AMONGST THE WILD GOATS OF THE CASCADES. 273 



On either side of Nanaimo are situated two small 

 Indian settlements or villages. Owing to the readi- 

 ness with which employment can be obtained at high 

 wages on the spot, it was advisable to defer procuring 

 and hiring Indians or canoe until Comox was reached. 

 Here also, but in a lesser degree, similar conditions 

 hold with regard to Indian labour. Under no cir- 

 cumstances, as a rule, can the Indians of the Pacific 

 Coast be depended on with any degree of certainty 

 to work when they are wanted to ; their acceptance 

 of any employment offered cannot be definitely 

 counted on. Money is not a necessity to them, and 

 their fancies and inclinations are variable and uncertain. 

 In this respect they differ largely from the savage of 

 the interior. It thus became impossible to predict 

 whether two reliable Indians would be procurable at 

 Comox or not. It was necessary to have a white man 

 to fall back on in case of necessity. "White men rated 

 themselves at a prohibitively high figure, such as $40 

 for a fortnight " and all found, 77 and similar valuations. 

 Eventually an Irishman was found willing to go for 

 less ; he was taken as far as Comox, where Indians 

 were engaged, who proved to be of a class so much 

 beyond my expectations and so intelligent that it was 

 found best to dispense with his services, and he was 

 therefore sent back. They were certainly very expen- 

 sive, costing about 1 a day besides their food, but I 

 was informed that a large canoe with two Indians 

 could rarely be obtained for less. New coal seams on 

 other portions of the Dunsmuir property have already 



