Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/203

Rh the loss of any such vessel from any of the Commercial nations of the world, and it is, at least probable that this also was driven from the shores of the Eastern Continent, and if this were the case, here then are two instances in which people have been cast upon the Western shores of America, from China or Japan, perhaps from both; two instances by which, had the Continent been at those times without inhabitants, it would or might have been peopled. And since the Chinese Empire has been in existence so long, and since they have been in many respects so long enlightened, why may not this have happened thousands as well as fifty or an hundred years ago? and why may it not have happened before this Continent was inhabited, and they have been the parents of the present aborigines?

The scenery in Oregon is varied, romantic, picturesque, and grand. There is certainly nothing to equal it in North America, East of the Rocky Mountains; and, although much has been said of the beauty and grandeur of the scenery of Switzerland, we doubt if any thing can be there found to equal it; taking into view the rich, extensive, and flowery plains, surrounded by tall and heavy forests of ever-green, watered by many large and living streams, flowing sometimes smooth and gentle, then rapid and again precipitating, in broad and heavy. sheets, down immense perpendicular Falls. There may be, some where on the earth's whole surface, some spot which can equal in the mighty grandness of its scenery, the mountains, the valleys, and the shores of Oregon; but if there be, 'tis vast, 'tis beautiful, 'tis grand indeed. Let the beholder stand upon the green summit of one of the high isolated hills, that rise from the plain in the upper Willammette, and what a prospect! The imagination that has been accustomed only to the level surface and dull monotony of the Valley of the Mississippi, must be stretched to its utmost to comprehend the mighty picture. The fair