Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/77

 OCCUPATION OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER. 69 one of the best harbors on the coast, standing upon a point of land projecting into the little bay, giving something the ap- pearance of a conical island in the centre of it ; this fort is well supplied at all times with provisions and military stores, mounting an hundred and twenty cannon carrying balls from eighteen to twenty-four pounds weight. That at Bodiga is well constructed and supplied with cannon, and has a good harbor; at this point they have ammunition and merchandize in abun- dance, and find the Indian trade at this post as well as New- Archangel very considerable; besides the fine condition of this fort and its defences, they have many field pieces, some of brass, of the finest construction, in good order and well mounted. All these supplies have been conveyed to those places through immense oceans round Cape Horn, which would have appalled any but Russian policy and perseverance. The light articles destined for this trade are transported from St. Petersburgh, in sledges, which will perform in three months. that which would require two summers of water conveyance to effect ; their communications are open to Kamtschatka, to fort St. Peter, and St. Paul, by Okhotsk, in the Pacific, where they have the finest harbor in the world ; the distance is esti- mated at ten thousand miles. The nation which can encounter such journeys as these, often through seas of ice, and storms of snow so terrible as to obscure an object beyond the distance of a few paces, to prosecute any branch of commerce, must be well and fully informed of its value. That the objects she has* in view may not, by any event, be taken from her grasp, aftev encountering such vast difficulties, she has found it expedient to occupy one of the Sandwich Islands, which not only enables her effectually to maintain her positions, but to command the whole northern part of the Pacific Ocean. These Islands lying just within the tropics, in the direct course from the lower coast of North America to Canton, are well supplied not only with all the fruits of that climate, but with every vegetable and animal known in this country. It is worthy of remark, that among other advantages which the Russian position on the opposite coast possesses, is, that a