50 EXPLORATION OF THE VICTORIA. 



parts in company with Captain Wickham ; and 

 after completing the survey near the ship, I was 

 at last fairly off to explore the Victoria with the 

 first glimmer of light the morning following, once 

 more to revel in scenes where all was new. How 

 amply is the explorer repaid by such sights for all 

 his toils ! To ascend a hill and say you are the 

 first civilized man that has ever trod on this spot ; 

 to gaze around from its summit and behold a pros- 

 pect over which no European eye has ever before 

 wandered ; to descry new mountains j to dart your 

 eager glance down unexplored valleys, and unvisited 

 glens; to trace the course of rivers whose waters no 

 white man's boat has ever cleaved, and which tempt 

 you onwards into the bosom of unknown lands : — 

 these are the charms of an explorer's life. 



Mr. Forsyth accompanied me. We landed 

 nearly opposite the rugged ridge I have before 

 mentioned, for a few angles and bearings. Here 

 we found two native rafts of precisely the same 

 construction as those we had previously seen on the 

 North-west coast, formed out of nine poles. The 

 shape the reader will remember from the sketch 

 in that part of the work, and with the exception of 

 only two instances, where they appeared merely 

 temporary affairs, we have noticed no other kind 

 of rafts in use. Wherever this great similarity in 

 their mode of water conveyance prevails, we may 

 infer the natives have had communication with 

 each other. 



