98 



BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



Martinho Prado, Sr. On April 7, Dr. Mar- 

 tinho Prado, Jr., issued a circular from Sao 

 Paulo, saying that the formation of a coloniza- 

 tion company had been resolved upon. 



Corvado Indians. In May the Government sent 

 an expedition of forty soldiers, under command 

 of Lieut. Antonio Jose Dularte, to the up- 

 lands skirted by the river Sao Lourenco, where 

 are numerous camps of Corvado Indians, sev- 

 en semi-civilized Indians of the tribe accom- 

 panying the expedition, which has for its ob- 

 ject the eventual civilization of the entire tribe. 



Botanical Museum. Prof. Francis Pfaff, of 

 Geneva, Switzerland, has been appointed di- 

 rector of the Section of Chemistry at the Bo- 

 tanical Museum of Manaos. This section is 

 to be devoted to the study of Amazonian flora, 

 so far as applicable to industrial purposes. 



Art Society. There was in course of forma- 

 tion in September at Rio a society for the pro- 

 motion of the fine arts, having for its object 

 the facilitating of sales of the works of Brazil- 

 ian and foreign artists. The shares subscribed 

 are to constitute a fund, to be raffled by the 

 shareholders among themselves, with the un- 

 derstanding that the winners employ the 

 money in buying meritorious objects of art ap- 

 pearing at annual exhibitions. 



Steamship Lines. The Government has ex- 

 tended the privileges decreed by the law of 

 May 4, 1882, to the Adria- Hungarian Sea 

 Navigation Company, carrying on regular mail 

 service between Fiurne, Austria-Hungary, and 

 Brazilian ports. In conformity with an ar- 

 rangement made with a Copenhagen Steam- 

 ship Company and the North-German Lloyd, 

 direct steamship communication is to be estab- 

 lished between Riga, Russia, touching at Ant- 

 werp, Brazilian ports, and Buenos Ayres. 



The " Allianca," the latest-built vessel of the 

 United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Com- 

 pany, sailed from New York on the first voy- 

 age to South America on Oct. 2. She was 

 built by John Roach & Sons, and is a screw- 

 propeller of 3,184 tons register, with a cargo 

 capacity of 150,000 cubic feet and a coal ca- 

 pacity (in bunkers) of 400 tons. Her length 

 over all is 326 feet, beam 42 feet, and depth of 

 hold 24 feet 6 inches. Her first section of keel 

 was laid Feb. 23; she was launched July 17, 

 and delivered to her owners at New York, 

 Sept. 27, 1886. 



BRITISH COLUMBIA. The Canadian Pacific 

 Railway Company abandoned its original in- 

 tention of locating its Pacific terminus at Port 

 Moody, the place being deficient in harbor 

 accommodation, and a site was chosen at the 

 entrance of Burrard Inlet. Here the company 

 obtained from the Provincial Government a 

 grant of land, and upon this land a city was 

 laid out and named Vancouver. The infant 

 city had made phenomenal progress when, on 

 June 12, it was totally destroyed by fire. About 

 five hundred houses were reduced to ashes in 

 two hours. A fortnight later, two hundred 

 houses were in course of erection, and the place 



speedily resumed its rapid development. Next 

 to the fire, the principal check to the progress 

 of the city has been the action of certain land- 

 owners between Port Moody and Vancouver, 

 who obtained injunctions against the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway Company, to prevent tracks 

 being laid across their property. The legal 

 proceedings were really instituted in the inter- 

 ests of the people that had invested money in 

 Port Moody, on the faith of the promise that 

 that place would be the terminus of the rail- 

 way. The Canadian Pacific, which had been 

 running freight-trains between Montreal and 

 British Columbia since Nov. 2, 1885, opened 

 a daily passenger service between Montreal 

 and Port Moody on June 28, 1886. The Im- 

 perial Government (Lord Salisbury's), recog- 

 nizing the importance of the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway as an alternative route from England 

 to India, and the other Eastern possessions of 

 the British Empire, promised its influence to 

 obtain from Parliament a grant to subsidize a 

 line of mail-steamers from Vancouver to Japan, 

 China, etc. 



Cabinet Change. The Hon. Simeon Duck was 

 appointed Minister of Finance and Agriculture, 

 an office formerly held by the Provincial Sec- 

 retary. (For further details regarding the Cabi- 

 net, see "Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1885.) 



Mining. The report of the Minister of Mines, 

 for the year ending Dec. 31, 1885, showa 

 a larger number of miners to have been em- 

 ployed in gold-mining in the province than in 

 any year since 1866, and the average earnings 

 to have been lower than at any time since 1858. 

 Both results are partly accounted for by a rush 

 to Granite creek toward the close of the min- 

 ing season, and by a larger number of China- 

 men working on the bars cf Fraser river, 

 which had been already worker and reworked. 

 There were employed 2,902 miners, of whom 

 1,056 were whites. The banks exported gold 

 to the value of $594,782, and it is estimated 

 that one third more, or $118,956, was carried 

 away in private hands, making a total of 

 $713,738, the avernge yearly earnings per man 

 being, therefore, $246. The profits of this 

 industry have been steadily decreasing for 

 years. Important discoveries of gold were 

 made in the Similkameen district, a most 

 promising field being opened at Granite creek, 

 where a lead of heavy gold, having a steady 

 run for four miles, was found. 



The output of coal amounted to 365,000 

 tons, against 394,070 tons in 1884, and 213,000 

 tons in 1883. The decrease is attributed to 

 the glutting of the San Francisco market with 

 British and Australian coal. 



Island Railway Lands. A tedious dispute with 

 the Dominion Government, with reference to 

 the settlement of the lands transferred to the 

 Dominion in trust by the province in 1883 to 

 secure the construction of the railway from 

 Esquimalt to Nanaino, was brought to a satis- 

 factory conclusion this year. The administra- 

 tion of these lands during the construction of 



