Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 17.djvu/22



14 O. B. SPERLIN

the cutlass and the boy brought back. The chief coldly indi- cated that if the white men wanted these, they should go get them themselves. The negro boy had caught the Indian by the collar, and was crying out to his companions that he had caught the thief. In the fight that followed, the negro was killed with knife and arrow ; and Gray's men, as they retreated to their boats, killed the leading Indians, and one of the white men was wounded with an arrow. Gray sailed away, and called the place Murderers' Harbor, a name which fortunately did not stick. Such fracases have happened the world over, wherever sailors go ashore ; and they need but little explana- tion. It may be noted here, however, that the Indians con- sidered the hay their property, and probably did not under- stand at first that it was to be taken without pay. Cook 65 had tried to cut grass at Nootka ; he paid the first proprietor liber- ally ; soon there did not seem to be a single blade of grass that had not a separate owner, and his pockets were forthwith emptied.

A second case of hostile treatment was that met with by Captain Barkley 66 of the Imperial Eagle at the mouth of the Hoh River in 1787, one year earlier than Gray's fight. While anchored between Destruction Island and the mainland, he hoisted out the longboat and sent it with a smaller boat in tow to go up the river whichh could be seen from the ship, his purpose being trade with the natives. The longboat was in charge of William Miller, the second mate; Mr. Beale, the purser, and ten men. The river was found too shallow, as expected, for the longboat ; and the smaller boat, with Messrs. Miller and Beale and four men, rowed away up stream, taking with them a sheet of copper for purposes of trade. These un- fortunate persons were never seen again, though every exer- tion was made by the longboat's crew to find them before re- turning to the ship. The next day a strongly armed party was sent from the ship in search of the unfortunate people. A landing was effected and careful search made. Some portions

65 Vpyag: II, 284.

66 Victoria Daily Colonist, Mar. 3, 1901, "Cruise of the Imperial Eagle."