ow escorted
Broughton's rowboat upstream. The lofty peak ahead covered with snow
was named Mt. Hood. For seven days Broughton followed the river till
his provision ran out, and the old Indian chief with him explained by
the signs of pointing in the direction of the sunrise and letting water
trickle through his fingers that water-falls ahead would stop passage.
Somehow, Broughton seemed to think because Gray, a private trader, had
not been clad in the gold-braid regimentals of authority, his act of
discovery was void; for Broughton landed, and with the old chief
assisting at the ceremony by drinking healths, took possession of all
the region for England, "having" as the record of the trip explains,
"every reason to believe that the subjects of no other civilized nation
or state had ever entered this river before; in this opinion he was
confirmed by Mr. Gray's sketch, in which it does not appear that Mr.
Gray either saw or was ever within five leagues of the entrance."

{281} Any comment on this proceeding is superfluous. It was evidently
in the hope that the achievement of Gray--an unassuming fur trader,
backed by nothing but his own dauntless courage--would be forgotten,
which it certainly was for fifty years by nearly all Americans. Three
days later, on November 3, Broughton was back down-stream at the
_Chatham_, noting the deserted Indian village of Chinook as he passed
to the harbor mouth. On November 6, in heavy rain, the ship stood out
for sea, passing the _Jenny_ of Bristol, imprisoned inside the cape by
surf. Broughton landed to reconnoitre the passage out. The wind
calmed next day, and a breach was descried through the surf. The
little trading ship led the way, Broughton following, hard put to keep
the _Chatham_ headed for the sea, breakers rolling over her from stem
to stern, snapping the tow-rope of the launch and washing a sailor
overboard; and we cannot but have a higher respect for Gray's feat,
knowing the difficulties that Broughton weathered.

Meanwhile Vancouver on the _Discovery_ had coasted on down from the
mouth of the Columbia to Drake's Bay, just outside the Golden Gate of
San Francisco, where the bold English pirate had anchored in 1579. By
nightfall of November 14 he was inside the spacious harbor of San
Francisco. Two men on horseback rode out from the Spanish settlement,
a mile back from the water front, firing muskets as a salute to
Vancouver. The next morning, a Spanish friar and {