We are at the point of the jetty. The buoys rise and fall behind us. The horrible blare of the fog-horn sounds across the thunder of the surf, as we cross the imaginary line from headland to headland. Sea-captains tell us that ten miles from the River's mouth--so powerfully does the mighty current cleave the sea--they can dip up fresh water. But now, to west and north and south, the deep blue, though crossed by the pale green of the River water, assures us that we are fairly upon the Bar. The River of the West is all behind us. If it be very clear, we can just discern upon the horizon's verge, cameo-like and glistening white, Mt. Hood, monarch of the Oregon Cascades, for ever standing guard over the disappearing River. [Illustration: Bridal Veil Bluff, Columbia River, Ore. Photo. by E. H. Moorehouse, Portland.] As the shore line grows vague, it would not be difficult for the imagination to conjure up the navigators of the Old World who sailed these seas, then unknown seas of mystery and romance. Looming up through the ocean mists we may see strange ships and stranger crews emerge,--junks with Oriental castaways swept hither by storms and ocean currents; caravels with the dauntless sailors of the sixteenth century; buccaneers and pirates, a motley flotilla. Then the stout crafts of Drake, Behring, Heceta, Cook, Malaspina, Valdez, Bodega, Vancouver, La Perouse; ships of discovery, of trade, of war, of adventure, of science; flags of Spain, of Russia, of Portugal, of France, of England;--on they throng from the hazy Pacific rim toward the Oregon shore. And soon we seem to see, circling around them, canoes with their red-skinned paddlers from the River's mouth. But ships and flags, explorers and natives, fade like a dissolving view. In their place appears a gallant bark, with banner streaming free. What ship? What banner? The _Columbia Rediviva_, and the Stars and Stripes--the flag that still waves over the land of the Oregon. * * * * * And now our vessel rises and falls upon the long swell of the Pacific. Our journey on the Columbia River is ended, and we are upon the open sea. [Illustration: Band of Kootenai Indians, B. C. Photo. by Allan Lean, Nelson.] INDEX A Abernethy, Clark & Co., builders of steamers on Columbia, 236 Abernethy, George, first Provisional Governor, 194 Adams, Mount, origin of, in Indian myth, 22-24; elevation of, 358; caves of, 359; sport in vicinity, 360; structure of, 361-362; storm on, 364; ascent of, 365-366; views from, 366-368 Aguilar, Martin, Spanish explorer, 44-45 Ainsworth, J. C., first captain of steamer _Lot Whitcomb_, 235; joins new company, 237; skill in running rapids, 243 _Albatross_, ship connected with Winship enterprise, 109-11 American Board of Foreign Missions undertakes work for Oregon Indians, 145