142 REPORT ON THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. 



have been frequently wrecked on the northwest coast, and iu 1831 one 

 of these junks was 'wrecked on the Queen Charlotte Islands, and we have 

 records which show that in 1G94 a Japanese junk was wrecked on the 

 Kamtchatkau coast. And at various intervals since that date we find 

 five junks reported as being wrecked on the northwest coast, previous 

 to the one I have mentioned in 1831. It is therefore easy to assume as 

 a logical conclusion that the tusks of the babyroussa were procured 

 from the wreck of some one of those old junks and became the property 

 of the old shaman, and from their rarity were considered a highly 

 prized medicine, which were buried with their owner as some of his 

 treasures. 



During my visit at Masset I went up the inlet and made several col- 

 lections in natural history. I also took occasion to study the manners 

 and customs of the Indians, which will be illustrated and explained iu 

 my future report. 



I remained at Masset until August 6, having been detained two weeks 

 waiting the return of the Indian who was to take me to North Island 

 and around the west coast to Skidegate. Everything being ready, I left 

 Masset on Monday, August 6, at 8.30 a. m., in a large canoe with seven 

 Indians, two of whom were boys thirteen or fourteen years of age. 



The canoe was owned and commanded by "Edinso," chief of North 

 Island, where I wished particularly to make examinations. Edinso for- 

 merly lived at a village called Kioosta, on the northwest end of Gra- 

 ham Island, opposite North Island. We camjied that night at Yatze 

 village, a little to the west of Virago Sound, and the next morning, 

 August 7, at 5 o'clock, we broke cami) and proceeded to Jalun River, 

 where we stopped for breakfast, the Indians meanwhile having speared 

 ten humpback salmon {0. gorbuscha). 



At this place is a singular exhibit of volcanic action ; the lava had 

 burst up through the superincumbent rocks as though the region had 

 boiled like a pot. The lava was of a brick-red color, and in some places 

 a pale sulphur yellow, and filled with bowlders and pebbles of stone 

 blackened outside with the heat, and looking like a gigantic plum pud- 

 ding. This is the first instance I have seen of such an evident volcanic 

 action on the direct sea-beach. 



From Jalun Eiver we passed on leisurely, examining the shore from 

 the canoe as we went. At 1.30 we i>assed the pillar rock at Pillar Point, 

 and I made a sketch of the pillar, which shows quite different from Pro- 

 fessor Dawson's sketch made from the shore, and gives a better idea of 

 the surrounding country. 



At 2 p. m. we went ashore in Parry Passage and gathered some speci- 

 mens of shells, principally Heliotis and Pecten. I took the tempera- 

 ture of the water in Parry Passage, and found it 54°, air 60°, barometer 

 30, 31, and at 4 p. m. we landed at Kioosta village, where I pitched 

 my tent and remained till the 14th, visiting in the meantime North 

 Island, Cloak Bay, and two burial caves, iu one of which I found a 



