Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/200

194 194 DR. JOHN SCOULER. The Nootkan canoes remain with us from morning to sunset, & of course are well provided with such food as the country affords. Their principle[al] support at present appears to be dried salmon, roots & oil. Their oil was contained in different kinds of bags. Some of them were made from the intestines of the larger quadrupeds, others were made of the fistulous stipes of a sp. of Fucus which abounds everywhere on the coast. 3d. Since visiting Nootka sound we have all been very curious to visit the village, & see what vestiges of the English & Spanish settlements remained. Although we received a very kind invitation from Moaquilla to pay him a visit, the fate of the Tonquin which was cut of[f] a few miles to the S. had filled the minds of some on board with fearful apprehensions. Concerning the fate of the Ton- quin the Indians were very reserved ; perhaps they had little to communicate. The old chief told us that the mas- sacre had taken place at Cloquatx, & the scheme had been concocted by a turbulent Indian named Quashelyshee, & that it was done entirely without the knowledge of the chief of Cloquatx. We know nothing authentic concerning the loss of this vessel; but it seems probable that she was surprised by the natives of Weanamuth of Cloquatx. The Tonquin was the first ship the Americans sent with set- tlers to the Columbia ; the captain after loosing two boat's crews on the bar of that river, whether by accident or on purpose, the stupid ferocity of the man renders it difficult to decide, he was sent on a trading voyage to the islands, where the loss of the ship I have not the smallest doubt was occasioned by his own negligence. It is but justice to the people of Nootka to state that we did not find that degree of filth among them which Mr. Mears describes. They were as cleanly as any tribe of Indians we had seen. Nootka, which excited so much contention between the courts of Madrid & London, is now