36 FIRST CAMP OF BOUNDARY COMMISSION. 



CHAPTER II. 



VICTORIA THE SALMON: ITS HAUNTS AND HABITS. 



WE were landed, soon after our arrival, on a rocky 

 point of land with a snug sheltered bay on each 

 side ; an easy slope led up to the frame of a house, 

 destined to be our headquarters; a pretty spot, 

 very Englishlike in its general features, but in 

 the rough clothing of uncultivated nature. Tents 

 were pitched, the baggage carried safely up and 

 stowed away, and the first camp of the Boundary 

 Commission established in this new land of 

 promise. 



Our first walk to Victoria, now the thriving 

 capital of Vancouver Island, was made on the 

 evening of our landing. The gold-fever was 

 just beginning to rage fast and furiously, and 

 all classes, from every country, were 'pouring in 

 a very torrent of gold-hunters. Not that gold- 

 hunter means only he that digs and washes the 

 yellow ore from out Nature's treasury, but in- 

 cludes a herd of parasites, that sap the gains of 

 the honest digger ; tempting him to gamble, drink 



