AMONGST THE WILD GOATS OP THE CASCADES. 277 



hands, this would not have suited me. At the last 

 moment a canoe was observed to shoot round the 

 point behind which, half a mile distant, was situated 

 the Eancherie, and presently it was made fast behind 

 with a tow rope. 



A stiff breeze was blowing down the straits from 

 the north-west, the fair-weather quarter, raising quite 

 a sea, in which the steamer rolled alarmingly, causing 

 the complete collapse of the Irishman, who was still 

 in the canoe. 



Three hours' steaming brought us across to the iron 

 mine on Texada Island, situated on a steep slope some 

 three hundred feet above the sea, affording consider- 

 able facilities for shipping the ore from a small pier 

 or landing-stage built on piles, which must have been 

 driven with difficulty into the rocky bottom of the 

 ocean at this point. 



Chinese labour in the mines, as before mentioned, 

 has been limited to surface-work since the last acci- 

 dent, and as they are gregarious, the number of 

 miners who are Chinamen is limited ; for instance, 

 here were twenty white miners and but one Mongo- 

 lian, though the ore was extracted entirely by quarry- 

 ing. The wages of a Chinaman are but half those of 

 a white, and the amount of work he accomplishes is 

 considered to be less than half. 



The captain, amongst many other settlers, held him- 

 self indebted to the generosity of Mr. Dunsmuir, and 

 he was fond of relating how an old Indian chief, still 

 living but now nearly totally blind and deaf, was 



