nd most attractive
that he had seen, and called it the "Island of Quadra and Vancouver."
The "Quadra," as was usual with the Spanish names, was soon after
dropped.

Between Vancouver's Island and Washington Territory lie the
long-disputed islands of the San Juan group; the British claiming that
Rosario Strait is the channel indicated in the Treaty of 1846, which
would give them the islands; while the United States claim that De Haro
Strait is the true channel, and that the islands belong to them.

These islands are valuable for their pasturage and their harbors, and
most of all for their situation in a military point of view. While this
question is still in dispute, the British fort at one end of San Juan,
and the American fort at the other, observe towards each other a
respectful silence.

DECEMBER 1, 1868.

Sir James Douglas, the first governor of British Columbia, selected the
site of Victoria. Owing to his good taste, the natural beauty of the
place has been largely preserved. The oak groves and delicate
undergrowth are a great contrast to the rude mill-sites of the Sound,
where every thing is sacrificed to sending off so much lumber. He lives
at Victoria in a simple, unpretending way. It was made a law in British
Columbia, that no white man should live with an Indian woman as wife,
without marrying her. He set the example himself, by marrying one of the
half-breed Indian women. Some of the chief officers of the Hudson Bay
Company did the same. The aristocracy of Victoria has a large admixture
of Indian blood. The company encouraged their employes, mostly French
Canadians, to take Indian wives also. They were absolute in prohibiting
the sale of intoxicating drinks to the Indians, and dismissed from their
employ any one who violated this rule. They gave the Indians better
goods than they got from the United States agents; so that they even now
distinguish between a King George (English) blanket, and a Boston
(American) blanket, as between a good one and a bad one.

It was, no doubt, owing to the influence of Sir James Douglas, that
Lady Burdett Coutts sent out and established a high school here for boys
and girls.

DECEMBER 5, 1868.

We saw here some of the Northern Indians of the Haidah tribe, from Queen
Charlotte's Islands. They came in large canoes, some of which would hold
a hundred men, and yet each was hollowed out of a single log of cedar.
They came down to bring a cargo of dogfish-oil to the