THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Sept. 1, 1865. 
62 NATURAL CAPABILITIES OF 
possibly enough land for the growth of apples for the immediate neigh- 
bourhood may, ere long, be brought under cultivation ; and the district 
i3, at any rate, a limited one. Elsewhere nearly all is mountain, and 
forest, and worthless land ; so that, practically speaking, farming and 
stock-raising operations will, for the present, be almost wholly confined 
to the central districts. It would be unreasonable, therefore, to claim 
for British Columbia any comparison, in point of its agricultural and 
pastoral capabilities, with the more favoured possessions of our colonial 
empire, such as New Zealand, the Cape Colonies, and Australia, or the 
United States' territories, with their vast rock plains. Nor can it be 
pretended that the colony is likely ever to export grain, or to attract 
and retain a large population solely on account of its agricultural advan- 
tages. Yet there remains, at any rate, the gratifying assurance that, so 
long as gold continues to attract emigration, British Columbia can 
provide easily for the requirements of a considerable population, and at 
the same time contribute every facility for the further development of 
its mineral wealth. 
Without pausing to dwell at any length upon a description of the 
native tribes, their language, habits, and superstitions, it may be re- 
marked briefly that the statements which have been put forth in England 
to the effect that British Columbia swarms with bloodthirsty savages are 
almost wholly untrue. Although it cannot be denied that upon some 
occasions, when exasperated by drink or by interference with their lands, 
their women, or their superstitions, they have committed fearful crimes ; 
it may be positively asserted that by nature they are a harmless, peace- 
ful, and by no means bloodshedding people. The writer has travelled 
among them for years, and only once met with annoyance or interference. 
Degraded and immoral they certainly are, and, indeed, the whites, are 
communicating to them vices likely to degrade them still further ; but 
as faithful guides through the forests, untiring travellers, and expert 
canoemen, they are worthy of a great deal of our admiration. With 
these remarks it is proposed to pass on to the description of the gold- 
fields. 
Cariboo— or as it should have been more correctly spelt, " Caribou" 
— so named from its being the abode of that description of the reindeer, 
is at present the principal centre of gold-mining in British Columbia. 
This district lies within the great northerly elbow formed, as has been 
previously described, by the upper waters of the Fraser, and although 
mining operations have hitherto been limited to a small space on and 
about the 53rd parallel, the name may be considered as generally appli- 
cable to the whole area bounded at the south by the Quisnelle River and 
Lake, and on all other sides by the Fraser. Cariboo, so far as it has 
yet been examined, is found to be crowded with mountains of great alti- 
tude, very confused and irregular in character, and presenting thickly- 
wooded slopes. Here and there tremendous isolated masses tower above 
the general level, rising, in their most elevated parts, to altitudes of 6,000 
