154 b 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



Early trading 

 voyages. 



Dixon's ac- 

 count of the 

 natives. 



any one seeing him must, on his return to the lodge, throw little offer- 

 ings on the fire. The Tshimsians have a similar story of an immense 



beaver which inhabits the vicinity of Dundas Island. 



First contact with Europeans. — Fur Trade. 



During Captain Cook's last voyage in the Pacific, it was discovered 

 that a lucrative trade in furs might be opened between the north- 

 western coast of America and China, and though the existence of a 

 part of the Queen Charlotte Islands had been known to the Spaniards 

 since the voyage of Juan Perez, who was despatched by the Viceroy 

 of Mexico in 1774, it is to the traders who followed in the track of 

 Cook that we owe most of the earlier discoveries in the vicinity of 

 Queen Charlotte Islands, and it is they who appear first to have come 

 in contact with the Haidas. Before many years a number of vessels 

 were engaged in the fur trade on this part of the west coast. Van- 

 couver in the Notes and Miscellaneous Observations appended to his 

 journal, states that 1792 this trade gave employment to upwards of 

 twenty sail of vessels, of which he gives a list, with the names of 

 the captains. From this it would appear that five of the vessels were 

 owned in London, one in Bristol, two in Bengal, three in Canton, six 

 in Boston, one in New York, two in Portugal, and one in France. 

 Most of these have left no record of their voyages, but in the pub- 

 lished narratives of those of Dixon and Meares, already referred to, 

 some account of the method of trade with the natives, and of their ap- 

 pearance, manners and customs is found. 



Toward the beginning and during the earlier half of the present 

 century, the Queen Charlotte Islands continued to be not unfrequently 

 visited by these trading vessels, but the sea otter, the skins of which 

 were the most valuable article of trade possessed by the islanders, 

 having, through continuous hunting, become extremely scarce, vessels 

 other than mere coasters have seldom called at any of the ports for 

 many years, and our knowledge of the geography of the islands and 

 home manners and customs of the natives has not been added to. 



It is probable that La Perouse, who coasted a part of the Queen 

 Charlotte Islands in 1786, had some intercourse with the natives, but 

 the earliest notice of them I have been able to find is that given by 

 "~W. B.," the annonymous author of the letters in which the account 

 of the voyage of the Queen Charlotte, of which Captain Dixon was 

 commander, is given. He writes* under date of July 1st, 1787, — 

 " At noon we saw a deep bay,f which bore north-east by east ; the en- 

 trance point to the northward, north-east by north ; and the easternmost 



Op. cit. p. 19S. 



t Cloak Bay and entrance to Parry Passage. 



