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Rh inoffensive, but never cordial. The ultra-American and missionary portion of the inhabitants regarded them with disfavor, and beneath guarded phrases a covert sneer could be detected.

There was another object in the gayeties of the Modeste, which was to avert the temptation on the part of the inferior officers and seamen to desert and take up a section of land, without price, under the Oregon land law. Though the legislature of 1844 had passed an act in relation to deserting seamen, that they should be returned to their vessels, there to be dealt with by their officers, the practice of abandoning their ships in the Columbia River was one that gave sea-captains much trouble. In a country so wild and free, it was useless to employ severe measures, even if a captain might venture it, and kindness and tact were judged by the officers of the Modeste and the Hudson's Bay Company as more effectual. Roberts remarks that sufficient importance has never been attached to the influence of the good order maintained at Fort Vancouver in preserving the peace of the country; and also that the naval service gave them more trouble than the landsmen, the captains of vessels often having to appeal to the authority of McLoughlin or Douglas to keep their men under control. Palmer, who visited Vancouver during the Christmas holidays, one of