LETTER XIV. 153 



ticton, whose nursery, if it has not all the advan- 

 tages of home, possesses such means of whiling 

 away the winter evenings as compensate for any 

 children's pleasures which the young Alisons 

 may lose. For at Princetown, ' when the cold 

 north winds blow, and the long howling of the 

 wolves is heard amidst the snow,' when the ribs 

 of the lordly buck which the boys shot in the 

 morning are roasting on the embers, the door 

 opens quietly, and soft-footed old Quilltasket 

 comes in, his brown eyes bright and keen, and 

 his short square figure clothed in deer-skins and 

 fur, his old wrinkled brown face looking quainter 

 than ever in the flickering firelight. He is the 

 historian of his tribe, an historian who tells his 

 legends, not in dead written words, but in lively 

 speech illustrated by appropriate action. From him 

 and others of his tribe Mrs. Alison has collected all 

 that seems to be known of the Similkameen clan. 

 Unlike the Indians of Oregon and Washington 

 territory, the Indians of British Columbia gene- 

 rally appear to have always been peaceful and 

 law-abiding. This is due, say the white settlers, 

 to the fact that even-handed justice has always 

 been administered in British Columbia between 

 white men and red ; and in corroboration of this, 

 I remember to have heard grumblings amongst 

 the white men, to the effect that a ' darned Injun 



