CHAPTER XVIII.

Victoria—The Rush there from California—Contrast to San Francisco under Similar Circumstances—The Assiniboines see the Wonders of Victoria—Start for Cariboo—Mr. O’B. and the Assiniboine are Reconciled—The Former re-establishes his Faith—Farewell to the Assiniboine Family—Salmon in Harrison River—The Lakes—Mr. O’B.’s Triumph—Lilloet—Miners’ Slang—The “Stage” to Soda Creek—Johnny the Driver—Pavilion Mountain—The Rattlesnake Grade—The Chasm—Way-side Houses on the Road to the Mines—We meet a Fortunate Miner—The Farming Land of the Colony—The Steamer—Frequent Cocktails—The Mouth of Quesnelle—The Trail to William’s Creek—A Hard Journey—Dead Horses—Cameron Town, William’s Creek.

Victoria is very beautifully situated on the shores of a small rocky bay—an indentation in the promontory which is formed by the sweeping round of the sea into the land-locked harbour of Esquimalt. The site was originally chosen by Sir James (then Mr.) Douglas, Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s territories west of the Rocky Mountains, for the establishment of head-quarters, in place of Fort Vancouver, when Oregon passed into the possession of the United States in the year 1844. Fourteen years afterwards, when the news of the discovery of gold on the Fraser caused such excitement in California, the only buildings were the Company’s Fort, and one or two houses inhabited by their employés. In the course of a few weeks 30,000 people were collected there, waiting for the flooded Fraser to subside, and allow them to proceed to the diggings. Amongst this immense assemblage of people—the majority of them the most desperate and lawless of the Californian rowdies—Governor Douglas, without the aid of a single soldier or regular police-force, preserved an order and security which contrasted most forcibly with the state of things in San Francisco and Sacramento under similar circumstances. The city wore a very thriving aspect when we visited it, and could already boast of several streets. The whole traffic to and from British Columbia passing through it, has rapidly enriched its merchants, and handsome brick stores are fast replacing the original wooden buildings.

We had by no means relinquished our intention of visiting Cariboo, although we had failed to reach it by the direct route we had originally projected. At Victoria we were more than 500 miles distant; winter was fast approaching, and there was therefore no time to be lost in setting out. We stole a day or two, however, to introduce the friends we delighted to honour—Mr. and Mrs. Assiniboine, and their son—to the wonders of civilisation to be found in Victoria. To this end, we clothed them in gorgeous apparel, seated them in a “buggy” drawn by a pair of fast-trotting horses, and mounting the box ourselves, drove them in state to Esquimalt. They sat inside with great gravity, occasionally remarking on the difference between bowling along a capital road at the rate we were going, and advancing only two or three miles a day, by hard labour, through the forest. Having shown them a live Admiral, and a 100-pounder Armstrong on board H.M.S.S. Sutlej, and completed the round of sights by showing them the principal stores and the theatres, we left The Assiniboine to take notes of what he had seen in a diary of hieroglyphics, which he had instituted for the record of the wonders of Victoria.

On the 29th of September we put a pair of socks, a flannel shirt, and toothbrush apiece into our blankets, rolling them into a pack, miners’ fashion, inserted our legs into huge jack boots, “recommended for the mines,” and went on board the steamer Otter, for New Westminster. The Assiniboine family accompanied us on their way back to Kamloops, where they were to winter, intending to re-cross the mountains in the spring by the Kootanie Pass. They were rather reluctant to leave their new-found pleasures behind them, having been especially fascinated by the ballet, and the delicacies provided for them by the pastry-cook. Mr. O’B. remained in Victoria, re-establishing, under the worthy clergymen of that city, the faith which had been staggered by his over-dose of Paley. He had signalised his return to Christianity by shaking hands with his ancient enemy, The Assiniboine, and the two buried their former animosities for ever; for they are little likely to meet again. At New Westminster we bade good-bye to the Assiniboine family, who went forward to Yale, whilst we took steamer by the Harrison River to Douglas, in order to see the rival route by the Lakes and Lilloet. In spite of The Assiniboine’s cool confession that it had been his design at first to desert us at Jasper House, when he had solemnly promised to go through to the end, he had served us so well, and led us so ably in a time of doubt and hardship, that we were sincerely sorry to part with him and his family. They sailed up the Fraser, and we stood watching them out of sight, wondering whether any of the odd chances of life would ever bring us across them again. We heard before leaving Victoria that, on his arrival at Kamloops, the man was employed as a shepherd by Mr. McKay, and expected to return to Fort Pitt in the following year, with a goodly string of horses. In the shallows of the Harrison River we saw many thousands of spent salmon wriggling and flopping about, half-stranded, and pursued by a number of Indians, who were engaged in spearing them. Passing through Douglas and Pemberton by the lakes and portages between them, we struck the Fraser again at Lilloet, about 265 miles from New Westminster, and 300 from Victoria. The scenery on this route, especially on Lakes Anderson and Seton, is exceedingly wild and grand. Mountains rise abruptly from the shores of the lakes on each side, steep, rugged, and barren; and when we saw them their beauty was increased by the brilliant tints of the American autumn. At various places on our way to Lilloet we heard of our friend Mr. O’B., who had followed this route on his journey down from Kamloops, instead of the one by Yale. He had found favour with every one, for he knew the history family, friends, property, and expectations of each, and the latest news of the neighbourhood from which they came. At a certain town on the road, a number of new-found friends and admirers, with whom he was spending a social evening, observing the astonishing facility with which he imbibed his native whisky, determined to see him under the table, and plied him vigorously. But if their heads were hard, Mr. O’B.’s was harder, and although he had not tasted any intoxicating liquor for two years, and drank glass for glass with his entertainers without shirking, he proved invincible. One after another the conspirators subsided helpless on the floor, while Mr. O’B. remained sitting, smiling and triumphant, and calmly continued to smoke his pipe, superior and alone!

The town of Lilloet is situated on a grand plateau, one of the terraces of the Fraser, which are here more than ordinarily extensive and well-marked. The place was full of miners, on their way down to Victoria for the winter. Drinking and card-playing went on until long after midnight, amid a constant string of oaths and miners’ slang. Our ears became familiarised with such phrases as “bully for you,” “caved in,” “played out,” “you bet,” “you bet your life,” “your bottom dollar” or “your gumboots on it,” “on the make,” “on the sell,” “a big strike,” “can’t get a show,” “hit a streak,” and so on. We slept in a double-bedded room, and towards morning there was a tremendous crash, and Milton heard an angry growling proceeding from Cheadle, whose bed had come down with a run. At daybreak we were aroused by a number of fellows outside our door laughing, and shouting, “Who is this —— fellow putting on frills?” In a weak and absent moment Cheadle had mechanically put his boots outside the door, as if expecting them to be cleaned, and this had properly excited their derision.

[(Larger)]

THE “RATTLESNAKE GRADE.”

(See [page 356].))