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- Bodega 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. 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. North 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 perils of the enterprise, finally reached Pameco in safety. This expedition had a two-fold object in view, which was, first, to discover wealthy nations to subjugate like those of Mexico and Peru, and, second, to ascertain whether there were no navigable passages between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, somewhere north of the Mexican Gulf. Being defeated in both these objects, the Spaniards desisted from any farther efforts to explore the north-west coast of the American continent, and did not renew their efforts for nearly half a century afterwards. Though for the present they ceased to explore the north-west division of the New World, yet the commerce of the Spaniards in the Pacific ocean was continually increasing, and their "Government was adopting those measures of restriction and exclusion which were maintained with so little relaxation during the whole period of its supremacy in the American continent." * * * "The great object of its policy was to secure to the people of Spain the perpetual enjoyment of all the advantages which could be derived from the territories claimed by them, and, with that view, it was considered absolutely necessary, not only to prevent the establishment of foreigners in any part of those territories, but also to discourage the rapid advancement of the Spanish provinces. themselves, in population, wealth or other resources. Agreeably to these ideas, the settlement and even the exploring of new countries in America, were restrained; colonies were rarely allowed to be planted near the coast, unless they might serve for purposes of defence, and when voyages or journeys of discovery were made, the results were generally concealed by the government. The subjects of all foreign nations were prohibited, under pain of death, from touching the section of the New World supposed to belong to Spain, or from navigating the seas in its vicinity." About this time, 1570, the principles of civil and religious liberty were beginning to operate in England. They no longer acknowledged the Pope of Rome as their spiritual head, nor did they stand in fear of his fulminations. And, though the successor of St. Peter had |