1897-8- TRANSACTIONS. ^"J 



umbia) ; the Martinez aud Haro expedition, 1789 ; (they nam- 

 ed Haro Strait for us) ; the I^liza expedition, 1790-95. com- 

 memorated in the place-name Port IJliza ; and the Vancouver 

 expedition, 1791-95 the chief objects of which were to make 

 a vigorous search for the ekisive Anian Strait, to find out 

 what settlements had been made by other countries and to 

 take possession of some English property in Nootka Sound, 



In the meantime the Hudson's Bay Company, since 1670, 

 had been extending their operations from the great bay 

 from which they take their name, westward, till in 1782-3, 

 the Northwest Company entered the field as determined rivals 

 of the older company. One of the ofhcers of this latter com- 

 pany, Alexander Mackenzie, wears double laurels, as the first 

 discoverer of the Mackenzie River and its Arctic Ocean out- 

 let, and as the first white man who went through the Rockies 

 to the Pacific Ocean. 



Subsequently the great lumber companies explored the 

 bays and sounds and inlets in search of easily accessible forest 

 trees, giving their names to many lakes just as in the Ottawa 

 valley the men of the lumber-camps have given the names of 

 many of their "bosses"* to the lake-feeders of the river. 



Then came the gold discoveries, and then followed the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway. 



From all these sailors and shoremen, explorers and sur- 

 veyors and lumbermen have come the place-names of British 

 Columbia, many of them being Indian names or adoptions 

 from the Haidahs, the Nootkas and the Shuswaps, the three 

 great families of the Columbian group of aborigines. The 

 marks of them all are upon the shores, the mountains, the 

 islands, and the various forms of water — the rivers, inlets, 

 lakes, gulfs, sounds, canals and arms. 



As a name-father Capt. Cook is responsible for a number 

 of place-names along the north-west coast of North America. 

 He gave Cape Flattery its name on 22nd March, 1778, because 

 from the lay of the land, "there appeared to be a small open- 

 ing which flattered us with the hopes of finding an harbour." 

 As in this instance Hope told not only a flattering, but what 

 in the honest sea-captain's view was the same, an untruthful 

 tale, he called the promontory Cape Flattery. 



*The evolution of the word "boss" is interesting. It was originally 

 base— the man at the base ; the man upon whom the enterprise rests. 

 We say " It rests with him to make it a success." The Early Dutch on 

 this continent used the word Baas, and the English soqnding of "boss" 

 goon came to spell it so, 



