Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/191

Rh ship "Columbia" crossed the bar on the 26th of November, bound to London, with a valuable cargo of furs and peltries, valued at £80,000–$380,000.

On the morning of the 25th, John Birnie, the Hudson Bay Company's trader at Fort George, doubtless with a view to inform the chief factors (Messrs. McLaughlin and Finlayson) of the appearance of the Loriot, despatched a canoe to Fort Vancouver. I availed myself of this opportunity to write to Mr. Finlayson, (a gentleman whom I had known formerly at the Sandwich islands,) requesting him to send me down a pilot and a stove, if to be procured at the fort.

The wind favoring, on the 26th we stood up the river, but made little progress against a strong current; the wind falling light, at night we were compelled to anchor.

On the 31st I received an answer from Mr. Finlayson, (by the pilot whom he sent down,) giving me a polite invitation to visit Fort Vancouver was told that Mr. Douglass, one of the partners of the Hudson Bay Company, had come down the river. That gentleman, however, proceeded to Fort George by an inside passage; and I afterwards understood the chief object in his coming down was to inquire into the cause of my visit, as it was already known that the Loriot had no cargo on board.

-ing up against the wind, with but few hours slack tide; but Up to this period we had made but little headway in work-Up to this period we had made but little headway in working up against the wind, with but few hours slack tide; but [sic] this favored my landing daily, and visiting every Indian lodge and village on the river, from "Chenook" to "Oak point."

The next day, Mr. Douglass, returning from Fort George, called aboard the Loriot, and repeated the invitation given me by Mr. Finlayson, to visit Fort Vancouver; and, as there was but one more Indian settlement between this point and the Hudson Bay Company's establishment at Vancouver, I embarked with Mr. Douglass, in his canoe, with nine "Canadian voyaguers" [Sic]. We made about fifty miles in twenty-four hours, and landed next day at the fort, where I met a hospitable reception from Dr. John McLaughlin and Mr. Duncan Finlayson.