they'll be any harder to ride in than the birch canoes I used to travel in up in the North."

Victoria, where our travellers landed that afternoon, was a charming, quiet town of six or seven thousand inhabitants, situated on the extreme southeastern point of Vancouver Island. For many years after its settlement it had been nothing more than the Hudson's Bay fort and trading post, with a few dwellings occupied by those employed there. But the discovery of gold in small quantities on the Frazer River in 1857, and later on at the placer mines on the Quesnelle and at Caribou, made a great change in the prospects of the place. Word of the new diggings travelled fast and soon reached California, causing a world of excitement among the mining population of that State, then ripe for a fresh move. A rush took place, and all those who travelled toward the new mines in British Columbia passed by the drowsy old Hudson's Bay fort, where hitherto the only event of the year had been the arrival of the ship from England with the mail. Now the fort was startled by the coming of twenty thousand miners, who pitched their tents about it and founded Victoria. Buildings sprang up and trade was attracted. Every one going to the mines or coming from them passed through the town and paid its tribute, and high hopes were entertained of its future importance. People who lived there began to call it "the emporium of commerce," "the metropolis of the northwest coast of America." But, unfortunately for Victoria, the mines, which caused this excitement soon ceased to pay; and the town's commerce fell off. It did not fulfil the promises of its early youth, and its growth has since been slow. Now, however, there was a prospect of speedy communication with the rest of the world; for during the summer when our travellers reached there, the Canadian Pacific Railroad was being built and the loyal inhabitants of Victoria were again anticipating that the place would become a great city—"a second San Francisco." There was reason for their hopes. While the railroad could not directly reach Victoria, its terminus on the mainland would be within easy reach of the Island City, and would give Vancouver Island a market for its products. Its trade at that time was little or nothing, for the goods sent to the United States had to pay a heavy duty, which left little margin for profit.

Hugh and Jack spent several days at Victoria. The country was picturesque and attractive, and the roads good. They took long walks into the country to the Gorge and to Cedar Hill, from which a beautiful view of the city could be obtained. The panorama included also a view of the Straits of Fuca, the Gulf of Georgia with its hundreds of islands, and the mainland, rough with mountain peaks, among which, rising above all, stood Mt. Baker, calm and white, a snow-clad monarch. While they remained in the town they lived literally on the fat of the land. Victoria boasted one of the best hotels in the world; not a pretentious structure, but one where everything that was good to eat, in abundance, well cooked and well served, was furnished. There were fish of many sorts,—salmon and sea bass, herring and oolichans, oysters and clams, crabs, game, delicious vegetables, and abundance of fruit.

Mr. Sturgis had given to Hugh a letter to an acquaintance of his in Victoria, and one day Hugh and Jack called on Mr. MacTavish. He was an old Hudson Bay man, who, after retiring from the service of the Company had come to Victoria to live. He had a delightful family, and a charming house, full of a multitude of interesting curiosities, picked up during his long service in the North. Of these, one of the most interesting was a complete set of dinner dishes, carved out of black slate by the Haida Indians of the North. While the figures exhibited on these were conventional in form and of Indian type, the carving was so remarkably good that it was hard for Hugh and Jack to believe that the work was Indian. Neither had ever seen anything done by Indians more artistic than the ordinary painted skins of the plains' Tribes; and when they saw such delicate, beautifully carved work, often inlaid with the white teeth or fragments of bones of animals, it was hard for them to understand how it all could have been done by native artists.

Mr. MacTavish told them much about the life of the island,—the fishing and hunting. He said that at that very time, during the month of July, the salt waters of the Straits and of the Gulf of Georgia abounded with salmon, which were readily taken by trolling; and when thus taken, on a light rod, furnished fine sport. Many of the brooks of the island, too, afforded excellent trout fishing.

About Victoria there were found, he said, two species of grouse,—the ruffed grouse and the blue grouse. The California quail had been introduced and seemed to be increasing, but sportsmen did not care much for it, because it did not lie well to a dog, but ran when alarmed and took to the thickest brush, where it was impossible to shoot it. In the autumn ducks and geese occurred in great numbers; and, on the whole, shooting was good. Their host also told them there was a considerable variety of big game. Deer were abundant within a few miles of Victoria; and it was not uncommon for people, starting out in the evening, to drive into the country and return the next night with several. There were some places where still-hunting could be successfully followed; but in most cases it was necessary to use hounds to drive the deer to the water, for the timber was so thick, and the underbrush and ferns so dense and tangled, that it was impossible to travel through the forests without making a great deal of noise.

Their entertainer astonished Hugh and Jack by telling them that further north on the island, in the neighborhood of Comox, elk were to be found. They were not abundant, he said, and were hard to approach on account of the character of the forest; but they were certainly there. Bears and panthers were everywhere quite abundant. Sooke, a village about twenty miles from Victoria, was a great place for bears. Many of those killed were black or cinnamon; but it was reported that there were also grizzlies at Sooke. The panthers were little hunted, except in places where farmers had flocks or herds to protect. They lived principally on the deer, which were very abundant. There were a few wolves, but except in winter they were seldom seen.

Mr. MacTavish had a good knowledge of natural history; and he had much to say to Jack, who was interested in the subject, about the curious forms of life found in the surrounding waters. When he heard that Jack and Hugh had come up there to spend a month travelling among the islands, he told them that the best thing that they could do would be to go over to the mainland, and there make the acquaintance of Jack Fannin, a cobbler, living on Burrard Inlet, as he knew more about the birds and mammals of the Province than any other man.

"Fannin is the man for you," said Mr. MacTavish, "and you should see him before you make up your minds to do anything. He will give you the best advice possible; and perhaps you can even get him to go with you. That would be a great thing; it would add enormously to your pleasure, and would save you many delays. And as he has mined, hunted, canoed, and chopped logs over much of the coast, he knows it as well as any one."

Our friends spent a long, delightful afternoon with Mr. MacTavish, and when they spoke of returning to their hotel he would not let them go, but kept them with him for the evening meal. They walked back through the clear, cool moonlight to Victoria, and before they had reached there had agreed that they would go by the first steamer to New Westminster to hunt up Mr. Fannin.

The