TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 133 
Physical Geography of the Queen Charlotte Islands. By KR. Brown. 
These islands, situated off the north-west coast of America, were first discovered 
by Juan Perez in 1774, inthe Spanish corvette ‘Santiago’; but they owe their 
designation to Capt. Dixon, of the merchant ship ‘Queen Charlotte’, who visited 
them in 1787, and applied the name of his ship to the group. Of late years the 
discovery of copper and gold on these islands, and their proximity to the colony of 
Vancouver’s Island, had attracted more attention to them; but their coast line is 
still imperfectly known and their interior is entirely unexplored. The author 
spent a few weeks on them in the spring of 1866, and was enabled to obtain some 
information regarding the islands and their productions. The chief islands are 
three in number, separated by two narrow channels. Their western shores are 
much more rugged and precipitous than their eastern sides. Deep sounds enter 
the coasts in many places dividing the land into numerous peninsulas. The whole 
surface is densely covered with forests, chiefly of coniferous trees and a thick under- 
growth of shrubs, rendering land exploration extremely difficult; itis possible, how- 
ever, to investigate a large portion of the country by boats through the narrow 
inlets, which in some cases nearly meet from opposite sides. The forests contain 
no deer, and are nearly destitute of large game for food. The general geological 
structure of the islands appears to be beds of conglomerate, coal, and metamorphosed 
sandstone resting on erupted greenstone. The coal has all the appearance of an- 
thracite, altered by igneous rock in a remarkable manner. Two companies have 
made efforts to work these mines, but hitherto without much success, the seams 
of hard anthracite being varied with masses of soft powdery material, like wet 
gunpowder. A fine slate associated with the coal is easily carved, and is exten- 
sively used by the Indians for making ornaments, such as elaborately ornamented 
pipes, flutes, images, &c., for sale to the whites; and many have found their way 
to European museums. In the metamorphosed sandstone, casts of a bivalve shell 
are seen in considerable numbers. Copper, chiefly in sulphates and carbonates, 
has been found at several places. Though situated so far north (between 51° 55’ 
and 54° 20' N. lat.), the climate is much milder than that of the mainland further 
south. Great humidity prevails, as in the rest of the zone of coastland north of 
Frazer river, and including Sitka. On the Ist of April, when the author first 
landed, all the snow had disappeared from the lowlands, and the weather was mild 
and pleasant; towards the end of the month humming-birds made their appear- 
ance, The Indians (who are still the only permanent inhabitants) are known by 
the general name of Hydahs, and form one homogeneous people. Physically they 
are a finer race than is anywhere to be seen on the North American continent. The 
women are very good-looking, often tending to embonpoint; but they have a cus- 
tom of disfiguring the lower lip by transfixing it with a large bone ornament, 
causing the lip to protrude in a shell-like form. Both men and women have erect, 
tall figures. The head is well formed, and not disfigured by compression, as in 
most of the southern tribes. Their hands and feet are small, and well shaped. 
The colour of the skin is fair, and in the women there is a mixture of red and 
white in their cheeks not seen in any other American race. The eyes are hori- 
zontal. Few of the men have any beard or whisker, but some have a bushy 
moustache and “imperial.” Tattooing is sometimes practised, in patterns, on the 
back of the hands and arms, and, in the women, a few slight streaks on the cheeks. 
The average height of the men is 5 feet 10 inches, some of them reaching 6 feet, 
and their gait and bearing are dignified, totally different from the lounging, wad- 
dling walk of the flathead tribes of Vancouver’s Island. The Hydahs are bold 
warriors, but cruel and vindictive; though generally friendly to visitors they are 
not to be trusted, and have been guilty of attacking and murdering the crews of 
small trading vessels. The claim of territorial rights and family pride prevail to 
a great degree amongst these people. KHvery head man has his arms, which are 
beautifully engraved on large copper plates in most grotesque quarterings, and on 
boxes and other articles belonging to his family. The plates are about 5 feet long 
by 1} broad, rather arched, and about a quarter of an inch thick. The Hydahs 
excel all other tribes of the red man in artistic skill, especially in carving, although 
their only tools are generally a broken knife and a file. Gold bracelets of elegant 
