CHAPTER V.
AMONG THE FISHERIES.
Having satisfied ourselves that we have seen the principal points of interest about the oldest American settlement on the North-west Coast, we take passage, at an early hour of the morning, on board the Dixie Thompson, the elegant steamer which plies between Astoria and Portland.
Above Astoria, for some distance, there are no settlements on the river. But the grandeur of the wooded highlands, the frequently projecting cliffs covered with forest to their very edges, and embroidered and festooned with mosses, ferns, and vines, together with the far-stretching views of the broad Columbia, suffice to engage the admiring attention of the tourist. In consequence of fires, which every year spread through and destroy large tracts of timber, the mountains in many places present a desolated appearance, the naked trunks alone of the towering firs being left standing to decay. After a few years a new growth covers the ground, but the old trees remain unsightly objects still. It is true, however, in compensation for the ugliness of a burnt forest, that the shape of the country is thereby partially revealed, and that one discovers fine level benches of land fit for farming, in the openings thus made, where before no such variations from the general slope had been apparent.
The first point at which the river steamers touch in
