Mr. M'Dougal was to continue in command of it,
with a party of forty men. They would have to depend chiefly upon the
neighboring savages for their subsistence. These, at present, were
friendly, but it was to be feared that, when they should discover the
exigencies of the post, and its real weakness, they might proceed
to hostilities; or, at any rate, might cease to furnish their
usual supplies. It was important, therefore, to render the place as
independent as possible, of the surrounding tribes for its support; and
it was accordingly resolved that M'Kenzie, with four hunters, and eight
common men, should winter in the abundant country of Wollamut, from
whence they might be enabled to furnish a constant supply of provisions
to Astoria.
As there was too great a proportion of clerks for the number of privates
in the service, the engagements of three of them, Ross Cox, Ross,
and M'Lennan, were surrendered to them, and they immediately enrolled
themselves in the service of the Northwest Company; glad, no doubt, to
escape from what they considered a sinking ship.
Having made all these arrangements, the four partners, on the first of
July, signed a formal manifesto, stating the alarming state of their
affairs, from the non-arrival of the annual ship, and the absence and
apprehended loss of the Beaver, their want of goods, their despair of
receiving any further supply, their ignorance of the coast, and their
disappointment as to the interior trade, which they pronounced unequal
to the expenses incurred, and incompetent to stand against the powerful
opposition of the Northwest Company.
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