IN THE PACIFIC. 205 



the vague idea of getting something under 

 Government, or else on the chance of something 

 turning up. Too often they fail, and are re- 

 duced to earning their bread in any way they 

 can. 



Vancouver's Island is not singular in this 

 respect. On one of my shooting expeditions I 

 came across two poor fellows, encamped under 

 a rude kind of tent ; one had been an officer in 

 the army, the other in the navy : their present 

 employment was breaking stones, or something 

 equally honest and remunerative. The class of 

 men wanted in Vancouver are carpenters, black- 

 smiths, &c., any of whom can earn ten dollars 

 a day ; even at sawing timber a man can get 

 forty to forty-five dollars a month in the season. 

 This fact is the great drawback to the place, 

 from a naval officer's point of view, for the 

 temptation to desert is so great that it is almost 

 impossible to prevent it. Many a silly fellow, 

 after running all sorts of risks to reach the 

 American side of the Straits, finds to his cost 

 that he was far better off on board his ship on 



