Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/463

412 to have been merely the sending of some provisions to personal friends and acquaintances, and was entirely inadequate to the needs of the new-comers. As far as the settlers were concerned, they were too scattered, and had not the means to render much assistance, which required boats as well as provisions in large quantities. It is plain that the greatest sufferers were those who were prevailed upon by Whitman and McKinlay to leave cattle and wagons at Walla Walla. No lives were lost among those who took the land route, and those who had cattle had always something to eat.

Though the main immigration came down from the Dalles in boats, parties of horsemen accompanied the cattle-drivers on shore. One party, consisting of M. M. McCarver, James Chase, the two Doughertys, and a dozen others, took Daniel Lee's cattle trail over the Cascade Mountains into the Willamette Valley. The immigrants all along this portion of the route, whether in boats or ashore, were much annoyed by the natives, who stole the cattle, or who came in large numbers, and when the assistance of one or two was required, would refuse to give it unless all were employed and paid, which was only another form of robbery. Burnett mentions one chief who spoke English very well, and was dressed in a suit of broadcloth, with a pair of fine shoes. With absolute authority he commanded his thirty-five subordinates to do no work unless all were engaged. This was the practical working of the head-chief system of Elijah White turned against the Americans.

The lateness of the season when the travellers arrived, the last of November, with the difficulty of sheltering so many in a new country, rendered it impracticable for the majority to select land for a settlement before spring. Those who had means bought the necessaries of life of the Hudson's Bay Company;