Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/51

 easily be mistaken at a distance, for white cliffs. The snow on the rising grounds was thinly spread; and farther inland, there was no appearance of any; from whence we might, perhaps, conclude, that what we saw toward the sea, had fallen during the night; which was colder than any we had experienced since our arrival on the coast; and we had sometimes a kind of sleet. The coast seemed everywhere almost straight, without any opening or inlet; and it appeared to terminate in a kind of white sandy beach; though some on board thought that appearance was owing to the snow. Each extreme of the land that was now before us, seemed to shoot out into a point. The Northern one was the same which we had first seen on the 7th. . . I called it Cape Perpetua. . . . The Southern extreme before us, I named Cape Gregory. It is a remarkable point; the land of it rising almost directly from the sea, to a tolerable height, while that on each side of it is low.

By }}

John Boit was only 18 when he accompanied Captain Robert Gray on the voyage to the Pacific Northwest that resulted in the discovery of the Columbia in 1792.

Boit's youthful enthusiasm, coupled with a ready appreciation of the humorous, makes of his Log excellent reading. His powers of observation seem keener than those in his fellow seamen. Perhaps this was because much experience had not yet robbed him of the thrill in new places and strange happenings. Let us see the Columbia and its banks through the eyes of John Boit, looking with Captain Gray and a few other officers from the deck of a little ship for the first time upon the great river.

May 12, 1792

. . . This day saw an appearance of a spacious harbour abreast the Ship, haul'd wind for it, observ'd two sand bars making off, with a passage between them to a fine river.... The River extended to the NE. as far as eye cou'd reach,