188 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



was not sorry when it escaped, although I 

 question very much if it ever found its way 

 home again. After a pleasant run of forty days 

 from the Galapagos we sighted Cape Flattery 

 Light, at the entrance of the Straits of San Juan 

 de Fuca, and on the 22nd of June we anchored 

 in the snug harbour of Esquimalt, Vancouver's 

 Island. 



To my mind Vancouver is one of the most 

 delightful of our colonies, combining as it does 

 the rare attractions of pleasant society, lovely 

 scenery, and good sport with rod and gun. It 

 is true that we arrived there at the very best 

 time of the year, when the climate is perfect, 

 and picnic and dinner parties were the order of 

 the day, to be followed in due season by salmon 

 and trout fishing and deer, grouse, and wild- 

 fowl shooting. To us the mere fact of hearing 

 English spoken, meeting English people, and 

 rosy-faced girls and children, was refreshing 

 after a long spell in tropical climates, where we 

 had been heartily sick of the everlasting black 

 hair and eyes of the senoritas, and the constant 



