ves with music and reading; having
some instruments and a choice library. Otherwise we should have passed
our time in a state of insufferable ennui, at this rainy season, in the
midst of the deep mud which surrounded us, and which interdicted the
pleasure of a promenade outside the buildings.

CHAPTER XIII.

Uneasiness respecting the "Beaver."--News of the Declaration of War
between Great Britain and the United States.--Consequences of that
Intelligence.--Different Occurrences.--Arrival of two Canoes of the
Northwest Company.--Preparations for abandoning the
Country.--Postponement of Departure.--Arrangement with Mr. J.G.
M'Tavish.

The months of October, November, and December passed away without any
news of the "Beaver," and we began to fear that there had happened to
her, as to the Tonquin, some disastrous accident. It will be seen, in
the following chapter, why this vessel did not return to Astoria in the
autumn of 1812.

On the 15th of January, Mr. M'Kenzie arrived from the interior, having
abandoned his trading establishment, after securing his stock of goods
in a _cache_. Before his departure he had paid a visit to Mr. Clark on
the Spokan, and while there had learned the news, which he came to
announce to us, that hostilities had actually commenced between Great
Britain and the United States. The news had been brought by some
gentlemen of the Northwest Company, who handed to them a copy of the
Proclamation of the President to that effect.

When we learned this news, all of us at Astoria who were British
subjects and Canadians, wished ourselves in Canada; but we could not
entertain even the thought of transporting ourselves thither, at least
immediately: we were separated from our country by an immense space; and
the difficulties of the journey at this season were insuperable:
besides, Mr. Astor's interests had to be consulted first. We held,
therefore, a sort of council of war, to which the clerks of the factory
were invited _pro forma_, as they had no voice in the deliberations.
Having maturely weighed our situation; after having seriously considered
that being almost to a man British subjects, we were trading,
notwithstanding, under the American flag: and foreseeing the
improbability, or rather, to cut the matter short, the impossibility
that Mr. Astor could send us further supplies or reinforcements while
the war lasted, as most of the ports of the United States would