78 Joseph Schafer Chinook Point, at the head of Baker's Bay, nearly opposite Point George, is a long, level, swampy beach, commanded by the hills in the rear which are covered except on the extreme point with dense forests of pine. Above Chinook Point, the north shore presents a succession of steep, inaccessible, rocky hills, descending to the water's edge, covered with timber, offering points where a temporary work might be erected to obstruct the navigation but from the commanding nature of the ground rendering the construction of one of a more permanent nature a large and unnecessary expense. From above Tongue Point the banks of the river recede, forming large shallow bays, intersected by numerous small isl- ands and sandbanks, through which the ship channel has a tortuous course tending towards the north shore, from thence to Vancouver, the head of the ship navigation, the breadth of the river seldom exceeds two miles, and the channel varies ac- cording to the sand, from shore to shore. Much difficulty is experienced on the Lower Columbia in finding "encampments" from the nature of the river banks, which in some places are low, swampy, and covered with "jun- gle," and at others high, rocky, and too steep to be easily ascended. The tide also covers the low lands for 30 miles from the mouth of the river. The wet season continued with little inter- ruption till the 17th March. We have received no intelligence from England since the 20th May (1845), consequence of the impossibility of traversing the Rocky Mountains during the melting of the snows we cannot await the anticipated arrival of the Hudson's Bay Company's ship, supposed to have left for this country last September. We left Fort Vancouver in company with the annual express forwarded to the Red River Settlement by the northern water communication on the 25th March. Having made the usual
"portages" at the "Cascades," "Dalles" and Chutes, we reached----
