ere constructed of
hewn logs, and, in the absence of boards, tightly covered and roofed
with cedar bark. The natives, of both sexes, visited us more frequently,
and formed a pretty considerable camp near the establishment.

On the 15th, some natives from up the river, brought us two strange
Indians, a man and a woman. They were not attired like the savages on
the river Columbia, but wore long robes of dressed deer-skin, with
leggings and moccasins in the fashion of the tribes to the east of the
Rocky Mountains. We put questions to them in various Indian dialects;
but they did not understand us. They showed us a letter addressed to
"_Mr. John Stuart, Fort Estekatadene, New Caledonia_." Mr. Pillet then
addressing them in the _Knisteneaux_ language, they answered, although
they appeared not to understand it perfectly. Notwithstanding, we
learned from them that they had been sent by a Mr. Finnan M'Donald, a
clerk in the service of the Northwest Company, and who had a post on a
river which they called _Spokan_; that having lost their way, they had
followed the course of the _Tacousah-Tesseh_ (the Indian name of the
Columbia), that when they arrived at the Falls, the natives made them
understand that there were white men at the mouth of the river; and not
doubting that the person to whom the letter was addressed would be found
there, they had come to deliver it.

We kept these messengers for some days, and having drawn from them
important information respecting the country in the interior, west of
the Mountains, we decided to send an expedition thither, under the
command of Mr. David Stuart; and the 15th July was fixed for its
departure.

All was in fact ready on the appointed day, and we were about to load
the canoes, when toward midday, we saw a large canoe, with a flag
displayed at her stern, rounding the point which we called _Tongue
Point_. We knew not who it could be; for we did not so soon expect our
own party, who (as the reader will remember) were to cross the
continent, by the route which Captains Lewis and Clarke had followed, in
1805, and to winter for that purpose somewhere on the Missouri. We were
soon relieved of our uncertainty by the arrival of the canoe, which
touched shore at a little wharf that we had built to facilitate the
landing of goods from the vessel. The flag she bore was the British, and
her crew was composed of eight Canadian boatmen or _voyageurs_. A
well-dressed man, who appeared to be the c