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Lorsque ie document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, ii est film* A partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bos, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcesssire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. >y errata ed to tnt me pelure, aqon d 12 3 32X 1 2 3 4 S 6 A GROUP OF SPOKAN INDIANS (Drawn from a Photograph). THE NATURALIST VANCOUVER ISLAND AND BRITISH COLUMBIA. BY JOHN KEAST LORD, F.Z.S. ^ATUlULIgT TO THE BRITISH NOUTIt AMERICAN BOfNDARY COMMIriSION. THK 'KBTTLE' FALLS: A SALMON LEAP OX THE UPPER COLl'HniA. IN TWO VOLUMES— VOL. I. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, PUBLISHER IK ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY. 1866. ?«/7./ v./ 3 r^yo PREFACE. Many interesting and useful works have been already published relating to the Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, which, however, contain little if any information on the subject of their Natural History. This missing link I venture in some measure to supply. But ' The Naturalist in Vancouver Island and British Columbia ' is not intended to be a book on Natural History merely; neither does the Author desire to weary his reader with tedious descriptions of genera and species. Com- parative anatomy and physiology can be acquired at home, but habits are only discoverable by those who devote themselves to the rough though VOL. I. a % 4i,-% VI PREFACE. pleasant life of a wanderer, or by the actual observation of a careful investigator. In the following pages, the Author has pur- posely avoided any definite system of arrange- ment, preferring a pleasant gossip, chatting, as it were, by the fireside about North- Western Wilds. A detailed list of the Zoological collection made whilst Naturalist to the Government Com- mission will be found in the Appendix. John Keast Lord. AONOON : May 28, 1866. # INTRODUCTION. Before setting sail from Southampton, it may perhaps be as well to devote a few pages expla- natory of the early history and discovery of Van- couver Island ; why we are going there ; and the object of the Commission to which I belong. In the year 1587, we learn, that a Captain Caven- dish, in order to repair his shattered fortunes, fitted out three ships for the purpose of plundering on the high seas. After many unsuccessful raids, we next hear of him lurking in his ship behind a spit of land. Cape St. Lucas, on the CaiiArnian coast (a prominent rocky bluff, not unlike 'the Needles,' ), waiting for the * St. Anna,' a galleon freighted with rich merchandise and a hundred and twenty-two thousand Spanish dollars. She heaves in sight, little dreaming of her danger ; is pounced upon, boarded, and taken* her trea- -2 A it Vlll INTRODUCTION. '' sure transferred to the hold of the buccaneer ; the crew rowed ashore, and their ship set on fire. Death seemed inevitable, when a breeze, which soon increased to a gale, drifting the burning hull on the rocks providentially proved a means of escape, for a raft was made, and launched. Upon this the men stood out to sea. After enduring frightful privations, a friendly ship picked them up, and they eventually reached Europe in safety. Amongst the sailors rescued from the raft was a Greek, Apostolos Valerianos, who for some reason was nick-named by his shipmates .Tuan de Fuca. Nine years after his escape from the raft we hear of him in Venice. In 1596 Mr. Locke, a merchant, and his friend John Douglas, a sea-captain, were residing in Venice, and nightly smoked their pipes at a snug wine-shop, the resort of sea-faring men. A constant visitor at this house of entertainment was a pilot on the Greek seas, who had attracted Douglas's attention by the wonderful stories he related ; so much so that he induced his friend, Mr. Locke, to listen to the old man's adventures.* • For full narrative of Apostolos Valerianos, see Samuel Purchase His Pilgrims. ;*• r' IK^ODUCTION. IX The story of the raft we already know. The remainder was to the effect that he entered into the service of the Viceroy of Mexico, by whom he was sent, in a small caraval, to explore the Califomian coast. He managed to reach lat. 47° N., and finding the coast inclined towards the N. & NE., and that a wide expanse of sea opened out between 47° lat., his position, and 48°, he entered the Strait, and sailed through it for twenty days. Finding the land still tended to NE. & NW. and also E. & SE., he proceeded, passing through groups of beautiful islands, and so sailed on until he came into the North Sea; but being quite unarmed, and finding the natives very hostile, he made his way back, and reported his discovery of the entrance to what he believed the North- West Passage. But the Viceroy was not impressed with the va- lue of the old man's report, and paid him nothing for it. Disgusted with the government and all belonging to it, he worked his way back to the Mediterranean, and we next meet with him as a pilot on the Adriatic. Master Locke at once wrote to Sir Walter Raleigh, Master Hakluyt, and to Lord Cecil, -'*g. p. X INTRODUCTION. asking for 100/. to bring over the mariner who possessed such a knowledge of the north-west coast. All thought the information invaluable, but no one felt disposed to pay the money. Time wore on; the old storm-worn pilot, growing feeble, left for his native island. Locke again and again urged his request. At last the long- coveted means came, but too late, the old sailor was no more. This strange story was current in England long after he who told it was dead and forgotten. A few believed it, but the many thought it an entire fabrication. In 1776, Captain Cook missed the entrance to the Straits, and, mistaking the west side of Van- couver Island for the mainland, reported the story to be a fiction as told by the old sailor. It will suffice for explanation to skip a crowd of events, and take up the narrative of the dis- covery of the island in 1792, when Captain Vancouver was sent to Nootka Sound, for what purpose does not matter now. Coasting south- wards, he entered the Straits, and eventually came out at Queen Charlotte Sound : which settled the qutstion. The Island bears the name of its .%■ ■4SA *%i %.^. INTRODUCTION. XL discoverer (Vancouver Island), the Straits that of the old sailor (Juan de Fuca). By the treaty of Washington, the 49th pi. of lat. N. was to be the recognised Boundary Line^ the course through the sea to be the centre of the Gulf of Georgia, and thence southward through the Channel which separates the con- tinent from Vancouver Island, to the Straits of ' Juan de Fuca. The duties of our Commission were to mark the Boundary line from the coast to the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. May 1866. »j Vr ^^ ^ ^ it # CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. CHAPTER I. ^ PAGE The Voyage 1 CHAPTER H. Victoria — The Salmon : its haunts and habits ... 86 CHAPTER HI. Fish HaiTesting 62 CHAPTER IV. The Round-fish, Herrings, and Viviparous Fish ... 97 CHAPTER V. Sticklebacks and their Nests — The Bullhead — The Rock- cod —The Chirus— Flatfish 121 CHAPTER VI. * Halibut Fishing — Dogfish — A Trip to Fort Rupert — Ransom- ing a Slave— A Promenade with a Redskin — Ragging a Chiefs Head — Queen Charlotte's Islanders at Nanaimo . 142 CHAPTER VII. Sturgeon-spearing — Mansucker — Clams .... 175 XIV CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. CHAPTER VIII. Mule-hunting Expedition from Vancouver Island to San Francisco — The Almaden Quicksilver Mines — Poison-oak and its Antidote PAOB 199 CHAPTER IX. Sacramento — Stockton — Califomian Ground-squirrels — Grass- valley — Stage Travelling — Hydraulic Washings — Nevada — Marysville — Up the Sacramento River to Red Bluffs — A dangerous Bath 221 CHAPTER X. The Start from Red Bluffs— Mishaps by the Way— Devil's Pocket — Adventure at Yreka— Field-crickets — The Cali- fomian Quail — Singular Nesting of Bullock's Oriole . ' CHAPTER XI. 245 Crossing the Klamath River — How to Swim Mules — Sis-ky- oue Indians — Emigrant Ford — Trout Baling — A Beaver i Town — Breeding-grounds of the Pelicans and various Water-birds — Pursued by Klamath Indians — Interview with Chief — The Desert — Prong-homed Antelopes — Acorns and Woodpeckers — Yellow-headed Blackbirds — Snake Scout — Arrival at Camp of Commission — End of Journal 268 CHAPTER Xn. Sharp-tailed Grouse — Bald-headed Eagle — Mosquitos — Lagomys Minimus (Nov. Sp.) — ^Humming-birds — Urotri- chus 300 CHAPTER Xm. The Aplodontia Leporina. (Rich.) 846 to San on-oak * • PAGB 199 rrels — mgs— Red • • 221 [)evU'8 Cali- 245 is-ky- leaver 1 - ' irious 'View )e8 — ds Id of • 268 08 — otri- ILLUSTEATIONS FOB THE FIRST VOLUME. t The Kettle Falls : a Salmon Leap on the Upper Columbia . A group of Spokan Indians Viviparous Fish . Sturgeon-spearing Sharp-tailed Grouse . North-Western Humming-birds Urotrichus .... Aplodontia, or Ou-ka-la vignette frontispiece to face page 106 „ 185 300 j» » » M „ 328 „ 338 „ 346 f ERRATA IN VOL. I. Page 88, line 19, /or blubbering rcaciblubbery „ 105, ,, 20, /or within wati in „ 157, „ 2, /or scenery on my left. The rcati scenery. On my left the ' „ 168, ,, 23, /or Nimkis rca