In August 1839, the expedition of Sir Edward Belcher was at Fort Vancouver. Dr. McLoughlin was not then at Fort Vancouver. He probably had not returned from his trip to England in 1838-9. James Douglas was in charge. Although the latter supplied Sir Edward Belcher and his officers with fresh beef, Douglas declined to furnish a supply of fresh beef for the crew, because he did not deem it prudent to kill so many cattle. Sir Edward Belcher complained of this to the British government.[9] Dr. McLoughlin gave the American settlers, prior to 1842, the same terms as he gave to the French Canadian settlers. But some of these early American settlers were much incensed at the refusal of Dr. McLoughlin to sell the cattle, although they accepted the loan of the cows. It has been asserted that Dr. McLoughlin intended to maintain a monopoly in cattle. But if that was his intention, as he refused to sell, where was to be the profit? The Hudson's Bay Company was a fur-trading Company. It was not a cattle-dealing Company. If Dr. McLoughlin intended to create a monopoly, he himself assisted to break it. That such was not his intention is shown by his helping the settlers to procure cattle from California in 1836. In 1836 a company was formed to go to California to buy cattle and drive them to Oregon overland. About twenty-five hundred dollars was raised for this purpose, of which amount Dr. McLoughlin, for the Hudson's Bay Company, subscribed about half. The number of cattle which were thus brought to Oregon was six hundred and thirty, at a cost of about eight dollars a head. In the McLoughlin Document he says: "In the Willamette the settlers kept the tame and broken-in oxen they had, belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, and gave their California wild cattle in the place, so that they found themselves stocked with tame cattle which cost them only eight dollars a head, and the Hudson's Bay Company, to favor the settlers, took calves in place of grown up cattle, because the Hudson's Bay Company wanted them for beef. These calves would grow up before they were required." _Early American Traders and Travellers._