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+Project Gutenberg's Handbook to the new Gold-fields, by R. M. Ballantyne
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Handbook to the new Gold-fields
+
+Author: R. M. Ballantyne
+
+Release Date: November 7, 2007 [EBook #23389]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HANDBOOK TO THE NEW GOLD-FIELDS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+Handbook to the New Gold-Fields, by R.M. Ballantyne.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+This book was one of several books written by Ballantyne in or about
+1858, for Nelson, the publishers.  From a literary point of view it does
+not rank very high, because it was a "pot-boiler", and not one of
+Ballantyne's dashing and spirited books for teenagers.  There were three
+other books in this category, and we do not rate very high our chances
+of finding any of them and adding it to our collection.
+
+Much of the book consists of long quotes from the Times correspondent.
+I am not sure, but I think that should really be read as "the New York
+Times correspondent".  There are also long letters from the Governor of
+the area (a British colony), to the British Government, and their
+answers.  Of course there were long intervals between these letters and
+their replies, because they had to cross the North American continent,
+and then the Atlantic by sailing vessel.
+
+This book turned up in the Early Canadiana Online collection of early
+books about Canada, and the scans of the pages to be found on the
+Canadiana website were acquired using the very new (2005) screen
+grabbing tool created by ABBYY.  Canadiana publish their scans at five
+different scales, of which we used the middle one, except for the
+Appendix, where we used the largest size, and OCRed it in the usual
+manner.  The reason for this was that the font size used by Nelsons for
+the Appendix was much smaller than that used for the bodytext of the
+book.  The rest of the work was done using our Athelstane editing
+programs, just as we do all other books.  So doing it was something of a
+technical feat.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+HANDBOOK TO THE NEW GOLD-FIELDS, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+HANDBOOK TO THE NEW EL-DORADO.
+
+The problem of colonisation in the north-western portion of British
+America is fast working itself out.  The same destiny which pushed
+forward Anglo-Saxon energy and intelligence into the rich plains of
+Mexico, and which has peopled Australia, is now turning the current of
+emigration to another of the "waste-places of the earth."  The discovery
+of extensive goldfields in the extreme west of the territories now
+occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company, is a great fact.  It no longer
+comes to us as the report of interested adventurers, or the exaggeration
+of a few sanguine diggers, but with well-authenticated results--large
+quantities of gold received at San Francisco, and a consequent rush of
+all nations from the gold regions of California, as well as from the
+United States and Canada.  The _thirst for Gold_ is, as it always has
+been, the most attractive, the strongest, the most unappeasable of
+appetites--the impulse that builds up, or pulls down empires, and floods
+the wilderness with a sudden population.  In those wild regions of the
+Far West men are pouring in one vast, gold-searching tide of thousands
+and tens of thousands, into the comparatively unknown territory beyond
+the Rocky Mountains, for which our Legislature has just manufactured a
+government.  How strange is the comparison instituted by the _Times_
+between the rush to Fraser River and the mediaeval crusades, which
+carried so large a portion of the population of Europe to die on the
+burning plains of Palestine!  At Clermont Ferrand, Peter the Hermit has
+concluded his discourse; cries are heard in every quarter, "It is the
+will of God!  It is the will of God!"; Every one assumes the cross, and
+the crowd disperses to prepare for conquering under the walls of the
+earthly, a sure passage to the heavenly, Jerusalem.  What elevation of
+motive, what faith, what enthusiasm!  Compare with this the picture
+presented by San Francisco Harbour.  A steamer calculated to carry 600
+persons, is laden with 1600.  There is hardly standing room on the deck.
+It is almost impossible to clear a passage from one part of the vessel
+to the other.  The passengers are not knights and barons, but tradesmen,
+"jobbers," tenants, and workmen of all the known varieties.  Their
+object in of the earth, earthy--wealth in its rawest and rudest form--
+gold, the one thing for which they bear to live, or dare to die.
+Although in the comparison the crusades may have the superiority in many
+points, yet so little have ideal, romantic, and sentimental
+considerations to do with the current of human affairs, that while the
+crusades remain a monument of abortive and objectless folly, fatal to
+those who embarked in them, and leaving as their chief result a tinge of
+Asiatic ferocity on European barbarism, the exodus of San Francisco,
+notwithstanding the material end it has in view, is sure to work out the
+progress of happiness and civilisation, and add another to the many
+conquests over nature, which the present age has witnessed.
+
+In a year more than ordinarily productive of remarkable events, one of
+the most noteworthy, and that which is likely to leave a lasting
+impression on the world, is this discovery of gold on the coasts of the
+Pacific.  The importance of the new region as a centre for new
+ramifications of English relations with the rest of the world cannot
+well be exaggerated either in a political or a commercial point of view.
+It will be the first really important point we shall have ever
+commanded on that side of the Pacific Ocean, and it cannot but be of
+inestimable value in developing our relations with America, China,
+Japan, and Eastern Russia.
+
+This new discovery must also tend to make the western shore of the
+American continent increasingly attractive, from Fraser's River down to
+Peru the rivers all bear down treasures of a wealth perfectly
+inestimable.  Emigration must necessarily continue to flow and increase.
+Gold digging is soon learned, and there will be an immense demand for
+every kind of labour at almost fabulous prices.
+
+It is further valuable as tending to open up a direct communication from
+the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Europe across the continent of
+America to India and China.  This is a grand idea, and the colonial
+minister who carries it out will accomplish a greater thing than any of
+his predecessors, for he will open up the means of carrying English
+civilisation to the whole of that vast continent and to the eastern
+world.
+
+The pioneers in this movement will conquer the territory not with arms
+in their hands, but with the gold-rocker, the plough, the loom, and the
+anvil, the steam-boat, the railway, and the telegraph.  Commerce and
+agriculture, disenthralled by the influences of free institutions, will
+cause the new empire to spring into life, full armed, like Minerva from
+the brain of Jupiter.  Its Pacific ports will be thronged with ships of
+all nations, its rich valleys will blossom with nature's choicest
+products, while its grand rivers will bear to the sea the fruits of free
+and honest labour.  Great as have been our achievements in the planting
+of colonies, we have never entered upon a more magnificent work than the
+one now before us, in which the united energies of the two great
+branches of the Anglo-Saxon race will be engaged, heart and hand.
+
+While the present volume is intended chiefly for those desiring
+information on the subject of the gold discoveries, it also addresses
+itself to the general public, for the condition and character of the
+country and its inhabitants cannot fail to be a subject of inquiry with
+all who can appreciate the importance of its situation.  The book lays
+claim to no merit but that of careful collation.  Little information is
+given but what is derived from sources of general access; but it does
+profess to set forth the truth as far as that could be obtained from the
+conflicting statements of different parties.
+
+While the following pages will be found to contain ample proof as to the
+extent and richness of the gold fields; as well as the salubrity of the
+climate, it is satisfactory to be able to state here that the country is
+proved to be easily accessible both for English and American
+merchandise.  The public have now certain, though unofficial news, of
+the journey of the Governor of Vancouver's Island as far as Fort Hope,
+about one hundred miles above the mouth of the Fraser River and seventy
+above Fort Langley.  This voyage has established the extremely important
+fact, that the river is navigable for steamers at least up to this
+point, where the mines are now known to be of extraordinary wealth,
+although it is reported that their yield regularly increases as the
+stream is ascended.  It is now proved that these districts are actually
+within from fifteen to twenty-three hours steam of Victoria, the
+principal town of the Vancouver's Island colony.  It is difficult to
+exaggerate the importance of this fact.  It is true that the same voyage
+which the steamer carrying the Governor of Vancouver's Island
+successfully performed, was attempted without success by another steamer
+about the same time--a fact which probably indicates that the river will
+be navigable only for vessels of small draught, and possibly, perhaps,
+not equally navigable at all seasons; for we must remember that in the
+early part of June, when this attempt was successfully made, the waters
+of the river had already begun to rise, in consequence of the melting of
+the snow from the Rocky Mountains, from which it springs.  But they were
+then by no means at their full height; and even if the river be only
+navigable by vessels of small draught, that is a fact of very little
+importance as compared with the certainty that it is navigable at all to
+so considerable a height.  Fort Hope is, as we have said, about one
+hundred miles up the river--that is to say, about one hundred and ninety
+from Victoria in Vancouver's Island, the voyage across the Gulf of
+Georgia being about ninety miles.  The rich diggings between Fort Yale
+and Fort Hope are, therefore, not so far from the fertile land of
+Vancouver's Island as London from Hull and the distance from Victoria to
+the mouth of the river, where gold is at present found inconsiderable
+quantities, is not so great as the distance from Liverpool to Dublin.
+Now, as almost all the importance of a mining district depends on easy
+communication with a provision market--and the very richest will be
+rendered comparatively insignificant if provisions can only be carried
+thither at enormous cost and labour--no fact has yet been established of
+more importance than the easy navigability of the Fraser River.
+Immediately above Fort Yale, which is twelve miles higher up the river
+than the point reached by the steamer, a succession of cataracts begin,
+which, of course, interrupt all navigation, but thence even to "the
+Forks," or junction between the Fraser and Thompson Rivers, there is
+certainly not more than one hundred miles of road, which, as we learn
+from the government map, are mostly practicable for loaded waggons.
+Hence it is evident that the new gold district will be easily accessible
+both for English merchandise from England, and for the provision market
+of Vancouver's Island.
+
+In explanation and refutation of the prejudice which almost universally
+exists against the climate and soil of North America generally, but
+especially of the divisions included in the Hudson's Bay Company's
+Territories, we cannot do better than quote the following just remarks
+from the Reverend Mr Nicolay's treatise on Oregon.  He says:--
+
+"A predisposition towards one opinion, or bias to one side of an
+argument, too often warps both the judgment and the understanding; and
+one man in consequence sees fertile plains where another could see only
+arid wastes on which even the lizards appear starving, while the other
+looks forward to their being covered with countless flocks and herds at
+no very distant period of time.  Both Cook and Vancouver, having
+previously made up their minds against the existence of a river near
+parallel 46 degrees, passed the Columbia without perceiving it, and the
+former even declared most decidedly that the strait seen by Juan de Fuca
+had its origin only in the fertility of the pilot's brain.  As they were
+discovered to be in error, so it is not impossible that others not less
+positive in their assertions may be convicted of the same carelessness
+of examination as those navigators, so remarkable in all other respects
+for their accuracy, and so indefatigable and minute in their researches,
+that little has been left to their successors but to check their work.
+
+"With respect, however, to the attributed barrenness of great part of
+the territory, so peremptorily insisted on by many, there is some excuse
+for the earlier travellers from whom that opinion is derived.  Ignorant
+of the best routes, and frequently famishing in the immediate
+neighbourhood of plenty, they most justly reflect back to others the
+impressions they received; but in so doing, though they speak truth,
+they give very erroneous ideas of the country they think themselves to
+be describing most accurately, and of this very pregnant examples are
+found in the travels of Lewis and Clarke, and the party who came
+overland to Astoria: both struck the head waters of the Saptin, both
+continued its course to its junction with the main stream, both
+suffered--the latter party intensely; but had they, by the fertile
+bottoms of Bear and Rosseaux Rivers, found access to the valley between
+the Cascade and Blue Mountains--or, keeping still further west, crossed
+the former range into that of the Wallamette, they would have found
+game, been banished from their pages, and the Oregon would have appeared
+in her holiday attire--
+
+"A nymph of healthiest hue--"
+
+and the depth of ravines and the elevation of rocks and precipices would
+have been changed into the unerring evidences of fertility and
+luxuriance of vegetation afforded by the dense forests and gigantic
+pine-trees of the coast district.  We can scarce estimate the transition
+of feeling and change which would have been produced in their estimate
+of the country, if they could have been suddenly transported from their
+meagre horse-steak--cut from an animal so jaded with travel as to be in
+all probability only saved from death by starvation and fatigue, by
+being put to death to save over-wearied men from famine, and this cooked
+at a fire of _bois de vache_, with only the shelter of an overhanging
+rock--to the fat venison and savoury wildfowl of the woods and lakes,
+broiled on the glowing hardwood embers under the comfortable roof of
+sheltering bark, or the leafy shade of the monarch of the forest; while
+the cheerful whinny of their well-fed beasts would have given joyful
+token that nature in her bounty had been forgetful of nothing which her
+dependent children could desire.
+
+"While such and so great is the power of circumstances to vary the
+impressions made upon the senses, some hesitation must be used in their
+reception until fully confirmed, or they must be limited by other
+accounts, as unbiassed judgment may direct, especially as the
+temperament of individuals may serve to heighten the colouring, whether
+sombre or sunny, in which circumstances may have depicted the landscape.
+It is not every traveller who can, with Mackenzie, expatiate on the
+beauty of scenery while in fear of treachery from fickle and bloody
+savages; or like Fremont, though dripping from the recent flood, and
+uncertain of the means of existence even for the day, his arms, clothes,
+provisions, instruments, deep in the whirlpools of the foaming Platte,
+stop to gaze with admiration on the `fantastic ruins' Nature has `piled'
+among her mountain fastnesses, while from his bare and bleeding feet he
+draws the sharp spines of the hostile cacti.  Truth from travellers is
+consequently for the most part relative.  Abstractedly, with reference
+to any country, it must be derived from the combined accounts and
+different phases of truth afforded by many."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+RICHNESS AND EXTENT OF THE GOLD FIELDS.
+
+"Destiny, which has lately riveted our attention on the burning plains
+of the extreme East," says the _Times_ of 9th July, "now claims our
+solicitude for the auriferous mountains and rushing rivers of the Far
+West and the shores of the remote Pacific.  What most of us know of
+these ultra-occidental regions may be summed up in a very few words.  We
+have most of us read Washington Irving's charming narrative of
+`Astoria,' sympathised with the untimely fate of Captain Thorn and his
+crew, and read with breathless interest the wanderings of the pilgrims
+to the head waters of the Columbia.  After thirty years, the curtain
+rises again on the stormy period of the Ashburton Treaty, when the
+`patriots' were bent upon `whipping the Britishers' out of every acre of
+land on the western side of the Rocky Mountains.  And now, for the third
+time, we are recalled to the same territory, no longer as the goal of
+the adventurous trader or the battle ground of the political agitator,
+but as a land of promise--a new El Dorado, to which men are rushing with
+all the avidity that the presence of the one, thing which all men, in
+all times and in all places, insatiably desire is sure to create."
+
+This El Dorado lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific; it is
+bounded on the south by the American frontier line, 49 degrees of
+latitude, and may be considered to extend to the sources of Fraser
+River, in latitude 55 degrees.  It is, therefore, about 420 miles long
+in a straight line, its average breadth from 250 to 300 miles.  Taken
+from corner to corner, its greatest length would be, however, 805
+miles,--and its greatest breadth 400 miles, Mr Arrowsmith computes its
+area of square miles, including Queen Charlotte's Island, at somewhat
+more than 200,000 miles.  Of its two gold-bearing rivers, one, the
+Fraser, rises in the northern boundary, and flowing south, falls into
+the sea at the south-western extremity of the territory, opposite the
+southern end of Vancouver's Island, and within a few miles of the
+American boundary; the other, the Thompson River, which rises in the
+Rocky Mountains, and flowing westward, joins the Fraser about 150 miles
+from the coast.  It is on these two rivers, and chiefly at their
+confluence, that the gold discoveries have been made.
+
+Fraser River is about as famous a point as there is today on the earth's
+surface--as famous as were the Californian diggings in 1848, or the
+Australian gold mines in 1853.  It is now the centre of attraction for
+the adventurous of all countries.  The excitement throughout the Canadas
+and Northern States of America is universal.  In fact, the whole
+interior of North America is quite in a ferment--the entire floating
+population being either "on the move," or preparing to start; while
+traders, cattle-dealers, contractors, and all the enterprising persons
+in business who can manage to leave, are maturing arrangements to join
+the general exodus.  Persons travelling in the mining regions reckon
+that, in three months, 50,000 souls will have left the State of
+California alone.  The rapidity and extent of this emigration has never
+been paralleled.
+
+It is now established that the district of British Columbia, holding a
+relation to Puget's Sound similar to that of Sacramento Valley to the
+Bay of San Francisco, contains rich and extensive gold beds.  The Fraser
+River mines have already been mentioned in the British Parliament as not
+less valuable and important than the gold fields in Australia,
+Geologists have anticipated such a discovery; and Governor Stevens, in
+his last message to the Legislative Assembly of Washington Territory,
+claims that the district south of the international boundary is equally
+auriferous.
+
+The special correspondent of the _San Francisco Bulletin_, a reliable
+authority, writes from Fort Langley, twenty-five miles up the Fraser,
+under date the 25th May, that he had just come down from Fort Yale,
+where he found sixty men and two hundred Indians, with their squaws, at
+work on a "bar" of about five hundred yards in length--called "Hills
+Bar," one mile below Fort Yale, and fifteen miles from Fort Hope, all
+trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company.  "The morning I arrived, two
+men (Kerrison and Company) cleaned up five and a-half ounces from the
+rocker, the product of half a day's work.  Kerrison and Company the next
+day cleaned up ten and a-half ounces from two rockers, which I saw
+myself weighed.  This bar is acknowledged to be one of the richest ever
+seen, and well it may be, for here is a product of fifteen and a-half
+ounces of gold, worth 247 and a half dollars, or 50 pounds sterling,
+from it in a day and a-half to the labour of two rockers.  Old
+Californian miners say they never saw such rich diggings.  The average
+result per day to the man was fully 20 dollars, some much more.  The
+gold is very fine; so much so, that it was impossible to save more than
+two-thirds of what went through the rockers.  This defect in the rocker
+must be remedied by the use of quicksilver to `amalgamate' the finer
+particles of gold.  This remedy is at hand, for California produces
+quicksilver sufficient for the consumption of the `whole' world in her
+mountains of Cinnabar.  Supplies are going on by every vessel.  At
+Sailor Diggings, above Fort Yale, they are doing very well, averaging
+from 8 to 25 dollars per day to the man.  I am told that the gold is
+much coarser on Thompson River than it is in Fraser River.  I saw
+yesterday about 250 dollars of coarse gold from Thompson River, in
+pieces averaging 5 dollars each.  Some of the pieces had quartz among
+them.  Hill, who was the first miner on the bar bearing his name, just
+above spoken of, with his partner, has made some 600 dollars on it in
+almost sixteen days' work.  Three men just arrived from Sailor Diggings
+have brought down 670 dollars in dust, the result of twelve days' work.
+Gold very fine.  Rising of the river driving the miners off for a time."
+
+Correspondents from several places on the Sound, both on the British and
+American territories, men of various nationalities, have since written
+that the country on the Fraser River is rich in gold, and "equal to any
+discoveries ever made in California."  The _Times'_ correspondent,
+writing from Vancouver's Island on 10th June, says, "The gold exists
+from the mouth of Fraser River for at least 200 miles up, and most
+likely much further, but it has not been explored; hitherto any one
+working on its banks has been able to obtain gold in abundance and
+without extraordinary labour; the gold at present obtained has been
+within a foot of the surface, and is supposed to have averaged about ten
+dollars per diem to each man engaged in mining.  Of course, some obtain
+more, some less, but all get gold.  Thompson River is quite as rich in
+gold as Fraser River.  The land about Thompson River consists of
+extensive sandy prairies, which are loaded with gold also; in fact, the
+whole country about Fraser and Thompson Rivers are mere beds of gold, so
+abundant as to make it quite disgusting.  I have already seen pounds and
+pounds of it, and hope before long to feast my eyes upon tons of the
+precious metal."  And the same high authority writes on 17th
+June,--"There is no longer room to doubt that all the country bordering
+on Fraser River is one continuous gold bed.  Miners abandoning the
+partially exhausted _placers_ of California, are thronging to this new
+_Dorado_, and the heretofore tranquil precincts of Victoria are now the
+scene of an excitement such as was witnessed at San Francisco in 1849,
+or since in Melbourne.  Land has run up to prices fabulously high; and
+patches that six months ago were, perhaps, grudgingly purchased at the
+colonial price of 20 shillings the acre, are re-selling daily at a
+hundred times that amount.  The small number of steam ships hitherto
+found sufficient for the commerce between San Francisco and these
+vicinities no longer suffices to convey a tithe of the eager applicants
+for passage.  An opening for the enterprise of British capitalists such
+as was not anticipated has thus suddenly arisen, and the opportunity
+will, of course, be seized with alacrity.
+
+"Lest I should appear too sanguine in my representations, I will cite
+one instance to illustrate the richness of these newly discovered
+diggings.  Three men returned for provisions lately, after an absence of
+seven days; they had during this interval extracted 179 ounces of gold.
+I state this fact on the authority of Governor Douglas, who has just
+returned from the mining regions, whither he went with the view of
+establishing certain regulations for the maintenance of order.  In
+short, all who have visited the mines are impressed with the conviction
+that their richness far excels that of California in its palmiest days."
+
+And, again, the correspondent of the _New York Times_, in a letter dated
+21st June, gives the following corroborative testimony:--"The gold is
+found everywhere, and even during the extreme height of the river,
+parties are averaging from ten to twenty dollars per day, digging in the
+banks or on the upper edge of the bars, nearly all of which are
+overflowed.  Big strikes of from fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars
+are frequently reported.  Nearly all the work at present is carried on
+between Forts Langley and Yale, and for some twenty or thirty miles
+above the latter an entire distance along the river of about a hundred
+miles.  Some few are digging on Harrison River, and other tributaries,
+where the gold is found in larger particles.  Those who were engaged in
+mining on the forks of Thompson River shew still richer yields, but have
+been compelled to leave on account of the high stage of the water, the
+want of provisions, and the opposition of the Indians.  The gold where
+the most men are located (upon the bars of the river), is found in very
+minute particles, like sand.  No quicksilver has been used as, yet, but
+when that is attainable, their yield is sure to be greatly augmented.
+At Hill's Bar those at work had averaged fifty dollars per day the whole
+time they had been there.  The Indians all have gold, and are as much
+excited as the whites.  It is of no use to cite various reports of
+individual successes in this or that locality.  The impression of all
+who have gone is unanimous and conclusive as to the great facts of new
+gold fields now being explored equal to any ever yet developed in
+California or elsewhere.  No steamer has yet returned with more than
+twelve or fifteen passengers, and nearly every one of these had come
+down to obtain supplies for himself or his party left behind in the
+diggings.  They all say they are going back in a few weeks."
+
+The following personal testimony may also be cited:--"On Sunday," says
+the _San Francisco Globe_, "we received a visit from Messrs. Edward
+Campbell and Joseph Blanch, both boatmen, well known in this city, who
+have just returned from the mines on Fraser River.  They mined for ten
+days on the bar, until compelled to desist from the rise in the river,
+in which time they took out 1340 dollars.  They used but one rocker, and
+have no doubt that they could have done much better with proper
+appliances.  There were from sixty to seventy white men at work on
+Hill's Bar, and from four to five hundred Indians, men, women, and
+children.  The Indians are divided in opinion with regard to Americans;
+the more numerous party, headed by Pollock, a chief, are disposed to
+receive them favourably, because they obtain more money, for their
+labour from the `Bostons' than from `King George's men', as they style
+the English.  They have learned the full value of their labour, and,
+instead of one dollar a-day, or an old shirt, for guiding and helping to
+work a boat up the river, they now charge from five to eight dollars per
+day.  Another portion of the Indians are in favour of driving off the
+`Bostons,' being fearful of having their country overrun by them."
+
+The proprietor of the San Francisco _News Letter_ had determined to be
+at the centre of the present excitement in the El Dorado, and to judge
+for himself, or, rather to solve the problem of how much gold, how many
+Indians, and how much humbug, went on board the Pacific mail steam-ship
+_Cortes_, Captain Horner, and made the passage to Victoria, 840 miles,
+in five days.  Although nine hundred persons were on board, yet no
+actual inconvenience was felt by the high-pressure packing; the greatest
+good humour and accommodating spirit prevailing, controlled by the
+gentlemanly conduct of Captain J.B. Horner and his officers.  On the day
+of arrival, the operations of the Government Land Office at the fort in
+Victoria was 26,000 dollars.  The importance of the amount can best be
+realised by comparing it with the prices, viz. 100 dollars per lot, 60
+by 100 feet, unsurveyed.  Some of these lots have been sold at 200 to
+1000 dollars.  Lots at first sale, surveyed price, 50 dollars; lots,
+second and last sale, 100 dollars each, are now being sold from 500 to
+1000 dollars each.  Six lots together in the principal street are valued
+at 10,000 dollars.  The figures at Esquimault Harbour and lots in that
+vicinity assume a bolder character as to value, from the fact that the
+harbour is a granite-bound basin, similar to Victoria, with an entrance
+now wide and deep enough to admit the Leviathan.  Victoria has a bar
+which must be dredged, dug, or blown away.  We noted at Victoria that
+the most valuable lot, with a flat granite level, with thirty feet of
+water, sufficient for any ship to unload without jetty, is now covered
+by a large building constructed of logs, belonging to Samuel Price and
+Company.  A ship was unloading lumber at this wharf at 35 dollars per M,
+which was the ruling price.  At Victoria, on the 21st June, a Frenchman
+landed from the steamer _Surprise_, who came on board at Fort Langley
+with twenty-seven pounds weight of gold on his person, which we saw and
+lifted.  Another passenger, whom we know, states that there are six
+hundred persons within eight miles of Fort Hope, who are averaging per
+man an ounce and a half of gold per day minimum to six and a half ounces
+per day maximum.  The largest sums seem to be taken out at Sailor's Bar,
+five miles above Fort Hope.  The lowest depth as yet reached by miners
+is fifteen inches; these mere surface scratches producing often 200
+dollars per day.  At Fort Hope, potatoes were selling at 6 dollars per
+bag; bacon, 75 cents per pound; crackers, 30 cents.  From Fort Hope to
+Fort Thompson the road is good, with the exception of twenty miles.  For
+20 dollars, the steamers will take miners from Victoria to the diggings
+at Fort Hope, and for three or four dollars more an Indian will
+accompany you to Fort Yale.  Bowen, steward of the _Surprise_, says that
+about a hundred Indians usually ran after him to obtain little sweet
+cakes, which he traded off four or five for 1 dollar in gold dust.
+Sugar at Fort Langley, 1 dollar 50 cents per pound; lumber, 1 dollar 50
+cents per foot; tea and coffee, 1 dollar per pound; pierced iron for
+rockers, 8 dollars; plain sheets, 2 dollars each; five pounds of
+quicksilver sold for 40 dollars--10 dollars per pound was the ordinary
+price.  The actual ground prospected and ascertained to be highly
+auriferous extends to three hundred and fifty miles from the mouth of
+Fraser River.  One hundred miles of Thompson River has been prospected,
+and found to be rich, south-east of Fraser River.  The same will apply
+to all the tributaries of Thompson River.  A large extent of auriferous
+quartz has been discovered ten miles from Fort Hope.  Exceedingly rich
+quartz veins have been found on Harrison River.
+
+The most astounding facts have yet to be divulged.  A river emptying
+into the Gulf of Georgia, not a hundred miles north of Fraser River
+hitherto supposed to contain no gold, has proved fabulously rich.  An
+Indian arrived at Victoria from this locality, having twenty-three
+pounds weight of pure gold, obtained solely by his own labour, in less
+than twenty days.  In confirmation of our figures, and being short of
+space, we append the following statistics, derived from an official and
+authentic source of the strictest reliability.  We deem the above facts
+sufficient to cause an exodus of a far more alarming character, and of
+higher proportions as to number, than any hitherto known in history.
+Suffice it to say, that the present _furore_ is well founded; that it
+holds out busy times, high prices, speculations, contracts, and
+employments of a thousand kinds.
+
+Fountain's Diggings (Fraser River, at 51 degrees 30 minutes north),
+month of June 1858.
+
+Five rockers worked by half-breed Canadians.
+
++=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+
+|June   |     1.|     2.|     3.|     4.|     5.|
++-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+|       |dollars|dollars|dollars|dollars|dollars|
++-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+|      1|     38|     50|     42|     40|     50|
++-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+|      2|     40|     51|     38|     29|     51|
++-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+|      3|     41|     53|     39|     51|     52|
++-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+|      4|     28|     55|     18|     33|     56|
++-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+|      5|     32|     60|     54|     54|     53|
++-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+|      6|     64|     62|     39|     58|     55|
++-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+|      7|     52|     58|     48|     52|     64|
++-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+|Total  |    295|    385|    268|    327|    381|
++-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
+|Average|  42.14|  55.50|  38.70|  46.72|  54.40|
++=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+
+
+A highly reliable correspondent sends the following from San Francisco,
+under date 5th July:--
+
+The emigration for Fraser River has gone on for months with no signs of
+growing less.  The best means of judging what grounds there are for the
+belief in the existence of gold in large quantities on its banks, is by
+letters received from persons who are engaged in mining.  It is worthy
+of note that there is no discrepancy between the accounts given by
+different individuals, all their statements agreeing.  The mines are
+reported to be exceedingly rich, and yielding large returns to those
+engaged in digging.  The river is very high, and miners have been driven
+from several of the most lucrative bars until the water subsides.  Mr
+Hill, from whom Hill's Bar took its name, is mining some distance above
+that point.  He and six hands were making from an ounce to an ounce and
+a-half of gold dust a day to each man.  For three weeks prior to the
+freshet, Mr Hill and one man averaged one hundred to one hundred and
+fifty dollars a day.  The freshet, however drove him off for the time
+being.  Mr E.R. Collins, who has spent some time in the Fraser River
+gold region, and who brought down last week a quantity of dust, has
+communicated the following intelligence to the _Alta California_.  Mr
+Collins is a trustworthy gentleman.  He left San Francisco in March
+last, and was at Olympia when the excitement first broke out.  He then,
+in company with three others, proceeded to Point Roberts, from whence
+they proceeded up Fraser River to the mouth of Harrison River, about
+twenty-five miles above Fort Langley.  This portion of the journey they
+performed without guides or assistance from the natives.  The current
+was moderate, and occasionally beautiful islands were discovered with
+heavy timber, which presented a beautiful appearance.  From Fort Hope to
+Fort Yale, a distance of fifteen miles, the river runs narrow, and the
+current running about seven miles per hour, though, in some places, it
+might be set down at ten or twelve.  At Fort Yale, the first mining bar
+was reached.  It extended out from the left bank a distance of some
+thirty yards, and was about half a mile long.  Twenty or thirty squaws
+were at work with baskets and wooden trays, while, near by, large
+numbers of male Indians stood listlessly looking on.  Here some of Mr
+Collins' companions, who had now increased to twenty, proposed to stop
+and try their luck, but the majority resolved to go on, having informed
+themselves satisfactorily that further up the "big chunks" were in
+abundance.  After resting a while, therefore, the party went ahead.  Two
+miles from Fort Yale they entered upon the commencement of the real
+difficulties and dangers of navigation on Fraser River, the water for a
+distance of thirty-five or forty miles passing through deep gloomy
+canons, and over high masses of rock.  At this time the river had
+attained only a few feet above its usual height, so that by perseverance
+and the skill of the native boatman they were enabled to make slow
+progress.  Numerous portages were made--one of them, the last, being
+four miles long.  These portages could not be avoided, the cliffs rising
+perpendicularly on either side of the river, sometimes to a height of
+fifty or sixty feet, affording not the slightest footpath on which to
+tow.  At other places the whirls, and rocks partly submerged, rendered a
+water passage utterly impracticable.  At every bar and shallow spot
+prospected in these wild localities gold was obtained in paying
+quantities, all of very fine quality--rather difficult to save without
+the use of quicksilver.  From the head of the canons to the forks of
+Thompson's River, thirty-five miles more, the current and general
+appearance of the river seemed about the same as from Fort Hope to Fort
+Yale, gold also being found where there was an opportunity for a fair
+"prospect".  At the Forks the party were told by Travill, a French
+trader, whom they met by accident, that the richest and best diggings
+were up Thompson's; but that river being navigable but a few miles up,
+it was thought best to keep on up Fraser, which they did for a distance
+of forty miles, encountering no serious obstacles beyond a few rapids,
+and they were passed by towing.  Five miles above the Forks some twenty
+white men were at work, making with common rockers from ten to sixteen
+dollars per day.  Arriving at a bar about ten miles below, where white
+men were congregating in numbers considered sufficient for mutual
+protection, they took up a claim and commenced digging.  They worked
+here steady twenty-four days, averaging fifteen dollars per day to each
+man.  The greatest day's work of one man was thirty-one dollars.  These
+figures, it is thought, would apply to all the miners.
+
+Our latest news from the new mines reach to the beginning of July.  At
+that time there were immense numbers of miners on the banks of Fraser
+River, waiting for the stream to fall and enable them to go to work on
+the bars, which are said to be fabulously rich.  Some dry diggings had
+also been discovered in the neighbourhood of the river; but owing to the
+presence of a large number of Indians, not of the most friendly
+disposition, the miners dared not then extend their researches far from
+the stream, where the bulk of the whites were congregated.  The town of
+Victoria, on Vancouver's Island, has sprung rapidly into importance.
+Great advances have been made on real estate there.  Lots, which a few
+months ago were sold by the Hudson's Bay Company at twelve pounds ten
+shillings, are now selling at over 250 pounds.  A newspaper, called the
+_Victoria Gazette_ has been started there; and an American steamer, _The
+Surprise_, is also running regularly between Victoria and Fort Hope,
+which is one hundred miles above the mouth of Fraser River.  In the last
+week of June the arrivals by steamers and vessels at the various ports
+of British Columbia reached the large daily average of one thousand,
+while those who have lately travelled through the mountains say that the
+principal roads in the interior present an appearance similar to the
+retreat of a routed army.  Stages, express waggons, and vehicles of
+every character, are called into requisition for the immediate
+emergency, and all are crammed, while whole battalions are pressing
+forward on horse or mule back, and on foot.  Of course, the shipments of
+merchandise from San Francisco and other ports are very large, to keep
+pace with this almost instantaneous emigration of thousands to a region
+totally unsupplied with the commodities necessary for their use and
+sustenance.  Up to the present no outbreak or disturbance has occurred,
+and a certain degree of order has already been established in the mining
+region, through the judicious measures adopted by the governor.
+Justices of the peace and other officials have been appointed, and a
+system protective of the territorial interests organised.  Licences, on
+the principle of those granted in Australia, are issued; the price, five
+dollars per month, to be exacted from every miner.  There was a good
+deal of talk, as to the right or propriety of levying this tax when it
+was first proposed, and some of the Francisco papers were load in their
+denunciations; others took a calmer view.  It is satisfactory to add
+that little difficulty has so far been experienced on this head.  As a
+body, the miners are reported to be a steady set of men, well conducted,
+and respectful of the law.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+CLIMATE, PRODUCTIONS, AND SOIL.
+
+Next to the extent and richness of the gold mines, the most important
+inquiry is as to the character of the climate and soil.  And in this
+respect the Fraser River settlement does not lose any of its
+attractions, for, though seven hundred miles north of San Francisco, it
+is still one or two degrees south of the latitude of London, and
+apparently with a climate of a mildness equal to that of the southern
+shores of England, being free from all extremes, both of heat and cold.
+One hundred and fifty miles back from the Pacific, indeed, there lies a
+range of mountains reaching up to the regions of perpetual snow.  But
+between that and the coast the average temperature is fifty-four degrees
+for the year round.  Snow seldom lies more than three days.  Fruit trees
+blossom early in April, and salad goes to head by the middle of May on
+Vancouver's Island.  In parts of this region wheat yields twenty to
+thirty bushels to the acre.  Apples, pears, pease, and grains of all
+kinds do well.  The trees are of gigantic growth.  Iron and copper
+abound, as does also coal in Vancouver's Island, so that altogether it
+bids fair to realise in a short time the description applied to it by
+the colonial secretary (Sir E.B. Lytton), of "a magnificent abode for
+the human race."
+
+When introducing the "Government of New Caledonia bill," on 9th July,
+the Colonial Secretary said in his place in the House of Commons:--"The
+Thompson River district is described as one of the finest countries in
+the British dominions, with a climate far superior to that of countries
+in the same latitude on the other side of the mountains.  Mr Cooper,
+who gave valuable evidence before our committee on this district, with
+which he is thoroughly acquainted, recently addressed to me a letter, in
+which he states that `its fisheries are most valuable, its timber the
+finest in the world for marine purposes; it abounds with bituminous
+coal, well fitted for the generation of steam; from Thompson River and
+Colville districts to the Rocky Mountains, and from the 49th parallel
+some 350 miles north, a more beautiful country does not exist.  It is in
+every way suitable for colonisation.'  Therefore, apart from the gold
+fields, this country affords every promise of a flourishing and
+important colony."
+
+The _Times_ special correspondent, in a letter from Vancouver's Island,
+published on 10th August, says, "Productive fisheries, prolific whaling
+waters, extensive coalfields, a country well timbered in some parts,
+susceptible of every agricultural improvement in ethers, with rich gold
+fields on the very borders--these are some of the many advantages
+enjoyed by the colony of Vancouver's Island and its fortunate
+possessors.  When I add that the island boasts a climate of great
+salubrity, with a winter temperature resembling that of England, and a
+summer little inferior to that of Paris, I need say no more, lest my
+picture be suspected of sharing too deeply of _couleur de rose_."
+
+Of the southern part of this district Lieutenant Wilkes, who commanded
+the late exploring expedition under the United States government, says,
+"Few portions of the globe are so rich in soil, so diversified in
+surface, or so capable of being rendered the happy homes of an
+industrious and civilised community.  For beauty of scenery and
+salubrity of climate it cannot be surpassed.  It is peculiarly adapted
+for an agricultural and pastoral people, and no portion of the world
+beyond the tropics can be found that will yield so readily with moderate
+labour to the wants of man."
+
+Perhaps the fullest account of the country yet given is that contained
+in "The Narrative of a Residence of Six Years on the Western Slopes of
+the Rocky Mountains," by Ross Cox, one of the earliest explorers of
+British North America.  He says, "The district of New Caledonia extends
+from 51 degrees 30 minutes north latitude to about 56 degrees.  Its
+extreme western boundary is 124 degrees 10 minutes.  Its principal
+trading post is called Alexandria, after the celebrated traveller Sir
+Alexander Mackenzie.  It is built on the banks of Fraser River, in about
+latitude 53 degrees north.  The country in its immediate vicinity
+presents a beautiful and picturesque appearance.  The banks of the river
+are rather low; but a little distance inland some rising grounds are
+visible, partially diversified by groves of fir and poplar.  This
+country is full of small lakes, rivers, and marshes.  It extends about
+ten days' march in a north and north-east direction.  To the south and
+south-east the Atnah, or Chin Indian country, extends about one hundred
+miles; on the east there is a chain of lakes, and the mountains
+bordering Thompson River; while to the westward and north-west lie the
+lands of the Naskotins and Clinches.  The lakes are numerous, and some
+of them tolerably large: one, two, and even three days are at times
+required to cross some of them.  They abound in a plentiful variety of
+fish, such as trout, sucker, etcetera; and the natives assert that white
+fish is sometimes taken.  These lakes are generally fed by mountain
+streams, and many of them spread out, and are lost in the surrounding
+marshes.  On the banks of the river, and in the interior, the trees
+consist of poplar, cypress, alder, cedar, birch, and different species
+of fir, spruce, and willow.  There is not the same variety of wild fruit
+as on the Columbia; and this year (1827) the berries generally failed.
+Service berries, choke-cherries, gooseberries, strawberries, and red
+whortleberries are gathered; but among the Indians the service-berry is
+the great favourite.  There are various kinds of roots, which the
+natives preserve and dry for periods of scarcity.  There is only one
+kind which we can eat.  It is called _Tza-chin_, has a bitter taste, but
+when eaten with salmon imparts an agreeable zest, and effectually
+destroys the disagreeable smell of that fish when smoke-dried.  Saint
+John's wort is very common, and has been successfully applied as a
+fomentation in topical inflammations.  A kind of weed, which the natives
+convert into a species of flax, is in general demand.  An evergreen,
+similar to that we found at the mouth of the Columbia, with small
+berries growing in clusters like grapes, also flourishes in this
+district.  Sarsaparilla and bear-root are found in abundance.  White
+earth abounds in the vicinity of the fort; and one description of it,
+mixed with oil and lime, might be converted into excellent soap.  Coal
+in considerable quantities has been discovered; and in many places we
+observed a species of red earth, much resembling lava, and which
+appeared to be of volcanic origin.  We also found in different parts of
+New Caledonia quartz, rock crystal, cobalt, talc, iron, marcasites of a
+gold colour, granite, fuller's earth, some beautiful specimens of black,
+marble, and limestone in small quantities, which appeared to have been
+forced down the beds of the rivers from the mountains.  The
+jumping-deer, or chevreuil, together with the rein and red-deer,
+frequent the vicinity of the mountains in considerable numbers, and in
+the summer season they oftentimes descend to the banks of the rivers and
+the adjacent flat country.  The marmot and wood-rat also abound: the
+flesh of the former is exquisite, and capital robes are made out of its
+skin; but the latter is a very destructive animal.  Their dogs are of
+diminutive size, and strongly resemble those of the Esquimaux, with the
+curled up tail, small ears, and pointed nose.  We purchased numbers of
+them for the kettle, their flesh constituting the chief article of food
+in our holiday feasts for Christmas and New Year.  The fur-bearing
+animals consist of beavers; bears, black, brown, and grizzly; otters,
+fishers, lynxes, martins; foxes, red, cross, and silver; minks,
+musquash, wolverines, and ermines.  Rabbits also are so numerous that
+the natives manage to subsist on them during the periods that salmon is
+scarce.  Under the head of ornithology we have the bustard, or Canadian
+_outarde_ (wild goose), swans, ducks of various descriptions, hawks,
+plovers, cranes, white-headed eagles, magpies, crows, vultures,
+wood-thrush, red-breasted thrush or robin, woodpeckers, gulls, pelicans,
+hawks, partridges, pheasants, and snow-birds.  The spring commences in
+April, when the wild flowers begin to bud, and from thence to the latter
+end of May the weather is delightful.  In June it rains incessantly,
+with strong southerly and easterly winds.  During the months of July and
+August the heat is intolerable; and in September the fogs are so dense
+that it is quite impossible to distinguish the opposite side of the
+river any morning before ten o'clock.  Colds and rheumatisms are
+prevalent among the natives during this period: nor are our people
+exempt from them.  In October the falling of the leaves and occasional
+frost announce the beginning of winter.  The lakes and parts of the
+rivers are frozen in November.  The snow seldoms exceeds twenty-four
+inches in depth.  The mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer falls in
+January to 15 degrees below zero; but this does not continue many days.
+In general, I may say, the climate is neither unhealthy nor unpleasant;
+and if the natives used common prudence, they would undoubtedly live to
+an advanced age.  The salmon fishery commences about the middle of July,
+and ceases in October.  This is a busy period for the natives; for upon
+their industry in saving a sufficiency of salmon for the winter depends
+their chief support.  Jub, suckers, trout, and white-fish, are caught in
+the lakes; and in the month of October, towards the close of the
+salmon-fishery, we catch trout of a most exquisite flavour.  Large-sized
+sturgeon are occasionally taken in the _vorveaux_, but they are not
+relished by the natives."
+
+Mr Dunn, in his valuable "History of the Oregon Territory," thus
+describes the country and climate:--"After the Columbia, the river next
+in importance is Fraser River.  It takes its rise in the Rocky
+Mountains, near the source of Canoe River, taking a north-west course of
+eighty miles.  It then turns to the southward, receiving Stuart's River,
+which rises in a chain of lakes in the northern boundary of the
+territory.  It then pursues a southerly course, and after receiving many
+tributaries, breaks through the cascade range of hills in a series of
+falls and rapids; and after a westerly course of seventy miles, empties
+itself into the Gulf of Georgia, in latitude 49 degrees 7 minutes north.
+This latter portion is navigable for vessels that can pass its bar
+drawing ten feet of water.  Its whole length is 350 miles.  There are
+numerous lakes scattered through the several sections.  The country is
+all well watered; and there are but four places where an abundance of
+water cannot be obtained, either from lakes, rivers, or springs.
+
+"The climate of the western division is mild throughout the year,
+neither the cold of winter, nor the heat of summer predominating.  The
+mean temperature is about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  The prevailing winds,
+in summer, are from the northward and westward, and in winter, from the
+west, south, and south-east.  The winter lasts from about November till
+March, generally speaking.  During that time there are frequent falls of
+rain, but not heavy.  Snow seldoms lies longer than a week on the
+ground.  There are frosts so early as September, but they are not
+severe, and do not continue long.  The easterly winds are the coldest,
+as they come from across the mountains, but they are not frequent.
+Fruit trees blossom early in April in the neighbourhood of Nasqually and
+Vancouver; and in the middle of May pease are a foot high, and
+strawberries in full blossom; indeed, all fruits and vegetables are as
+early there as in England.  The hills, though of great declivity, have a
+sward to their tops.  Lieutenant Wilkes says, that out of 106 days, 67
+were fair, 19 cloudy, and 11 rainy.  The middle section is subject to
+droughts.  During summer the atmosphere is drier and warmer, and in
+winter colder than in the western section; its extremes of heat and cold
+being greater and more frequent.  However, the air is fine and healthy;
+the atmosphere in summer being cooled by the breezes that blow from the
+Pacific.
+
+"The soil of the western section varies from a deep black vegetable loam
+to a light brown loamy earth.  The bills are generally basalt stone and
+slate.  The surface is generally undulating, well watered, well wooded,
+and well adapted for agriculture and pasturage.  The timber consists of
+pine, fir, spruce, oaks (white and red), ash, arbutus, cedar,
+arbor-vitae, poplar, maple, willow, cherry, tew, with underwoods of
+hazel and roses.  All kinds of grain, wheat, rice, barley, oats, and
+pease, can be procured there in abundance.  Various fruits, such as
+pears, apples, etcetera, succeed there admirably; and the different
+vegetables produced in England yield there most abundant crops.
+
+"The middle section, which is about 1000 feet above the level of the
+western, is not so well wooded or fertile; yet in the southern parts of
+it, where the missionaries have established settlements, they have
+raised excellent crops, and reared large stocks of cattle.
+Notwithstanding the occasional cold, their cattle are not housed, nor is
+provender laid in for them in any quantity, the country being
+sufficiently supplied with fodder in the natural hay, that is everywhere
+abundant in the prairies, which the cattle prefer."
+
+Mr Wilkes says, "In comparison with the United States, I would say,
+that the labour necessary in this territory to acquire wealth or
+subsistence is in the proportion of one to three; or in other words, a
+man must work throughout the year three times as much in the United
+States to gain the like competency.  The care of stock, which requires
+so much time with us, requires no attention there, and on the increase
+only, a man might find support."  He further says, "There will be also a
+demand for the timber of this country at high prices, throughout the
+Pacific.  The oak is well adapted for ship timber, and abundance of ash,
+cedar, cypress, and arbor-vitae may be had for other purposes, building,
+fuel, fencing," etcetera.  He also adds, "No part of the world affords
+finer inland sounds, or a greater number of harbours, than are found
+within the Straits of Juan de Fuca, capable of receiving the highest
+class of vessels, and without a danger in them which is not viable.
+From the rise and fall of the tides (eighteen feet) every facility is
+afforded for the erection of works for a great maritime nation.  The
+country also affords as many sites for maritime power as any other."
+
+On the northern coast there are a number of islands which belong to the
+territory.  The largest are Vancouver's Island, and Queen Charlotte
+Island, both of which enjoy a mild and salubrious climate, with a soil
+well adapted to agriculture.  They have also an abundance of fine fish
+in their waters.  Coal of a very good quality is found there close by
+the surface, and they also contain numerous veins of valuable minerals.
+
+All the rivers abound in salmon of the finest quality, which run twice a
+year, beginning in May and October, and appear inexhaustible.  In Fraser
+River, the salmon are very numerous.  The bays and inlets abound with
+several kinds of salmon, sturgeon, cod, carp, sole, flounders, perch,
+herring, and eels; also with shell-fish--crabs, oysters, etcetera.
+Whales and sea otters in numbers are found along the coast, and are
+frequently captured by Indians, in and at the mouth of the Straits of
+Juan de Fuca.
+
+Game abounds in the western section, such as elk, deer, antelopes,
+bears, wolves, foxes, musk-rats, martins.  And in the spring and fall,
+the rivers are covered with geese, ducks, and other water-fowl.  Towards
+the Rocky Mountains buffaloes are found in great numbers.
+
+From the advantages this country possesses, it bids fair to have an
+extensive commerce, on advantageous terms, with most parts of the
+Pacific.  It is well calculated to produce the following staple
+commodities,--furs, salted beef and pork, grain, flour, wool, hides,
+tallow, timber, and coals.  And in return for these--sugars, coffee, and
+other tropical productions may be obtained at the Sandwich Islands.
+Advantages that in time must become of immense importance.
+
+Those districts of British America west of the lakes which by soil and
+climate are suitable for settlement, may be thus enumerated:--
+
+Vancouver's Island 16,200 square miles.
+
+Fraser and Thomson Rivers 60,000 ditto
+
+Sources of the Upper Columbia 20,000 ditto
+
+Athabasca District 50,000 ditto
+
+Saskatchewan, Red River, Assineboin, etcetera. 360,000 ditto
+
+506,200
+
+Under these geographical divisions we propose to give the results of a
+parliamentary investigation (just published) into the affairs of the
+Hudson's Bay Company, so far as they are descriptive of the foregoing
+districts:--
+
+VANCOUVER'S ISLAND.
+
+This island is fertile, well timbered, finely diversified by
+intersecting mountain ranges, and small prairies, with extensive coal
+fields, compared by one witness to the West Riding of Yorkshire coal,
+and fortunate in its harbours.  Esquimault Harbour, on which Victoria is
+situated, is equal to San Francisco.  The salmon and other fisheries are
+excellent; but this advantage is shared by every stream and inlet of the
+adjacent coast.  The climate is frequently compared with England, except
+that it is even warmer.  The winter is stormy, with heavy rains in
+November and December; frosts occur in the lowlands in January, but
+seldom interrupt agriculture; vegetation starts in February, rapidly
+progressing in March and fostered by alternate warm showers and sunshine
+in April and May--while intense heat and drought are often experienced
+during June, July, and August.  As already remarked, the island has an
+area of 16,200 square miles.
+
+FRASER AND THOMPSON RIVERS.
+
+Northward of Vancouver's Island the coast range of mountains trends so
+near the Pacific as to obstruct intercourse with the interior, but
+"inside," in the language of a witness, "it is a fine open country."
+This is the valley of Fraser River.  Ascending this river, near Fort
+Langley, "a large tract of land" is represented as "adapted to
+colonists;" while of Thomson River, the same witness says that it is
+"one of the most beautiful countries in the world"--"climate capable of
+producing all the crops of England, and much milder than Canada."  The
+sources of Fraser River, in latitude 55 degrees, are separated from
+those of Peace River (which flows through the Rocky Mountains, eastward,
+into the Athabasca) by the distance of only 317 yards.
+
+SOURCES OF THE COLUMBIA.
+
+A glance at the map will shew how considerable a district of British
+Oregon is watered by the Upper Columbia and its tributary, the
+McGillivray or Flat Bow river.  It is estimated above at 20,000 square
+miles, and has been described in enthusiastic terms, by the Bishop of
+Oregon--De Smet--in his "Oregon Missions."  The territory of the
+Kootonais Indians would seem, from his glowing description, to be
+divided in favourable proportion between forests and prairies.  Of
+timber, he names birch, pine of different species, cedar, and cypress.
+He remarked specimens of coal, and "great quantities of lead,"
+apparently mixed with silver.  The source of the Columbia seemed to
+impress him as "a very important point."  He observes that "the climate
+is delightful"--that the extremes of heat and cold are seldom known, the
+snow disappearing as it falls.  He reiterates the opinion "that the
+advantages nature seemed to have bestowed on the Columbia, will render
+its geographical position very important at some future day, and that
+the hand of civilised man would transform it into a terrestrial
+paradise."
+
+It is an interesting coincidence that Bishop De Smet published in a
+Saint Louis paper, a few months since, a similar description of this
+region, adding that it could be reached from Salt Lake City along the
+western base of the Rocky Mountains with waggons, and that Brigham Young
+proposed to lead his next Mormon exodus to the sources of the Columbia
+River.  Such a movement is not improbable, and would exhibit far greater
+sagacity than an emigration to Sonora.
+
+THE ATHABASCA DISTRICT.
+
+The valleys of the Peace and Athabasca Rivers, which occupy the eastern
+base of the Rocky Mountains from latitudes 55 degrees to 59 degrees
+share the Pacific climate in a remarkable degree.  The Rocky Mountains
+are greatly reduced in breadth and mean elevation, and through the
+numerous passes between their lofty peaks the winds of the Pacific reach
+the district in question.  Hence it is that Sir Alexander Mackenzie,
+under date of 10th May, mentions the "exuberant verdure of the whole
+country"--trees about to blossom, and buffalo attended by their young.
+During the late parliamentary investigation, similar statements were
+elicited.  Dr Richard King, who accompanied an expedition in search of
+Sir John Ross, as "surgeon and naturalist," was asked what portion of
+the country he saw was available for the purpose of settlement.  In
+reply, he described as a "very fertile valley," a "square piece of
+country," bounded on the south by Cumberland House, and by the Athabasca
+Lake on the north.  His own words are as follows:--"The sources of the
+Athabasca and the sources of the Saskatchewan include an enormous area
+of country; it is, in fact, a vast piece of land surrounded by water.
+When I heard Dr Livingstone's description of that splendid country
+which he found in the interior of Africa within the equator, it appeared
+to me to be precisely the kind of country which I am now describing. ...
+It is a rich soil interspersed with well-wooded country, there being
+growth of every kind and the whole vegetable kingdom alive."  When asked
+concerning mineral productions, his reply was,--"I do not know of any
+other mineral except limestone; this is apparent in all directions. ...
+The birch, the beech, and the maple are in abundance, and there is every
+sort of fruit."  When questioned further as to the growth of trees, Dr
+King replied by a comparison "with the magnificent trees round
+Kensington Park in London."  He described a farm near Cumberland House
+under very successful cultivation--"luxuriant wheat"--potatoes, barley,
+pigs, cows and horses.
+
+SASKATCHEWAN, ASSINEBOIN, AND RED RIVER DISTRICT.
+
+The area of this continent, north-west of Minnesota, and known as the
+Saskatchewan district, is estimated by English authorities to comprise
+368,000 square miles.  North-west from Otter Tail Lake, the geographical
+centre of Minnesota, extends a vast silurian formation, bounded on the
+west along the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains by coal measures.
+Such a predominance of limestone implies fertility of soil, as in the
+north-western States, and the speedy colonisation of Saskatchewan would
+be assured if the current objection to the severity of climate was
+removed.  On this point a few facts will be presented.
+
+The Sea of Azof, which empties into the Black Sea, forming the eastern
+border of the Crimean peninsula, freezes about the beginning of
+November, and is seldom open before the beginning of April.  A point
+less than one hundred miles north, but far down in southern Russia,
+namely, Catherineoslay, has been found, from the observation of many
+years, to be identical in summer and winter climate with Fort Spelling.
+Nine-tenths of European Russia, therefore, the main seat of population
+and resources, is further north than Saint Paul.  In fact, Pembina is
+the climatic equivalent of Moscow, and for that of Saint Petersburg,
+(which is 60 degrees north), we may reasonably go to latitude 55 degrees
+on the American continent.
+
+Like European Russia, also, the Saskatchewan district has a climate of
+extremes--the thermometer having a wide range; but it is well understood
+that the growth of the cereals and of the most useful vegetables depends
+chiefly on the intensity and duration of the summer heats, and is
+comparatively little influenced by the severity of winter cold, or the
+lowness of the mean temperature during the year.  Therefore it is
+important to observe that the northern shore of Lake Huron has the mean
+summer heat of Bordeaux, in southern France, or 70 degrees Fahrenheit;
+while Cumberland House, in latitude 54 degrees, longitude 102 degrees,
+on the Saskatchewan, exceeds in this respect Brussels and Paris.
+
+The United States Army Meteorological Register has ascertained that the
+line of 70 degrees mean summer heat crosses the Hudson River at West
+Point, thence descends to the latitude of Pittsburg, but, westward, is
+traced through Sandusky, Chicago, Fort Snelling, and Fort Union, near
+latitude 49 degrees, into British America.  The average annual heat at
+Quebec is experienced as far north as latitude 52 degrees in the
+Saskatchewan country.
+
+Mr Blodget states that not only all the vicinity of the south branch of
+the Saskatchewan is as mild in climate as Saint Paul, but that the north
+branch of that river is almost equally favourable, and that the
+ameliorating influence of the Pacific, through the gorges of the Rocky
+Mountains, is so far felt on Mackenzie's River, that wheat may be grown
+in its valley nearly to the 65th parallel.
+
+In the foregoing account of the districts of the _interior_, we have
+given faithfully, as in duty bound, the _fact_ that have been elicited
+in the various investigations, public and otherwise, that have taken
+place.  At the same time, we think it but fair to state, that large
+portions of these fine districts, especially the Athabasca and
+Saskatchewan, are at present very far beyond the reach of any civilised
+market, and overrun by hordes of warlike Indians.
+
+We have thus given a brief survey of the position and resources, of the
+territory surrounding the new El Dorado.  One observation we may be
+permitted to hazard.  Perhaps there is no more striking illustration of
+the wisdom of that Providence which presides over the management of our
+affairs, than in the fact that emigration was first led to the eastern
+coast, rather than to the slopes or plains of the west.  Had the latter
+been first occupied, it is doubtful whether the rocks and lagoons of the
+seaboard would ever have been settled.  No man would have turned from
+the prairie sward of the Pacific to the seamed elopes of the Atlantic
+edge.  As it is, we have the energy and patience which the difficult
+soil of the east generates, with that magnificent sweep of western
+territory, which, had it been opened to us first, might, from its very
+luxuriousness, have generated among those occupying it, an ignoble love
+of ease.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+ROUTES, ETCETERA.
+
+For some time to come, the great line of route to the new El Dorado will
+likely be by water from the different settlements along the coast of the
+Pacific.  Steam communication has long been established between Panama
+and San Francisco, and a line of vessels is now regularly plying between
+the latter port and Vancouver's Island, from whence easy access is had
+to the diggings, by means of small steamers.  The steamers at present
+running on the coast make the voyage from Panama to Vancouver's Island
+in fourteen or fifteen days.  The following statistics of fares and
+freights are supplied by the _Times'_ correspondent:--
+
+"The rates of passage at present from San Francisco to New York are--
+Steerage, 150 dollars; second cabin, 250 dollars; first cabin, 300
+dollars per berth for each passenger.  An entire state-room is the price
+of two passengers--600 dollars.  From New York to San Francisco the
+fares are the same.  San Francisco to Panama, sometimes the same as to
+New York, and sometimes one-third less.  Freight on specie, 1 per cent,
+to New York;  and three quarters per cent to Panama with a slight
+discount to shippers of large amounts.  Freight on merchandise from
+Panama, 2 dollars 10 cents per foot.  The quantity of freight is
+considerable in French silks, cloths, and light goods, but the bulk is
+in Havannah cigars, nearly all the supply for this market coming _via_
+Panama.  The fares up by the steamers from San Francisco to Victoria
+are--Steerage, 30 dollars; cabin, 60 dollars."
+
+This route, besides being at present the most direct and expeditious,
+presents another great advantage.  Passing along the coast of
+California, it gives passengers an opportunity of either settling there,
+or continuing their journey to British Columbia.  That this is no
+unimportant advantage, will be at once conceded when it is borne in mind
+that it is not the gold-producing country on the Fraser River alone that
+offers strong inducements to emigrants.
+
+In a letter published on 4th August, the _Times'_ correspondent
+remarks:--"In a few weeks, with a continuance of the present drain upon
+our mining, mechanical, and labouring population generally, as good a
+field for labour of every kind will again be open in California as there
+was from 1849 to 1851, when the country became flooded with immigrants.
+In fact, the openings now being made in the mines and in labour of all
+sorts, and the rise of wages in consequence of the exodus hence, offer
+greater inducements to emigrants than existed in the first years of our
+organisation.  Then there was little besides mining that a man could
+turn his hand to.  Now the gradual development of the resources of the
+country has opened many avenues for labour of various kinds, and mining
+claims, which pay well, and in which a competency would be realised in a
+moderate space of time, are abandoned because they do not produce gold
+in bushels, as their owners hope to find the new mines to yield."  And
+in another letter, the same authority says:--"The excitement in the
+interior is universal.  I was up the country this week, and returned
+only last night; so that I had an opportunity of judging for myself.
+From every point of the compass squads of miners were to be seen making
+for San Francisco to ship themselves off; and I heard of arrangements
+having been completed for driving stock overland to meet the demands of
+the new population congregating in the Puget Sound country.  One man had
+purchased a drove of mules, and another had speculated in 200
+Californian horses, to supply the demand for `packing.'  These two
+`ventures' were to proceed overland in two days hence.  The speculator
+in horses had been at Fraser River, and returned convinced of the
+judiciousness of his `spec.'  He spoke of the overland trip with
+enthusiasm; plenty of game and of grass, a fine climate, and no
+molestation from Indians.  As a natural result of all this emigration,
+business in the interior is becoming much deranged.  The operations of
+the country merchants are checked; rents and the value of property in
+the interior towns are diminishing.  Some of the merchants are
+`liquidating,' and some have already moved their business to San
+Francisco, to take advantage of the business which must spring up
+between that port and the north-west.  All the movements made in
+consequence of the new gold discovery have tended to benefit San
+Francisco, and she will, no doubt, continue to derive great advantages
+from the change.  The increase of business will bring an increase of
+immigration to the city, for there is every reason to believe, judging
+from past experience, that a considerable proportion of the emigration
+from Europe, the Atlantic States, and Australia, will rest here; that
+the city will increase rapidly, and that an advance in the value of
+property must ensue in consequence.  The fact is, that there is now in
+California so extensive an association of capital and labour engaged in
+mining successfully, that, happen what may in other countries, the
+`yield' here most continue to be very great.  Companies of men who have
+large amounts of money invested in mining of a variety of sorts, such as
+`tunnelling,' `sluicing,' and `quartz crushing,' on a large scale, are
+not going to abandon well-developed properties which produce profitable
+returns.  We have no fear of having to suffer any inconvenience from a
+scarcity of gold in California in consequence of the removal from the
+country of so many miners.  I make these statements for the information
+of parties abroad engaged in business with this country."
+
+The following is the journal of a traveller who lately proceeded on this
+route:--
+
+"Left San Francisco on Thursday, the 24th of June, at 4 and a half p.m.,
+and arrived in Esquimault Harbour, near Victoria, on the following
+Tuesday, at six in the morning--distance, 800 miles.  The steamer was so
+crowded with gold-hunters, speculators, merchants, tradesmen, and
+adventurers of all sorts, that exercise even on the quarterdeck could
+only be coaxed by the general forbearance and good-humour of the crowd.
+Before starting there were stories to the prejudice of the steamer, the
+Oregon, belonging to the Pacific Mail Company, rife enough to damp the
+courage of the timid; but she behaved well, and beat another boat that
+had five hours' start of her.  The fact is we had a model captain, a
+well-educated, gentlemanly man, formerly a lieutenant in the United
+States navy, whose intelligence, vigour, and conduct inspired full
+confidence in all.  With Captain Patterson I would have gone to sea in a
+tub.  Whatever may be the sins of the company as monopolists of the
+carrying trade on this coast, justice must award them the merit of
+having selected a staff of commanders who atone for many shortcomings.
+
+"The voyage from San Francisco to Vancouver's Island, which in a steamer
+is made all the way within sight of the coast, is one of the most
+agreeable when the voyager is favoured with fine weather.  I know none
+other so picturesque out of the Mediterranean.  The navigation is so
+simple that a schoolboy could sail a steamer, for a series of eighteen
+headlands, which jut out into the ocean all along the coasts of
+California, Oregon, and Washington Territory, served as landmarks to
+direct the mariner in his course.  All he has to do is to steer from one
+to another; from Point Reyes outside the Golden Gate to Point Arena, the
+next in succession, and so on till he comes to Cape Flattery, upon
+rounding which he enters the Straits of Fuca, towards the end of his
+voyage.
+
+"The northern portion of the coast of California and the whole length of
+the coasts of Oregon and Washington are thickly wooded.  In fact, this
+vast stretch of country is one continuous pine forest.  From the shore,
+where the trees dip into the sea, back to the verge of the distant
+horizon, over hills, down valleys, across ravines, and on and around the
+sides and tops of mountains, it is one great waving panorama of forest
+scenery.  Timber--enough to supply the wants of the world for ages, one
+would think.  Yet the broken character of the country relieves the scene
+from monotony, and it fully realises the idea of the grand and the
+beautiful combined.  One spot in particular made an impression upon me
+which I wish I had the power to convey by words.  Between Cape Mendocina
+and Humboldt Bay, on the northern limits of California, a grand
+collection of hills and mountains of every variety of size, shape, and
+form occurs.  This grand group recedes in a gentle sweep from the coast
+far inland, where it terminates in a high conical mountain, overtopping
+the entire mass of pinnacles which cluster around it.  The whole is well
+clothed with trees of that feathery and graceful foliage peculiar to the
+spruce and larch, and interspersed with huge round clumps of evergreens,
+with alternations of long glades and great open patches of lawn covered
+with rich grass of that bright emerald green peculiar to California.
+This woodland scene, viewed of an early morning, sparkling with
+dew-drops under the rising sun which slowly lifted the veil of mist
+hanging over it, surpassed in beauty anything I have seen on this
+continent.  Here everything in nature is on a grand scale.  All her
+works are magnificent to a degree unknown in Europe.  A trip to these
+regions will pay the migratory Englishman in search of novelty to his
+heart's content, and I will bear the blame if he is not well pleased
+with his journey.  California alone should satisfy a traveller of
+moderate desires.  Here he will find combined the beauty and loveliness
+of English landscape with the bolder and grander features of the scenery
+of the Western continent--a combination, perhaps, unequalled in any
+other country.  On this, the northern coast, the bold and the
+picturesque predominate over the tamer park-like scenery of the interior
+valleys, which so nearly resemble the `fine old places' of England."
+
+Another route, which it is proposed to open on the other side of the
+country, from Minnesota to the Fraser River gold mines, would appear to
+be very feasible.  From Saint Anthony the Mississippi is navigable for
+large steamers as far as the Sauk Rapids.  Thence to Breckenridge, at
+the head of the navigation of the Red River of the North, is a distance
+of 125 miles.  This part of the journey must be made overland; but
+already this district is being fast occupied by settlers, and a good
+road may easily be constructed.  At Breckenridge a settlement has also
+been established.  Here commences the fertile valley of the Red River,
+and from this point, as appears from Captain Pope's survey, the river,
+which runs due north, is navigable for steamers all the way to its
+mouth, at the southern extremity of Lake Winnepeg.  It begins with four
+feet of water, and gradually deepens to fifteen feet Lake Winnepeg,
+which is long, narrow, and deep, receives near its northern end the
+Saskatchewan, flowing from the west, and having its sources in the Rocky
+Mountains.  The river, and the country on its banks, have recently
+attracted attention as well fitted for colonisation.  Taking the climate
+of the eastern portion of the continent, and of the region round
+Hudson's Bay, as a standard, it was long supposed that all the interior
+of North America, beyond the 48th or 49th degree of north latitude, was
+too cold to produce grain crops; and unfit, therefore, for the
+habitation of civilised men.  Recent investigations, however, have fully
+established the curious and very important fact, that west of the
+western end of Lake Superior, at about the 100th degree of west
+longitude, a remarkable change begins to take place in the climate; to
+such an extent, that as we proceed westward the limit of vegetable
+growth, and of the production of grain, is extended far to the north, so
+as to include the whole valley of the Saskatchewan, which is represented
+as in other respects well fitted for settlement.  The Saskatchewan is a
+river larger and longer than the Red River of the North; and, according
+to Governor Simpson, of the Hudson's Bay Company's Service, in his notes
+on its exploration, it is navigable by its northern branch, with only
+one rapid to obstruct navigation, for seven hundred miles in a direct
+line to the foot of the Rocky Mountains.  How serious an obstruction
+this may be does not clearly appear.  It can hardly be a perpendicular
+fall, since, according to Governor Simpson, canoes and flat-boats pass
+over it in safety.  From the head of navigation it is only about two
+hundred miles across the Rocky Mountains, of which the elevation here is
+much less than in Oregon and California, to the Thompson and Fraser
+Rivers.
+
+The distance from Breckenridge to the mouth of the Red River is
+estimated at 450 miles.  Thence through lake Winnepeg to the mouth of
+Saskatchewan is 200 miles.  Allowing for windings, the navigation by
+that river may be set down at 1000 miles.  Add 125 miles of land
+carriage at one end of the route, and 200 at the other, making in the
+whole a distance of about 2000 miles, from the starting point on the
+Mississippi.
+
+So fully impressed are some enterprising people of Minnesota with the
+practicability and advantage of this route, that measures have been
+already taken for building a steamer at Breckenridge, designed to
+navigate the waters of the Red River, Lake Winnepeg, and Saskatchewan,
+and to be ready for that purpose by the opening of next spring.
+Meantime as the greater part of the route is within the territories of
+the Hudson's Bay Company, steps have been taken to open a communication
+with the Governor of that Company, and with other persons likely to
+assist in putting a line of steamers on these waters.
+
+At present various measures are being taken by the Canadians to shorten
+this last route, and apparently with much success.  They are making
+arrangements for passing around the headwaters of Lake Superior, and
+thus saving the detour in Minnesota.  In a very short time it is said
+that an easy and inexpensive means of communication will be formed
+between Canada and the gold-fields; but, for the present, the Panama
+route is _decidedly_ the preferable one for British emigrants.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+DESCRIPTION OF COASTS, HARBOURS, ETCETERA.
+
+The Pacific coast extends from Panama westward and northward, without
+any remarkable irregularity in its outline, to the tropic of Cancer,
+almost immediately under which is the entrance of the great Gulf of
+California, separating the Peninsula of California from the main
+continent on the east.  From the southern extremity of this peninsula
+the coast runs generally north-westward to Mount Saint Elias, a lofty
+volcanic peak, rising from the shore of the ocean under the 60th
+parallel, beyond which the continent stretches far westward, between the
+Pacific on the south, and the Arctic Sea on the north, to its
+termination at Cape Prince of Wales, in Behring's Straits, the passage
+separating America from Asia.  The part of the coast south of the 49th
+degree of latitude (the American boundary) presents few indentations,
+and the islands in its vicinity are neither numerous nor large.  North
+of the 49th degree, on the contrary, the mainland is everywhere
+penetrated by inlets and bays; and near it are thousands of islands,
+many of them extensive, lying singly or in groups, separated from each
+other and from the continent by narrow channels.
+
+From the mouth of the Columbia forty-five miles of unbroken coast
+reaches Whidbey's Bay, called by the Americans Bulfinches Harbour, and
+not unfrequently Gray's Bay, which, with an entrance of scarce two miles
+and a-half, spreads seven miles long and nine broad, forming two deep
+bays like the Columbia.  Here there is secure anchorage behind Point
+Hanson to the south and Point Brown to the north, but the capacity of
+the bay is lessened to one-third of its size by the sand banks which
+encroach on it in every direction.  Like the Columbia, its mouth is
+obstructed by a bar which has not more than four fathoms water, and as
+it stretches some three miles to seaward, with breakers on each side,
+extending the whole way to the shore, the difficulty of entrance is
+increased.  It lies nearly east and west, and receives from the east the
+waters of the river Chikelis, having its rise at the base of the
+mountains, which, stretching from Mount Olympus in the north, divide the
+coast from Puget's Sound.  From Whidbey's Bay to Cape Flattery, about
+eighty miles, but two streams, and those unimportant, break the iron
+wall of the coast, which rising gradually into lofty mountains is
+crowned in hoary grandeur by the snow-clad peaks of Mount Olympus.  Cape
+Flattery, called also Cape Classet, is a conspicuous promontory in
+latitude 48 degrees 27 minutes; beyond it, distant one mile, lies
+Tatouches Island, a large flat rock, with perpendicular sides, producing
+a few trees, surrounded by rocky islets: it is one mile in length,
+joined to the shore by a reef of rocks, and a mile further, leaving a
+clear passage between them, is a reef named Ducan's Rock.  Here
+commences, in latitude 48 degrees 30 minutes, that mighty arm of the
+sea, which has been justly named from its first discoverer, the Strait
+of Juan de Fuca, and which Captain Cook passed without perceiving.  The
+entrance of this strait is about ten miles in width, and varies from
+that to twenty with the indentations of its shores, of which the
+northern, stretching to the north-west and south-east across the
+entrance, gives an appearance of continuity to its line on the Pacific.
+Running in a south-easterly direction for upwards of one hundred miles,
+its further progress is suddenly stopped by a range of snow-clad
+mountain, at the base of which, spreading abroad its mighty arms to the
+north and south, it gives to the continent the appearance of a vast
+archipelago.
+
+Of the Straits of Fuca and surrounding shores, the latest and fullest
+information we possess is that contained in the letter of the _Times'_
+special correspondent, published on 27th August.  He says:--
+
+"We have now rounded Cape Flattery, and are in the Straits of Fuca,
+running up between two shores of great beauty.  On the left is the
+long-looked-for Island of Vancouver, an irregular aggregation of hills,
+shewing a sharp angular outline as they become visible in the early
+dawn, covered with the eternal pines, saving only occasional sunny
+patches of open greensward, very pretty and picturesque, but the hills
+not lofty enough to be very striking.  The entire island, property
+speaking, is a forest.  On the right we have a long massive chain of
+lofty mountains covered with snow, called the Olympian range--very
+grand, quite Alpine in aspect.  This is the peninsula, composed of a
+series of mountains running for many miles in one unbroken line, which
+divides the Straits of Fuca from Puget Sound.  It belongs to America, in
+the territory of Washington, is uninhabited, and, like its opposite
+neighbour, has a covering of pines far up towards the summit.  The tops
+of these mountains are seldom free from snow.  The height is unknown,
+perhaps 15,000 feet.  We ran up through this scenery early in the
+morning, biting cold, for about forty miles to Esquimault Harbour--_the_
+harbour--which confers upon Vancouver's Island its pre-eminence.
+
+"From the information of old miners, who pointed out some of the
+localities on the northern coast of California, and indicated the
+position of places in Oregon in which they had dug for gold, I had a
+strong corroboration of an opinion which I stated in one of my late
+letters--that the Fraser River diggings were a continuation of the great
+goldfield of California.  The same miners had a theory that these
+northern mines would be richer than any yet discovered, because the more
+northern portions of California are richer than the central and southern
+portions.
+
+"The harbour of Esquimault is a circular bay, or rather a basin,
+hollowed by nature out of the solids rock.  We slid in through the
+narrow entrance between two low, rocky promontories and found ourselves
+suddenly transported from the open sea and its heavy roll and swell into
+a Highland lake, placid as the face of a mirror, in the recesses of a
+pine forest.  The transition was startling.  From the peculiar shape of
+the bay and the deep indentations its various coves make into the shore,
+one sees but a small portion of the harbour at a glance from the point
+we brought up at.  We therefore thought it ridiculously small after our
+expectations had been so highly wrought in San Francisco.
+
+"The whole scenery is of the Highland character.  The rocky shores, the
+pine trees running down to the edge of the lake, their dark foliage
+trembling over the glittering surface which reflected them, the
+surrounding hills, and the death-like silence.  I was both delighted and
+disappointed--delighted with the richness of the scenery, but
+disappointed at the smallness of the harbour.  Can this little loch,
+imprisoned within natural ramparts of rocks, buried in the solitude of a
+forest, be the place which I hoped would become so famous, the great
+destiny of which has been prognosticated by statesmen and publicists,
+and the possession of which is bitterly envied us by neighbouring
+nations; this the place where England is to centre a naval force
+hitherto unknown in the Pacific, whence her fleets are to issue for the
+protection of her increasing interests in the Western world; this the
+seaport of the Singapore of the Pacific; the modern Tyre into which the
+riches of the East are to flow and be distributed to the Western
+nations; the terminus of railway communication which is to connect the
+Atlantic with the Pacific?
+
+"Victoria is distant from Esquimault, by land, about three miles round
+by sea, double the distance.  The intervening ground is an irregular
+promontory, having the waters of the Straits of Fuca on the south, the
+Bay of Victoria on the east, and the Victoria arm encircling: it on the
+north.  The promontory contains three farms, reclaimed from the forest
+of pines, oaks, alders, willows, and evergreens.  The soil is good, and
+produces fair crops of the ordinary cereals, oats, barley, and wheat,
+and good grass, turnips, and potatoes.
+
+"I came the first time to Victoria round by water.  The rowing of our
+boat was much impeded by kelp.  The shore is irregular; somewhat bold
+and rocky--two more facts which confirmed the resemblance of the scenery
+to that of the western coast of Scotland.
+
+"The bay of Victoria runs in a zigzag shape--two long sharp promontories
+on the southward hiding the town from view until we get quite close up
+to it.  A long low sand-spit juts out into it, which makes the entrance
+hazardous for large vessels at some little distance below the town, and
+higher up the anchorage is shallow.  Twice at low tides I saw two or
+three ugly islands revealed, where ships would have to anchor.  In
+short, Victoria is not a good harbour for a fleet.  For small vessels
+and traders on the coast, it will answer well enough.
+
+"Victoria stands nobly on a fine eminence, a beautiful plateau, on the
+rocky shore of the bay of the same name.  Generations yet to come will
+pay grateful tribute to the sagacity and good taste of the man who
+selected it.  There is no finer site for a city in the world.  The
+plateau drains itself on every side by the natural depressions which
+intersect it, and there is space enough to build a Paris on.  The views
+are also good.  Across the straits you have the Olympian range washed by
+the sea; towards the interior, picturesque views of wooded hills;
+opposite, the fine woodland scenery of the country intervening between
+it and Esquimault, the Victoria arm, glimpses of which, as seen through
+the foliage, look like a series of inland lakes; while in front, just at
+one's feet, is the bay itself and its tributaries, or arms rather--
+James's Bay, etcetera, always beautiful; and behind, towards the
+south-east end of the island, is a view of great beauty and grandeur--a
+cluster of small islands, San Juan and others, water in different
+channels, straits and creeks, and two enormous mountains in the far
+distance, covered from base to summit with perpetual snow.  These are
+Mounts Baker and Rainier, in Washington territory.  Such are a few--and
+I am quite serious when I say only a few--of the beauties which surround
+Victoria.
+
+"As to the prospects of Vancouver's Island as a colony, I would say that
+if it shall turn out that there is an extensive and rich gold-field on
+the mainland in British territory, as there is every reason to believe,
+the island will become a profitable field for all trades, industries,
+and labour.  The population will soon increase from Canada, whence an
+immigration of many thousands is already spoken of, from Australia,
+South America, the Atlantic States,--and, no doubt, from Europe also.
+If this happens, the tradesman and the labourer will find employment,
+and the farmer will find a ready market, at good prices, for his
+produce.
+
+"Should the gold suddenly disappear, the island will have benefited by
+the impulse just given to immigration, for, no doubt, many who came to
+mine will remain to cultivate the soil and to engage in other pursuits.
+If this be the termination of the present fever, then to the farmer who
+is satisfied with a competency--full garners and good larder, who loves
+retirement, is not ambitious of wealth, is fond of a mild, agreeable,
+and healthy climate, and a most lovely country to live in--the island
+offers every attraction.  Its resources are, plenty of timber, towards
+the northern portion producing spars of unequalled quality, which are
+becoming of great value in England, and will soon be demanded in France,
+now that the forests of Norway and of Maine are becoming exhausted;
+limestone in abundance, which burns into good lime for building and for
+agricultural purposes; coal in plenty, now worked at Nanaimo, on the
+northern side of the island, by the Hudson's Bay Company--the quality is
+quite good, judging from the specimens I saw burning--it answers well
+for steam purposes, and would have found a ready sale in San Francisco
+were it not subject to a heavy duty (of 30 per cent, I think) under the
+American tariff; iron, copper, gold, and potter's clay.  I have no doubt
+that a gold-field will be discovered on the island as it gets opened up
+to enterprising explorers.  A friend of mine brought down some sand from
+the sea-beach near Victoria, and assayed it the other day.  It produced
+gold in minute quantity, and I have heard of gold washings on the
+island.  The copper is undeveloped.  The potter's clay has been tested
+in England, and found to be very good.
+
+"The character of the soil is favourable to agriculture.  It is composed
+of a black vegetable mould of a foot to two feet in depth, overlaying a
+hard yellow clay.  The surface earth is very fine, pulverised, and
+sandy, quite black, and, no doubt, of good quality; when sharpened with
+sheep-feeding it produces heavy crops.  The fallen trees, which are very
+numerous, shew that the substratum of clay is too hard to produce
+anything.  The roots of the pine never penetrate it.  In some places the
+spontaneous vegetation testifies to the richness of the soil--such as
+wild pease or vetches, and wild clover, which I--have seen reach up to
+my horse's belly--and a most luxuriant growth of underwood, brambles,
+fern, etcetera.
+
+"I visited seven farms within short distances of Victoria.  The crops
+were oats, barley, wheat, pease, potatoes, turnips, garden herbs and
+vegetables, fruits, and flowers; no clover, the natural grass supplying
+sufficient food for the cattle and sheep.  The crops were all healthy,
+but not heavy.  The wheat was not thick on the ground, nor had it a
+large head.  It was such a crop as would be an average only in a rich,
+well-cultivated district of England or Scotland; far lighter than you
+would see in the rich counties of England and in the Carse of Gowrie.  I
+was informed that the ground was very badly prepared by Indian labour--
+merely scratched over the surface.  I believe that with efficient labour
+and skilful treatment, the crops could be nearly doubled.  The oats and
+barley were very good crops, and the potatoes looked quite healthy, and
+I doubt not will turn out the best crop of all.  The peas were decidedly
+an abundant crop.  Vegetables thrive well, and all the ordinary fruits,
+apples, currants, etcetera, are excessively abundant, some of the
+currant-bushes breaking down with the weight of their fruit.  Flowers of
+the ordinary sorts do well, but delicate plants don't thrive, owing to
+the coldness of the nights.
+
+"Sheep thrive admirably.  I saw some very fine pure Southdowns.  The
+rams were selling at 100 dollars each (20 pounds) to California sheep
+farmers.  Other breeds--hybrids of Southdowns, merinos, and other
+stock--were also in good condition, and fair in size.  Black cattle do
+well also.  The breed is a mixture of English and American, which makes
+very good beef.  The horses are little Indian breeds, and some crosses
+with American stock, all very clean limbed, sound, active, hardy, and
+full of endurance and high spirit, until they get into livery-stables.
+
+"During my stay, the climate was charming; the weather perfection--warm
+during the day, but free of glare, and not oppressive; cool in the
+evenings, with generally a gentle sea breeze.  The long days--the
+protracted daylight eking out the day to nine o'clock at night--the
+lingering sunset, and the ample `gloaming,' all so different from what I
+had been accustomed to in more southern latitudes, again reminded me of
+Scotland in the summer season.
+
+"So far as I wandered--about ten miles round Victoria--the landscape is
+totted with extensive croppings of rock, which interfere with the
+labours of the husbandman.  Few corn-fields are without a lot of
+boulders, or a ridge or two of rocks rising up above the surface of the
+ground.  Consequently the cultivated fields are small, and were sneered
+at by my Californian neighbours, who are accustomed to vast open
+prairies under crop.  I have seen one field of 1000 acres all under
+wheat in California.  But then no other country is so favoured as this
+is for all the interests of agriculture.
+
+"The scenery of the inland country around Victoria is a mixture of
+English and Scotch.  Where the pine (they are all `Douglass' pines)
+prevails, you have the good soil broken into patches by the croppings of
+rock, producing ferns, rye-grass, and some thistles, but very few.  This
+is the Scottish side of the picture.  Then you come to the oak region;
+and here you have clumps, open glades, rows, single trees of umbrageous
+form, presenting an exact copy of English park scenery.  There is no
+running water, unfortunately, but the meadows and little prairies that
+lie ensconced within the woods, shew no signs of suffering from lack of
+water.  The nights bring heavy dews, and there are occasional rains,
+which keep them fresh and green.  I am told that in September rains fall
+which renew the face of nature so suddenly, that it assumes the garb of
+spring, the flowers even coming out.  The winter is a little cold, but
+never severe.  I have heard it complained of as being rather wet and
+muggy.  Frost and snow fall, but do not endure long.
+
+"The climate is usually represented as resembling that of England.  In
+some respects the parallel may hold good; but there is no question that
+Vancouver has more steady fine weather, is far less changeable, and is
+on the whole milder.  Two marked differences I remarked--the heat was
+never sweltering, as is sometimes the case in England, and the wind
+never stings, as it too often does in the mother country.  The climate
+is unquestionably superior in Vancouver."
+
+To resume our description of the coast, the southern shore of the Strait
+of Juan de Fuca is described by Vancouver as being composed of sandy
+cliffs of moderate height, falling perpendicularly into the sea, from
+the top of which the land takes a further gentle ascent, where it is
+entirely covered with trees, chiefly of the pine tribe, until the forest
+reaches a range of high craggy mountains which seem to rise from, the
+woodland in a very abrupt manner, with a few scattered trees on their
+sterile sides, and their tops covered with snow.  On the north the shore
+is not so high, the ascent more gradual from thence to the tops of the
+mountains, which are less covered with snow than those to the south.
+They have from the strait the appearance of a compact range.  Proceeding
+up the strait about seventy miles, a long low sandy point attracted
+Vancouver's attention; from its resemblance to Dungeness, on the coast
+of Kent, he named it New Dungeness, and found within it good anchorage
+in from ten to three fathoms; beyond this the coast forms a deep bay
+about nine miles across; and three miles from its eastern point lies
+Protection Island, so named from the position it occupies at the
+entrance of Port Discovery.  Vancouver landed on it on the 1st of May
+1792, and thus describes its appearance:--"On landing on the west end,
+and ascending its eminence, which was a nearly perpendicular cliff, our
+attention was immediately called to a landscape almost as enchantingly
+beautiful as the most elegantly finished pleasure-grounds in Europe.
+The summit of this island presented nearly a horizontal surface,
+interspersed with some inequalities of ground, which produced a
+beautiful variety on an extensive lawn covered with luxuriant grass and
+diversified with abundance of flowers.  To the north-westward was a
+coppice of pine trees, and shrubs of various sorts, that seemed as if it
+had been planted for the purpose of protecting from the north-west winds
+this delightful meadow, over which were promiscuously scattered a few
+clumps of trees that would have puzzled the most ingenious designer of
+pleasure-grounds to have arranged more agreeably.  While we stopped to
+contemplate these several beauties of nature in a prospect no less
+pleasing than unexpected, we gathered some gooseberries and roses in a
+state of considerable forwardness."
+
+From this island, lying at the entrance of Port Discovery, commences the
+maritime importance of the territory, with, says Vancouver, as fine a
+harbour as any in the world, though subsequently he awards the palm to
+its neighbour Port Hudson.  Its shores and scenery have been thus
+described by Vancouver:--
+
+"The delightful serenity of the weather greatly aided the beautiful
+scenery that was now presented; the surface of the sea was perfectly
+smooth, and the country before us presented all that bounteous nature
+could be expected to draw into one point of view.  As we had no reason
+to imagine that this country had ever been indebted for any of its
+decorations to the hand of man, I could not possibly believe that any
+uncultivated country had ever been discovered exhibiting so rich a
+picture.  The land which interrupted the horizon below the north-west
+and north quarters seemed to be much broken, from whence its eastern
+extent round to south-east was bounded by a ridge of snowy mountains,
+appearing to lie nearly in a north and south direction, on which Mount
+Baker rose conspicuously, remarkable for its height and the snowy
+mountains that stretch from its base to the north and south.  Between us
+and this snowy range, the land, which on the sea-shore terminated like
+that we had lately passed in low perpendicular cliffs, or on beaches of
+sand or stone, rose here in a very gentle ascent, and was well covered
+with a variety of stately forest trees; these, however, did not conceal
+the whole face of the country in one uninterrupted wilderness, but
+pleasantly clothed its eminences and chequered the valleys, presenting
+in many directions extensive spaces that wore the appearance of having
+been cleared by art, like the beautiful island we had visited the day
+before.  A picture so pleasing could not fail to call to our remembrance
+certain delightful and beloved situations in Old England."  Both the
+approaches to this port, round the extremities of Protection Island, are
+perfectly free from obstruction, and about a league in breadth.
+
+Separated from Port Discovery only by a narrow slip of land from a mile
+and a-half to two miles broad, which trending to the east protects it
+from the north and west, is Port Hudson, having its entrance at the
+extremity of the point on the east side, but little more than one mile
+broad; from which the harbour extends, in a semicircular form, for about
+four miles westward, and then trending for about six more, affords
+excellent shelter and anchorage for vessels in from ten to twenty
+fathoms, with an even bottom of mud.
+
+In latitude 48 degrees 16 minutes the waters of the strait are divided
+by a high white sandy cliff, with verdant lawns on each side; this was
+named by Vancouver Point Partridge.  It forms the western extremity of
+an island, long, low, verdant, and well-wooded, lying close to the
+coast, and having its south end at the mouth of a river rising in those
+mountains which here form a barrier to the further progress of the sea.
+The snow-covered peak of the most lofty of these is visible soon after
+entering the strait.  Vancouver named it Mount Baker, from the officer
+of his ship by whom it was first seen.  This mountain, with Mount
+Olympus, and another further to the south, named by the same navigator
+Mount Rainier, form nearly an equilateral triangle, and tower over the
+rest, the giant wardens of the land.  From Point Partridge he southern
+branch extends about fifteen miles below the island before mentioned;
+this Vancouver named Admiralty Inlet.  Here the tides begin to be
+sufficiently rapid to afford obstruction to navigation; and hence it
+parts in two arms, one named Hood's Canal, taking a south-west course,
+and the other continuing a south course for forty miles, and then also
+bending to the west, terminates in a broad sound studded with islands,
+called by him Puget's Sound.
+
+On the east coast of Admiralty Inlet, there is a broad sound with very
+deep water and rapid tides, but affording good anchorage in the mouth of
+the river.  Here Vancouver landed and took formal possession of the
+country on Monday, the 4th of June, (with the usual _solemnities_, and
+under a royal salute from the ships), in the name of his Britannic
+Majesty King George the Third, and for his heirs and successors--that
+day being His Majesty's birthday--from latitude 39 degrees 20 minutes to
+the entrance of this inlet, supposed to be the Strait of Juan de Fuca,
+as well the northern as the southern shores, together with those
+situated in the interior sea, extending from the said strait in various
+directions between the north-west, north-east, and south quarters.  This
+interior sea he named the Gulf of Georgia, and the continent bounding
+the said gulf, and extending southward to the 45th degree of north
+latitude, New Georgia, in honour of His Majesty George the Third.  The
+sound he named, from this incident, Possession Sound.  Of the country
+round the sound he thus writes:--"Our eastern view was now bounded by
+the range of snowy mountains from Mount Baker, bearing by compass north,
+to Mount Rainier, bearing north 54 degrees east.  This mountain was hid
+by the more elevated parts of the low land; and the intermediate snowy
+mountains, in various rugged and grotesque shapes, were seen just to
+rear their heads above the lofty pine trees, which appeared to compose
+an uninterrupted forest between us and the snowy range, presenting a
+most pleasing landscape; nor was our west view destitute of similar
+diversification.  The ridge of mountains on which Mount Olympus is
+situated, whose rugged summits were seen no less fancifully towering
+over the forest than those of the east side, bounded to a considerable
+extent our western horizon; on these, however, not one conspicuous
+eminence arose, nor could we now distinguish that which on the sea-coast
+appeared to be centrally situated, forming an elegant biforked mountain.
+From the south extremity of these ridges of mountains there seemed to
+be an extensive tract of land, moderately elevated and beautifully
+diversified by pleasing inequalities of surface, enriched with every
+appearance of fertility."
+
+The narrow channel from Possession Sound, at the back of the long island
+lying at its mouth, which Vancouver named Whidbey's Island, affords some
+small but convenient harbours; its northern entrance is so choked with
+rocks as to be scarcely practicable for vessels; but its southern is
+wide, and the navigation unimpeded.
+
+The northern arm of the straits commences in an archipelago of small
+islands, well wooded and fertile, but generally without water; in one of
+them, however, Vancouver found good anchorage, though exposed to the
+south, having wood, water, and every necessary; this he named Strawberry
+Cove, from that fruit having been found there in great abundance, and
+the island, from the trees which covered it, Cypress Island.  About this
+part the continental shore is high and rocky, though covered with wood;
+and, it may be remarked generally, that the northern shore of the gulf
+becomes more rocky and sterile, shewing gradually a less and less
+variety of trees, until those of the pine tribe alone are found.
+
+Above the archipelago the straits widen, swelling out to the east in a
+double bay, affording good anchorage, beyond which the shores become low
+and sandy, and a wide bank of sand extends along them about one or two
+miles, closely approaching the opposite side of the gulf, leaving a
+narrow but clear channel.  This bank, affording large sturgeon, was
+named by Vancouver after that fish; and keeping to the south around it,
+he did not observe that here the gulf receives the waters of Fraser
+River from the north.  Here the gulf is open, and the navigation
+unimpeded, except by a few islands on the north shore; one of them,
+named by the Spaniards de Feveda, deserves notice; it is parallel with
+the shore, narrow, and about thirty miles long.
+
+Among the natural features of this part of the north shore of the gulf,
+must not be omitted, on account of their singularity, the small
+salt-water lakes, which are found divided from the sea only by a narrow
+ledge of rock, having a depth over it of four feet at high-water.  They
+are consequently replenished by the sea every tide, and form salt-water
+cascades during the ebb and rise of of the tides; some of them, divided
+into several branches, run through a low swampy woodland country.  Here
+also are streams of water, so warm as to be unpleasant to the hand; and
+every feature of this district evidences the violent effort of nature in
+its production.  Except the coast and canals, nothing is known of it;
+but its mineral riches are scarcely problematical.  The channels between
+the several islands which here obstruct the gulf are narrow, deep, and
+much impeded by the strength of the tide, which is sufficient in some
+places to stop the progress of a steam-vessel, as has been frequently
+experienced by the Hudson's Bay Company's steam-boat Beaver; yet
+Vancouver found no difficulty in working his vessels through Johnstone's
+Strait, the passage between these islands and the southern shore,
+against a head-wind; being compelled, as he says, to perform a complete
+traverse from shore to shore through its whole length, and without
+meeting the least obstruction, from rocks or shoals.  He adds, "the
+great depth of water, not only here, but that which is generally found
+washing the shores of this very broken and divided country, must ever be
+considered a peculiar circumstance, and a great inconvenience to its
+navigation; we, however, found a sufficient number of stopping-places to
+answer all our purposes, and in general without going far out of our
+way."  From this, archipelago, extending about sixty miles, the strait
+widens into a broad expanse, which swells to the north in a deep sound,
+filled with islands, called Broughton's Archipelago.  This part was
+named by Vancouver Queen Charlotte's Sound; and is here fifteen miles
+broad, exclusive of the archipelago, but it contracts immediately to
+less than ten, and sixty miles from Johnstone Straits joins the Pacific,
+its northern boundary.  Cape Caution, being in latitude 51 degrees 10
+minutes.  The entrance to the sound is choked with rocks and shoals.
+
+Here, between Broughton's Archipelago and Cape Caution, another
+mountain, called Mount Stephen, conspicuous from its irregular form and
+great elevation, and worthy to be named with those to the south, seems
+to mount guard over the northern entrance to the straits.
+
+From Cape Caution, off which are several groups of rocks to latitude 54
+degrees 40 minutes, where the Russian territory commences, the coast has
+much the same character as that already described between the Gulf of
+Georgia and the sea, but that its harsher features are occasionally much
+softened, and its navigation less impeded.  Throughout its whole length
+it is cut up by long and deep canals, which form various archipelagos of
+islands, and penetrate deeply and circuitously into the land, which is
+high, but not so precipitous as about Desolation Sound, and generally
+covered with trees.
+
+The islands lying close to the shore follow its sinuosities, and through
+the narrow channels thus formed the currents are rapid; those more
+detached are more fertile; they are all the resort of the natives during
+the fishing season.  Their formation is granite, the prevailing rock
+north of latitude 49 degrees.  Distant thirty miles at its nearest and
+ninety at its furthest point from the line of islands which cover this
+coast, and under parallels 52 degrees and 54 degrees, lies Queen
+Charlotte's Island, called by the Americans Washington.  It is in form
+triangular, about 150 miles long, and above sixty at its greatest
+breadth, and contains upwards of 4000 square miles.  Possessed of an
+excellent harbour on its east coast, in latitude 53 degrees 3 minutes,
+and another on the north, at Hancock's River (the Port Entrada of the
+Spaniards), it is a favourite resort of traders.  The climate and soil
+are excellent, hills lofty and well wooded, and its coast, especially on
+the west side, deeply indented by arms of the sea, among which may be
+named Englefield Bay and Cartwright's Sound.  Coal and some metals are
+said to have been found on this island.
+
+On the whole the character of this coast seems to be well expressed by
+Lieutenant Wilkes, when he says--"Nothing can exceed the beauty of these
+waters, and their safety; not a shoal exists within the straits of Juan
+de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, Puget's Sound, or Hood's Canal that can in any
+way interrupt their navigation by a 74 gun ship.  I venture nothing in
+saying there is no country in the world that possesses waters equal to
+these."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+NATIVE TRIBES.
+
+Mr Nicolay, in his treatise on the Oregon Territory, gives a minute and
+graphic account of the aboriginal inhabitants of this district, from
+which we purpose making some extracts to enrich our pages.
+
+The principal Indian tribes, commencing from the south, are the
+Callapuyas, Shaste, Klamet, Umqua, Rogues' River, and Chinooks, between
+the Californian boundary and Columbia, to the west of the Cascade
+Mountains; the Shoshones or Snake and Nezperces tribes about the
+southern branch of the Columbia, and Cascade Indians on the river of
+that name; between the Columbia and the Strait of Fuca, the Tatouche or
+Classet tribe; and the Clalams about Port Discovery; the Sachet about
+Possession Sound; the Walla-walla, Flat-head, Flat-bow Indians, and Cour
+d'Aleine or Pointed Heart, about the rivers of the same names; the
+Chunnapuns and Chanwappans between the Cascade range and the north
+branch of the Columbia; the Kootanie to the east, between it and the
+Rocky Mountains; and to the north about Okanagan, various branches of
+the Carrier tribe.  Of those on the coast to the north and on Vancouver
+Island not much is known.
+
+Their numbers may be stated at a rough estimate as--
+
++==========================================+======+
+|On the coast below the Columbia           | 2,500|
++------------------------------------------+------+
+|About the Cascades                        | 1,500|
++------------------------------------------+------+
+|On the Snake River and its tributary      | 2,500|
++------------------------------------------+------+
+|Between the Columbia and Strait of De Fuca| 3,000|
++------------------------------------------+------+
+|About Fort Vancouver                      | 1,500|
++------------------------------------------+------+
+|Walla-walla                               | 1,500|
++------------------------------------------+------+
+|Flat-head, etcetera                       | 1,200|
++------------------------------------------+------+
+|Okanagan                                  |   750|
++------------------------------------------+------+
+|Northward                                 | 2,500|
++------------------------------------------+------+
+|Vancouver's and Queen Charlotte's Island  | 5,000|
++------------------------------------------+------+
+|Possession Sound                          |   650|
++------------------------------------------+------+
+|Fraser River                              |   500|
++------------------------------------------+------+
+|On the coast of the Gulf of Georgia       |   500|
++------------------------------------------+------+
+|Total                                     |23,500|
++==========================================+======+
+
+This is, however, 6000 less than was reported to the Congress of the
+United States, and 4000 more than Mr Wilkes' calculation.
+
+That there are errors in this there can be no doubt; and it is probable
+that some smaller tribes may be omitted in the above calculation; the
+number, therefore, between parallels 42 degrees and 54 degrees 40
+minutes may be roughly estimated at 30,000.
+
+Through the care of the Hudson's Bay Company and the semi-civilised
+habits they have adopted, the number of Indians to the north of the
+Columbia is not on the decrease; to the south it is; and the total must
+be very considerably less than it was before the settlement was made
+among them.
+
+The Indian nations in Oregon may be divided into three classes,
+differing in habits and character according to their locality and means
+of sustenance--the Indians of the coast, the mountains, and the plains.
+The first feed mostly on fish, and weave cloth for clothing from the
+wool or hair of the native sheep, having to a great extent settled
+residences, though these last characteristics are rapidly disappearing;
+the second, trappers and hunters, wandering for the most part in pursuit
+of game; and the third, the equestrian tribes, who, on the great plains
+about the waters of the rivers, chase on their fleet horses the gigantic
+bison, whose flesh supplies them with food, and whose hide covers them.
+The former bear some resemblance to the native inhabitants of the
+islands of the Pacific.  The two latter are in every respect Red men.
+Those on the coast were first known, and when visited by the early
+voyagers had the characteristics which, from contiguity to White men,
+have deteriorated in the south, but which have been retained in the
+north--high courage, determination, and great ingenuity, but joined to
+cruelty and faithlessness; and as in the south Destruction Island
+obtained its name from their savage cruelty, so does the coast
+throughout its length afford the same testimony.  Cook, who first
+discovered them, says, "They were thieves in the strictest sense of the
+word, for they pilfered nothing from us but what they knew could be
+converted to the purposes of utility, and had a real value according to
+their estimation of things."
+
+Their form is thick and clumsy, but they are not deficient in strength
+or activity; when young, their colour is not dark nor their features
+hard, but exposure to the weather, want of mental culture, and their
+dirty habits, soon reduce them all to the same dark complexion and dull
+phlegmatic want of expression which is strongly marked in all of them.
+
+In Cook's time, and till the White men settled among them, their dress
+was a flaxen mantle, ornamented with fur above, and tassels and fringes,
+which, passing under the left arm, is tied over the right shoulder,
+leaving the right side open: this is fastened round the waist by a
+girdle: above this, which reaches below the knee, a circular cape,
+perforated in the centre to admit the head, made of the same substance,
+and also fringed in the lower part, is worn: it covers the arms to the
+elbows.  Their head is covered with a cap, conical but truncated, made
+of fine matting, ornamented at the top with a knot or tassels.  Besides
+the above dress, common to both sexes, the men frequently throw over
+their garments the skin of a bear, wolf, or sea-otter, with the fur
+outwards: they wear the hair loose, unless tied up in the scalping-lock:
+they cover themselves with paint, and swarm with vermin; upon the paint
+they strew mica to make it glitter.  They perforate the nose and ears,
+and put various ornaments into them.
+
+But besides these common habits, they have official and ceremonious
+occasions, on which they wear beautiful furs and theatrical dresses and
+disguises, including large masks; and their war-dress, formed of a thick
+doubled leathern mantle of elk or buffalo skin, frequently with a cloak
+over it, on which the hoofs of horses were strung, makes an almost
+impervious cuirass.  Their love for music, general lively dispositions,
+except from provocation, but determination in avenging insult or wrong,
+is testified by all.
+
+Cook also gives a full description of their houses and manner of life.
+Of the former, he says they are made of split boards, and large enough
+for several families, who occupy small pens on each side of the
+interior.  They have benches and boxes, and many of their utensils, such
+as pipes, etcetera, are frequently carved; as are also gigantic human
+faces on large trunks of trees, which they set up for posts to their
+dwellings.
+
+In their persons and houses they were filthy in the extreme; in their
+habits lazy; but the women were modest and industrious.  Their principal
+food was fish, but they had edible roots and game from the land.  A
+favourite article of food was also the roe of herrings, dried on pine
+branches or sea-weed.  Their weapons were spears, arrows, slings, and
+clubs, similar to the New Zealanders; also an axe, not dissimilar to the
+North American tomahawk, the handle of which is usually carved.
+
+They made garments of pine-bark beaten fine; these were made by hand
+with plaited thread and woollen, so closely wove as to resemble cloth,
+and frequently had worked on them figures of men and animals: on one was
+the whole process of the whale fishery.  Their aptitude for the
+imitative arts was very great.  Their canoes were rather elegantly
+formed out of trees, with rising prow, frequently carved in figures.
+They differ from those of the Pacific generally, in having neither sails
+nor outriggers; they had harpoons and spears for whale-fishing.
+Vancouver, when at Port Discovery, saw some long poles placed upright on
+the beach at equal distances, the object of which he could not discover,
+and it was not till the last voyage of discovery, despatched from the
+United States under Commodore Wilkes, that they were ascertained to have
+been used for hanging nets upon, to catch wild-fowl by night: their
+ingenuity in this and in netting salmon is very remarkable.  They have
+two nets, the drawing and casting net, made of a silky grass found on
+the banks of the Columbia, or the fibres of the roots of trees, or of
+the inner bark of the white cedar.  The salmon-fishing on the Columbia
+commences in June, the main body, according to the habit of this fish,
+dividing at the mouth of the tributary streams to ascend then to their
+sources.  At the rapids and falls the work of destruction commences;
+with a bag-net, not unlike to an European fisherman's landing-net, on a
+pole thirty feet long, the Indians take their stand on the rocks, or on
+platforms erected for the purpose, and throwing their nets into the
+river above their standing-places, let them float down the rapids to
+meet the fish as they ascend.  By this means many are caught; they have
+also stake-nets and lines with stones for leads; they also catch many
+with hook and line, and sometimes, now they have fire-arms, shoot them.
+Their mode of fishing for sturgeon is also peculiar.  The line, made of
+twisted fibres of the roots of trees, is attached to a large wooden hook
+and let down over the side of a canoe; those used for this purpose are
+small, having only one or two men at most in them: having hooked a fish,
+they haul him gently up till he floats on the water, then, with a heavy
+mallet, with one blow on the head they kill him; with singular dexterity
+they contrive to jerk a fish of three hundred pounds over the lowered
+side of the canoe by a single effort.  They catch whales also by means
+of harpoons with bladders attached.  The oil is sold to the Hudson's Bay
+Company.  It has been said that their houses were made of boards, but
+some constructive art is displayed in their erection as was much
+ingenuity in procuring the materials before axes were introduced among
+them; for they contrived to fell trees with a rough chisel and mallet.
+The houses are made of centre-posts about eighteen feet high, upon which
+a long pole rests, forming the ridge of the roof, from whence rafters
+descend to another like it, but not more than five feet from the ground;
+to these again, cross poles are attached, and against these are placed
+boards upright, and the lower end fixed in the ground; across these
+again, poles are placed, and tied with cords of cedar bark to those
+inside of the roof, which are similarly disposed: the planks are double.
+These houses are divided on each side into stalls and pens, occupied as
+sleeping places during the night, and the rafters serve to suspend the
+fish, which are dried by the smoke in its lengthened course through the
+interstices of the roof and walls.  In their superstitions, theatricals,
+dances, and songs they have much similarity to the natives of Polynesia.
+Debased now, and degraded even beneath their former portrait--fast
+fading away before the more genial sun of the fortunes of the White
+man--the Indians on the southern coast are no longer free and warlike,
+and being in subjection to the Hudson's Bay Company, English
+manufactures are substituted for the efforts of their native industry.
+
+The mode of burial practised among the tribes on the coast is very
+peculiar.  The corpse is placed sometimes in a canoe raised a few feet
+from the ground, with arms and other necessaries beside it.  These are
+not unfrequently spoiled beforehand, to prevent their being stolen, as
+if they thought they might, like their owner, be restored to their
+former state in the new world.  Sometimes they are put in upright boxes
+like sentry-boxes--sometimes in small enclosures--but usually kept neat,
+and those of the chiefs frequently painted.  Mount Coffin, at the mouth
+of the Cowelitz, seems to have been appropriated to the burial of
+persons of importance; it is about seven hundred feet high, and quite
+isolated: on it were to be seen the canoe-coffins of the natives in
+every stage of decay; they were hung between the trees about five feet
+from the ground.  This cemetery of the Columbia is, however, destroyed,
+for the American sailors under Wilkes, neglecting to put out their
+cooking-fire, it spread over the whole mountain, and continued to rage
+through the night, till all was burnt.  A few small presents appeased
+the Indians, who but a few years before could only have drowned the
+remembrance of such a national disgrace in the blood of those who caused
+it.
+
+Among the tribes about the lower part of the Columbia the singular
+custom of flattening the head still prevails, though not to the extent
+it did formerly; Mr Dunn thus describes the operation:--
+
+"Immediately after the birth, the infant is laid in an oblong wooden
+trough, by way of cradle, with moss under the head; the end on which the
+head reposes is raised higher than the rest; a padding is then placed on
+the infant's forehead, with a piece of cedar-bark over it; it is pressed
+down by cords, which pass through holes on each side of the trough.  As
+the tightening of the padding and pressure of the head is gradual, the
+process is said not to be attended with much pain.  The appearance of
+the infant, however, while under it, is shocking,--its little black eyes
+seem ready to start from their sockets; the mouth exhibits all the
+appearance of internal convulsion; and it clearly appears that the face
+is undergoing a process of unnatural configuration.  About a year's
+pressure is sufficient to produce the desired effect; the head is ever
+after completely flattened;" and as slaves are always left to nature,
+this deformity is consequently a mark of free birth.  The Indians on the
+north coast possess the characteristics of the southern, but harsher and
+more boldly defined--they are of fiercer and more treacherous
+dispositions.  Indeed, those of the south have a disposition to
+merriment and light-hearted good humour.  Their mechanical ingenuity is
+more remarkably displayed in the carving on their pipes, and especially
+in working iron and steel.  The Indians of the coast are doubtless all
+from the same stock, modified by circumstances and locality.  Those,
+however, to the south of the Columbia, about the waters of the rivers
+Klamet and Umqua, partake largely of the characteristics of the Indians
+of the plains, their country having prairies, and themselves possessing
+horses: they are remarkable for nothing but their determined hostility
+towards the Whites.  Idleness and filth are inveterate among all three,
+but among the Indians of the plains there is a marked difference; there,
+their food consist of fish, indeed, and dried for winter, but not
+entirely, being more varied by venison than on the coast, and in the
+winter by roots, which they dig up and lay by in store.  They live more
+in moveable tents, and to the south their great wealth is their horses.
+They are not, like the coast Indians, of small stature and inelegantly
+made, but remarkable for comeliness of person and elegance of carriage.
+They are equestrian in their habits, and shew to great advantage on
+horseback.  The principal tribes are the Shoshones and Walla-walla,
+between whom, as between the former and the Blackfeet, there has been
+continual war.  The Shoshones dwell between the Rocky and Blue Mountain
+ranges, the Walla-walla about the river of that fame; the Blackfeet at
+the foot of the Rocky Mountains, principally, but not entirely, on the
+eastern side.  Warlike and independent, the Blackfeet had for a long
+time the advantage, having been earlier introduced to the use of
+fire-arms; but by the instrumentality of the Hudson's Bay Company, they
+have been of late years more on an equality: they are friendly to the
+Whites, but the Blackfeet, their mortal enemies, and their hill-forts
+overhanging the passes of the Rocky Mountains, make the future safety of
+the journey to the United States depend on the temper of this fickle and
+bloodthirsty nation, who have been well termed the Arabs of the West,
+for truly their hand is against every man, and every man's hand against
+them; and though seriously lessened in number by war and disease, they
+still dwell in the presence of all their brethren.  The Shoshones feed
+frequently on horse-flesh, and have also large quantities of edible
+roots, which stand them in great stead during the winter.  When the men
+are fishing for salmon, the women are employed in digging and preserving
+the roots.  There is, indeed, one tribe inhabiting the country of the
+salt lakes and springs to the south of the head-waters of the Snake or
+Saptin River, who have no wish, beyond these roots, living in the most
+bestial manner possible: these, from their single occupation, have been
+named Diggers.  Above the Walla-walla, also, there is a tribe called the
+Basket people, from their using a basket in fishing for salmon.  The
+apparatus consists of a large wicker basket, supported by long poles
+inserted into it, and fixed in the rocks; to the basket is joined a long
+frame, spreading above, against which the fish, in attempting to leap
+the falls, strike and fall into the basket; it is taken up three times a
+day, and at each haul not unfrequently contains three hundred fine fish.
+The Flat-heads, dwelling about the river of that name, are the most
+northern of the equestrian tribes: their characteristics are
+intelligence and aptitude for civilisation; yet, in the early history of
+the country, their fierceness and barbarity in war could not be
+exceeded, especially in their retaliation on the Blackfeet, of which
+Ross Cox gives a horrible account.  The usual dress of these tribes is a
+shirt, leggings, and mocassins of deer-skin, frequently much ornamented
+with fringes of beads, and formerly in the "braves" with scalps; a cap
+of handkerchief generally covers the head, but the Shoshones twist their
+long black hair into a natural helmet, more useful as a protection than
+many artificial defences: in winter a buffalo robe is added to the usual
+clothing.  Horses abound among them, and they are usually well armed.
+Through the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company, these tribes are
+beaming amalgamated by intermarriage, and will, doubtless, from their
+pliability of disposition, readiness of perception, and capability for
+improvement generally, no less than their friendship for the Whites and
+devotion to the Company, gradually lose their identity in acquired
+habits and knowledge, and become the peaceful proprietors of a country
+rich in flocks and herds, even very much cattle.  The more northern
+Indians inhabiting the mountainous country round the head-waters of
+Oregon River and the branches of the Columbia, evidence an origin
+similar to the Chippewayan tribes on the east of the Rocky Mountains.
+Mackenzie found but little difference, when travelling from one to the
+other, and his guides were generally well understood: like them, they
+have exchanged their shirts and robes of skins for European
+manufactures, and their bows and spears for fire-arms.  Among them the
+greater part of the furs exported by the Hudson's Bay Company are
+procured, and the return of the traffic supplies all their wants: they
+differ, however, in manners and habits; for among them is found the
+tribe of Carriers, whose filthiness and bestiality cannot be exceeded;
+whose dainties are of putrid flesh, and are eaten up with disease;
+nevertheless, they are a tall, well-formed, good-looking race, and not
+wanting in ingenuity.  Their houses are well formed of logs of small
+trees; buttressed up internally, frequently above seventy feet long and
+fifteen high, but, unlike those of the coast, the roof is of bark: their
+winter habitations are smaller, and often covered over with grass and
+earth: some even dwell in excavations of the ground, which have only an
+aperture at the top, and serves alike for door and chimney.  Salmon,
+deer, bears, and wild-fowl are their principal food: of the latter they
+procure large quantities.
+
+Their mode of taking salmon is curious.  They build a weir across the
+stream, having an opening only in one place, at which they fix a basket,
+three feet in diameter, with the mouth made something like an eel-trap,
+through which alone the fish can find a passage.  On the side of this
+basket is a hole, to which is attached a smaller basket, into which the
+fish pass from the large one, and cannot return or escape.  This, when
+filled, is taken up without disturbing the larger one.
+
+Of the religion and superstitions of the Indians little need be said;
+the features of polytheism being everywhere as similar as its effects.
+Impudent conjurers are their priests and teachers, and exerted once
+unlimited sway; but under the satisfactory proofs of the value of
+scientific medical practice and the tuition of the missionaries, it is
+to be hoped both their claims to respect will be negatived; and as they
+have evinced great aptitude to embrace and profit by instruction, it may
+perhaps happen that secular knowledge may combine with religious to save
+them from the apparent necessary result.
+
+In closing this brief account of the gold-fields of New Caledonia, we
+cannot avoid adverting to the great event which, has been, we may say,
+contemporaneous with these discoveries--the laying down of the Atlantic
+telegraph.  The sources of an apparently boundless and dazzling wealth
+have been opened up in the Far West of America, and a mighty stream of
+thought has begun its perpetual flow backwards and forwards between her
+eastern shores and England.  We hail the coincidence as an assurance
+that friendly communication, and peace, and good-will, shall go hand and
+hand with the getting of gold in, and the civilising of, these far off
+regions; and we believe that God will use both these new and mighty
+engines for the advancement of the blessed gospel of our Lord Jesus
+Christ in the British possessions of North America.
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN THE FRASER RIVER
+DISTRICT, IN BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.
+
+Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty, July
+2, 1858.
+
+NUMBER 1.
+
+_Governor Douglas to the Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, M.P._
+
+Victoria, Vancouver's Island, April 16, 1856.
+
+Sir,--I hasten to communicate, for the information of Her Majesty's
+Government, a discovery of much importance, made known to me by Mr
+Angus McDonald, clerk in charge of Fort Colville, one of the Hudson's
+Bay Company's trading posts on the Upper Columbia District.
+
+That gentleman reports, in a letter dated on the 1st of March last, that
+gold has been found in considerable quantities within the British
+territory, on the Upper Columbia, and that he is, moreover, of opinion,
+that valuable deposits of gold will be found in many other parts of that
+country; he also states that the _daily earnings_ of person's then
+employed in digging gold were ranging from 2 pounds to 8 pounds for each
+man.  Such is the substance of his report on that subject, and I have
+requested him to continue his communications in respect to any further
+discoveries made.
+
+I do not know if Her Majesty's Government will consider it expedient to
+raise a revenue in that quarter, by taxing all persons engaged in gold
+digging; but I may remark, that it will be impossible to levy such a tax
+without the aid of a military force, and the expense in that case would
+probably exceed the income derived from the mines.
+
+I will not fail to keep you well informed in respect to the extent and
+value of the gold discoveries made; and circumstances will probably be
+the best indication of the course which it may be expedient to take,
+that is, in respect to imposing a tax, or leaving the field free and
+open to any persons who may choose to dig for gold.
+
+Several interesting experiments in gold-washing have been lately made in
+this colony, with a degree of success that will no doubt lead to further
+attempts for the discovery of the precious metal.  The quantity of gold
+found is sufficient to prove the existence of the metal, and the parties
+engaged in, the enterprise entertain sanguine hopes of discovering rich
+and productive beds.  I have, etcetera, (Signed) James Douglas,
+Governor.
+
+The Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
+
+NO.  II.
+
+_The Right Hon. Henry Labouchere to Governor Douglas_.
+
+Downing Street, August 4, 1856.
+
+Sir,--I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, Number 10, of
+the 16th April last, reporting the discovery of gold within the British
+territory of the Upper Columbia River district.
+
+In the absence of all effective machinery of Government, I perceive that
+it would be quite abortive to attempt to raise a revenue from licences
+to dig for gold in that region.  Indeed, as Her Majesty's Government do
+not at present look for a revenue from this distant quarter of the
+British dominions, so neither are they prepared to incur any, expense on
+account of it.  I must, therefore, leave it to your discretion to
+determine the best means of preserving order in the event of any
+considerable increase of population flocking into this new gold
+district; and I shall rely on your furnishing me with full and regular
+accounts of any event of interest or importance which may occur in
+consequence of this discovery.  I have, etcetera, (Signed) H.
+Labouchere.
+
+To Governor Douglas, etcetera, etcetera.
+
+NO.  III.
+
+_Governor Douglas to the Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, M.P._
+
+Victoria, Vancouver's Island, October 29, 1856.
+
+Sir,--1.  I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch,
+Number 14, of the 4th of August, communicating the arrival of my
+despatch, Number 10, of the 16th April last, in which was reported the
+discovery of gold within the British territory in the Upper Columbia
+River district.
+
+2.  I have, since the date of that letter, received several other
+communications from my correspondent in that part of the country, who,
+however, scarcely makes any allusion to the gold discovery; but I have
+heard through other almost equally reliable sources of information, that
+the number of persons engaged in gold digging is yet extremely limited,
+in consequence of the threatening attitude of the native tribes, who,
+being hostile to the Americans, have uniformly opposed the entrance of
+American citizens into their country.
+
+3.  The people from American Oregon are, therefore, excluded from the
+gold district, except such, as resorting to the artifice of denying
+their country, succeed in passing for British subjects.  The persons at
+present engaged in the search of gold are chiefly of British origin, and
+retired servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, who, being well acquainted
+with the natives, and connected by old acquaintanceship and the ties of
+friendship, are more disposed to aid and assist each other in their
+common pursuits than to commit injuries against persons or property.
+
+4.  They appear to pursue their toilsome occupation in peace, and
+without molestation from the natives, and there is no reason to suppose
+that any criminal act has been lately committed in that part of the
+country.
+
+5.  It is reported that gold is found in considerable quantities, and
+that several persons have accumulated large sums by their labour and
+traffic, but I cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports; though,
+on the other hand, there is no reason to discredit them, as about 220
+ounces of gold dust have been brought to Vancouver's Island direct from
+the Upper Columbia, a proof that the country is at least auriferous.
+
+From the successful result of experiments made in washing gold from the
+sands of the tributary streams of Fraser River, there is reason to
+suppose that the gold region is extensive, and I entertain sanguine
+hopes that future researches will develop stores of wealth, perhaps
+equal to the gold fields of California.  The geological formations
+observed in the "Sierra Nevada" of California being similar in character
+to the structure of the corresponding range of mountains in this
+latitude, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the resemblance will be
+found to include auriferous deposits.
+
+6.  I shall not fail to furnish you with full and regular accounts of
+every event of interest connected with the gold district, which may from
+time to time occur.  I have, etcetera, (Signed) James Douglas, Governor.
+
+The Right Hon. H. Labouchere; etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
+
+NO.  V.
+
+_Governor Douglas to the Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, M.P._
+
+Victoria, Vancouver's Island, July 15, 1857.
+
+Received, September 18, 1857.
+
+Sir,--1.  I have the honour of communicating for your information the
+substance of advices which I have lately received from the interior of
+the continent north of the 49th parallel of latitude, corroborating the
+former accounts from that quarter respecting the auriferous character of
+certain districts of the country on the right bank of the Columbia
+River, and of the extensive table land which divides it from Fraser
+River.
+
+2.  There is, however, as yet a degree of uncertainty respecting the
+productiveness of those gold fields, for reports vary so much on that
+point, some parties representing the deposits as exceedingly rich, while
+others are of opinion that they will not repay the labour and outlay of
+working, that I feel it would be premature for me to give a decided
+opinion on the subject.
+
+3.  It is, however, certain that gold has been found in many places by
+washing the soil of the river beds, and also of the mountainsides; but,
+on the other hand, the quantities hitherto collected are inconsiderable,
+and do not lend much support to the opinion entertained of the richness
+of these deposits; so that the question as to their ultimate value
+remains thus undetermined, and will probably not be decided until more
+extensive researches are made.
+
+4.  A new element of difficulty in exploring the gold country has been
+interposed through the opposition of the native Indian tribes of
+Thompson River, who have lately taken the high-handed, though probably
+not unwise course, of expelling all the parties of gold-diggers,
+composed chiefly of persons from the American territories, who had
+forced an entrance into their country.  They have also openly expressed
+a determination to resist all attempts at working gold in any of the
+streams flowing into Thompson River, both from a desire to monopolise
+the precious metal for their own benefit, and from a well-founded
+impression that the shoals of salmon which annually ascend those rivers,
+and furnish the principal food of the inhabitants, will be driven off,
+and prevented from making their annual migrations from the sea.
+
+5.  The officers in command of the Hudson's Bay Company's posts in that
+quarter, have received orders carefully to respect the feelings of the
+natives in that matter, and not to employ any of the company's servants
+in washing out gold, without their full approbation and consent.  There
+is, therefore, nothing to apprehend on the part of the Hudson's Bay
+Company's servants, but there is much reason to fear that serious
+affrays may take place between the natives and the motley adventurers
+who will be attracted by the reputed wealth of the country, from the
+United States' possessions in Oregon, and may probably attempt to
+overpower the opposition of the natives by force of arms, and thus
+endanger the peace of the country.
+
+6.  I beg to submit, if in that case, it: may not become a question
+whether the natives are not entitled to the protection of Her Majesty's
+Government, and if an officer invested with the requisite authority
+should not, without delay, be appointed for that purpose.  I have,
+etcetera, (Signed) James Douglas, Governor.
+
+The Right Hon. H. Labouchere, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
+
+NO.  VI.
+
+_Extract of a Despatch from Governor Douglas to the Right Hon. Henry
+Labouchere, M.P., dated Victoria, Vancouver's Island, December_ 29,
+1857.  (Received March 2, 1858.)
+
+Since I had the honour of addressing you on the 15th July last,
+concerning the gold fields in the interior of the country north of the
+49th parallel of latitude, which, for the sake of brevity, I will
+hereafter speak of as the "Couteau mines" (so named after the tribe of
+Indians who inhabit the country), I have received farther intelligence
+from my correspondents in that quarter.
+
+It appears from their reports that the auriferous character of the
+country is becoming daily more extensively developed, through the
+exertions of the native Indian tribes, who, having tasted the sweets of
+gold finding, are devoting much of their time and attention to that
+pursuit.
+
+They are, however, at present almost destitute of tools for moving the
+soil, and of washing implements for separating the gold from the earthy
+matrix, and have therefore to pick it out with their knives, or to use
+their fingers for that purpose; a circumstance which in some measure
+accounts for the small products of gold up to the present time, the
+export being only about 300 ounces since the 6th of last October.
+
+The same circumstance will also serve to reconcile the opinion now
+generally entertained of the richness of the gold deposits by the few
+experienced miners who have seen the Couteau country, with the present
+paucity of production.
+
+The reputed wealth of the Couteau mines is causing much excitement among
+the population of the United States territories of Washington and
+Oregon, and I have no doubt that a great number of people from those
+territories will be attracted thither with the return of the fine
+weather in spring.
+
+In that case, difficulties between the natives and whites will be of
+frequent occurrence, and unless measures of prevention are taken, the
+country will soon become the scene of lawless misrule.
+
+In my letter of the 15th of July, I took the liberty of suggesting the
+appointment of an officer invested with authority to protect the natives
+from violence, and generally, so far as possible, to maintain the peace
+of the country.  Presuming that you will approve of that suggestion, I
+have, as a preparatory step towards the proposed measure for the
+preservation of peace and order, this day issued a proclamation
+declaring the rights of the Crown in respect to gold found in its
+natural place of deposit, within the limits of Fraser River and Thompson
+River districts, within which are situated the Couteau mines; and
+forbidding all persons to dig or disturb the soil in search of gold,
+until authorised on that behalf by Her Majesty's Government.
+
+I herewith forward a copy of that proclamation, and also of the
+regulations since published, setting forth the terms on which licences
+will be issued to legalise the search for gold, on payment of a fee of
+ten shillings a-month, payable in advance.
+
+When mining becomes a remunerative employment, and there is a proof of
+the extent and productiveness of the gold deposits, I would propose that
+the licence fee be gradually increased, in such a manner, however, as
+not to be higher than the persons engaged in mining can readily pay.  My
+authority for issuing that proclamation, seeing that it refers to
+certain districts of continental America, which are not, strictly
+speaking, within the jurisdiction of this Government, may, perhaps, be
+called in question; but I trust that the motives which have influenced
+me on this occasion, and the fact of my being invested with the
+authority over the premises of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the only
+authority commissioned by Her Majesty within reach, will plead my
+excuse.  Moreover, should Her Majesty's Government not deem, it
+advisable to enforce the rights of the Crown, as set forth in the
+proclamation, it may be allowed to fall to the ground, and to become a
+mere dead letter.
+
+If you think it expedient that I should visit the Couteau Mines in
+course of the coming spring or summer, for the purpose of inquiring into
+the state of the country, and authorise me to do so, if I can for a time
+conveniently leave this colony, I freely place my services at the
+disposal of Her Majesty's Government.
+
+NO.  VII.
+
+_The Governor of Vancouver's Island to the Right Hon. H. Labouchere,
+M.P._
+
+Victoria, Vancouver's Island, January 22, 1858.
+
+[Received March 15, 1858.]
+
+Sir,--1.  With reference to the proclamation and regulations legalising
+the search for gold in the districts of Fraser River and Thompson River,
+transmitted with my despatch, Number 35, of the 29th of December last, I
+have now the honour to communicate for your information, that we have
+since that date raised the licence fee from ten shillings to twenty-one
+shillings a-month, payable in advance, which is the present charge for
+gold licences.
+
+2.  We are induced to make that change through a desire to place a large
+amount of revenue at the disposal of Government to meet the expense of
+giving protection to life and property in those countries, and at the
+same time from a well-founded conviction that persons really bent upon
+visiting the gold district will as readily pay the increased as the
+lower rate of charge.
+
+I have, etcetera, (Signed) James Douglas, Governor.
+
+To the Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
+
+NO.  VIII.
+
+_Governor Douglas to the Right Hon. H. Labouchere, M.P._
+
+Victoria, Vancouver's Island, April 6, 1858.
+
+Sir,--1.  Since I had last the honour of addressing you in my despatch,
+Number 35, on the 29th of December last, in reference to the discovery
+of gold in the Couteau, or Thompson River district, we have had much
+communication with persons who have since visited that part of the
+country.
+
+2.  The search for gold and "prospecting" of the country, had, up to the
+last dates from the interior, been carried on almost exclusively by the
+native Indian population, who have discovered the productive beds, and
+put out almost all the gold, about eight hundred ounces, which has been
+hitherto exported from the country, and who are, moreover, extremely
+jealous of the whites, and strongly opposed to their digging the soil
+for gold.
+
+3.  The few white men who passed the winter at the diggings--chiefly
+retired servants of the Hudson's Bay Company--though well acquainted
+with Indian character, were obstructed by the natives in their attempts
+to search for gold.  They were on all occasions narrowly watched, and in
+every instance, when they did succeed in removing the surface and
+excavating to the depth of the auriferous stratum, they were quietly
+hustled and crowded by the natives, who having by that means obtained
+possession of the spot, then proceeded to reap the fruits of their
+labours.
+
+4.  Such conduct was unwarrantable and exceedingly trying to the temper
+of spirited men, but the savages were far too numerous for resistance,
+and they had to submit to their dictation.  It is, however, worthy of
+remark, and a circumstance highly honourable to the character of those
+savages, that they have on all occasions scrupulously respected the
+persons and property of their white visitors, at the same that they have
+expressed a determination to reserve the gold for their own benefit.
+
+5.  Such being the purpose of the natives, affrays and collisions with
+the whites will surely follow the accession of numbers, which the latter
+are now receiving by the influx of adventurers from Vancouver's Island
+and the United States territories in Oregon; and there is no doubt in my
+mind that sooner or later the intervention of Her Majesty's Government
+will be required to restore and maintain the peace.  Up to the present
+time, however, the country continues quiet, but simply, I believe,
+because the whites have not attempted to resist the impositions of the
+natives.  I will, however, make it a part of my duty to keep you well
+informed in respect to the state of the gold country.
+
+6.  The extent of the gold region is yet but imperfectly known, and I
+have, therefore, not arrived at any decided opinion as to its ultimate
+value as a gold-producing country.  The boundaries of the gold district
+have been, however, greatly extended since ay former report.
+
+7.  In addition to the diggings before known on Thompson River and its
+tributary streams, a valuable deposit has been recently found by the
+natives, on a bank of Fraser River, about fifty miles beyond its
+confluence with the Thompson, and gold in small quantities has been
+found in the possession of the natives as far as the great falls of
+Fraser River, about eighty miles above the Forks.  The small quantity of
+gold hitherto produced--about eight hundred ounces--by the large native
+population of the country is, however, unaccountable in a rich
+gold-producing country, unless we assume that the want of skill,
+industry, and proper mining tools on the part of the natives
+sufficiently account for the fact.
+
+8.  On the contrary, the vein rocks and its other geological features,
+as described by an experienced gold miner, encourage the belief that the
+country is highly auriferous.
+
+9.  The miner in question clearly described the older slate formations
+thrown up and pierced by beds of quartz, granite, porphyry, and other
+igneous rocks; the vast accumulations of sand, gravel, and shingle
+extending from the roots of the mountains to the banks of Fraser River
+and its affluents, which are peculiar characteristics of the gold
+districts of California and other countries.  We therefore hope, and are
+preparing for a rich harvest of trade, which will greatly redound to the
+advantage of this colony.
+
+10.  I have further to communicate for your information that the
+proclamation issued by me, asserting the rights of the Crown to all gold
+in its natural place of deposit, and forbidding all persons to dig for
+gold without a licence, has been published in the newspapers of Oregon
+and Washington territories, and that, notwithstanding, some seventy or
+eighty adventurers from the American side have gone by the way of Fraser
+River to the Couteau mines without taking out licences.
+
+11.  I did not, as I might have done, attempt to enforce those rights by
+means of a detachment of seamen and marines, from the "Satellite,"
+without being assured that such a proceeding would meet with the
+approval of Her Majesty's Government; but the moment your instructions
+on the subject are received, I will take measures to carry them into
+effect.
+
+I have, etcetera, (Signed) James Douglas, Governor.
+
+The Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, M.P., etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
+
+NO.  X.
+
+_Governor Douglas to the Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, M.P._
+
+Victoria, Vancouver's Island, May 8, 1858.
+
+Since I had the honour of addressing you on the 6th of April last on the
+subject of the "Couteau" gold mines, they have become more than ever a
+source of attraction to the people of Washington and Oregon territories,
+and it is evident from the accounts published in the latest San
+Francisco papers, that intense excitement prevails among the inhabitants
+of that stirring city on the same subject.
+
+The "Couteau" country is there represented and supposed to be in point
+of mineral wealth a second California or Australia, and those
+impressions are sustained by the false and exaggerated statements of
+steamboat owners and other interested parties, who benefit by the
+current of emigration which is now setting strongly towards this
+quarter.
+
+Boats, canoes, and every species of small craft, are continually
+employed in pouring their cargoes of human beings into Fraser River, and
+it is supposed that not less than one thousand whites are already at
+work and on the way to the gold districts.  Many accidents have happened
+in the dangerous rapids of that river; a great number of canoes have
+been dashed to pieces, and their cargoes swept away by the impetuous
+stream, while of the ill-fated adventurers who accompanied them many
+have been swept into eternity.
+
+The others, nothing daunted by the spectacle of ruin and buoyed up by
+the hope of amassing wealth, still keep pressing onward towards the
+coveted goal of their most ardent wishes.
+
+On the 25th of last month, the American steamer "Commodore" arrived in
+this port direct from San Francisco, with 450 passengers on board, the
+chief part of whom are gold miners for the "Couteau" country.
+
+Nearly 400 of those men were landed at this place, and have since left
+in boats and canoes for Fraser River.
+
+I ascertained from inquiries on the subject that those men are all well
+provided with mining tools, and that there was no dearth of capital or
+intelligence among them.  About sixty British subjects, with an equal
+number of native born Americans, the rest being chiefly Germans, with a
+smaller proportion of Frenchmen and Italians, composed this body of
+adventurers.
+
+They are represented as being, with some exceptions, a specimen of the
+worst of the population of San Francisco; the very dregs, in fact, of
+society.  Their conduct while here would have led me to form a very
+different conclusion; as our little town, though crowded to excess with
+this sudden influx of people, and though there was a temporary scarcity
+of food, and dearth of house accommodation, the police few in number,
+and many temptations to excess in the way of drink, yet quiet and order
+prevailed, and there was not a single committal for rioting,
+drunkenness, or other offences during their stay here.
+
+The merchants and other business classes of Victoria are rejoicing in
+the advent of so large a body of the people in the colony, and are
+strongly in favour of making this port a stopping point between San
+Francisco and the gold mines, converting the latter, as it were, into a
+feeder and dependency of this colony.
+
+Victoria would thus become a depot and centre of trade for the gold
+districts, and the natural consequence would be an immediate increase in
+the wealth and population of the colony.
+
+To effect that object it will be requisite to facilitate by every
+possible means the transport of passengers and goods to the furthest
+navigable point on Fraser River; and the obvious means of accomplishing
+that end is to employ light steamers in plying between, and connecting
+this port (Victoria) with the Falls of Fraser River, distant 130 miles
+from the discharge of that river, into the Gulf of Georgia; those falls
+being generally believed to be at the commencement of the remunerative
+gold diggings, and from thence the miners would readily make their, way
+on foot, or, after the summer freshets, by the river into the interior
+of the country.
+
+By that means also the whole trade of the gold regions would pass
+through Fraser River and be retained within the British territory,
+forming a valuable outlet for British manufactured goods, and at once
+creating a lucrative trade between the mother country and Vancouver's
+Island.
+
+Taking a view of the subject, simply in its relations to trade and
+commerce, apart from considerations of national policy, such perhaps
+would be the course most likely to promote the interests of this colony;
+but, on the contrary, if the country be thrown open, to indiscriminate
+immigration, the interests of the empire may suffer from the
+introduction of a foreign population, whose sympathies may be decidedly
+anti-British.
+
+Taking this view of the question, it assumes an alarming aspect, and
+suggests a doubt as to the policy of permitting the free entrance of
+foreigners into the British territory for residence, without in the
+first place requiring them to take the oath of allegiance, and otherwise
+to give such security for their conduct as the Government of the country
+may deem it proper and necessary to require at their hands.
+
+The opinion which I have formed on the subject leads me to think that,
+in the event of the diggings proving remunerative, it will now be found
+impossible to check the course of immigration, even by closing Fraser
+River, as the miners would then force a passage into the gold district
+by way of the Columbia River, and the valuable trade of the country in
+that case be driven from its natural course into a foreign channel, and
+entirely lost to this country.
+
+On the contrary, should the diggings prove to be unremunerative, a
+question which as yet remains undecided, the existing excitement, we may
+suppose, will die away of itself; and the miners, having no longer the
+prospect of large gains, will naturally abandon a country which no
+longer holds out any inducement for them to remain.
+
+Until the value of the country as a gold-producing region be established
+on clearer evidence than can now be adduced in its favour--and the point
+will no doubt be decided before the close of the present year--I would
+simply recommend that a small naval or military force should be placed
+at the disposal of this Government, to enable us to maintain the peace,
+and to enforce obedience to the laws.
+
+The system of granting licences for digging gold has not yet come into
+operation.
+
+Perhaps a similar method of raising a revenue would be to impose a
+customs' duty on imports, to be levied on all supplies brought into the
+country, whether by Fraser or the Columbia River.
+
+The export of gold from the country is still inconsiderable, not
+exceeding 600 ounces since I last addressed you.  The principal diggings
+are reported to be at present, and will probably continue, flooded for
+several months to come, so that unless other diggings apart from the
+river beds are discovered, the production of gold will not increase
+until the summer freshets are over, which will probably happen about the
+middle of August next.  In the meantime the ill-provided adventurers who
+have gone hither and thither will consume their stock of provisions, and
+probably have to retire from the country until a more favourable season.
+
+I shall be most happy to receive your instructions on the subject in
+this letter.
+
+NO.  XII.
+
+_Copy of a better from the Secretary of the Admiralty to Herman
+Merivale, Esquire_.
+
+Admiralty, June 26, 1858.
+
+Sir,--I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to send
+you herewith, for the information of Secretary Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, a
+copy of a letter from Captain Prevost, of H.M. Ship "Satellite," dated
+at Vancouver's Island, 7th May 1858, respecting the discovery of gold on
+Fraser and Thompson Rivers, near to the 51st parallel of north latitude,
+in North America.
+
+The newspaper and specimen of gold dust referred to in Captain Prevost's
+letter are also enclosed.
+
+I am, etcetera, (Signed) H. Corby.
+
+Herman Merivale, Esquire, Colonial Office.
+
+_Enclosures Number 12_.
+
+H.M.S. "Satellite," Esquimault, Vancouver's Island, May 7, 1858.
+
+I have the honour to report to you that considerable excitement has been
+occasioned recently in this neighbourhood by the discovery of gold on
+Fraser and Thompson Rivers, at about the position of the juncture of the
+latter with the former river, near to 51st parallel of north latitude.
+
+The reports concerning these new gold diggings are so contradictory that
+I am unable to furnish you with any information upon which I can depend.
+That gold exists is certain, and that it will be found in abundance
+seems to be the opinion of all those who are capable of forming a
+judgment upon the subject; but it is so obviously to the advantage of
+the surrounding community to circulate exaggerated, if not altogether
+false reports, for the purpose of stimulating trade, or creating
+monopolies, that it is most difficult to arrive at any correct
+conclusion, or to, obtain any reliable information.  I have every reason
+to believe that the Indians have traded some quantity of gold with the
+officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, and I am satisfied that
+individuals from this immediate neighbourhood who started off to the
+diggings upon the first intelligence of their existence, have come back
+with gold dust in their possession, and which they assert was washed by
+themselves; but whether such be really the case, or whether it was
+traded from the Indians, I am unable to determine.  These persons all
+declare that at the present moment, although the yield is good, yet
+there is too much water in the rivers to admit of digging and washing to
+be carried on with facility; but that when the water falls somewhat, as
+the summer advances, that the yield will be abundant.  I am inclined to
+think that this information is not far from the truth, for these
+persons, after obtaining a fresh stock of provision, have all returned
+to the diggings.
+
+The excitement in Vancouver's Island itself is quite insignificant
+compared to that in Washington and Oregon territories, and in
+California, and which, of course, is increased by every possible means
+by interested parties.  The result has been that several hundred persons
+from American territory have already flocked to the newly reported
+auriferous regions, and by the last accounts fresh steamers, and even
+sailing vessels, were being chartered to convey passengers to Puget
+Sound, or to Vancouver's Island, whence they have to find their way to
+the diggings principally by canoes.
+
+I have heard that all the crews of the ships in Puget Sound have
+deserted, and have gone to the diggings; I am happy to say that as yet I
+have not lost a single man from the "Satellite" since the information
+was received, and I have every reason to hope that I may not be
+unfortunate in this respect, although, doubtless, soon the temptations
+to desert will be of no ordinary character.
+
+NO.  XIII.
+
+_Secretary Sir E. Bulwer Lytton to Governor Douglas_.
+
+Downing Street, July 1, 1858.
+
+Sir,--I have to acknowledge your despatch of the 8th ult, in
+continuation of former despatches, informing the Secretary of State from
+time to time of the progress of the gold discoveries on Fraser River,
+and the measures which you had taken in consequence.  I am anxious not
+to let the opportunity of the present mail pass without informing you
+that Her Majesty's Government have under their consideration the
+pressing necessity for taking some steps to establish public order and
+government in that locality, and that I hope very soon to be able to
+communicate to you the result.
+
+In the meantime, Her Majesty's Government approve of the course which
+you have adopted in asserting both the dominion of the Crown over this
+region, and the right of the Crown over the precious metals.  They
+think, however, that you acted judiciously in waiting for further
+instructions before you endeavoured to compel the taking out of
+licences, by causing any force to be despatched for that purpose from
+Vancouver's Island.
+
+They wish you to continue your vigilance, and to apply for instructions
+on any point on which you may require them.  They are, however, in
+addition, particularly anxious to impress on you, that while Her
+Majesty's Government are determined on preserving the rights, both of
+government and of commerce, which belong to this country, and while they
+have it in contemplation to furnish you with such a force as they may be
+able to detach for your assistance and support in the preservation of
+law and order, it is no part of their policy to exclude Americans and
+other foreigners from the gold fields.  On the contrary, you are
+distinctly instructed to oppose no obstacle whatever to their resort
+thither for the purpose of digging in those fields, so long as they
+submit themselves, in common with the subjects of Her Majesty, to the
+recognition of her authority, and conform to such rules of police as you
+may have thought proper to establish.  The national right to navigate
+Fraser River is, of course, a separate question, and one which Her
+Majesty's Government must reserve.
+
+Under the circumstance of so large an immigration of Americans into
+English territory, I need hardly impress upon you the importance of
+caution and delicacy in dealing with those manifold cases of
+international relationship and feeling which are certain to arise; and
+which, but for the exercise of temper and discretion, might easily lead
+to serious complications between two neighbouring and powerful states.
+
+It is impossible by this mail to furnish you with any instructions of a
+more definite character.  Her Majesty's Government must leave much to
+your discretion on this most important subject; and they rely upon your
+exercising whatever influence and powers you may possess in the manner
+which from local knowledge and experience you conceive to be best
+calculated to give development to the new country, and to advance
+imperial interests.  I have, etcetera, (Signed) E. Bulwer Lytton.
+
+Governor Douglas, etcetera, etcetera.
+
+CHARTER INCORPORATING THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
+
+In 1670, a royal charter was granted by Charles the Second, for
+incorporating the Hudson's Bay Company.  The grant to the company was of
+"the sole trade and commerce of all those seas, straits, bays, rivers,
+lakes, creeks, and sounds, in whatsoever latitude they shall be, that
+lie within the entrance of the straits, commonly called Hudson's
+Straits, together with all the lands and territories upon the countries,
+coasts, and confines of the seas, bays, lakes, rivers, creeks and sounds
+aforesaid, that are not already actually possessed by or granted to any
+of our subjects, or possessed by the subjects of any other Christian
+prince or State, with the fishing of all sorts of fish, whales,
+sturgeons, and all other royal fishes in the seas, bays, inlets, and
+rivers within the premises; and the fish therein taken, together with
+the royalty of the sea upon the coasts within the limits aforesaid, and
+all mines royal, as well discovered as not discovered, of gold, silver,
+gems, and precious stones to be found or discovered within the
+territories, limits, and places aforesaid;" and the charter declares
+that "the said land be from henceforth reckoned as one of our
+plantations or colonies in America, called Rupert's Land."
+
+COMPARISON BETWEEN PRICE OF LABOUR IN AUSTRALIA AND CALIFORNIA OR
+BRITISH COLUMBIA.
+
+_From the Times' Correspondent_.
+
+I take the wages in Australia from a Melbourne paper of 16th March,
+which gives the wages current at that time!  I received it direct a few
+days ago.  I reduce our American currency into sterling at 48 pence to
+the dollar, that being about its current value here.
+
+_Melbourne Wages_.
+
+Married couples (servants), 60 pounds to 70 pounds per annum; female
+servants, 25 pounds to 30 pounds per annum; gardeners, 55 pounds to 60
+pounds per annum; grooms, 40 pounds to 50 pounds a-year; carpenters, 12
+shillings to 14 shillings per day; ditto, rough, 25 shillings to 30
+shillings per week; masons and bricklayers, 10 shillings to 15 shillings
+per day; waiters, 20 shillings to 25 shillings per week; compositors, 1
+shilling 4 pence per 1000; blacksmiths, 40 shillings per week; farm
+labourers, 15 shillings to 20 shillings per week; shepherds, 20 pounds
+to 25 pounds a-year.
+
+_California Wages_.
+
+Married couples (servants), 192 pounds per annum, and found; female
+servants, 80 pounds to 96 pounds, and kept; gardeners, 120 pounds
+a-year, and found; by the day, 3 dollars, now 4 dollars; young men in
+stables as grooms, 120 pounds a-year, and found, 16 pounds a month and
+find themselves; carpenters, with us till lately 1 pound a-day, now 28
+shillings a-day; "rough" and smooth, I never knew any difference--and
+all bad; masons and bricklayers at lowest time, 25 shillings a-day, here
+at present 35 shillings a-day; waiters, 6 pounds to 8 pounds a-month in
+San Francisco; compositors, 2 shillings 10 and a half pence per 1000
+type, our types double size; blacksmiths, 3 pounds 12 shillings to 6
+pounds a-week; general rate, 5 dollars a day; farm labourers, 6 pounds
+a-month, and found, and only work from 7 o'clock to 6 o'clock, with two
+hours for meals; shepherds, 144 pounds, 10 shillings a-year, and found;
+a competent shepherd worth 240 pounds a-year, and found; or, to serve on
+shares of increase of stock, on very liberal terms.
+
+All provisions except animal food, are cheaper in San Francisco than in
+Melbourne.
+
+TREATY MADE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN IN REGARD TO THE
+LIMITS WESTWARD OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, JUNE 15, 1846.
+
+Article 1.  From the point on the forty-ninth parallel of north
+latitude, where the boundary laid down in existing treaties and
+conventions between the United States and Great Britain, terminates, the
+line of boundary between the territories of the United States and those
+of her Britannic Majesty shall be continued westward along the said
+forty-ninth parallel of north, latitude to the middle of the channel
+which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island, and thence
+southerly through the middle of the said channel, and of Fuca's Straits,
+to the Pacific ocean: Provided, however, that the navigation of the
+whole of the said channel and straits, south of the forty-ninth parallel
+of north latitude, remain free and open to both parties.
+
+Article 2.  From the point at which the forty-ninth parallel of north
+latitude shall be found to intersect the great northern branch of the
+Columbia River, the navigation of the said branch shall be free and open
+to the Hudson's Bay Company, and to all British subjects trading with
+the same, to the point where the said branch meets the main stream of
+the Columbia, and thence down the said main stream to the ocean, with
+free access into and through the said river or rivers, it being
+understood that all the usual portages along the line thus described
+shall, in like manner, be free and open.  In navigating the said river
+or rivers, British subjects, with their goods and produce, shall be
+treated on the same footing as citizens of the United States; it being,
+however, always understood that nothing in this article shall be
+construed as preventing or intended to prevent, the government of the
+United States from making any regulations respecting the navigation of
+the said river or rivers not inconsistent with the present treaty.
+
+Article 3.  In the future appropriation of the territory south of the
+forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, as provided in the first article
+of this treaty, the possessory rights of the Hudson's Bay Company, and
+of all British subjects who may be already in the occupation of land or
+other property, lawfully acquired within the said territory, shall be
+respected.
+
+Article 4.  The farms, lands, and other property of every description,
+belonging to the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, on the north side
+of the Columbia River, shall be confirmed to the said company.  In case,
+however, the situation of those farms and lands should be considered by
+the United States to be of public and political importance, and the
+United States Government should signify a desire to obtain possession of
+the whole, or of any part thereof, the property so required shall be
+transferred to the said government, at a proper valuation, to be agreed
+upon between the parties.
+
+FORM OF LICENCE GRANTED TO DIGGERS.
+
+The bearer having paid to me the sum of twenty-one shillings on account
+of the territorial revenue, I hereby license him to dig, search for, and
+remove gold on and from any such crown land within the --- of --- as I
+shall assign to him for that purpose during the month of ---, 185--.
+
+This licence must be produced whenever demanded by me or any other
+person acting under the authority of the Government.  A.B.,
+Commissioner.
+
+PROCLAMATION ISSUED BY GOVERNOR DOUGLAS.
+
+On the 8th day of May 1858, Governor Douglas issued the following
+proclamation:--
+
+By his Excellency James Douglas, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the
+colony of Vancouver's Island and its dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of
+the same, etcetera, etcetera.
+
+Whereas it is commonly reported that certain boats and other vessels
+have entered Fraser River for trade; and whereas there is reason to
+apprehend that other persons are preparing and fitting out boats and
+vessels for the same purpose.
+
+Now, therefore, I have issued this my proclamation, warning all persona
+that such acts are contrary to law, and infringements upon the rights of
+the Hudson's Bay Company, who are legally entitled to trade with the
+Indians in the British possessions on the north-west coast of America,
+to the exclusion of all other persons, whether British or foreign.
+
+And also, that after fourteen days from the date of this my
+proclamation, all ships, boats, and vessels, together with the goods
+laden on board found in Fraser River, or in any of the bays, rivers, or
+creeks of the said British possessions on the north-west coast of
+America, not having a licence, from the Hudson's Bay Company, and a
+sufferance from the proper officer of the customs at Victoria, shall be
+liable to forfeiture, and will be seized and condemned according to law.
+
+Given under my hand and seal at Government House, Victoria, this eighth
+day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
+fifty-eight, and in the twenty-first year of Her Majesty's reign.
+
+James Douglas, Governor.
+
+By his Excellency's command, Richard Colledge, Secretary.
+
+God save the Queen.
+
+GENERAL SUFFERANCE FOR THE NAVIGATION OF FRASER RIVER.
+
+Port Victoria, Vancouver's Island.
+
+These are to certify, to all whom it doth concern, that the sufferance
+for the present voyage is granted on the condition annexed to ---,
+master of the ---, burthen --- tons, mounted with --- guns, navigated
+with --- men, to proceed on a voyage to Fort Langley with passengers,
+their luggage, provisions, and mining tools.  The above-mentioned
+--- register being deposited in the custom house at Victoria, hath here
+entered and cleared his said --- according to law.
+
+Roderick Finlayson, _Pro_ Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+_Conditions of Sufferance_.
+
+1.  That the owner of the boat does bind himself to receive no other
+goods on board but such goods as belong to the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+2.  That the said owner also binds himself not to convey or import
+gunpowder, ammunition, or utensils of war, except from the United
+Kingdom.
+
+3.  That he also binds himself to receive no passengers, except the said
+passengers do produce a gold mining licence and permit from the
+Government at Vancouver's Island.
+
+4.  That the said owner also binds himself not to trade with Indians.
+
+ADVANTAGES POSSESSED BY BRITISH COLUMBIA OVER AUSTRALIA AS A FIELD FOR
+EMIGRATION.
+
+_From the Times' Correspondent_.
+
+From Australia, too, the emigration will be large.  In that country the
+cream has already been skimmed off the "placers."  The efflorescence of
+gold near the surface has been dug out, hence the results of individual
+exertions are becoming less promising; and the miner is a restless,
+excitable creature, whose love of freedom and independence indisposes
+him to associate himself in enterprises requiring an aggregation of
+capital and labour.  He prefers to work "on his own hook," or with one
+or two "chums" at most.  This is the feeling in this country.  There is
+another cause which will bring vast numbers of miners from Australia,
+and that is the great scarcity of water--a desideratum of the first
+importance.  This first necessary for mining, operations exists in
+abundance at all seasons in the new El Dorado, and this fact alone will
+attract additional miners to it from every mining country and locality
+in which water is scarce.  Another great objection to Australia is the
+impossibility of acquiring land in fee in small parcels at or near to
+the mines.  Many men take to mining as a means of making sufficient
+money to buy farming implements and stock with.  As soon as this object
+is accomplished, they abandon mining for farming.  Did not California
+afford the means of gratifying this wish, thousands of our miners would
+have left the country.  As it is, with abundance of good land to be had
+cheap, I have found that a large proportion of the farms in the interior
+of this country are owned by farmers who bought them with the produce of
+their labour in the mines.  The same advantages can be obtained in the
+new gold country, there being plenty of good land in the British
+territory in the neighbourhood and on Vancouver's Island.  It is to be
+hoped the Government will make the price reasonable.
+
+PRICES OF PROVISIONS, ETCETERA, AT THE GOLD FIELDS.
+
+The following tariff of charges, collected by the _Times'_
+correspondent, is now only valuable in a historical point of view, as,
+under the healthy competition of the Californian merchants, prices have
+already found their own level:--
+
+"Canoes are very scarce; the price has risen from 50 dollars and 80
+dollars to 100 dollars each.  Many parties have built light boats for
+themselves, but they did not answer."
+
+"We have got up, but we had a hard time coming."
+
+"Jordan is a hard road to travel; lost all our outfit, except flour.
+Our canoe was capsized in the falls, and was broken to pieces.  Six
+other canoes capsized and smashed the same day near the same place.
+Poor whites and two Indians belonging to these six canoes drowned."
+
+Provisions high up the river are exorbitant of course, as they can only
+be brought up in canoes requiring long "portages."  Here's the tariff at
+Sailor's Bar and other Bars:--"Flour, 100 dollars a-barrel, worth in San
+Francisco 11 to 12 dollars; molasses, 6 dollars a-gallon; pork, 1 dollar
+per pound; ham, 1 dollar 25 cents per pound; tea at one place, 1 dollar
+per pound, but at another, 4 dollars; sugar, 2 dollars per pound; beans,
+1 dollar per pound; picks, 6 dollars; and shovels, 2 dollars each.
+There were no fresh provisions."  I should have been greatly surprised
+to hear that there had been.
+
+"At Fort Hope there was nothing to be had but dried salmon."
+
+"At Fort Langley plenty of black flour at 9 dollars a-hundred, and salt
+salmon, four for 1 dollar."  What lively visions of scurvy these
+provisions conjure up!  The acme of extravagance was not arrived at,
+however, until the poor miner came to purchase auxiliaries to his
+rocker.  At Sailor's Bar "rocker irons were at an ounce of gold each (16
+dollars), and at Hill's Bar, 30 dollars each."  This "iron" is simply a
+plate of thin sheet-iron, measuring 18 inches by 20 inches, perforated
+with round holes to let the loose dirt pass through.  I priced one of
+them, out of curiosity, at a carpenter's shop in San Francisco this
+morning--2 and a half dollars.  In England this thing would be worth 2
+shillings.  At Sailor's Bar it would be worth 3 pounds, 4 shillings, and
+at Hill's Bar it would fetch 6 pounds.  Quicksilver was also
+outrageously high, but not being of such prime necessity as "rocker
+irons," didn't come up to their standard of value.  At one place it was
+sold at 10 dollars per pound; but at Fort Langley a man bought one
+pound, paying 15 dollars for it, and had to carry it a great distance.
+The price in San Francisco is 60 cents the pound (half-a-crown), and on
+Fraser's River, 3 pounds.  "Nails brought, from 1 dollar to 1 dollar 50
+cents per pound.  One lot of a dozen pounds brought 3 dollars, or two
+bits a-nail," which, being interpreted into Queen's English, means 1
+shilling a-nail!  These are some of the outgoings which tax the miner's
+earnings in a new unpeopled country; but these are not his only
+drawbacks.  "There being no boards to be had, we had perforce to go in
+the woods and fell and hew out our lumber to make a rocker," causing
+much loss of time.  Then came the hunt for nails and for the
+indispensable perforated "iron," which cost so much.  But worst of all
+the ills of the miner's life in New Caledonia are the jealousy and
+audacious thieving of the Indians, "who are nowise particular, in
+seizing on the dirt of the miners."
+
+"The whites" being in the minority, and the Indians being a fierce
+athletic set of rascals, "suffered much annoyance and insult" without
+retaliating.  What a trial to the temper of Oregon men who used to shoot
+all Indians who came within range of their rifle as vermin in California
+in 1848 and 1849!
+
+The difficulties of access to the mines will soon be ameliorated, as
+small steamers are to be put on the river, to ply as far up as the
+rapids will permit them; but as to the Indian difficulties, it is much
+to be feared they will increase until a military force is sent into the
+country to overawe them.  The prices of provisions and of mining tools
+and other necessaries will soon be regulated by the competition of the
+San Francisco merchants, and the miners will not be long subjected to
+exorbitant rates.  They have a vast advantage in the proximity of San
+Francisco, abounding, as it does, in supplies for all their wants.  When
+I recall our early troubles and victimisings, I almost cease to pity the
+victims of the "rocker irons," at 6 pounds a-plate.  In 1849 I paid 1
+dollar 50 cents for the simple luxury of a fresh egg.  I might have had
+one laid on the Atlantic board, or in Chile or the Sandwich Islands, for
+less, it is true; but these required French cookery to "disguise" their
+true state and condition, and I being then "fresh" myself was somewhat
+particular.  Even this did not cap the climax, for I paid a sum in
+American currency equal to 16 pounds sterling for a pair of boots the
+day I was burnt out by the first fire--in the same year.  And such a
+pair!  They were navvy's boots, and worth in England about 15 shillings.
+The New Caledonians must not complain, for we have endured more (and
+survived it too) than they are likely to suffer.
+
+TABLE OF DISTANCES FROM VICTORIA (VANCOUVER'S ISLAND) TO THE LOWER
+PORTION OF THE MINES.
+
+The estimates may be relied upon as very nearly correct.
+
++===================================================+========+
+|                                                   |Miles.  |
++---------------------------------------------------+--------+
+|To mouth of Fraser River across the Gulf of Georgia|      90|
++---------------------------------------------------+--------+
+|To Fort Langley (HBC posts on Fraser River)        |25 to 30|
++---------------------------------------------------+--------+
+|To Fort Hope (HBC posts on Fraser River)           |      67|
++---------------------------------------------------+--------+
+|To Fort Yale (HBC posts on Fraser River)           |      12|
++===================================================+========+
+
+Steam navigation is established throughout.  The steamer _Surprise_
+performed the trip from Victoria to Fort Hope in twenty-four hours; her
+return trip occupied fifteen and a-half hours running time.
+
+THE BILL FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES.
+
+A Bill to provide, until the thirty-first day of December, one thousand
+eight hundred and sixty-two, for the government of New Caledonia.
+
+Whereas divers of Her Majesty's subjects and others have, by the licence
+and consent of Her Majesty, resorted to and settled on certain wild and
+unoccupied territories on the north-west coast of North America,
+commonly known by the designation of New Caledonia, and the islands
+adjacent, for mining and other purposes; and it is desirable to make
+some temporary provision for the civil government of such territories
+until permanent settlements shall be thereupon established, and the
+number of colonists increased: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's
+most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords
+spiritual and temporal and Commons, in this present Parliament
+assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:--
+
+I.  New Caledonia shall, for the purposes of this Act, be held to
+comprise all such territories within the dominions of Her Majesty as are
+bounded to the south by the frontier of the United States of America, to
+the east by the watershed between the streams which flow into the
+Pacific Ocean, and those which flow into the Atlantic and icy oceans, to
+the north by the 55th parallel of north latitude, and to the west by the
+Pacific Ocean, and shall include Queen Charlotte's Island and all other
+islands adjacent to the said territories, except as hereinafter
+excepted.
+
+II.  It shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by any order or orders to be by
+her from time to time made, with the advice of her Privy Council, to
+make, ordain, or establish, and (subject to such conditions or
+restrictions as to her shall seem meet) to authorise and empower such
+officer as she may from time to time appoint to administer the
+government of New Caledonia, to make provision for the administration of
+justice therein, and generally to make, ordain, and establish all such
+laws, institutions, and ordinances, as may be necessary for the peace,
+order, and good government of Her Majesty's subjects and others therein;
+provided that all such orders in council, and all laws and ordinances so
+to be made as aforesaid, shall be laid before both houses of Parliament
+as soon as conveniently may be after the making and enactment thereof
+respectively.
+
+III.  Provided always, that it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, so soon
+as she may deem it convenient by any such order in Council as aforesaid,
+to constitute or authorise and empower such officer to constitute a
+Legislature to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of
+New Caledonia, such Legislature to consist of the Governor and a
+Council, or Council and Assembly, to be composed of such and so many
+persons, and to be appointed or elected such manner and in for such
+periods, and subject to such regulations, as to Her Majesty may seem
+expedient.
+
+IV.  And whereas an Act was passed in the forty-third year of King
+George the Third, entitled "An Act for extending the jurisdiction of the
+courts of justice in the Provinces of Lower and Upper Canada to the
+trial and punishment of persons guilty of crimes and offences within
+certain parts of North America adjoining to the said Provinces:" And
+whereas by an Act passed in the second year of King George the Fourth,
+entitled "An Act for regulating the fur trade, and establishing a
+criminal and civil jurisdiction, within certain parts of North America,"
+it was enacted, that from and after the passing of that Act the courts
+of judicature then existing or which might be thereafter established in
+the Province of Upper Canada, should have the same civil jurisdiction,
+power, and authority, within the Indian territories and other parts of
+America not within the limits of either of the Provinces of Lower or
+Upper Canada or any civil government of the United States, as the said
+courts had or were invested with within the limits of the said Provinces
+of Upper or Lower Canada respectively, and that every contract,
+agreement, debt liability, and demand made, entered into, incurred, or
+arising within the said Indian territories and other parts of America,
+and every wrong and injury to the person or to property committed or
+done within the same, should be, and be deemed to be, of the same
+nature, and be cognisable, and be tried in the same manner, and subject
+to the same consequences in all respects, as if the same had been made,
+entered into, incurred, arisen, committed, or done within the said
+Province of Upper Canada; and in the same Acts are contained provisions
+for giving force, authority, and effect within the said Indian
+territories and other parts of America to the process and acts of the
+said Courts of Upper Canada; and it was thereby also enacted, that it
+should be lawful for His Majesty, if he should deem it convenient so to
+do, to issue a commission, or commissions, to any person or persons to
+be and act as justices of the peace within such parts of America as
+aforesaid, as well within any territories theretofore granted to the
+company of adventurers of England trading to the Hudson's Bay as within
+the Indian territories of such other parts of America as aforesaid; and
+it was further enacted, that it should be lawful for His Majesty, from
+time to time, by any commission under the great seal, to authorise and
+empower any such persons so appointed justices of the peace as aforesaid
+to sit and hold courts of record for the trial of criminal offences and
+misdemeanours, and also of civil causes, and it should be lawful for His
+Majesty to order, direct, and authorise the appointment of proper
+officers to act in aid of such courts and justices within the
+jurisdiction assigned to such courts and justices in any such
+commission, provided that such courts should not try any offender upon
+any charge or indictment for any felony made the subject of capital
+punishment, or for any offence, or passing sentence affecting the life
+of any offender, or adjudge or cause any offender to suffer, capital
+punishment or transportation, or take cognisance of or try any civil
+action or suit in which the cause, of such suit or action should exceed
+in value the amount or sum of two hundred pounds, and in every case of
+any offence subjecting the person committing the same to capital
+punishment or transportation, the court, or any judge of any such court,
+or any justice or justices of the peace before whom any such offender
+should be brought, should commit such offender to safe custody, and
+cause such offender to be sent in such custody for trial in the court of
+the Province of Upper Canada.
+
+From and after the proclamation of this Act in New Caledonia the said
+Act of the forty-third year of King George the Third, and the said
+recited provisions of the said Act of the second year of King George the
+Fourth, and the provisions contained in such Act for giving force,
+authority, and effect within the Indian territories and other parts of
+America to the process and acts of the said courts of Upper Canada,
+shall cease to have force in and to be applicable to New Caledonia.
+
+V.  Provided always, that all judgments given in any civil suit in New
+Caledonia shall be subject to appeal to Her Majesty in Council, in the
+manner, and subject to the regulations in and subject to which appeals
+are now brought from the civil courts of Canada, and to such further or
+other regulations as Her Majesty, with the advice of her Privy Council,
+shall from time to time appoint.
+
+VI.  No part of the colony of Vancouver's Island, as at present
+established, shall be comprised within New Caledonia, for the purpose of
+this Act; but it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, her heirs and
+successors, on receiving at any time during the continuance of this Act,
+a joint address from the two houses of the Legislature of Vancouver's
+Island, praying for the incorporation of that island with New Caledonia,
+by order to be made as aforesaid, with the advice of her Privy Council,
+to annex the said island to New Caledonia, subject to such conditions
+and regulations, as to Her Majesty shall seem expedient; and thereupon,
+and from the date of the publication of such order, in the said island,
+or such other date as may be fixed in such order, the provisions of this
+Act shall be held to apply to Vancouver's Island.
+
+VII.  In the construction of this Act the term "Governor" shall mean the
+person for the time being lawfully administering the government of New
+Caledonia.
+
+VIII.  This Act shall continue in force until the thirty-first day of
+December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and thenceforth to
+the end of the then next session of Parliament.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Handbook to the new Gold-fields, by 
+R. M. Ballantyne
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