are very few Indians to engage their attention; and they seemed more occupied with the settlement of the country and in agricultural pursuits than in missionary labours.
When there, I made particular inquiries whether laws were necessary for their protection, and I feel fully satisfied that they require none at present, besides the moral code it is their duty to inculcate.
The Catholic portion of the settlement, who form a large majority, are kept under good control by their priest, who is disposed to act in unison with the other missionaries in the proper punishment of all bad conduct.
I cannot close this report without doing justice to the officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s service for their kind and gentlemanly treatment to us while in the territory, and bearing testimony that, during all my intercourse, and in their dealings with others, they seemedto be guided by one rule of conduct highly creditable to them, not only as business men, but gentlemen.
They afforded us every assistance that was in their power both in supplies and in {315} means to accomplish our duties. There are many persons in the country who bear testimony to the aid and kindness rendered them in their outset; and of their hospitality it is needless to speak, for it has become proverbial.
To conclude, few portions of the globe, in my opinion, are to be found so rich in soil, so diversified in surface, or so capable of being rendered the happy abode of an industrious and civilized community. For beauty of scenery and salubrity of climate, it is not surpassed. It is peculiarly adapted for an agricultural and pastoral people, and no portion of the world beyond the tropics can be found that will yield so readily with moderate labour, to the wants of man.
THE END