WORLD VOYAGE BEGINS I97 



Hope replied: 'No — I gets my food at the shop on the corner.' 

 So answered an Enghsh townsman after being lost in the Canadian 

 backwoods. 



Among other places visited in British Columbia was Port 

 Simpson in the extreme north. This is a fine but little-used 

 anchorage, with a township inhabited by Indians of the Tsimpsean 

 tribe. A Hudson Bay Company store is run by two white men, 

 and one or two other white families live close about the store in 

 wooden frame houses. A white minister serves a somewhat 

 difficult flock. 



About 30 of the men of Challenger enjoyed this place and 

 quickly made friends among the Indians, who arranged dancing 

 and games in the local hall almost nightly. There were no other 

 amenities in Port Simpson except the 'diner', which consisted of 

 the living room of a house with 'B.C. Diner' painted on the front 

 door; within this room was a wood-burning stove which was 

 always red-hot, and coffee was brought from the back room to the 

 customers clustered round it. Outside all was crisp and crunchy 

 with snow. 



A sacred concert in the village hall was the highlight of the 

 ship's visit. A silver band played hymns and sacred songs, some- 

 times on their own and sometimes accompanying soloists or 

 mixed choruses. Many of the hymns were dedicated to the men 

 of the ship, and finally an elderly Indian woman dedicated 'Into 

 Battle' to the ship herself, a somewhat inappropriate hymn for 

 unarmed and peace-loving Challenger. 



A small band of beautiful young Indian girls hung over the rails 

 of the balcony, but the Chairman whispered into the Captain's 

 ear that at least two of the girls had been run out of town for 

 their moral lapses and should not now be gracing such a solemn 

 occasion. 



As the evening came to an end a finely painted wooden paddle 

 was presented by the Indians to the ship. This paddle had magic 

 properties — if the ship broke dowoi or ran short of fuel, no 

 matter how far from land, the magic paddle could be used to take 

 her to port. This was a source of comfort to the Engineer Officer 

 for the rest of the voyage. 



In 1 908 the British surveying vessel Egeria had surveyed the fine 



