10 



periodic housing and treatment of the force of mules 

 which trundle the coal cars in the dark roadways be- 

 low. For want of room in the stables of No. i shaft 

 some of the mules are now brought up and enjoy their 

 shelter and rest above. The hauling of the large 

 quantities of lumber and pit wood and the delivery 

 of all kinds of goods, provender and machinery to 

 various works and different parts of the company's 

 estate makes a service of horses and waggons a need- 

 ful requisite. The animals and plant on view at the 

 stables will satisfy even an exacting connoisseur. 

 Then the company have a farm, of which more anon. 

 Jumping on the locomotive "San Francisco" by 

 leave of the demure driver I take a "run" of thirty 

 coal-laden railway hopper waggons for shipment 

 and learn that each waggon carries from five to six 

 tons of coal and the waggons, after passing over the 

 scales are emptied down the chutes into a vessel's 

 hold. Stopping at the wharf weigh-house I alight 

 and observe the detail and care with which each wag- 

 gon is weighed, its number, and tare weight (painted 

 on its side) gross weight and nett, recorded. Four 

 doubie tracks lead to staiths, with chutes that serve 

 the tide levels, or, the waggons may be shunted over- 

 head of the capacious panelled bunkers where nearly 

 4,000 tons of coal can be stored, ready for shipment, 

 in short order. On both sides of the bunkers are 

 railway tracks, and thirty chutes discharge coal from 

 the bunkers into waggons laid in train. The com- 

 pany's shipping wharves embrace a frontage of up- 

 wards of 2,000 feet, and, there are besides, roomy 

 wharves with hopper receivers into which ships un- 

 lade their ballast, consisting generally of rock, sand 

 or earth. It is interesting to note the various kinds 

 and sources of the addition formed to the terra firma 

 of Nanaimo, by the ballast, which for nearly half a 

 century, has been dumped on its shores. By enquiry 

 I ascertained that, within a radius of half a mile, there 

 were contributions of lava from Hawaii, sand from 

 Japan, shingle from the beaches of Alaska and Si- 

 beria, a large portion of Telegraph Hill, San Francis- 

 co, and shiploads from most of the countries border- 

 ing upon the Pacific Ocean. I follow up the "run" of 



