CHAPTER XII.
UP THE WALLAMET TO PORTLAND.
The upper mouth of the Wallamet is about eighteen or twenty miles above the lower one—the Wallamet and Columbia being separated for this distance only by a narrow, sandy island, which in the period of the summer flood is two-thirds under water. The original name of this island (now called Sauvie's) was Wappatoo, from the abundance of a plant of that name (Sagittaria sagittifolia) found growing there. This plant has a tuberous root, which is used by the Indians for food, and grows most abundantly in marshy places or shallow lakes. "Wappatoo lakes" are also considered valuable fields for fattening hogs; and the interior of Sauvie's Island furnishes several of these. Notwithstanding that every summer their farms are under water from two to three weeks, most small farmers prefer the quick, warm soil of the island, to higher ground on the mainland. Here, after the freshet subsides, about the second week in July, crops of potatoes, melons, and vegetables may be put in, and come to maturity quite as early as if planted in the spring, on the colder soil of the uplands. Sauvie's Island is indeed the garden of the lower portion of the Wallamet Valley.
The upper mouth of the Wallamet comes out between the head of the island, and a low, sandy point opposite. From the formation of the land it appears
