THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Sept. 1, 1865 
66 NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF 
arising, in some measure, from the difficulty of clearing the site for 
building, and from the absence of considerable tracts of land in its 
neighbourhood available for inexpensive tillage. Indeed, throughout 
the whole estuary of the Fraser, and more than anywhere, perhaps, in 
the neighbourhood of New Westminster, the forests attain to a greater 
luxuriance than in any other part of the colony. Foremost among the 
productions of the forest, in point of splendour and economic value, are 
the Douglas pine (Abies Douglasii), and the cedar (probably Juniperas 
occidentalis). The former grows to the enormous height of 200 and 
even 300 feet, and possesses qualities that render it especially valuable 
as a timber both for planking and spars. The cedar, though not so lofty, 
possesses an immense girth, some of the finest trees measuring between 
fifty and sixty ft. in circumference aj a height of four or five ft. above the 
ground. This wood is more especially valuable for roofing and other 
building purposes, for cabinet work, and for all structures exposed to 
the action of water ; and the natives turn its bark to profitable account 
in a hundred different ways. These, together with some half-dozen 
other valuable varieties of pine and fir, form the bulk of the larger and 
evergreen growth. There are also the alder, the dog-wood and crab- 
apple, two varieties of maple, the cotton-wood (probably Populus balsami- 
fera) of the marsh lands, and many other varieties of deciduous trees ; 
and a dense array of wild fruit berry bearing bushes, which form a luxu- 
riant and impenetrable jungle. The forests thus composed are almost 
universal in the Fraser estuary, and extend with but little variation in 
character, over the whole of the Cascade range. The only open tracts 
of land are those which are liable to periodical inundations at the seasons 
when the streams reach their highest levels, and the low marshy 
districts at the mouth of the Fraser, where the land is seen actually in 
process of formation. 
But on crossing the mountains, and entering the central districts of 
the colony, the magnificent varieties of timber met with in the neigh- 
bourhood of the coast entirely disappear. Nevertheless, there is wood 
sufficient for all the requirements of the settler, and the symmetrical 
yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa), peculiar to this district, dots the grass- 
lands of the valleys and slopes, and forms a conspicuous and attractive 
feature in the landscape. In the interior mountainous belt the forests of 
the coast district are repeated, though on an inferior scale, in conse- 
quence, no doubt, of the increased elevation and the rigour of the 
climate ; and the undergrowth is far less dense. 
The whole of the inlets, bays, rivers, and lakes of British Columbia, 
abound with varieties of delicious fish. The quantity of salmon that 
descend the Fraser and other rivers on the coast every summer is almost 
incredible. The first enter the Fraser in March, and are followed in 
rapid succession by other varieties, which continue to arrive until the 
approach of winter ; but the greater run occurs in July, August and 
September. During these months, so abundant is the supply, that it 
