The following Narrative embraces a period of six years, five of which were spent among various tribes on the banks of the Columbia River and its tributary streams; and the remaining portion was occupied in the voyage outwards, and the journey across the continent.
During this period the Author ascended the Columbia nine times, and descended it eight; wintered among various tribes; was engaged in several encounters with the Indians: was lost fourteen days in a wilderness, and had many other extraordinary escapes.
He kept journals of the principal events which occurred during the greater part of this period, the substance of which will be found embodied in the following pages. Those who love to read of "battle, murder, and sudden death," will, in his description of the dangers and privations to which the life of an Indian trader is subject, find much to gratify their taste; while to such as are fond
