USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. I > Part 8
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Leaving Vancouver's account and taking it up as recorded by Evans, "The Discovery followed the Chatham till Vancou- ver found the water to shoal to three fathoms, with breakers all around, which induced him to haul off to the eastward and to anchor outside the bar in ten fathoms. The Chatham came to anchor in ten fathoms, with the surf breaking over her. Van- couver was still as unwilling to believe there was much of a river as he had been to credit Gray's statement that it really did exist." He exhibits his reluctance to indorse that which he can no longer positively deny by undervaluing its importance as fol- lows :
" My former opinion of this port being inaccessible to vessels of our burthen was now fully confirmed, with this exception, that in very fine weather, with moderate winds and a smooth sea, vessels not exceeding four hundred tons" (Yankee schooners, perhaps) " might, so far as we are able to judge, gain an admit- tance."
What would our fellow-citizens of Oregon say were Vancou- ver to return in the flesh and reiterate his disparaging state- ments ?
Truly American names are coming into fashion. " Lieu- tenant Broughton, in the Chatham, having rounded Cape Disap- pointment, is surprised by the report of a gun from a small schooner at anchor in the bay. It proves to be the Jenny, from Bristol, R. I., commanded by Captain James Baker. This inci- dent suggested Baker's Bay as the proper name for the little harbor inside Cape Disappointment. Broughton, with a cutter and launch, continues to ascend this " unimportant" river for a distance of a hundred miles from the anchorage. This point he named Point Vancouver ; it is the present site of the city of Van- couver. Then, with characteristic English modesty, he, having been in the river, as he states, " takes possession of the river and
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the country in its vicinity in His Britannic Majesty's name, hav- ing every reason to believe that the subjects of no other civilized nation or State had ever entered it before." He then re-crosses the bar, the Rhode Island Jenny leading. And yet he found the Jenny there, and must have known of Gray's first discovery. Evans apologizes for him, or, perhaps, we should rather say explains his mistake as follows :
" The only palliation for this attempt of Broughton to claim the honor of the discovery of the river will be found in the sin- cerity of his belief in his theory that the widening of the Colum- bia below Tongue Point really constituted a bay, of which bay Gray was the discoverer ; that the true river emptied into Gray's Bay, and that Gray was never above its mouth. Broughton's unjust and ungenerous denial of Gray's claim has long been ignored, and Captain Robert Gray, the American sailor, is uni- versally accepted as the discoverer of the great Columbia River."
It seems to us a little singular, however, if the English lieu- tenant believed this theory, that he did not give some new name to " his discovery" instead of that which must have been particu- larly distasteful to him-the Columbia.
But one error should not condemn a man ; and a disposition to believe in and prefer the statements of those of our own nationality is the last sin which an American should find fault with. We are too much given to it ourselves. The civus sum Romanus of old time was not more proudly uttered than the independent " I am an American citizen" of to-day. Vancouver did good and honest work. His charts are standard to-day ; his names hold, and his calculations turned out to be accurate. He left the coast late in 1794, and his memory will ever be associ- ated with its long line of sea-beaten shores.
So ends upon the Northwest coast the maritime explorations and discoveries of a century rich in efforts and ripe in practical fruit. It left us, in some respects, better off than to-day, for from a combination of circumstances the carrying trade of the North Pacific was restricted to American ships.
We conclude this portion of our maritime "rounding up" chapter with a statement of the situation as to conflicting claims and claimants upon the Northwest coast at the close of the last century. Evans puts it very tersely thus :
" Russia's claim upon the extreme Northwest was undisputed,
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except that Spain had not abandoned the imaginary right aris- ing from the grant of Pope Alexander VI. Russian discovery had been followed by settlements which extended southward to about 55° north. Spain had discovered coasts as high north as Prince William's Sound (61º north), but had not attempted set- tlement north of the mission of San Francisco, latitude 37° 50'- properly speaking, north of the north line of the Spanish de- partment of California. Great Britain had asserted claim be- cause Drake, in 1579, had called a part of the coast New Albion, which coast so named, according to Vancouver, was included between 43° and 48°. From 48° to 55° that navigator designated New Georgia. Great Britain also denied Spanish claim to the northern coast above 48º north, claiming that Spain had aban- doned such territory by the first article of the Nootka Treaty. The claim by Great Britain of New Albion was a denial also of Spanish claim north of 43º. The United States claim by right of discovery was the territory watered by the Columbia River. Thus the North Pacific coast, between the north line of Cali- fornia and south boundary of Russian America, had become a matter of dispute between Spain, Great Britain, and the United States."
CHAPTER X.
DESTRUCTION OF THE AMERICAN SHIP BOSTON AND MASSACRE OF HER CREW BY THE INDIANS OF FRIENDLY COVE, ON NOOTKA SOUND, AS TOLD BY ONE OF THE ONLY TWO SUR- VIVORS.
" How deep the hate and passion strong Of him who treasures up a wrong ! Who bides his time and patient waits Till full repayment vengeance sates."
-- BREWERTON.
THE present century, so far as maritime matters on the North- west coast are concerned, opened with the lamentable attack (while trading at Nootka), in March, 1803, upon the American ship Boston, Captain John Salter, by natives under the lead of Maquina, their chief. The ship was destroyed, and but two of the crew escaped massacre. The survivors did not obtain their freedom until after two years of captivity.
The journal of the youngest of these, " Captain John R. Jewitt, only survivor of the ship Boston," as he styles himself, is so interesting that we allot some space to his narrative of their surprise and capture, quoting as briefly as we may. After giv- ing the particulars of the ship coming to anchor four miles to the north of the Indian village at Friendly Cove (in this in- stance a misnomer), he goes on to say :
" On Thursday of next day, the 13th, several of the natives came on board from their village of Nootka with their king, called Maquina, who appeared pleased to see us, greeting us most cordially, and welcomed Captain Salter to his country. As I had never beheld a savage of any nation, I was particularly struck with the looks of their king, who was a man of dignified aspect, about six feet in height, and exceedingly straight and well proportioned ; his features were in general good ; his face made remarkable by a large Roman nose-a very uncommon feature among these people ; his complexion of a dark copper hue, though at that time his face, legs and arms were so covered with red paint that their natural color could hardly be per-
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ceived ; his eyebrows were painted black in two broad stripes, like a new moon, and his long black hair, which shone with oil, was fastened in a bunch at the top of his head, and strewed or powdered all over with white down, which gave him a most curious and extraordinary appearance" (he had probably seen Europeans with powder in their hair). "His men were habited in mantles of the same cloth, which is made from the bark of a tree, and has some resemblance to straw matting; these are nearly square, and have two holes in the upper part large enough to receive the arms ; they reach as low as the knees, and are fastened round their bodies with a belt about four inches broad of the same cloth.
" From having frequently visited the English and American ships that traded on the coast, Maquina had learned the signifi- cation of a number of English words, and in general could make himself pretty well understood in our own language. He was always the first to go on board such ships as came to Nootka, even when he had no trade to offer, as he always received some small present, and was in general exceedingly well treated by the commanders. He remained on board of us for some time, during which Captain Salter took him into the cabin and treat- ed him with a glass of rum, these people being very fond of dis- tilled spirits, and some biscuit and molasses, which they prefer to any kind of food that we can offer them.
" As there are seldom any furs to be purchased at this place, and not fully the season, Captain Salter put in here not to trade, but to obtain a supply of wood and water, thinking it more prudent to do so at Nootka, from the generally friendly disposition of the people, than among the ferocious natives far- ther north. With this view we were preparing water-casks, etc., during which time I kept myself busily employed" (he was the armorer of the ship) " in repairing the muskets, knives, etc., and doing such iron work as was wanted for the ship.
" Meanwhile more or less of the natives came on board of us daily, bringing with them fresh salmon, which they supplied us with in great plenty, receiving in return some trifling articles. Captain Salter was always very particular, before admitting these people on board, to see that they had no arms about them, by obliging them indiscriminately to throw off their garments, so that he felt perfectly secure from any attack.
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"On the 15th the king came on board with several of his chiefs ; he was dressed, as before, in his magnificent otter-skin robe, having his face highly painted and his hair tossed off with the white down, which looked like snow. His chiefs were dressed in mantles of the country cloth of its natural color, which is a pale yellow ; these were ornamented with a broad border, painted or wrought in figures of several colors, repre- senting men's heads, various animals, etc., and secured around them with a belt like that of the king, but narrower. The dress of the common people is of the same fashion, and differs from that of the chiefs in being of a coarser texture, and painted red of one uniform color.
" Captain Salter invited Maquina and his chiefs to dine with him ; and it was curious to see how these people, when they eat, seat themselves (in their country fashion) upon our chairs, with their feet under them, crossed like Turks. They cannot endure the taste of salt, and the only thing they would eat with us was the ship's bread, which they were very fond of, especially when dipped in molasses ; they have also a great liking for tea and coffee when well sweetened." (Had the narrator ever trav- elled among the Arabs, this declination to eat salt with their hosts might have put them on their guard. The Arab never will eat salt with those whom he intends to injure.) " As iron weapons and tools of every kind are in great request among them, whenever they came on board they were always very at- tentive to me, crowding around me at the forge, as if to see in what manner I did my work, and in this way became quite familiar-a circumstance, as will be seen in the end, of the last importance to me. The salmon which they brought us fur- nished a most delicious treat to men who for a long time had lived wholly on salt provisions. We indeed feasted most luxu- riously, little imagining the fate that awaited us, or that this dainty food was to prove the lure to our destruction.
" On the 19th the king came again on board and was invited by the captain to dine with him. He had much conversation with Captain Salter, and informed him that there were plenty of wild ducks and geese near Friendly Cove, on which the captain made him a present of a double-barrelled fowling-piece, with which he appeared to be greatly pleased, and soon after went on shore.
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" On the 20th we were nearly ready for our departure, hav- ing taken in all the wood and water we needed.
" The next day Maquina came on board with nine pairs of wild duck as a present; at the same time he brought with him the gun, one of the locks of which he had broken, telling the captain it was peshak-that is, bad. Captain Salter was very much offended at this observation, and considering it was a mark of contempt for his present, he called the king a liar, add- ing other opprobrious terms, and taking the gun from him, tossed it indignantly into the cabin, and calling me to him, said, ' John, this fellow has broken this beautiful fowling-piece ; see if you can mend it.' On examining it, I told him it could be done. As I have already observed, Maquina knew a number of English words, and, unfortunately, understood but too well the meaning of the reproachful terms that the captain addressed to him. He said not a word in reply, but his countenance suffi- ciently expressed the rage he felt, though he exerted himself to suppress it ; and I observed him, while the captain was speak- ing, repeatedly put his hand to his throat and rub it upon his bosom, which he afterward told me was to keep down his heart, which was rising into his throat and choking him. He soon after went on shore with his men, evidently much discomposed.
" On the morning of the 22d the natives came off to us as usual with salmon, and remained on board ; when about noon Maquina came alongside with a considerable number of his chiefs and men in their canoes, who, after going through the customary examination, were admitted into the ship. He had a whistle in his hand, and over his face a very ugly mask of wood, representing the head of some wild beast. He appeared to be remarkably good-humored and gay, and while his people sang and capered about the deck, he blew his whistle to a kind of tune which seemed to regulate their motions. As Captain Salter was walking on the quarter-deck, amusing himself with their dancing, the king came up to him and inquired when he intend- ed to go to sea. He answered, 'To-morrow.' Maquina then said, ' You love salmon ? Much in Friendly Cove. Why not go there and catch some ?' The captain thought that it would be very desirable to have a good supply of these fish for the voy- age, and on consulting with Mr. Delouisa" (his first mate) "it was agreed to send part of the crew on shore after dinner, with the
Verytruly, And Thunders.
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seine, in order to procure a quantity. Maquina and his chiefs stayed and dined on board, and after dinner the chief mate went off with nine men in the jolly-boat and yawl to fish at Friendly Cove, having set the steward on shore at our watering-place to wash the captain's clothes.
" Shortly after the departure of the boats I went down to my vise-bench in the steerage, where I was employed in cleaning muskets. I had not been there more than an hour when I heard the men hoisting in the long boat, which in a few minutes after was succeeded by a great bustle and confusion on deck. I im- mediately ran up the steerage stairs, but scarcely was my head above deck when I was caught by the hair by one of the savages and lifted from my feet ; fortunately for me, my hair being short, and the ribbon with which it was tied slipping, I fell from his hold into the steerage. As I was falling he struck at me with an axe, which cut a deep gash in my forehead and pene- trated the skull ; but in consequence of his losing his hold I luckily escaped the full force of the blow, which otherwise would have cleft my head in two. I fell stunned and senseless upon the floor. How long I continued in this situation I know not, but on recovering my senses the first thing I did was to try to get up; but so weak was I from the loss of blood that I fainted and fell. I was, however, soon recalled to my recollec- tion by three loud shouts or yells from the savages, which con- vinced me that they had got possession of the ship. It is im- possible for me to describe my feelings at this terrific sound. My blood ran cold in my veins.
" Having at length sufficiently recovered to look about me, after wiping the blood from my eyes, I saw that the hatch of the steerage was shut. This was done, as I afterward discovered, by order of Maquina, who, on seeing the savage strike at me with the axe, told him not to hurt me, for that I was the armorer and would be useful to them in repairing their arms ; while, at the same time, to prevent any of his men from injuring me, he had the hatch closed. But to me this circumstance wore a very different appearance, for I thought that these barbarians had only prolonged my life in order to deprive me of it by the most cruel tortures.
" I remained in this horrid state of suspense for a very long time, when at length the hatch was opened, and Maquina, call- ing me by name, ordered me to come up. I groped my way up
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as well as I was able, being almost blinded with the blood that flowed from my wound, and so weak as with difficulty to walk. The king, on perceiving my situation, ordered one of his men to bring a pot of water to wash the blood from my face, which, having done, I was able. to see distinctly with one of my eyes, but the other was so swollen from my wound that it was closed. But what a terrific spectacle met my eyes ! Six naked savages, standing in a circle about me, covered with the blood of my mur- dered companions, with their daggers uplifted in their hands, prepared to strike. I now thought my last moment had come, and recommended my soul to my Maker.
" The king, who, as I have already remarked, knew enough of English to make himself understood, entered the circle, and, placing himself before me, addressed me in nearly the following words : 'John-I speak-you no say no-you say no-daggers come.' He then asked me if I would be his slave during my life ; if I would fight for him in his battles ; if I would repair his muskets and make daggers and knives for him, with sev- eral other questions, to all of which I was careful to answer ' Yes.' He then told me he would spare my life, and ordered me to kiss his hands and feet to show my submission to him, which I did. In the mean time, his people were very clamorous to have me put to death, so that there should be none of us left to tell our story to our countrymen, and to prevent them from coming to trade with them ; but the king, in the most deter- mined manner, opposed their wishes, and to his favor am I wholly indebted for my being yet among the living.
" As I was busy at work at the time of the attack, I was without my coat ; and what with the coldness of the weather, my feebleness from loss of blood, the pain of my wound, and the extreme agitation of terror I still felt, I shook like a leaf, which the king observing, went into the cabin, and bringing up a great-coat that had belonged to the captain, threw it over my shoulders, telling me to drink some rum from a bottle which he handed me, at the same time giving me to understand that it would be good for me and keep me from trembling as I did. I took a draught of it, after which, taking me by the hand, he led me to the quarter-deck, where the most horrid sight presented itself that ever my eyes witnessed. The heads of our unfortunate captain and his crew, to the number of twenty-five, were all
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arranged in a line ; and Maquina, ordering one of his people to bring a head, asked me whose it was. I answered, The captain's. In like manner the others were shown me, and I told him the names, excepting a few that were so horribly mangled that I was not able to recognize them.
" I now discovered that all of our unfortunate crew had been massacred, and learned that after getting possession of the ship the savages had broken open the arm-chest and magazine, and supplying themselves with ammunition and arms, sent a party on shore to attack our men who had gone thither to fish, and, being joined by numbers from the village, without difficulty overpowered and murdered them, and, cutting off their heads, brought them on board, after throwing their bodies into the sea. On looking on the deck I saw it entirely covered with the blood of my poor comrades, whose throats had been cut with their own jack-knives-the savages having seized the opportunity while they were busy in hoisting in the boat to grapple with them and overpower them by their numbers. In the scuffle the captain was thrown overboard and dispatched by those in the canoes, who immediately cut off his head.
" After I had answered his questions, Maquina took my silk handkerchief from my neck and bound it around my head. He then ordered me to get the ship under weigh for Friendly Cove. This I did by cutting the cables and sending some of the natives aloft to loose the sails, which they performed in a very bungling manner ; but they succeeded so far in loosing the jib and top- sails that with the advantage of fair wind I succeeded in getting the ship into the cove, where, by order of the king, I ran her ashore on a sandy beach at eight o'clock at night."
So ends a weird and most dramatic tragedy-a true story of the cruel northern seas. How he saved his comrade, the sail-maker, by passing him off as his father, having grown into favor with the king, is to be found in that curious volume, " The Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt," which, after running through several editions in America, was reprinted in Edinburgh in 1824.
We have now done with the explorations by sea of our North- west coast, and are about to enter it with the early settlers over- land, before proceeding to trace the results of their emigration and its effects, as shown in the history of Washington, upon its rise and progress to Statehood.
CHAPTER XI.
ASSAULTS OF CIVILIZATION ON THE EASTERN WILDS OF WASH- INGTON BY EXPLORATIONS AND EMIGRATION OVERLAND.
" The hunter may traverse the forest for game, The fisherman follow the stream, But the axeman opens to golden grain The glades where their camp-fires gleam ; To settlers' huts and the emigrants' home, To the cities yet to be, To those who are not as thistledown blown, But firm as the rooted tree."
-BREWERTON.
IT is a pleasant thing for the author, and, as we trust, an agreeable change to the reader, to turn aside from the dreary monotony of ocean exploration, of sea narrative which, like the element it traverses, oppresses us with a sense of sameness impossible to overcome. No; vary it as we will with dramatic effects and striking situations, it is there. The ear grows weary with the eternal reiteration of breaking billows ; the tired eye languishes for something to interrupt the flatness of apparently illimitable wastes of cold gray seas. Storms, shipwrecks, and disasters are but accidents, affording no relief, for they seem, dress and disguise them as you will, but duplicates of each other, the old story in a new form. We turn, then, with posi- tive delight to the contemplation of " fresh woods and pastures new" in the pursuit of our story-to the assaults of civilization upon the then untrodden territory of Washington's eastern bor- ders ; to follow the footsteps of her hardy hunters, voyageurs, explorers, and emigrants who in those old days made their diffi- cult way through the green surges of our vast ocean of primeval forest, to camp beneath its shadows; let in with their keen axes sunshine upon its sod, and create oases in its desert of verdure which in the fulness of time should blossom as the rose, and replace the wigwam of the savage with the homes, school-houses, and churches of modern civilized life.
It is a singular fact that the same causes which led to at-
Az Carlton
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tempted discoveries by sea stimulated explorations by land. History again repeats itself ; reality is born of error ; the false gives birth to the true, or, to speak more correctly, the search for the fabulous ended ofttimes most unexpectedly in the find- ing of what ultimately proved a better thing in the real. Rumors, transmitted from tribe to tribe, and so at last coming to the ears of trappers and hunters, brought to the white settle- ments of the East vague reports of the existence of the " shin- ing" (now the Rocky) mountains of the far West. The very name suggested possibilities of untold wealth. Fiction, feeding on the theme, sent forth its tales of journeys and discoveries alleged to have been actually made ; pretended maps and charts added to their apparent reliability ; cities were discovered, their inhabitants described ; rivers whose sands glittered with gold and streams thick with uncut diamonds were born of dreams ; and these dreams became waking visions in speculative minds, who received them as true, and straightway set out to discover these Eldorados. As the Strait of Anian myth sent explorers for many a year to brave the icy seas in search of that fabled pathway to the Ind, so the tales of La Hontan, Hennepin, and others, baseless as they were, fired the zeal of inland seekers, whose repeated quests found at last a way across the continent, and to whose influence we owe the iron pathways of to-day. But it must be remembered that the wave of progress which is tidal in this century moved slowly on the last, and crept with dim and blinded steps in that which preceded it. The early histories of the first inland travellers, seen from our standpoint, read almost like fairy-tales, even when they are true. Take the " Histoire de la Louisiane" of La Page du Pratz, published in 1758, which purports to be the story of a Yazoo Indian, Mon- cacht-ape, meaning " he who kills trouble and fatigue." Of this book Evans says :
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