good. Liddle boy no forget how bridge look."

Local proof also is not wanting. In the fall, when the freshets are
over and the waters of the Columbia are clear, one going out in a
small boat just above the cascades and looking down into the
transparent depths can see submerged forest trees beneath him, still
standing upright as they stood before the bridge fell in and the river
was raised above them. It is a strange, weird sight, this forest
beneath the river; the waters wash over the broken tree-tops, fish
swim among the leafless branches: it is desolate, spectre-like, beyond
all words. Scientific men who have examined the field with a view to
determining the credibility of the legend about the bridge are
convinced that it is essentially true. Believed in by many tribes,
attested by the appearance of the locality, and confirmed by
geological investigation, it is surely entitled to be received as a
historic fact.

The shipwreck of an Oriental vessel on the Oregon coast, which
furnishes one of the most romantic elements in our story, is an
altogether probable historic incident, as explained more fully in a
foot-note on page 75.

The spelling of Indian names, in which authorities differ so widely,
has been made as accurate as possible; and, as in the name "Wallulah,"
the oldest and most Indian-like form has been chosen. An exception has
been made in the case of the modernized and corrupted "Willamette,"
which is used instead of the original Indian name, "Wallamet." But the
meaningless "Willamette" has unfortunately passed into such general
use that one is almost compelled to accept it. Another verbal
irregularity should be noticed: Wauna, the name given by all the
Indians in the story to the Columbia, was only the Klickitat name for
it. The Indians had no general name for the Columbia, but each tribe
had a special name, if any, for it. Some had no name for it at all. It
was simply "the big water," "_the_ river," "the big salmon water."
What Wauna, the Klickitat name, or Wemath, the Wasco name, signifies,
the author has been unable to learn, even from the Indians who gave
him the names. They do not know; they say their fathers knew, but it
is forgotten now.

A rich and splendid treasure of legend and lore has passed away with
the old pioneers and the Indians of the earlier generation. All that
may be found interesting in this or any other book on the Indians,
compared to what has been lost, is like "a torn leaf from s