REPORT ON THE QUEEN CBARLOTTE ISLANDS. 130 



his cannery, where some fifty Indians, men and women, were engaged 

 canning salmon. Eveiytbing was scrupulously neat and clean, and the 

 whole work done with a precision and exactness which showed that 

 Indians can be taught to do such kind of work, and, when taught, are 

 as capable as a majority of white men, and are far preferable to Chinese. 

 Mr. Duncan next wished me to visit his church, which I desired very 

 much to do, but just then the whistle of the old steamer Otter gave the 

 signal for departure, and, escorted by Mr. Duncan, I returned on board, 

 and at 8.15 a. m. we left for the Hudson Bay Company's post at Fort 

 Simpson, where we arrived at 12 o'clock noon. 



Fort Simpson is situated on the mainland but a few miles south of 

 the boundary between British Columbia and Alaska. It is one of the 

 principal trading posts of the company, and is under charge of Mr. K. H. 

 Hall, from whom I purchased a quantity of Indian manufactures in 

 carved stone, to be sent by him to Victoria for me. I also saw Eev. 

 Thomas Crosby, Wesleyau missionary, from whom I purchased several 

 articles made by Tsimseau Indians, and then went with him to visit his 

 church and school. I found a marked improvement in the appearance 

 of Fort Simpson since I visited it seven years ago in the U. S. S. 

 " Wolcott." The old unsightly Indian houses of former days had been 

 removed, and a prettj" village of neat cottages surrounds the fine chur<;h, 

 and gives evidence of the skill and taste of the Indians, when encour- 

 aged by intelligent sympathy, to emulate the dwellings of white men. 

 The general effect of the village, when viewed from the anchorage, is 

 very pleasing, and would be creditable to any of our frontier towns. 



At 1.30 p. M. we left Fort Simpson for Fort Wrangel, Alaska, where 

 we arrived the next morning (Saturday, 23d) at 8 o'clock. 



At Fort Wrangel I purchased several articles of Indian manufacture, 

 and saw many more, but as they all came from Queen Charlotte Islands, 

 where I was going, I concluded to make my purchases there. Having 

 finislied our business at Fort Wrangel we were ready to leave at noon, but 

 there being a very heavy sea and stormy SE. gale of wind all day we re- 

 mained until the next morning (Sunday, 24th). At 3 o'clock we started 

 and ran down Stachinski Strait into Duke of Clarence Strait, where we 

 encountered a stormy head wind and heavy head sea, which retarded 

 our progress till the next morning (Monday the 25th), when we had a 

 terrific time with a stormy tide-rip and SE. gale, which tossed the old 

 steamer as if she were an egg-shell. At 2 p. m. the wind and sea went 

 down and we soon got out of Clarence Strait into Dixon's Entrance and 

 ran across to Masset Inlet, north end of Graham Island, and anchored 

 off the Hudson Bay Company's post at Uttewas village, two miles up 

 the inlet, where I was kindly and most hospitably received by Alex- 

 ander McKenzie, esq., the company's agent at Masset, who furnished 

 me comfortable quarters in a cottage within the company's inclosure. 



Masset is a very pretty place, situated on the east side of Masset Inlet. 

 The land is low and level, and covered with dense foliage of evergreen 



