struck, upon my arrival at Vancouver in the autumn, with the display of apples in the garden of the fort. Trees were crowded with fruit, so that every limb had to be sustained with a prop. Apples were literally packed along the branches, and so closely that I could compare them to nothing more aptly than ropes of onions. In the vicinity of Walla Walla or the Ney [z] Perce's Fort, the country in every condition for many miles exhibits an arid and cheerless prospect. The soil is deep sand, and the plain upon which the fort stands produces nothing but bushes of aromatic wormwood. Along the borders of the small streams, however, the soil is exceedingly rich and productive, and on these strips of land the superintendent raises his corn and the vegetables necessary for the consumption of his people. The prong-horned antelope occasionally ranged these plains; black-tailed or mule deer is found in the vicinity; grouse of several species are very abundant, and large prairie hare is common. In autumn and winter, in the vicinity of Ft. Vancouver, ducks, geese, and swans swarm in immense numbers. These are killed by the Indians and taken to the Ft. as articles of trade. For a single duck, one load of powder and shot is given; for a goose, 2; and for a swan, 4 loads. For deer 10 loads of ammunition, or a bottle of rum is the usual price. Early in May salmon are first seen entering the river, and the Columbia and all its tributaries teem with these delicious fish. The Indians take great numbers by various modes, subsisting almost wholly on them during their stay, and drying and packing them away in thatched huts to be used for their winter store. Salmon also forms a chief article of food for the inmates of the fort, and hundreds of casks are salted down every season. About 20 miles above this, in the Wallamet Valley, is the spot chosen by the Methodist missionaries for their settlement, and here also, a considerable number of retired servants of the company had established themselves. The soil of this delightful valley is rich beyond comparison, and the climate considerably milder than that of Vancouver. Rain rarely falls, even in the winter season, but dews are sufficiently heavy to compensate for its absence. The epidemic of the country, ague, is rarely known here. In short, the Wallamet Valley is a terrestrial paradise, to which I have known some to exhibit so strong an attachment as to declare that notwithstanding the few privations which must necessarily be experienced by settlers of a new country, no consideration would ever induce them to return to their former homes." J. K. T. [TOWNSEND]. Washington, Jan. 26, 1843. * * * * * _St. Louis New Era_, Tuesday, February 28, 1843.