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PROGRESS REPORT NUMBER TWO,

SKIDEGATE, Queen Charlotte Islands, June, 1884.

Hon. Wm. Smithe, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works of the Province of British Columbia:—SIR—On the 5th of May, having secured the services of two Hyda Indians, one a native of Ninstints, the extreme southern village of the Hyda nation, familiar with the shores of the southern portion of Moresby, and also of Provost Island, and the other of Gold Harbor, well acquainted with the northwestern coast of Moresby Island, I proceeded from Skidegate by canoe southward, circumnavigating the islands above mentioned, and also crossing them from shore to shore at two different points, and penetrating inland sufficiently far in several other places to determine the general character of the section of country under examination. Our route was via Sand Spit Point, Copper Bay, the villages of Cumshewa and Skedance, Cumshewa Inlet, Louise Island, Selwyn Inlet, Talunkwan Island, Dana Inlet, Logan Inlet, Tanoo Island, the village of Tanoo or Laskeek, Bichardson Inlet, Darwin Sound, De La Beche Inlet, Hutton Inlet, Werner Bay, Huxley Island, Barnaby Island, Scudder Point, Granite Point, Skincuttle Inlet, Deluge Point, Collison Bay, Carpenter Bay and Forsyth Point, all on the east side of Moresby Island; thence across Houston Stewart Channel, around Provost Island, entering Provost and Luxana Bays and Seal Cove, rounding Cape St. James, and then along the west coast, northward, via the village of Ninstints, Henry and Robson Inlets, Grand View Inlet, Tassoo and Gold Harbors, to the southern or Canoe Passage of Skidegate Channel, through which, touching at the abandoned village of Cha-atl, we returned to Skidegate, the round trip of about 325 miles having been made in twenty-three days.

GENERAL PHYSICAL FEATURES.

Steep and often precipitous mountains, ranging in elevation from 800 to 4000 feet above the sea, rugged and rocky on their western slopes, densely covered with forests of spruce, hemlock and red cedar, extend from Skidegate to Cape St. James, and from Queen Charlotte Sound to the ocean, over all the islands, so far as my observation extended, except the comparatively small tracts as hereafter described. The small diameter of the islands south of Skidegate Channel leaves but little room at any point for an interior beyond the range of the human eye, when standing upon the summits of the highest mountains, after having traversed their shores. The latter are uniformly rock-bound, frequently bluff or precipitous for from 25 to 1500 feet, with generally very limited borders of level country, the base of the steep mountains reaching down to the sea, with but narrow foothill slopes. There are occasional short stretches of fine sandy beaches, especially on the bays and inlets. The streams flowing from the short water-sheds are small, but numerous, and without exception filled with fallen trees from near their mouth up. Their waters are generally rapid, clear and good. Trout are found in most of them, and a small, very excellent salmon is caught in considerable numbers in several of the largest.

The rivers which I followed to their sources, rise in lakes and small swampy mountain basins. There are many good harbours for small boats, and several which afford perfect security at all times for large vessels on the eastern shores of the islands traversed. Of these, Copper Bay, Gray Bay, Laskeek Bay, Crescent Inlet, Sedgwick Bay, Werner Bay, Island Bay, George Bay, Collison Bay, Carpenter Bay, Provost Bay, Luxana Bay, and Seal Cove are the most important. On the west shore of the islands, though the harbor advantages are much more limited in number, they are believed to afford safe anchoring grounds for sloops and vessels of considerable size during the severest storms from any quarter. Henry and Bobson Inlets, Tasso and Gold Harbors, from twenty-five to thirty miles apart, are the largest and best harbors on this coast. There is, I judge, sufficient water at their entrances to admit deep-draught vessels.

Besides these waters, there are several indentations, greater than shown on the charts, and others not marked thereon, where small boats may find shelter. Among the latter, Grand View Inlet, so named from the magnificent scenery surrounding it, situated about eight miles south of Tasso Harbor, is one of the securest retreats for small boats I have ever seen. When opposite the entrance, the rocky shore seemed to offer no landing place unless the storm should suddenly abate. Unexpectedly my Indian guides turned directly toward land, and ran through a narrow rock-bound passage into a little basin about fifty rods square, surrounded by mountains rising very precipitously from 1500 to 2500 feet in hight, down which were plunging ten cataracts, where the smallest canoe could lie in safety at all times. The west shore is much the boldest, presenting for considerable distances, almost perpendicular-faced mountain walls from 1000 to 1500 feet in hight.

THE AGRICULTURAL LANDS

Embraced in these islands aggregate but a few hundred acres, principally lying in small tracts at the heads of bays and inlets, mouths of streams, and on small benches at the base of the mountains. Most of the richest spots appear to have been cultivated at some time by the Indians for raising potatoes. The largest bodies of cleared arable land seen, contained not exceeding twenty acres. There are several thousand acres of lightly timbered spruce and alder lands, bordering the bays, inlets and streams, which might be cleared and brought under profitable cultivation for dairying and the raising of root crops, should the development of the other resources of the islands attract a sufficient population to create a home market for such products.