A strong south-east wind caused a very low tide the following day, laying bare a sandstone flat about an eighth of a mile from the beach, upon which black objects were visible. I had already found on the shore opposite at high tide, large pieces of lignite coal and petrified wood. Putting on my long boots, I soon discovered the base trunks of hundreds of forest trees from one to six feet in length extending as far out to sea as I could wade—some lying down and formed into lignite coal, but the greater number standing and petrified as hard as rock. The rocks along the north coast for hundreds of miles, show unmistakable evidence of violent volcanic action, and though the ocean has receded within the memory of Indians now living, these islands are probably the mountain tops of a submerged land, separated from the main body of the continent by the sinking of the earth's surface.
AN INTERESTING RIDE.
September with its gales had arrived, the last of the sea-otter hunters, except Captain John and family, we had met beyond North Island, leaving the coast for the winter; our rations were getting short, everything induced me to push forward as rapidly as possible, and after lying for several hours on Frederick Island waiting for the sea to run down, I decided to advance. When we had rounded the first point and were fairly into the midst of the great rollers—"turn back! turn back!" exclaimed one of my men, which refusing to do he added; "My God! See the distance we must go." We had already on two or three occasions encountered sufficiently rough seas to give me great confidence in the seaworthiness of my canoe, which, though I had ribbed and decked fore and aft, every Indian who saw it thought unfit for the expedition, being, they said, too small, weak and cranky. I wished they could have seen her ride the great seas which come rolling in like mountains, before we reached land again. Ben Melin, a sailor of thirteen years experience on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, says he never saw so small a boat out-live such a sea. "We will all be drowned," said Bill, a young Hydah Indian, at the same time stripping off his clothing as I turned the prow of our little ship towards the shore. And yet we had not taken aboard two buckets full of water, which swept over the covered prow and would have swamped us, but for the decking. But everywhere along the shore we were nearing, and which had been described to me by Chief Edensaw as affording a good camping place, the sea was breaking with a loud roar. Surveying it carefully we discovered a narrow opening between two great rocks, where the interval between the breakers was thought to be sufficiently long to enable us by skillful management to pass through it. I had steered thus far with my left hand—my right hand being entirely useless—by strapping the paddle to the side of the canoe near the stern, and after directing my men to assist me with their oars upon a given signal, decided to go through. First, with the assistance of Bill removing my heavy boots and rubber coat, just after a great sea had broken "Pull both oars, heavy, right oars, now both oars, with all your might!" were the orders as we rode through in splendid style, on the crest of a great wave; but when we supposed we were beyond their reach, a heavy cross breaker rolling in unobserved, struck the canoe broad-sides and dashed it violently against a sharp rock. Bill being nearest the prow, and almost naked, was the first to jump overboard, myself following, and both placing ourselves between the canoe and the rock, clinging to the former, saved it from destruction by the two succeeding breakers, which swept us so near land, that by great effort we were able to lighten the canoe by throwing things ashore and then haul her on the rocks. A split about three feet in length, above water line, was the only injury it sustained.
Camping in a Cave, we are driven out double quick at midnight by a very high tide.
We had sought refuge from a storm in a little rock-bound cove on the south shore of an inlet called by the Indians Athlow, where we built a fire and spread our blankets in a big cave washed out by the sea. As night approached the more prudent suggested that the storm might cause a high tide to rise over us while sleeping; though the opinion prevailed that only the full moon tides in conjunction with severe northwesters ever reached so high, and why take the trouble to pitch a tent, when our ready made house of stone afforded us so much better protection from the rain and wind. And so while we lay unconscious the storm increased, the tide rose higher and higher, until at midnight the sound of the waves dashing against the mouth of the cave awakened me. Arousing my men, who were still sleeping soundly, with all possible despatch, nearly cracking our skulls against the sides of the cave in the darkness, by clambering over the rocks at the base of a high precipice between the breakers we succeeded in removing all our supplies and camp equippage to a place of safety.
A HYDAH MOTHER'S REJOICING OVER THE RETURN OF HER SON, SUPPOSED TO BE LOST.
A hard pull up the swift rapids which extend for about two miles across the divide where tides of Skidegate Channel meet those of Skidegate Inlet, brought us into the waters of the latter, in which we soon passed several parties of Indians camping at, and en route to salmon streams for their winter supply of dog salmon. Bill having heard that his mother was with one of these parties, asked permission to land and see her. When the old woman saw her son approaching, she ran down the beach to meet him, and falling on her knees, uttered a wild strain of joyful exclamations over his safe return.