REPORT 



QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS, 



GEORGE M. DAWSON, D.S., A.R.S.M., F.G.S. 



The present report treats almost exclusively of the Queen Charlotte Equipment and 

 Islands, to which the greater part of the time employed in exploration i^ds,* the 

 during the summer of 1878 was devoted. Some difficulty was ex- 

 perienced in obtaining a suitable craft for the passage from Victoria to 

 the Islands — a distance of between 400 and 500 miles — and for the suc- 

 ceeding exploratory work. It was not till the 27th of May that I, 

 and my assistant, Mr. Rankine Dawson, were able to leave Victoria 

 in the little schooner Wanderer. Our schooner was of about twenty 

 tons burden, and the crew consisted of three 7nen, besides ourselves. 

 She was provisioned and fitted out for the entire summer on leaving, 

 as it was improbable that we should be able to renew our supplies ex- 

 cept by leaving the region to bo examined, and at the expense of con- 

 siderable time. Our force was occasionally supplemented during the 

 summer by one or two natives with local knowledge. Calms, head 

 winds and currents met with in the channels between Vancouver Island 

 and the mainland rendered our progress to the north-westward very 

 slow. We, however, reached Houston Stewart Channel, in the southern 

 part of the Queen Charlotte Islands, on the 12th of June, and from 

 that date to the end of August was occupied in the exploration of the 

 islands. On the return voyage a preliminary examination was made ^ yancouver 

 of the coal measures of Quatsino Sound, and those lying between Island. 

 Beaver Harbor and the JSTimpkish River, on Vancouver Island. This 

 part of the season's operations is not here reported on. A visit was 

 also made to the Baynes Sound coal-bearing region, at the request of 

 some gentlemen interested in it, and Victoria was reached on the even- 

 ing of the 17th of October. Some observations made on the superficial 



