38 VICTOEIA AS IT WAS. 



water-sites were obtainable, the noise of busy in- 

 dustry sounded pleasantly in contrast to the 

 mingled hubbub I had just left. Higher up the 

 slope, substantial stores were being rapidly built. 

 Out of these germs grew the present town the 

 capital of the island, that we shall often have to 

 visit in the course of this narrative. 



With the island, and its history as a colony, I 

 have but little to do. Other and more able 

 writers have said all that need or can be told 

 about its commerce, agriculture, politics, and 

 progress. The prairie, forest, lake, river, sea, 

 estuary, and rocky inlet are my domains; to 

 their tenants I have to introduce you, guide 

 you to their homes and haunts, and bring you 

 face to face, in imagination, with the zoological 



O Q 



colony of the Far North-west. 



First, of the island. Vancouver Island is situ- 

 ated between the parallels of 48 20" and 51 

 N. lat., and in from 123 to 128 W. long its 

 shape, oblong; length, 300 miles; its breadth, 

 varying at different points, may be taken at an 

 average of from 35 to 50 miles. The island may 

 be characterised as an isolated ridge of moun- 

 tains, which attain, at their greatest elevation, an 

 altitude of about 6,000 feet. There are no navi- 

 gable rivers, but numerous mountain- streams, 



