"1198b619-75ab-4466-be9a-28fa7c7680d6"@en . "CONTENTdm"@en . "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=1586019"@en . "British Columbia Historical Books Collection"@en . "Cameron, Malcolm Colin, 1832-1898"@en . "2015-06-29"@en . "1865"@en . "\"Describes a journey made in 1862 from Montreal to British Columbia via the Isthmus of Panama, and a visit to Vancouver Island and British Columbia.\" -- Lowther, B. J., & Laing, M. (1968). A bibliography of British Columbia: Laying the foundations, 1849-1899. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 30.

\"Published by request and sold for the benefit of the Association.\" -- Title page."@en . ""@en . "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcbooks/items/1.0221698/source.json"@en . "23 pages ; 20 cm"@en . "application/pdf"@en . " \nLECTURE DELIVERED \nBY THE \nHon. Malcolm Cameron \nTO THE \n\nYoung Men's Mutual Improvement Association, \nTHE LORD BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE IN\nTHE CHAIR. \nPublished by request and Sold for Benefit of the Association \nQUEBEC: \nPRINTED BY G. E. DESBARATS. \n1865 LECTURE DELIVERED \nBY THE \nHon. Malclm Cameron \nTO THE \nYoung Men's Mutual Improvement Association, \nTHE LORD BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE IN \nTHE CHAIR. \nPublished by request and Sold for Benefit of the Association. \nQUEBEC: \nPRINTED BY G. E. DESBARATS. \n1865 LECTURE DELIVERED\nBY THE\nHON. MALCOLM CAMERON\nTO THE\nYoung Men's Mutual Improvement Association,\nMy Lord Bishop, Ladies and Gentlemen\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nI felt it an honor to be invited by this Association to address\nthem, and sincerely regret that my education and pursuits\nthrough life have not fitted me for the preparation of a lecture on\na literary or scientific subject which would aid the object of this\nSociety, namely\u00E2\u0080\u0094the education, elevation and mutual improvement of the young men of Quebec\u00E2\u0080\u0094feeling however a lively\ninterest in all that concerns the youth of Canada and anxious to\nshow my feelings in any way open to me I offered to give some\nreminiscences of my voyage to British Columbia, which I trust\nmay throw some light on the way thither, give some idea of the\ncountries through which we pass in going there, some informa-'\ntion relative to the Islands of the Pacific, and to what, I feel to\nbe, our own Western extremity, British Columbia.\nIn the middle of July, 1862,1 left Canada, with the intention\nof visiting that distant land, and arrived in New York in time\nto take the steamer of the 21st, went to the office and secured\nmy passage in the \u00C2\u00ABChampion\u00C2\u00BB got my ticket for $250 and at noon\nwent to Pier No. 3, where I met crowds of people flocking\ntowards the steamer, carts, carriages, and wheelbarrows, Irish girls with small boxes about the size of cupboards, Germans with\nguns, sausages, meerschaums and spinning-wheels, and Yankees\nwith rifles, bowie knives, revolvers and axes, and a motly group\nof people of all ages and countries. We had the greatest difficulty\nin getting on board, found it impossible to get baggage stowed,\nand no one could get the berth allotted by ticket, and in the\nmidst of this confusion the weeping friends were shoved on\nshore, the plank drawn in, and away we steamed.\nThe Bay of New York, may on a fine July afternoon be inferior to the Bay of Naples\u00E2\u0080\u0094that I have never seen\u00E2\u0080\u0094but to my\neye then, to my mind's eye now, it is one of the most lovely\nscenes in the world, the magnificent city on a point formed by the\njunction of the North and East rivers, terminating at the Battery,\nthe well known promenade f Jersey, Brooklyn and Hoboken,\nwith their one million of inhabitants ; Governor's Island, Staten\nIsland; and as you pass down the Highlands of Neversink and\nthe Hook, all combine to form a perfect landscape. But in about\ntwo hours, we left all this beauty and were on the open sea, of\nwhich I was reminded by a stentorian voice in full glee :\nThe sea, the deep blue sea for me,\nWhere I would ever wish to be.\nIn less than two hours however all this was changed, many-\nwould have preferred to\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nWait for the waggon.\nBut the study of human nature, the examination of berth, and\nthe; contemplation of room-mates began in good earnest, by>\nthose able to attend to business.\nThere were three or four Canadians who had figured largely\nas men of business and in their country's history, but who,, by\nthe vicissitudes of fortune and the extraordinary depression in the\nvalue of real estate were forced to leave their native land, first\nfor relief from mental anxiety, next, with the hope of opening\nnew channels for that spirit of enterprise which had made them;\nuseful and popular at home. I did not, at first, recognise my\n\"mates in misery,,, but they knew me at once,\u00E2\u0080\u0094there wera\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0HH Califotnian Members of Congress, Engineers of note, wives of\nfortunate Nevada millionaires, a Protestant Clergyman, six Irish,\npriests going to fields of Labour, a converted Spaniard travelling\nas Agent for the British and Foreign Bible Society, Mechanics\nfor Chili, and other South American ports, who where to leave\ntls at Panama, seventeen wives who had not seen their husbands\nfor years,and widows whom \u00C2\u00ABhard times\u00C2\u00BB had forced out of New\nYork to try to earn a living in the new and better land\u00E2\u0080\u0094in fact,\nspecimens of every class, and country, in all, some 500 people\nwhere not over 200 could have been comfortably accomodated.\nAbout the fifth day we were crossing the Gulf stream and\nthe air became extremely warm, the sixth we passed between\nSan Domingo and Cuba, the Queen of the Antilles, and about\nthirty miles East of Jamaica, which I did not till then know, lay\nso close to the border of America; here I first saw a tropical rain}\nlarge drops fell on the ocean and sparkled up in large white] tubbles,\nthe most exquisitely beautiful sight you can imagine, as if some\nunseen hand were pouring myriads of large pearls on to the\nsurface of the wrater, and immediately after the shower, clouds\nof what I supposed to be our Canadian snow birds rose from the\nsea; \"they were small flying fish about six inches long.\nOn the 9th day the old Fort of Porto Bello came in sight, the\nscene of famous exploits by the bold Buccaneer's 200 years ago\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nin 1502 whenColombus left Darien, its Indian population nun>\nbered about 300,000, but in 1535 hordes, of Spaniards allured by\nthe cry of gold and the prolific vegetation came over and 30 or\n40,000 died in crossing the fatal Isthmus, but the rest made fearful havoc among the natives\u00E2\u0080\u0094in 1558, Drake sacked the city but\nMorgan and Dampier finished the work of murder and robbery\nin 1665 and 1670 by the capture of Porto Bello, and crossing to\nPanama which City they totally destroyed as they did many\nCities down the coast.\nHere we feasted our astonished eyes on the luxuriant tropical\nfoliage, the tall and graceful cocoa-nut tree like our own elm,\nfiftY or sixty feet without a limb, then branching out like an If\n6\numbrella in long and pendulous leaves through which we saw\nthe clusters of large nuts, amongst which the merry monkeys\ngambol with gluttonous delight. We then turned westerly\nalong the coast and after about three hours sail neared the town\nof Aspinwall situated on a low marshy Island in what was Navy\nBay near the old Isthmus of Darien, famous in the history of\nScotch enterprise\u00E2\u0080\u0094an enterprise though ridiculed\u00E2\u0080\u0094rightly\nconceived and nobly begun, with two millions of gold, one\nhalf of all that Scotland then owned ; but blasted by English\njealousy, collision with the East India Company, and the fact\nof the projectors being in advance of the times, crushed finally\nby the treachery of the heart which sanctioned the massacre\nof Glencoe, the King of England having forbade the British\nColonies even to sell food to the Emigrants, and thus encouraged\nthe Spaniards to destroy the Company which King William\nhimself had but lately chartered.\nBut in our own day the Isthmus of Panama has become\nfamous by a stupendous work of American enterprise and ingenuity, boldly planned and successfully carried out; a work\nwhich owed its developement to three men whose names will\nbe imperishable in the history of American Commerce; W. B.\nAspinwall, J. L. Stephens, and Henry Chauncy, the projectors of\nthe Panama Railroad. The idea of an inter-oceanic communication had been entertained for*centuries, the whole commercial\nworld was alive to its advantages, New Grenada unable to under-\ntake it had freely offered the privilege to any nation rich enough\nto perform it\u00E2\u0080\u0094England looked at it with longing eyes but\nquailed for once before the magnitude of the difficulties ; France\ndid more, surveyed the country and entered on a contract, but\ntoo many millions were found necessary and she let it go by\ndefault. In 1848, Congress authorized contracts for the establishment of two Mail lines of Steamships, one from New York and\nNew Orleans to Chagres, the other from Panama to California\nand Oregon ; the inducements were insufficient, but at last Mr.\nAspinwall and the famous George Law did enter on the enterprise, but the wisest fancied it must fail, gold not yet having been discovered. New Grenada, however gave her charter for a\nrailway, with a gift of 250,000 acres of land, contract to continue\nfor 49 years, the termini to be free ports, and the only remuneration asked 3 per cent, on all profits divided and $10,000 for the\npassage of Mails ; but I must pass on, for this wonderful work is\nworth a lecture, the road ran over deep morasses, over mountains\n300 feet high, amidst the most deadly malaria, its sides one continued cemetery a man having died for every square yard that\n-\"\u00E2\u0080\u00A2as rempved, the first million of dollars of the 5 estimated for,\nwas soon expended, but the energy of the engineers Messrs.\nTotten and Trotwein overcame every obstacle and in six years\nthe road was completed, 1855, at a cost of $7,500,000.\nIn 1858, 31,000 passengers erossed.\n$53,000,000 of Treasure,\n66,000 tons of Freight,\nIncome 1,300,000\nExpense 350,000\n$950,000 Net profit\nThey did boast of one of the greatest bridges ever built of iron\n600 feet long, eost $500,000. But our Victoria Bridge is nearly\ntwo miles long, one span 480 feet long, and 80 feet high and it\ncost 15 times as mueh or about 1\ million of dollars.\nAspinwall is one of the most miserable dirty places on the face of\nthe earth, inhabited by the worst combination of African, Spanish,\nIndian and half breed, I ever saw; vultures and buzzards gather\nin flocks at every corner to partake of the offal when the Butchers are killing and cutting up oxen and cows into long strips\nof beefs and hanging this in the sun to dry, the method of curing\nmeat then in fashion\u00E2\u0080\u0094Indians having an objection to salted\nmeat_the whole place is filthy and abominable beyond description\u00E2\u0080\u0094we gladly left it in the afternoon, and immediately entered\non a scene of the most gorgeous beauty over the plains, through\nthe swamp\u00E2\u0080\u0094by the bank of the Ghagres river, it was 28 miles\nof perfect loveliness, the grandest flower fields eye ever beheld, 8\njheconvolvulu8 and the lily, the fuchsia and magnolia, oleanders\n69 large and full of blossom as an apple tree, the rose, pansy and\norchis of our own summer, with the rhododendron, the passe-\n,flora, the orange, the lemon, the cocoa, the palm and the mango,\nall in a profusion and luxuriance such as no Northern mind caa\nimagine; the trees are not only large, lofty and crowded, wonderful parasites hang from every bough and twist and twine all into\none forest; and then trees filled with Birds of Paradise, Cockatoos,\nParrots and humming birds\u00E2\u0080\u0094so dense is the growth that a man\ncannot penetrate it, but with long knives and bill hooks, a way\nmust be opened; at the first station I was astonished to see a long\narched avenue that had been opened into the heart of the wood\nthrough which the cord wood cut up as stove wood is all\nbrought out on horses, in paniers piled three feet above the\npony's back.\nThere I first saw the natives and half breeds, the women are\nbare headed, a loose wrapper trimmed with red is their only\ncovering, it is low necked and down off the left shoulder\u00E2\u0080\u0094their\nskin is a beautiful mohagany colour, clear, smooth and clean\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nthe children up to at least twelve years of age go perfectly nude,\nthe houses are of cane and bark covered with plantain and palm,\nopen and airy, the food plantain and bananas, the former being\nindigenous and as wholesome as our potato, this is said to be the\ncurse of the country for all can live without work, they are like\npotato, but the Bananas like bread.\nBut to describe \"everything curious would occupy the night,\nso, with but a mention of the splendid oranges at 5 cents a dozen,\nbunches of palm nuts 30 inches long and 18 through which hang\nfrom the tree by an arm a yard long, the Boa Constrictors, the\nAlligators, the Chameleons, the Parrots, the Cockatoos, the\npainted Calabash, the prickly pear, and other varieties of cactus\nused for fencing, but we must pass on to Panama.\nFrom Panama we ascended rapidly over granite crags, span of\nmountains and the famous Basaltic ledge. The descent from the\nBummit level is about a grade of 60 feet to a mile, and it terminates on the shore of the gulf of Panama.\n^ 9\nThe old'and famous city is a striking contrast to Aspinwall\nelevated some 40 or 50 feet above the sea, on a peninsula, a mile\nlong, the streets run from sea to sea, the shore is rocky, and the\nharbour safe\u00E2\u0080\u0094protected by beautiful Islands about a mile or a\nmile and a half distant.\nThe city was fortified by.the Spaniards with a great wall\nhaving a carriage drive around the top, and sentry boxes of stone\nat the Bastions, curious old cannons are still there, the city is\nfull of noble ruins, old Churches, Colleges, Monasteries and\nNunneries, a fine Cathedral still in use, but alas a very degraded\npriesthood, the greater part of whom had lately been driven\naway by the people; the one great amusement of the people is\ncock fighting, and every shoemaker and tailor has his .game\nchicken tied by the leg to his work bench, and is ready at any\nmoment to fight for any sum he can raise\u00E2\u0080\u0094the great day for\ncock fighting is the Sabbath, and after service the Priest is as\nready as his people, and will back his bird for a considerable\nsum.\nThe city has about 12,000 inhabitants. The houses and hotels\nare good\u00E2\u0080\u0094in every house, in fact in every room, is a hammock\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nand the vicinity very rich, immediately in rear is the hill \" Bogota,\" an eminence of great beauty.. The groves of orange and\nmango and other fruits\u00E2\u0080\u0094of which there are about fifty-six varieties\u00E2\u0080\u0094are very fine. About six miles below the city is the old site\nof Panama, destroyed by the Buccaneers in 1670; only the steeple\nof the church remains to tell of the glory of the famous city.\nPanama, I consider a healthy, lovely, and strong town. The\nGranada troops were there; bare footed, open-kneed pants, coats\nof every colour and variety, and no two guns alike in a regiment\nThey had just had a revolution, and the expatriated governor had\ngone off to raise 600 soldiers with whom to return and recover\nhis position.\nThe beauty of New Granada and the degradation of its inhabitants recalls the beautiful lines\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nKnow ye the land where the cypress myrtle\nAre emblems of deeds that are done in their clime,\nWhere the rage of the Vullure, the love of the Turtle, 10\nNow melt into sorrow, now madden to crime.\nKnow ye the land of the cedar and vine,\nWhere the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine,\nWhere the light wings of zephyrs oppressed with perfume\nWax faint o'er the garden of gul in her bloom.\nWhere the olive and citron are fairest of fruits,\nAnd the voice of the nightingale never is mute,\nWhere the tints ofihe earth, and hues of the sky,\nIn colour tho' varied in beauty may vie,\nWhere the purple of ocean is deepest in dye.\nWhere the virgins are soft as the roses they twine,\nAnd all save ihe spirit of ma.i is divine.\nWe left Panama in the steam u- \" Sonora,\" a magnificent ship\nof two or three thousand tons, with upper deck, saloon, and state\nxooms, and every possible comfort. The captain we found a\nChristian man, and of course the officers and crew were in perfect order, the table well supplied, and every thing in marked\ncontrast to the dirty mismanaged \" Champion.\" All were delighted. We had indeed made a blessed change, from a boisterous sea and a miserable ship, to a really Pacific ocean and a\nfloating Paradise. We sailed along the bay of Panama in latitude 9 south to latitude 7 south, before we turned the point and\ngained the open sea, but even then our course lay along the\ncoast of New Granada and Costa Bica Avith extraordinary rocky\nislands in view. And in addition to the magnificent foliage I\nhave attempted to describe, the smoking tops of active volcanic\nmountains were full in view : six of which we saw during the\ntrip sending forth enormous volumes of smoke, and flame, and\nsparks.\nAbout the second day we passed the Port of St. Catharines or\nNicaragua, which is the Pacific port of the Nicaragua route, once\nthe most popular one, being a natural chain of road, river, and\nlake from sea to sea, at Greytown or San Juan on the Atlantic is\nstill a rival to the Panama route, and cheaper at the present time.\nAfter passing Costa Bica on the fourth day, we passed the Bay\nof Tehuantepec. Our first stopping place was Accapulco, in\nMexico, one of the loveliest little harbours possible, not over three\nmiles round, protected by an island that completely covers it\nleaving a channel at either side just wide enough for ships to ^1\n11\npass. Accapulco is distinguished by being the old site of a city\nswallowed up by an earthquake, and the present fort havin\u00C2\u00B0-\nstood a seige by Santa Anna; finding the enemy gaining upou\nthem the beseiged quietly withdrew, leaving neither food nor\namunition, consequen tly the victorious invaders were soon forced\nto abandon the position.\nThe Pacific steamers always coal at Accapulco, a large vessel\nbeing stationed here with supplies. This is also the point of exit\nfor travellers from the city of Mexico, only six days journey to the\neastward, on the direct road to Vera Cruz on the Gulf of Mexico.\nHere I met Mr. Bonar, of Quebec, and a Captain Palmer whom\nI knew, they had just travelled through Mexico; the former had\nbecome a favorite mining engineer, was employed by an English\nCompany, and was making a fortune out of the silver mines.\nThe trade of this place is shells, baskets, oranges, cotton, hides,\nand coffee, and English vessels do a good business. The great\namusement is diving, the water being wonderfully clear, and\nthe native boys equal to the Indian pearl fishers. The traveller\nthrows York shillings into the sea, the boys allow them to\ngo perhaps half a minute, and then down, and I never knew\none diver but came up with the shilling in his teeth. The pots\nused for cooking are made of earth, the mills for grinding corn are\ntwo stones worked by hand, and the habits of the people are primitive in the extreme. Yet here in this Spanish Catholic town I saw\none of the best schools I ever entered. One hundred and sixty\nboys from ten to sixteen years of age, all of whom wrote the most\nbeautiful text hand, and all just alike as if it were lithograph; the\nmaster was a perfect Spanish gentleman. I called on the priest,\na plain pleasant man, but who like most others there, though not\nallowed to marry, had a family he acknowledged and provided\nfor.\nHere we expected to have met the steamer \" Golden Gate \" on\nher down trip, and great anxiety was caused by her non-appearance; we proceeded, however, along the coast to Mazanilla,\nanother commercial harbour where English ships bring goods to supply the country and receive silver in exchange : this is smuggled as the law forbids its export.\nAs we were leaving this port a brig came in bringing news\nwhich verified our worst fear* about the \u00C2\u00ABGolden Gate,\u00C2\u00BBthe vessel had taken fire and burnt to the waters edge. One hundred\nand sixty passengers perished, and the rest were scattered along\nthe coast destitute. We turned back to render assistance to the\nsaved. I found one Canadian from St Catharines, a nephew of\nthe late Mr. Lepper, he gave the most delightful account of the\ninhabitants of Mexico; they had found him and others famished\non the shore, they took them to their houses in the interior, fed\nthem, clothed them, mounted them on horses, and brought them\nsafely over the mountain to Manzanilla, the nearest port. Lepper\ngot two suits and we got him $20: he went on with us, to return\nby the \u00C2\u00ABSonora\u00C2\u00BB to Canada.\nIt may be well to state here that Mexico has 7 millions of\ninhabitants : 3 fifths are natives, the other Spaniards and Spanish\nCreols ; only about 5,000 Europeans or Americans in the country\nin all.\u00E2\u0080\u0094Since 1823, they have had above 36 different Governments, and if the nominee of a foreign government, a Scion of\nthe House of Hapsburg expects a peaceful possession he will be\ngrievously disappointed.\nOn the 10th day after leaving Panama we passed the mouth\nof the gulf of California, an inlet 600 miles deep and 150 miles\nwide, famous for its pearl fisheries, the method and history of\nwhich would form a lecture.\nEarly in the morning of the 14th day going along a bold rocky\ncoast we saw a square, clear opening about a mile wide between\ngates of solid stone, this, we were told was the celebrated \"Golden\nGate,)) about a mile and a half from its mouth an island lay right\nacross the Channel called the Island of Alcatross, closing the sea\nout from the Bay of San Francisco into which we now entered,\nthe largest, most perfect and splendid harbour in the world, in\nwhich all the navies of the world might ride at anchor in safety\nand not be crowded\u00E2\u0080\u0094for this matchless bay is forty miles wide.\nThere are two cities, that on the left is Benicia, and that on\nI ~>\n13\nthe right San Francisco; the latter was was commenced in 1852\nand now it has over 100,000 inhabitants, with four Hotels equal\nto the Astor House, streets, wharves, warehouses and boats\nequal to New York, and as moral, nay as religious and excellent.\na population as any in the American Union ; vessels ply on the\nSacramento river to the city of that name, 120 miles from the\nocean, the first station on the overland route to St. Louis, from\nwdiich roads diverge to Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Oregon and\nWashington Territory.\nFrom Sau Francisco I took another and poorer boat to Vancouver's Island, and proceeded up the coast north 800 miles,,\npassing the famous Columbian river\u00E2\u0080\u0094known to all readers\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nAstoria the city of that name, at the mouth, now nearly depopu\nlated, was commenced in 1811 by the enterprise of J. J. Astor of\nNew York\u00E2\u0080\u0094who sent out a ship to trade\u00E2\u0080\u0094two of the traders\nwere from Quebec, one of them known and loved by parties in\nthis room, old David Stuart and Bobert, Ms nephew, who walked\nback across the continent.\nBut I cannot stay to tell you of them, suffice it that the\nsteamers run up to Portland 80 miles and so have carried the\ntrade past Astoria. We steamed on to Cape Flattery at the entrance of straits of Fuca, these straits are 10 miles wide and were\ndiscovered by Cook\u00E2\u0080\u0094the entrance is due East for 60 miles, then\nwe came upon the gulf of Georgia; on our left lay the beautiful\nlittle harbour of Esquimalt, V. I., on our right was Puget Sound,,\nand Port Angelos in Washington Territory, and directly in front\nthe disputed Island San Juan.\nWe landed at Esquimalt, the rendez-vous of the British fleet,\nthree miles from Victoria; wagons were waiting to take us to\nour desired haven, for although there is a very pretty little arm\nof the sea running directly up to Victoria, it is too rocky and\ndifficult of navigation ever to be used by large ships. The drive-\nup is over a very rocky but very beautiful country, and the situation of Victoria? itself perfectly picturesque. The first object that\nstrikes the eye of a stranger is the Methodist church, erected by\nt&e energy of Dr. Evans, and next the Bishop's church erected on 1\na beautiful hill sloping towards James Bay, (part of the harbour,)\nand commanding a view of the snowcapped mountains of Washington Territory, some of which are 10, 12, and 16,000. feet high\n\u00E2\u0080\u0094these are seen over most of the streets just as the view over the\nSt. Charles gives life and beauty to Quebec, so do these dazzling\nand magnificent snow peaks make Victoria one of the loveliest\ncities in the world. The view to the west is of the ridg^ of mountains called the back bone of Vancouver Island, in which since I\nleft gold has been found in paying quantities, and is now the\nhope of the island. The streets of Victoria are laid out at right\nangles, the whole position is beautiful and the Methodist church,\nthe Iron church, (Episcopal,) sent out from England, are buildings worthy of our best Canadian towns; they have also a Presbyterian and a Congregational church and two very clever\npreachers. The government buildings are small but convenient^-\nand the governor's residence was then his private property. The\ngovernor, Sir James Douglas, was a native of Douglas, Clydesdale, a noble Scotchman, and certainly Her Majesty lost a famous\ngeneral when he was sent to Hudson's Bay. He was in figure,\nmien, and voice a soldier, but he had been made a trader; he\nhad read deeply, studied human* nature profoundly, and had sue\nceeded in winning the confidence of the Indian tribes, had mar\nried a half-breed, a fine, sensible, and intelligent woman, he had;\na beautiful and excellent family, and himself practised a noble\nhospitality; his only misfortune being that he had been in the\nHudson Bay Company's service, which created a prejudice against\nhim. His tact and method of dealing with the natives may be :\nbest illustrated by an anecdote.\nAbout the time Sir James Douglas was to be appointed governor\nof the colony, a small well educated countryman of his, Mr.\nMcKay, was sent to succeed him, in his position in the Hudson\nBay Company; his first move was to organize a company of volti-\ngeurs, had them drilled and armed for defence. Of course the\nIndians became alarmed, vexed, and ready for war; word came\nthat there was to be an insurrection, and an immediate attack on \u00E2\u0080\u00A2\nthe Fp|t Mr. McKay came hurriedly to Sir James, expressed his | 1\"\nfears, and asked leave to call out his men. Sir James crossed his:\nlegs and said quietly, \u00C2\u00ABBe patient, Mr. McKay, let the men have a\nlittle more molasses.\u00C2\u00BB A barrel was rolled out and tapped, the insurrection was quelled, and not one trembling prisoner taken. Since\nGovernor Douglas left many lives have been lost, and some\ntwenty white men massacred. \u00C2\u00ABA little more' molasses\u00C2\u00BBis better\nthan cannon for British Columbia and Chateau Bicher.\nThe Island of Vancouver is 280 miles long, and about 60 wide,\nthere are many fine plains but no rich alluvial deposits, no hard\nwood timber, in fact neither on Vancouver's Island, nor in\nBritish Columbia is there white oak, ash, elm or hickory\nenough to make an axe handle or a whip-stalk ; small frush oak\nas in Michigan, fir, pine, arbutus, willow, poplar, and soft maple\nare the only woods known. Coal and copper abound as well as\ngold, fish fill every stream and creek of the sea, and the cattle,\non the hills are deer and very numerous but wont be caught\nThe Douglas pine, a peculiar species, is perhaps the finest, and cer-\ntrainlv is the strongest for masts in the world\u00E2\u0080\u0094so that enduring;-\nJO o\nmaterial for commerce abounds.\nThe gulf of Georgia is full of islands so much so that the San\nJuan difficulty arose from the fact that the first discoverers went\nup the East channel and the islands were so close and continuous,\nthey mistook them for the mainland, and never dreamt of any\nother channel.\nVictoria is a free port, British goods are cheaper than in\nCanada, and Houses there are partners of London Houses, and\nsupply goods for the whole coast, a trade which Lthink will\nvastly increase and make Victoria always a city of great foreign\ntraffic and account with China, Japan, the Sandwich and other\nislands and all the Pacific coast, and thus create a demand which\nwill be supplied by an Atlantic and Pacific Railroad.\nThe climate is equal to that of the South of France. Farming j\nis in its infancy, though the Hudson Bay Company has done j\nmuch good in this way, sent out fine stock and farming utensils,\nhad three fine farms and even when I was there, had 700 sheep- m\nin one place\u00E2\u0080\u0094at Sanich, and at Nanimo, farming is now beginning and I doubt not will succeed.\nThe late Mr. Work, Dr. Tolmie, Mr. Finlayson and Mr. Yates'\nare all farming near the city and I think deserve great praise for\ntheir enterprise.\nFrom Vancouver I took the Hudson Bay Company steamer\n\u00C2\u00ABEnterprise\u00C2\u00BBto New Westminster, the capital of British Columbia,\n60 miles from the island ; the greater part of the distance, say,\n36 miles we were among the islands, safe as a river, the main\ncrossing being 11 miles, to the mouth of the Fraser river, about\n6 miles north of the 49th parallel of latitude, the Boundary line\nbetween British Columbia and the United States. The entrance\nto the river is low and grassy and has been misrepresented by local\njealousy; it only requires a light-ship to be made perfectly accessible at all times to vessels of 18 to 20 feet draft. Her Majesty's\nmen of war have gone up and thus settled the question beyond\ndispute, for in spite of repeated assertions of dangerous bars, and\nsha!lowTs and what not, the fact is proved that the mouth of the\nFraser is safe and commodious, and the river perfectly navigable\nto Fort Langley far above New Westminster.\nFrom the moulh of the river to the capital is 12 miles, filled\nwith islands of the richest deposit, only requiring draining and\ndyking to become the best farming land on the Pacific, they are\nof immense value and capable of sustaining 20,000 people-\nThe site of New Westminster on the left bank of the river is\nvery fine : rising almost too abruptly from the water to a height\nof about 200 feet; several streets are well graded, the mint is a\nneat building, the general hospital is, a most creditable undertaking, the Episcopal church is a perfect gem\u00E2\u0080\u0094but the gaol is a\nmiserable hovel. \u00C2\u00ABThe Camp\u00C2\u00BB was the residence; of Colonel\nMoodie, Boyal Engineers, and the barracks of the soldiers of his.\ncorps. And here I must not omit to say how much the colony\nowes to that excellent officer and most sincere Christian, and his\namiable and pious wife; the morals and ehiaracter of Sew Westminster stand far above any other place on the Pacific, and I\ncould attribute this very much to the purity, liberality and Catho- 17\nlicity of his religion, which so much aided and strengthened the\nhands of Mr. White, Methodist, and Mr. Jamieson, the Free\nChurch, as well as the Episcopal ministers, in all their efforts for\nthe people's good. His liberality extended to aiding the Abbe\nFouquet, Roman Catholic Missionary, in his extraordinary efforts\nfor the Christianizing of the Indians, four thousand of whom\nhe vaccinated in his travels\u00E2\u0080\u0094saving thousand of lives.\nThe lands about New Westminster are covered with the most\nenormous growth of Douglas pine trees 300 feet long, 10 to 15\nfeet through, 200 feet without a limb, they are now unsaleable\nand to clear fee land would cost $100 an acre. The country is\nall rough and by no means generally good for farming, but at\npresent prices money is made by farming. However, with her\ninexhaustable resources of coal, iron, copper, silver, and gold, and\nher position as the terminus of the road from the Atlantic, I feel\nassuned that New Westminster will be one of the finest towns on\nthe continent.\nOne of the chief products of the colony is in such abundance\nthat my word has been doubted in reference to it, I mean salmon..\nIn crossing the Colqruhalla the horses feet struck the fish, and a\nmill stopped because the mill race was filled with them. The\nHudson Bay Company used to export thousands of barrels till the\ngold fever raised the price of labor too high.\nThe elevation of the city gives magnificent scenery. Views of\nMount Ba*ker 10,000 feet high, Gulf of Georgia, bend of the Fraser\nriver, and the Mountains of Washington Territory covered wife,\neverlasting snow, give it a picturesque beauty and interest never\nto be forgotten.\nTen miles in rear of New Westminster is the Burrard Inlet, a\nvery fine harbour without bar, shaol, or defect; coal has been\nfound there, and mills have been built. Just above the town is\na small river with water power, and seven or eight miles out is\nthe Pitt river, on which there is some good farming land, and\nimmediately opposite the city there are large flats yielding the\nfinest vegetans and large quantities of hay. Board lumber is,\nnow manufactured there, and a market is opening in Japan and\nB 18\nChina. Shingles also and cordwood afford means of employment.\nThe climate is still milder and better than Canada, though over\nfifty miles east, and up country it approaches more to the severity\nof our own winter.\nI proceeded up the river as far as Douglas, on the northern\nroute to Cariboo ; this little town is at the head of Lake Harrison, a lake fifty miles long, on which I think there is not an acre\nfit for cultivation; but the beauty of which equals the Lake of\nLucerne. I retured from Douglas to the Fraser river, and proceeded eighty miles to Hope on the Southern road to Cariboo, to\nSimmilkameen and Lake Akanagon, and the Kotanie pass, where\nthe late gold discoveries were made. In the year 1858 Hope had\n1500 inhabitants, now there are only five or six families, the head\nof one being the Church of England clergyman : a man of rare\nability, and who has done much for the country by his pen.\nThere I first saw Indian graves, salmon cribs, and Indian winter\nhouses.\nThe Indians bury their dead on the most beautiful part of the\nriver, and a figure, the size of life, is placed on each grave in full\ndress, with their canoes raised on posts, and the figure has- hat\nand gloves, and the real gun of the deceased, his best canoe, the\nskin of his horse, his blanket, and other pToperty, and all remain\nin perfect safety, protected by the reverance of the Indian and\nthe fear of the white man ; for the most gentle native would take\nfearful vengeance on the desecrator of a grave. On some graves\nare carvings of eagles, beavers, or crocodiles, very well executed.\nThe cribs of dried salmon are high up in the pine trees, thirty\nor forty feet up, almost inaccessible, thus preserved from year to\nyear.\nThe winter house is an hole dug six feet deep in the ground,\ncovered with earth like a. root house, and a hole in the middle\nfor the smoke: they are with great propriety called sweat houses-\nThere are also smaller ones used by their doctors for curing\ndiseases. These Indians are much more clever and mechanical\nthan ours, and I think shew traces of Chinese descent.\nThere is a very neat English church at Hope. In fact all over\nthe colony churches and clergymen have preceeded population. 19\nProtestant Bishop Hills, Catholic Bishop Demers, from Quebec\nand their clergy, with the old pioneers of the Methodists and\nPresbyterians, all have been early in the field and have superior\nand able men.\nThe Anglican Bishop of British Columbia (Hills) is a most excellent and really remarkable man\u00E2\u0080\u0094a total abstainer, by the way.\nHis friends in England are very influential and have assisted him\nmunificently, even to a magnificent grand piano for the school at\nNew Westminster, and a fine bell for the church.\nIn 1862 Bishop Hills visited Cariboo himself, and spent three\nmonths in the woods, and never slept in a house even when near\na settlement, as, like St. Paul, \" he would not be chargeable to\nany mam\" This very day I received a paper with an account of\na temperance meeting in Windsor, England, where Bishop Hills\nspoke and gave great credit to the Temperance Association in\n. Vacouver and British Columbia for their efforts and success with\nthe Indians.\nFrom Hope I went up as far as Yale, twelve miles, a very well\n.selected, rising place at the head of navigation, with the most\ngo-a-head, enterprising men, women, and clergymen in British\nColumbia. To Mr. Landvoight, Mr. Sutton, and their wives and\na French Canadian agent of the Hudson Bay Company, Mr. Dal-\nlair, I can never be sufficiently grateful. Ten such people are\nworth a thousand ordinary settlers in any land.\nThere I took a mule and rode over the mountain to the forks\nof the Thompson river, about ten miles, and saw the famous\nSailor bar, Yankee bar, Chapman bar, and many others from\nwhich so much gold has been taken, and where the Chinese still\nwork in hundreds. I saw the washing, panning, cradling, the\nsluices, dais, and water-works all along the river to the north of\nthe Thompson, and have examined the wonderful roads that the\ngovernment were making around the highest and most desperate\nbluffs and curves of the Fraser, and over the most stupendous\nmountains ; and all these, fortunately, in the direct route to the\nRocky Mountains, a part of the great road to Canada. Having\nthere satisfied myself that I had seen all I could see, I returned f\n20\nby the mountain passes, and Yale and Hope to New Westminster, to attend a meeting of the people which had been called on\nthe subject of grievances.\nThe colonists were most anxious that I should go to England\nas their delegate, to endeavour to get British Columbia disunited\nfrom Vancouver, and to obtain a constitution and government for\nthemselves. This has been granted by the Home Government.\nGovernor Seymour has fulfilled their expectations, is consulting\nthe feelings and wishes of the people, and the colony is making\nrapid strides in wealth and happiness, greatly to his honour and\ntheir profit\nNow having given you an outline of my personal experiences\nfrom Canada round the Continent to the Thompson river, it only\nremains to sketch the route from Yale over the Rocky Mountains due east to Canada.\nI have brought a map to show a peculiarity of the Fraser and\nColumbia rivers. From their source they run a certain distance\neastwards, and curve round till they run due west to the Pacific;\ninside that circle is the famous Cariboo district, over 400 miles\nfrom the coast, and about 100 miles north-eastwards brings you to\nthe Rocky Mountains. To reach the favourite pass, you leave the\nTete-Jaune-Cache, and come by the Leather pass to Jasper House,\nto Fort Edmonton on the east slope, and so on to the Red river.\nThe survey and reports of Captain Palliser have demonstrated\nthat there are other and better passes, and that there is no real obstacle in the way of a road\u00E2\u0080\u0094nature having provided for a railway. Ox carts have frequently crossed without difficulty, and\ntroops of emigrants go over with their cattle. The land immediately on either side of the mountains is all rough and never will\nbe worth cultivating, and the climate is severe and liable to great\nstorms, but as you descend to the eastward the country of the\nAssiniboine, the valley of the Saskatchewan, and the Red River\nsettlement, the land becomes equal to ours, and offers a home to\nsixty or eighty millions of people, and it is for us now to legislate\nand act so as to give Canada the transit and supply for this great\nreetion. 21\nI have the journal of a Mr. Mackenzie who passed over this\ncountry in 1862 on foot, who saw large tracts of the best of land\nand is satisfied of the great value of the gold fields. I have just\nseen Mr. Schwieger who passed over it in 1864, and who corroborates the statement, besides the reports of Dawson, Hind, and\nothers, all proving the immense value of this district. Now I\nbelieve beeause of all these great resources and means of continuous advancement, we should desire to unite the British provinces\nfrom Halifax to Vancouver's. With no adverse or dangerous\nclimate, no cypress swamp or yellow fever; in the same parallel\nof latitude, or when they run further north with an isothermal\nline that gives the climate of 40\u00C2\u00B0 to latitude 49\u00C2\u00B0, Providence,\nseems to have arranged for the future support of a great nation,\nwith all the natural elements of strength, longevity, and success.\nWe hear much now of amalgamation, but remember you? who\nare historians, that no aboriginal, normal race, ever succeeded in\nvictorious conquest, or became a great governing power. It is a\nmixed race which produces a great people, a powerful nation.\nWe possess this great advantage ; we have the fair soft Saxon,\nthe brave and hardy Celt, the old and noble Norman, the proud\nand brilliant Spaniard, the magnanimous and cunning Aborigi-\nnies, the musical and spiritual African, and meet on the Pacific\nthe ingenious and patient Chinese, so with the combined blood\nof every race, the unrivalled treasures of the earth, and abundant\nmaterial for manufactures, what can hinder our onward progress ? Nothing, unless we yield to party jealousy or strife, or\nthat most fearful and unchristian of all evils-^war! Having the\nentrepot of goods from the east and west, the fine textures of\nEurope, the tea and spices, the ornamental wood and ivory of\nChina, and Japan, and.\" all the Islands of the sea, while we ourselves supply the southern and eastern world with timber, ships,\nmachinery, and all heavy manufactures in iron, copper, and\nwood, should we not become the fathers of a race as far above\nTubal Gain as his day is distant from ours.\nFederal Unions have been successful as experiments; ours is a\nnecessity. We have been coming to a dead lock. We have but 22\nlittle good land left this side of Lake Superior, let us open up this\ncountry which, I say, the North West Company never could have\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0owned, for when they obtained their charter it belonged to France, I\nsay our only hope of having great lilies here like Montreal, of\nbeing great ship owners and carriers of goods, of being a commercial and maritime power, is to unite the country from sea to\nsea, settle the valleys I have named, and hoist the banner of Peace\nand Free Trade with the world. We have water power in Canada\nworth more than the coal fields we lack, for the great quantity\nof coal needed is to drive machinery. I may just say that I hold\nin my hands letters from British Columbia shewing that they are\nlipe and anxious for Federation, Free Trade, and Reciprocity, as\nany party in Canada But the clock admonishes me that I must\nclose-\nBut my young friends, sound Christian education, self-reliance,\nself-help, mutual improvement, and a determination to work,\nwith sober temperate habits are the main requirements, the real\nworking capital necessary to bring out the vast natural resources\nGod has given us\u00E2\u0080\u0094that God without whom nothing is good, great,\nor successful. You have avowed yourselves Christian, you have\npledged yourselves to improvement,\u00E2\u0080\u0094go on impressed with a\nsense of your responsibility for the future of this great country\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nyour impress for good or evil will be left upon it. Your habits\nof thought and action will make the character of your children;\nif you be sober, industrious, wise, and God-fearing, Canada will\nbe prosperous, noble, and free, and stand as high for virtue and\nmoral worth as she does for beauty and strength.\nI said at the outset that I am not scientific, neither am I a poet,\nbut I crave your permission to close in the_language of ono who\nIs both a scholar and a poet:\u00E2\u0080\u0094 %L-^'t-*-t.\nTell me not in mournful numbers\nLife is but iin empty dream,\nFor lhc soul is dead that slumbers,\nAnd things are not what they seem.\nLite is real, life is earnest,\nAnd the grave is not its coal\u00E2\u0080\u0094 23\nDust thou art, to dust returnest,\nWas not spoken of the soul.\nJNot enjoyment and not sorrow,\nIs our destined end or way,\nBut to live that each lo-morrow\nFinds us further than to-day.\nArt is long and time is fleeting,\nAnd our hearts though stout and bravt\nStill like muffled drums are beating\nFuneral marches to the grave.\nIn the world's broad field of battle,\nIn the bivouac, of life,\nBe not like dumb driven cattle\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nBe a hero in the strife.\nTrust no future, howe'er pleasant,\nLet the dead past bury its dead ;\nAct, act in the living present,\nHeart within and God o'erhead.\nLives of great men all remind us\nWe can make our lives sublime,\nAnd departing leave behind us\nFoot-prints on the sands of time.\nFoot-prints that perhaps another\nbailing o'er\nlife's troubled main-\nSome forlorn and shipwrecked brother-\nSeeing, may take heart again.\nLet us then be up and doing\nWith a heart for any late,\nStill achieving, still pursuing,\nLearn to labour and to wait.\nJr "@en . "Other Copies: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/11597316"@en . "Addresses"@en . "Pamphlets"@en . "F5804.2 .C26"@en . "I-0249"@en . "10.14288/1.0221698"@en . "English"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "Quebec : G. E. Desbarats"@en . "Images provided for research and reference use only. For permission to publish, copy, or otherwise distribute these images please contact digital.initiatives@ubc.ca."@en . "Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. F5804.2 .C26"@en . "British Columbia--Description and travel"@en . "Voyages to the Pacific coast"@en . "Lecture delivered by the Hon. Malcolm Cameron to the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, the Lord Bishop of the diocese in the chair"@en . "Text"@en .