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FROM Ottawa to San Francisco by rail, and thence by steamer to Vancouver Island, a journey in all of about four thousand miles, was a requisite preliminary to our more interesting journey from Victoria across Nor- thern British Columbia, through the Rocky Mountains by the Peace River Pass, and over the prairies to Winnipeg. The railway trip to Frisco — for life is too short and business too pressing to allow Cali- fornians to use the longer name when speak- ing of their capital — has been so frequently described that we need not linger over it ; and the sea voyage to Victoria, a distance of 750 miles, in a commonplace steamer was too much like ordinary sea voyages to merit special mention. But before proceeding up the coast to the point where we leave the Pacific, it may be well to spend a little while in the southern part of British Columbia. Although Vancouver Island was constituted a Crown colony in 1849, ^^ ^^^^ ^'^^'^ known outside of the ledgers of the Hudson's Bay Company and the official documents of Downing Street until 1858, when the dis- covery of gold on the Fraser River attracted thousands to Victoria, and when the main- land portion of what is now the province of British Columbia was first erected into a colony. The two colonies were united in 1866, the one giving the name, British Columbia, the other giving the capital, Vic- toria, to the united colony. On the 20th July, 1871, the colony was confederated as one of the provinces of the Dominion, and Canada was thus extended to the Pacific. Victoria is British Columbia in much the same way as Paris is France. Originally an Indian village gathered around a post of the Hudson Bay Company, then a small settle- ment of traders, &c., it sprang forward rapidly under successive waves of excitement ; first in 1858 when gold was found on the lower Fraser, again in i860 when new and most profitable gold-fields were opened in Cariboo, and subsequently with spasms and at intervals until the discovery of new mines at Cassiar in 1873. Its population — a motley crowd from every land — like its prosperity, has fluctuated, at one time swelling to 12,000, but now shrunk to less than halt that number. Although some parts of it, especially those occupied by the Chinese and Indians, have a worn-out look, yet it is upon the whole a pretty little city, with delightful drives, taste- ful gardens, comfortable homes, a charming public park; and views of the snow-capped Olympian range, that seem on a warm day refreshing as a cool breeze from the hill-tops. The surroundings of the city are very attrac- tive, the foliage being rich and varied, the shrubs including species seldom seen in the Eastern Provinces, and never grown there as here in the open air, such as holly, ivy, arbu- tus, &c., while the yew and the scrub-oak give additional charms to the scenery. Many causes have been at work to retard the progress of Victoria, causes that have similarly affected the whole province. It has suffered largely from the fact that many of its temporary citizens have come with the inten- tion of leaving as soon as they had made their " pile," and have therefore taken no interest in the settlement or development of the country. The mining excitement has slackened. More capital and cheaper labour are required to work both gold and coal mines to advantage, as well as to make use of the vast iron deposits now lying almost untouched. Although eight million pounds sterling have been taken out of the gold-mines of British Columbia within the past twenty years, there is very little in t) , province to-day to rejire- sent that amount. Many have carried their money away ; many others h.ive 'eft the country " dead broke ; " and while in Ontario and other provinces the fortunate remained because of their success and the disajjpointcd also remained because unable to leave, and while all thus settled, worked and developed the resources of those provinces, men who were successful in British Columbia often left to enjoy their wealth elsewhere, and the dis' appointed could easily cross to California to repair if possible their shattered fortunes, so that a large ni.mber of its former citizens have left the p/ovince rather the worse for their havnier 'ived in it. Labour is still dear notwithstanding tlie presence of a large Chinese clement, against which the cliief accusation laid by the anti- Chinese agitators is that it keeps down the price of labour and so impoverishes tlie ' hite man. Houseiiold servants receive from three pounds to six pounds sterling per montii, farm servants from four pounds to eight pounds sterling per month, with board and lodging, and other white labour is paiil in proportion. The two great classes of labourers, however, in British Columbia are the Indians and the VICTORIA TO WINNIPEG. 117 Chinese. Many of the Indians work admir- ably on steamers, in saw-mills, in sahnon canneries, &c. They are active, strong, good-tempered, with little self-restraint if liquor is within reacli, and with a great con- teni]5t for Chinamen. Some of them have excellent farms, with comfortable cottages, while a number of Lillooet Indians, on the lower Fraser, raise cattle and hay for market. White settlers have no troui'le from them. The other chief labourer of British Co- lumbia, though as yet found almost exclu- sively in the southern part of the province, is the Chinaman. It is not merely within recent years that men have come from the land of the Celestials across the Pacific to our western coast. There is ample evidence that at some past period the blood of Asiatics was blended with the blood of our Indians. Many of the Pacific Indians are of such a marked Mongolian type of face that you can scarcely distinguish them from the Chinamen except by the difference of dress or of lan- guage, or by the absence of the pig-lail, which, however, the Chinaman often wears coiled up under his cap. As late, indeed, as 1834 Japanese junks were found stranded on our western shores ; and whether the arrival of men from that farther west, wnich is com- monly spoken of as the far east, was the re- sult of accident or of set purpose, one con- sequence has been an infusion of Asiatic blood among some of our Indian tribes. The immigration, however, of Chinamen for trade and labour is a thing of recent date. As yet their presence can hardly be said to provoke much hostility, but as the number that have already arrived may be only the advance- guartl of a large army of workmen, it is pos- sible that this province may yet witness a conflict between white and Chinese labour similar to that which already has seriously disturbed the peace of California. From whatever quarter the labourers co '*, many labourers must soon be required hei not only in the constiuction of tlie Canadian Pacific Railway — one hundred and twenty- five miles of which, in southern British Columbia, are now under contract — but also to work in the mines, forests, fisheries, and farming districts which must be rapidly de- veloped when cheaper labour and increased facilities of transport are provided. Some of the gold-fiekls which have been largely rJjandoned arc estimated still to contain ex- tensive deposits, but future mining opera- tions will involve deep digging and quartz- crushing, and will require more capital, im- proved machinery, and cheaper living. Of 1X4504 ' some of the Cariboo mines, which have been among the richest ever known, Mr. G. M. Dawson, of the Geological Survey, states that "it would not be extravagant to say that the quantity of gold still remaining in the part which has been worked over is about as great as that which has already been obtained." Extensive areas of the best bituminous coal have been discovered in Vancouver Island : of one of these— the Comox coal-district alone — it is stated in the report of the Geo- logical Survey of Canada, that the coal-pro- ducing area is three hundred square miles, and the estimated quantity of coal under- lying the surface is set down at twenty-five thousand tons per acre, or sixteen million tons per square mile. And yet, as if this were not a sufficient quantity of coal to warm the world for years, and to enrich Vancouver for ages, it would seem from the Reports of the Geological Survey that much of the island, so far as the dense timber forests permit examination, is underlaid with rich coal-measures, while there are known to be extensive beds of anthracite coal in the Queen Charlotte Islands. In the island of Texada, between Vancouver and the mainland, ex- cellent iron ore has been found with such tokens of abundance as would almost warrant the belief that the greater portion of the island is a mass of ore ; and this deposit of iron is within twenty-five miles by water of the coal-fields of Comox and Nanaimo, and in the immediate vicinity there are forests sufficient to make charcoal for generations. The fisheries of this province are among the richest in the world; salmon swarm in its rivers in almost incredible numbers, so that an Indian, or any who will follow his ex- ample, can in less than a month catch and cure enough to form his chief article of food for the year. Along the coast halibut, her- ring, and cod are found in large quantities, while in the northern watei 'le seal and the otter abound. The forests yield the largest of all Canadian timber, the Douglas pine, which sometimes grows to a height of one hundred and eighty feet, with a diameter of eleven feet at the base. Excellent for ordinary use, this wood is specially suited for the manuf;ic- ture of spars, &c., where toughness, lightness, and durability are essential. Only in respect to farming does British Columbia fall short of its sister provinces of the Dominion, though some of its large valleys afford good arable farms and stock-raising ranches. Its climate near the coast is as moderate as that enjoyed ten degrees farther south on the Atlantic, for it has no cold stream from the Arctic flowing ii8 GOOD WORDS. down upon it, while its shores are washed by a warm oceanic current that keeps its ports open at all seasons, and that gives to the southern portions of the province a climate not unlike that of the south of England. It would be unreasonable to question the future prosperity of such a province. The tariffs of other countries may for a time delay its development ; they cannot permanently prevent it. Its time must come, when thj restless and speculative spirit created by the gold fever, and still too palpably present, shall give place to steady labour ; when in- dustry shall unfold the resources of which as yet only the outskirts have been grisped ; and when possessions, in some respects simi- lar to those that secured the material pros- perity of the mother country, shall make British Columbia one of the wealthiest, most populous, and most influential provinces of Canada. But we must hurry northward. We left Victoria in the commodious and comfortable steamer Olymp'ui, belonging to the Hudson Bay Company. Our course lay eastward, through the Haro Straits, between Vancou- ver and San Juan. The sight of this latter island can hardly fail to rouse Canadians to indignation and regret at the way in which our interests have suffered in any dispute with the United States about our boundaries. A large portion of the State of Maine, on our Atlantic coast, was lost through the indifference of the British commissioners engaged in the Ash- burton treaty, or Ashburton capitulation, as it has been sometimes called. Washington Territory, and part of Oregon, on the Pacific, were lost to us through reckless ignorance ; because it had been reported to the then Premier of England that the country was not worth contending for, as the salmon in the Columbia River would not rise to the fly; and apparently he acted on this report. And surely there must have been culpable defi- ciency in the evidence and arguments sub- mitted to the Emperor of Germany when, as arbitrator, he decided that the Americans should possess San Juan, to which until re- cently they laid no claim. Not long ago there died in San Juan an aged servant of the Hudson Bay Company, a Scottish High- lander who, with a brother and sister, had come there when the island belonged to Britain It was the dying wish of the old man, as well as the desire of his only sur- viving relations, that his renains should not lie in a foreign land. At soiTie difficulty and expense they were removed to Victoria, where the brother and sister told their story to the Rev. S. McGregor, who could speak to them in their native Gaelic. The little funeral procession of two, accompanied by the minister, passed from the wharf to the graveyard, and there they left the dust of the old loyalist beneath the protection of the flag he loved. After steaming through the Straits of Haro we passed northward between Vancouver and the smaller islands that stud the Straits of Georgia, until, leaving the northern ex- tremity of Vancouver, Sve enter the series of channels that divide the mainland from the long succession of islanus which fringe the coast with scarcely any interruption as far as Alaska. This land-locked strip of ocean that stretches almost unbroken along our Pacific coast from San Juan to Port Simpson, some five hundred miles, is one of the most singular water-ways in the world. On the western shores of Vancouver and of the chain of islands lying to the north the waves of the Pacific break with an unceasing roll ; but here, inside the breastwork of islands, and between them and the mainland, the sea is commonly as smooth as a canal. It is deep enough for the largest man-of-war, even within a short distance of the shore, and yet the tiniest steam-yacht runs no risk of rough water. For commercial purposes, when the mines along the eastern seaboard of Van- couver become more fully developed and the coasting trade increases, the value of such water communication, possessing all the ad- vantages of deep-sea navigation, yet protected by a line of breakwaters from all the dangers of the sea, can hardly be overestimated. Only at two places is it exposed to the gales of the Pacific, and there only those from the west, viz. from the north end of Vancouver Island as you round Cape Caution, a dis- tance of about thirty miles, and again for about ten miles when passing Millbank Sound. Beyond the shelter of Vancouver the chmate became, as we had exper :1, de- cidedly moist. A drizzling rain obscured, for most of the time, our views of what, from occasional glimpses, we inferred must be magnificent scenery. When the leaden mist would lift we could see the hills, new bare and precipitous, now wooded and sloping, now torrent-carved and r.ncw-cupped, some- times like a wall of adamant defying the waves, and again cleft by deep narrow fiords or gorges. The whole country seemed to be wrapped i.i silence, with scarcely a sign of life, except some salmon-canning establish- VICTORIA TO WINNIPEG. 119 I story |speak little Ni by the )f the }f the ments or a few small Indian villages that had grown up in localities well favoured for shooting or fishing, or that had clustered around the posts of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany. We were to leave ihe coast at Port Essing- ton, a village at the mouth of the Skeena, but it was necessary for us to go about twenty- five miles farther north to Metlahkatlah, to secure canoes and Indian crews for our journey up the Skeena. This seLtlement is chiefly known through the remarkable mis- sion established here, in connection with the Church of England, by Mr. William Duncan. Other missions to the Indians, both Pro- testant and Catholic, exist in British Columbia, but it is no disparagement to them to say that none of them have proved so successful as the mission at Metlahkatlah. The Tsimp- seans, as the Indians of that district are called, were at the time when Mr. Duncan came among them, seventeen years ago, as fierce, turbulent, and unchaste as any of the other coast tribes, not excepting the Haidahs; whereas now the chastity of the women, the sobriety and steady industry of the men, the thrift and cleanliness of all render their set- tlement the equal, in these respects, of almost any place of the same size in the eastern provinces. Mr. Duncan desired from ♦^he first to draw in the Indians from scattered districts along the coast to one centre — a plan which might work well in this quarter, where the Indians live chiefly by fishing, although it could not be cairied out in the same way among the Indians of the woods or of the prairies, who live chiefly by hunting. He chose as the centre of operations the little Indian village of Metlahkatlah, where at that time about fifty persons were living, and he has already gathered around him Indians from the districts to the number of about a thousand, upon whom he has been able to exert a strong and steady influence. He learned their language, made it a written language, and now teaches them it gram- matically, while instructing them also in Eng- lish. He learned several trades that he might teach them, and sent some of them to Victoria to learn trades that they miglit in turn become artisan teachers. The fruits of their labour, beyond what are required for their own mairtenance and comfort, are ex- changed for such commodities in the way of clothing, provision, &c,, as they can procure from Victoria, and tliese are furnished at an excellent shop in thf village, which, under the missionary's direction, is managed by Indian clerks. A large and beautiful church, a commodious school-house, an extensive trading store, comfortable dwellings, a saw- mill, and numerous workshops are among the outward and visible evidences of the success of the mission. We engaged two crews here, and found them to be excellent fellows, active, honest, and kindly ; they were accustomed each evening to have prayers in their own language, and the man who led their devotions was the bravest, best-tempered, and most skilful boatman of them all. North of Metlahkatlah about twenty-five miles is Port Simpson, the best harbour of British Columbia, and spoken of at one time as a possible terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway ; but as it is accessible from the east only by a route that would traverse a large extent of unprofitable country, and as it is too far north to serve the general interests of the province, the idea of making it a railway terminus has been abandoned, and our trans- continental line will touch the Pacific at Burrard Inlet, near the mouth of the Eraser. Having visited Port Simpson, and having caught a glimpse of Alaska, we returned to Port Essington, our point of departure from the coast. Our proposed route was by the riv(;T Skeena to the village of Hazelton, or Forks of Skeena, one hundred and fifty miles from the sea, then across country to Babine, up Lake Babine, and down Lake Stewart to Fort St. James. This would be our first stage. The second stage would be from Fort St. James across country to Fort McLeod, seventy miles, and thence by water through the Rocky Mountains to Dunvegan. The third stage would be from Dunvegan across the prairies to Winnipeg. We had secured excellent crews and canoes at Metlahkatlah. The boats are spoken of as "canoes," but they are very different from the birch-bark canoes to which in our eastern provinces that name is commonly applied, for these are made of wood, sound and strong as any ordinary boat, though neither carvel or clinker built. They are simply " dug-outs" of capacious size and graceful model, each made of a cedar log. When the log has been shaped and hollowed it is filled with water, into which highly heated stones are dropped, the steaming process being assisted by a gentle fire beneath the boat. The sides in this way become pliable, and are extended so as to give breadth of beam. Seats are forced , and the thin, tough shell of cedar, retainii _, this shape, forms an excellent boat. Somel les these canoes are as much as sixty feet long, and capable of carrying several tons of freight, made of the large cedar-trees that 120 GOOD WORDS. are found along our Northern Pacific coast ; and they are so safe that the Indians of Queen Charlotte Islands use them in whale- fishing. We had two, each being twenty-five feet keel, with about four feet eight inches beam. Our most essential stores were flour, bacon, beans, and tea ; these form the staple food of travellers through the interior of British Co- lumbia. Of these it was necessary for us to take a goodly quantity, for we could not ex- pect to add to our supplies for several weeks ; we might meet with accidents and many un- foreseen delays ; and, besides, some extra provisions are valuable in dealing with the Indians, as a little flour or tea, or, what is often more .loceptable, a piece of tobacco, is frequently better than money for securing the services of an Indian, or for purchasing any commodity, such as salmon, that he may have to barter. The Skeena, like all the rivers along our Canadian Pacific coast, is very rapid ; our ascent, therefore, was slow, usually at the rate of ten to twelve miles a day after we had left tide water, and that even though our canoeing hours were from seven a.m. till fourp.M., and each canoe was manned by a crew of five stalwart Indians. We required other means besides paddles to make head against the current. Sometimes, when a favourable beach gave opportunity, the men " tracked," that is, dragged the canoe by a tow-rope as is done with a canal boat. When, however, as in most cases, the bank was too precipitous, or the growth of brush and tim- ber too dense to allow of tracking, "poling" became necessary. Each man is provided with a hemlock pole, from ten to fourteen feet in length, while some extra ones are kept on hand in case of loss or breakage. A strong steering oar has been lashed to a crossbar at the stern, for in some parts of the current a paddle would be useless as a feather for steering, and if the canoe were to sheer an upset would immediately follow. The men lay themselves to their work, poling against the stream as if straining their strength to the utmost, and the poles seem to grip the gravelly bottom while the current makes them quiver and rattle against tlie canoe. Occasionally we pass an Indian village, consisting of a fev rude houses made of rough cedar boards. Each house accommo- dates two or more families, and in some of the villages each house is adorned by a curi- ously carved door-post. The figures ingeni- ously cut upon these door-posts are supposed to be the heraldic bearings of the family ; but to the uninitiated the heraldry of these In- dians is as mysterious as the heraldry of the English nobility. Frogs, bears, beavers, whales, salmon, seals, eagles, men, sometimes men tapering into fish like the flibulous mer- man, are the figures most frequently seen. Several of these may be found on each post, the post being about thirty feet high, and two feet in diameter at the base. In many cases more labour is expended on this post than upon all the rest of the house ; some- times it is large enough to admit of a hole being cut through it sufficient to serve as a doorway, and in this case the opening is usually by some quaint conceit made to repre- sent the mouth of one of the carved figures; frequently, however, it is quite distinct from the house, standing in front of it like a flag- staff. Near almost every village we found men engaged iu fishing, for, as we passed here about the middle of June, the first run of salmon had already commenced, and salmon is the staple, almost the exclusive article of food among these Indians. When the salmon fails, as it has sometimes done, the distress and destitution are very great, for the natives seldom raise any kind of vegetables, the character of the country, as well as of the people, being adverse to agriculture. When, however, the salmon can be taken in their ordinary abundance, a man may in less than a month lay in his supply of food for the year. The salmon are cured, after being cleaned, simply by being dried in the sun ; and, as the curing-ground is usually near the beach, quantities of sand are blown over the fish. One result of this is that the teeth cf the Indians are gradually gro"nd down by the sand which has been incorporated with their food, so that you can approximately tell the age of an Indian by " mark of mouth," the teeth of the young being but slightly affected, while those of the aged have, in most cases, been worn down to the gums. The dried salmon are stored in a cache, a large box or casing made of rough-hewn cedar boards, and usually built around a tree at some dis- tance from the ground. No Indian will in- terfere with another man's salmon-cache : it is as safe as if it were guarded by a regiment. Having reached the village of Hazelton, or the Forks, formerly known by the name of Kitunmax — an Indian community with three white flxmilies — we bade good-bye to our crews and their cedar canoes. As no horses nor mules were to be found at Hazel- ton, and as there is no waggon-road in any C* VICTORIA TO WINNIPEG. 121 •5' a. c xxr-9 122 GOOD WORDS. direction from the village, we employed a number of men to " pack " for us, that is, to carry all our stores, tents, blankets, baggage, &c., while we accompanied them on foot to Lake Babine, forty-five miles distant. It is surprising how easily these Indians and their wives carry large burdens, although they do not look very robust. Their capacity for this kind of work seems to lie in their power of preserving their balance accurately, rather than in great muscular strength. The "pack" rests on the back, chiefly between the shoul- ders ; it is kept in position by a " tump- line," which passes in a broad band across the forehead, and the ends of which are fastened across the chest. Sometimes the " packer " may have difficulty in raising his burden, or rather in raising himself with his pack from his sitting posture in which he has fastened it on ; but once erect he moves off quite easily. After leaving the Forks — so called from the junction at this point of the Skeena and Watsonquah — our course for a short distance lies along what is known as the "telegraph trail." Not that there is a telegraph line in operation in this part of the province, but a very extensive line was once projected in this direction. The Western Union Telegraph Company of America, in 1865, commenced explorations with a view towards the con- struction of an overland telegraph, which, by way of Behring Straits, was to unite the Old and New Worlds. After the expenditure of three millions of dollars the scheme was abandoned owing to the success of tlie Atlantic cable. To construct and maintain this telegraph it was necessary to clear a wide track on either side of the proposed line, and this track is now known as the telegraph trail. It extends for some dis- tance north of Hazelton to a point known as Fort Stager ; and before the project was abandoned the line had been built through a large portion of British Columbia, part of it, as far north as Quesnelle on the Fraser, being now in operation, the property of the Canadian Government. Soon after leaving the telegraph trail our course led up the valley of tlie Suscjua and of the Oo-atz-an-li, tributaries of the Watson- quah, over low rolling hills that are covered with rampikes, as the fire-swept, branchless trees are called. From these hills, looking westward, we can see to great advantage the snowy peaks and serrated ridges of the Cascade Range. Sometimes the scenery becomes Alpine in character, though it has not the sustained grandeur of the mountains of Switzerland. Farther south, along tlie valley of the Homathco, the Cascade Range is said to be grander than on the Skeena, while the Rocky Mountains are much higher near our southern boundary than they are near the Peace River. Here and there we saw patches of land that might be cultivated, and some of the hillsides, where cleared of timber, abound in pea-vine, wild hay, and bushes, affording excellent pasture, while the valleys of the Susqua and Watsonquah grow abun- dance of luxuriant grass ; but the climate of this part of the province is unfavourable for agriculture, even where the soil is fit for culti- vation. Potatoes, oats, and barley, however, are grown successfully in some parts, espe- cially on the flats that fringe the lakes. At Babine village, near the foot of Lake Babine, we secured, after some delay and difficulty, crews and canoes to take us up the lake. Our difficulty was caused by a very natural though ludicrous mistake. On our arrival at the lake-side the villagers from tlie opposite shore at once came across to inter- view, examine, and inspect, as they always do with the liveliest curiosity. Among ihein was one whose coat was gaily adornetl with but- tons, and to whom, on account of his appear- ance, we paid special deference, thinking he was the chief. At the same time the old chief, wrapped in a well-worn blanket, was quietly looking on, and soon retired in indig- nation. When we tried to hire men and canoes we found that we had been " booin' to the wrong man," as the chief raisetl the price on us. A deputation waited on him, and by a special offer for the use of his own canoe secured reduced rates, giving him at the same time, at his own urgent request, some medicine and some tobacco. These Babine Indians have the poorest reputation for honesty of any of the British Columbia tribes. From Babine village a trail leads eastward towards Omenica, a district which, like many other parts of the province, was almost un- known except to Intlians and to Hudson's Bay Company officials, until it was exploreil by gold miners. Gold was found there in 1873 ; for a time there was the usual rush to the new diggings; supplies were retjuired ; Indians were employed as porters to cany in provi- sions, iS:c., and times were brisk about Ba- bine. But the mines have not realised the hopes formed regarding them ; they have been deserted for Cassiar in the remote nordi, and only a few of the eager crowd are left there now. The lake, which is 100 miles in length, is FOOD FOR THE ECONOMICAL. J 33 very beautiful, its banks rising gently from the water's edp-j, the wooded slopes being backed by iin'liilating hills which give place occasionally to tracts of good ])asture land. ^Vere it not for the lofty summits seen here and there in the background, one would have little idea that he was travelling through a country which has, for the most part, been fitly described as a " sea of mountains." Crossing from Lake Babine to Lake Stewart, a distance of eight n^'les, we were surprised to find at the eas*^ern end of the portage a tolerably good fa.m, owned and cultivated by an Indian, who had some excellent stock, as well as crops of hay, oats, and vegetables. Continuing our course down Stewart's Lake, which is forty miles in length, we reach, at the foot of the lake, Fort St. James, the centre of the Hudson's Bay Company's posts in northern British Columbia, a district formerly known as New Caledonia. The fort is beau- tifully £,icuated on a broad plateau about thirty feet above the beach, with a command- and with views of scenery that mg outlook, remind one greatly of the Scottish Highlands. There are no snow-capped summits visible, but, look in any direction you may, there is a background of hills that in some parts border on the lake, and in others are separated from it by wooded plateaux or undulating slopes, while under the prevailing westerly winds the waters of the lake break ujjon the beach with the musical monotone of the sea. Here we were met by friends who had come up from Victoria, or rather from Yale, by the great highway which follows the Valley of the Eraser through central British Columbia. They were accompanied by a mule-train laden with stores, &c. j so at Fort St. James we rest for a day to replenish and rearrange our supplies, to write letters to our friends in the east, which will go by way of Victoria and San Francisco, and to prepare for the next stage of our journey, which will include a ride with a mule-train to Fort McLeod and a voyage by boat through the Rocky Moun- tains, borne onward by the broad waters of the Peace River. daniel m. goruon. FOOD FOR THE ECONOMICAL. By J. MILNER FOTHERGILL, M.D. II. IN a previous contribution I pointed out several food combinations of high food value and little cost, in which the composi- tion of the crbsimirst of the German army of 1870 — 187 1 was followed. This sausage con- sisted of pea-meal and pig flit, the richest and cheapest combination of albuminoids and fat possible. It was readily made into a soup, to which a turnip sliced added the necessary antiscorbutic quality. The value of this sausage as a food was widely recog- nised at that time and since ; and this suasage is a type of what a cheap food of high food value should be. Another food of high food value is cheese, which is now produced of very good quality, and at a very cheap rate, from Canada and the United States. The great objection to cheese has been that it is reputed to be indi- gestible. This is unfortunately true of cheese as ordinarily cooked, and especially so of cheese made with skimmed milk and new ' milk. Rich cheeses are made by adding \ cream to new fresh milk. Such cheeses can now be bought for Sd. a pound ; and as such cheese is rich in a very digestible fat, and in albuminoids, in the form of caseine, it should form a considerable factor in cheap dietaries. As Welsh rarebit, as toasted cheese, as maca- roni cheese, and, still more, as cheese soufflet made with eggs, cheese is indigestible. Why? Because it is not sufficiently finely subdivided before it enters the stomach. It is impossible to so masticate hot cheese as to render it ac- ceptable to many stomachs ; it must then be cooked in such a manner that it reaches the stomach in a finely divided form. To achieve this, rice may be boiled and then a quantity of milk added, while some cheese finely chopped, as suet is for a pudding, is mixed up with it ; and the whole put into a stewpan or a dish in the oven. This is good, but a better plan is to use hominy. Hominy is Indian corn, not ground, but finely cracked, so that each piece is about the size of a very small pin's head. It is sold in five-pound bags at 2d. per pound. To make a sufficient meal for one person half a pound of hominy should be placed in water overnight, next day it should be boiled ; then half a pint of milk (id.) should be added, and half a pound of cheese finely chopped be mixed with it very thoroughly. The whole may then be placed in a dish in the oven or a saucepan, and cooked for fifteen minutes. When served up the smell and taste of the cheese are retained,