THE DROWNED MURDERER. 341 



were engaged in blasting the rock where the road 

 was to pass round the face of a bluff, and eight 

 or ten miles more brought us to the point where 

 the road crosses to the eastern bank of the Thomp- 

 son. At this place, called Cook's Ferry, we stayed 

 a night, and before we started in the morning some 

 Indians came in with the news that they had found 

 a dead body stranded on the shallows close by. 

 We went to look at it with Mr. McKay, and from 

 certain marks tattooed upon the arm, and a com- 

 plete correspondence with the published description, 

 we were satisfied that it was the body of the 

 murderer who had so long escaped pursuit The 

 man had probably attempted to swim across the 

 river in the night-time, and been drowned in the 

 rapids. Thus the only two men who had ever 

 attempted highway robbery in this colony — as 

 far as we could ascertain — failed to escape. The 

 extraordinary rarity of crimes of violence in British 

 Columbia is owing, we believe, in great measure, 

 to the vigorous administration of the late Governor, 

 Sir James Douglas, and the stern justice meted 

 out by Mr. Justice Begbie ; but also in part, no 

 doubt, to the nature of the country. Shut in on 

 every side by impassable mountain barriers, the 

 few outlets which exist are easily watched, and the 

 criminal has small chance of ultimate escape. 



From Cook's Ferry the road continues to follow 

 the eastern bank of the Thom.pson to its junction 

 with the Fraser at Lytton— twenty- three miles; it 

 is then continued along the same side of the Fraser 



