# Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 6/Dr. John Scouler's Journal of a Voyage to N.W. America: 1824-25-26, part 3

Continued from part 2 and continued in part 4.
DR. JOHN SCOULER'S JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO N. W. AMERICA.
[1824-'25-'26.]
III.
Departing Visit to the Columbia on the Return from the Voyage to the North and Homeward Bound.
1 September, 1825.—In the afternoon we were of[f] the Columbia River but as it was late we did not cross the bar but stood out to sea till next day. Off the bar we saw many birds of the genera Larus, Anas, & Colymbus. The Pelecanus onocrotalus was also very abundant. This bird we did not see during our first visit to the Columbia & I was informed that it only frequents the river in tire autumnal months.
3d.—We crossed the bar to-day with a favorable breeze & came to anchor in Baker's bay. Our Chinook friends soon visited us; they had heard many ridiculous reports concerning our fate, & seamed pleased that we were safe back again. During our absence they had been engaged in several quarrels & are at present as unsettled as when we first entered the river.
4th.— This forenoon we left Baker's bay & proceeded to point Ellis. In our progress we passed the burying ground of Comcomli; here in the space of two years, the unfortunate old man had deposited the remains of 8 individuals of his family. The canoes had a curious & melancholy appearance; they were covered with laced coats, silks & beads, & every article which the deceased possessed. The Indians, like our late [?] ancestors, deposit the canoes of the dead along with the body. C[omc]omly's sons had their ​fowling piece by their side & a loaded pistol in each hand. Occasionally the old man visits the graves of his sons & exposes the bodies to see that all the ornaments remain about them, & if necessary to put new blankets & mats around them. Point Ellis used to be the favourite residence of the Chinooks, but since the calamities of the chief's family, Comcomly & most of his people have abandoned it.
One of the canoes contained the remains of Shalapan, the favorite son & intended heir of Comcomli. This young man, had he lived, might have raised his countrymen far above their present condition. The Indians never talk of him without shedding tears; & as a proof of his zeal to acquire knowledge it need only be mentioned that he had made some proficiency in reading & writing, & could talk English fluently.
The Chinook village presented nothing but a few skeletons of houses, as the inhabitants had removed to their winter quarters.
After dinner we left the ship & set out for Ft. Vancouver. We landed at Ft. George & found it entirely abandoned by the settlers & taken possession of by the Indians, who were rapidly reducing it to a state of ruin & filth. We left the Fort at 6 o'clock in an Indian canoe & next morning we breakfasted about 20 miles from Ft. George. The place where we stopped was a low alluvial island, covered with willows & Cyperaceæ, but afforded some curious plants. I found Solanum Nigrum, Sagittaria sagittifolia, Impatiens, Valeriana spiralis, & fine nondescript species of Sisyrhynchium, with yellow flowers. This plant might be named in honor of Mr. Douglass, who has been so zealously employed in collecting the vegetable productions of the N. W. Coast.
The north bank of the Columbia for 50 miles from the sea has an abrupt & rocky appearance, while the opposite ​side is low & alluvial. At the entrance of the Wilhamut or Multnoma river the southern bank becomes more rocky. These rocks are nearly perpendicular & approximate the columnar form the regular sweep they take, describing nearly a semicircle; while those of the opposite side resemble the steps of a stair. On one of these southern [?] rocks I perceived a few rude figures cut out. As these were the only figures I saw on any part of the coast I may give a short description of them. They were only four in number, & one of them represents a canoe; the sun & moon were very distinctly represented by two of them, & the fourth consisted of those linear figures common to every uncivilised people. Below Mount Coffin we saw a canoe that had drifted down the river. On examining it we found it had drifted from that place of interment. It did not contain any bones, but several ornaments, as hyaquass, beads, etc.,—our Indians would not touch it.
On arriving at Ft. Vancouver we were happy to find all our friends well—most of them had gone into the interior to their winter stations. Mr. Douglass had gone up to the cascades, but was expected every day. My stay at Ft. Vancouver was principally employed in making excursions along with Mr. Douglass & in examining our specimens. I, however, collected very few plants, as the weather had been exceedingly dry and most of the summer flowers had dissapeared & the autumnal ones were by no means numerous.
During my stay here an Indian chief of great influence among his countrymen applied for medical aid. He was exceedingly emaciated & vomited every thing he took. The caecum was obviously much distended with purulent matter & gave rise to the opinion that there was a great accumulation in the great intestines. As the case was obviously hopeless it was judged improper to give any active medicine. Before he died he vomited an entire ​bulb of the Phalangium esculentum. I have been careful to relate the minutiae of this case, not in a medical view, but to illustrate the manners of the Indians. After Futillifurns [?] death it was recollected that 6 months previously, while in good health, he had eaten a quantity of Camas at the house of a Kowlitch chief who was famed for his skill in medicine. The superstitious fancy of the Indians immediately took fire; they believed that their favourite warrior Futillifums had been charmed to death by the Kowlitch chief; while their resentments were yet warm a party was sent off & unfortunately succeeded in shooting the devoted [?] chief. Such occurrences as these are very frequent causes of war among the natives of the Columbia, & it is seldom that a chief of any consequence dies without some bloodshed taking place.
20 September.—To-day I took my final leave of Fort Vancouver, & it would be ungratefull if I did not on this occasion acknowledge my obligations to the kind, polite reception I experienced from every individual connected with the establishment.
Our voyage down the river was very uncomfortable as it rained almost incessantly & the wind was very unfavourable. At Mount Coffin I availed myself of the opportunity of examining the mode of interment, & to procure a specimen of their compressed skulls. The opportunity was very favourable, as the boat I was in was manned with Owyhees, who had less superstition than any people in the country, not excepting the Canadians. All the canoes of dead are placed along the steap sides of the rock near the river & none of them were placed toward the summit of the hill, which is about 150 feet above the level of the river. The canoes are not raised from the ground, as is the custom in many places. The canoes were covered by boards fixed firmly by cords & pressed down by large stones. On many of these canoes were placed carved ​280 DR. JOHN SCOULER. wooden dishes, such as they use to steam their sturgeon in. Many of the canoes were so firmly fixed that it was impossible to get a view of their interior. Unwilling to do any injury, I examined one that was very much decayed. On lifting up one of the boards I disturbed a serpent who had [taken] up his abode in the canoe; (Le Virgil) which contained a complete skeleton. In this canoe I saw many of the ornaments of the deceased, which consisted of beads, Hyaquass, & some European trinkets. The steapness of the rock prevents the canoes from accumulating, as they roll into the river when they begin to decay & are carried out to the ocean. The canoes are in some instances orna- mented with feathers & boards painted with rude resem- blances of the human figure. This method of burying the dead, if I may use the expression, is very affecting. The solitude of the place & the assemblage of so many objects with which we are not accustomed to associate serious ideas, deposited as mementos of the dead, can not but form an interesting contrast & give rise to the most serious reflections. 82 September. This morning we breakfasted at the Kowlitch village & we were treated with much civility, although they were in a very unsettled state & were pre- paring for war in consequence of the circumstances for- merly alluded to. On arriving on board the ship much of my time was employed in procuring & preserving birds. The incessant rains we experienced at the advanced period of the year rendered the accumulation of plants hopeless. The river at this season was beginning to abound in birds. I ob- tained specimens of Pelecanus onocrotalus, Falco & a species of Vultur, which 1 think is nondescript. My birds were principfaljly obtained from the Indians, who would go through any fatigue for a bit of tobac[c]o. I was also sufficient master of the language to explain to them what ​JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO N. W. AMERICA. 281 kind of bird I wanted, & I believe had we stayed a few weeks longer I might have acquired a specimen of almost every animal in the river. 10 November, 1825. Since leaving the Columbia on the 25 October we have been favoured with an uninterrupted course of favourable weather, which in 14 days has car- ried us to the Northern tropic. Previous to entering the latitude of 30 N. we were attended by many individuals of the Diomedia fuliginosa, a bird formerly supposed to be peculiar to the Southern hemisphere. It is remarkable that the albatross, which is so common in the N. Pacific of the American coast, should never make jts appearance in the N. Atlantic Ocean. To-day we saw the little islands of Socora & San Berto; the last named island presents the appearance of a rugged, inaccessible rock, & affords a secure retreat to the man-of- war bird & the boobies. It is curious that notwithstanding the apparent barren- ness of the rocks that a very great quantity of necessarily comminuted driftwood continued to float past us while in their vicinity. This forenoon we were so fortunate as to shoot a man-of-war bird & the Captain was so good as to send the boat to pick it up ; & I had the pleasure of adding this rare bird to my collection. Convinced that preserving the skin of a bird was doing very little towards a complete knowledge of ornithology, I made as complete a dissection as I could of the Tachypetes. Tongue small, oesophagus very wide, & furnished with many longitudinal plicas, which terminate abruptly at the entrance of the first stomach. The coats of this stomach are very thick, & at first sight one might imagine that it was very mus- cular. The muscular coat, however, does not occupy above one third of the thickness of the stomach. Be- tween the muscular & villous coats there is a glandular apparatus, which [contains] more than a half of the sub​DR. JOHN SCOULER. stance of the viscus. This apparatus consists of an im- mense number of a reddish, fleshy colour & about i inch in length. On pressing these glands a small quantity of a whitish, viscid, oleaginous matter escapes. They open on the internal surface of the stomach & are lined by a prolongation of the mucous membrane. Their other ex- tremities swell into a small ampulla. & the little glands are loosely connected by cellular substance. This struc- ture as far as I am acquainted is peculiar to the Lin mean genus Pelecanus. I am of [the] opinion that it is merely a very well developed state of the mucous follicular glands, & that the small auxiliary glands on the stomachs of the Procellarige is merely a smaller development of the same structure. This stomach terminates in the gizzard, which is nude, firm, and muscular. The convolutions of the great intestines are numerous. The pancreas is a long narrow body attached to the intestines. The liver is large & divided into two nearly equal lobes, that of the right side is a little larger & divided into smaller lobules. The structure of the animal enables it to fly to immense dis- tances, & one sees in this bird the structure of an eagle, as far as the organs of motion are concerned, & in respect to organs of digestion a true pelican. From the extrem- ity of the wing to the tip of the other measures 7 feet & they are moved by very powerful muscles. The sternum is round & acute & differs in no essential from that of the genus Falco. On the other hand its short feathery legs [are] furnished with very weak muscles & its unpalmated feet would indicate that it is not formed for swimming or diving. 15. These few days past the air has become much more cool in consequence of the frequent showers we have ex- perienced. In consequence of the blowy weather numer- ous individuals of the genus Sula have taken refuge on board the vessel, & easily allowed themselves to be taken. ​JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO N. W. AMERICA. 283 The organs of digestion of this bird differ very little from those of the Tachypetes aquila. The liver & convolutions of the intestines are similar, the principal differance is in the stomach. The oesophagus is plentifully furnished with longitudinal ruga?, which terminate in a circular margin around the entrance of the stomach. The stomach is as thick as in the man-of-war bird & is furnished with a sim- ilar glandular apparatus. These glands differ from those of the Tachypetes in this respect ; instead of forming a con- tinuous coat it is divided into five deap sulci, separating as many glandular aggregations from one another. Several specimens of Sterna Stalida were also procured. This beautiful little bird alights on the vessel in the evening & is easily caught. The assophagus is wide & ends in a muscular stomach. The second stomach is still more mus- cular & the convolutions of the intestines numerous. 16 November This morning we saw Abington island, one of the Galapagos ; it has the same dreary, rugged as- pect as the other islands of the group. 17. On the approach of day we saw Albemarle island & were within twelve miles of Cape Berkeley. There are many dark spots, destitute of trees, formed by the streams of lava which have run down to the ocean ; while the rest of the island is covered by a plentiful vegetation. As a friend to natural history I could not fail wishing to land oh an island so rich in the objects of zoological research. The temperature during our present visit was far more mild than what we formerly experienced ; this was no doubt owing to the cloudy weather which at present pre- vails. The precise degree of heat I could not ascertain, as I lost my thermometer on the N. W. Coast. 12 December. Abundance of Xiphias makaira are now swimming about the vessel, probably attracted by the copper. The men succeeded in procuring one of them ​284 DR. JOHN SCOULER. but it was cut up before I was aware of it. I was enabled, however, to make a few notes. The brain was similar in structure to that of the shark. The olfactory nerves were very large, & before entering the olfactory membrane they expanded into large ganglia. The iris is of a silvery lustre ; & the pupil of a deap blue colour. The sclerotis is very thin about the entrance of the optic nerve; but becomes more thick towards the circle of union with the cornea & iris. The whole membrane is of a very brittle texture. The corn.ea is flat, easily separated from the sclerotic, proving distinctly that these membranes are not continuous. The serous membrane which bounds the aqueous chamber I was able to detach, [?] though not in so complete a manner as the subject requires. The con- tinuation of the conjunctiva over the livid cornea was ex- ceedingly distinct, & I was able to trace it even to the centre of the cornea. The crystalline lens is far from being so spherical in most fishes. The interior portion is the section of a larger sphere, while the anterior part is smaller & rather flat; it has also two small lateral processes which adhere pretty firmly to the vitreous humour. 26. This morning we were becalmed about 30 miles of[f] Easter island & remained during the whole day in this situation, as there was not a breath of wind to disturb the smoothness of the ocean. 14 January. After loosing sight of Easter island we soon fell in with favourable western breezes, which carried us at the rate of 9 miles an hour. The albatrosses which were so abundant on our outward voyage have almost entirely disappeared, & it [is] only a few straggling indi- viduals we see in blowy weather. To-day we witnessed the agre[e]able novelty of another vessel. We could only learn, however, that she was the Swallow of White Haven bound for Valparaiso. It was a severe dissapointment to ​JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO N. W. AMERICA. 285 us that the weather did not allow us to visit them & obtain a little intelligence from home. 20 January. To-day I had the opportunity of dissect- ing an albatross of which I made a very carefull dissec- tion. The cornea is very convex & the iris is of a deap brown colour. Tongue small. The larnyx is double & furnished near the sternum with two cartilaginous cap- sules. Two muscles arise from the sternum & go to the upper part of the windpipe. The sesophagus is exceedingly capacious, but is not very muscular ; & the spinal nerves supply it with abundant ramifications. The upper part of the gullet is furnished with numerous papillae closely set and pointing towards the stomach. These papillae probably agree in structure & use with those of the turtle; The first stomach is merely a continuation of the sesoph- agus & is small and very little muscular. The gizzard is small and is not very grandular, & is the least muscular I ever saw. The intestines are simple, but of many con- volutions. The liver was very large & two lobed ; its upper part contained a small depression for receiving the apex of the heart. Gall bladder very large & filled with a dark coloured bile; its ducts were very distinctly seen going to the duodenum. The pancreas was large & its ducts equally evident with those of the gall bladder. 25 January. From the greenish-muddy appearance of the water we suspected the vicinity of some land, & on sounding we found bottom in 75 fathoms. Next day we saw the island of Beuchene [?] about 25 miles distant, so that we could form no idea of its appearance as to vegeta- tion. This muddy appearance of the water continued till we were in 43 S. While in sounding we saw many in- dividuals of the genus Aptenodytes. Much has been said of the stormy weather which pre- vails of[f] Cape Horn ; we, however, experienced very ​286 DR. JOHN SCOULER. little of it. We had generally favourable breezes & when we made land we had Royal set. 15 February. This forenoon we had the pleasure of seeing a vessel & the weather was so fine in Lat. S. as to allow us to visit them in the boat. We were, however, sadly dissapointed as it proved to be Portuguese brig of war, bound for Brazil. They did not think fit to stop to give us any information. One of the men while fighting with his companion had the misfortune to dislocate the acromial extremity of his clavical. 30 March. To-day we spoke a small French vessel bound for the Great Bank of Newfoundland. We visited them & had the satisfaction of hearing that all was well at home, & obtained a supply of potatoes. The climate of the Columbia district of the N. W. coast differs very much from that of the eastern coast of America in the same latitude. The heat of summer is very mod- erate, not any hotter than an English summer. In winter the temperature is very moderate & the frost is seldom severe ; the rain, however, is incessant. The following tables will convey a pretty good idea of the weather of the Columbia. The following tables exhibit the quantity of rain that falls on this part of the N. W. coast. If the numbers be correct, as I have every reason to believe they are, thus it will beseen that the quantity of rain which falls here is equal to what falls on the Equator. The rain gauge was placed in an open place & the quantity of water it con- tained was weighed every month : ​JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO N. W. AMERICA. 287 18M & '23. June ______________________________________________________ 14 Jb. 10 oz. July _________________________________________________________ 8 " August ____________________________________________________ 5 " 10 " September ________________________________________________ 2 " 2 " October _____________________________________________________ 26 " 2 " November ________________________________________________ 98 " 4 " December _________________________________________________ 39 " 10 " January ___________________________________________________ 89 " 4 " February __________________________________________________ 74 " 2 " March _____________________________________________________ 98 " 12 " April ______________________________________________________ 58 " May _______________________________________________________ 24 " 2 " June _______________________________________________________ 21 " 10 July _______________________________________________________ 4 " 10 August ____________________________________________________ 11 " 2 September _____________________________________ . ----------- 8 " 10 October ___________________________________________________ - 14 " 10 November ___________________________________________________ 74 " 2 December ________ _ ________________________________________ 64 " 2 January ________ _ _________________________________________ 42 " 2 February _______ _ _________________________________________ 99 " 12 March _____________________________________________________ 46 " 10 April ______________________________________________________ 13 " 6 May _______________________________________________________ 11 " 2 im & '25. June _______________________________________________________ 59 " 2 July _____ . _________________________________________________ 5 " 2 August _________________________________ - ------------------- 14 " 10 September ________________________________________________ 25 " 2 October ____________________________________________________ 30 " 10 November ________________________________________________ 57 " 4 December _________________________________________ - ------- 39 " 12 January ___________________________________________________ 62 " 2 February __________________________________________________ 62 " 2 March _____________________________________________________ 96 " 2 April ________________________________________________ - _____ 56 " 2 May _______________________________________________________