ection of town along the water-front,
around the head of the bay to Humboldt Street. I might say that the
plat of ground on which the Government buildings were built in 1859
was bought from a French-Canadian who came overland from Montreal,
and although in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company for years,
either could not or would not speak a word of English other than
"yes" or "no." He built his house here and lived here until he sold
out to the Government, the house being afterwards used as a
Government tool house.

[Illustration: First bridge over James Bay.]

Mr. Harry Glide, from whom I got these particulars, is a pioneer of
1856, and lived near the outer wharf. He married a daughter of Mr.
Laing. He says all James Bay from the bridge to the mouth of the
harbor was covered with pine trees, and all this land, together with
that facing Dallas Road up to Beacon Hill, was called Beckley Farm.
The greater part of all these trees were cut down for Kavaunah, a man
whom many will remember as having a woodyard about where the
James Bay Athletic Association now stands.

Mr. Glide says that there were quite a lot of Cherokee Indians here
who came from their native land to the coast of British Columbia for
work, and a fine body of men he says they were, most of them over six
feet and strongly built. It does seem strange that they should have
travelled so far from their homes and country. There were also many
Kanakas here, who came on vessels from Honolulu at odd times. They
formed a small colony and located on Kanaka Road, or Humboldt Street,
as it is now called. I can remember them in 1860, one family
attending service at Christ Church regularly.

The most prominent building in sight is Victoria District Church, as
it stands out in relief on Church Hill. When I first went there as a
boy, it was a most primitive-looking building, with its low steeple
or dovecote (as it looked like). There were two bells in this
steeple, one larger than the other, which sounded ding dong, ding
dong, many a year, until early one morning James Kennedy, an old
friend of mine, as he was going home saw flames issuing from the
roof.

He gave the alarm, and shortly after the whole town was there, and
the engines with volunteer firemen. Nothing could save it though, as
it was summer-time and very dry, and it was not more than an hour or
two before it had disappeared. The other day I had the pleasure of
meeting one of my schoolfellows of 1859, E