The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-08-24

city. The eyes of all are turned to q spot
which is destined to play no mean
part in the history Of our national
progress and civilization. Bills may be
proposed and defeated, particular schemes
may be discussed and delayed; but let any
one take look at the position and contour of
the northwestern corner of our country, and
he will be convinced of its importance and
foresee its manifest destiny. There is great
inland sea stretching up 200 miles from Cape
Flattery, studded with fertile islands, sur
rounded by pine-covered heights, and nearer,
by 500 miles, to China than San Francisco
and nearer, also, to New York. Instead of
sage-bush desert and salt plains, there is
fertile belt, under which lies bed of
miocene coal, stretching all the way from
Illinois to Washington Territory. Let
any one consider the increasing commerce
with China, of which we have merely tasted
the tirstfruits, and acquaint himself with the
character of the country behind it, and he
will perceive why so much attention has been
paid to this part of the republic; he will be
satisfied of the wisdom manifested in pre-
serving intact the boundary line which ter
inmates SO near it, and discern a reason for
the present anxiety to push through the
Northern Pacific Railway.
Here, as elsewhere on this coast, we per-
ceive the last of the red man side by side with
the first of the white men-the dying race
and the growing race strangely interminged
AT Victoria we saw the residence of the
Governor and officials on one side of the
harbor, and the ''rancheree" of King Frisi
and the dilapidated remnant of the
SoDghish tribe on the other. As we
look over the side of our vessel at Port
Townsend we see two Clallam girls in their
Chinook canoe sitting at ease. Thus have
the Duke of York and sach as he sat at ease
for centuries in their salmon-scented halls
In the midst of good opportunities, in one of
the best fields of the world, they have lived
out their time in idleness and sensuality,
their industries never rising higher
than skulkipg round the forest and
shooting the elk, or sleepily doing
in their canoes and spearing the
salmon as he darted along; their pleasures
never ranging beyond the hideous "potlatch,"
when, with wild screams and savage Joy, the
tribal crew mounted the roof of their "ranche-
rec, and flung their long-stored blankets to
msddened ''tilicums" (companions) beneath
Their time has come, and their portion is an
others. Even now they have lost their en-
tbusiasm of the savage, without gaining the
wisdom of the white man. They are letting
their time-cherished customs drop as things
of death. In this country of the Flatheads,
where for centuries the Clallam belle has
been rated according to the taper of her
''caput we find comparatively few mothers
thus preparing their offspring for social
position. Occasionally we see a Clallam con-
servative, some frowzy old crone from the
Chehalis or the Querquelin, sitting with the
instruments of torture applied to the hope of
the family. Down at Cape Flattery, where
they hunt the seal and gather the dog-fsh
oil, they preserve this ancient feature of
their race. Some of them boast that the chignon
is only an attempt on the part of other bellies
to copy their native graces. More than one
have we seen with piece of solid bark rolled
up in their hair In imitation of the fashion
able chignon.
On the whole, these dusky mothers take
but little trouble with their offspring. The
"tenas man" (small man), when born, is
wrapped in piece of old four-point blanket
covered over with the soft bark of the willow
or dog-wood, laced up tightly in his cradle of
wicker-work, and left to take care of himself.
Kick or sprawl he cannot, and his bawling
pleases himself and hurts no one. Generally
he is a contented little animal as he is tossed
around in his basket, or swings from his pole
or the branch of tree in the great forest.
After all-would the reader believe it ?-the
''San Juan Difficulty" as it is gracefully
termed in these parts, has arisen from the
mere scrape of pen. Great Britain claimed
Oregon north Of the Columbia river; the
United States claimed all south of latitude
81 deg. 40 min. In 1916 that grand COM
promise called the Ashburton treaty accepted
the 49th parallel as the boundary line.
But this line, if drawn across, would
have cut off the tail end of Vancouver Island.
1t was therefore stated in the treaty that,
after leaving the main land, it shall go south
ward, through the middle of the channel, to
the Strait of Fuca. The treaty appears to
have been made under the erroneous impress
sion that there was only one channel bet ween
the main land and Vancouver Island At the
time, the Rosario Strait was the best known,
and the most commonly used; the Haro Strait
has since been surveyed, and is the most direct
and best channel. Now the island, or rather
the islands, for there are thirty of them, lie
between these two straits; so, if the line
passing through the middle of the channel
means the Rosario Strait, they belong to
Britain; but if through the Haro Strait,
they belong to the United States. The
channel? Are we to understand the
channel best known in 1856, while they
were discussing terms, or the main
channel, as now ascertained by survey? The
mere insertion of the four letters H AFRO
would have prevented the difficulty" More
has been make Of the question than it really
deserves. San Juan, Orcas, and Lopez
islands (each about ten miles long, and from
one to three miles wide) are fertile; but.
where land is so plentiful, we need not take
their gain loss as matter
of life and death; and we beg very respect
fully to settle the whole difficulty,
and submit the following proposal to ali
concerned: During the survey in 1858
middle channel was discovered, called the
Douglas Channel. If it were taken as the
boundary, San Juan aud few islands would
fall to the English; Orcas, Lopez, and all the
others to the United States; for, though it