“‘Then, don't judge Victoria until you see the place,’ came the word from the dock.
“We promised, and said that when homeward bound we would make a call.”
Returning, the narrator continues, “On the wharf at Victoria stood our friend of a month ago.
“‘Coming ashore?’ he said, when he saw us.
“‘Yes.’
“‘Good, we can show you a pretty town. Disappointed in Alaska?’
“‘No; it's the grandest country for scenery I—’ began the artist.
“‘Yes, yes, I know,’ said our friend, interrupting him. ‘Big glaciers, fine sailing, curious sights, no sea-sickness. Same old story; hear it every trip.
“Victoria is picturesque in every detail,” continues the narrator. “The’ land faces a land-locked bay, and behind the place stretch dense forests, through which roadways extend to the various suburbs. During our stay the frosts of early fall began to color the leaves, and at night the air grew sharp and chill. But still the air was clear, and down in the harbor white-winged yachts still moved over the bluish waters.”
Vancouver Island, which forms the outlying barrier to, or seaward side of, the inland passage from Juan de Fuca Strait to Queen Charlotte Sound, is one of the largest islands in that vast archipelago which forms the passage, and is the largest under British dominion. It was called Quadra Island by the Spaniards, who held it by descent from Mexico (then a Spanish colony) until the latter part of the eighteenth century, when Vancouver, of the Royal navy, was sent from England to receive its surrender from the Spanish; it having been ordered by the home government at Madrid,—which he did from the Castilian governor, Quadra. Vancouver called it Quadra and Vancouver's Island; but the Spanish title has slowly disappeared under British rule. Vancouver pushed his discoveries from here to Cook's Inlet during his two or three years' cruise on this coast, and many of the names in the inland passage and adjacent lands and waters are due to his explorations made nearly a hundred years ago.