ents thereof. At that
time Victoria was covered in all directions, I am told, with canvas
houses. In February, 1859, there were a great many, I know. As a
member of the Victoria fire department, hook and ladder company, I
attended many fires, but they were small comparatively. The
destruction of the Colonial Hotel on Government Street, as here
produced, is one of them. The Colonial was situated on Government
Street, between the Alhambra building on the corner of Yates and the
San Francisco baths (then kept by an old fireman, Thos. Geiger),
occupying also the upper portion of the building now used as a music
store by Fletcher Bros. The old photos of the Colonial show the hotel
before and after the fire. Sosthenes Driard, who was subsequently
proprietor of the Driard House, was the proprietor, and Mons.
Hartangle, who was afterwards co-partner with Driard in the Driard
House, was chief cook. He may be seen standing in front of Alex.
Gilmore's clothing store (now Fletcher's); also a man with crutches,
nicknamed "Pegleg Smith," who was an M.P.P. of that day, and behind
him is, I think, your humble servant. Further south, and on the
same side as the Colonial, was the Hotel de France, Manciet and Bigne,
proprietors. Of this hotel I have a vivid recollection, as I paid
several visits there with my mother when I was a boy. She had heard of a
sick miner (maybe from Cariboo) who lay there dying. His physician, Dr.
Powell, had done all he could for him, and he knew his end was not far
off. He had, like hundreds of others, risked his precious health for
gold, had been successful, and now was to leave this beautiful world and
the gold with it. My mother thought it her duty to go and see him, read
to him, and tell him of the better world beyond. So one Sunday afternoon
she went, and I with her, to carry some little delicacy which he might
not be able to get in the usual way. She got sufficient encouragement to
go again and again, until the end came, and my mother was satisfied that
she had done him some good spiritually. To come back to fires. There was
the fire in Theatre Royal, after the play of the "Octoroon." Although
the theatre was gutted, it was not consumed, the reason being partly,
no doubt, that it was built of Douglas fir logs. The surroundings being
of a most inflammable nature, this was very surprising. I might also
instance the first and second fires at Christ Church, the second of
which only was successful in consuming