We continued our journey and enjoyed with much amusement the seals playing in the river. On the 14th near noon we arrived at Tongue Point, which at right angles stretches its steep rocky shores across the river for a full half-mile. This brought us into full view of the Pacific Ocean which to me was a great pleasure. My men seemed disappointed for they were accustomed to the boundless horizon of the great lakes of Canada and their high rolling waves. From the ocean they expected a more boundless view, a something beyond the power of their senses, which they could not describe. Even my informing them that at a distance of five thousand miles from us lay the empire of Japan added nothing to their ideas though I felt quite sure a map would help that.

Since the waves were too high for us to double the point, we moved close to the riverbank where there is a narrow isthmus of about one hundred yards, and carried across it. From there about two miles we came across the fur trading post of Mr. John Jacob Astor of New York City, which consisted of four low log huts and called Fort Astoria. The fort was in the charge of a Mr. McDougall and a Mr. Stuart, both of whom had been clerks at the North West Company and which politely received us. They had been here but a few months and arrived here after a long voyage around Cape Horn in the rainy season without sufficient shelter. Many had suffered from ague and low fever from which most of them had recovered.