, 1867-01-11
a-oorre,bondence.'..-

length Of that magnificent body Of water yeispt
the u0lympia Frog Pond, " crossed the straits Of
FueA and .ssAfely moored' in q B. Ms domin-
ions on Vancouver Island. Yes, sir, beeu to Vic
toria, the "London of the Pacific" where live
EpHlish mylords, and wieged and gowned judges |
and barristers ape the manners and customs of
oftas "ROyal Independency;' aud now the only
thing that remains % be done, in order to secure
my name Place in somebody s forthcoming Bio
graphical and AutobiOgraPhical Sketches ofEx>
tsnSiVe Travels, is to flourish, over this sheet of
paper, that instrument which is said to be might
Ter than the sword, aud impart to the readers Of
your invaluable hebdOmAnal the sights that ! !
saw.
To begin at the alpha: Puget SOund-though |
it iI really in the vicinity of Olympia, where it |
oVerhows the streets at high tide, elevates the
wooden sidewalks, and makes copious deposits |
Of mud, oyster and clam shells, in the streets,
bears some resemblance. to "home ofthe croakS
ing tribs''-has been justly denOmnated one
| Of the finest bays in the world. But be who
can travel it, length in the month of December
in a slow steamer, with continual driEEle Of
rain bsfsrs, hshIud and around him, and see in
ths. .unvarying scenert that skirts It's waters
| dense forests Of IGlL6s trees, aud FIR trees tall
aud forests dense--anything grand, sublime, or
| inviting, must have Munchausen Imagination,
or be possessed of the "reined insanity" that po
cts are supposed to 'labor under" I had read
of its magnificent waters, its beautiful groves its
oyster and clam beds, and of the inexhaustible
.'lumber fields" that border its shores. Claiming
neither Munchsuseuism, nor "poetic bent Of
mind" cannot subscribe to all that has been
written about this magnificent inland sea- by
Bayard Taylor aud otner travellers; but can cor
ceiVe how it is, and why it's, that such descrip-
tions have been written. When nature and art
fail to furnish writer with subjects for des-
cription; when the country of which be is eI.
pected to write is one long, dull, dreary monot-
Ony, be must resort to imagination il be gives
his letter the "fnish, {" which, unfortunately for
truth, is exActed from modern travellers and let
ter writers.
Puget Sound is long BAY its waters like those
Of any other bay, and to those who have a taste
for snch things beautiful to look upon, when not
mouth by storms at sea, or by the winds that
come often, suddenly and Unexpectedly around
FoulWeather Bluffs. Then it is terrible to any
one who may be upon its surface in a supposed
unIsswortWy boat. In fact, am sure it would
look as ugly then to any of the poets who have
tried to immortaizs it, or themselves, in their
descriptions, as the dirty, greasy, mscreaut of
SiDash does to any other poet, when hotly pur-
sued by the said miscreant with a view to OBJ
tanning another scalp to exhibit to his tribe as
evidence Of his savage bravery.
The "beAutiful groves" are here, and more,
tool They are forests, dense, impenstrable, and
WITHOUT an opening my where scarce wide enough
for the little ten and twelve year old towns that
are located upon the hill sides sand spts along
its banks. Not farm not single respectable
farm, is anywhere in sight from its mouth to
its head; but there are, at long intervals,
little patches Of an acre or two, where clear,
ing seem to have been commenced; but the
black, charred remains of standing stumps all
, over the patches and even 10 the towns show
how Intellectual the efforts to "clear" the ground
have thus far been. The "beauty" Of these
"groVes" is like that of our sage plains-iu their
uuvariableAesS-strstchiug out as far as the eye
can reach, and making the traveller long for any
sight in which there would be change. If old
Thad. Stevens sack of birthstone should fail,
be could, by coming here, find fuel enough
to run q radical "Ihop," for an eternity of ages,
and then have suficiency left to set up Phil
lips, Sumner and Beast Butler, to carry on busi-
ness the balance of eternity. Before leaving
this subject, it is but just that should say that
there are prairieI in Pierce and King counties, a
short distance back frcm the Sound but the far
merS residing there tell me that these prai>
ries are gravelly; and one of them, who is
member of the Legislature, facetiously remarked
10 me, the other day, that, in farming there, be
found it a useless and uni ro6table Iperime mt to
try to make grass or grain grow where Provi-
dence had failedl 10 fact, there is not half II.
farming land. e., open to cultivation--in this
whole Sound country that there is in the Wala
, Walla Valley, and the entire crops raised in the
Territory this side Of the mountains will fail
considerably short Of that raised in the Wala
Wala Valley.
The oyster and clam beds come next, but your
; correspondent cannot speak by the card in
! reference to them. Judging, however, from the
limited supply to be seen At the hotels, opine
that they are not as numerous as fish in the sea-
or erickets in Boise Valley. The oysters that
have seen have been very small and it seems
that ifoue had ''rondueSs'' fOrtheui, G6d'sbould
seek to satisfy his appetite when very hungry, by
{ opening the shells aud eating be shelled them,
the work Of securing enough TO satisfJ even an
ordinary appetite, would be wearsodhe aud al
most unending. The clans grow larger, aud, Of
course, look much " nastier." The oysters and
ELAINE obtained 10 the.vieinity of Olympia are
said 10 be much better than those foqnd further
down the Sound. At Port Townsend1bd viciu-
ity they tinctursd with copper, aud fre there
fore unpalAtable. MkJoR.
CoRREcTIoE.-In our report Of . 'surgi'
cal operation" published last week, was an