Over the Divide | ret

descent ! of the Fraser which the explorer speaks of as the
Tacouche Tesse, under the impression that he was on that
mythical “River of the West,” named by Jonathan Carver
the “Oregon.” In May, the year before, Captain Robert
Gray, of Boston, sailed over the bar of the Columbia and
explored the estuary, naming the river the “Columbia,” ?
after his own ship.

Their return up the river appears to have alarmed the
whole native population who were thrown into a state of
great confusion. Mackay and an Indian had been sent with
the guide, who desired to visit his family before venturing
toward the coast. The alarm that prevailed among the
tribesmen, however, communicated itself to the guide, and
Mackay and his Indian found it possible to keep up with
him only by running. Arrived at his lodges he found them
deserted as if for ever, whereupon he ran into the woods
several times bellowing like a madman, and then departed
south, leaving Mackay and his companion far behind. Not
finding Mackenzie at the rendezvous, Mackay and his
Indian, being convinced that the whole countryside was up
in arms and that the whole of their party had been destroyed,
formed a plan to take to the woods and cross in as direct a
line as they could to the headwaters of the Peace, and raft
thence to the Fort. They were on the point of putting their
plan into execution when Mackenzie appeared, and he re-
marks that it was a scheme which could only be suggested
by despair.

Mackenzie was unable to understand what it was that
had suddenly roused the native population. His own people
were panic-stricken, and they considered that it was now

1 Latitude 52° 30’. Fort Alexandria was afterwards built here.
4 Heceta named this estuary Rio de San Roque in 1775, under the
impression that it was a river.
L