who have been longest in the country, and consequently know best what its resources are, that this portion is capable of sustaining as large a population, as all of the New England States. In fact, the resources of this country are great; and it is only necessary for them to be known, to be duly appreciated by the people of the United States. A single consideration only is necessary to be presented to show what the country would be capable of doing, provided it was filled with an industrious population. It will be borne in mind that in the fall of 1843, an emigration arrived in this country numbering from eight to ten hundred persons, most of whom came so late that it was impossible for them to get locations where they could raise wheat the first year, and were consequently thrown upon the resources of the country. In the fall of 1844, another emigration arrived, numbering from seven to eight hundred persons. These all, with the entire population, depended upon the products of 1844, for a subsistence until the harvest of 1845. Probably not more than one quarter of the whole population had cultivated the land in 1844, yet they were all supported from the granaries of the country; fifteen thou sand bushels of wheat were shipped to the Russian settlements; one thousand barrels of flour were exported to the Sandwich Islands, and thousands of bushels yet remained in the country unconsumed. With these facts before us, it does not require half an eye to see that Oregon can and will compete with any other portion of the world, in supplying the islands of the Pacific, the Russian settlements, and every other flour market contiguous, with their bread stuffs, which usually bear, in these portions of the world, a handsome price.

In connection with this it may be remarked that beef and pork can be raised in this country with greater ease and facility than wheat. And the climate of the country being favorable for salting and barreling, the time is not far distant when these articles also will be exported in abundance. The United States Navy and shipping in general in the Pacific, can be supplied with these articles.

of consumption from this country more reasonably, perhaps, than from any other. Already there are many settlers in this valley who have from two to five hundred head of cattle, and it is nothing strange for a man to be the owner of a hundred hogs. At present, however, from the great influx of population, these kinds of property bear a high price in the country, but the time may be anticipated, when the home market will not be so extensive, and then the vast supplies from this quarter must find an outlet.

The facilities for lumbering in the country have already been presented; and, in addition, it should be observed that, with the vast amount of salmon which may be barreled annually, and the products of dairies, for conducting which the country offers the greatest facilities, the exports of Oregon, in proportion to the number of its inhabitants, may equal those of any portions of the United States.

In this exhibition of the wealth and resources of Oregon, there is one more subject that ought not to be overlooked, viz: the facility with which a man comparatively poor, can place himself entirely above want. Individuals have, in some instances, arrived in this country in the month of September; have settled immediately on some of the fine prairies, and with but little, except good health and sound limbs, have harvested, the following season, of their own sowing, from fifty to one hundred and fifty acres of wheat.

And, indeed, there are few countries, perhaps none, in which a poor man, when once he has surmounted the difficulties of getting here, in which he can get a better living, and get it easier, than in this. Such is the testimony of every person who tries it for one or two years. But every country has its defects, and this is not entirely free from them. It is neither the garden of Eden, nor is it a barren desert. It does not "flow with honey," like the land of Canaan; but in some places it literally flows with milk. And, though it is not a "land of wine," yet, in the more necessary articles of "corn and oil," it greatly abounds.

That it is a land of mountains and valleys, of rivers and streams, of mighty forests and extended prairies, of a salubrious and healthy climate, and a rich and productive soil, the foregoing remarks will clearly show. In fine, it is every way entitled to be called a good country.

CHAPTER XVII.

Oregon territory-Its history-Spanish discoveries-Measures of the English - Sir Francis Drake - Heceta - Isle of Grief- Bo·lega discovers Killemook Head Discoveries of Captain James Cook - Captain John Mearls--Cape Disappointment - Robert Gray, of Boston - First visit to the coast Second visit, discovers the Columbia river- Captain Vancouver-Braughton.

WHEN America was first discovered, it was supposed to constitute the eastern limits of the continent of Asia; but, as discovery succeeded discovery in quick succession during the first twenty years after the arrival of Columbus in 1492, the astounding fact that the Genoese navigator had given to the nations of Europe a vast continent, was speedily and satisfactorily established. If there remained any doubts as to the separation of America from the eastern continent on the minds of any, they were all removed after Fernando Magellan had passed from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean through the strait which separates Patagonia from Terra Del Fuego, and Vacco Nunez de Balboa had discovered the placid waters of the great ocean from the top of the Andes, at the Isthmus of Darien. Within a few years after Magellan sailed into the Pacific ocean, the Spaniards, under Hernan Cortez, discovered and made a conquest of the rich and populous empire of Mexico, and soon after followed the subjugation of Chili and Peru to the authority. of Spain. The immense amount of silver which the Spaniards obtained by these conquests, excited the avarice of others, and crowds of adventurers of different nations and under daring leaders, came over and traversed the new world in every direction, eager to acquire distinction by plundering the rich countries which they might discover. Defeated in their objects, they, how

ever, collected much information respecting those regions which otherwise might not have been explored, perhaps, for centuries.

North

In 1532, forty years after the discovery of Columbus, the coast of the American continent had been explored from the Gulf of Mexico on the Atlantic side, to the Strait of Magellan, and on the Pacific side from the same Strait to a place called Culiacan, situate near the eastern side of the entrance to the Gulf of California. ward of these points, both of which are near the twentythird degree of north latitude, nothing as yet was known of that vast region which was destined to teem with so many millions of human beings. Up to 1578, the Spaniards were the principal actors in prosecuting discoveries along the Pacific coast. Expeditions were fitted out by Cortez and by his successor in the viceroyalty of Mexico, Don Antonio de Mendoza, which sailed northward from time to time, touching at various points along the coast, but making no important discoveries until 1539, when Francisco de Ulloa, under the direction of Mendoza, sailed from Acapulco, north, for the purpose of ascertaining the situation and extent of that country which by this time began to be called California.

Ulloa discovered that California was a continuity of the American continent; for up to this time it was not known whether it was connected with Asia or America, or whether it was not a country by itself. There is satisfactory evidence that some of these early explorers saw the coast up as high as the thirty-fourth degree of north latitude, and in 1543, a navigator by the name of Ferrelo, is said to have extended his discoveries as far up as the forty-third parallel, and about the same time a land expedition was fitted out under Hernando de Soto, and performed a memorable march through the then unknown regions north of the Gulf of Mexico, till they reached the fortieth parallel of latitude, and then turning east, they fell in with the Mississippi river near the mouth of the Ohio, and descended it in boats back to the Gulf of Mexico, which they succeeded in crossing in open boats; and the few that survived the fatigues and