Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/385



Here are given the last six verses of the poem "The Legend of Tillamook", which occupies 14 pages of 8-point type in Sounds by the Western Sea.

It is a poetical version of the legend of the Beeswax Ship. In the poem, Champoeg was a rich Chinese merchant of Shanghai, who had his junks on many a sea. He said: "I know there are shores which line this ocean eastward." The captain of his fleet, a seaman that could be depended upon in any situation, was Sang Blue—

Champoeg called him and said: "Sang Blue, I need a man of deeds and sent for you." The plan was all right with him, so they sailed east to find the West the same year another man was sailing west to find the East—in 1492. At last they came in sight of the Oregon Coast. Outside of Tillamook Bay they saw Indian boats and called for a pilot, but the Indians, scared half to death paddled towards home with all their might. Sang Blue, trusting in their knowledge of the channel, used their flight as pilotage and followed after them. Maybe they did not deceive him by their course, maybe it was only the greater draft of his ship that brought disaster. It was grounded upon the outer bar, and only two men still clung to the wreckage amidst the breakers, Champoeg and Sang Blue—but Champoeg was dead.

From this ship came the mysterious beeswax found in such large quantities and over so long a period of time along the Tillamook Coast. The subsequent buccaneering career of Sang Blue from Port Orford to the Columbia is told in the part of the poem given here. He did not forget his religion and he did not forget Champoeg, causing the latter's name to be reverenced among the tribes and to be given to an Indian village on the Willamette.