Pambrun at the fort, Farnham resumed his journey to the Dalles, the 1st of October. He spent a week with Lee and Perkins, and became imbued with the prevailing Methodist sentiments concerning British residents. On the 15th, in company with Daniel Lee he took passage for Fort Vancouver, having narrowly escaped the wrath of the Dalles Indians for forcibly recovering some of his property which had been stolen.[1]
At the Cascades they encountered McLoughlin, lately returned from England, the doctor being probably some distance behind the express which had brought him from Canada.
Lee presented his newly arrived friend to McLoughlin, who straightway invited them both to the fort, where they arrived late on that evening, the 18th of October. Farnham, who had been forced to exchange his clothes for horses, was amply supplied by his host, even to a dress-coat to appear in at dinner. He made a favorable impression on the inmates of Fort Vancouver,[2] where he remained till the 21st, learning much concerning the country and the fur trade, which he afterwards turned to account in a number of works published under different titles, but containing much of the same matter.[3]
- ↑ Farnham gives an account of his skirmish with 40 Indians, to obtain possession of the leather portions of his saddle and bridle which had been taken out of Lee's workshop, in parts, through a window. In the fray the chief drew his pistol and Farnham his rifle, but no blood was shed, though the Indians were much excited; the chief refusing to allow his men to assist in carrying Lee and Farnham's goods to the canoes. Their conduct on this occasion was the cause of Lee's purchase of arms and amnunition elsewhere alluded to. See Farnham's Travels, 161–3.
- ↑ Alexander Simpson, a relative of Sir George and a clerk of the company, of whom Farnham said some amusing though kindly things, describes Farnham as possessing much dry humor, considerable intelligence, consummate impudence, and indomitable self-reliance. 'He talked grandiloquently and acted shabbily.' Perhaps Farnham's wit had pricked the Englishman's egoism.
- ↑ His Travels to the Rocky Mountains, from which I have quoted, was published in 1841. Subsequently he published the same with additional matter about California and the interior of the continent, under the following titles: Travels in the Great Western Prairies, the Anahuac, and Rocky Mountains, and in the Oregon Territory; Pictorial Travels in California and Oregon; Travels in the Californias, and Scenes in the Pacific Ocean, Life in California. He also wrote the History of Oregon Territory; It being a Demonstration of
