g tribe to the
_Clatsops_, hearing that they were captives, had ransomed them.

These facts must have occurred in March or April, 1811. The Indian who
gave us an account of them, appeared to have a great deal of
intelligence and knew some words of the English language. He added that
he had been at the Russian trading post at _Chitka_, that he had visited
the coast of California, the Sandwich islands, and even China.

About this time, old Comcomly sent to _Astoria_ for Mr. Stuart and me,
to come and cure him of a swelled throat, which, he said, afflicted him
sorely. As it was late in the day, we postponed till to-morrow going to
cure the chief of the Chinooks; and it was well we did; for, the same
evening, the wife of the Indian who had accompanied us in our voyage to
the Falls, sent us word that Comcomly was perfectly well, the pretended
_tonsillitis_ being only a pretext to get us in his power. This timely
advice kept us at home.

CHAPTER X.

Occupations at Astoria.--Return of a Portion of the Men of the
Expedition to the Interior.--New Expedition.--Excursion in Search
of three Deserters.

On the 26th of September our house was finished, and we took possession
of it. The mason work had at first caused us some difficulty; but at
last, not being able to make lime for want of lime-stones, we employed
blue clay as a substitute for mortar. This dwelling-house was
sufficiently spacious to hold all our company, and we had distributed it
in the most convenient manner that we could. It comprised a sitting, a
dining room, some lodging or sleeping rooms, and an apartment for the
men and artificers, all under the same roof. We also completed a shop
for the blacksmith, who till that time had worked in the open air.

The schooner, the construction of which had necessarily languished for
want of an adequate force at the ship-yard, was finally launched on the
2d of October, and named the _Dolly_, with the formalities usual on such
occasions. I was on that day at _Young's Bay_, where I saw the ruins of
the quarters erected by Captains Lewis and Clarke, in 1805-'06: they
were but piles of rough, unhewn logs, overgrown with parasite creepers.

On the evening of the 5th, Messrs. Pillet and M'Lellan arrived, from the
party of Mr. David Stuart, in a canoe manned by two of his men. They
brought, as passengers, Mr. Regis Bruguier, whom I had known in Canada
as a respectable country merchant, and an Iroquois famil