Page:Route Across the Rocky Mountains with a Description of Oregon and California.djvu/72



character. —None of the members of the Hudson's Bay Company took an active part in the organization of this Government; yet we believe that Dr. McLaughlin was present at the Convention.—Since, however, many of those persons whom the Hudson's Bay Company have settled in the country, have been induced, by the influence of members of the Company, to vote at elections.—Many of the individuals connected with the Company, among whom is Dr. McLaughlin himself, have preferred to avail theselves of the benefit of the Laws, to become subject to them, and to pay the taxes levied by the Legislative Committee. One of the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company was appointed by the Executive, to the office of Treasurer of the temporary Government, and he accepted and served in that capacity. But little difficulty had yet occurred in its administration, and only two instances of resistance against the Laws; in both of which, the authorities were successful, and order was maintained. Private difficulties have but seldom occurred, and there is more harmony in society than we have ever known or heard of, in any other part of the world. —This happy circumstance is attributed principally, to the general absence of intoxicating liquors; which is a state of things unprecedented in the settlement of a new country, and speaks loudly in favor of the moral character of the people of Oregon. Many speculations have been indulged in, since the first discovery of America much research made, and many opinions offered as to the manner in which it became peopled. We have, in the course of our travels, become acquainted with some facts which may possibly throw light upon this subject. It may be, that the facts which have induced us to form our opinion, have been given to the public by others, and long since; but if they have, as we have never seen them, we beg leave to throw our opinion into the scale. The most commonly received opinion, is, we believe, that the first inhabitants came across from the Northern part of Asia, at Berring's Straits, where the distance between the shores of the two Continents is but short. This opinion, though it is very plausible, and in fact, probable, as regards America, cannot account for the peopling of many of the Islands in the Pacific Ocean, far removed from the shores of either Continent. It is our opinion, that the Western shores, if not the Continent of America, and all the inhabited Islands of the Pacific, have been people from China and Japan. It is now known, with as mcuh certainty, as are any existences or transactions, for which we have been