MR. O B. TURNS UP AGAIN. 349 



but, although the land is fertile enough, the expense 

 of clearing it is so heavy that but little farming has 

 been carried out. The place is still unsightly, from 

 the stumps of trees sticking up on every side. The 

 river is navigable to this point for vessels drawing 

 eighteen or twenty feet of water, and, should direct 

 communication be established with England, it may 

 eventually rival Victoria. As yet, however, it is 

 completely eclipsed by that more favoured city. 



Staying only one night in New Westminster, 

 we took our passages on board the Enterprise for 

 Victoria, Vancouver Island, on the 19th of Septem- 

 ber. We were presently surprised by encountering 

 Mr. O'B., who had come by way of Lilloet and 

 Douglas. He was wonderfully altered since we 

 parted from him a week before. He, like ourselves, 

 had become somewhat corpulent, and had quite 

 regained his spirits, and the loquacity which had 

 flagged so notably during our journey through the 

 forest. 



On entering the Gulf of Georgia, Mount Baker, 

 a magnificent snow-clad peak, about 10,700 feet 

 in height, comes into view in the east, and the 

 thousand islands of the gulf, rocky or richly wooded, 

 offer a succession of beauties which render this 

 voyage to Victoria one of the most charming in the 

 world. We reached our destination about dark, 

 and immediately betook ourselves to the Hotel de 

 France. The proprietor, however, mistrusting our 

 leather shirts, and total want of luggage, declared 

 he had no room, and we moved off disconsolate. 



