CAPABILITIES OF THE KOOTENAYS. 11 



For my own part, I was pretty well decided, even 

 before I left England, that the district which would 

 suit me best was the vicinity of Nelson, an important 

 little town on the west arm of Lake Kootenay. One 

 advantage accruing from this was that I was able to 

 push my inquiries deeper, and to make them more 

 circumstantial. 



Nelson, then, was from the first the end and object 

 of our journey. 



Almost the first thing I did, after the idea of 

 settling in British Columbia had taken root in my 

 mind, was to subscribe to two or three of the local 

 newspapers published in the Kootenays, and more 

 especially in the vicinity of Nelson. These sheets 

 are, of course, written, not for the use of readers in 

 England or in any other distant land, but for the enter- 

 tainment and information of the people dwelling on 

 the spot. Hence the news they convey, the intelligence 

 they impart, and the facts they give are, as a rule, 

 devoid of prejudice: that is to say, they have not been 

 penned for the purpose of throwing dust in the eyes 

 of the stranger or glossing the truth to mislead the 

 unwary. And even if they were so, it is generally 

 possible, with a moderate exercise of the critical 

 faculty, to read between the lines, and so to obtain 

 some fair insight into actual conditions and actual 

 circumstances. 



Having read these newspapers for a period <>( 

 eight or nine months, and having made personal 

 inquiries by means of definite questions, concisely put 

 — inquiries addressed to all sorts and conditions of 

 men — I formed certain conclusions as to the actual 

 state of affairs, as regards fruit-growing, in the 



