Page:Voyages in the Northern Pacific - 1896.djvu/74

56 to their assistance with our buckets, and in the course of half an hour got it completely under with the loss of only one house. Providentially, it was raining very hard, as, if there had been the least wind, the whole place must inevitably have been destroyed, with all our rigging, sails, stores, etc., and we should have been left at the mercy of barbarous Indians, without the means of helping ourselves. On the breaking out of the fire, the natives all fled from the village, making a dreadful noise.

December 1st, our hull being complete, we hauled off in the stream to take our masts in, after having lain on shore for nearly four months. The first month of our stay here, the weather was delightful, and we were well supplied with excellent salmon and sturgeon, and a variety of small fish. Latterly we had much rain, thunder and lightning, heavy gales of wind from S. W. to S. E. The N. W. winds prevailed here in summer, and, in the winter, from S. W. to S. E., with thick, rainy weather. While here, I employed an Indian hunter, who, with my finding powder and shot, supplied the ship with ducks, geese, and swans, for one blanket. He furnished me so largely, that I made him a present of the musket, when I left the river, for which he was most grateful, and made me many presents.

On the 6th, of January, 1817, Lewis Lapham, our armourer, died, truly regretted, as he was a very serviceable man. On the 10th, we crossed the bar and got safe to sea. And now, while the ship is making for the Sandwich Islands, I shall