210 

DANIEL W. IDDINGS 
On board the “‘ Josephine ”’ 
the beauties of the Peace River and the 
neighboring mountains from the ‘“‘deck of 
a cayuse”’; we had been swallowed up for 
weeks in the tangled interior wilderness of 
Vancouver’s Island whilst tumping across 
its rugged face; and we had hunted game, 
big and small, amidst the glories of the 
Okanagan Valley. ‘“‘Where shall we go 
next?’ was our query. To Vancouver, 
thence for a northern cruise in a Siwash 
boat with a Siwash navigator, was our final 
decision, and the mails bore welcome word 
to Sam Hunt at Fort Rupert to cleanse the 
salmon stink from his fishing sloop and 
otherwise put the “Josephine” in com- 
mission for a long cruise. Hunt, a whole- 
souled halfbreed of ‘‘Hudson’s Bay” 
ancestry, had been with us on our hard trip 
across Vancouver’s Island, and we knew 
so well his worth and willingness that with- 
out further ado a few days later we were 
trailing by train to Vancouver, relying on 
the readiness of both boat and man when 
the far cry to Fort Rupee near the 
northern end of Vancouver’s Island in the 
RECREATION 
North Pacific, should be encompassed by 
us. Our letter to him briefly outlined our 
plans for a visit to Knight’s Inlet and the 
other fjords that the map discloses indent 
the northern British Columbian coast, 
thence to Vancouver under our own sail. 
Our cruise proper was not to begin until we 
should reach Fort Rupert, as we thought 
best to steam there and avoid incurring 
twice the danger of sailing a small craft in 
the long sweeps of Puget Sound that 
surround Vancouver. Coming back we 
would get quite enough of its big seas and 
savage winds. 
We tarried in Vancouver only long 
enough to buy our provisions. Our outfit 
of guns, tackle, tent, cooking utensils and 
dunnage bags, and our wood-scented, grass- 
stained, water-soaked personal habiliments 
that had served on so many similar expedi- 
tions came with us by train. 
Vancouver is a city of wholesale and 
retail stores, any of which know how to 
put up “grub” for Northland wandering. 
But we have found in roaming Canada that 
there is a peculiar excellence about goods 
stamped “‘H.B.C.” and a special attentive- 
ness about Hudson’s Bay people that make 
it both an object and a pleasure to deal with 
them. Their over ‘‘two hundred years of 
experience” stands you well in stead. We 
had seen Sam’s sloop; it was only a small 
affair—twenty-seven feet over all, with lots 
of cabin and little cock-pit; but a big center- 
board box nearly filled the cabin! At least, 
we always thought so when “‘sardining” 
away at night and squirming out in the 
morning. So our provisions had to be 
bought accordingly, that is, according to 
the storage space in the sloop, and not ac- 
cording to the storage space in our stomachs. 
Northland ozone begets a wolfish appetite, 
but we didn’t go hungry once, nor need any 
three men for five weeks, in a country where 
game and fish may be relied on for fresh 
meat, on such a bill as ours: 
. 30 lbs. pilot bread 
4 lbs. tea. 
2 lbs. baking powder. 
20 lbs. granulated sugar. 
6 lbs. salt. 
1 tin pepper. 
. 15 lbs. evaporated apples. 
15 lbs. evaporated apricots. 
WI ANY SF 
