The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-09-18

| Nor were the natives of the Sound who
| were present at this ceremony less i'm
| pressed by a series of operations. the
| simplest of which was far above their
| comprehension. In short. this bust
ness did not fail to raise us still higher
| in their good opinion. and TO afford
| them better and more correct notions
| than they hitherto possessed of the SUI
| perfOrity of civilized over savage life -
| The North West America went TO
| Queen Charlotte sound and collected
large quantity of sea otter skins and
| subsequently, went to Canton. Capt.
| Meares then says what our own naval
| officers will endorse:
Il trust it will not be considered as
an impertinent depression if / express
| my gratitude of that example of pro-
| fessional Vigor and perseverance. which
/ in my early days were set before me.
| on the opposite side of this continent.
| where ability and courage alleviated
| in some measure, the chagrin of I'M
successful war. The campaigns in
! Canada owe their only honor to the
naval warfare on the lakes of that
country; and it was my good fortune
when a youth TO be injured in such a
school to the hardships and difficulties
of naval life; to learn there that tenn
per and perseverance must be added to
professional knowledge in order to sur
mount them. ! was ready to acknowl-
edge that, for the little skill | may
possess as a professional man, as well
as the patience I have exercised and the
perseverance which | have exerted in
this or any other voyage l am indebt-
ed to the rigorous discipline which
necessarily arose from the continual
action, hazard and conflict of the ser
vice in which | was first engaged. Some
little experience has convinced me that
danger and difficulties form the best
school of maritime education; and he
that has been so employed as to have
seen everything, and so circumstanced
as to despise nothing, cannot fail of
rendering service to his country
Meares says that Comekala was at
first very active in forwarding our
commercial arrangements; but he now
spoke such a jargOn of Chinese, Eng
lish and Nootkan as to be by no means
a ready interpreter between us and the
natives This was probably the origin
of the Chinook jargon, as it was after
the white man had traded at Nootka
that the Columbia river was discovered
by Gray, and the Nootka trades went
to the Columbia river at Chinook, TAX
ing with them the NOOtka jargOn,
which was added to by the Chinook,
French Japanese and Spanish language
till it assumed it's present shape. 1t
was early utilized by the Hudson Bay
Company as means of trade inter-
course, and through their influence has
gradually spread among all the tribes
of Northwest America, from California
to Alaska.
It is interesting to trace the ship
building of Puget sound and British
Columbia from the building of the
Northwest America to the present
time and if Meares can look from his
spiritual abode and see the fine vessels
which have been built at Port Madi-
son, Port Ludlow, Port Blakeley, Seat
tie and in Victoria and other places, to
the beautiful steam launches just fin
ished at Port Townsend for the United
States revenue marine service by Giggs
& Heffernan, he will see that his pre-
dictions have been more than fulfilled.
What became of the schooner North
west America is not stated, but she
went to Canton with a cargo of sea
otter skins and was probably sold
there.
Tianpa, the Sandwich island prince,
was taken home to Hawaii by the
Iphigenia, and the friendly intercourse
that had been started and so eminent
ly successfully continued by the wise
action of the American missionaries
has eliminated in making the most
thrifty and prosperous Hawaiian re-
public. JAMES G. SWAN.
Port Townsend, August 81.