two other vessels, at this
time, my readers may imagine the number of men in Esquimalt
harbor at that date; not less than three thousand five hundred, I am
sure, and how lively this must have made Esquimalt and Victoria. The
whole population, figuratively speaking, turned out to welcome these
six vessels as they came in from Race Rocks under full sail. It was
a beautiful sight. The _Zealous_ (armor-plated), Admiral Farquhar,
welcomed Admiral Hornby of the _Liverpool_, flagship of the
flying squadron.

[Illustration: First bridge over the Gorge.]

CHAPTER XV.

OLD QUADRA STREET CEMETERY.

"Yet even these bones from insult to protect,
Some frail memorial still erected nigh."

"Each in his narrow cell forever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."

--Thomas Gray.

I must first apologize for altering two words in this quotation from
this most beautiful poem that caused the celebrated General Wolfe to
say that he would rather be the author of it than have taken Quebec.

I am moved to write these lines by the fact that these bones require
protecting from the vandalism of certain persons unknown, also I have
been approached by pioneers several times to write about this
desecration of the last resting-place of our pioneers.

It was in 1859 or early '60 that the Quadra Street Cemetery was
opened, all the bones from the cemetery on Johnson and Douglas
Streets being exhumed and carried to Quadra Street in carts. I have
stood several times and watched the operation of digging up and
carting away of the remains from the first cemetery. It was situated
on the corner of Johnson and Douglas Streets, the brick building on
the south-west corner being built on the site, and it must have
extended into the streets also, as some years later skeletons were
found by workmen digging trenches for water pipes. There were
many naval men buried there, and the dates on some of the headboards
and stones in Quadra Street Cemetery show an earlier date than the
opening of it, there being two burials from war vessels, one in 1846,
H. M. S. _Cormorant_, and one in 1852. These early dates show that
Her Majesty's vessels were in Esquimalt at that time. Naval men and
Hudson's Bay Company's employees were the large majority of those
buried in the first cemetery. As a boy, I had a great weakness for
funerals, and living only a block from Quadra Street, I attended
scores in my day. I natura