1885.] SETTLING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. 99 



The canning of salmon, chiefly for exportation to England, has 

 not been very profitable for the last year or two. The supply lias 

 outrun the demand. If a method could be adopted by which ivliole 

 salmon could be successfully canned, there would be great hope for 

 the revival of this industry. 



About 7 5 miles to the north of Victoria, on the coast, is Nanaimo, 

 a mining town in the centre of a great coal district. The most 

 important mines that are at present Avorked in British Columbia are 

 at Wellington, six miles from ISTanaimo. An island railway which 

 should connect Victoria and Nanaimo, and facilitate communication 

 with the Central Pacific Eailway terminus on the mainland has long 

 been talked of, and last summer the country was surveyed for this 

 purpose, and the line projected. The railway is being constructed 

 by a syndicate, composed chiefly of American capitalists, but with 

 Mr. Eobert Dunsmuir, of this province, the proprietor of the 

 Wellington coal mines, as president. The chief engineer of the line 

 is Mr. Joseph Hunter, whose father laid out the grounds of Bal- 

 moral, under the supervision of the late Prince Consort. The 

 contracts for clearing and making the roadway have all been given 

 out, and it is expected that the line will be open for traffic within 

 two years. A line of steamers is certain to connect Coal Harbour, 

 on the mainland, either with Nanaimo or Chemainus on the island 

 coast ; and it will then be seen whether Victoria will retain her pre- 

 eminence in the province, or whether for business purposes she will 

 be superseded by Vancouver, as the Pacific terminus of the Central 

 Pacific Eailway has been named. Her natural position and her 

 climate will always make Victoria the favourite place of residence. 

 She is styled a " city of homes " by her American neighbours. 

 There are but few houses of any pretensions to size or magnificence 

 in the rambling suburbs ; but spacious one-storeyed cottages, with 

 verandahs, overgrown with honeysuckle and trailing roses, have 

 hitherto been the favourite dwelling-houses. The difficulty of 

 getting domestic help has probably been one cause of their popularity ; 

 but for beauty and picturesqueness the commonplace villas which 

 are now being built cannot compare with them. However, I must 

 not abuse the villas, for one of them has been converted by us into 

 a very pleasant home. 



The climate of Victoria resembles that of the south of England. 

 When we arrived in March, crocuses, snowdrops, and daffodils were 

 blooming in the gardens, and the smell of; sweet violets filled the 

 air. Within a month the cherry and then the apple trees were in 

 blossom, and there was scarcely a corner of the town where they 

 were not to be seen. Sweetbriar and wild dogroses covered every 

 old fence, and overran the sides of the gutters. Only for a fort-' 



