Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/188

182 182 DR. JOHN SCOULER. 30th. This [morning] we landed to take a view of the country. On penetrating across a little point of land we found a stream of excellent water, descending with great rapidity from the mountains & forming a little cascade where it fell into the sea. Here I found many interesting specimens, A was under little apprehension, as no vestiges of Indians could be discovered. Under the shade of pine trees I found Corallorhiza Odontorhiza, & on the margins of the rivulet Pyrola, several orchids, & a species oi Heu- chera, which was unknown to me. The coast abounded in marine phenogamous plants, as Plantago, Triglochin, & the little Glaux mdritima in great abundance. The Glaux seams to inhabit every seacoast in the North Temperate Zone. I have now collected the plant in places between which 130 degrees of longitude intervene. I also obtained a specimen of Mergus serrator. On returning to the ship we found a canoe alongside. It was in all probability the one we had seen off Point Ramsden. There were only four Indians in the canoe; their behavior was peac[e]able & inof[f]ensive. They be- longed to a very populous tribe, called the Nass Indians. Their language is a dialect of that spoken on Q. Char- lotte's Island, & was easily understood by our new inter- preter. In the afternoon our canoe was dispatched to seek for a more commodious anchorage farther up the inlet. I made one of the party. We went as far as Salmon Cove of Captain Vancouver. During our excursion we saw no traces of inhabitants. Every part of the coast was char- acterized by high, almost perpendicular mountains, sepa- rated by deep ravines, rather than vallies. The rocks were entirely composed of granite, & usually covered with pines ; but there were many barren spots where the dura- ble texture of the granite resists the action of the storms & winter torrents, & almost refuses to support the minutest