Page:Journal of John H. Frost, 1840-42 part 1.pdf/22

Rh While on a ridge, a number of which running parrellel with the Ocean from one end of the place to the other, myself being some distance ahead of the others, I saw a huge black bear moving slowly on the spot where we afterward pitched our tent; and as I was not very well acquainted with this sort of gentry, I laid down my budget and awaited the approach of Br. Smith; as soon as he came in speaking distance, he, pointing to the place, said, that is the place of which I have been speaking. O but said I, I saw a monstrous bear there but a moment since. I am not afraid of bears, answered Br. S., and proceeded towards the spot very deliberately; so I reshouldered my budget and followed him, supposing, of course, that he was better acquainted with our neighbor than I was. We arrived at the spot, and after our comrades came up, we pitched our tent, struck a fire, and prepared supper; after pertaking of which we consulted with refference to our future procedures. Br. S thought it necessary to return to his family the next morning, and agreed to return the next day but one, and would bring with him some indians to assist us in carrying logs with which to build our house, for you must know we had nothing like a team, and in his absence Br. Kone & myself was to fix on the spot to set our house, and commence opperations. So in the morning, which was fine, Br. S. left us, after taking breakfast. Strange feelings arose in my mind during that day. Br. K. & myself were alone, in a wild region, where the foot of the white man had seldom troden, and where we were surrounded by Indians, who were ignorant, superstitious and barbarous. An act of their barbarity I will here relate, as communicated to me by Br. S. which took place while in his absence to the Walamette, a few days before. His wife having acquainted him of the fact on his return, she having been an eye witness to the act. The sircumstance transpired at Niekaksi, at the southern extremity of the plain not far from Cape Lookout, where a small river emties into the Ocean, in which the indians take the fall salmon, which they preserve for their winter food, and where Br. S. had put up a small log house, in order that he might secure supplies for his family for the