he obtained from the government, gratis, land enough
to provide homes for his colonists, and found in the timber a source of
capital, which he at once made productive. He next proceeded to build a
block-house as a defence against the Indians, who at that time were
hostile in Oregon: then he erected a saw-mill and cleared off the
timber, part of which he used to build houses for his colonists, and
with part opened an advantageous trade with his American neighbors, who,
living on the prairie, were soon entirely dependent on him for all their
timber. The land, once cleared, was soon cultivated and planted, with
orchards: the finer varieties of fruit he shipped for sale to Portland
and San Francisco, and from the sour apples he either made vinegar or
sold them to the older settlers, who very soon made themselves sick on
them. He then attended them in the character of physician, and cured
them of their ailments at a good round charge. This joke the good doctor
related with especial satisfaction.

By degrees, the doctor continued to say, the number of colonists
increased; and his means and strength being thus enlarged, he
established a tannery, a factory, looms, flouring-mills, built more
houses for his colonists, cleared more land and drained the marshes,
increased his orchards, laid out new farms, gave some attention to
adornment, erected a church and school-houses, and purchased from the
American settlers in the neighborhood their best lands for a song. He
did everything systematically. He always assigned his colonists the sort
of labor that they appeared to him best fitted for, and each one found
the place best suited to his capabilities. If any one objected to doing
his will and obeying his orders, he was driven out of the colony, for he
would endure no opposition. He made the best leather, the best hams and
gathered the best crops in all Oregon. The possessions of the colony,
which he added to as he was able, extended already over twenty sections
(a section contains six hundred and forty acres, or an English square
mile), and the most perfect order and industry existed everywhere.

Thus the doctor; and amid this and the like conversation we walked over
an orchard covering forty acres. The eight thousand trees it contained
yielded annually five thousand bushels of choice apples and eight
thousand of the finest pears, and the crop increased yearly. The doctor
pointed out repeatedly the excellence of his culture in contra