The Hawaiian gazette., 1869-02-24
The Territory of the Hudson
Bay Company and the North
West Passage.
From la Revue des Deux Mondss,l

80 ~-1D--E@~
From la Revue des Deux Mondes.l
Lord Milton and DR.. Cheadle being
made aware that their outward appear
ance, clad in the WORKOUT garments they
had purchased at Fort Kamloop, was the
cause Of the want of courtesy on the part
of the waiter at the fashionable hotel of
Victoria, FASTENED to tailoris shop,
whence they emerged clothed in the high
est fashion of Vancouver Island, and
looked once more respectable" Having
thus accomplished what they owed to
themselves, they made it pleasure and a
duty to initiate Mr. and Mrs. fAssiniboine
into the marvellous wonders of civilization.
They hired splendid carriage, and drove
through the crowded streets of Victoria
with their Indian friends, who could hardly
conceal their delight. They took them to
Port Esquimault, to visit man-ofwar,
where they had the satisfaction of seeing
an Armstrong gun, and an admiral in full
uniform. but the excitement being telling
on their nerves, they were invited to par
take of nice lunch at a pastry-cook's,
the remembrance of which will haunt Mrs.
Baptiste for many long year. From the
pastry-cook's, the Englishmen took their
admiring companions to the 0pera-house,
for Victoria boasts of an Opera-house,
and also of Corps de Ballet,-and there
the excited miners were throwing gold
pieces on the stage to the favorite singers
and dancers, as an appreciation of their
admiration. This was the termination of
their acquaintance with civilization, and
Lord Milton and DIR. Cheadle having pro-
vided the means for their return, the In
dians-father, mother and son-went back
to their native wilds.
Our travellers could not think of going
home without visiting the auriferous re-
gions of Cariboo, and they started on their
journey in the classic attire Of the miners:
fat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat; high-top,
waterproof boots, reaching to the knee,
aud blankets strapped on their shoulders.
They arrived in week at the mines of
Cariboo, which are world-renowned, as the
Vancouver newspapers inform us, but we
shall not follow them in their expedi-
tion-the interesting parts of which may
be summed up in two or three episodes of
a dark character. OF the two miners who
have discovered the richest "placeros,"
one died of starvation in the forest, and
the other, afflicted with paralysis. is beg
ging his bread in the streets of Victoria,
which reminds one forcibly of the famous
Sic COS non Uobis. They also found that
the greater part of the sixty emigrants
who preceded them were drowned in the
Thompson River, and that the FIVE miners
who had also trusted their skiff to the tor
rents Of the same stream, had been upset,
but had managed to escape from the water.
Two of them, after indescribable sufferings,
reached Fort st. George, whence de-
tachment was sent in search of the other
three, two of whom were still alive, but
crazy, half buried in the snow, and devour-
ing the bloody remains of their comrade,
whom they had killed to satisfy their hun
ger. But let rs turn from these scenes of
horror, and examine the past and probable
future Of those two English possessions
which Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle reach
ed by such perilous and unfrequented
route. Fifteen years ago they were not
known by any official name-they were
simply termed the territories of the Hud-
son Bay Company west of the Rocky
Mountains-but now they have become
the rivals of the United States for inhu-
ence in the North Pacific Ocean.
Vancouver Island extends for more than
thirty miles along the American coast, and
although colony, with few inhabitants,
and with disagreeable climate and barren
soil, has the unquestionable advantage of
possessing Port Esquimault. the finest and
largest port Of the North Pacific for large
ships and men-of-war; and also the city of
Victoria, which owes to its position at the
mouth of the Frazer, and to the great diff
iculty attending the passage Of the bar at
the entrance of that river, the fact Of hav-
ing become the commercial emporium of
British Columbia Besides being the
headquarters Of naval station, and the
mart of a great Colony, Vancouver Island
enjoys another advantage that Of having
coal mines, Of poor quality, it is true
but very important, nevertheless, for most
Of the coal consumed in the Pacific comes