Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/353

 JOURNAL AND LETTERS OF DAVID DOUGLAS. 343 advantage of getting my gun properly repaired. For two days, however, after my return to the Establishment at the Kettle Falls, I was so indisposed as to keep my bed with fever and a violent pain between my shoulders, prob- ably occasioned by wet, cold, and fatigue. Friday, the 19th, to Thursday, the 25th. This time was spent in making several excursions; on one occasion I crossed the Columbia to Dease River, one of its most north- erly branches, and which had never before been entered by any European. Mr. Kitson, in a canoe with two In- dians, went on purpose to explore it, but after having proceeded ten miles, during which I walked along the banks, that I might better judge of its productions, the stream proved so rapid that we were obliged to give up further progress and return. This river seems, like most of the others, to have its source in the Rocky Mountains. Friday, the 26th. Started at daylight for a trip to the hills south of the Kettle Falls. The weather was warm, thermometer 86 degrees, and sitting down to rest awhile under- the shade of a large Thuja occidentalis, in a valley near a small spring, I fell asleep and never woke till late in the afternoon, when being twenty miles from home, I would have gladly have taken up my quarters there for the night, but that I feared Mr. McLoughlin, who expected me back, would be uneasy. I therefore returned with all speed over a mountainous and rugged way, and arrived near midnight, and found him on the point of sending two Indians to seek for me; his anxiety, however, lest any accident should have befallen me, was changed into hearty laughter when he heard of the manner in which I had been spending my time. The next week was devoted to collecting specimens of plants, preparatory to leaving this place for a journey to the plains below. Monday, June the -llh. Rose at half-past 2, and had all