them a rich prize; but in place of a golden egg they found only an empty shell. After visiting the place, Captain Black, turning round to one of his officers, said, "The Yankees are always beforehand with us."
On the 12th day of December, the death-warrant {259} of short-lived Astoria was signed. On that day, Captain Black went through the customary ceremony of taking possession, not only of Astoria, but of the whole country. What the vague term of "whole country" in the present case meant, I know not. Does it mean the Columbia? Does it mean all the country lying west of the Rocky Mountains? Or does it merely mean the coast of the Pacific? That part of the ceremony which referred to the "whole country" might have been dispensed with; for the country had already been taken possession of in the name of his Britannic Majesty, and that many years ago, by Drake, by Cooke, by Vancouver, and lastly by Black. The name of Astoria was now changed to that of Fort George; and this done, the Racoon prepared to leave the Columbia. Captain Black was a gentleman of courteous and affable manners. He was never once heard to utter an oath or indecorous expression all the time he was in the river; and there was a general and sincere regret felt when he left Fort George.
Having now detailed the principal occurrences at Astoria, we return to take up the subject of Mr. Hunt's voyage. The reader will bear in mind that Mr. Hunt sailed in the Albatross in August last, for the Marquesas, where he arrived safe. Nor had he been long there till he met with Commodore Porter,[90] of the United States' frigate Essex, from whom he learned that a British frigate called the Phœbe, with two sloops of war, the Cherub and
