We come now to the immediate field of operation of the great enterprise
we have undertaken to illustrate.
Among the American ships which traded along the northwest coast in 1792,
was the Columbia, Captain Gray, of Boston. In the course of her voyage
she discovered the mouth of a large river in lat. 46 19' north. Entering
it with some difficulty, on account of sand-bars and breakers, she came
to anchor in a spacious bay. A boat was well manned, and sent on shore
to a village on the beach, but all the inhabitants fled excepting the
aged and infirm. The kind manner in which these were treated, and the
presents given them, gradually lured back the others, and a friendly
intercourse took place. They had never seen a ship or a white man. When
they had first descried the Columbia, they had supposed it a floating
island; then some monster of the deep; but when they saw the boat
putting for shore with human beings on board, they considered them
cannibals sent by the Great Spirit to ravage the country and devour the
inhabitants. Captain Gray did not ascend the river farther than the bay
in question, which continues to bear his name. After putting to sea, he
fell in with the celebrated discoverer, Vancouver, and informed him
of his discovery, furnished him with a chart which he had made of the
river.
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