HILL, BOOKSELLER, Montreal. I /I 'Ill QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. wm r"= 'i I I tl Mil i i iiiiri DISCO V^ REATIVE OF AND ADVENTURE II ;§>*«IFI € A.NCIS t'OOLE, JOHN W.vLTNDOS, KTV-THEBE ON&Ol >UBLISHERS Street. I QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS A NARRATIVE OF DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE IN THE NORTH PACIFIC. FRANCIS POOLE, C.E. EDITED BY JOHN W. LYNDON, AUTHOR OF "NINKTY-THREB, OR THE STORY OF Tffli FRENCH REVOLUTION. LOG-HOUSF, BUHNABV ISLAND. LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1872. All Sights reserved. EDITOR'S PREFACE. Two groups of Islands have been called after the Queen-Consort of King George the Third. The first group is in the South Pacific Ocean. It was discovered in the year 1767, by Captain Carteret, R.N., but has since proved to be of comparatively little significance. The second and larger group lies in the North Pacific Ocean (lat. 52° to 54° N., long. 132° to 134° W.), and will supply the chief subject-matter of the following pages. Captain Cook, R.N., was the first white man who is known to have set foot upon those islands of the North Pacific. He landed in the year 1776 on their northernmost shore, and near a spot which now appears in the map as Cook's Inlet. The famous navigator minutely describes the incidents of this discovery, in the Admiralty edition of his 'Voyage Vlll EDITOR'S PREFACE. to the Pacific Ocean (Vol. ii. pp. 416 et seq.), but conjectures that certain Russians had visited the place before him. He was doubtless aware also of land having been sighted, two years previously, in the same direction, by Captain Juan Perez, a navigator, whom the Spanish Government had sent out with a commission to search for the long-desired North- West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Captain Cook, however, could not tell whether the newly-discovered land was an island or merely part of the American continent. And, in view probably of the insufficient knowledge at his command, he forbore to name the country or to claim it, as otherr wise he would have done, on behalf of the British Crown. Eleven years afterwards, that is, in the year 1787, Captain Dixon ascertained Cook's discovery to consist of an extensive insular group; and, no civilized people disputing the right of the English nation to it, he took formal possession in the name of King George, and christened the acquisition Queen Charlotte Islands. That the Islands form together a healthy, picturesque territory, rich in natural resources and well adapted to colonization, this volume will show. EDITOR S PREFACE. IX Nevertheless, for the space of nearly a century, during which they have belonged to England, no serious attempt has been made to colonize them. Even the Admiralty survey is still wanting. There they lie, waste and fallow, yet marvellously productive, and awaiting nothing but Anglo- Saxon capital, enterprise, and skill to return manifold profit to those who will embark in the venture. The only educated Englishman who has ever lived on Queen Charlotte Islands is Mr. Francis Poole, Civil and Mining Engineer. The best portion of two years he spent, either in actual residence in that outlying dependency, or in laborious work closely connected with it. Unfortunately, some years back, a severe illness, the evident result of former exertion and exposure, prostrated and much enfeebled him. This has prevented a detailed account of his discoveries and adventures, already communicated to a large circle of private friends, being sooner given to the English public. At length, fearing lest such an experience in the North Pacific should be wholly lost, Mr. Poole placed his Diary and other manuscripts in my hands, for publication. b 1 x editor's preface. It is from these papers, written by him with painstaking exactness in the very midst of his adventurous career, that I have faithfully, and I trust agreeably, prepared the narrative which follows. J. W. L. London, November, 1871. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. BOUND FOB, ASPINWALL—AMERICAN COASTING — THE GULF STREAM—SAN SALVADOR—MARIGUANA—THE " QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES I—JAMAICA—THE " "WINDWARD PASSAGE " — ACROSS THE CARIBBEAN SEA—PHOSPHORESCENT "WATERS ... 13 CHAPTER 111. ASPINWALL OR COLON?—AT COLON—ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA—FIRST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN—LAUNCHED ON THE PACIFIC FOR SAN FRANCISCO—THE MEXICAN COAST, WESTWARD—ACAPULCO—MANZANILLA BAY—CALIFORNIA . 25 ACROSS LAKE ONTARIO—INTO THE "STATES —PINE AND COAL LAND—THE "CITY OF ROME"—DOWN THE HUDSON RIVER— > CHAPTER VI. ANTECEDENTS OF CALIFORNIA—ORIGIN OF SAN FRANCISCO—INTO ( FRISCO BY THE "GOLDEN GATE"—STREET-RUFFIANISM—FIRE- BRIGADES IN PORTSMOUTH SQUARE—VIEW OF THE CITY FROM TELEGRAPH HILL—PUBLIC RESORTS—THE " CHINA TOWN "— FUTURE OF SAN FRANCISCO 40 XII CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. BOUND FOR VANCOUVER ISLAND—DISCOMFORT OF THE VOYAGE—FIRST SIGHT OF VANCOUVER—HARBOURS OF VANCOUVER—ESQUIMALT— VICTORIA—THREE MONTHS IN THE CASCADE AND BLUE MOUNTAINS —COPPER ON QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS—FORMATION OF THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE MINING COMPANY—CHIEF KITGUEN, OR KLUE . CHAPTER VI. BOUND FOR QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS—THE " OUTSIDE PASSAGE"— KITGUEN—COAST OF VANCOUVER, .WESTWARD—WHALES—SUNDOWN, AND THE NORTH PACIFIC WATERS—INDIAN WOMEN— SPOONDRIFT—QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS SIGHTED—CAPE ST. JAMES—WHALES AND PORPOISES—HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY . CHAPTER VII. OFF SKINCUTTLE ISLAND—SITUATION OF THE ISLETS—FIRST LOOK- ROUND—FIRST RESIDENT ENGLISHMAN ON QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS—NOMENCLATURE OF THE GROUP—SITE TO ENCAMP— Rate of wages to workmen—cariboo—bears and eagles— MOUNTAIN GOATS CHAPTER VIII. SHORT EXCURSION—LONG EXCURSION—LASKEEK HARBOUR—PAINTED INDIANS—" PROTECTION NOTE"—CHIEF SKIDDAN—HIS FRAME- HOUSE — CUM-SHE-WAS HARBOUR— KLUE'S HOUSE — SLEEPING UNDER SCALPS—SEA-BATH—THE ISLANDERS NO SWIMMERS—BACK TO SKINCUTTLE TAQB 70 91 103 CHAPTER IX. COPPER—NEW SHAFT—ATTACK BY INDIANS—RUSHING IN AMONGST THEM—THE BONE OF CONTENTION—CHIEF SKID-A-GA-TEES—THE ,c KECKWALLY TYHEB'"—SKID-A-GA-TEES DRAWS OFF—THE CUM- SHE-WAS—A CRISIS—REMOVAL TO BURNABY ISLAND—THE RAFT 118 CHAPTER X. MISS SKID-A-GA-TEES AND HER PAPA—QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDERS FAR IN ADVANCE OF MR. DARWIN—SKID-A-GA-TEES AGAIN—PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE TO HIM—ETERNAL FRIENDSHIP—WINTER IN CAMP—STORIES BY THE CAMP FIRESIDE—NORTH LATITUDE ""STORMS—TOWARDS THE INTERIOR—PANCAKES .... 134 CONTENTS. XU1 CHAPTER XI. PA.GB PLOTTING INDIANS—THE GUNBOAT " HECATE "—SHELLING—OPINIONS ON THE " SMOKE-SHIP"—KLUE ON BOARD THE "HECATE"—THE "REBECCA" HEAVES IN SIGHT—FIRING SKINCUTTLE—PROSPECTING—COPPER-MINE ON BURNABY ISLAND—BACK TO VICTORIA BY THE I OUTSIDE PASSAGE"—REPORT TO THE MINING COMPANY . 151 CHAPTER XII. BOUND FOR QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS AGAIN—UP THE "INSIDE PASSAGE" IN THE "LEONIDE"—THE GULF OF GEORGIA—COAST ON EITHER SIDE—RUN AGROUND—THE NORTH AND SOUTH BEN- TINCK ARMS—NEW ABERDEEN—BELLA-COOLA RIVER—TAYLOR'S RANCHE—GETTING OUT TO SEA—THE BELLA-BELLAS—ACROSS TO QUEEN CHARLOTTE 167 CHAPTER XIH. WHERE ARE WE ?—STORMS—WORKMEN, IN BRITISH COLUMBIA— POWERLESSNESS OF A LEADER BEYOND THE HAUNTS OF CIVILIZED LIFE—MUTINY—TO WORK AGAIN—MINING OPERATIONS—CHRISTMAS DAY AT THE LOG-HOUSE—KLUE AND HIS CHIEFS—HOW TO CIVILIZE INDIANS 189 CHAPTER XIV. SEABOARD OF QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS—STORM-TOSSED SEAS— ABORTIVE BEAR-HUNT—INDIANS NEITHER BRAVE MEN NOR CRACK SHOTS—HUNTING BEARS — STORMY PETRELS—TIDE-POLE—AN AQUATIC SKEDADDLE—RIFLE-PRACTICE ON BURNABY ISLAND— TWO STUNNING STORMS 209 CHAPTER XV. SUMMER-LIKE WEATHER—"TRIBUTE AND TUT-WORK"—RIVAL TRIBES —RUNNING SHORT OF PROVISIONS—THE "NANAIMO PACKET" ARRIVES—MISTAKE ABOUT STORES—KLUE AND HIS TRIBE HAVE A DEBAUCH—"WICKEDNESS AND SHORTSIGHTEDNESS OF SUPPLYING THE INDIANS WITH WHISKY—REMEDY FOR THE EVIL—MINING PROGRESS—THE SKID-A-GATES—MINERAL DEPOSITS OF QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS 226 ma ,-.-. — XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVI. DISORGANIZATION—IMPOSSIBILITY OF CONTROLLING THE MEN—A SALIENT EXAMPLE—GLARING THEFTS BY INDIANS—CONSULTATION WITH KLUE AND SKID-A-GA-TEES—DETERMINATION TO RETURN TO VICTORIA—DIFFICULTY OF THE VOYAGE—LAST CHANCE TO THE MEN—HARRIET HARBOUR 244 CHAPTER XVII. PARLEY WITH THE MEN—FAREWELL TO THE BE VUTIFUL ISLES— KLUE'S GRAND CANOE—ACROSS TO THE MAINLAND—PARTING GOMPANY—MISSING THE WAY—SIX DAYS IN THE RAIN—THE SKID-A-GATES WELCOMED BACK 265 CHAPTER XVILI. THE RUPERT INDIANS—FRAY WITH THE ACOLTAS—OVER THE TIDAL WAVE—NANAIMO COAL-MINES—THE COWITCHENS—A GENERAL BATHE AND DRESS-UP—ARRIVAL AT VICTORIA .... 283 CHAPTER XIX. QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS—CLIMATE—HARBOURS—INLAND WATERS —ROCKS—LAND—TREES—FRUITS—VEGETABLES;—FISH—GAME— FUR—NATIVE TRIBES—THE MEN—THE WOMEN—COLOUR—FOOD— MEDICINE—GAMBLING — RELIGION — FEASTS—MUSIC—CAPABILITIES AND PROSPECTS OF THE ISLANDS 299 CHAPTER XX. VIEW OF VICTORIA—HOMEWARD-BOUND—SAN FRANCISCO—COPPERO- POLIS — STOCKTON—THE "KING OF TREES"—MANZANILLA — ARISTOCRATIC THIEVES—MEXICAN LIFE—ACAPULCO — BLACK SWIMMING-BOYS—TEMPERATURE—SUNSETS—TAIL OF A HURRICANE—PANAMA CITY—BACK ACROSS THE ISTHMUS—FROM COLON TO NEW YORK—CANADIAN HEAD-QUARTERS—ON THE WAY TO ENGLAND .... 326 V. Map of Queen Charlotte Copper-mines ... „ 163 VI. Over the Tidal Wave 291 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. I. Harriet Harbour, Queen Charlotte Islands Frontispiece. II. Log-house, Burnaby Island ' Vignette. III. Map of Queen Charlotte Islands Page 95 TV. An Indian Raid 121 m /-3 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. CHAPTER I across lake ontario—into the " states"—pine and coal land— the "city of rome"—down the Hudson river—"Patrick" on his travels—the "empire city." I had been engaged for some twenty months up and down Canada West, now the province of Ontario, m a successful course of | prospecting," and in other work bearing on mines, when I was induced to undertake a journey and voyage to the British possessions which lie along the western seaboard of the North American continent. Encouraging information having reached me, I wished to extend the sphere of my surveying and mining operations. It was in the month of April, 1862, that I set out upon my long and toilsome journey, my starting- point being Kingston, on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. In the summer and autumn it is customary to cross the Canadian lakes by steamboat. But, at that B 2 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. season, the ice still remained sufficiently in possession to render travelling by ice-stage a necessity of the journey, despite the danger resulting from the thinness of the top-ice on the upper lakes in April. Shortly after midday of the 2nd, the guard or conductor cried—"All aboard for Cape Vincent!" with a sharp nasal twang, and, in a few minutes, the passengers had taken their seats inside the ice-stage, which was advertised to get to the American side of the lake in precise time to catch the " cars " due in New York the same evening. The ice-stage is a square-built conveyance, in form resembling a colossal packing-box, only that the sides are composed of wind and waterproof curtains, instead of wood-work. It slides over the ice upon wooden runners shod with steel. Our team consisted of two diminutive horses. These belonged to the Lower Canadian breed, and were wretched objects to look at; for all which, they really could do a deal of work, and tripped along before us with a lightsome and easy step. Already the snow, though three feet deep, was giving signs of approaching dissolution under solar influence, whilst the sun itself began to shine out brilliantly, and the April air to feel mild and pleasant, ACROSS LAKE ONTARIO. as if prognosticating a lovely springtide. Thereupon our driver thought fit slightly to redeem his native surliness by cracking his whip in a cheery manner; and, as the Canadian shore receded, I tried to console myself for the many dear friends left behind by observing that the first prospects of my journey were at least not dispiriting. Ere long, however, this source of consolation proved to be somewhat premature. The driver was an American, and the conductor a Canadian; but both seemed to have sunk their nationalities in a conspiracy to make as much as possible out of their freight of trusting passengers. Owing to the top-ice frequently breaking, the jolting soon became so severe and wearing that it was a positive relief when the conductor " invited " the male portion of his charge to come and assist in pushing the stage back towards the smooth ice. Every now and then, too, we were enabled to heighten the pleasures of this employment by putting our feet right through to the lower ice, and having to hold on to the sides of the stage, till another safe footing could be obtained. At length, after fourteen miles of such forced labour, we touched the limits of the ice-region, and were thence rowed in more comfort over the last mile b2 4 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. of our passage across to the American mainland—that is, if comfort can, by any stretch of fancy, be said to associate itself with boots full of water. Surely so valuable a co-operation might, at any rate, have met with its reward in an honest fulfilment of their advertised contract on the part of the ice-stage people. Our reward, as we neared the land, was to see the | cars " moving off without us, an hotel-keeper at Cape Vincent having bribed the stage-conductor to defer our arrival with a view to the hospitalities of his house, which he fondly trusted must needs follow. The American landlord and the Canadian conductor, however, had alike neglected to count the cost of failure. For we forthwith proceeded to pass our enforced stay in the one hotel of all which we deemed the most unlikely to have cultivated the art of bribery. Meantime, the superior claims of honesty over I smartness " were being practically asserted on the person of our late conductor. At home in England, an appeal would have lain to the owners of the public conveyance, or possibly to a court of law, for damages through delays on the road. But the transatlantic mode of redress is quite as instructive, less expensive, and much quicker. When it appeared T- ** ' nmpfm INTO THE "STATES." J) certain that there was no going on that night, one of my fellow-passengers coolly walked up to the conductor, and, seizing him by the collar, in the twinkling of an eye put his head " in chancery," and served him out in the presence of an admiring public. We started again next morning, under a genial sky, and were speedily flying, with all pressure on, behind two great " cow-catcher " railway engines of the country. The part of the United States through which the New York road from Cape Vincent runs is flattish and unsightly, till Albany and the Hudson River are reached. But the English traveller, with his inborn taste for observation, never lacks subjects of interest in America. Passing through the townlet of Brownville, I noticed some tall and handsome pine-trees. Now it is generally assumed in England that, where pine- trees are grown, the soil must of necessity be barren. Erom this opinion I altogether dissent, for I have seen the very best description of soil underlying large woods of pine, both in Canada and in Bedfordshire in England. This fact, it is true, does not tell so much on the North American continent, where generally the pine-tree roots run along the ground 6 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. within a few inches of its surface, as it does in England, where the roots frequently penetrate fifteen feet into the earth. None the less it seems to me to furnish ample evidence in disproof of the assumption that, because pines prevail in the northernmost districts of the States, the soil there must necessarily be unproductive. A singular property of British North American timber is its brittleness. Nothing is commoner in the Canadian bush than to see huge pieces of forest- wood blown down in all directions by squalls of wind. I well recollect one of those light squalls, so peculiar to Canada, overtaking me when riding once through the bush. In order to save my life I was obliged to urge on my horse at full speed: for I could hear and see the trees toppling over, here, there, and everywhere around me. As one travels south, the timber becomes more consistent. But Nature, not being a respecter of national boundaries, carries its Canadian singularities a long way into the States. In the forests beyond Brownville, quantities of trees, evidently not cut, but snapped and broken off, lay strewn about, right and left. Many of these were beeches of a very fine growth, and such as had apparently intended to !»>. mm TREES, COAL, AND IRON. develop themselves into stately forest trees. Those of their companions which had survived supplied a refreshing change to the eye, after the everlasting pines of Canada. In America, when a beech plantation flourishes, it is universally received as the surest indication of a fertile subsoil. The country through which we passed was not so flat but that railway-cuttings were sometimes requisite. I observed a stratum of blue or shale limestone in the cuttings—proof of the near neighbourhood of coal, although, from aught I could ascertain, none had so far been discovered. I cannot doubt, either, the existence of iron in that particular district. Several of the railway-stations, or "dep6ts,'' as the natives queerly call them, were built of deep red- coloured brick, showing iron to form a constituent part of the clay soil, which abounds here. Up to the present year (1871), the source of wealth latent in that iron-ore remains entirely untouched, the double cause being, doubtless, want of capital and workmen. We now were steering eastward, and gradually getting into a milder climate. The snow had imperceptibly decreased from three feet to about four inches. But there was scarce anything to attract 8 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. attention along the route, save the intense sameness arising from uncultivated lands, stunted woods, and miles upon miles of arid desolation. We would rush on for fifteen or twenty miles without more than an odd farmhouse or two varying the landscape, or without the trace of any living soul inhabiting the country, unless it could be discerned in the signboards which are stuck up where the farmers' roads intersect the railroad, and which warn wayfarers in the wilderness that, when they "hear the bell ring," they are to | look out for the locomotive." On every American engine there is a large bell, which the stoker takes care to ring whenever the " cars " come to a crossing or have to go through a town. If the engine should require wood or water, a loud steam- whistle is sounded, very unlike similar instruments in England, but which repeats the sounds w-o-o-edd, w-a-tt-a, as plainly as I here spell the words, and usually a mile before arriving at the station : so that the porters, or employes according to their Yankee designation, have good time to get ready.- We hurried thus through not a few straggling villages, all aspirants to the status of " cities." But none were of the slightest importance, until at last we sighted the " City of Rome." I ii n.. mrm x ■■" THE " CITY OF ROME." In my capacity as a traveller from Europe, I naturally felt curious to see what sort of place new Rome could be. We just stopped to take water "on board." But, in that short time, I had time enough to note that the borrowed title was not such an absolute misnomer as I had expected. My American fellow- travellers said they were proud of this rising town, and with reason. When I saw " Rome " it had only seen ten years of life itself. Yet it already contained 12,000 inhabitants, and a considerable number of substantial, nay 'even imposing, buildings. It made quite a grand appearance from the station. And who can tell whether it may not be destined, in ages yet to come, to wield some undreamt-of power in the West? Neither ancient nor modern Rome has its destinies limited to a day. Albany was the only town of consequence afterwards. Our "cars" did not enter it, as it lies on the opposite side of the Hudson River, which we had now reached. But, to judge by outside looks and by the manifest advantage of its position, it assuredly has a splendid future before it. Here we enjoyed the sensation, not known to travellers in Europe, of reentering the haunts of civilization. A more delightful ride than that down, the banks of the Hudson 10 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. can hardly be desired. The scenery nowhere partakes of grandeur. What are called the Highlands of the Hudson are mere hillocks compared with the real mountain-ranges of America. They do not even approach the Rhineland for precipitate height and picturesqueness. Still, there is a breadth combined with a winding beauty proper to the Hudson, which is not to be found united on the same scale, in any river that I know of, throughout the European continent. The views as we neared New York differed considerably from those of the Upper Hudson. It is a thousand pities that a bridge has not been constructed at some point about ten miles above the "Empire City." For there the far-famed Hudson opens up an expanse capable of holding vast fleets; and it cannot be doubted that a suitable bridge would materially add both to the interests and the beauty of the river. An amusing incident happened " on board " the I cars," just previous to our arrival at New York. The conductor, in the performance of his duty as ticket-collector, having applied to a passenger fresh from the Emerald Isle to give up his ticket, the following conversation ensued:— "PATRICK" ON HIS TRAVELS. 11 Conductor. " Your ticket, sir." Patrick. | Ah, dhin, what d'ye want it for ?" Conductor. " I want to see it." Patrick. " Do ye, now ? And, faith, and ye won't Conductor. " In that case, you must pay your fare u " over again. Patrick. | Would ye raly like to see it, now ?" Conductor. " I must have either the ticket or the money." Patrick. | Bedad, and ye wont have the ticket— divil a bit of it." Here Patrick pays the fare. Conductor. " Why couldn't you have said at once, that you had no ticket ?" Patrick (winking at the passengers). "Arrah, be aisy, conductor. Maybe, ye'd like to see it now V Here the Emeralder pulls the ticket out of his stocking, and, showing it to the conductor, slips it quickly again into its hiding-place, with the self- satisfied air of a man who has got the best of the argument. It was a matter of lively speculation in the | cars" as to how long Patrick would be likely to reside in the great go-ahead country before he underwent the process of having his wits sharpened. I 13 CHAPTER II. BOUND FOR " ASPINWALL —AMERICAN COASTING—THE GULF STREAM—SAN SALVADOR—MARIGUANA—THE " QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES"—JAMAICA— THE "WINDWARD PASSAGE"—ACROSS THE CARIBBEAN SEA—PHOSPHORESCENT WATERS. Just at that period hosts of gold-hunters were rushing out of the United States to Cariboo, British Columbia. I chanced into their very midst. It was not without considerable difficulty, therefore, that I succeeded in obtaining a berth, by paying a high price for it, on board the Northern Light—a ship of fifteen hundred tons burden, bound from New York to Colon, or Aspinwall, as the Yankees affect to call it. Under British laws such a vessel would not have been allowed to carry more than eight hundred souls in all. I made one, however, of 1694 passengers, besides the crew and the usual quantum of i stowaways." A more motley collection of human beings, and of absolute nondescripts, mortal eyes never beheld. Ill |l I |f| 14 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. That April afternoon was bright, with a warm southerly wind, as I got my traps finally conveyed to the vessel, and before dusk we had steamed along under the heights of Staten Island, through the Narrows, by Sandy Hook, and out into the broad Atlantic. The sun dipped down gloriously behind Long Island, and there seemed every prognostic of a pleasurable if not a rapid passage. Three o'clock the next morning discovered us off the Delaware coast, with the mainsail flapping in a gentle breeze. The beautiful sunset over-night had been followed by a moonlight equally beautiful, and so shiningly clear that I was enabled to read and note my diary while sitting on deck. We were soon,- however, to experience the varieties of American coasting; for, as the day dawned, large numbers of porpoises began to tumble about near the ship's sides, whilst flights of sea-gulls added a still surer presage of the coming storm. In a short time "white horses" were cresting the waves, the vessel took to pitching and rolling, the cordage rattled, the planks creaked, and we saw we were in for a regular gale. Suddenly the thermometer fell to near freezing-point. I lay in my berth, not sick—I wish I had been—but in that perfectly wretched state of existence which •W^M «■■■*■ OFF CAPE HATTERAS. 15 would as lief accept death as life, for some measure of release from the punishment. If there be any consolation in knowing that others are suffering contemporaneously with oneself, I had it in abundance. From my accommodation-berth, five feet long by one and a half wide, I could hear and feel that scores of the crowded passengers were as prone on their backs as I was, the men cursing and the women screaming, and both lamenting in piteous terms their folly in venturing upon the treacherous ocean. I Where are we ?" I asked of the Captain, as I descried him passing my cabin door. I Off Cape Hatteras," was the curt reply. I Do you think there's any danger, Capt'n?" half- shrieked a middle-aged dame, in the next cabin to me. I Danger, mum ? Not the slightest. Just a capful of wind." I That's the worst of them navy men," I heard the middle-aged dame's husband remark, as soon as our O ' Captain had disappeared up the gangway. " When the waves is a-runnin' mountains, they says it's ' rayther fresh,' and when it's a-blowin' of great guns, they tells us it's ' jist smartish sea-going,' they does. Where's the comfort o' that ?" There seemed a good deal of truth in my next 16 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. neighbour's homely criticism, supposing that the Captain's duty does include comforting his passengers. The practical difficulty would probably lie in the Steamship Company having to provide a duplicate of the Captain and his ship's officers. Within twenty-four hours the storm had abated, and determining now to try my " sea-legs," the first object I caught sight of on gaining the deck was an immense shoal of sea-weed, which, the boatswain informed me, was proof positive that we had entered the Gulf Stream. Here, too, I saw for the first time some of the cetacean mammals of the deep, together with flying fish in vast quantities, sporting a few feet off our ship's bows. On the fifth day, we sighted San Salvador, or Cat Island, the name by which the first land seen by Columbus (Oct. 8, 1492) has since been desecrated. Our course was S.S.W., with a strong easterly wind and a long ground-swell; and, on the following morning, we passed Mariguana Island, two miles on the starboard bow, the ship now steering W.S.W., in order to make what is known as the Windward Passage, or the road leading from the Atlantic Ocean, between the islands of Cuba and San Domingo, into the Caribbean Sea. ■ ^l m m — - ^-. iw^WIWWIBBI MARIGUANA ISLANDS. The Island of Mariguana has a type of its own, and quite different characteristics from the West Indian islands in general. As a whole it is as flat as it is possible to imagine land to be. The northern parts, however, are covered with thick and rich- looking woods, whilst the southern, for many miles inland, present the appearance of a wild, uninhabited common—very much, in fact, what the pristine navigators of these seas must have originally found it. The Bar, which lies out almost two miles seaward, offers an insuperable obstacle to Mariguana ever subserving the interests of commerce to any great extent. While hove-to and waiting our pilot, I had an opportunity of observing the bay. From the deck of our vessel it certainly did look very pretty, with its still, pale-green waters, contrasting with the deep-blue sea outside the Bar, and its pipeclay-coloured shore banks, which strike down abruptly and are topped with luxuriant verdure. Numerous flocks of sea-hens were enjoying themselves over the placid surface of this ocean-lake, and demonstrating by their evident tameness. that the Mariguanians are no sportsmen. The shores of all the island, I heard, have a deep deposit of white sand. The shore itself, not the sand, emits a sulphureous smell. Once or c // £ ' 18 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. twice I thought a whiff of it reached out to the ship. Those who know the pleasures of volcanic eruptions will scarce be thankful if fate should cast them upon Mariguana. The place just looks as though, some day or other, it might go down bodily into the depths of the ocean. Far otherwise is the aspect of Cuba, which island was hailed, not long after, by our look-out man from the main-top. Columbus landed in Cuba, at the end of the same month that he took possession of San Salvador. It is 800 miles long, and 125 broad, and lies on the verge of the Bahamas coral-beds. The Spaniards have surnamed it " The Queen of the Antilles," and well does Cuba deserve the title. As we steamed fast towards it, full in view lay this richest jewel in the crown of Spain, its mountain-peaks towering majestically to the sky, and its rich vegetation stretching out of sight to the furthermost horizon. On the left were the lofty peaks of San Domingo, splendidly flanked on the left again by the island of Porto Rico, and on the right by that of Jamaica, as, before making the Windward Passage, we could dimly perceive them in the remote distance. In all nature it were hard to conceive a scene more redolent of THE TROPICAL FIRMAMENT. delights. The Antilles, looked at from without, well realize the mediaeval fable of the "Enchanted Islands." What a strange and rapid vicissitude! Hardly five days ago we had been watching sportive whales and enduring a cruel cold, and now we were launched into a climate so fearfully hot that an awning of blanketing was obliged to be rigged on the hurricane- O O OO deck before any one could attempt to sit there. Fortunately the water had become smooth as a pond, so that our lately bedridden passengers could crawl up from their berths, and, packing themselves together in a dense crowd, inhale a few breaths of fresh air, and feast their eyes on the magnificent diorama revolving before them. In this region, the voyager from the North gazes wonderstruck upon a firmament hitherto unknown to him. As night comes on, he cannot fail to remark that the moon gives out a radiance much stronger and more lucid than in higher latitudes. Even when there is | no moon," the planet Venus and the Milky Way are so extraordinarily brilliant as, in a measure, to supply the want of the light which is reflected on our own planet through the medium of the moon. Then, the disclosure of entirely novel constellations, B 20 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. the grouping together of stars sublime in their magnitude, the nebulse scattered broadcast over the prodigious space above, combine to invest with new-born interest the first view of a nocturnal sky in the tropics. The great Humboldt describes himself as having been deeply affected when he beheld it. As we pressed onward, past Jamaica, and across the Caribbean Sea, I noticed that the water was peculiarly phosphorescent at night. Before starting on my journey I had been prepared for this phenomenon, and had heard scientific men attribute it to the animal life which, they said, causes it in the Pacific. A subterranean communication, it is asserted, exists under the Isthmus of Panama, between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans; and, the Pacific being confidently believed to have a higher watermark than the Atlantic, whatever phenomena are produced in the one will be reproduced in the other. 1 too believe both in the subterranean passage and in the superior altitude of the Pacific; but I explain the phosphoric appearances in either ocean very differently. A species of asphalte (chapote) is found to bubble up from the bottom of some fresh-water lakes in Mexico, and to wash back upon their borders. It has a pungent smell, similar to that SEA-PHOSPHORUS. of asphaltic bitumen, and possesses many of its qualities. Now it is a salient fact that a phosphorous night-light, akin to that seen in parts of the Atlantic and Pacific, also sparkles out of those Mexican lakes. But the ebullition, effluvium, and phosphorus which belong to them have been geologically traced to a volcanic origin. Wherefore, assuming the axiom that like effects proceed from like causes, one surely cannot err in accounting for the phosphorescence of the Mexican Gulf and Caribbean Sea on the hypothesis of semi-extinct volcanoes lying sunken underneath their waters. I am strengthened in this opinion by a test which I had a subsequent opportunity of applying to the falseness of an assumption commonly allowed in support of the contrary opinion. It is assumed that the phosphorescent light confines itself to the water-surface. Having tenacious doubts on this point as well, I hired a canoe, months afterwards, when on the Pacific coast between Vancouver Island and Russian America, and, taking a crew of Indians, I made them row me, one mild but very dark night, about half a mile out from the shore. Fastening the canoe to some kelp—kelp is often 80 or 90 feet long in the Pacific—I first got my Indians to splash or stir up 22 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. the water with their broad paddles. The immediate result was that I could see plainly to read a newspaper. I then attached five fathoms of cord to a large piece of iron shaped like a spoon, and, on sinking the spoon, I saw with the utmost clearness the track of light it left as it went down the five fathoms. I had already convinced myself that sea- phosphorus is not the product of animal life: but now I returned to land satisfied that the deep sea— most probably to the very bottom—contains phosphorus no less than the surface does, thus adding strong corroborative testimony to my theory of volcanic agency being the cause of this salt-water phosphorescence.* But, amid all these disquisitions on natural history and the science of the globe, how fared it on board the Northern Light, which introduced us to them ? If I say of our ship that she was seaworthy, I shall have praised her sufficiently. The Captain proved to be crassly ignorant, careless, and coarse. What * Trustworthy information has been received in England this year (1871) that the Government of the United States of North America are making preparations on a large scale, under the direction of their Superintendent of Coast Surveys, for a complete investigation of the deep-sea bottom of the Gulf Stream. CANADIANS AND AMERICANS. provisions we had were of the roughest kind, such as would hardly have been tolerated in the forecastle of a Newcastle coal-brig. If the vessel had been properly freighted, the accommodation would perchance have sufficed; but, with a double complement of passengers, it was execrable. In England there is a preventive remedy against all these evils. In Yankeedom neither law nor moral sense provides the seafaring traveller with the means of redress, prospective or retrospective. A ship-load of that sort, coming straight from the United States, naturally furnished studies of character and habit in every variety. A few seemed to be travelling, like myself, in search of health and knowledge, or in pursuit of some professional avocation. The great majority, however, braved the perils of the deep, and suffered the hardships of the passage, solely with the hope of amassing wealth in the gold- fields of California or British Columbia. At least four hundred of my shipmates were Canadians; and very interesting it was to mark the difference between their behaviour and that of the American passengers. These appeared to be utterly bereft of the kindly feelings and social tendencies which help to make life endurable. There was hardly a day, or an hour in 24 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. the day, that they did not contrive to get up some dispute or other about the veriest trifles: whereas the Canadians made themselves agreeable throughout, retaining withal a respectful language and demeanour towards every person on board, after the manner of men who know how to consider other people's rights, not less than their own. The 20th was Easter Sunday. When day broke, we perceived that we were rapidly approaching the far-famed Isthmus which slenderly links together the two continents of North and South America; and by eight o'clock that morning the Northern Light was safely moored alongside the jetty at Aspinwall, having made the passage from New York in eight days and 19f hours, exactly—that is, a distance of 2338 sea-miles, at the average speed of somewhat over eleven knots an hour. 25 CHAPTER III. ASPINWALL OR COLON?—AT COLON—ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA— FIRST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN—LAUNCHED ON THE PACIFIC EOR SAN FRANCISCO—THE MEXICAN COAST, WESTWARD—ACAPULCO—MANZA- NILLA BAY—CALIFORNIA. The appellation by which the world at large will ultimately recognise the northern port on the Isthmus of Panama is still a matter of uncertainty and contention. Speculators from the United States have dubbed it Aspinwall, after one Mr. W. H. Aspinwall, a New York merchant, who was the chief originator of the Panama railroad, and therefore, to some degree, of this seaport town. But the natives, and indeed all South Americans, insist on the place retaining its ancient name of Colon, the Spanish form of Columbus. It must be confessed the natives have both taste and right on their side. That a locality should be handed down to posterity in connexion with the greatest maritime discoverer that ever lived is an honour which even a Yankee trader of the 26 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. nineteenth century could scarcely hope to cap. As to right, what should we English think if a party of Frenchmen were to take possession of some harbour on our coasts, and pretend to substitute Lafitte or Clicquot for some time-honoured name prominent in our history? The trading interest of the North American States will probably succeed in imposing its nomenclature upon Panama. If right were to prevail, it would not be so. On board ship, we talked of our destination as Aspinwall. But, once landed, I feel I ought to refer to it as Colon. It is situated on the island of Manzanilla, in Limon or Navy Bay. There had been a village there originally, when, in 1850, a larger settlement was begun, for the purpose of surveying the Isthmus, with a view to a railway. Since then Colon has .grown into a town of real importance, and at present contains some 200 houses, in which about 2000 inhabitants permanently reside. Its trade depends exclusively on the railroad, nearly the whole of the male population being either labourers or officials employed by the Company. A small fleet of steamers— engaged for the most part in the Chilian, Peruvian, and Californian trades—may generally be seen riding vm. THE ISTHMIAN RAILROAD. at anchor in the bay. But the bay itself, though deep enough to float the largest vessels almost close up to the shore, lies so exposed that no ship is perfectly secure in it. The construction of a breakwater has been long intended, and will no doubt eventually be accomplished. Until the.promoters of the railroad arrived in Panama, the country, as far as the eye could reach from the bay, was one forest of mangrove, mahogany, and manzanilla—a medicinal plant from which the island derives its name. But now, the low level of the waste land, the marshy character of the uncovered ground, the decayed vegetation, the deposit of birds, the refuse of fish, the heat of the atmosphere, and the superabundant rainfall, have all united in creating a dangerous and clinging miasmatic fever, justly dreaded by un- acclimatized strangers. The line from Colon to Panama City cost, it is said, the life of one man for every foot of its construction. Two miles outside Colon is the burial-place of that forlorn-hope of railway navvies. They came in crowds, enticed by the wages (100 dollars a month, that is, 201.); but very few lived the month out. In short, the wide world does not contain a spot, Sierra Leone perhaps excepted, more ml 28 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. undesirable as a residence than Colon and its neighbourhood. However, for those who are simply passing through, the malignant fevers have now almost ceased. And fortunate it is thus, because a voyage to the Pacific Ocean comprises nothing so interesting as the railway journey across the Isthmus of Panama. The housing at Colon may be dismissed with the remark that it consists principally of wood-built shanties, having zinc roofs and brick floors. They are hotels, warehouses, railway offices, or labourers' cots. That which struck me most, on landing, was the vitality of the vegetable and animal creation. Nature, as seen on the Isthmus, cannot be fitly portrayed. She appeared to have decked herself out with extravagant luxuriance, to bid us wayfarers from the bleak North a festive welcome. There is an inexpressible loveliness in the deep-green pendants of the palm and cocoa-nut trees, as the eye, unused to a southern clime, first lights upon them. Pine-apples sold at twopence each, and prodigies they were too. A plentiful supply of delicious dates, bananas, oranges, and all sorts of fruits and vegetables proper to the tropics, met one at every turn, and at fabulously low prices. ^mmmmm THE INSECT FAUNA. Turkey-buzzards seemed to be hopping and flying, about as common as crows in England; and the monkey-tribe had evidently become domesticated, for a representative monkey sat squatting at the entrance to each store, inn, or private house, just as cats and dogs do with us. But the truly surprising and amusing characteristic was the insect fauna kingdom. Not to mention Brob- dingnag beetles, taking their " constitutional" down the main street in broad day, I was shown a Norfolk- Howard, which had only been born three weeks before, and had yet attained to the dimensions of a young turtle. A little black boy was playing with it on the footpath, much in the same way that little white boys play with rabbits. He had got a string tied to the hind leg of his Norfolk-Howard, and I stood by while he urged on his ungainly playfellow with a stick. The distance from Colon to Panama City is forty- seven miles. In the afternoon of the day of our arrival we all left together by a tremendously long train. It was here, more than anywhere, that the marvel of the contrast between a temperate and a torrid zone really revealed itself. As our train rolled slowly along, we took in reaches of the surrounding country. 30 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. No sign of habitation, or even of soil, was visible in either lowland or highland. Mountain rose up magnificently behind mountain, every one clothed to its summit with flowers, fruits, and foliaceous life. I saw clusters of dazzling white lilies, bowers of the • broad-leafed plantain, thickets of tall geraniums, groves of palms and rival fern-trees, stacks of verdant sugar-canes, and, above them again, enormous trunks of the sycamore and the mango, interwoven with Virginian creepers and a Still virgin brushwood. All these stretched out, like the marshalled forces of some giant army, for miles and miles athwart the land-: scape. Gazing from my carriage-seat over this panorama of wondrous floriage and foliage, basking in a daily recurrent sun-sheen, I could not avoid the thought that possibly Panama-land had once been part of Eden. Nearer to Panama, the mountain-ranges decreasing in size, we caught a cursory view of the great Picacho, which rears its 7200 feet far off to the westward. Reaching almost up to Mount Picacho is the famous Sierra de Quarequa, It was from its crest that, on September the 29th, 1513, Nunez de Balboa sighted the Western Ocean. Irrespective of the glory attaching to such a discovery, the rapture —i m • ■- ««i THE BAY OF PANAMA. with which he and his followers, first of all Europeans, are said to have surveyed that glistening sea and the grove-covered islets studding it, can easily be credited by any one who has looked upon the Bay of Panama. There are few scenes, viewed at a distance, more suggestive of an earthly paradise, according to the old-fashioned notion of it. were it if a closer inspection carried out the illusion. By the banks of a meandering stream, and in among beautiful groups of hillocks, green as only Panama grass can make them, our train kept sauntering on until, after a journey of about two hours and a half, it. finally landed us safely at Panama City. The town occupies a promontory which juts out some good way into the sea. As a place of transit it has now become all-important. I would fain have stayed there awhile; but necessity compelled me to defer my examination of it till my return. A short half-hour more, and two tenders might have been seen steaming away to the offing, with the whole of us cargo of passengers from the Northern Light on board, and another hundred, who had come straight from England by the Southampton steamer, superadded. All told, we counted nearly eighteen hundred. The Californian packet, which was awaiting 32 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. our arrival, had hardly room enough to accommodate a third of that number comfortably. Her name was the Golden Age, an American-built four-decker, and, if she had not been so shockingly overcrowded, on the whole as goodly a ship, both inside and out, as one could wish to sail in. At ten o'clock the same evening she weighed anchor, and bore away for Point Mala, the southwestern headland in the Bay of Panama, and thence, after two points further in a south-westerly course, due north-west for her voyage to San Francisco. That was on the Sunday. By noon on the following Tuesday we had made a run of 366 miles, having steamed between the mainland and Quibo Island, and hugged the shores of Costa Rica, till we could discern with our glasses the broad entrance to the river Estrella. The water of the ocean looked as smooth and limpid as though we were merely crossing a lakelet in Canada. And when we sat down to our meals in the large saloon, without any more disturbance from the elements than we should have had in an hotel on terra firma, I could not help recalling the three months of uninterrupted calm weather experienced by Magelhaens, when he first doubled Cape Horn, I I ■!■■ A DELINQUENT PUNISHED. and which induced him to christen these seas the Pacific Ocean. At this stage of our Californian voyage, the food they gave us in the Golden Age was infinitely superior to that provided in the Northern Light. We had delicious coffee, fresh butter, juicy beef, and biscuits of the very best American flour. But what pleased me most was the dish of huge Californian potatoes which always garnished the dinner-table. In shape and measurement the smallest of these potatoes resembled a large-sized cocoa-nut; and to get through half a one was quite as much as any of the diners could satisfactorily accomplish. By degrees we veered off from the coastway, and as the ocean maintained an unruffled surface, the monotony came to be temporarily relieved by an incident extremely characteristic of the lands of the Far West. A berth forward having been found less its blanket, the missing article was discovered, after a persistent search, in the possession of one of the steerage passengers. Whereupon his messmates determined to clinch the matter by taking the law into their own hands. Some were for stringing him up summarily to the yard-arm, others- proposed to crop his hair and D I 34 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. brand him P.P. (i.e. Provincial Penitentiary), whilst a third party thought a good ducking under the pump would be the right thing. But milder counsels at length prevailed. So, stripping the delinquent of his coat, they pinned a card behind him, with the word Thief in bold letters on it, and then marched him in that unenviable attire up and down the deck for a couple of hours. When we turned in that night, we were opposite Cape Blanco, keeping well in the open, and still in a dead calm. But before the next morning a strong land-breeze sprang up, and by ten o'clock, though we had run 339 miles, we found ourselves in the midst of a hurricane, the sea raging terrifically, our ship pitching and rolling in a fearful manner, and all hands lying out on the yards to double-reef the sails, or securing the mainmast with extra bracings to keep it from going by the board. This exceedingly unpacific state of the Pacific Ocean continued with little diversity for several days, during which I, and about a dozen other passengers, were the only persons amongst our eighteen hundred who could stand the deck. Of all the ills that flesh is heir to, none can compare with sea-sickness. But its horrors are enhanced tenfold when you feel mm i. i il i THE MEXICAN COAST. that every dip of the ship into the deep, and every assault of the sickness itself, is simply part of the process by which you are being torn from your native land, and from the home where you have left your dearest friends. In this part of the Pacific it takes no time, so to speak, to get up a storm. The reaction, on the contrary, is extraordinarily slow. Hence, though that gale duly subsided, we did not again enjoy the same smooth waters as at first. To enumerate all our points and distances would be tedious. Suffice then to say that we ploughed on our way bravely enough, oftener standing out to sea, yet occasionally running right under the coast, and twice putting into harbour. For beauty and sublimity nothing in Europe can equal the scenery on the western coast of Mexico. As seen from ship-board, it appeared to consist, for hundreds of miles, first, of countless hillocks, clothed with a verdure of rich and varied shades, and, further inland, of high mountain-ranges, which likewise looked one mass of green to their topmost crowns. The singular slant of the lower hill-country points, in the clearest way possible, to this portion -of the globe having been transformed—presumably at some d 2 36 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. remote period, history being silent about it—by a volcanic eruption which operated across no considerable width, but along a surprisingly disproportionate length of territory. The unquestionable fact of snch a convulsion seems all the more curious because, now and again, the higher mountains infringe upon the elongated continuity of the lower, pushing spurs down to the seaboard, and even precipitate promontories out into the sea. Viewed together, those Mexican coast-scenes make up a description of landscape such as would repay many of our first-class artists the trouble of a voyage, provided always that they escaped the deadly coast-fever. However, with so much beneficence in nature, it was sad to think we were viewing it from the point where " distance lends enchantment to the view." For not only do those grand mountain-ranges abound in gloomy caverns and repulsive ravines, filled with everything most horrifying in the brute creation; but, as we were trustworthily informed, the passes which lead over them are, and probably will long be, the abode of merciless banditti, who have subjected Western Mexico to a reign of terror, and have rendered existence there an insupportable burden. One morning we ran into the harbour of Aca- ACAPULCO. 37 pulco, our object being to deliver a hundred tons of freight, and to ship as much more in export stores. This town, if viewed through European spectacles, is a conglomeration of poverty and untold misery. Yet the people had a satisfied look, reminding one forcibly, as they lounged in front of their houses or under the trees on the plaza, of the lazzaroni vegetating on the Chiaja at Naples. If the rest of their provisions are as cheap as what they brought off to the Golden Age, they must certainly have enough to eat, without any great labour. Oranges were selling at a halfpenny, bananas at a shilling for a bunch of fifty, cocoa-nuts at a penny, and six large cakes of molasses at a shilling. We had green parrots offered to us at two shillings each. The harbour is sufficiently deep to float large-sized men-of-war. We saw here the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Maitland, and saluted it as we left. Three other English ships of war, and a French one, were also at Acapulco: an unpleasant station, I fancy. Another morning we again diverged from our course, to enter Manzanilla Bay, for the purpose of. shipping a cargo of silver from the mines of Colima. There was the same familiar reach of country: but it impressed one as uncultivated, almost waste in fact, 38 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. and only too fit a background to the tumble-down' port of Salagna at the bottom of the bay. The heat of the sun had been dreadful. But now, each turn of our screw withdrawing us gradually from its worst effects, I soon began to recover. A tropical sun, while it lasts, is a wicked master. I can best describe the sensation it causes as resembling the pain that would be produced if any one were to seize a handful of your hair, and use his utmost efforts to pull it all out by the roots. European travellers to the South invariably fall into the error of wearing light and airy head-gear. But, in a hot climate, there is no defence like a thick, stout cap. The same for the feet. The action of a tropical sun is absolutely perpendicular, not leaving any room for shadows. Whenever it exerts its power, and nowhere more so than when bearing down upon the deck of a ship, thick soles to one's shoes are essential. After Manzanilla we kept to windward of the coast, never sighting land for a week, even once: till, on Sunday the 4th of May, we steered in again towards the shore, and before evening saw the tall, snow-clad mountains of Upper California, which overhang the lovely Bay of Monterey. At daybreak next day the firing of two small SAN FRANCISCO HARBOUR. guns from our bows imparted the welcome intelligence to the wayworn passengers that we had reached the entrance to the land-locked harbour of San Francisco, and that we should land at that city in time for breakfast. The last act of us English on board the Golden Age was to sign a protest to the Captain against the provisions we had been served with. Our two days' feasting had turned out 1 a mockery, a delusion, and a snare." During the rest of the voyage nothing could have been coarser, dirtier, or more wholly repellent than our saloon-table—not even that of the Northern Light. But, of course, our protest went for waste paper. The passage from Panama to San Francisco, occupied exactly thirteen days and eighteen hours, deducting twelve hours for delays at Acapulco and Manzanilla; thus making 3500 miles at the average rate of ten and three-quarter knots an hour. A fair speed, considering the gale. ANTECEDENTS OF CALIFORNIA—ORIGIN OF SAN FRANCISCO—INTO FRISCO BY THE " GOLDEN GATE "—STREET RUFFIANISM—FIRE-BRIGADES IN PORTSMOUTH SQUARE—VIEW OF THE CITY FROM TELEGRAPH HILL—PUBLIC RESORTS—THE " CHINA TOWN "—FUTURE OF SAN FRANCISCO. That part of California, which, in the form of a peninsula, runs down the western coast of North America, was originally discovered by the Spaniards; but they did not at first colonize it, and they hardly named it. For quite a century afterwards it was known to Englishmen as New Albion, Sir Francis Drake having so named it when, in 1579, he touched there during one of his buccaneering expeditions. As soon, however, as the Spanish Government began to make settlements on the peninsula, they restored its old Indian name of California. The discovery of Upper California dates much later. Indeed, it was only in the year 1770 that the first ship sailed into the Bay of San Francisco. The pioneers of this great commercial mart of the nine- POSITION OF SAN FRANCISCO. 41 teenth century were certain Franciscan friars, who, in 1776, founded a mission station on the spot, with a view to civilizing the savages of the interior. It is from them that the name of San Francisco has been derived. In a purely trade point of view the City of San Francisco is splendidly placed. It lies at the northeast corner of a strip of land which serves to divide and protect a deep and roomy bay from the Pacific Ocean. But as we rounded the headland and approached the town, it was depressing and almost appalling to see the completeness of the desolation encircling it on every side. There are high hills, some twenty miles off; and between the hills and the town not ten arable acres exist, or could be made to exist, and no trees whatsoever. Since the time I am writing about, the Pacific Railroad has been brought to San Francisco. Even now, however, only one road leads out of the city, none other being likely to be wanted for many a long year to come : and the traveller by that road literally does not reach a single place of shelter from the burning rays of the sun, to say nothing of a pleasant landscape, until he has traversed the sandy plain for twelve miles. Up to 1834 the missionary friars had retained ;. | I II 42 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. complete control, secular as well as religious, of the settlement in this bay. In that year the Mexican Government secularized all the missions of California; and thenceforward they rapidly decayed. Although the first houses of a new colony were erected in 1835, it advanced so slowly that a census taken in 1847 only showed a population of 459 persons. But in 1848 the first Californian gold was discovered, and two years afterwards there were more than 30,000 people living in San Francisco, under the government of the United States, which had annexed the colony. No such rapidity of growth had ever been witnessed in any town in the world. In 1860 the population had increased to 56,805; and since then the increase has steadily gone on, at the rate of about 10,000 a year. I had been conning these facts over in my berth long before we made the Bay of San Francisco; and they had quite prepared me to see in California order and disorder, grandeur and squalidness, and all the heterogeneous elements which constitute society in the abstract, jumbled up into a concrete of most extraordinary admixture. And I was by no means disappointed. Hardly had I arrived at my hotel when two •mm** STREET-RUFFIANISM. respectably-dressed men, engaged in hot dispute, rushed out of it. The case was the interminable one of North against South. Taking it for no more than an usual American 1 difficulty," I turned to enter the hotel; but chancing to look again, I saw that the Northerner was about to add violence to his slanderous and abusive language. Already he had drawn a revolver from his pocket. The Southerner, however, was a match for him. Quick as an eagle, he drew his own revolver, and shot the rowdy through the heart, in presence of all the people. Arrest, it is true, followed—or rather, the killer gave himself up; but he was soon released, the Southerners being still predominant in California. This may have been an improvement on the state of affairs which existed in the earlier days of San Francisco, when crime, under the forms of incendiarism, robbery, and murder, reached such an alarming height that the townspeople became persuaded of the total inefficiency or corruption of their law-courts, and, forming a vigilance-committee, seized the prisoners in the gaols and hanged them in the open street; but that homicide should continue to be committed, in broad day and in the public highway, with impunity, and even with approval, seemed to me to demonstrate beyond a 44 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. doubt how little the San Franciscans could yet pretend to civilization. As a contrast to street-ruffianism we were regaled, the same evening, with a really striking sight in Portsmouth Square. It happened to be the anniversary of the formation of the first fire-brigade, and the firemen celebrated their day by a procession about the town. Incendiarism and the fragile build of many of the older houses in San Francisco, and indeed all over the United States, have combined to make the fire-brigade in that part of the globe an institution of far greater importance than in any other country. The immense number of engines did not surprise me, therefore. But their handsome brass and plated mountings, their tasty decoration with flags and flowers, the glittering uniforms of the men, and the general arrangements of the procession, formed so odd a counterpart to the unpunished crime of the morning, that seeing such a display could alone have made me believe in what it suggested. So long as a people preserve to an appreciable degree the instinct of order, even though it show itself in nothing more important than a procession, real prosperity may always be prognosticated for them. VIEW OF SAN FRANCISCO. 45 Many of the passengers by the Golden Age, who had left England and America with the intention of emigrating to British Columbia, unexpectedly dropped into good situations at San Francisco, their wages averaging four to six dollars a day, besides board and lodging. I myself received two offers immediately on landing, one at 100 and the other at 170 dollars a month, the latter equal to 510£. a year, and both places excellent in their way. But I declined them, in anticipation of a better opening further on. Having only a few days for San Francisco, I bethought me to make the most of my time by inspecting the city from every point of view, inside and out. In my opinion one should always begin with the outside of cities. It gives shape to preconceived ideas, and begets a plan of inspection better than much unguided wandering within. The finest view of San Francisco, or Frisco, as the citizens love to call their city, is obtainable from Telegraph Hill, an eminence in the north-eastern corner of it. From the top of this hill, in a northwesterly direction, is to be seen the famous Golden Gate, or sea-entrance to the Californian El Dorado, against the rock-bound portals of which the white 46 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. waves are for ever dashing, and into which the ocean breeze sweeps daily with its chilling but purifying mists. Turning round to the south-east, I could discern, nearly forty miles away, the conical peak of Monte Diablo, 4000 feet high, and looking like some giant sentinel who for untold ages had stood guard over these waters, whilst their broad surface re-echoed no human sound save the paddle-splash of some Indian in his frail canoe. Due south, and as beneath my feet, lay the city, which it is easy to see will at no very distant date become the great capital of the United States in the Pacific. The settled portion of the town appeared to cover an area of about ten miles. From my position on the hill I observed that what had been told me concerning the denseness of the buildings was not exaggerated. The original streets lie together in a sort of amphitheatre formed by three hills, Telegraph Hill being one. These streets are built in rectangular blocks, and with but a narrow roadway. Of late years they have been used solely as the business quarter, Beyond these the streets become much wider, with houses standing back in gardens at considerable intervals, or in terraces having rows of trees in front. The quays make an admirable QUAYS OF SAN FRANCISCO. 47 appearance. The position they occupy was originally a chaos of loose sands and mud-hills, furrowed by the refuse-water of centuries. In 1854, a series of gigantic operations, such as are only known in America, entirely reclaimed the chaos, so that, while the largest vessels can now ride in safety alongside the quays or piers, the heaviest waggons are able to convey with facility all kinds of merchandise down to the very ship-board. Excepting New York, there is no finer array of wharves on the American continent. The quays of San Francisco are, in point of openness and accessibility, even superior to those of New York. By-and-by, when both have consolidated their present woodwork in to stone, they perhaps may begin to rival Liverpool, with its six miles of splendid masonry. The shipping in the bay was numerous, and included craft of every tonnage, from schooners of thirty tons to a fifty-gun English frigate, with its pennant streaming from the main, and "the flag that braved a thousand years " flying from the mizen- yard. By the aid of my glass I could make out a red-coated marine pacing the flush-deck aft. Amid so much to admire in the future capital of the West, it was grateful to reflect that, as yet, our Empire of the Seas showed no inclination to decay. 48 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. On descending from my survey-post, I walked through twelve bran-new squares. Most of them were, so far, either covered with brushwood or completely in the rough. Only one, Portsmouth Square, gave me the impression of being civilized. It is tastefully laid out in grass plots, marble fountains, and the beginnings of shady walks. The City Hall, an ugly gazabo of a building, flanks one side of it, and private houses run along the three other sides. The most remarkable public resort, after this square, is Montgomery Street. I will only say that it irresistibly reminded me of Broadway in New York, or rather of what Broadway probably looked like before its trees were removed. The housing in the squares and principal streets is of a yellowish sandstone, nearly identical in look and substance with the stone used for building purposes throughout our own Northamptonshire. But a very large number of the original houses still remain, some having brick frontages, the majority, however, being wooden constructions, and, in not a few instances, the merest shed-work. Montgomery Street, and one or two others, are tolerably well paved; but the general system is plank-work, as in Canada and in so many cities of the United States; only that at San Francisco SAN FRANCISCO CUSTOM-HOUSE. 49 planks have been adopted for the roadway as well as the footpath. In the absence of granite or limestone, planking is doubtless the handiest method of road-making, particularly where virgin-forests are still within reach; but every one can see that in a city existing by traffic it is not a system to last long. If the San Franciscans should find it too expensive to imitate the New Yorkers, who imported Aberdeen granite to pave their Broadway, they will probably before many years substitute asphalte or some cognate composition for their present road-planking. Though as a matter of course tramways were in operation, they seemed less in favour here than in any American city I had seen, whilst omnibuses ' and other hackney conveyances were proportionately more numerous. The finest building in the town is, without doubt, the Custom-house. It stands upon ground over which the waters of the bay formerly flowed. Its foundation is pile-work, the piles having been driven thirty feet down, through soft clay, in order to get at a hard and solid bottom. A substantial and really imposing edifice having been afterwards erected upon this, the establishment of the Custom-house is justly The entire E considered as a feat of engineering skill. i 50 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. struoture, I was told, cost 800,000 dollars, or 160,000/., which I can well believe. The " American " Theatre (so called in contradistinction to the " Chinese " Theatre) is, externally, as handsome a public edifice as the United States can boast. The interior appeared to me almost an exact copy of the Music Hall in New York. I went one evening to see the performances. These were the Colleen Bawn and the Silent Woman. The coarse and undisguised immorality of the latter piece so utterly disgusted me that I left the theatre abruptly. The house was a full one, and quite half composed of respectably-dressed females• but not another soul in it stirred. Where the passions are thus played with indiscriminately, it is no wonder they should often take the direction of murder, that the most hideous crimes should be easily condoned) and that the general tone of morality should have descended to (he very depths, as I was given to understand is the sad case at San Francisco. No visitor to Frisco omits to see its " China-town." But there is really much less to see in it than one is led to expect. In 1866 it was calculated there were about 100,000 Chinese in all California, of whom some 10,000 lived at San Francisco. Their quarter SAN FRANCISCO " CHINA-TOWN." 51 consists of from fifteen to twenty narrow streets, all of wood, and wallowing in a most iniquitous state of filth. It presented the usual Oriental features, with which every eye is familiar—open bazars, striped awnings, and an unassorted collection of nondescript goods. For all that, there was an evident spirit of thrift and activity amongst those Chinese emigrants, separating them widely from genuine Orientalism as we imagine it. In passing through the thronged streets I did not come upon one idle man. The inhabitants were described to me as sober, orderly, and peaceful, and as excelling all other classes in these respects. And yet they have invariably belonged to the lowest stratum of society in their native country, whilst the very faces of the greater number, particularly of the women, betrayed an ingrained demoralization shocking to behold. As my information precisely coincided with what I saw, this is a proof that vice may permeate whole communities without any of the concomitant manifestations of it to which we are accustomed in Europe. Thus I took a four days' glance at the city of San Francisco. My conception of it, on leaving, was that years will E 2 I ill 1 53 CHAPTER V. BOUND FOR VANCOUVER ISLAND—DISCOMFORT OF THE VOYAGE—FIRST SIGHT OF VANCOUVER—HARBOURS OF VANCOUVER—ESQUIMALT VICTORIA— , THREE MONTHS IN THE CASCADE AND BLUE MOUNTAINS—COPPER ON QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS—FORMATION OF THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE MINING COMPANY—CHIEF KITGUEN OR KLUE. It was a Thursday afternoon, May the 8th, when again I committed myself to the pathless ocean, this time in a small steam-vessel called the Pacific. About three hundred passengers would have made a respectable freight for her. Nobody seemed to know how many we had on board; but I guessed twelve hundred to be near the mark. I shall give this part of my narrative in the words of my Diary:— "Friday, May 9th.—Awoke this morning in a miserable state. Two English gentlemen and myself had slept on deck all night, having contrived to rig some canvas to protect us from the driving rain. We might certainly have got wetter without it." "Saturday, May 10th. — Steamer making little f 54 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. progress. Nothing but rain, rain, rain. Wind very high, a real nor'-wester, with thick fogs, which render the voyage extremely dull and uninteresting, not to mention the awful misery of such a crowded and unprovided ship. An English friend of mine, who has also come out from Canada, begins to curse his fate in leaving that land of comfort for the prospect of gold in the mines of British Columbia. There are a good many more who share his opinion. For my part I feel perfectly sure that the hardships at the mines cannot equal those we are subject to on board this steamer. Horses, mules, sheep, pigs, oxen, huddled together. All hours of the day and night, hundreds of the passengers, in various stages of seasickness, may be seen clinging to the rigging, with the hope of imbibing a mouthful of air. Food is almost an illusion; and oftentimes I would sooner go without a meal, such as it is, than risk losing some hole or corner where the crush is less, and where one has a better chance of escaping the hoofs of the Mexican mules—a kick from whom might soon enough send one ' down among the dead men.' It is reported that several passengers were lost overboard, in both the Northern Light and the Golden Age, without- being missed till the end of each voyage. I can well ■»■ A MISERABLE VOYAGE. 55 credit it: for it appears to me a hundred people might tumble over the sides during the night, and their surviving comrades not be any the wiser, or the Captain and crew be at the least pains to save the lost ones. Close astern of the figure-head is the place I usually aim at. The wind blows fiercely there. However, one does not encounter so much dirt forward as aft. It is consequently healthier, though, like every other available spot, choke-full of pas sengers >> "Sunday, May l\th, 10 p.m. — A wet dreary night before us, and still nowhere to lay my head. This comes of travelling by Yankee ships. Thank heaven, I shall soon be again under the good Union Jack of Old England, where the rights of the humblest passengers are respected, to say nothing of those who pay large sums as their fare. Commend me to British vessels for sterling loyalty to whatever arrangements they make." "Monday, May 12th. — Cramped and sore from having ventured to take a stretch on the wet deck when tired out with standing. Tried to dry and warm myself against the steamer's funnel. Strong easterly gale now blowing, heavy sea running, ship straining fearfully, as with double-reefed topsails she -mi 56 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. rises out of it, and lunges over to windward, and again pitches headlong into the ugly sea-trough. " 6 a.m.—Was quite half an hour in reaching the heel of the ship's bowsprit, the throng of people and cattle on deck being so great. Horizon clearing at last on the weather-bow. Gives us a sight of Cape Hancock, at the mouth of the Columbia river. This river divides the State of Oregon from that of Washington. There is a bar which lies about two miles westward of the mouth of the river, and prevents large vessels from entering. This is a fortunate circumstance for British Columbia, as it necessitates the United States' traders seeking a harbour within the limits of our territory. J s. " 4 p.m.—Weather clear. A beautiful sky in the west promises a fine daj^ for to-morrow. Rapidly nearing the Strait of San Juan de Fuca." To the best of my recollection, I had just finished making the last of the above entries in my Diary, and had fought a way to the forecastle, with the hope of catching the first glimpse of British soil, when one of my fellow-passengers, an Englishman I believe, suddenly cried "Vancouver Island!" Thrice welcome sound it was, indeed. For there, well in front of us, like some transformation scene STRAITS OF SAN JUAN DE FUCA. 57 emerging from the great repertory of nature, lay the craggy shore and high land of Vancouver. At first it appeared as the veriest outline in the dim distance. But the rough sea of the morning had been gradually calming, and we made such rapid headway that within half an hour the coast began to stand out in bold form, and to reflect gloriously the rays of the declining sun. It seems necessary to journey long away from the sheltering aegis of British institutions in order fully to know the joy of again hailing the land where the privilege of being plundered and otherwise injured by one's neighbour, whenever he listeth, is at least limited. Soon we were alive from stem to stern: ducks and hens clucking, cattle lowing, sheep bleating, mules restive, and every human passenger intent on gathering his or her belongings together—all certain indications that the end of our four days' misery was not far off. Before sunset, in fact, the Pacific steam- vessel had weathered Cape Flattery, and was going ahead in delightfully smooth water up the Strait of San Juan, which constitutes the line of demarcation between British and American territory. The pace was too rapid, however, to allow us to see, on either shore, more than a moving panorama of steep red- i I 58 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. coloured cliffs, those on the American side running back into a range of high and rugged peaks, grandiloquently styled the Olympian Range by ite owners. . I may here say a word, parenthetically, about anchorage. It is a common mistake of writers who casually mention British Columbia to talk of Van- couver Island as possessing numerous safe and commodious harbours. They confound a part with the whole. Many excellent harbours certainly do exist on the mainland, although but few of them are as jet m general use. Owing to the powerful tides and currents, and to the contrary winds so prevalent on the coast, those harbours are and must remain practically closed, unless to steamers of high pressure. I knew a clipper-schooner which took two weeks to do the Inside Passage, a distance of only three hundred miles. Besides, I can speak from personal experience, having sailed several times up and down the Passage in sloops, as well as once in a schooner, and paddled it on another occasion in a canoe manned by Indians. And I testify that, notwithstanding the pleasant and generally safe character of the Passage, steam is what alone can ever turn the harbours of the mainland to practical account in the interests of commerce. HARBOURS OF VANCOUVER ISLAND. 59 The first of the mainland harbours is that known as the North Bentinck Arm, which I shall afterwards notice. The second is New Westminster. Of both these it is especially true that they never can serve as anything more than ports of entry for steamers. At New Westminster, the current of the Fraser river is marvellously strong. No sailing-vessel has a chance against it. Even high-pressure steam-vessels find it an absolute impossibility to make the harbour without putting on an unhmited quantum of extra pounds to the inch. In Vancouver Island proper, however, there are three fine harbours. The first of these is Esquimalt, situated three miles west from Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, and its seat of Government. The formation of Esquimalt harbour is an irregular circle, some two miles in width by three in length. It averages about seven fathoms of water. In facility of ingress and egress it surpasses all other ports in British Columbia. Excepting a few patches of rich loamy soil, the ground round about this harbour is very rocky; but on that account perhaps it adapts itself all the more readily to the purpose of a landing- place for the heavy wares likely to be wanted in a prospective commercial country. Hence not less by reason of its extraordinarily good anchorage than fl I II Ill 60 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. because combining close proximity to the capital with the easiest access to the ocean-highway, Esquimalt Harbour appears the great natural port of entry to Vancouver Island, and indeed, for many a year yet, to the whole of British Columbia. It lies exactly nine miles from the Race Rocks, in the Straits of San Juan de Fuca. On the western point at entrance, a white tower-lighthouse, called the Fisgard Light, from an English frigate of that name employed in this service on the coast, has been constructed. The lighthouse stands low, but is nevertheless so admirably placed as to be visible at every point of approach towards the harbour. Ships of any size can ride here at anchor, in all security. Esquimalt is chiefly used as a naval station, the Admiral's flag-ship being usually anchored inside: but, the large steamers belonging to the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, which ply between Vancouver Island and San Francisco, putting into Portland on the Columbia river, also use it as their terminus. Nootka Sound is the second of the Vancouver harbours. The Admiralty reports well of it; but when the place has been colonized and its harbour submitted to probation, it will be safer to criticize the official ESQUIMALT HARBOUR. 61 report. The third is Victoria itself. When I last saw it there was a bar or spit running right across the entrance, a short way to the leeward of Ogden and Maclaughlin Points. The bar has since been thoroughly dredged; and now Victoria Harbour affords sufficient anchorage for a few larger vessels, and for a considerable number of smaller craft. Despite which a grave error is unanimously admitted to have been committed in choosing the site of Victoria for the capital. The reason alleged was the quantity of good land in its immediate vicinity. But port advantages rank among the primary requisites in a new country, and with such a port as Esquimalt close at hand, lying quite near enough to the good land, how its superior claims could have been overlooked appears inconceivable. The truth is, therefore, that, although British Columbia does possess many harbours, only three of them are likely to serve as commercial ports, one, however, Esquimalt, having pre-eminent capabilities. Upon the lovely spring morning of May 13th, then, and at the beginning of an equally lovely summer, we all landed—English, Canadians, Americans, in a heap and a jumble—on the wharf in that harbour of Esquimalt. I 62 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. A sudden influx of 1400 people would have taxed the supplies in an ordinary civilized town. Consequently, the capital of British Columbia, which at that date counted only about 6000 fixed residents, with a floating population of miners and stray Indians, was hardly the place to find accommodation for an invading army like us. How the majority fared, I know not. But fortunate were those who had brought any kind of housing with them. As for me, I was able, in partnership with some of my English travelling-companions, to pitch a tent for the time, on a slight eminence off the Squymalt road (the Yankee corruption of the euphonistio EsQuimali), commanding a view of Victoria. Fancy arriving in England after a four days' journey from Southern Europe, and being condemned to go a-gipsying on Hampstead Heath—glad too of the chance. I do aver we felt uncommonly Bohemian. We formed a sort of camp—at least those did who had tentage. Numbers, however, found themselves completely without shelter, and sad it was to see them wandering for many days, in couples, or by families, about the crude Victorian streets. Eventually, though very gradually, they all disappeared, being absorbed, in virtue of some occult process of nature, into the body colonial, THE BLUE AND CASCADE MOUNTAINS: 63 mostly over to the mainland, which subtends the Island of Vancouver. I shall here skip some three months, or account for them in general only. My professional acquirements enabled me, sooner than many of my fellow-emigrants, to obtain an engagement. What an emigrant looks to, on landing, is to be employed in any manner. For although he may have to endure great hardship from the unwonted nature of the employment offered him, he knows that if he will but keep steadily at it he is certain to get on. Sometimes, no doubt, he acts with unwise precipitancy; but the stimulus to active exertion is none the less, even after a disappointment at starting. It is so disposed, perhaps providentially. A feeling of this kind led me, in the first instance, to join a prospecting enterprise on the mainland. My Canadian experience had inured me to venturesome operations in the open air, from which I rashly inferred that I could stand their equivalent in British Columbia. But for all my eagerness to earn a status in the colony, could I have foreseen one tithe of the privations before me I should have shrunk back appalled. Being wishful to take my reader on to Queen Charlotte Islands, which is the chief object of \V 64 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. this narrative, I shall sum up what I underwent during the three months after my arrival by saying that the exploring expedition I joined included in its operations forcing our way across the Blue and Cascade Mountains, here climbing up half-perpendicular hill-sides, there springing from rock to rock, then down again by precipitous tracks, where one false step would have flung me into an unfathomable abyss, at one time up to the middle in soft alkali mud, at another breasting swift mountain-torrents, scrambling over roots and fallen trees, or battling with the densest brushwood. More than once it occurred to our party to find ourselves benighted amidst a superabundant vegetation, reminding me of Panama, with a temperature of 98° in the shade, and with myriads of the customary hot climate accessories in the shape of mosquitoes, sand-flies, black-flies, and a species of ant as large as the common English fly, besetting us in every direction, each little fellow having obviously embarked his energies in a concentrated effort to excel our other persecutors in the quantity, of blood he could extract from us victims; whereas the next day about noon we might have been seen, had anybody watched our progress, in the midst of the snow, shivering on a mountain-top, LIKELIHOOD OF COPPER. 65 16,000 feet above the sea-level, and therefore higher than Mont Blanc or the Jungfrau; but again, the very same evening perhaps, down once more into the hot plain or valley. If to such reckless pulls on one's constitution it be added that for five or six days we were in hourly dread of attack from hostile savages whose country „we were prospecting, that our food consisted principally of the bark of trees, and that, though we left a sorrowful trail of blood behind us, nay, the body even of one of our companions, we had no trail to guide our path save our pocket-compasses, some idea may be formed of the pluck which was necessary to carry us through with the expedition, and some palliation be accepted for the hopeless failure in which it resulted. Never did means prove more inadequate to the end. But it served to start me in British Columbia. It was under these circumstances that for the second time I arrived at Victoria, on this occasion without a penny in my pocket, and without a friend or relative nearer than 6000 miles. However, after a fortnight's rest and good living I began to recover the use of my feet, and to feel that my constitution was not altogether destroyed. As soon as I had strength sufficient to get about, I stated publicly my conviction that, from observations F lii ee QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. and calculations I had made on the mainland, almost opposite Queen Charlotte Islands, there was copper to be found in the group of islands which lie out from the coast to the north of Vancouver. This opinion happened to receive a singular confirmation from the fact of a native of those islands having, some months previous, brought down a sample of copper- ore to Victoria under the impression that it was gold. In a marvellously short time the nucleus of a Company was got together and entitled the Queen Charlotte Mining Company, which so inspired me with hope and confidence that I offered to go up and sink the requisite shafts. As mining engineers are not a commodity which is landed every day in British Columbia, the directors were only too happy to accept my offer. Before closing the bargain I thought an intervieAV with the Governor, Sir James Douglas, would be both proper and profitable. The long service of Sir James Douglas to the Hudson's Bay Company, his intimate acquaintance with the various tribes of natives, and his knowledge of the requirements for developing the resources of this the most important colony of England in the Pacific, rendered him at that epoch emi- GOVERNOR DOUGLAS. 67 nently qualified to fulfil the duties of Governor of our North-West American possessions. I have no object in bepraising him other than a desire to record my humble sense of his eminent merits. But such I know to be the verdict of all unbiassed men who had the advantage of living under his wise and able administration. In my case he regretted that he could not take upon himself the responsibility of giving me the more substantial protection of a gunboat and a detachment of marines. The hostility attributed to the natives of Queen Charlotte Islands the Governor declared to be well founded. The risk and expense would be too great, he said, for the Government to incur in a private undertaking; but he ended some valuable advice by recommending me strongly to supply myself with plenty of arms and ammunition. It did not look very encouraging. I was bent upon making the venture, however. As it chanced, Kitguen, who claimed the head chieftainship of the islands, was then at Victoria; so I took him before the Governor, to whom he promised that his tribe should not molest us, and that he would bring his influence or power to bear in our behalf should any other tribe seem disposed to contest our landing or interfere with our explorations. In fact, we took f 2 IM 68 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. the bull by the horns, and with capital effect. The Governor spoke to Kitguen in his own language, which he interpreted as an honour and deference intended to be shown to his chiefdom. Of this impression he gave unmistakeable evidence when he afterwards returned to his tribe, they and the other tribes consequently regarding him in the light of a, chief who had attained to an influential position with • the chief of the white men. Fully alive, therefore, to the daring character of the attempt, I took up my appointment from the Queen Charlotte Mining Company. In another day or two we had chartered the Rebecca schooner of twenty tons, and proceeded forthwith to load her with provisions and implements necessary for rough mine work. Kitguen being anxious to go back to his island-home, I gave him a free passage, and, having likewise shipped some men as helpers in my operations, I was to be seen, one summer eve, standing on the beach of Victoria, surrounded by newspaper reporters and a number of the leading men of the town, who had come down to wish me success and a pleasant voyage. I have always considered it a real pity that Vancouver possessed, in those days, but a small rwjm ENTERPRISE AT VICTORIA. number of men of spirit. Had there been as many in it then as there were subsequently, I have no hesitation in saying that British Columbia would ere this have got far ahead of any State in North America, not excepting California. That is the opinion of everybody that knew the colony when the mercantile and emigration world was giving its splendid chances the go-by. I There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune: Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries." As of men so of countries; though I heartily hope that many more tides in the affairs of British Columbia will lead on to fortune. Backed only by a handful of individuals, like all originators in Vancouver at the time, I had simply to do my best to make the concern worthy of the enterprise and energy of those who had embarked in it. f 70 CHAPTER VI. BOUND FOR QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS—THE "OUTSIDE PASSAGE"— KITGUEN—COAST OF VANCOUVER "WESTWARD—WHALES—SUNDOWN, AND THE NORTH PACIFIC WATERS—INDIAN WOMEN—SPOONDRIFT—QUEEN CHAKLOTTE ISLANDS SIGHTED—CAPE ST. JAMES—WHALES AND PORPOISES—Hudson's bay company. By sundown on the evening of August the 4th I had got everything on board. Captain Macalmond having then cast away his shore lilies, we hauled off from the jetty, and with the aid. of the ebbing tide the pretty little clipper-schooner Rebecca glided gently out of Victoria harbour. Her ultimate destination was the Stickeen River gold-mines; but we had partially chartered her to deliver myself, my men, and my freight, on her way up there, on Queen Charlotte Islands. Opposite Ogden Point we anchored for an hour, to trim ship and await the captain's wife. At 10 p.m. we cleared the harbour, and proceeded to take the Inside Passage towards the Gulf of Georgia. The weather being calm and foggy, how- nrmrm ■P INSIDE OR OUTSIDE PASSAGE. ever, and as from my recent experience I already knew the difficulties of that route, I strongly advised the Captain to make for the Outside Passage—a plan he at once agreed to adopt, greatly to my satisfaction. There has always been much dispute as to which of the two routes is the safest and best to the Head of Vancouver. As aforesaid, I have gone the Inside Passage more than once, and I shall again refer to my knowledge of it; but it may also help to show the relative advantages of those rival highways if I here quote from my Diary the precise time it took to accomplish an average passage Outside, together with some of the circumstances attending it. After our vessel's course had been reversed and the Captain had headed her W.S.W., we turned into our respective bunks to sleep off the excitement of departure. " August 5th.—Up at sunrise this morning, finding sleep impossible, what with the schooner's tossing in the ground-swell of the strait, and the closeness of the atmosphere below. Only too glad to inhale the sea-breeze, although the morning smacks damp and misty, as I hear is frequently the case beneath the shadow of Mount Baker. This mountain forms a useful landmark for mariners on the 72 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. E coast. It is the highest of the Olympian range, the frowning precipices of which converge into its westernmost point, in the natural boundary between British Columbia and the United States. The scenery all around, when illumined by sunlight, must be grand in the extreme. As I now see it over the top of a sea-fog, it looks rude, desolate, and uninviting. " Good English breakfast, thanks to the British Constitution. But the passengers leave the Captain and me to enjoy it, the landsman's inveterate, foe— sea-sickness—having taken full possession of them. As for me, I begin to consider myself an exempt. In fact I am never blessed with so glorious an appetite as when ploughing the deep or otherwise undergoing invigoration from the sea-air. I In this country the winds are perceptibly affected by the sun. At midnight last night it blew quite a small gale: but as soon as the sun appeared on the eastern horizon the wind suddenly dropped, and the sea became as calm as a mill-pond. Precisely the opposite would have taken place had it been calm in the night. We should now be in a gale. These sudden changes with the sun are the rule out here. KW asm ■"■!■ 11»i KITGUEN. 73 " The live-stock on board the Rebecca consists of the Captain and wife, the mate, steward, one A.B. seaman, myself, and eight mining-workmen, with two Hydah chiefs and four of their women; all of us, Captain and wife excepted, being stowed away in the hold amongst two tiers of bunks, kept separate from the general cargo only by a slight boarding. The overpowering atmosphere of this hold, which rancid oil, burning grease, and the fishy stench characteristic of Indians renders still more oppressive, induces me to court the deck as long as possible. "I have just been joined here by Kitguen, who, albeit the very pink of uncleanness, proves to be an intelligent biped and a sociable Indian. If his chieftainship would but wash himself once a week and cover his skeleton shanks with unmentionables, he would make a rather respectable-looking member of society. I did give him a pair of pants, and he wore them while at Victoria; but no sooner had we distanced the capital than he quickly threw them off, and on my inquiring the cause he replied, " Wake closh,,f which being interpreted means "No good." He does not appear to possess much physical strength, neither is he handsome. His cheeks are sunken, and his cheekbones are more prominent than a Celt's; he has a 74 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. dull and inexpressive eye; his hair, thick as brushwood, reeks with fish-oil and tumbles down the back of his neck; but his face is absolutely beardless. Smooth faces, it seems, are fashionable with his tribe, every man of whom systematically eradicates the hairs of the face, and carries a tweezer about for that express purpose. It was some time before I knew the cause of Kitguen's evident partiality towards me. At last I discovered that it arose from my being ' cleaner than most whites he had seen '— in other words, because I did not wear a beard. The passion for wearing beards is, I need scarce say, as prevalent amongst our countrymen in British Columbia as in England. Yet I noticed at Victoria that many eschewed the custom altogether, and not without reason, I think. Beardlessness has two undoubted advantages in this colony: first, it disposes the natives to make friends with you; secondly, and by no means least in importance, it leaves a more open field for the slaughter of the mosquitoes when they attack you in the visage—indeed, they are hardly get-at-able when they fill your beard. I judge Kitguen to be about thirty-five years of .age, although the habit of painting from childhood upwards, and the life of frightful exposure led by the Indians, «w: OUT INTO THE PACIFIC- 75 have combined to give him the appearance of fully fifty years. He stoops somewhat, and is rather bow- legged—defects common to the seaboard tribes of Indians, and doubtless arising from overmuch sitting, tailor-fashion, in their cranky canoes. It rather surprises me to see no tattooing on any part of him; but he has a very amusing ring of silver through his nose, and in each of his big splay ears are several ornamental holes, large enough to let my little finger through up to the first joint." Kitguen was a man, take him for all in all, whom I found to be a very fair specimen of a Queen Charlotte Indian, which is the reason why I describe him here at more length perhaps than might otherwise seem justifiable. We became great friends. I tried to teach him a little English, which he reciprocated by initiating me into the mysteries of the Hydah tongue, as well as by many friendly services. The other chief belonged to the Skiddan tribe. He was of a more quiet and unambitious disposition. "August bth, 6 p.m.—We have just passed out of the Straits of San Juan de Fuca, and are entering the open Pacific, the evening lowering calmly, clearly, and delightfully. At this moment we have crossed, the bows of a large barque, within sixty yards of fl im 76 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. her. She is called the Gold-Hunter, and is bound for San Francisco, one Hoey commanding her. Captain Macalmond, who is both owner and commander of the 'saucy' Rebecca, as the British Columbians have surnamed our schooner, has good reason to feel proud of his little vessel, which he declares outsails all other ships, of whatever tonnage, on the coast. " The schooner's course is right under Vancouver Island, of which we have a close yet comprehensive view from where I am writing this on the deck. At the present season of the year the island does not appear to its best advantage, the ground being evidently parched, and the pastures scorched to nothing, from sheer want of rain. But a little later the Autumn will set in, and then we shall have what is known in North America as the Indian summer. Still, the foliage of the forest-trees and shrubs presents a wondrous aspect to any eye unaccustomed to it. In that, British Columbia only excels in degree what may be met with in kind all through Canada, and indeed all over the northernmost parts of the North American continent. I have seen leaves of every imaginable tint draping the shore of the great St. Lawrence, the golden hue of the water, as the sun rises A RETROSPECT ON CANADA. 77 or sets, vastly augmenting the splendour of the effect. Occasionally too the leaves of one tree would display a mass of the brightest scarlet, whilst its next neighbour would soften off into lake-colour, or show an infinitude of variegated tinges on its different branches. When this happens it is a sure sign that a severe winter is approaching: but the beau - teousness of the present often lures one to forget the harshness of the future. The thought of the lovely forest-life to be seen at every step in Canada, during quite seven months of the year, never recurs to me but I think likewise of the silly ignorance exhibited by the French "statesman," who, when his countrymen were obliged to yield up Canada to us, described it as merely " a few acres of snow." As I gaze across to Vancouver, it appears to surpass even my old Canadian visions. The background is high, and looks intensely rocky. We are now sailing so close in-shore, howeyer, that with my glass I can make out perfectly well a rich alluvial soil of a deep black colour, filling up the long valleys between, and seeming only to await the ploughshare of the husbandman in order to make it abundantly productive. The tree-leafage runs down in luxuriance to the very water's edge, presenting a marvellous variety, from if 111 i \i 78 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. dyes of malachite green or topaz yellow to the most delicate shades of pink." " August 7th.—It was past eleven o'clock last night when we turned into our bunks, tired at last with gazing, by the silvery moonlight, upon the wonders of creation. " In the Rebecca we are not restricted to time, as on board regular packet-ships. We have no ' eight bells, and all lights out.' The Captain does all he can to see to our comfort, and leaves us to our own devices. But, on the other hand, we are a contented lot of passengers. All of us lend a hand at the helm, or make and shorten sail, as each man knows how, and just as though one were in a private yacht. " This morning sailing along still closer, if possible, under the land. " The prospect, lit up by the blaze of the ascending sun, strikes me as truly magnificent. "And yet this island has remained in obscurity for upwards of half a century since its full discovery by Captain Vancouver of the English Royal Navy. It is 270 miles in length, with an average breadth of fifty miles, and a superficies of 14,000 square miles—or in other words, it measures about a quarter the area of England and Wales. In my opinion the THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. 79 fault of the emigrating world's having been so long kept in ignorance of this grand outlet for our surplus population lies mainly at the door of the Hudson's Bay Company, to whose custody our Government foolishly relegated it, after England and Spain had settled their dispute about its possession. That Company, now happily defunct, found the trade with the Indian tribes too lucrative not to make it a stringent interest to hide the natural resources of Vancouver Island from the 'outer barbarians.' No doubt some few strangers did contrive to exist there, previous to 1859, when the Company's charter expired: but the monopoly of the latter was too great, and every branch of colonial trade too much affected by it, to leave the slightest chance of success to the individual speculator. Dating from 1859, however, the colony has experienced a slow but steady and increasing prosperity. "4 p.m.—Vast shoals of whales were playing near us in the forenoon, one as near as forty yards across our bows, his length some seventy-five feet, measured by the eye. " This afternoon we have had another kind of visitation, in the shape of four canoes crammed with Indians. The majority of these were females, but I'm 80 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. painted so black as completely to hide the expression of their features. The men, who sported a costume the reverse of ' full dress,' had unprepossessing and stupid countenances. They wanted to sell us fish; but we had got provisions enough on board without it. 19 p.m. —When the sun went down in the west this evening, there was the slight movement on the water so often seen in these parts. 11 have just come from viewing the island to great advantage. The declining sun added immensely to its otherwise extraordinary beauty. But the change is amazingly rapid. A variety of the liveliest colours tinge the tops of the gigantic pines and cedars with which Vancouver abounds, and which are divided from the golden waters by a line of sombre-hued and jagged rocks thrown up into all manner of shapes. While the eye is endeavouring to take in the splendour of this feat of nature, from the far southeast to the far north-west, suddenly down dips the sun into the ocean's bosom, and the gorgeous landscape is almost instantaneously enveloped in midnight gloom. " I write now by a lamp. The cause of this sudden darkness is the absence of all twilight."* * The complete want of twilight on the North Pacific coast is remarkable. Science explains why day immediately succeeds to night in the Tropics; ■ OFF BERKLEY SOUND. " August 8th.—We are off Berkley Sound this morning with a strong north-easterly head-wind. It smacks of a land-breeze. So we alter our course a few points, which will take us out of sight of land until We sight the island we are sailing for. " I am almost the only passenger not sea-sick again. It is rather singular that the Indians should be troubled with sea-sickness, since they are so continually on the water, and in much rougher weather than we have to-day. I hear, however, that no Indians are ever sea-sick in their own canoes, even in the midst of the fiercest storms. There must be something in the construction or movement of our vessels which does not agree with their stomachs or brains. " I was forced to turn out of my bunk betimes just now, owing to the frightful effluvium below. Moreover, I had found sleeping utterly impracticable on account of the four Klootchmen (Indian women), who chattered and quarrelled unceasingly all the night through, spitting at one another like cats. As I have often seen Chinese do the same, this reminds me that but how it comes that the same phenomenon should occur in a country in almost the same latitude as England, is a problem which still remains for scientific solution. G 3W8B'^iw.;B i1 nt» ii.Jg QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. many peculiarities are common to both races. The Indian mode of dancing bears a strange resemblance to that in use among the Chinese. The straw or dried-grass hats peculiar to Chinamen are also made by the Hydah Indians, although with a stouter material. From these and numerous kindred similarities, I see reason for acquiescing in the opinion that they sprang originally from the same stock." I may here add that, while on board the Rebecca, I took pains to persuade the Klootchmen to relin- 'quish the frightful and repulsive habit tbey have of disfiguring their faces. The two elder women did not appreciate my good intentions; but they were to be excused, as the coats of paint certainly served to hide their decay and wrinkles. I succeeded with the two younger, who forthwith consented to wash themselves several times a day. It agreeably surprised me to find that one of them, the daughter of a chief named Skid-a-ga-tees, was really interesting, and the other quite a beauty. And as I did not care to conceal my admiration, of course the newly-discovered beauty and I became great friends: and so indeed we ever continued, as long as I remained on Queen Charlotte Islands. Once she had the courage to bid A PORTABLE ARSENAL. 83 defiance to all her tribe, and even to her own father, a chief, in order to save my life, when I was alone and unarmed in the presence of a dozen Indians, dancing round me with drawn knives and thirsting for my blood. " August 9th —Strong wind all the forenoon off the land. Found ample employment in cleaning my revolvers, with a view to using them, if so compelled, against the Indians. However friendly Indians may appear, they are never wholly to be trusted. I was careful therefore to let my travelling-companions see that I had a portable arsenal not at all to be despised. " At noon, the wind shifting round to the port side, the Captain gave orders to ' put on the bonnet.' The bonnet is an additional piece of canvas tacked on to a sail, in moderate weather, to hold more wind. It is rather bold of our Captain putting it on just here, as the sky looks threatening, and as by this time we must have entered Queen Charlotte Sound, and are probably already in the broad reach of sea which separates Vancouver from Queen Charlotte Islands, and where the winds are never to be depended upon. Still, a real storm is of rare occurrence during the summer months in these seas. 62 ....a——' y^-zi 84 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. Our Captain tells me he intends to make a dash across while the weather holds up, in hopes of catching sight of the islands before dark, and thus run us in direct to our destination. Sailing a point or two out of the course has often resulted in the vessel passing the islands. The Captain says that actually happened to him once before. He did not know the least where he was till he had the good luck to fall in with a whaler, some 300 miles in another direction, southwest of Queen Charlotte. In our case, had we known of any kind of harbour near the Head of Vancouver, we should have doubtless run in there for shelter, and so have made sure of a whole day to scud across. When these northern shores become colonized, this running-across difficulty, which must then occur daily, will assuredly be obviated by the erection of two lighthouses, one on Scott's Island at the Head of Vancouver, the other on Cape St. James, the most southerly point of Queen Charlotte. I Our steersman gives such little satisfaction to the Captain, that the latter, having ' cunned' the schooner nearly all the day, has at last been obliged to take the wheel himself. To cun a vessel is the nautical phrase for directing the man at the helm how to steer. It is a common thing in all new countries THE " SPOONDRIFT." to see men assuming a responsible position without a trace of the qualifications necessary to enable them to fulfil its duties. This is very noticeable in the United States, and, so far, not less so in British Columbia. When our colony has been better populated and organized, such incongruities will no doubt duly disappear under the influence of English civilization. At present, nothing is commoner out here than for a man to be a tailor or a gold-miner one year, and the next to find himself a merchant, a banker, the captain of a coaster, or even a chief magistrate in some of the back settlements. It was no wonder, therefore, that the Rebecca should have been temporarily consigned to the guidance of a professed steersman whose appearance and acquirements seemed to point rather to tailoring than to steering. "5 p.m.—Going on deck after tea-time, I was met in the face with a novel kind of shower-bath. It consisted of a sort of sprinkling of sea-water, which swept in a perfect tempest from the surface of the waves and fled like a vapour before the wind. The British Columbians call it the spoondrift, and I am not aware that it exists, at least not with the same intensity and continuity, in any other part of the globe." 86 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. " August 10th.—We were not able to sight land before sunset last night. We consequently kept on our course in the dark, trusting that early dawn would not fail to give us the first inkling of our long looked for destination. " This morning I turned out with the dog-watch, that is, at 4 a.m. The wind had fallen during the night, however, and there was not a sign of land to be seen. " We sailed perseveringly on over a deliciously smooth sea, everybody keeping a sharp look-out, when towards eight o'clock I was the first to observe two little shadows about the size of a hat, which seemed to be suspended above the water. As we coursed onward, they gradually assumed a more substantial form, appearing to touch the water. We all believed it to be land; but, after a prolonged straining of our united eyes, we felt satisfied that it really was Cape St. James, the most south-easterly point of Queen Charlotte Islands. Having indulged a moment in the pleasant prospect of our voyage speedily terminating, all the passengers crowded down the hatchway to breakfast. Upon our regaining the deck, in half an hour's time, the veritable Cape St. James had come distinctly into view. WHALES AND PORPOISES, 87 "10 a.m. — All is now still and serene^ The glorious expanse of sea, over which our little vessel wends its solitary way, tends to induce tranquillity of mind and to invite to serious thought. I Astern of us lies spread out the vast Pacific Ocean, completely alive with whales and porpoises. The.whales are quietly ploughing the surface, and every now and then spouting streams of water high up into the air, whilst the porpoises, in a widely extended corps dJarmee, toss their ungainly carcases hither and thither athwart the placid main, and yet, led by some leader more swift than his fellows, seem somehow to be all making their way seaward. Who dare foretell how soon these frequenters of this half-known ocean-path will be driven from the field of their sports, and their inheritance be taken possession of by the fleets of civilization ? I Our schooner's bearings being now altered from W.S.W. seaway point, with If variation point, to N.W. f W., we see right ahead of us the island, or rather the islands, which since a few years after their discovery, towards the close of the last century, have gone by the name of King George the Third's Queen Consort. I My first observation shows me that the lay of 88 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. the land is unexpectedly low.* Its greatest elevation, as I hear from the Captain, does not exceed eight hundred feet above the sea-level. The mountain tops, or, to speak more correctly, the hill-tops, are sharp and peaky, thus manifesting at once their volcanic origin. Here and there the hills open out, revealing a series of matchless harbours, from which large flats shelve off well into the interior. The flats are covered with forests of stupendous timber, chiefly pine and cedar. " I have just looked hard from my seat on deck at these reaches, which begin almost from the water's edge, and seem endless; and my strong idea is that the soil itself must be of the very richest kind to produce such stately and perfect timber. I take it that, in the background among the ridges, there are lying near the surface extensive treasures of minerals, only wanting a few blasts of gunpowder to divulge them to the light of day. "As far as the eye can reach either way, the land is a picture of loveliness. The very atmosphere seems laden with the perfume of its vegetation. The * There is a good description, with an exoellent illustration of Cape St. James, in Captain Dixon's Voyage to the North-Wai Coast of Amman (p. 814), published in the last oentury. IK OFF CAPE ST. JAMES. outer-shore lines look black and shapeless; but they are backed by a gigantesque fringe of wood-country. Such is the closeness of the heavy timber that, at this distance, no great variety of colour presents itself to view; but again, if this country lacks brilliancy in its foliage, the massive green of the trees amply compensates for it. Were an uninformed stranger, who had never travelled in southern latitudes, put down suddenly on Queen Charlotte Islands, his first idea would be to fancy himself transported to some tropical clime. In order fully to carry out the illusion, no-. thing but the indigenous vegetation of the south need be added to the luxuriance which I see filling up the landscape at every point. Various natural provisions combine to afford grateful shelter to all this forest- land. The principal of these causes is the arctic current which sweeps down along the coast the whole year round, the chilled sea-water being modified in its turn by warm westerly breezes. Hence the temperature is nearly always mild, and never high. Neither, as our Captain asserts, do the islands harbour green flies or any of the destructive insect fauna which impede luxuriant growth in Europe, and deteriorate the pleasures which we derive from the rich vegetation of the south. For this reason it 90 QUEEN OHARLOTTE ISLANDS. requires little perspicuity to foresee a day when the fair land we are now approaching will be able to boast of such an open-air fruitage and florage as would do honour to any nobleman's hot-house in England. " Upon whose shoulders rests the blame, then, that valuable islands like these should have remained totally uncolonized, and to all intents and purposes almost unknown, for well nigh a century since Captain Dixon first took possession of them in the name of the king of England ? u It is not necessary to speculate on part at least of the answer, when we know that for fifteen years a combination of traders, known as the Hudson's Bay Company, kept undivided control over them." 91 CHAPTER VII. OFF SKINCUTTLE ISLAND—SITUATION OP TUB ISLETS—PIRST LOOK-ROT]NI)— l'"lH.st kkniHUNT ENGLISHMAN ON QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS—NOMEN" OLATURE Off THE GROUP—SITE TO ENCAMP— RATH OP WAGES TO WORK" MEN—CARIBOO—BEARS AND EAGLES—MOUNTAIN GOATS. Late in the afternoon of August the 11th we let go our anchor off Skincuttle, a very pretty little island, comprising some forty acres of superficial area. Thus we did the passage from Victoria, Vancouver, in exactly six days, nineteen and a half hours. Had we kept to the Inside Passage, it would, I feel assured, have taken us the best part of a month to reach Queen Charlotte. Skincuttle lies in latitude 52° 18' 0" N., longitude 181° 07' 0" W.—that is to say, in a line nearly northwest from the southernmost point of Cape St. James. At low water this islet is seen to be joined to several others of a similar character, which, when not submerged, form a connected strip of land stretching out towards the Sound. \\M 92 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. Although these islets lie together in an open position, and are unprotected against storms from any part of the compass, none of them bear evidence of having suffered much, if at all. In other countries where trees have to struggle to maturity in the midst of storms and adverse winds, as for example on our Cumberland and Westmoreland seaboard, they seldom attain to great altitude, and are not to be mentioned in respect of real straightness. But here, on this outlandish sea-girt holm, every tree is marvellously high, besides being thick in proportion, and as straight as an arrow to the very top. One of my first amusements was to go and take the measurement of a fine cedar. I found it to measure, at a spot I could touch with my arm, four feet ten inches in diameter, which gave fifteen feet four inches in circumference. Its height was two hundred and fifty feet—not exactly that, perhaps, but very nearly so, as I measured by a means which, though wanting in elegance, is simple and effective, and has been generally adopted amongst experienced bush- men and lumberers throughout North America. This plan is to walk away from the tree till you can sight its topmast branch when looking backwards between your legs. You have then got the tree's A FIRST LOOK ROUND. height in the distance between the spot where you stand and the base of the tree itself. The accuracy of this process in " natural trigonometry " is astonishing; for after a little practice it can be relied upon within a foot or so. The largest trees on Skincuttle, and indeed on the main of Queen Charlotte Islands, are the cedars; but the pines are more perfect and more numerous. They shoot up, ramrod-like, without one single branch, or without a knot even, to mar their bolt-uprightness, if I may be allowed to coin the word, till near their highest point, when they push out some famous tufts and bunches, which give them the appearance of overgrown umbrellas. The following brief extract from my Diary describes the look-round, soon after landing, of the first Englishman who ever went to reside on Queen Charlotte Islands:— 11 note a ridge extending into the sea for a distance of several hundred yards on the east side of this islet (Skincuttle). At high tide the ridge is almost covered with water; and parallel with it on the west side another ridge runs out, plentifully supplied with timber. The soundings between either ridge and the land are thirty feet deep, and there is capital holding ground. These waters form little lagoons, 94 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. in fact, and seem to offer admirable shelter to boats and schooners. If it were not for the presence of the Indians, I could easily imagine myself on one of our home islands, in the embouchure of the river Clyde. However, as I look landward again, I am soon undeceived. And yet the grand views which surround •me on all sides help to cheer my spirits, and to make me temporarily forget that I have come six thousand miles away from my native land, and that Got-quance. Kad-da-ga-cow. Co-a-delly. 1! Kiss-a-gura (Jun.) Skilte-killong." f 1 108 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. In the afternoon of the same day, Klue invited me to go with him to the home of the Skiddan Indians, a tribe with whom he was on friendly terms, and who also dwelt on the sea-shore, but further up the coast. Klue's people are a branch or section of the Hydah tribe, all the various chiefs of which seemed to consider themselves as a sort of vassals to the great chief of the Skiddan tribe. How this reconciled itself with Klue's claim to the Head Chieftainship of the whole islands, I never could quite make out. As I afterwards took down my adventures and impressions during this by-expedition with Klue, I shall here transcribe them literally:— I The high and mighty chief Skiddan sat in state, that is, at Skiddan Harbour, somewhat to the northward of Laskeek. He. did not rise when I entered, but continued sitting on a rough kind of platform, with his legs crossed like a tailor's. I was invited to stand on his right, however, whilst my cook, who did duty as my aide-de-camp and private secretary, had a place assigned him to the left. The whole of the tribe then squatted down, also cross-legged, on some low benches or logs. " Skiddan himself delivered a grand speech, the CHIEF SKIDDAN. 109 general purport of which I gathered to be an advice and solemn injunction to his people to afford me every protection and assistance. They listened attentively, now and then interrupting Skiddan's harangue with a queer uplifting of arms and murmurs of approbation, or with a sudden outburst of complimentary grunts directed at me. As soon as the chief had ended, I took up the thread of the proceedings, by assuring, the tribe through Klue, of my ' sentiments of the highest consideration,' meaning under the circumstances not much more than a Frenchman means when he sticks those absurd words at the bottom of a letter. " The first part of the ceremony being over, I offered a pipeful of tobacco to each of the petty chiefs. I This is a present which they always expect from a stranger. But greatly as the gift of tobacco pleases an Indian, it does not approximate in his eyes to the value of ' a testimonial,1 or ' a paper,' as they term it. Fortunate it is that this way to their good graces comes cheap; for they set quite as great a value on an old invoice or a receipt as upon a genuine certificate. So long as the paper contains writing, it matters nothing what the writing is. I have already III 1: 110 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. had abundant proof of it. For on several occasions Indians have brought me bundles of waste paper, in the firm belief that they were, every one, so many bona-fide references. They had received these as testimonials of good behaviour, or more probably begged them from some merchant or other at Victoria. Of course it was not only lawful but well to ieave those Indians in the delusion that their 'papers' were hyass-closh, that is, very good. I saw no reason for undeceiving even the great Skiddan. Give the Indians a small piece of tobacco, or a few fishino-. hooks, and they are not merely satisfied, but they will make large returns in fish or game, and sometimes in really valuable fur-skins. After all, the true valuation of these things is relative, according to the want and mind of the purchaser. Lately I bought two fine skins of the black bear for twenty-five cents or one shilling apiece. In Europe they would certainly fetch 12/. each. They are a drug in the home- market of the North Pacific Indian. " Having, upon urgent request, distributed a few bits of paper, the Skiddan made me a formal present of a minz or mink skin, together with a couple of uncommon duck-footed birds, whilst from one of the Indian women I received a very singular kind of M SKIDDAN'S HOUSE. Ill crab (echinocerus cibarius), which I believe is only found on the coasts of the North Pacific, and rarely even there. "The building in which I was thus glorified consisted of very large frame-house. Its shape was nearly a square, its dimensions being some fifty feet by fifty, quite ten feet of which were dug out of the earth, so as to make the real height from the ground forty feet. It had been substantially constructed, and it readily accommodated the seven hundred Indians who met me under that roof. " However, my glorification did not in the least deceive me. That a White should have been so received there, was solely referable to the report of the gunboats coming up. Skiddan has the character of being the most selfish and bloodthirsty savage on the coast. He has always been treated better than any of the other chiefs by the English government, and yet he is ever giving us trouble. " The sun was fast sinking as at last we pushed off in Klue's canoe. On looking over our effects, I was glad to find that only a few tin spoons had been stolen. But I was still more pleased to think that every stroke of our paddles took us further from !!UI M 112 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. Skiddan's harbour; for my friends at Victoria had well warned me never to trust my skin to him after dark. "At 10 p.m. we paddled into Cum-she-was Harbour, a place about fifteen miles more to the north, and there we encamped for the night. The next morning the Cum-she-was Indians held a meeting of their tribe. They received me in a "great house'' not unlike that of the Skiddans, and with a ceremonial which almost exactly repeated the scene of the day before, including however a dash more of sincerity. What astonished me was to see the whole of the walls inside their building hung with linen, fine, white, and clean. This formed a very unexpected feature in my reception. I should have been sorely puzzled to account for it, had not Klue whispered to me that, many years ago, a large trading vessel of some sort put into Cum-she-was, the crew of which were murdered and its stores pillaged. The linen was part of the pillage—not a doubt about it. " I saw nothing of interest to detain me among the Cum-she-was; and considering that I had gone far enough north for this one trip, I turned the canoe's head towards Laskeek, just calling on our KLUE S HOUSE. 113 way at Skiddan Harbour, and scattering there a few more presents, in the shape of pins, needles, and shirt- buttons. " We did not get back to Laskeek till 11 p.m., and, as it was too late to pitch my tent according to custom, I accepted Klue's invitation to sleep at his patrimonial mansion. " I have some reason to remember my first night under the roof of Chief Klue. " His house was a largish one, built in the usual Indian way, of wood laid horizontally in light logs, and slightly elevated above the ground upon a platform. Despite the sheen of the moon, I looked in vain for the entrance, and was beginning to think there must be some Indian dodge in its concealment, with a view probably to providing against sudden attacks, when a Klootchman young lady came tripping along to my assistance. Approaching a big hole, three feet in circumference, and three feet from the platform's base in the front of the house, she, very unceremoniously, thrust first one leg through, evidently without touching the bottom on the other side, secondly her head and arms, and finally, by means of a dexterous jerk, dragged the rest of her body after her. This was the door, then, through I I1 1 14 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. which the inmates, both male and female, had to scramble whenever they felt disposed to retire to the domestic hearth. The manoeuvres required to accomplish the feat in question were assuredly anything but graceful, especially for a lady: and yet the ladies performed it in the most satisfactory manner, without ever doubling up in a heap on the floor inside. Perforce, I tried the same method myself, and, though unsuccessful at the first attempt, I did succeed at the second, greatly to the delight of the pretty Klootchman, who turned out to be Klue's daughter-in-law, and my chambermaid for that night. " Inside the house these was little to be seen, either by day or by night, owing chiefly to the smouldering fire, which, having no outlet, filled the one large room with its smoke. There were no windows, the Indians despising such a convenience. The only rays of light, from sun or moon, came through the big hole in the wall, alias the door. But on my getting in, being conducted to the central fire, I found cedar-bark mats spread over the hard ground, and upon these we all lay down together, with our feet firewards, and with our heads outwards, like the spokes of a wheel. No little nerve was SLEEPING UNDER SCALPS. 115 requisite, I must acknowledge, to make up one's mind to sleep in such an atmosphere; but, as they would have been terribly offended had I refused, I made a virtue of necessity, and took to it kindly. " Other horrors besides the atmosphere now . awaited me, for I was assigned the place of honour in the family-couch, namely, under the same blanketing with the chief and his daughter, a very interesting young girl, and to lie between them. " Having been paddling away all day, as hard as any Indian, I naturally felt anxious to restore my strength with sound refreshing sleep. Some indefinable sensation, however, seemed to be keeping me awake. I tossed about nearly all night, not much to the comfort of my bedfellows, I should fancy. As the small hours of the morning advanced, I found my head inconveniently knocking against an upright pole. Surely a most extraordinary position for a pole, since it undoubtedly served no architectural or ornamental purpose. By degrees this pole gained complete possession of my thoughts, and the more I went on thinking, the more persuaded did I become that it had something hideous connected with it. An impulse then seized me to get up and examine it; but, as that would have looked like a * QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. in those parts, having lost all his money, and likewise his health, not to mention a narrow escape with his life from hostile Indians. As the nephew of Mr. Hogan, proprietor of the famed St. Lawrence Hall Hotel, in Montreal, my friend had gone out influen- tially recommended, fully stocked, and well in funds. Few men, therefore, could be better qualified to pass an opinion on the prospect afforded by the Stickeen River. It is here enough to recount that he had left the gold-mines with the determination of never going back to them. Fearing that, as soon as the Rebecca departed, I should again have trouble from the Indians, I ostentatiously despatched a letter to the Governor of British Columbia, requesting the presence of a gunboat. The mere fact of this request served to protect us for the nonce. 151 CHAPTER XI. PLOTTING INDIANS—THE GUNBOAT " HECATE"—SHELLING—OPINIONS ON THE " SMOKE-SHIP"—KLUE ON BOARD THE " HECATE"—THE | REBECCA" HEAVES IN SIGHT—PIRING SKINCUTTLE—PROSPECTING—COPPER-MINE ON BURNABY ISLAND—BACK TO VICTORIA BY THE "OUTSIDE PASSAGE"—REPORT TO THE MINING COMPANY. Nearly a month elapsed before I received any answer to my request. Meantime, our pugnacious neighbours, emboldened by the delay, sent a small " army of observation" over to Burnaby Island to watch us, and, if occasion offered, to threaten us. Very early in the morning of September 19 th, I noticed a great stir in their camp; and ere long those who had been plotting our total destruction came up to the log-house, laden with skins, furs, and fish, and loudly proclaiming their amicable sentiments towards the white man. Nothing in the Indian character used to astonish me so much as its shallowness. The Indians are wonderfully acute in reading other people's actions; and hence one would expect them to be less clumsy 1 152 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. in dissimulation. Here they were, however, palpably false and hostile to the backbone, and yet thinking to make me believe in their professions of friendship and truthfulness by means of a few transparent overtures. But does not a like trait characterize the savages one meets with now and then at home? I could not restrain a laugh at the blatant imposture, especially as, happening to look through my glass across to the enemy's camp, I saw they were actually breaking up and beginning to move. Upon which the members of the deputation laughed too. All this assured me that some external cause must be operating in our behalf. My men and I were still balancing probabilities, when suddenly the sound of heavy guns in the far distance solved every doubt; and at the same moment a friendly Siwash (one of the Skid-a-ga-tees tribe) came running over the promontory to announce that a " smoke-vessel" was in sight. Our double-faced enemies had been observing it from early dawn. Without loss of time I mounted to an eminence above our camp, and there, plain enough in the offing, was an English man-of-war. I immediately put off to her in a canoe. She proved to be U VISIT OF THE " HECATE." 153 H.M.'s gunboat Hecate, and by nine o'clock a.m. I had the satisfaction of piloting the welcome gunboat into a safe anchorage opposite our mines, and not more than a quarter of a mile from our log-house. The following is in my Diary:— "September 19th.—Took the obstreperous chiefs before the commanding officer of the Hecate, who gave them clearly to understand, through an interpreter, that if they annoyed us again in any way whatsoever he would at once return and burn them out of home and hearth, and that they must deliver up all the articles they had stolen from us. This action on the part of the Governor will do an incalculable amount of good. It makes us feel a deeper pride in our country, and revives the patriotism which too long absence from home is apt to enfeeble. The officers very obliging, offering to supply anything we might require. I was glad of two dozen clay pipes, and a bundle of English newspapers." Exactly at five o'clock that afternoon the Hecate got up her steam again and departed, after having fired a good many shells during the day from her largest gun, as a salutary warning to the natives. For quite a week afterwards Indians of all tribes 154 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. continued to loaf about near our log-house, holding lively conversations with us in reference to the gunboat. The general opinion amongst them was that it would be easy to destroy her by " setting fire to her powder-magazine;" but when pressed as to some practical plan for getting at the magazine, they were no more able to answer than were the respected nurses of our infant years when we used to question them as to the best method of putting salt on a bird's tail. What most of all puzzled the Indians was to understand how on earth " the same gun could fire two shots at once," by which they meant the report on the shell being discharged, and the bursting of the shell a few moments after on the ground. Candour obliges me to state that, notwithstanding his friendliness in the main, Klue turned out more or less of a rascal in the petty larceny line. For this I had him up on board the Hecate, when he promised her commander to restore a lot of implements he had stolen, or had allowed to be stolen, from our stores. He never fulfilled his promise, which, judging by his subsequent manner in the Hecate, I expected would be the case. Klue, I remember, came on deck in a nice stew; but as soon as he found that it was to be all talk, and KLUE ON BOARD THE " HECATE." 155 no hanging or shooting, he plucked up courage and followed me about the ship wherever I went. Observing two young ladies aft, he inquired their names. Not knowing them myself at the time, I replied that they were the daughters of some English gentleman of rank, upon which he instantly proposed to purchase one, offering " two hundred blankets " down. I informed him that English ladies were not exchangeable for " goods." He was greatly surprised to hear it, and terribly vexed when, later, I explained our custom in this matter more fully. " Why, then, do your white men come and buy our daughters?" he indignantly exclaimed. And, it must be owned, I was as terribly at a loss how to answer him. The Indian custom is to take a woman to wife for a month on trial, the usual price asked for a chief's daughter being three blankets. In the event of the damsel not proving a desirable acquisition, she may be sent back within the month. Her relations then return the blankets. It is sad to know that this degrading traffic has been taken advantage of, to an unlimited extent, by the Californian traders who frequent the shores of the North Pacific. I did not wonder, therefore, at Klue's indignation on his discovering the true bearings of their practice, I never seafaow**91 156 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. heard of his particular tribe having any such applications while I resided on Queen Charlotte Islands. But I strongly suspect that, should a Californian ever again seek a wife among them, Klue will insist on his price of two hundred blankets, if he does not give his unsuspecting applicant the length of his knife. Although the Hecate stayed but one day, she left a most wholesome impression. For a long time after her visit, whenever the Indians showed a disposition to be saucy, we had only to glance with a smile towards the north-west (the direction in which the gunboat steamed off), and their bodies would quake from head to foot, whilst they rolled their eye- oalls wildly. On the Saturday following the Hecate's visit, the schooner Rebecca hove in sight. As the rain descended in torrents all that day and the next, I advised her lying-to in Harriet Harbour, which she did till Monday, the 29th of September, when, the N weather having cleared, she unloaded our shipment of stores, and sailed the same evening for Stickeen River, with orders to call again on her return, in order to convey me down to Victoria. I make note here of a melancholy accident which happened in the Rebecca, on her way up from the A SEA-MISADVENTURE. 157 capital. On board of her was a certain Mr. Wigham, a native of London, and for years a speculator in Chilian and Peruvian mines. Our company had appointed him to come and assist me in working out my discoveries. The Rebecca having made the Inside Passage on this occasion, she was off the North Bentinck Arm, above Queen Charlotte Sound, when, one stormy night, Mr. Wigham tried to take an observation of the Polar Star. While engaged in doing this, the schooner's boom swung round heavily, and, striking him on the head, sent him overboard. In such weather, at night, his body could not of course be recovered. Now the schooner had left Victoria a week previous to the gunboat; and as the gunboat was ordered to call at our place before proceeding to Stickeen River, its commander had kindly given Mr. Wigham's daughters their passage. These were the young English ladies who had excited the Indian chief's curiosity in the gun-room of the Hecate. But the Misses Wigham, finding the Rebecca had not yet reached us, decided to go on to Stickeen in the gunboat trusting to return by the schooner, after she too should have reached Stickeen. The Hecate could not wait, however; and they were consequently forced to go back all the way to BOM9M$0ifSISl9iWk*WtMM«ife^3T\la'^'S=S ~ ! ifWJ of JIAipi) N Slisill H^Sfesi.'- / J ' it (\\U\ XvSV.ft nWX^*'/.-' IILkIK! ^? jjppHMWtlllii *«««; »m jv. mmm^Jm. f ?&i'y / / ti % J RECEPTION AT VICTORIA. 163 By dint of a studied personal restraint, however, I got through my allotted task; so that, having devoted some few days to a most necessary rest, and employed the remainder in purchasing provisions, clothes, medicine, and ammunition, I was ready, before a week had elapsed, to charter another vessel to take me back to Burnaby Island. Here I cannot do better than insert the official Report which, on occasion of this visit to the capital, I addressed to our Company :*— I To the Directors of the Queen Charlotte Mining Company. " Victoria, Vancouver Island, Oct. 22, 1863. " Gentlemen, " The copper-mines are situated on several islands, the approximate position being in about lat. 52° 18' 00" North, long. 131° 07' 00" West. Though the time occupied by me in prospecting these islands has been very limited, I have come to the conclusion that the copper on Burnaby Island is the most promising hitherto discovered. There is a bluff of rock rising to the height of about 150 feet on the eastern extremity of Burnaby Island. Com- i * The above Eeport is quoted by Mr. Macfie, in his work (p. 152). M 2 164 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. mencing at the N.E. point of this bluff, at low-water mark, copper shows itself about one inch and a half in thickness. One half inch runs parallel with the level of the water for a distance of nine feet, mixed with a little spar, when it runs out. The remaining one inch then rises on an angle of 25° for the same distance, when it takes a horizontal course two feet above high-water mark towards the S.W., the strike being S. 35° W., with a dip W.N.W. 72°. Leaving these two threads and joining the main vein, as seen here, the copper gradually widens in the direction of the mainland. The length of this vein on the out- croppings is 200 feet, with an average thickness of sixteen inches on the surface or out-crop. The constituent (matrix or gangue) is composed of shorl, hornblend, garnets, and spar, presenting good gossan indications and two well-defined walls, the ' foot- walls' being slate overlaid with a very hard dark green rock, the 'hanging-walls' proving the existence of a regular and defined vein of copper-ore. "The classes of ore to be looked for here are the yellow and grey sulphurates of copper, with the blue and green carbonates of copper, holding muriates and sulphurates of silver, with the purple and other classes of copper-ores. MINING REPORT. 165 " It is needless for me to enter into a long statement as to the probability of finding workable copper on Skincuttle Island. There are many serious objections to such a theory. The only use this island will be to us is to assist in determining the course of the ' Champion Lead,' which must be towards the mainland, as the latter island is too far north, which the formation plainly shows. For this reason I considered it a duty to the Company and myself to cease sinking the shaft on Skincuttle Island, for which I had bound myself by contract. " I have directed a set of men to cut a drift in the most promising situation yet discovered, which is on Burnaby Island, and with a few more men I shall be in a position to extract copper for the market next Spring. I have no hesitation in recommending the working of this vein, believing, as I do, that, in a commercial point of view, the result will be most satisfactory to all parties interested therein. The regularity of the formation of this vein, its extent, and promising character, as well as its very convenient proximity to water (it lies within eighty feet of deep water, at a point suitable for landing a shipment or anything required), will satisfy the most anxious. " From experience in mining for the last twelve *!l 166 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. years, I am confident that success will attend the working of this mine, provided it is carried on with energy and prudence. The mine so clearly possesses in itself all the elements of success, besides its convenience of situation, that no doubt can be entertained but that its working will prove a sound satisfaction to every one concerned. 11 have the honour to be, Gentlemen, " Yours faithfully, "Francis Poole, "Engineer to the Qtieen Charlotte Mining Company." 167 CHAPTER XII. BOUND POR QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS AGAIN—UP THE "INSIDE PASSAGE 1 IN THE & LEONIDE"—THE GULP OP GEORGIA—COAST ON EITHER SIDE—RUN AGROUND—THE NORTH AND SOUTH BENTINCK ARMS— NEW ABERDEEN—BELLA-COOLA RIVER—TAYLOR'S RANCHE—GETTING OUT TO SEA—'THE BELLA-BELLAS—ACROSS TO QUEEN CHARLOTTE. It was not at all easy to procure a vessel for the purpose of conveying myself and two of my men, together with a suitable supply of provisions, back to the copper-mines. At length, however, a sloop named the Leomde, which had been advertised to sail to the North Ben- tinck Arm on the mainland, failing to obtain more than half her cargo, I chartered her to extend her trip across to our islands. The last moment had almost come, and the bargain was struck in a hurry. When, then, I went down to inspect the sloop, it rather staggered me to find her only twenty tons burden, twelve tons of which were already on board, whilst' fifteen tons additional of our Company's stores had yet to be shipped, con- ■P^MMMMm _'_' i _; .".„-.,, ,...,.,;:a _ QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. stituting a total of twenty-seven tons, to say nothing of the crew, passengers, and luggage. But we had to make the best of the bargain: for otherwise my men at the mines would have been wholly destitute of provisions. On the 24th of October, therefore, about nine o'clock p.m., we left Victoria Harbour, with quite seven tons weight more in the Leonide's hold than she had any right to carry, and a very dangerous voyage before us. It was no wonder that, upon anchoring in, Nanaimo Harbour, opposite the well-known coalmines,* we found our sloop nearly waterlogged, showing fully a foot of water on her main-deck, even in smooth water—a fair sample of trading appliances in a new country. The Leonide being bound in the first instance to. the North Bentinck Arm, the Inside Passage was an imperative necessity. At the outset some idea may be formed of the vast difference between the two Passages, when I state that it took us three days and four nights to reach Nanaimo, whereas, in a good ship, the same period of time, by the Outside Passage, would have landed us at Queen Charlotte. * The Nanaimo mines yielded 40,833 tons of coal in the year 1869. THE GULF OF GEORGIA. 169 In order to make clear how amply the facts bear out my comparison, I shall describe this voyage somewhat in detail. Despite our extraordinary over-freight, I had really no cause to disparage the sailing capacities of the Leonide. What we wanted was wind to drive us ahead against the vexatious tides, currents, and eddies which so markedly characterize the Inside Passage. Exactly at sunset of the 28th, a stiff but favourable breeze springing up, we weighed anchor and set sail from Nanaimo into the Gulf of Georgia. This gulf, owing to its strong currents and ever-varying winds, is the terror of all British Columbian navigators.* By dint of good steering, however, we were fortunate enough to reach the head of the gulf by the evening of the 29th. Here a high promontory, known as Cape Mudge, juts out from the land on the * The experience of Commander Mayne U.N., on the subject of the Inside Passage, is exactly mine. In his valuable work Four Years in British Columbia, he says (p. 176) that the Gulf of Georgia " forms a kind of playground for the waters, in which they frolic, utterly regardless of all tidal rules. This is caused by the collision of streams. The tide-rips are excessively dangerous to boats, and great care has to be exercised. A boat is almost certain to be swamped, and even a ship is so twisted and twirled about as to run considerable risk." 170 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. Vancouver side; and, observing a sheltered little harbour lying well under its lee, we decided to take shelter here for the night. The morning's dawn disclosed to us smoke in the bush, from which we inferred that an Indian ranche must exist in the neighbourhood, which, on examination, we found was the fact. We accordingly paid the natives a flying visit, purchasing from them five splendid salmon for the sum of two shillings sterling. Johnstone Straits, which divide Vancouver from the largest-sized island in the Passage, was our next venture. It looks smooth work enough on the map. In reality, it is always the toughest tug of the voyage. At daybreak on November the 1st we might have been seen, still in the trough of a rough sea. off 7 o O 7 Cape Mudge. We had then been beating about for two nights and a day, in a vain struggle to enter Johnstone Straits. Indeed, it was not till after three days, alternately advancing and retreating at the mercy of changing tides and coquetting winds, that, having taken to our oars as a last resource, we finally succeeded in clearing the long, ugly strait itself. Some thirty miles distance beyond the north OPE THE SALMON RIVER. 171 entrance to the straits, a fine river discharges its waters with fearful velocity into this arm of the sea. It is called the Salmon River, from the multitude of fish of that species which swarm in it. We made several ineffectual efforts to cross the river's mouth. Our final attempt was not successful until the sloop had all but capsized, the sea making a clean sweep of the decks, and washing our live fowls and several casks of prime mess-pork overboard. Before we got completely across, a stiff breeze from the S.E., while working us up against a stubborn head-tide, swung, the sloop's boom round from the port-side. Our cook, who chanced to be standing by the taffrail, was knocked into the water, but, catching fortunately at a sail which dragged along after us, he was hauled a-board again. I had the narrowest escape possible from a watery mishap of the same kind. Seeing the boom coming, I bent my head to avoid it, when the boom-sail lifted me neatly over to starboard. Scrambling into the rigging, I let myself down by a rope into the cabin, thankful to have come off without even a ducking. This was a roughish introduction to the fair wind and comparatively smooth water which commenced immediately after we had passed the Salmon River, QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. and held on till we entered the little bay where stands the fort erected by the Hudson's Bay Company. This is close to Queen Charlotte Sound, and at the extreme north-west end of the Inside Passage. All along our route we could discern northwards the dim outline of a high mountain-range, as yet unnamed and unexplored by civilized man, but which is doubtless a spur of the Cascade Mountains. The Vancouver shore opposite lies low for a very considerable distance inland. It here consists of a rich loamy soil, likely to turn out extremely productive at some future period. For the present brushwood prevails exclusively. The high timberage of these regions begins again as one approaches Fort Rupert. In the low levels, the residents at the fort told us, the atmosphere is generally clear, dry, and genial; but we could distinctly see heavy snow falling on the mountain-tops far away. Until within a few miles of Fort Rupert this part of Vancouver presents an aspect of the dreariest monotony. Near that point, however, the wild and grand scenery of its other parts is resumed. During the entire voyage up the Inside Passage, our best day's sail was twenty-five miles. Allowance should of course be made for our over-laden TWENTY THOUSAND ISLETS. 173 craft. But the Leonide, if fairly treated, almost rivalled the saucy Rebecca. Balancing computations, therefore, this sailing would not give more than an average of twenty miles a day at the highest; whereas the Inside Passage is quite two hundred and seventy miles long. In other words it seems clear that not less than fourteen days are required to accomplish it. Surely there cannot be stronger proof that the Outside Passage, which never takes above six days, is vastly more expeditious ; not to mention its evident superiority in respect of sea-room and general safeness. Only those who have navigated the tortuous seas between Vancouver and the mainland of British Columbia can conceive the freaks which wind and tide are capable of indulging in. It is a standing puzzle to the Indian. But the white man perfectly accounts for it on looking to the innumerable small islands with which nature has fringed the whole of the British Columbian coast. If ever these islets come to be named, I much doubt whether any nomenclature will be found sufficiently rich to include them all. The simplest plan would be to number them like the streets of New York. Commencing at San Juan de Fuca, and ending with Fort 174 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. Simpson, a distance of five hundred miles by an average of ten miles wide, the highest number, I feel sure, would then exceed 20,000. Such a quantity of islands, grouped together in so confined a space, does not exist in any other portion of the globe. Well, as the unsophisticated navigator pursues the tenor of his way along this little-known route, he is surprised by the wind suddenly describing a circle round one of these islets, then bowling down a funnel-like channel straight at him, and, after having literally turned a corner, sweeping madly up another gullet or ravine, from which again it descends upon him with quadruple force. The utmost care is consequently indispensably requisite in this navigation. Not unfrequently the morning dawn would reveal to us that, instead of having advanced, we had been drifting back all night. The contending winds seemed legionary. We usually managed, it is true, to have one or other of them in our favour; but the most powerful wind was invariably adverse to us. This shows, too, that the up passage is more tedious than the down. There were very few days, or nights either, on which we had not to use our long oars, passengers and all, like so many Thames bargemen, sometimes for hours together. In short, I can A-GROUND ON A REEF. 175 imagine no navigation attended with greater tedium, danger, and hardship. Steam alone is able to reduce it to submission. It was now getting on in November. During the last week the cold had set in, and we had sleety rain and snow almost continuously. We sheered out of Queen Charlotte Sound, however, and, hugging the mainland, steered within a point or two of due north, towards Edmund Point and the Bentinck Arms. Though now clear of the currents and peculiar winds of the Inside Passage, we had yet to experience another of the perils indigenous to this imperfectly known highway of the sea. Whilst the slant sleet and borean blast were at their worst, the Leonide went a-ground on a sunken rock or reef. Our slow rate of progression necessarily weakened the sloop's impetus; else the danger, with such a cargo on board, off that wilderness of a coast, would have been extreme. As it was, a couple of hours' hard labour enabled us to haul the vessel back into deep water, and thus to save her not only from destruction, but from any serious damage. This occurred early one morning. We had then arrived within a day's sail of our first destination. The captain now consenting, I took the sloop's 176 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. canoe, and, with one of my own men to steer, paddled forward to the North Bentinck Arm, which I reached just three hours in advance of the Leonide. Well do I recollect that 22nd of November, a dull, dreary, wintry day. It was a Saturday evening; but we had time to discharge a large portion of the freight, I acting as stevedore and supercargo. It is strange what a man can do when he is put to it. I speak from personal observation and experience when I say that anybody, with ordinary intelligence and a fair amount of bodily health, may push himself along in a new country. At the date of my leaving England, what did I know of industrial work beyond the sphere of my peculiar profession ? Yet I may point to my own case, and I trust without being suspected of vanity, as a practical instance. For there I was at the North Bentinck Arm, acting as ship's clerk and superintending the unloading of a vessel, having previously piloted it up the Inside Passage from Vancouver, in place of- a "professed pilot," who, though purposely shipped at Victoria, had shown himself as incapable of managing a sloop on the high seas as any Highlander in his bonnet and breeks. About latitude 52°, longitude 128°, and exactly THE BENTINCK ARMS. 177 opposite Cape St. James of Queen Charlotte Islands, a large estuary occurs in the British Columbian mainland. This estuary is splendidly sheltered from the ocean by an island, measuring twenty miles in length, and called after its discoverer, one Captain Maclaughlin, a Scotchman. But the estuary itself leads up thirty miles into the interior by a broad and deep channel. It there divides into two channels, which have been named respectively the North and South Bentinck Arms, and which lead again, the one by a still scarcely explored route over the last range of the Rocky Mountains into Canada, the other into the heart of the Blue and Cascade Mountains. A little above the conjunction of the two Arms, in the North Channel, a small colony had been formed, partly as a standpoint for barter with the Indians, partly with a view to the provisioning and accommodation of those who, like myself, were rash enough to probe the recesses of the famous Cascades, in search of gold or other minerals. I do not entertain the least doubt that, when capital is brought to bear upon this upper portion of British Columbia, the route thence into the interior, and so into Canada West, will be fully explored and speedily established. The scheme will meet with opposition; but, as it is N i I 1 178 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. sure to succeed eventually, all who know anything of our possessions in the North Pacific foresee an immense change in the mercantile state of this colony by the certain diversion of perhaps half its traffic from Victoria in Vancouver Island to the towns yet to be formed on the North Bentinck Arm. Scotchmen have so far been the main projectors of this enterprise. Hence the aforesaid little settlement, for years known familiarly at Victoria as " The Arm," had assumed at last the style and title of New Aberdeen. One Wallace it was who kept the ranche or hotel there, a thrifty and thriving speculator, well deserving of permanent success. I had twice previously spent some useful and jolly days under his roof, when engaged in my bootless Cascade expedition, and now it became my pleasing task to lend a helping hand in revictualling his store, and otherwise doing him a good turn. Those are the reciprocal services in which pioneers specially rejoice. In fact, with shame must it be acknowledged that, the more sparse the population in a given radius, the less selfish and the more genial, hearty, and obliging do we lords of the creation become in our dealings with JIM THE INDIAN. 179 our fellow-creatures. No tyro in colonization but will draw that inference. While hob-nobbing with Pioneer Wallace, however, I had serious doubts of being able to cultivate friendly relations with the rest of mankind at New Aberdeen. I learnt that the small-pox had carried off hundreds of Indians since my first visit there; and as the party I then headed was the unfortunate means of introducing the fell disease amongst them, I began to fear lest the natives should oppose my landing. But I was soon undeceived. Remarking a fine specimen of Young India (North Pacific section)- gazing at me, not with eyes indicating intense hatred, as I had expected, but with an expression of sorrow, I sympathizingly inquired the cause. He was one of those whom the small-pox had spared, but had nevertheless so deeply marked that I did not recognise his face in the least. But the moment he spoke I knew him to be my old Indian friend Jim, our guide on the Bentinck Trail over the Blue Mountain. But for Jim none of that party of ours would be alive at this day. He answered my query by saying ruefully, but in very good English, " Do you not remember me, sir ?" Of course I at once went and shook him warmly by the hand, which n 2 I fl I &**"^*Si^iu*»Ijjp CI I 180 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. mark of my remembrance and sympathy so overcame the poor fellow that he had much to do to keep down his feeling; and yet the feat was indispensably necessary, if he would retain his character as an Indian brave. I never took so kindly to any Indian. Jim was in my opinion an excellent example of the real stuff that lies behind the dross and disfigurement with which Europeans are now only too familiarized in the Indian character. Had my position and circumstances allowed it, I should certainly have adopted him, as I felt sure he possessed a warm and generous disposition, besides great intelligence, which a few years of civilized life and training would have brought out in noble relief. We made but a short stay on the North Bentinck, not longer in fact than was necessary to clear out the sloop and right her for the rest of the voyage. While this was being accomplished, I set off in company with Mr. Taylor, another courageous pioneer of these regions, on an excursion up the Bella Coola, or Belcoula River. The country here may be described in a summary way as hilly, the hills sometimes rising to mountains with a rich loam for a soil, the river-banks, however, displaying a subsoil of gravel some twenty feet under- TAYLORS RANCHE. 181 neath the surface. Nothing appears wanting but the axe, the spade, and the plough to render such a land as productive as any in the British Empire. At the period of my visit it was one wild forest, save the wigwams of the Indians in the bush, and Mr. Taylor's ranche about three miles upward. On our way thither we passed by two Indian settlements, or bivouacs rather. They were almost deserted, the small-pox having during the previous year reduced the tribes there from 4000 to a few dozens. I noticed that the river had an enormous stock of salmon. They tumbled over each other like sprats in the water, reminding one of some plant or vegetable run to seed. Mr. Taylor's ranche presented nothing new. It was the same log-house-in-the-backwoods kind of scene to which British Columbia has a way of accustoming every emigrant. The spirit that could induce an educated man to brave the loneliness and discomforts of a quasi-permanent residence in such a desert calls for admiration. At the same time, when the tremendous risk of life and the distant hope of profit are considered, it seems hardly possible to look upon isolated undertakings of this description as other than foolhardy. ' Ill 1 f / 1 f 182 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. Mr. Taylor kindly gave me a fine buck-hound pup, which afterwards did me good service. I called him Cato. By-and-by he grew to be a very powerful animal, standing over two feet, and holding his own against any dozen of the curs with which the Indian wigwams on Queen Charlotte Islands are infested. Many a watch did my dog Cato keep for me. The Indians had a wholesome dread of him. He would think nothing of seizing them by the bare legs; and as, by some instinct or other, he used to pick out those whom we knew to be our worst enemies, the Indians often threatened to kill him. Whenever they said this in my presence, I always vowed to them, with both hands on my revolvers, that it would be the worse for them if they tried to execute their threats. Poor Cato, he had a hard time of it. By constant vigilance, however, and by making him stay indoors after dark, I kept him in safety the whole of my subsequent residence at the mines. On leaving, I gave the faithful animal away to a white- man friend. Returning to New Aberdeen, I found the Leonide in nice trim for the second part of our voyage to Queen Charlotte Islands. We had just got the anchor on board, and were dropping down the Arm, LIEUTENANT FISHER. 183 when an Indian of the Bella-Bella tribe came alongside in his canoe, and, speaking in very fair English, informed us that Lieutenant Fisher of the Royal Engineers had been barbarously murdered by the Chilicooten Indians. He was engaged at the time in surveying the route from the North Bentinck Arm to Cariboo, which, in the previous year, I had roughly mapped out for the information of the Colonial Government. It seems he strayed away from his camp. No sooner was he out of sight of his own men than some Indians, who had been tracking his party for several days before, pounced upon him, stabbed him to death with their knives, and then stripped the body naked. We hove-to, in order to give me the opportunity of getting at all the facts concerning poor Mr. Fisher's fate. These I collected and despatched to Victoria, to the editor of the Colonist newspaper, in the hope that, by this means, whatever friends he had in England and his brother- officers might hear of his untimely end. On the whole, New Aberdeen left sad impressions. For three irksome days we did our utmost to clear the particular nest of islands which lie grouped between the Bentinck Arms and the North Pacific Ocean; but, owing to the usual cause, fickle winds If 184 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. and vicious currents, we made but slow headway. As at length we began to steer to the southward, with a view of taking the sloop round the south of Maclaughlin Island, we were passed by the Labouchere steamer, belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company. We signalled in the customary manner, but she preferred not to acknowledge our compliments. The reason of such exceptionally strange behaviour on the high seas we soon discovered. When failing to double Edmund Point, the Leonide had next day to put into the little harbour of a new Indian settlement about fifty miles further down the coast. The natives in the settlement were simply mad-drunk, the Labouchere having, on her way up, supplied them with an immense quantity of whisky, in barter for fur- skins. This was the Bella-Bella tribe. We heard they had recently deserted their old camping-grounds up the Arm, and had come down here in consequence of the fearful gaps and ravages caused by the smallpox. Many mournful hours of reflection did it give me when I came face to face with the enormous sacrifice of life I had unwittingly brought about, through my unfortunate exploring party to tne BELLA-BELLAS AND BELLA-COOLAS. 185 Cascades introducing that pest in the neighbourhood of the Arm. The Bella-Bella tribe, though not to be despised, were formerly by no means a match for their born foes the Bella-Coolas, who used always to cut off a great number of the Bella-Bellas whenever these ventured beyond their own territory. But now the Bella-Bellas, though deplorably reduced in their own tribe, found themselves in numbers and force far ahead of the Bella-Coolas, and were accordingly preparing, might and main, to administer condign punishment to their ancient enemies. Thus does one evil produce another. The few men at this settlement who had remained sober told us that the tribe intended to go off very soon on the war-trail, and kill every single man of the hostile tribe, out of revenge for the past. It is true they could not quite accomplish their sanguinary purpose. But there was terrible bloodshed none the less. I prophesy that, before the year 1880, the Indians of British Columbia and Vancouver will be numbered by as many dozens as they counted thousands when I originally saw them. The cause of this is twofold: first, the natural antagonism existing between savage nations, resulting there in frightful internecine 186 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. struggles; which spirit, secondly, has been lamentably increased by the intoxicating drinks the Indians have of late years so easily procured from the unprincipled traders who frequent the coast. I tried to trade with the Bella-Bellas, but could5 not induce them to come to terras unless I consented to barter in whisky. This, neither I nor the skipper would do, under any circumstances. The surprise of the Indians at our refusal told its own tale. During the night numbers of them came alongside the sloop in a shocking state of intoxication, openly proclaiming that the Hudson's Bay Company regularly sent liquor round to the different tribes. The chief, who was sober, offered in barter a large ship's telescope, but would take nothing in exchange except fire-water. Within a week afterwards we discovered that the glass in question had been stolen, only a few days before, from our skipper's own brother. It was perhaps as well we did not know this at the time, or there • might have been a fatal row with the Bella-Bellas, if indeed the temptation to redeem his brother's property by the sole means of a barter in fire-water, might not have proved too strong for our little captain. Having filled our water-casks, and fearing GETTING OUT TO SEA. 187 treachery from these besotted Indians, we stole away quietly at daybreak. But it was only to return with ignominy; for, although now in sight of the open sea, each time that we hauled clear of the shore, the wind perversely " died down," and we had actually to row the Leonide back to the Bella-Bella settlement. This went on for two whole days, amidst the derisive yells of groups of Indians on the beach. Tired at last, I succeeded in persuading the skipper and the ignorant pilot to risk it, by rowing out to sea, instead of running in for shelter every moment, as though we were a set of home-sick girls. " Nothing venture, nothing gain," I thought; and at this juncture I certainly did not err. So we rowed out at 10 a.m. one sunny morning, and at sundown the same evening, Day Point, on Maclaughlin Island, was twenty miles astern, with a breeze nearly dead aft pushing us steadily through the water. On the morning of the second day we dropped anchor somewhere off Queen Charlotte Islands, having taken just forty-eight hours to do our fifty miles across from,Day Point—that is, about a mile an hour—and eight whole days to come the distance from New Aberdeen. 188 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. A steamer might readily have performed the service, there and back, four times over; whilst an Atlantic Cunard might have, meantime, accomplished its run from Liverpool to New York with ease. And yet it was less than half our voyage from Victoria, Vancouver Island. 189 CHAPTER XIII. WHERE ARE WE?—STORMS—WORKMEN IN BRITISH COLUMBIA—POWER- LESSNESS OE A LEADER BEYOND THE HAUNTS OP CIVILIZED LITE— MUTINY—TO WORK AGAIN—MINING OPERATIONS—CHRISTMAS DAY AT THE LOG-HOUSE—KLUE AND HIS CHIEPS—HOW TO CIVILIZE INDIANS. Well, at last we had made Queen Charlotte. But whereabouts exactly were we in the Islands? That was the next question. And a very pretty puzzler it proved, too, with a lubberly pilot in charge of us, and not a single instrument on board to take the sun's altitude. Fancy what it would be to anchor off Start Point in South Devon, with a kind of misty doubt in one's mind that the land on the lee bow of the ship was possibly Flamborough Head. Our guesses had hardly begun, however, when down came a squall upon us, sharper and much more sudden than any Mediterranean burrasca. Luckily we had reefed sails; for the squall did not give us five minutes' warning. With awful fury it uprooted trees in all directions, loosening huge boulders on the 1 - 190 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. mountain-tops, and tumbling them into the sea like foot-balls, whilst the wind shrieked again through the sea-caverns, bounding up from rock to rock, and down again to the lower levels, till the islands seemed shaken to their very foundations. Presently, and with the same marvellous suddenness, the roar of the elements ceased, a death-like calm immediately supervening. Upon this we examined our position, and congratulated one another heartily on having crossed Queen Charlotte Sound within a few minutes of the time required to save ourselves. We lay there all night, thinking wisely that inaction was the best policy when a wrong movement might precipitate our ruin, particularly in the dark. Next morning our pilot declared his certain conviction that we were north of the Copper Islands. But as I knew every stone for sixty miles northward of that position, and yet did not recognise this coast, it followed, according to the pilot's " convictions," that we ought to sail south. We did so, and before noon a long string of rocky islets came in view, stretching right across our bows. Observing them with a glass, I pronounced them at once to be Cape . St. James and its satellite rocks, which form the TWO GALES. 191 most easterly point of the Queen Charlotte group of islands. Happily, we had already gone so far west. If we had been only five miles more to the east, we might easily have passed Cape St. James, and sailed out, goodness knows whither, into the boundless Pacific Ocean. Without more ado, therefore, we bouted ship, and shaped our course due north for the Copper Islands, feeling sure by this time where we were going to. Alas, we once more laid the flattering unction to our souls too soon. Tacking against a dead headwind, we had barely gained ten miles on our right course when another gale, a hundred times worse than the one before, drove us like a piece of cork into our last night's anchorage. Glad we were, indeed, to get that much shelter. But every instant I expected we should be driven out to sea; and then we should have turned a few marine somersaults, and have victualled the North Pacific fishes for the whole Winter. It was a little bay, and up and down it we went, dragging our two anchors after us as if they were two pins. Twice, another two yards would have put us outside. On the last occasion, thinking it was all over with us, I stripped for a swim to the shore, two hundred yards distant. 192 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. I believe, too, I should have actually plunged into the angry flood, stemmed it with a heart of controversy, and have swum to yonder point, but that, seeing my mates so willing, I turned to lend them a last hand, as I imagined. Jumping into the boat, we hauled out the third anchor. Then, rowing like.- lunatics, we dropped it in the centre of the bay, just as the sloop was about to launch out wildly into the deep. It was a veritable snatch from the jaws of death. But it taught us a seaman's lesson likewise. We, therefore, continued buffeting the storm with lusty sinews for full six hours. As fast as our sloop dragged her two anchors, we carried a third further up the bay, and then half pulled and half rowed her in. Not a soul amongst us but contributed his quantum to this crucial test of manliness. We even forgave the pilot his lubberliness, in consideration of his expending himself at the helm and capstan. Every man on board fought for our joint-stock of life as for his own. I may here state that my observations on Queen Charlotte Islands go to prove the duration of storm- weather in those latitudes to be almost invariably six hours. Thus, should the weather be calm, say from noon to six p.m., after six o'clock it will change AT THE COPPER-MINES. 193 to rough, at midnight it will double its force, at six a.m. it will begin to die off, until, by noon again, the wind and the water have become as still as a lakelet in England in Summer. Not that Queen Charlotte weather is always changeable, but that, when it does change, these are the rules of its changes. I see good reason for attributing this action to the tides, although the tiding there acts with no great regularity. We had a quiet night's rest after the travail of that anxious day. Early in the morning, a canoe full of Hydah Indians paddled into the bay. I engaged them to take me to the copper-mines, and to return with one of my workmen, who would pilot the sloop in. It was three o'clock on that day when I reached the long-wished-for destination, and found my men all but out of provisions, and murmuring not a little. Of the murmurs I took no notice, beyond frankly explaining the cause of our detention. It is human nature, the world over, to feel disgusted at being kept waiting, no matter how right the reason. But when the rag-tag-and-bobtail of society vent their humour in irrational grumbling, wise men should remain silent. o Ill 194 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. Before night, the Leonide came to anchor within a couple of hundred yards of our old log-house on Burnaby Island. The voyage from Victoria to the Copper Islands had thus consumed no less than thirty-six days. Now I did the same distance by the Outside Passage in four days, on board the Rebecca, and eventually, by the Inside Passage in twenty-one days, in an open canoe. Making, then, every allowance for our troublesome diversion to the Arm, this, I hold, constitutes irrefragable evidence that, from the Straits of San Juan de Fuca to Cape Scott of Vancouver Island, the inner British Columbian waters offer no facilities to sailing-vessels. . I have recounted above the shocking havoc of the small-pox amongst our Queen Charlotte Indians, likewise the summary measures I adopted to stamp it out of Skincuttle. Prior to that, it had been my already-mentioned misfortune to carry the plague to the tribes along the North and South Bentinck Arms of the mainland. And now a similar fatality seemed to be pursuing me. At New Aberdeen we had compassionately taken a European on board as a passenger via Queen Charlotte to Victoria. As ill-luck would have it, MUTINOUS SYMPTOMS. 195 what should he do but fall sick of small-pox, some days before we arrived at the copper-mines? I entered a vehement protest against his being put on shore, knowing only too well the certain consequences. The little skipper insisted, however, and then weighed anchor without him. We whites, it is true, were not attacked; but scarce had the sick man landed when the Indians again caught it; and in a very short space of time some of our best friends of the Ninstence or Cape St. James tribe—to my sorrow, seeing how few genuine friends we counted in any of the tribes—had disappeared for ever from the scene. It was long before health could be restored to the surroundings of our. little colony. December the 1st was the day of my re-arrival. The Indian Summer had almost waned; and my first thoughts, therefore, were given to preparing for the approach of Winter, and for visits from some of our Indian friends, in reality our secret foes. But neither of these preparations could now be satisfactorily made; for the mutinous disposition of my own working party became more apparent every hour. In fact, my forced absence of two months and upwards had quite demoralized them, which did not o2 II I Hi 196 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. wholly surprise me, I must own, considering the riffraff one so often has. to engage with in colonies, the small personal interest these men could be expected to take in an enterprise of this nature, and my legal powerlessness to uphold the law. It is extremely difficult to obtain the services of really good workmen towards any undertaking in British Columbia. The. majority of the labourers for hire there are not English, but the scum of America. And as the scum of Europe rush to the United States, it may well be supposed what it is the United States send further west to us. On applying for an engagement, they say they can do anything. This cannot be disproved till they are actually seen at work. Wherefore, if workmen you want, take these random applicants you must. After you have defrayed their expenses to your field of labour— and that is always expensive in the North Pacific— they turn out, as often as not, to be completely worthless. Should a chance occur to send them back, even at the loss of paying the return-passage, their employer may think himself a lucky man. The ordinary mischance, however, is to have them hanging about one's premises, eating up provisions, drinking all they can grab, utterly idle themselves, AN ANOMALOUS POSITION. 197 and interfering with the honest work of others. Now a Captain on the deck of his ship possesses ample legal authority to deal with such cases. But he who heads a party of colonists on land, be his location ever so far removed from the haunts of civilization, is without a remedy^ legally speaking. No wonder that, in a former row, Chief Skid-a-ga- tees could by no means understand the laws of the white-men. For truly my position in that respect was an anomaly. I cannot see, indeed, why the leader of a residentiary enterprise like mine, encouraged and otherwise supported by Government, should not be invested with plenary magisterial jurisdiction within his circumscribed sphere of work. It would be unusual, no doubt; but a two years' residence in an almost unknown and totally un- colonized part of the world is not usual either- And nevertheless, if our countries in the Far West are to be peopled, those exceptional undertakings will grow into a sort of rule, for which the Colonial Government ought to legislate. I do not shrink from saying that, had a magistrate's commission for Queen Charlotte Islands been conferred upon me, our expenditure would have been immeasurably less than it was, inasmuch as I might have prevented or arrested 198 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. ¥-\ the demoralization of the men, whilst the beneficial results to civilized life of my residence there would have correspondingly increased. The real cause for the men's discontent was their unwillingness to bend to my yoke, mild as I made it. They had been their own masters for two months—why should they knock under to me now ? Their pretext was the food. Upon which I vainly reasoned " that luxuries could not be expected in the backwoods of America, but that, as for substantial food, they were better off than many a gang of labourers thrice their value, in civilized Europe." To show the incalculable difficulty of humouring a crew of this description, in a place where humouring only will do, I shall enumerate in the gross the stock of provisions which I had taken up with me in the Leonide; first, plenty of second-class bacon, a large supply of excellent prime beef and pork, countless ducks and geese; secondly, potatoes, beans, first-class tea, coffee, sugar, and butter, raisins, rice, golden syrup, and biscuits; thirdly, a fair relay of spirits for grog. All this abundant store I carefully looked after myself, always presiding at the daily distribution of rations. " What do you want more ?" I used to say to my eleven companions, " unless you Bsmss TO WORK AGAIN. 199 wish to knock off altogether, and live like fine gentlemen?" But, though often silenced, they were never satisfied. " Why should you distribute the food ? It is ours as much as yours," some grumbler would soon begin again; and so on indefinitely through the Winter. Once a drunken fellow, who had taken a double ration of rum, actually levelled a rifle at me outside our log-house door. The others thought this measure rather too violent, and disarmed him. In the state we were, however, it certainly did make me invoke lynch-law on the murderous villain's head; while the fear that I might really carry my menace into execution had the effect of damping the mutinous spirit of all the party for some time to come. It proved what might have been done had the law assisted me, instead of its abeyance impeding me at every step, during this second year of residence. However, as soon as I could in any degree persuade the men to work on with me, we set to at repairing our canoe, cleaning and " fixing" our fire-arms, erecting a regular blacksmith's forge, and enlarging our log-house, so as to make it hold our mining implements and stores more conveniently. The alterations took long, owing to the want of !00 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. carpenters' tools. Our blacksmith, I remember, forged a large knife out of a spade. The knife was eighteen inches in length and six inches wide. With this I managed to split the shingles requisite for the roof, whilst another man did his best with a hatchet at carpentering some trees into logs for the walls. When the roof was on, we put up an empty powder- keg, to serve in the novel capacity of a chimney-pot, and a ticklish business we had of it, too. Before the keg got naturalized, it caught fire twice, and well- nigh put the house in a blaze. Fortunately our powder was all stacked at the other end of the log- house; but the twenty powder-kegs which we now had to keep in the proximity of possible fire, did not form the pleasantest reflection for the inhabitants of that log-house. To anybody whose experience is bounded by Europe, exposing our lives thus wantonly must appear the height of suicidal folly. It was that, I do believe. In fact, on the other side of the Atlantic nothing is half so marvellous as the reckless familiarities with gunpowder, steam, or other explosives, in which every one indulges. But somehow, among Transatlantics you get used to it. I next had both log-houses thoroughly cleansed, Mining operations. 201 and all the chinks in the walls filled up with oakum; and when the dangerous trees near had been cut down, in order not to afford^ them an opportunity of falling and crushing us outright in a January storm, as they nearly did the year before, I began to feel snug and comfortable, from a material point of view, for the approaching Winter. Then came the mining operations. I re-prospected all my old prospects, and reviewed the shaft-work, frequently going down our main- shaft at Burnaby, pushing onward into the lode, or instructing and stimulating the men. Much their laziness wanted it. Quite as I expected, next to nothing had been done. Whilst I was absent, spending myself and risking my life to forage for them, the good-for-nothing fellows had been playing and idling away their time, foreman included. No resource remained to me, however, but to grin and bear the loss, and otherwise make the best of a bad job, by affecting to laugh it off, and trying to inspirit them to work. Had I not smothered my feelings; the scoundrels would have turned utterly rusty, left me in the lurch, seized the stores, and, fraternizing with the too-willing Indians, have perhaps ended by murdering me, and have 202 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. afterwards escaped themselves to the mainland. Those are some of the chances a gentleman has to run when he stoops to associate with those beneath him, whatever be his ulterior object, in a land beyond the pale of civilization. Except, then, that I kept a jealous guard over the stores and provisions, and that I continued, atleastnomi- nally, to direct everything, thus retaining my ascendancy, I pretended to take it all as a matter of course. Such was the manner in which I tided over the Winter; although, by Christmas time, it had become pretty clear to me that, from these causes, our Company could never hope for success on the present system of operations. As may be supposed, my Christmas was a dull one. The unsettled weather added to the discomfort. In that respect Queen Charlotte Islands, as well as the rest of British Columbia, seem closely to copy Old England. When the Indian Summer is over, you do not get your Winter at once. Quite a month ensues of muggy, sleety, and sloughy weather. You are often well into January before the real frost and snow arrive. Rain at Christmas-tide is unpJeasant enough in all countries. What must it have been in that outlandish settlement, under a roof not rain-proof? CHRISTMAS-DAY. 203 Despite all our efforts, the shingles with which the roof was covered would split open, sometimes quite suddenly, or the knot-holes would unaccountably grow larger. None of these defects could we remedy, for want of proper felting, then an unpurchasable article in the colony. I think I never shall forget that unique roof of ours. My bunk was nearly under the barrel which did duty as chimney-top. Many a fine night have I lain there, prone on my back, intently watchiug the Plough as it curved beneath the Polar Star, or other of the sidereal groups as they appeared to career through the heavens, until hidden from my vision by the arc of our telescopic barrel chimney-top. But when it rained I had to manage as I could. That Christmas-day our cook served us up roast goose, with a dish which he insisted on calling plum- pudding. Seated across the edge of my bunk, I was in the act of doing justice to the unwise but savoury bird, when a rising storm made the cranks of our log-house creak, and before we had time to take warning, a douche of rain-water came tumbling aslant from the chimney on to my plate. I confess I was very near profaning the sacredness of the day by a few hearty curses; until, chancing to remember if 1 'IF III! Oil w f 1 Id I r 204 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. a similar mishap in a civilized house near London, where the whole contents of a Christmas dinner- table were instantaneously destroyed through the ceiling falling upon it, I thought I might have fared worse; and so I bore with the loud guffaw of my men as they coarsely chaffed me over losing my Christmas dinner. This was the wisest policy — nay, the only one, with a set of men to whom I had in a measure committed myself for the time being. All through those Winter evenings, mine and their principal resource lay in sitting round a good fire in our log-house, mending clothes, cleaning guns and tools, talking of homes and friends, and wondering what those friends were doing at that particular moment—not without a hope that they were thinking of us forerunners of civilization, inaccessible as a rule by any description of boat or small sailing-vessel during quite three months of the year. The experience of the preceding twelve months made me very chary of admitting the Indians to our log-house at night. Before them I always took care to avoid any appearance of disunion amongst ourselves ; and when they saw that we spent so much of our time shut up together it created a mysterious air of strength, which undoubtedly was of service. KLUE AND HIS CHIEFS. 205 Sometimes, however, I would allow Chief Klue and his compeers to pay us evening visits. Then, while my men worked and smoked, I have spent hours upon hours in explaining the phenomena of nature and the arts of civilized man to the chiefs. I found them ever most attentive and interested, and, I must add in justice, far more intelligent than many illiterate white men in our own country. On the other hand, the Indians always believed me to be a great English chieftain—Hyas-King-George-Tyhee* —by reason of the marvellous tales I used to tell them. The size and population of London and of Europe, the properties of gas and steam, the art of photography, but especially telegraphy, filled them with astonishment. When the chiefs heard how our countrymen could speak together at a distance, and that, ere the present race of Indians were very old, they at Burnaby would be able to converse with their stray friends at Victoria, or with other tribes on the mainland, and without either party moving from their respective positions, they held up their hands amazed. " Powerful is the white man, wise and powerful," exclaimed Klue frequently. * Queen Charlotte Islands having been discovered in the reign of George the Third, the Indians associate with that king's name every Englishman they have seen since. 206 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. Yet for all our wisdom and power, or Klue s friendly reverence for those qualities of ours, I imagine, when the telegraph does come to Queen Charlotte, he will be the first to clip just one little bit of the wire, which crime, if not punished on the instant, will, I foresee, lead to a general robbery— capswallo — of the telegraphic apparatus. The Indians will be sure to want to cut the wire all up, to make fish-hooks, fasteners, and rings for their own ears or their women's noses and under-lips. That which astounded them most, however, was my account of the substanoe, movements, and relative positions of the sun, moon, and stars. As the white man was so long mastering this branch of science, it is certainly no marvel that poor Blacky should manifest incredulity on having the planetary system first explained to him. The Queen Charlotte Islanders, I perceived, did connect the sun and the moon, in some misty kind of way, with the Great Spirit. But they seemed not to possess the faintest notion of the earth being likewise a planet; whilst the stars, in their idea, consisted of mere sparks, which the sun had probably left behind him at bed-time* When I enlightened them on these points, and particularly when I declared that the planets were HOW TO REFORM THE INDIANS. 207 probably peopled worlds like ours, and that the earth went round the sun, instead of the sun round the earth, Chief Klue shook his head in a comically doleful manner, as much as to say "It is all gammon, Tyhee Poole; and I am only sorry you should turn out such a liar." But presently, after some moments' apparent reflection, he looked up again and asked eagerly, "How know? how know?" And as then, by means of homely proofs, I unfolded to him and his brother-chiefs the Copernican revelation, conviction appeared to strike upon their minds much more quickly than it did upon the minds of the Grand Inquisitors who imprisoned Galileo. In order to effect a solid and permanent reform in these savages, it is absolutely necessary to enlist the sympathies of the heart as well as the head. I do not mean this as a truism. Heart and head must of course work in concert, wherever good is to be effected. But to reform the Queen Charlotte Indians, supposing they escape the portending fate of the other tribes in the North Pacific, will, it strikes me, be a work involving prolonged time, formidable labour, sound judgment, and tried patience. You can easily get them to imitate you: but that, I have seen, avails nothing, as it leaves them in the end 208 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. worse than they were in the beginning. The ways and employments of civilized peoples should be very cautiously introduced, the temptations attendant on such novelties being anything but beneficial to certain weak places in the Indian character, namely, the tendency to theft and lying of every conceivable sort, the animal cunning which so soon shapes an Indian into an apt cheat, his total inappreciation of the virtue of forbearance; above all, his insatiable lust for drink, and the brutish violence he invariably gives himself up to when under its influence. Only isolated settlements will serve the purpose. The Queen Charlotte Islander needs conversion, if ever savage needed it; but, to use a maxim of the great Lord Strafford, "less than thorough will not do it" for him. He must be continuously guided, watched, and controlled, that too by exceptional teaching and legislation; and, to our eternal disgrace, chiefest of all the requisite precautionary measures, is the necessity of keeping him from contamination with the average run of traders in the North Pacific, the majority of whom have a lower moral status than the veriest unconverted savage. 209 CHAPTER XIV. SEABOARD OF QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS —STORM-TOSSED SEAS—ABORTIVE BEAR-HUNT — INDIANS NEITHER BRAVE MEN NOR CRACK SHOTS—HUNTING BEARS—STORMY PETRELS—TIDE-EOLE—AN AQUATIC SKEDADDLE—RIELE-PRACTICE ON BURNABZ ISLAND—TWO STUNNING STORMS. The seaboard all round Queen Charlotte Islands, but especially its more southerly portion, is remarkable for the bold and rocky front it presents to the Pacific Ocean. As along the coast of British Columbia itself, so here, a cordon of black and beetling cliffs seems to forbid ocean aggression. The clusters of islets with which the larger islands are surrounded at intervals, give the notion of their being advanced out into the sea as scouts and vedettes. Those spots of insulated rock, even under the influence of Summer scenes smiling at them from the shore, offer to the passing mariner who chances to sight Queen Charlotte country a picture of absolute desolation. But when the Pacific rises in its rage, when its mountain billows, after having w^^.-,. - I 11 if tali 210 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. rolled unchecked over thousands of miles, meet here with a first obstruction, the mighty sea bursts in thunder upon the gloomy rocklets, which nevertheless emerge again from the foam like valiant warriors courting a contest. Such was much the scene which, in Winter time, usually met our eyes whenever we stepped out of the shelter of our log-house. The sea did not appear to have time to freeze, as it does by the north-easterly coastway of America. The truth is that, in the North Pacific, the Winter ocean-roll comes nearly continuously from the southward. The water always retains a certain warmth, therefore, which its passionate tumbling and dancing only serves to increase. But sometimes the stormy winds would retire; and then, though in the midst of Winter, the sea would soon smooth itself down till its surface became as gentle and unruffled as it looks on a lovely day in Summer from the south coast of Old England. The name Pacific seemed no longer a misnomer. And yet, strange to say, the very mildest and brightest days were those which invariably prognosticated- frost and snow. After Canada, or even England, the snow-fall we had was a mere trifle. I do not remember a single \ AN ABORTIVE BEAR-HUNT. 211 day on which the snow did not entirely disappear before sundown, whilst the frost never lasted above a few days together. The wind and rain storms proved to be our real enemies, for, when the sun and afterwards the frost returned, nothing could have been more beautiful than our winter weather. I well remember, one bright and frosty night of that kind, a rough knock coming to our door. Happening to stand nearest, I answered the knock. Chief Klue and two of his councillors were outside, evidently feeling the unwonted cold keenly, for they had their blankets tight round thern, while, for a wonder, he was enveloped in an antiquated great-coat I had given him, and which I appropriately named his wrap-rascal. They wanted to tell me that a bear had been seen in the neighbourhood, and, now pointing: to the clear heavens, now clutching at the frozen air with their dingy hands, that there could not be a better time for a hunt. I could not afford time to let the men go; but, never having seen what an Indian hunt was like, and thinking to vary our provender with a novel sort of steak, I consented myself to join Klue the next morning. Accordingly I promised to lend him an Enfield rifle, that being the arm he liked best, as p 2 212 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. English make. Meanwhile I prepared a small-bore American rifle for my own use. I can attest great objections to American rifles in general. They are too long and too weighty. For economy's sake the barrel ordinarily consists of one solid piece of steel, drilled while cold so as to take a half-ounce ball. This is all very well, if you can fire from a rest; but, with a rifle of that kind, prolonged and unceasing practice alone will enable you to fire steadily from the shoulder. Besides, the butts are carved. This forms a considerable obstruction in quick shooting, as you have not only to get your sight, but also to fit the carved butt into your shoulder: for otherwise, should the gun hang fire, you are certain to hurt yourself, American rifles out of order having a habit of kicking as well as their English fellows. With the first streak of day, then, off we set—Klue, a small posse of his Indians, myself,, and eight Indian dogs of the half-wolf breed, all together. As we entered the bush and began to crush down the brushwood, dry and crisp from the frost, the morning sun was tipping the heights of Burnaby Island. We had not penetrated beyond half a mile before we came upon evident signs of our ursine enemy. At this the dogs commenced sniffing about in an INDIANS NOT BRAVE. 213 animated manner, barking valorously, and throwing their long tails aloft. It was only, however, to drop them again the moment Master Bruin should choose to turn out and face them. I noticed a corresponding behaviour in the Indians, especially Klue. As if in expectation of a triumphant encounter with the "King of the Forest" on Queen Charlotte Islands, the chief took to handling his rifle in a fiercely determined manner, whilst his dark eyes rolled and glistened; but I knew that, like the dogs, he too would be sure to lose all his courage exactly at the time he required it most. I cannot conceive how it is that Indians have the reputation of being so brave and reckless of danger. In all my travels I never met with a really brave man among them, unless it be Jim, my old Cascade guide. If Indians are palpably superior in number to their opponents, they will perhaps show fight, though by no means always even then. But if it should appear that they are only equal, their antagonists having the advantage of position, they will fly as fast as their legs can carry them. Their bravery generally lasts no more than a few minutes, during which time they will do any amount of talking and gesticulating; but in the event of an enemy 214 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. surprising them, they will all fire at the same instant, and then run for their lives like deer, their shots whizzing harmlessly through the air. Indians are no marksmen, either. I once recollect seeing a rifle and twelve muskets discharged by as many Indians at an otter; and yet every man of them failed to hit the animal, though they were within ten feet of him. It was I who first observed the otter, and I of course wanted to pot him myself. But such was their intense anxiety to secure the prey for their own purposes, that I indulged one of the Indians with my Enfield. He fired ludicrously wide of his aim; and the ball, ricochetting from the rocks, took a piece clean out of the broad-brimmed hat of a Klootchman who chanced to be standing in a canoe down by the beach. The Indians are afraid to fire in fact, and generally shut their eyes for the operation. Yet I have also heard them described as crack shots, and their supposed exploits praised in just such terms as one might use in speaking of a Tyrolese chamois-hunter. Nobody, however, who has more than a mere casual acquaintance with the North Pacific tribes can seriously hold that opinion. I account for the illusion thus. When an Indian is hungry or in search of food, he husbands his powder to an extraordinary 11 ' ^^^^WH INDIANS NO MARKSMEN. 215 degree. Usually, he will crawl up on all fours, precisely as a tiger might, to within easy distance of his game; but he never fires till he feels certain of killing. From our log-house door, I have frequently seen sportsmen of this calibre out on the rocks to the right, patiently waiting and watching a whole day, and sometimes a night, in order to get a sure shot at a solitary seal which happened to be lurking near. At last the ambuscader would fire, and tremendous would be the excitement on shore. Other Indians, unseen before, but likewise ambuscaders, would rush from behind crags and trees, and in five seconds paddle off in canoes to where the poor seal had dived down, struggling for life among the kelp and sunken reefs. By-and-by the seal would rise, on which a general scramble would ensue, the canoes not unfrequently capsizing, to the disgust of the white-man eye-witness, whose common sense tells him that needless noise is ruination to hunting. And so the game escapes quite as often as not. All the same, the man who shot the seal obtains great credit for his shooting, the manner of it being nowise considered. None of the Indian tribes in the North Pacific display either real bravery or sporting qualities. But where was the promised bear-hunt? In the 216 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. clouds, I may say. This was the first time, and likewise the last, that I went on a hunting-expedition with Indians. I guessed how it would be; but Klue over-persuaded me, and right well was I served. The bear had left evident traces of his predatory descent from the mountains, but, with such a pack of dogs or curs as accompanied us, he would have been a flat indeed to have waited till our party came up to him. The dogs, despite the commands of their master, given in language full and loud, barked away at the top of their canine voices, the echo seeming to dance from ravine to ravine into the recesses of the furthermost hills. How the Indians imagined they were going to entice the bear down in that fashion, I could not understand. It was, for all the world, as though some gentlemen in the burglary line had sent a letter over-night to say they might be expected to tap at the kitchen-window early next morning. Master Bruin very sensibly kept to his private apartments, knowing well that, under the present uncontrollable circumstances, he could not be tracked there in a day, or in many days. Consequently, after nine hours' laborious tramp through the dense underwood, including mazes and entanglements hardly to be believed, desperate fights BEARS IN NORTH AMERICA. 217 to extricate oneself, and ruin to my habiliments, I regained the log-house, fagged beyond measure, laughably steak-less, but, on the whole, rather the better for the health-producing exercise. Although my luck in bear-hunting on Queen Charlotte Islands stands below zero, I feel assured that bears must be very plentiful there. The Indians say' they often see them, particularly when out with their canoes, and far away from their camps. The bear-lairs, however, are seldom disturbed; partly because of the natural density of the brushwood in the bush; partly because of the uneven ground created by much fallen timber, and also by the large rock- boulders which for ages have come tumbling down periodically from the mountains, but chiefly because of the cowardly and silly ways of the Indians when they try to hunt. Bears, I should say, abound on Queen Charlotte Islands as much as in any other part of North America. Yet on the mainland they are not by any means so numerous as one hears they used to be. This is specially the case with regard to the grizzly bear, which species lingers more in southern latitudes. Ere long it will become very rare. But the other species—the common black. bear, ursus americanus—will die out too. In a urn* 218 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. journey through British Columbia extending over two hundred miles, I only saw three specimens, and that was on the higher grounds above the fifty- second parallel of north latitude. No huntsman ought to go bear-killing without dogs, provided always that they can be made to hold their tongues while the game is being tracked. Odd as it may sound, those of the coward sort are the best. All animals, I believe, whether human or brute, dread an attack from behind. But bears have a specialty in that respect; and if the dogs are properly trained to worry Bruin's hams, his bearship is sure to turn round upon them, and thus afford facilities to the huntsman for dealing him a fatal blow. Then I know the opinion prevails in Canada that a bear does not die suddenly. Should a bullet, it is said, strike him in an apparently mortal spot, he will often be saved by the quantity of fat which envelops his flesh, and by cleverly stopping up the bullet-hole with grass—that is, if the dogs do not press him further; but well-trained dogs will leave a bear no time to stuff the grass into his wound, and so they literally do worry him to death. How far this theory is true I do not venture to determine, although I am disposed to credit it, because on more SLIGHT SNOW-FALL. 219 than one occasion, when out alone in the Canadian bush, I have given the contents of my rifle to bears that came, across my path, and yet I did not find their bodies afterwards.* I select the following from my Diary for the year:— "January 11th.—Snow fell the first time this Winter last week. The fall continued during the greater part of the week, but was of so slight a character that no snow remained on the ground above three hours at a time. * It may perhaps be allowed me to relate here a very narrow escape I had from a bear in Canada, the year before I went to British Columbia. It was the first of the genus I had seen in his wild state. The roads were very bad, just after the great springtide thaw, in fact axle-deep in mud. My journey was towards some mica-mines. About twelve miles from the town of Perth it occurred to me to make a short cut by taking a corduroy or side-line road, which divided a certain plantation in two. I had hardly entered the plantation, walking the horse all the time on account of the muddy ruts in the road, when a huge black bear jumped or rather clambered over the fence and coolly began shambling along by the side of my buggy or four-wheeled trap. This he continued with apparent unconcern for some two hundred yards. Arrived thus far, however, he seemed to think he might as well ride as walk; for he growled, showed his grinders, and gave me significantly to understand that he intended possessing himself of both trap and driver. Fortunately at this point the road got much better. No sooner, then, did my uncanny fellow-traveller attempt to climb up into the trap than I brought down the butt-end of my whip with such a tremendous whack upon his snout that he let go the trap and reeled back on his haunches. The next moment I dropped the other end of the whip smartly over the sides of my trembling horse, and away the gallant animal flew at the top of his speed, never relaxing it until we had left Master Bruin a good mile behind, with his ugly nose out of joint, and doubtless considerably astonished at this unlooked-for result of his manoeuvres. Ill if. II it I 220 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. " The stormy-petrels have been paying us a visit. They seldom appear in these parts. We must, therefore, keep a sharp look-out for storm-weather, see to our log-house trimmings, and cut down some other trees, which I perceive threaten to overwhelm us. " My tide-pole has had a dirty time of it down among the wave-bedashed rocks. Certainly I might have pitched on a more sheltered position; but it is the most convenient one, especially as I wish to take observations three times a day. During the last fortnight I have found a marked difference between the rise and fall of the day and night tides. In the daytime the wftter rises exactly twelve feet; at night nine feet six inches only. While I was taking my observations this morning, I had an unexpected visit from Chief Skid-a-ga-tees, who has been lately rather fighting shy of us. The deep old rascal seemed very anxious to know what on earth I could be doing, and what my object was in watching and marking my tide-pole. However, as he had brought with him a basket of rock-bass fish and three fine geese {bernaclce canadienses), I gave him some tobacco and biscuits in exchange: and so, with a shake of his paw, we have parted friends again till next time. STORMY-PETRELS. 221 " January 18th.—The petrels are trustworthy, and no mistake. For this week past it has been storm-weather in earnest, the worst this season—so unbearably boisterous, in truth, as to have compelled all the Indians on Burnaby Island to quit their wigwam encampments, and to migrate, each tribe back to its own home, where, they tell me, the natural shelter and their housings are much more efficient. " I have never visited Skid-a-ga-tees in his ancestral domain: but if, as he says, he is better housed there than Skiddan is in his frame-house up north (query), what does he and half the Skid-a-ga-tees tribe mean by coming down here and encamping in the Wintertime, unless it is with the hope of getting something in the general scramble for our goods and chattels ? Perhaps they 'cutely foresee that crisis to be not so very distant. " There is no doubt that, if they had not gone off quickly as the storm began to rise, their large canoes would have been dashed to pieces on the rocks round Burnaby and Skincuttle. It was as much as we could do yesterday to save our small canoe. I have yet to traverse the Bay of Biscay; but assuredly I never beheld a sea more truly mountainous than what our eye-range can now take in, from east to QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. west, opposite our log-house door. The wind has been a Nor-wester throughout. "To-day, the storm having somewhat abated, I killed a fine crow (corvus cawrinus) with my Enfield rifle, as he was perched on the top of a tall pine-tree, at. a distance of 750 yards.'' This last Diary note reminds me to say that, weather permitting, we used to have splendid rifle-practice at Burnaby. We could sit outside the log- house, and pop away at whales, porpoises, seals, grelies, or divers, any of which were as plentiful as salmon in the river Tay. The loons I found the most difficult to kill, as, the very instant you drew the trigger, down went their heads into the water.' Either they must see the shot, or else their coating of feathers must be so close that shot will not penetrate it. I should attribute it to a combination of both causes, for I have oftentimes hit a loon* when it was swimming from me, and yet not killed, or apparently even wounded, the creature. There was a long table * It seems difficult to account for the term "loon" being used to express "a sorry fellow," as I see the dictionaries put it; unless, indeed, " loon" be a corruption from some other word. Eor my part, I cannot imagine a more wide-awake piece of goods than the loon of Queen Charlotte Islands. Its name may come from the noise it makes, yet hardly. ■L LOON-SHOOTING. 223 of rock which shelved at an angle of 45° nearly down to the water-side. This shelf, being breast-high, made such convenient cover that my rifle could barely be seen above it. I would frequently repair thither, to fire at the loons for an hour at a time, occasionally taking a companion to witness whether I really sent the shot home. But often, on his declaring that I did, the struck loon would just dip its head into the water, shake itself as though it had only been peppered with mud, and then quietly swim away out of gun-shot. Nevertheless, the shock, too, from the bullet must have been considerable. I remember also going out for a stroll along the shore, after that January storm, and firing at two large eagles— haliaeti leucocephali—with the same kind of shot. It had signally failed just before upon a tough little beggar' of a loon; but one single shot sufficed to knock over both eagles. They were always a puzzle to us, were those loons. I recur to my Diary:— "January 25th.—Paddling yesterday afternoon to an islet a mile off, in a line towards Harriet Harbour, what should I come upon, inside a sheltered cove, but my tide-pole ? It had been carried away two miles in the late storm, and landed high and dry Km^:Fvf£Mi''jQ 224 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. by the tide on a pebbly beach. Much trouble I have had to-day in refixing it, the slippery rocks rendering a foothold hardly obtainable. But, as more trouble was required to make the pole, I am right glad to recover it. " Also, near Harriet Harbour, I picked up a five oyster seven inches in diameter, besides several smaller ones, all excellent eating. This find is important, as it proves beyond doubt the existence of oyster-beds close at hand. They lie probably in deep water: for the oysters I found yesterday lay high on the rocks, having evidently been washed up by a recent tide." "January 28th.—We have had another stunning storm. Happily it was short. It commenced with one terrible flash of lightning, after which followed a fearful peal of thunder, then a heavy fall of hail, accompanied by gusts of wind that shook our stout little log-house like a plaything. This is only the second flash of lightning we have had this Winter. Thunderstorms are usual hereabouts in the Summer season, but very rare indeed in Winter. The Indians, who have only just returned here after their aquatic stampede, testify to this storm having been the most violent of any ever witnessed by that ANOTHER STORM. 225 ubiquitous personage ' the oldest inhabitant.' They are not averse, I think, to regarding it as a prognostic of evil; but whether their superstition points to themselves or to us, would seem, so far, an unsettled point. The storm lasted all yesternight, till the morning sun dispersed it. " That first flash appears to have intimidated one of my men. I had just left him at the bottom of the shaft, trying to raise a large block of stone, when the flash came. The stone fell upon him, and his comrades had to convey the poor fellow in an insensible state to the log-house. He has regained his consciousness, but will be confined to bed for some weeks yet. 1 One thing I am truly thankful for, namely, the safety of our gunpowder. I had not been able to make any provision against lightning, and was therefore on tenterhooks the whole of the past night, not knowing the' moment we might all be blown into the sea." This unfortunate accident added greatly to my troubles, for the men took advantage of it to become more mutinous than ever. I could scarce get them to put their hands to the work. Q !7 II * i # 226 CHAPTER XV. SUMMER-LIKE WEATHER—"TRIBUTE AND TUT-WORK —RTVAX TRIBES—■ RUNNING SHORT OP PROVISIONS—THE " NANAIMO PACKET " ARRIVES— MISTAKE ABOUT STORES—KLUE AND HIS TRIBE HAVE A DEBAUCH WICKEDNESS AND SHORTSIGHTEDNESS OP SUPPLYING THE INDIANS WITH WHISKY—REMEDY POR THE EVIL—MINING PROGRESS—THE SKID-A-GATES—MINERAL DEPOSITS OP QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. The 1st of February was ushered in with summerlike weather. My men, perhaps taking courage from it, began to work by tribute and tut-work,* a not unfavourable sign, as I then persuaded myself, that the hopes of our Company might, after all, prove less delusive than I had been recently anticipating. At the same time two fresh hosts of Indians, deadly foes one tribe to the other, re-arrived at Burnaby together. The first belonged to a section of the Klue tribe, the others were Cape St. James * This is the old Cornish term, now used in America, for working by contract and division of labour, according to the species of operations the miners are engaged in. iw?»" THE RIVALS. 227 people, headed by their chief. These two tribes burned with jealous rivalry to secure the favour of the whites. The manner in which they set about it, however, was incomparably childish and ludicrous. Without meaning anything wrongful or offensive, at that time quite the opposite indeed, they would crowd round the shafts, or paddle after our canoe, each tribe elbowing its rival with such grotesque earnestness that often I had to hold my sides for laughter. Morning, noon, and night, they would beset our log- house, and our storehouse also, until I was forced to detail several men to stand sentry over us whilst we pursued our avocations. When, upon occasion, I allowed select parties of the rivals to come and sit with us in the log-house, it appears almost incredible how the great hulking fellows used to contend, like so many overgrown school-boys, for the best places near the fireplace, or the nearest to me on the benches, in order that the opposition should not be able to boast of having monopolized the wah-wah with the King-George-Tyhee Poole. Of course we took care to make no distinction; otherwise our position would have soon become untenable. My men's ardour was not of long duration. And here, I must own, they had some cause of complaint. q 2 ti I 1 228 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. The stock of provisions which I had last brought with me from Victoria was reckoned at four months- We were getting on towards the end of our tether, and yet no revictualling seemed at hand. It is easy to talk of over-anxiety; but imagine being on a semi-desert island, distant upwards of 200 miles from civilized beings, and possessing no possible means of communicating with them, save by the help of the savages who inhabit it. Nothing could compensate for such an isolation but thorough interest in the work before us, and as thorough confidence in our Company's solvency and foresight. I had both those moral aids at my command ; but the men's interest in the copper-find was merely accidental and mechanical, while the mere mention of possible short-commons sufficed to conjure up untold horrors in their crude minds. Naturally enough they looked to me who had taken them there, and upon me they vented their spleen when aught happened amiss. Daily I felt the responsibility more and more. My feelings may well be fancied, therefore, when, early on Sunday morning, February the 8th, the man whom I had appointed as victualler came to me to say that he feared the four months was a mistake, and that we only had food for three months. SHORT COMMONS. 229 I immediately sallied forth to the storehouse, and finding after a careful inspection that what the man had suspected positively was the case, with a heavy heart I gave orders to weigh up the entire stock, preparatory to placing my party on reduced allowance. This was a black look-out, indeed 5 for, I said to myself, with such a grievance, the rest of the men will certainly throw up their work and mutiny the moment the news gets wind amongst them. I then fully believed that in October there really had been some serious mistake on the part of the Company's agent at Victoria. Only one hope remained. Might I not have mistaken the period originally assigned? If so, we ought shortly to be relieved. It had been snowing more or less for two days. Now it was clearing. I would go and scan the wide ocean, and see whether the horizon did not perchance hold out some forlorn hope to us. In that desolate frame of mind I put down the weighing scales, and taking up my field-glass I prepared to mount the rocks which overhung our little settlement. No sooner had I begun the ascent, however, than a vociferous hullaballoo from some Indians in a canoe assured me that something out of the way fj[\iifammm" tom&aemiiBttii tmmmutu I I I 1! £ 230 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. had occurred. Hurrying down to the beach I beheld to my inexpressible surprise and joy a good-sized schooner in the very act of rounding the point from the direction of Harriet Harbour, and bearing in for our landing-place. Never did shipwrecked mariner hail his ship-ahoy with more heartfelt delight. It was like an instantaneous response from heaven direct. The vessel proved to be the Nanaimo Packet, Captain T. Coffin, sent up by our Company with plenteous stores, and with four men to be employed at my discretion. It appeared the schooner had been lying-to in Harriet Harbour. She had got inside during a thick snowstorm; and fearing to face the high sea then on, there she had lain, unobserved by any of us, for forty-eight hours. My four months' reckoning was a mistake, and it was not. We had been properly victualled for that period, but, whereas I erroneously counted it from the time of my departure from Victoria, the Company's agent had calculated from what he supposed would be the date of our arrival at Queen Charlotte. This explained both my miscount, and the vessel's coming to us about a fortnight before I should in all cases have looked for her. Happy mistake which served THE "NANAIMO PACKET." 231 us no worse. However, it did help me to realize keenly what the straits of our situation might very easily have become; whilst I could not help sympathetically recurring to Wellington, when they sent a thousand left-footed boots for a regiment under his command in the Peninsula, and to our Commissary- General in the Crimea, when he received his shipload of green coffee for the " immediate use of the army." My Queen Charlotte Mining Company treated me better. I accepted three of the new-comers as miners at fifty-five dollars a month, and the fourth at fifty dollars as cook, besides board to all. Now fifty dollars being as nearly as possible ten pounds sterling, it follows that my cook's wages were at the rate of 120/. a year. In other words, to induce a man to cook " plainly" for us on Queen Charlotte Islands, we had actually to pay him higher wages than a " professed cook" would receive in a nobleman's family in London. That item will give no bad idea of the immense outlay required for an undertaking such as our Company had embarked in. My little skit of a French cook I now discharged. And glad I was of the opportunity. Irrespective of his general good-for-nothingness, he had always been 7. I 232 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. one of the worst of the grumblers, to say nothing of his having once, as already mentioned, seriously embroiled us with Chief Skid-a-ga-tees. I also dismissed another mutinous miner. When the Indians had quite satisfied themselves that the Nanaimo Packet was not a " smoke-ship" with guns at long range, they flocked out to it by hundreds in their canoes, to see if they could not bag something. Great was the pleasure and pride of Klue, on detecting four of his own tribe, grinning at him over the schooner's taffrail. These fellows had been down at Victoria all the Winter. Klue knew by instinot that his tribe would have a " dram all round" of the infernal<( fire-water," whilst the Cape St. James Indians would be condemned to look on with envious eyes and watering mouths, even Skid-a-ga-tees and his lot getting only a sop; and so it eventuated. This quadruple piece of rascality had come back, sporting no superfluous luggage, but carrying between them, iust as one might treasure ingots of gold, a large barrel of whisky, which pint by pint, I may say, they had earned and stored up at Victoria, with a view to a single day's gratification at home. What was the result? No advice, no entreaty, no menace, nothing availed from me. Swallow the " fire-water" they INDIAN WHISKY-DRINKING. 233 would and should. And hence within an hour's time after the first appearance of the schooner, Klue and all his tribe had drunk themselves mad. As soon as our stores had been landed, Captain Coffin hauled his vessel off two miles to W.S.W., to a safer anchorage, there to await my letters and reports for the capital. Concerning whisky-drinking among the natives, I cannot refrain from here putting forward a few reflections which I jotted down in my Diary, on the occasion of the debauch just mentioned:— " The so-called whisky which is shamelessly sold to the Indians by traders along the coast, or even by certain unprincipled merchants at Victoria, contains very little of what is wholesome or genuine liquor. What it really does contain is not generally known; but I hear on good authority that the bulk consists of water flavoured and coloured with grain- whisky in the smallest appreciable quantities. Its strength proceeds wholly from the blue-stone vitriol and nitric acid which the manufacturers largely infuse into it. The consequence is that, when the Indians imbibe this drink freely—and they always do so whenever they can get it—their naturally fiery temperaments are wrought up into a state of *Mwmm m f+m< if] If I Iff 234 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. savagery so intense as to leave no white man's life safe in their presence while they remain under its influence. I take it that to deliberately supply the Indians with such body-and-soul-destroying stuff is not only glaring wickedness but shortsighted unwisdom in the highest degree. The trader who acts thus may receive a few valuable skins each time as his bargain, but each time also he contributes materially to the demoralization and probable extinction of the very races to whom he looks as his producers in the trade. In my opinion there ought to be a most stringent law on that head through the whole extent of the British Columbian colonies. Heavy penalties should be inflicted, and enforced too, in the case of any one, no matter who, infringing it. Moreover, better bargains, I quite think, could be made with the native tribes by means of the trinket traffic, provided it were thoroughly understood amongst them that, by no means, were they in future to obtain the ' fire-water' from one party more than another. I recollect seeing' some tribes on the Fraser River pledging themselves to the missionaries who had gone to visit them. They promised never to taste spirituous liquors, and doubtless the pledge was meant to be kept. But an A STRINGENT REMEDY. 235 Indian is the veriest of babies. However ardently he may have pledged his word, let his missionary leave the camp only for a few days, and he is a ready prey to the first pedlar who may chance to tramp in there. The pedlar perhaps has no evil intentions. Woe betide him, however, if he should betray that he possesses the merest flask of spirits. The whole tribe will cling to him like bits of steel to a magnet. Should he happen to take a taste himself, it is absolutely impossible for the Indians to resist. They will wrest the liquid fire from him, as many as can will gulp it, and then all is over with them. Again, permanent supervision alone reforms the Indian. Now, in a place such as Queen Charlotte Islands, where no tramps can pass through, an Indian mission might be most profitably established. But then, as an indispensable condition of success, every vessel, boat, or canoe coming to these islands, would have to be overhauled and well searched for spirits. More than this, every captain or trader wishing to land here should be legally compelled, before he puts his foot on shore, to bind himself by oath that he will not supply the natives with spirits. It would be despotism, no doubt. I hate despotic laws as a rule, yet betimes they become a rigorous necessity. And \w— I! II 236 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. here is an evident case, in which the sole alternative between certain ruin and rescue lies in despotic legislation, be it as paternal as you will. Only, nothing but despotism, wisely forecasting and ever vigilant, can save the work of perhaps entire years being thus undone in one single day." Some days subsequent to Klue's drunken debauch,- an Indian of his tribe stole a pair of shoes belonging to one of my men, upon which I went down to both the rival camps and informed the chiefs severally that in future no Indian of either tribe should enter our log-house. This was to prevent one tribe from blaming the other for stealing. But, also, having in my possession a fur skin and a musket, the respective owners of which lived in different camps, I gave notice that I should retain both articles until the shoes were returned. It had the desired effect. Late in the evening I was pleased to see IQue himself coming up with the identical pair of shoes in his hand. It satisfied me that those whom we had long suspected were in reality the principal thieves round about us. Yet Klue's sorrow at one of his own subjects having committed the theft added still more to my satisfaction; inasmuch as true reformation need never be despaired of for any man who makes a frank WINTER SHORT AND MILD. 237 acknowledgment, though his primary motive in doing so may not be of the very purest. I considered this a favourable trait of character in Klue. As far as disposition can indicate a character, he was the best of his race. In Canada the coldest days of the year always come between the 20th and 25th of February. But though Queen Charlotte Islands he very little higher up than the more inhabited parts of the Dominion, February the 25th had already seen us fairly into Spring. Our two Winters were, both of them, wonderfully short and mild. In truth, if I except the turbulent storm-weather which now and then assailed us, and the frequent yet not continuous rain, which the immense timberage of the islands well accounts for, we had properly speaking no Winter. Judging from the climate only, one certainly could not have supposed that we lay as near the Arctic Ocean as Labrador. It never was so cold as when a week's frost occurs in London. In short, the most graphic comparison I can draw is with the Northern Island of New Zealand or our own South Devon. The mining operations having much progressed during the past twelvemonth, the recurrence of fine 3 Ii {**£?*■ I -I 238 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. weather produced a greater change in our regular business than it had done the year before. The rock down the shaft becoming every day softer, I was soon enabled to sink to an average depth of four feet six inches a week, instead of as many inches, which was what our weekly work about amounted to through the Winter season. The weather on the 1st of March being all that could be desired, I took several of my men out with me, intending to continue my prospecting. Follow t ing up the course in a fine nearly N.W. from our main shaft, I discerned strong cupriferous indications for a length of 400 yards. I likewise unearthed some singularly fine specimens of conglomerate. These I brought back to the log-house, and, on analysis, found the percentage of copper in them to be so very satisfactory as to lead me to conclude that I must have struck the vein itself. That was a good day's work. During the following week the nature of the rock altered too much to allow me to attribute it to the weather alone. The blasting-powder would only penetrate the seams, and even then did such poor execution that I had to order the pole-pick to be used, as the more serviceable power of the su MINING PROGRESS. 239 two.* We advanced rapidly, and as the copper indications improved both in quality and quantity at every step, the important fact was unquestionably settled that the true vein had indeed been struck. The matrix, or mother-vein, now principally developed garnetiferous colours, namely, red, yellowish- red, brownish-red, and dark-brown. All the veins turned out to be both massive and crystallized, exhibiting the dodecahedron, with its modifications, opaque or feebly translucent struchore, lamellar, and granular. The lustre was glistening, the fracture uneven with marked brittleness, and the specific gravity 3"75. The three most common forms were:— 1st. The dodecahedron, with rhombic faces, primitive form. 2nd. A dark-green garnet, a solid, with twenty-four trapezoidal faces. * The preceding week we sank down the shaft to an exact measurement of four feet four inches, consuming in the process twenty-five pounds of powder, 112 feet of fuse, four inches of steel, two bushels of charcoal, twenty-six candles, six boxes of matches, together with oil, soap, and grease—making a total in cost of materials of $19 73c. This well represents the large expenditure requisite in the beginning of raining transactions, especially when carried on in Winter time, and without the aid of elaborate machinery. I have no note of the next week's expenditure; but I remember it fell to quite one-third of the above. If Tmr tff.i*mimmitw> *■*•»•- I 240 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. 3rd. A yellowish-red (much fractured), with rhombic faces, showing the course of the fractures, which was uneven, to be conchoidal. The matrix measured rather more than two feet in thickness. But a distinct vein, two and three- quarter inches wide, soon showed itself; and I feel certain we should have eventually struck wider and thicker veins, if I had been able to develop in an oblique direction, as I hoped to do. While this was going on at the shaft, the Indians seemed all at once to take a lively interest in my copper speculations. Klue had always given me great assistance. He generally used to accompany me in my prospecting explorations. I instructed him how to look for copper; and, there is no doubt about it, he displayed a degree of intelligence, when encouraged, far superior to any of the loutish white men with me. But now a daughter of George, one of the leading Cape St. James Indians, came and informed me of copper being down in her neighbourhood, at a spot which we called Antony Island. She produced specimens. I immediately detected the fraud, however, her specimens being merely picks from a ton's weight I had procured on Jeffrey Island, not long after my first landing. When found out, the wench SKID-A-GATE CHANNEL. 241 only laughed impudently. Skid-a-ga-tees also sent me messengers who reported having discovered copper somewhere on the coast above Silver Island, but I had no time then to go and verify it. The most probable account was that of another tribe, with a slightly different name, from whom in fact the Skid-a-gate Channel to the north of Moresby Island derives its designation.* The Skid-a-gates said, and * No intelligent white man, that I know of, has ever rightly explored the country of the Skid-a-gates, or, in this century, any portion of Queen Charlotte Islands higher than Skiddan and Cum-she-was Harbours, which I myself visited. In 1852 the Hudson's Bay Company sent a small expedition under the command of a Captain Mitchell, to search for gold on the western coast of Moresby Island. In 1859, one Mr. Downie, an old Californian miner and explorer, led another party of twenty-seven men from Victoria to Gold Harbour, afterwards proceeding to Skid-a-gate Channel. A Captain Torrens followed in the same year. But all three parties were intent on the gold quest only, and almost immediately returned, Captain Torrens and his men having narrowly missed being murdered by the then hostile Skid-a-gates. Captain Cook, R.N., in his Voyage to the Pacific Ocean (vol. ii.), gives a description of the appearance, which the northern coast of the islands presented from his ships; and an account of the western coast of Graham Island may be seen in Captain Dixon's Voyage to the North-west Coast of America, with views. But the exploration of Skid-a-gate Channel and its surroundings is an undertaking yet to come. Captain Torrens, in his Report, says: | The country north of Skid-a-gate Channel is low, and thickly wooded, receding in one unbroken level towards a huge range of mountains about thirty miles off. Vegetation is there luxuriant, and at intervals patches of open land occur, in which the Indians have planted crops of turnips and potatoes." The Skid-a-gates unanimously described their country to me as flat, " good R m I, 1 fil I 1 1 ■ It 11/ 1 ll if 1 242 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. I believed them, that a vein eight feet wide, and over two hundred yards in length, had been tracked in their country. They presented me with some splendid samples, which quite corroborated their statement. The chief earnestly pressing me to return with him and prospect the find, again I was obliged to reply that the time failed me. Here I should not omit to mention an extremely promising vein which I discovered in Sockalee Harbour, during the course of the foregoing Summer, as well as numbers of lesser veins, which I duly marked during a subsequent excursion, but never had opportunity to develop, around the shores of Harriet Harbour.* To sum up on the subject of copper. The geological formation of the strata and my prospecting for growing potatoes," that is, for agricultural purposes, and full of excellent harbours. It strikes me as the most likely locality for the capital when civilization shall have reached the islands. * Mr< Downie, who, four years previous to the events here related, stopped a short time in Skid-a-gate Channel, reported that they found " trap and hornblende blocks, with a few poor seams of quartz" to the southward of the Channel. Northward, they found " coal, talcose slate, quartz, and red earth." All these were only in inappreciable quantities. JTrom the samples of coal I saw at Victoria, however, I feel convinced that, for furnace purposes, the Queen Charlotte anthracite will eventually quite equal the famous Pennsylvanian. But, again, a paid-up capital of not less than 100,000/. would be required to put any coal-mine on the Islands into working order. As regards slate, the Skid-a-gate Indians brought me down a magnificent block of slate, as good as the finest Welsh slate. I secured a piece to carry home as a specimen. MINERAL DEPOSITS. 243 combine to prove that Queen Charlotte Islands do contain immense mineral deposits. Gold is said to be there; but in regard to the existence of extensive copper-fields, no doubt whatever now remains. Only, in my judgment, although we struck a matrix on Burnaby, the islands possess in other parts more ample fields, where a much larger profit will one day reward some enterprising speculators. I see every probability likewise of coal and slate being found on the islands in highly remunerative quantities. r 2 II i I1 244 CHAPTER XVI. DISORGANIZATION—IMPOSSIBILITY OP CONTROLLING THE MEN—A SALIENT EXAMPLE—GLARING THEET8 BY INDIANS—CONSULTATION WITH KLUB AND SKID-A-GA-TEES — DETERMINATION TO RETURN TO VICTORIA — DIEPIGULTY OE THE VOYAGE—KLUE'S GRAND CANOE—LAST CHANCE TO THE MEN—HARRIET HARBOUR. My little colony on Burnaby Island now began to evince such signs of disorganization that the time of its dissolution, I plainly saw, must be fast approaching. It became an absolute impossibility to control the men, and unfortunately they knew it. Talk and persuasion may do for a short time; but I can think of no state of society in which the power of enforcing the law is not the first of necessities. Except the isolation and our unsettled condition, my men had not a rational ground of .complaint. They were fairly housed, sufficiently fed, and splendidly paid. Yet the mere fact of our Company's interests being placed so manifestly in their hands, instead of giving some zest to the work, seemed to suggest to the FREQUENT QUARRELLING. 245 scoundrels to take every mean and dastardly advantage. It will doubtless excite surprise that men who had to earn their bread should misconduct themselves as these did, considering the assured means of subsistence they were thus dragging from under their own feet. The greater bait in the distance, however, nullified every present argument; for be it remembered that the only workmen then available at our copper mines, were those who wanted about as much as they could earn in a couple of months to enable them to go off on their own hook to the gold-fields of Cariboo. Besides, frequent quarrels arose between our party and the various tribes of Indians. I do not mean to say that the Indians were not often in fault. I found those poor untutored savages, taken by themselves, to have good and trusting dispositions, if trusted in turn and judiciously treated. But the example they had continually before their eyes in those white savages of mine was execrable, whilst quite as often the Indians appeared to be either wholly in the right, or to have suffered gross provocation. One day an Indian of the Klue tribe received unmentionable ill-usage from one of my latest comers. This so exasperated the injured individual that it cost WTm 246 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. me a world of trouble to prevent a general milee. As it was, the Indian, seeing my real want of power, passionately declared he would shoot down the first white man who should venture to pass the bounds of the Klue encampment. To whom could I impute blame ? Added to this actively disorganizing source, was its usual correlative, namely, too great a familiarity with the Indians. It sometimes worked in a reactionary spirit after a quarrel, but more frequently it provoked another. When the days had perceptibly lengthened my men spent nearly the whole of their off-time in the wigwams of the Indians, turning a © j © deaf ear to all my admonitions, remonstrances, or entreaties. The consequences to be expected from such a course were obvious to my mind, and I was not deceived. It effectually emancipated the men from everything save the merest semblance of control. They worked when they liked, and left off when they chose, the mass of the Indians correspondingly losing the respect they used to have for my authority or influence. I will give one salient example of what we shortly came to be reduced to. One evening I was employed making entries in my Diary, just inside the door of our log-house, when something darkened the thres- CAPE ST. JAMES INDIANS. 247 hold. Looking up from my writing, I saw a surly Klue Indian, with a musket over his shoulder, and a Klootchman woman standing behind with a large box under her arm. At a sign from him of the musket the Klootchman advanced into the house, saying that one of my workmen had told her to come and take up her residence there, and that her box of things was to go underneath his bunk. I could not of course mistake the meaning of that. The proceeding was inadmissible for every moral and sanitary reason. But, besides, I might as well have relinquished the idea and object of my exploratory expedition altogether. If I was not to remain master, even in the log-house, there would be an end to all order and work in no time. I consequently made quick and fierce objection, upon which the Klootchman bride retired affrighted, but not until her escort had fired off his gun in front of the log-house and then defiantly presented it at me, as much as to imply that I owed my life to his magnanimity. Possibly it was so, for the next day we were simply inundated with natives, who seemed not to have the slightest notion of leaving me sole master of our chosen premises. Never having seen any of their faces till then, I could not at first conceive where they had all come from. I soon ■ 248 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. learnt, however, that they formed a reinforcement of Cape St. James Indians, who had arrived in two large canoes during the night. It was easy to see, by their abandoned manner and the tricks they commenced playing, that they had been well primed beforehand as to the state of the case in the white men's camp, and deliberately intended to be troublesome to me. I counted a hundred and twenty-two of them. Not content with a mere visit, they encamped close to the log-house, regularly blockading it, threatening to burn it down, and then alternately singing, begging, dancing, stealing, so as to keep us idle for two or three days, and our minds, day and night, in such ferment and suspense that sleep was entirely out of the question. It ought to have taught my men a good lesson, for, had a massacre ensued, they would certainly have been included. But, instead of recognising in it the fruits of their stupid insubordination, hardly had this bullying ceased, or drawn off rather, than the fools went fraternizing again with the late arrivals as well as with the Klue Indians. From this time forth, loose living on the part of the men, and thieving on the side of the Indians, was the order of the day. I find these entries, in my Diary:-— A CLEVER THEFT. 249 "March lith.—Last night, while the day-shift men were asleep, with the door and window of the log-house left open for the sake of air, some Indians entered and took all the musket-powder we had left and all the bread we had baked. I happened to be down at the shaft myself, never conceiving it possible that my men would be such dolts as to allow themselves to be overreached in that manner. It was a sharp stroke of business for the Klue Indians. They were actually brazen and clever enough to abstract a powder flask and belt and a box of musket-caps from under the blacksmith's pillow without disturbing him or any one of the sleepers. At the moment that this crime was being perpetrated, a canoe belonging to Chief Skid-a-ga-tees, with two Indians half concealed in it, floated leisurely up and down in front of the shaft. This was a ruse to attract the attention of the shaftmen, and to make it appear afterwards as though old Skid-a-ga-tees himself had been implicated in the robbery. The Klue Indians had borrowed his canoe yesterday afternoon upon some pretence or other." 115th.—A second glaring theft. As the shaft- men were away at dinner, a lot of Indians went down the shaft and walked off with all the candles. »mm«i»» hi m»«' miin» i 250 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. I believe the principal thieves are still the Klue tribe; but they have accomplices, I fancy. I did hope my men would have profited by the raid of two nights ago. It is exactly the reverse—they do not seem to care one straw; for to-day the guard refused to stay at the shaft during dinnertime. Of course the ever wide-awake Indians seized their opportunity. 1t> begins to look like collusion, though I am loth to think it. "16?//. Last evening, again, I was myself going towards the shaft, while the night-shift had their supper, when I espied a certain Klue Indian whom we call Buckshot, darting away from near the works. I made after him, and found nothing; but for all that, on my examining the mining-munition, a dozen large candles, a can-full of blasting powder, a i h1 our best sledge-hammer were seen to be missing.' In consequence of these barefaced thefts, I held a long consultation with Klue and old Skid-a-ga-tees, as the only chiefs who, in our then position of affairs, would be likely to listen to reason. 1 (old Skid-a-ga- tees that, on the whole, I had little or no cause to find fault with his tribe sinoe their hostile demonstration soon after my first landing, and that, as far as I knew, they were guiltless in the recent robberies. FRIENDLY CHIEFS. 251 Klue candidly confessed the delinquencies of his tribe, but assured me he had.done what he could to correct their thieving propensities, and so far without result; he would try to obtain the restoration of the stolen articles, and would continue to set his face against all thefts,* but I was not to suppose he had unlimited power. When I looked back to my own powerless- ness, and also bore in mind Klue's persistent friendship, I could not refuse this explanation. I informed the chiefs, however, that, unless matters took some unexpected turn, it would not be possible for me to carry out my original intention of living long amongst them, and of establishing a white man's colony on Queen Charlotte Islands. Both chiefs seemed truly grieved to hear this decision. Yet as its wisdom could not be disputed, they said they feared we must part. The consultation ended amicably. And heartily did that rejoice me, for it testified to the " difficulty" having proceeded on either side from the subordinates, not from the leaders. By this time, nevertheless, I had made up my * When subsequently I got Klue down to Victoria, I had him up before the Governor, Mr. Douglas (now Sir James Douglas), who spoke like a father to him. Klue expressed such contrition for the errors of his subjects, that I trust he has of his own accord induced them to mend their ways. II » llll II II" 252 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. mind that our exploration could not be pursued further on the present system.. I determined, therefore, to go back to Victoria, give a full report of my discoveries, and then resign my position as Engineer to the Queen Charlotte Mining Company. However, the standing obstacle to every movement along the North Pacific coastways met me at once. Where was I to find a conveyance? One morning Skid-a-ga-tees came over to tell me that a fellow of his just arrived from Graham Island had seen a ship up north eight days before, making towards Stickeen Eiver in the Russian settlements. When I state that I took seriously to calculating whether this vessel might not perchance call at our copper-mines on her return voyage to the capital, the anxious predicament in which real isolation sometimes places a man may be to some extent apprehended. At length the splendid weather suggested to me to risk the voyage in a canoe. No such a venture had ever before been made in that part of the world. I sounded Klue on the subject, and he looked aghast. But Indians only want a proper lead to be venturesome themselves. On my arguing the point with him he finally yielded, and a bargain was then and BARGAIN WITH KLUE. 253 there concluded between us, he agreeing to take me down to Yietoria in his largest canoe, and I covenanting to pay him at the same rate as if it were a schooner without provisions. The bargain had this limitation, that it was to be void if, within another month's time, my workmen should show satisfying symptoms of improvement. I knew they would not. Meanwhile, Klue was to make the necessary preparations, being careful to keep it a solemn secret until I gave him the word to speak. The poor savage kissed my hand in token of his fidelity, and I am not ashamed to own I experienced myself a kindred sensation about the region of the heart. We were in the first week of April. The past month, as regards mining work, had been an idle one; but the men, guessing probably what I was cogitating, here threw off the mask. Forecasting that I should be obliged to pay them, work or no work, they deliberately left the shaft to its fate and made themselves comfortable. We had not reached the middle of April before the whole eight of them were to be seen lounging in and out of the log-house at all hours, their hands stuck significantly into their pockets, and their countenances thrusting I 1 I I 254 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. defiance at me. When not engaged in this ex- emplary pursuit, they would go to sleep in the sun, like hogs, or, what was worse, saunter through any Indian camp that admitted them, till they got involved in a quarrel or other trouble. Their sole plea was that the supplies of maple-sugar* and grog * Sugar is as much a necessary as salt to the pioneer. Whether Queen Charlotte Islands will ever grow maple-sugar remains to be seen. But it is a staple with the Canadian farmers of the backwoods. What they will do there when all the maple-trees are cut down, it is hard to foresee. Even now, owing to the quantity of sapping trees which have of late years been felled, a sugar-famine would have already overtaken the country if it had not been for the prudent prevision of the Government of Canada, which opened a special commerce with the West Indies in 1866. Otherwise, the sugar would necessarily have had to come to Canada vid England, and a requisite household article have been placed beyond the means of the poor settler. As maple-sapping is likely soon to become extinct, it may not be uninteresting to note the present process of manufacture in Canada. At the first genuine touch of Spring, when the sun burns hotly during the day, but while the snow is still on the ground and the nights are cold and frosty, the " sap begins to rise freely." On some Spring day, in the first week of March generally, the tallest and straightest trees are singled out, all around, and marked as sound for operation. Each of these trees is then bored to the inner bark with a gimlet, a loose spile or chip being inserted, which leaves a few inches projecting outside, for the sap to drop clear of the trunk into troughs or hollowed logs. The trees are allowed to run thus until the third day, about a pail-full having by that time exuded from each tree. A stout plug is then inserted in place of the loose chip, while the farm-boys carry off the contents of the troughs to a large boiler, which they find suspended from a horizontal pole, and which, again, canny hands have . propped up with five forked sticks. Under the boiler roars a fire, in a continual state of red heat, till the end of the operation. To purify the sap, and give the maple a crystalline appearance, the farmers add a little lime and charcoal. As soon as the whole has been boiled to a proper consistency, it THE MUTINEERS. 255 had failed. I felt extremely sorry for the sugar, but naturally enough not for the grog; and I said so openly. As neither defect could be then remedied, however, the revolt was not a simple strike. It was mutiny to all intents and purposes. Nothing indeed seemed wanted to complete the flagrant delict, unless, according to a hint I gave them, they liked to bind me hand and foot in the orthodox fashion. That experiment they declined* perhaps deeming it too dangerous. It struck me that, my authority being entirely gone, there might yet be a chance of these misguided louts coming round, if I were to withdraw somewhat from their society. I therefore resolved to profit by the time which remained to me to make an excursion or two, and while still at Burnaby to take my meals alone, to sleep out of doors when practicable, and to keep to myself as much as possible. I only insisted on directing the distribution of the rations, which they did not oppose, partly 1! n s I is ladled out into moulds, and left to cool and harden before being sent off to market, where it mostly fetches 4c?. to &d. the pound. The same maple- trees are sapped every year running, for seven years, more or less. At the end of that period, the farmers know they may as well cut them down for firewood, all the virtue having been extracted, and the trees having become quite hollow in the centre. TH ssssesrsee ii 11 256 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. because it saved them the bother, partly through fear of my prosecuting them for stealing at some future day, in case they resisted. I then went out in our canoe for a couple of days westward, taking with me two of Klue's best Indians as paddlers. We first landed on a small rock of an island reported by the Indians to have been at one time on fire. I made a hasty examination, my paddlers not relishing a long stay from superstitious motives. There were clear traces of a recently extinct volcano. I discovered a large bed of mundic, and also a boiling spring, in which I bathed. This was the islet I had visited in passing the year before, and named Volcanic Island. A high wind springing up, we made the best of our way to Silver Island, and, encamping there for the night, paddled back next day to Burnaby. Klue telling me that the spring was considered a cure for all diseases, it occurred to me to return good for evil to one of my refractory comrades, and at the same time to test the curative qualities of the spring- water. Accordingly I advised our blacksmith, who had fallen very ill with rheumatic fever, to take a canoe and try Volcanic Island. The man took the canoe and my advice too; and in a few days he l|P : THE SKID-A-GATES. 257 reappeared at Burnaby, not only fully restored in bodily health, but quite altered in a moral sense also. Devoutly did I wish to souse my other comrades in that miraculous spring. They chose, however, to go on riding the high donkey. So I left them to their asinine amusement. Whilst the blacksmith was away, I one day had a formal wah-wah with the Skid-a-gate tribe. I found their camp clean and orderly beyond the others. In my opinion the Skid-a-gates are much the most intelligent race of any on Queen Charlotte Islands. I think great things might be done for them. But it would require a devoted man like Mr. Duncan, of the Metlakatlah mission, who has completely reformed the tribes in the Fort Simpson section on the mainland.* The Skid-a-gates impressed me so favourably in general that I regretted nothing so much as to have to quit Queen Charlotte Islands without visiting the * Mr. Duncan's self-denying labours are referred to with just admiration by Mr. Macfie, F.R.G.S., in his Vancouver Island and British Columbia (pp. 476-86), and likewise by Commander Mayne, R.N., who in his Four Tears in British Columbia, gives (pp. 279-95 and p. 305), interesting extracts from Mr. Duncan's own Journal. The most comprehensive account, however, of the work of reformation which has been accomplished among the Tsimsheean Indians, is to be found in a series of graphic papers, published in Mission Life magazine (vol. for 1871), and entitled Stranger than Fiction. Never was title truer. Ml i 258 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. II tribe in their home. They showed me beautifully wrought articles of their own design and make, and amongst them some flutes manufactured from an unctuous blue slate. I bought one for five dollars. It was well worth the price. The two ends were inlaid with lead, giving the idea of a fine silver- mounting. Two of the keys perfectly represented frogs in a sitting posture, the eyes being picked out with burnished lead. A more admirable sample of native workmanship I never saw. It would have done credit to a European modeller. I now turned to a short excursion which Klue had been planning for me. He said that, before I left, I ought to make a thorough inspection of the place, which already, at a distance, I had named Harriet Harbour; and from all accounts of it I agreed with him. For this excursion I only took Klue himself and his little daughter, six years old ; and, in order to economize our forces, there being but three of us, I selected the chief's own private canoe, the very smallest on all the coast, and one easily managed along steep or shallow shores alike, up creeks or over rapids. It was scooped out of a solid cedar-trunk, and measured nine feet long, two feet four inches wide, and fifteen inches deep. |T_ A TINY CANOE. 259 In this frail skiff we three put off together one morning from Skincuttle for the mainland of Queen Charlotte. Scarce had we cleared Skincuttle when up went the little canoe, head to the wind, her tiny bit of canvas flapping with a noise like distant thunder, and to an inexperienced eye seemingly in desperate disorder, until, paying off by degrees on the other tack, the sail filled out stiff; upon which the canoe heeled over to the other side and darted away as swiftly as a swallow, here leaping nimbly across the heavy seas, there staggering so uncomfortably under her canvas as to warrant the conjecture that we should speedily be consigned to a watery grave. But there was no fear of the contingency while I had two such good pilots in charge as Klue, who sat in the bow, and his daughter, who held the helm. Thus we tore along for about an hour through a thick mist which prevented our seeing ten yards fore or aft. At the end of that time the sun burst through the mist, and, rolling it up as if it were a yard or two of mere curtain, disclosed to my relieved eyes that Klue's instinct had guided our barque safely to the right spot, and within the right space of time. For close in front of us lay stretched out a truly s2 a 260 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. splendid bay, more than a mile wide and fully two miles deep. This was Harriet Harbour. Having often viewed it from my canoe in paddling about, or from Burnaby Island with my glasses, I had long wished to be able to come and see it near. But nothing had prepared me for such a scene of beauty. At the mouth of the bay is an islet some two acres in extent, which acts as a breakwater, and very effectively protects the harbour from the only wind (N.E.) that could assail it. The water inside conse* quently enjoys a perpetual calm. All round the other three sides are beautiful highlands, rocky and beachy towards the bottom, but otherwise densely wooded, and forming a superb panorama to our view as we leisurely paddled in. We ran the canoe upon a rocky piece of shore two hundred yards beyond the N.E. point of entrance. I had no sooner stepped out upon the land than my pocket-compass began ticking in a violent manner, by which I knew that the rocks must be one mass of iron; and so they proved. Purer crystallized magnetic iron ore I have never anywhere lighted on. My subsequent analysis of this ore gave— I] HARRIET HARBOUR. 261 Protoxide of iron 4*60 Peroxide of iron 82"30 Silica (and carbonate of lime 0'60) 11*60 Sulphur 85 Water and loss 65 100-00 Before evening I had surveyed the whole surround- ings. I discovered two good veins of copper, plenty of limestone, and clear evidence of the vicinity of coal; but the iron ore predominated. Timber too was so extraordinarily abundant, even for Queen Charlotte, as to seem to promise to supply generations of future settlers with fuel and charcoal. A broad and clear stream flows from the S.E. into the head of the bay. Klue assured me the stream was a famous place for salmon-catching. The hills rise up from high-water level, at an angle of 75°, to about 700 feet. Taken altogether, a more charming and more useful harbour of the same magnitude does not exist to my knowledge in the North Pacific. From want of a fine I did not fathom the water; but a practised eye sees at a glance that the depths of the water will correspond to the steep heights above it. The bottom is evidently rock or gravel. Hence- there never can be any danger of a filling-up, such 262 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. as must always be the weak point at Victoria. Twenty ships of the line, I do not hesitate to say, could ride there at anchor together, with safety and convenience, to say nothing of other craft. Darkness being near, and Klue not liking to return at that late hour in his frail canoe, we decided to rig a tent with the sail and a blanket, and to stay the night out. Whilst he arranged the tent I rambled about the hills and beach for two hours, to probe the ground and scan the glowing landscape. Rich in quality and inexhaustible in quantity is the store there furnishing subsistence for living creatures. Every foot above and down the hill-sides is clad with shrubs, which bend to the earth with the weight of exquisite fruits, little mountain-springs meandering hither and thither through them. These springlets are a cha- racteristic of Queen Charlotte Islands; but I had nowhere observed them in such marvellous abundance as round Harriet Harbour. Unless you watch very closely you are sure to pass them by, so completely does the vegetation bridge them over. As I descended to the grand sweep of gravelly beach which heads the harbour, the land became leveller at each step, but the timber and underwood thicker. i'M A FUTURE TOWN. 263 I stood by the beach for fully half an hour, thinking how difficult it would be to find a sweeter spot in all the world, and how at no distant date that very beach would assuredly give way to the wharves and landing-places of a flourishing commercial town. Harriet Harbour has only to be known in order to be seized upon in the interests of trade and colonization. Regaining the tent, I squatted down to a picnic supper. Everything was laid out in true Indian style, the two Indians standing up before me to see that I enjoyed my repast. I might have done more justice to their humble yet wholesome fare, if I had not been previously indulging in the delicious berries* which line the harbour-sides. However, my bright-eyed little helmswoman was irresistible. So I ate and relished the supper. Thereupon the Klootchman girl (six years old, mind) proposed that King-George-Tyhee-Poole should go to bed, so as to be up betimes in the morning. Not to hurt their feelings, * These berries, so far without any name that I know, grow in remarkable quantities all over Queen Charlotte Islands. The plant is a shrub, generally four feet high. The leaves resemble those of our pear-tree, only that they are much smaller. The fruit itself is about the size of a wild gooseberry, and quite preservable by drying in the sun, after the manner of Malaga raisins. It contains a good deal of nourishment, and forms the principal food of the natives during the Winter season. «■■ 264 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. I submitted to their well-meant kindness, taking off my upper garments and laying myself down in the fent, sub tegmine of a wide-spreading cedar-tree, while six-year-old rolled a blanket round me, and with a winning grace tucked me in all right and tight for the night. I then perceived what they were after; for hardly did I appear to them to settle to sleep, when father and daughter made off in the canoe to catch a few fish for the morrow's breakfast. When they came back an hour later, it was with some fine salmon, which they quickly cut up to be ready for the morning's broil. Lastly, we all three huddled together under the same capacious blanket, the chief on my right and his Klootchie on my left, to court the favour of Morpheus. Next morning I completed my survey of the beautiful harbour, and in the afternoon bagged ' Bo several kinds of wild duck, as follows:—anas boschas, or mallard, aythia vallisneria, or canvas-backed duck, bucephala albeola, or buffer-headed duck, melanetta velvetina, or velvet duck; all which, being good eating, I kept to give to my recalcitrant crew at the log-house. Chief Klue, Miss Klue, and myself then entrusted our lives once more to the miniature canoe, and by sundown we were on Burnaby Island. Um 265 CHAPTER XVII. PAULEY WITH THE MEN—FAREWELL TO THE BEAUTIFTJL ISLES—KLUE'S GRAND CANOE—ACROSS TO THE MAINLAND—PARTING COMPANY—MISSING THE WAY—SIX DAYS IN THE RAIN—THE SKID-A-GATES WELCOMED BACK. Another week at the log-house quite convinced me that to wait any longer with the hope of working the copper-mines would be only waste of time and money. Those of the Indians who had annoyed me kept aloof, it is true; but my own men continued as intractable and dogged as ever. It was plain they wished to tire me out. I therefore summoned them all one day, and, without stooping to bandy words, I told them of my intention to proceed to Victoria forthwith, for the purpose of resigning my post, and that I should be under the necessity of reporting their insubordinate conduct and breach of contract to our Company's agent immediately on my reaching the capital. At first some of the ringleaders, looking out into 266 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. the broad ocean, asked me jeeringly how I meant to go; whilst others affected to take it seriously, and begged me to intercede in their behalf with His Excellency, lest they should be sentenced and executed before they could make their wills. There was a total change of sentiment and tone, however, when, about noon that day, Klue's grand state-canoe, which my men had never seen and did not know of, came paddling and sailing like a huge swan round the headland. This proved to them that I both intended what I said, and was in a position to carry it out. I then briefly explained my plan. I should take back with me my account-books and all my personal effects. They should be left in responsible charge of the mine and implements, and have a supply of ammunition for their own firearms, as well as sufficient provisions to last them until a vessel could arrive with fresh orders or to convey them down. I should pay their wages up to the day of my departure: if they had further claims, they must look to our Company. I think I dealt more fairly and forbearingly with my foolish party of miners than many another leader would have done. As soon as I had finished, one fellow pretended to feel for a small pistol he used to keep about him, v. PARLEY WITH THE MEN. 267 whilst the others supported him in a low grumble. Upon that I simply glanced right and left, towards two crowds of Klue and Skid-a-gate Indians, who stood at a little distance ready to defend me. Deeply did I feel the humiliation of having to invoke the aid of an alien race against my fellow white men; but they had persistently brought it upon themselves. It produced the desired effect, too. The men saw that, if they touched me, they would be certainly overwhelmed. So in a few moments they sullenly acquiesced. At last nothing remained but to get my things on board, which, by the help of my new travelling companions, was done during the afternoon. The day was the 6th of April; and thus more than eighteen months had elapsed since I first landed from the Rebecca schooner on the adjacent island of Skincuttle. I had meantime fulfilled my mission, amidst very great difficulties, but not without a success sufficient to compensate for the outlay, if it did not " lead on to fortune " absolutely. The scene, as we pushed off from the beach below the log-house, is before me now. The workmen, no longer mine, hung surlily back. 208 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. The rocks and woods, however, were filled with Indians, to see King-George-Tyhee-Poole sail away from amongst them. He was their good friend, they knew. They did not cheer, nor yet weep; but they moved their arms up and down, with a sort of moan or wail. It would have been strange indeed if I had not reoiprocated their feeling. At the same time the heavens were lit up in streaming splendour, while the sun began to sink low to the westward. But ere the red orb of day dipped behind its broken horizon, the eye of man caught a curved line running along the far east, from north to south. Although the distance to that darksome object exceeded a hundred and twenty miles, the curve was distinguishable as part of the mighty range of the Cascade Mountains. Heaving up their giant ridges into the very clouds, they looked like barriers fit to mark an empire, or as what they are, the boundaries of nature itself. Between us lay, calm and serene, the wide waters of Queen Charlotte Sound, reflecting gloriously the golden hues of the realms above. With one steadfast gaze, then, upon the beautiful Isles of the Sea I was leaving, and one farewell wave of the hand towards Burnaby Island, I turned to KLUES GRAND CANOE. 269 commit myself to the most arduous voyage perhaps ever made in the North Pacific Ocean. Our company consisted of two distinct parties. The first was made up of one of the Skid-a-gate chiefs and six of his tribe, three males and three females. They were in a cedar canoe, fourteen feet in length. It carried those seven persons, with their goods, weighing about half a ton, well; but it appeared a mere cock-boat in face of yon out-spanning ocean. Chief Klue, five young Klootchmen, and thirty men, together with myself, constituted the second or leading party. Besides our personal weight, we had shipped two tons of freight, namely, a bundle for each Indian, my goods and chattels, and the rest in copper or other ores. Our canoe was what is known in the Far West as a dug-out. Klue had cut and constructed it, foot by foot, with his own hands, out of cedar-wood {thuja gigantea). It carried three jury-masts and a considerable show of canvas, not to mention a main staysail. A proud and truly inspiriting sight was it to view all this canvas spread out to the breeze, and to see thirty-seven human beings all paddling together, with regularity, precision, and force. 270 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. The chief had carefully selected his crew. It was of course a pride to man his state-canoe with picked men; but at that time of the year it became a stringent necessity, April being always a severe season on the North Pacific coast, and its storm-weather lasting frequently many days together without intermission. I found them a lively and intelligent body of Indians, both willing to work and able to master the stoutest elements. Pleasant was it in good sooth, after the ungenial behaviour of my miners on Burnaby Island, to pass several weeks in the company of those poor savages, whilst they sang the songs of their country, and kept exact time as they sang, to the dip of their broad paddles. Yet, despite my knowledge of Indian character, their cheerfulness at the outset of so dangerous a voyage rather astonished me; for not only had we winds and rains above us, and waters beneath us, to contend with; but tribes of bloodthirsty Indians, more than one of which were personally hostile to Klue, would likewise have to be encountered all along the seaboard of British Columbia and the inner coastway of Vancouver, as we passed down them. In our circumstances the Inside Passage to Victoria presented peculiar features of danger. Nevertheless, v- ii THE START. 271 I could not have counselled the Indians to adventure the Outside Passage in a simple canoe, albeit a first- class one. Either they would have been out of sight of land for many days, or they would have had to try the west coast of Vancouver, of which none of us knew anything. . The evening of our start, therefore, we hugged the shore to the southward for about two hours, and at 8 p.m. we drew up our canoes in the dark on a pebbly beach, fronting the broad strip of flatfish land which stretches round from the mouth of Stewart's Channel near Cape St. James. This is the most southerly part of Queen Charlotte Islands, and our idea was to wait there for a fair wind, before attempting to cross the Sound. We hoped to make due east to the British Columbian mainland early next morning, so as to secure as much daylight as possible; but when morning came, seeing that a storm had partially arisen, the Indians unanimously voted against launching forth. The Klue Indians are reputed to be the most venturesome of all canoe- men in the North Pacific, and I do not wish to defame them, but the contrary. Still, it is always within sight of land. At the thought of trusting themselves to the high seas they quail. On this occasion they •■ M ^•*3k!J^53U QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. would have shirked it altogether, only for their confidence in my guidance. There can be no doubt that Indians look upon the white men as superior beings, though they endeavour to conceal their conviction till it comes to the test. They were afraid, and manifestly regretted having set out on the expedition. When I praised their skill and judgment, however, they would recover courage, until I chanced every now and again to cast my eyes towards the north-east. Then alarm would be depicted on each man's countenance, especially on those of the chiefs, w7ho would at once exclaim—Itka mika nanitch ?—what do you see ? Thus we waited forty-eight hours longer, encamped in an old Indian ranche, which Klue said had been there time out of mind. The third morning we knew was going to be fine, for the storm had rolled off and the waves had smoothed down again. At daybreak, then, we went upon our way, pressing every stitch of canvas, with a smart but not unpleasant S.W. breeze. I cannot picture to myself anything more sublime in nature than the retrospective view which I had on bidding a last farewell to Queen Charlotte Islands. It is a land of enchantment. One can A RETROSPECT. 273 hardly feel melancholy living by those beauteous though uninhabited shores. Such varied and magnificent landscapes, such matchless timber, such a wealth of vegetation, such verdure and j leafage up to the very crests of its highest hills. Its agricultural and mineral prospects are undeniable. Where does another climate exist like it, almost uniting the charms of the tropics to the healthiness of temperate zones, and yet remaining free from the evils of either ? No rat or reptile has fixed its home on those islands, nor even a noxious insect. The sole annoyance is an occasional mosquito,* which will grow rarer as cultivation advances. Fogs rarely visit there. The storms, if sometimes severe, seem mostly sea-storms, invariably following a law, and never lasting long. The snows on the coldest day in winter dissolve soon after touching the ground; whilst the sun, during much the.greater portion of the year, sheds its effulgence and its warmth, but not its glare, the whole of the live-long day, down upon that virgin country, as if to cheer its loneliness and to allure to it the colonists from afar. * Although the mosquito, by some singular exemption, to a great extent keeps clear of Queen Charlotte Islands, that plaguing insect flourishes in full force on the coast of the mainland, and in the bush of British Columbia. T 274 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. Just such a sunlit morn was it as we laid ourselves out for sea. I could not help sorrowing at the thought that I might never behold those Western Isles again; but I shipped my paddle in order to feast mine eyes once more upon their beauty. I watched their noble forms recede, I saw their peerless complexion fade, I inhaled the breath of their sweet-scented cedar-wood until I felt it evaporate like some ethereal spirit. At length the Eden of the North Paoific vanished from my sight, and sank down into the deep blue waters of the West. The strength and skill of every man were now given to the arduous task before us. Onward we paddled, assisted by our sails, relays of the crew succeeding each other regularly, and sparing no effort, all day: not without reason either, for the sky lowered ominously, while the wind increased and the rain began to fall. It was getting on for six p.m., when a shout from an Indian in the bow told us that we had sighted the mainland on the other side of the Sound. The news raised our spirits somewhat; but they were soon damped again, as almost immediately after it came on pitch dark, which caused us to lose the Skid-a-gate canoe out of hail, the wind changing and MISSING THE WAY. 275 the rain descending at the same time in torrents. Nothing daunted, however, on we sped till about midnight, the wail of the land-fowl becoming more distinct with each mile we made. In a couple of hours Klue thought we should be close in-shore, and then we could heave-to and wait for the break of day. Away went the thirty-seven paddles; but upwards of two hours passed and brought no sound of rollers on the beach. Odder still, the cry of the land-fowl had entirely ceased. Suddenly it occurred to me that we were going backwards instead of forwards. On my hinting this to my fellow-paddlers, they only laughed at what they thought was very pardonable ignorance. However, first one man shipped his paddle, then another, and at last, suspecting something wrong, they all got thoroughly frightened. | Closl nanitch, Tyhee Poole" shouted Klue from the helm "where he was, meaning, | Do you look after the canoe, Chief Poole." Fortunately I had my best pocket-compass stowed somewhere; so, striking a light with considerable difficulty, owing to the high wind and heavy sea, I found that we actually were going back, as straight as an arrow in its course. Putting a few facts together, I rapidly calculated our position to be some thirty miles from the shore. t2 276 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. The two hours had been consequently time and labour lost. Upon the word we put the canoe's head about, and having vainly hailed the Skid-agates, we gave our hearts to our paddles with a will, and towards five o'clock a.m. had the satisfaction to hear the breakers breaking on the rocks ahead. Shortly afterwards day dawned. The Skid-a-gates were nowhere visible; but our Indians recognised the land we had hit on as the south-east end of Banks's Island, and sure enough, close off the mainland. Observing a small harbour we ran in. It proved to be Calamity Harbour, in lat. 53° 12" N., long. 128° 43" W. The distance from this spot to Victoria is perhaps 300 miles as the crow flies, but by the crooked course we intended to take, with a view of dodging the hostile tribes along the road downward, we reckoned on a distance of at least 750 miles. Here we had the good luck to find the beach covered with cockles. We gathered a large quantity, and, stringing them on sticks, half toasted them before the fire, so as to preserve them for food in case our other provisions should fail. The island, too, was alive with a species of sea-fowl, the flesh of which SIX DAYS IN THE RAIN. 277 tastes like goose I shot some; but the Indians, being very fond of them, prepared torches for a great slaughter at night, in the event of the weather clearing. Unhappily the wet continued. It was as much as we could do to prevent our camp fire going out. I did dry my clothes, however; and eventually hauling the canoe to a safe place and covering it up with sails, we each contrived to secure a dry spot under some trees where to lay our wearied heads; for the night was again upon us, after thirty-six sleepless hours, during twenty-four of which we had continuously paddled no less than 120 miles. Yet that now appears as nothing compared with our subsequent sufferings. Next morning, seeing no improvement in the weather, we set off again in the midst of a most dismal drizzle, which in the course of the day developed into strong rain. At this distance of time it scarcely seems credible to say that, for six days and six nights, we kept on our voyage in that pitiable plight, battling against fearful head-storms, and making barely fifty miles. It is the fact, though. Sleep became impossible, the rain having soaked our clothes and skins through and through. As each morning broke, in vain we strained our aching eyes, 278 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. to try to spy out something in the shape of a harbour. But it was not till the seventh day that one of our Klootchmen descried an object which on further observation we all pronounced to be a house. Surely a human habitation must bespeak the neighbourhood of a harbour of some sort? Without more parley, then, we steered in-shore, and in another hour we were entering a pretty little cove, headed by a beach which had. shell-fish enough on it to supply a whole naval squadron for a week. Above, upon a conspicuous reach of ground, stood the large Indian ranche we had seen from the offing. It had not been recently occupied. Its dilapidated state proved that. But, after such misery as we had just undergone, we hailed it as one might a gorgeous palace, for the shelter, rest, and comfort it was about to afford us. We stayed twenty-four hours at the ranche—not at all too long to recruit. The following afternoon, feeling refreshed and hearty, I strolled by myself a short way into the bush. I was groping through the underwood, when a cry of distress from my party startled me. Making sure that they had been surprised by the Bella- Bella Indians, who claimed that part of the coast as i THE WELCOME BACK. 279 their camping-ground, I hastened back to the rescue, and arrived just in time to see a canoe hurrying away from the shore. It was the Skid-a-gates. A turn of the coast had brought our encampment into view, as their party came along, upon which a panic had seized them, and all Klue and his people could do to assure the Skid-a-gates that we were friends only urged them to fly the faster. I ran at once to the harbour's head, and, perching myself on the highest rock, waved my cap at the poor fellows with my utmost energy. They were already a good mile out to sea; but noticing what I did, and knowing the waving of the hat to be the action of a white man they immediately turned back. Warmly did we welcome our lost companions. A sight to be remembered was it, to see how those savages greeted their old friends and neighbours. There was no kissing, nor embracing, nor shaking of hands, but a dance of the wildest description, that would have beaten the cancan all to fits, and have done one good to look at besides. Till then I had never remarked a genuine smile or tear on the face of a North Pacific Indian. The savages of both tribes danced in a circle together, the two chiefs capering more madly than any, whilst the air rang 280 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. again with shouts, until I put a stop to it by reminding them of the probability of their enemies being near at hand; on which they instantly desisted. The Skid-a-gate story was this. It seemed our canoe had been kept in view much longer than we had been able to discern theirs, its inferior size quite explaining the difference. Like us, they had hardly noticed the change of wind; but, unlike us, when the critical moment came, instead of unwittingly turning back,- they had gone northward, and had paddled away night and day out of sight of land, till at length they had accidentally sighted Fort Simpson, 200 miles above our landing-place on Banks's Island. At that point, after a needful rest and a solemn consultation, they had concluded that it must be right with the big canoe, since there was a white man in it. They had made all haste down the coast, in hopes of finding us waiting for them somewhere. And thus what we had been considering an awful hardship proved to be their deliverance; for without storm-weather in our part of the coast they would never have got over their part in time to overtake us. Right well did our friends merit their welcome. The endurance of the women deserved special praise. A LIEE-STRUGGLE. 281 One and all had paddled for many consecutive days under the most hope-killing of circumstances, yet never losing either hope or courage. It was as desperate a life-struggle as ever I had heard of. Manfully they stood it too, and I told them so. Almost it persuaded me to retract my dictum regarding Indian bravery. I perhaps should have retracted if the Skid-a-gates had, in this instance, been embarking of themselves in an enterprise. Their feat partook of that kind of heroism which consists in heroically saving your own life and the lives of others. If these poor Skid-a-gates had passed our encampment without observing us, they certainly could not have reached their destination, for their little store would soon have been consumed. On the other hand, we could have ill spared them; for though we alone formed a stout party, with the Skid-a-gate contingent we were strong enough to give a tough fight to any antagonist who should dare to attack us. No one could tell but what the very next moment we might have to face the redoubted Bella-Bella Indians. As yet we had not learnt that the small-pox had succeeded in depriving the Bella- Bellas for evermore of the power of mischief. But 282 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. hearing from Klue how that hated tribe had often inflicted dire injury on the Queen Charlotte Indians when these tried to get down to Victoria, I thought it behoved us to hold ourselves in constant readiness. The chiefs asked me to take the command in case of attack, to which I willingly acceded, and accordingly gave the two crews the necessary instructions beforehand. Having at that period mastered rifle-practice to the extent of being able to bring down an eagle on the wing at six hundred yards, I may humbly recount that the Indians considered me a host in myself. But besides my Enfield, we mustered thirty-two muskets, with ammunition to correspond, six revolvers, and any quantity of long knives. So that, unless the enemy were to take us one by one, I had no fear of a hostile encounter. 283 CHAPTER XVIII. I THE RUPERT INDIANS—PRAY WITH THE ACOLTAS—OVER THE TIDAL WAVE —NANAIMO COAL-MINES—THE COWITCHENS—A GENERAL BATHE AND DRESS-HP—ARRIVAL AT VICTORIA. The Skid-a-gates had rested before they overtook our party, and, as we all felt anxious to put the country of the bloodthirsty Bella-Bellas quickly behind us, we re-embarked the same night in our two canoes, to proceed to the entrance of the Inside Passage. The wind was high and the tide was strong; but both worked in our favour, so that, by two hours after midnight, flaring lights ahead gave warning of our having at last crossed Queen Charlotte Sound. Those lights were the hunting-fires of the Rupert Indians, within musket-range of whom we had now come. At this season of the year bird-slaughtering is very extensively carried on by all the North Pacific Indians. The birds, which are small but plump, 1~ • 284 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. burrow their holes in the sand-banks on the shore. When the slaughter-season arrives, the Indians prepare torches composed of long sticks having the tips smeared with gum taken from the pine-tree. Armed with handy clubs, they then place these lighted torches at the mouths of the holes, and as soon as the birds, attracted by the glare, flutter forth, they fell them to the ground. The process is simple and easy, immense numbers of birds being thus obtained. Afterwards, without any previous plucking or cleaning, the birds are toasted before a slow fire. If the toasting has been properly done, the feathers and skin come off readily. The Indians say that, to clean the inside out, takes away from the flavour, which is perfectly true, as I have tasted the game both ways. Well, my party swelled with jealousy to see the Rupert Indians enjoying themselves so thoroughly. - Yet they dared not venture nearer, lest the noise of our paddles should attract attention. Luckily the night was as dark as if we had been crossing the Styx in Charon's boat. But unless we intended to provoke a fight it now became an absolute necessity to paddle hard out of danger, for the wind was dying away. THE RUPERT INDIANS. 285 III Very fierce feelings existed between the Queen Charlotte and the Fort Rupert Indians. Klue informed me that, some years previous, his brother-in- law, in those days the greatest chief on the coast, had been entrapped by the Rupert Indians on his way home from Victoria, and scalped and killed with all his males, his females being divided as slaves among the victors. It was Klue's intention, when he had been recognised as chief by the other chiefs on Queen Charlotte Islands, to collect an overwhelming force and abolish the Fort Rupert tribe altogether.* If he could accomplish this, but not otherwise, he would be considered a great chief by his compatriots, and qualified to take his brother's place as the leading man amongst the tribes. Little did the Rupert Indians suspect that there was another grand prize ready-made for them, if, instead of indulging in the pleasures of bird-slaughtering, they had but kept a sharp look-out in the bay. They would have found us an expensive capture, notwithstanding. Before morning we had cleared the territory of * Chief Klue has never been able to conquer the Rupert Indians. His claim to the head-chieftainship is therefore still a moot point between him and the great chief of the Skiddans. 286 QUEEN OHARLOTTE ISLANDS. this section of our enemies; but, it was to jump from the frying-pan into the fire. With the daylight the wind again rose, and by noon it had increased to a gale. Although the gale subsided, the weather continued so boisterous for the next few days that we had constantly to run in to the little coves which characterize the multitudinous island groups of the Inside Passage. One of these was the scene of an exciting adven- ture. I think we had paddled for a hundred hours well nigh continuously—in fact only stopping to hoist an occasional sail, or to take our food and an hour's rest in some sheltered spot. At last we thought of seeking some place where we might have a good meal and a regular He-down. So, spying a likely-looking island in the centre of a large group, we made towards it and landed, fastening our canoes to the rocks. The men began at once to light a fire, and the women to get the shell-fish ready, whilst I, according to our established oustom, trudged away into the bush in search of more substantial fare. I had not penetrated fifty yards when a clump of thick brushwood near me appeared to rustle. Was it only the wind? Or was it a deer perhaps ?—deer being very numerous THE ACOLTAS. 287 thereabouts. I stood still a moment, and then slowly went forward, fully expecting to bag my game. In place of the deer, however, a black object, with a brace of fiery eyeballs, lay crouching behind the clump and taking deliberate aim with a musket. I gave a yell, thinking to call my companions to the rescue; but it was too late. Having themselves observed several other Indians stealing down in my direction, they had already rushed to the canoes and were leaving me to be murdered. The strange savages, O o CD > perceiving this, made a rapid dash. How I ever escaped the bullets from the dozen musket-shots simultaneously fired at me has always seemed to me a marvel; but I ran like lightning to the beach. On came my enemies, now certain of an easy capture; for by this time my friends had hauled off out of gun-range and sat poising their paddles and coolly looking to see the end. The situation I was in seemed desperate indeed; for what could one man do against two score of armed adversaries ? Suddenly a bright thought occurred to me, and I as quickly resolved to act upon it. Knowing the superstitious nature of those Indians, I told them in their own language that I possessed the power to destroy all black men opposed to me, and that I could command the very 288 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. author of their existence, the black crow. This announcement rather staggered the savages. But the petty chief who headed them said they would not kill me, but capture me. With that intent they commenced advancing in a half-circle, as cautiously as cats. I grasped a six-barrelled revolver in my right hand, and a long Spanish knife in my left, my Enfield being slung over my shoulder. When they were within a dozen yards of me, I again urged them to retire at the peril of their lives. They replied that what they wanted was simply a wah-wah. I was not to be taken by duplicity, however. Seeing which, one hound partly raised his musket, and would have fired if I had not been too quick for him. With a deep groan he dropped to the earth. In an instant the whole pack were upon me; and another of the hounds having emptied his barrel without effect, I made him spring at least three feet into the air before sending him to the " happy hunting-grounds." I discharged the revolver once more; but, alas, it burst. Wherefore, thrusting that trusty old friend into my belt, I defended myself as best I could with the long knife, until, beginning to feel faint, I turned, dived into the sea, and swam to our canoe, into which I was dragged in a very exhausted condition. TRAVELLING BY CANOE. 289 The bloodhounds, from whose jaws I had thus been snatched, were the Acolta Indians, a tribe which has given more trouble to the Colonial Government than any other along the coast. The murders and outrages they have committed on inoffensive and defenceless white men and women are innumerable. We did not land again for twenty-four hours. Even then we chose a very small islet, lying well apart, and which we first carefully examined in a prolonged paddle round it. Thus ended my canoe-voyage down the Inside Passage. We had to face many perils by land, and likewise many perils by sea, similar to those I had faced during my two up-voyages,* with the manifest inconveniences of canoe-travelling superadded. And yet it should not be supposed that a canoe, though in some respects greatly inferior to a decked and full- rigged vessel, is without its advantages. Canoes can go where schooners cannot, they run along more * I made two distinct voyages up the Inside Passage, besides this voyage down it. The first was on board the sloop Hamley, almost immediately after my arrival in the colony, and when bound for the Cascade Mountains. The second was on board the sloop Leonide, as related heretofore in the text. U f .■. _ a ' t* 290 QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. swiftly, and are much more easy to steer and manage; whilst, along a savage-beridden coast like that of British Columbia, their greater facility for concealment was not to be disregarded. As we sped onward the weather got gradually calmer. At length not a breath of wind stirred in the air, nor a ripple on the surface of the water. I would then frequently lie back across my broad seven-foot paddle, and enjoy that blessed institution, so conducive to -the happiness of miners or travellers in uncouth countries, a pipe of good tobacco. My companions would always follow suit. Upon which our canoes would glide quietly down-channel, carried forward by the ebbing tide. One forenoon we were all taking the benefit of this welcome relaxation, wholly thoughtless of any impending danger, when suddenly every Indian sprang to his feet in a paroxysm of terror. Had we been surrounded on the instant by a hundred canoes full of war-savages, my companions could not have shown greater alarm; and the moment my eye caught what was before us, I entirely shared their feelings. Right across our course, and not more than two hundred yards in our front, a long white line of foam seethed and boiled, and kept steadily advancing. It was the up-tide battling to predominate over the l«ta<.i'»