16 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XIV 
air line the two points, Port Alberni and Friendly Cove, are not more than one 
hundred miles distant, but there are narrow, tortuous channels to be traversed be- 
tween, and interminable stops at canneries, missions, and mines, so that it was the 
evening of the second day before we reached our destination, and steamed into 
Nootka Sound. The Sound is enclosed between Nootka Island and the mainland 
of Vancouver Island, and to our left, on Nootka Island, lay the little village of 
Friendly Cove. There is no wharf, and as soon as we had come to anchor a huge 
canoe put off from the shore, and approached the steamer. This, the property of 
the store-keeper and capable of holding a score of men, was a war canoe of former 
days, now reduced to the lowly task of transporting groceries and supplies! We 
made the acquaintance of Mr. H. L. W. Smith, the store-keeper and the only white 
inhabitant of the town, who gave us a cordial greeting, assisted us ashore, and did 
everything possible to make us comfortable. 
Three large arms or inlets open from Nootka Sound, the Muchalat Arm ex- 
tending eastward, Tlupana Arm to the northeast, and the Tahsis Canal, stretching 
due north. Upon our first arrival at Friendly Cove we remained only one night, 
and then, taking advantage of the temporary presence in the harbor of a small 
gasoline launch, had ourselves and outfit transported to the head of the Tahsis 
Canal, some twenty-five miles distant. 
We spent a week at this camp (July 24 to August 2), with but moderate 
success. Our only object in going such a distance from Friendly Cove was the 
chance of securing specimens of the larger mammals, naturally driven back from 
the vicinity of the town, but, whatever the reason, we found big game decidedly 
more scarce here than at some other points nearer civilization. Wolves and pan- 
thers are numerous, though difficult to obtain in summer, and they had apparently 
driven out the deer, for in a week’s time we hardly saw a fresh track of the latter. 
On August 2 we returned to Friendly Cove. We secured the services of a 
trapper whom we found encamped on the Tahsis, and Mr. Smith also came to 
assist us in the moving. With some difficulty we stowed ourselves and outfit in 
the two small canoes. Smith and Despard in one, and Leiner (the trapper) and 
myself in the other. We started early, about 3 A. m., to avoid the wind which 
blew up the canal every day — thereby encountering swarms of tiny gnats also 
taking advantage of the calm weather — and alternately paddling and sailing, as 
occasional light puffs of wind came to our assistance, spent most of the day reach- 
ing our destination. Mr. Smith established us in a cabin about a mile from the 
village, where we found ourselves much more advantageously placed for collecting, 
and where we remained until our departure from the Sound, August 11. 
On the whole Pacific northwest there is no place of greater historical interest than 
this former center of the fur trade, Nootka Sound, the name of which figured so 
conspicuously in the accounts of all the early explorations that it came to typify the 
entire region; but there is little about the place now to suggest its claims of former 
glory — that the first ship to be built on the Pacific northwest was launched here, 
and that at this point English and Spanish statesmen met to settle the differ- 
ences of their respective nations, as to the claims of each upon the countries of the 
north Pacific. On one of the islands in the bay there is a monument commemora- 
tive of the “Nootka Treaty’’ — a compromise by which both nations withdrew from 
the port for the time being. From that day to this there has been no white settle- 
ment at Friendly Cove. 
The earliest detailed description of the Sound is given by Captain Cook, in the 
history of his third voyage, though the Spaniards had probably been there some 
years before. Cook was there in March and April, 1778, and it was visited by 
