AFTER GOAT ON THE MAINLAND 151 



September 25th. Leaving Quiesden at 8.15, 

 we had a fine sailing breeze which before night 

 had increased to half a gale, and on arrival at 

 Alert Bay, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, 

 Mr. Chambers most hospitably put me up till 

 my old friend the Queen City, due at 1 a.m., 

 should arrive. 



September 26th. The Queen City did not 

 arrive till noon, and bidding good-bye to my 

 kind friends at Alert Bay and to Lansdown, 

 who was returning to his farm on the Nimquish, 

 we were soon on our way to Vancouver. 



Accounts had to be made up and good-bye 

 said to Smith and Thomson and my dear 

 friends " Dick " and " Nigger," for they were 

 all to be landed at some unearthly hour in the 

 morning at Quatiaski Cove. All the roughing 

 was over, and the comforts of civilization were 

 before me, yet it was with sincere regret that 

 I saw the last of my friends and companions. 

 The discomforts were forgotten, the sodden 

 forest, the rain, the indifferent food, and the 

 poor sport, but the impressive scenery of the 

 vast Vancouver forest, the still lakes and 

 rushing creeks, and the beauty of the Kingcome 

 inlet, with its setting of snow- covered moun- 

 tains, will remain indelibly impressed on my 

 memory, and as the prospect of future trips 



