A New Cliarr from British Columbia. 339 



wild regions of North-western America. Let us suppose 

 ourselves to be entering the Fraser River, which, I need hardly 

 say, is the principal navigable stream flowing through British 

 Columbia ; it heads from the Rocky Mountains, drains a large 

 extent of country west of the Cascade Mountains, and empties 

 into the Gulf of Georgia, about six miles north of the British 

 and American boundary line, the 49th parallel of N. lat. ; the 

 entire length of the river may be roughly set down as 1000 

 miles. 



A small steamer conveys us so far as New Westminster (which 

 is the capital town of British Columbia), a small straggling 

 place built on a steep wooded slope, about fifteen miles from 

 the mouth of the Fraser River. Here we charter a canoe, and 

 provide a stout crew of Indians, and if we start early, we may 

 manage to reach Fort Langley by sundown. This so-called 

 fort is a trading station belonging to the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany, whereat in salmon-time immense numbers of these lordly 

 fish are salted and barrelled, to be eventually disposed of at 

 the Sandwich Islands and San Francisco. Putting up cran- 

 berries also, at one time, formed a large item of the trade done 

 at this station. The berries were bartered from the Indians, 

 then headed into casks made at the fort, these casks were 

 lastly filled with water, through a hole in the head bored 

 for the purpose, and then plugged up„ We sleep at Fort 

 Langley, and paddle away again early in the morning. On 

 either side of the stream (which in this, the month of August, 

 is swift and turbulent), rise steep sharp-pointed hills, deeply cleft 

 into ravines, and densely clothed with massive pine-trees, from 

 the water's edge to the very topmost pinnacles of their craggy 

 rocks. Here and there some tributary stream makes its way 

 from amidst the trees, and, as we pass, little clusters of Indian 

 lodges are revealed, resembling hillocks, but from which many 

 columns of white smoke are stealing up through the trees, and 

 but for such tell-tales we might have gone by the village fifty 

 times, and have been none the wiser. Suddenly, as we round 

 a sharp bend in the river, we come into a wide expanse of 

 water, tranquil as a lake (these lake-like stretches of water 

 are peculiarly characteristic of the scenery on the Lower Fraser) 

 green grassy banks like verdant meadows extend for some 

 distance from the water's edge to meet the bases of the hills, 

 to be at last absorbed amidst their timbered slopes. These banks 

 are favourite camping- grounds for the fishing Indians, and we 

 can make out, as we paddle slowly past, little fleets of canoes, 

 laying bottom uppermost on the grass, whilst behind them 

 are lodges of all sizes : many camp-fires are burning brightly, 

 and round about them groups of dingy savages loll lazily or 

 squat on their heels. A-head of us are four canoes, each of 



