by scurvy among his sailors, that he himself had
to handle the sails before anchor was finally cast
off Mexico's shoreline.

Before continuing with the historical aspect, let us
consider the characteristics of the Indians who first
inhabited our Province. Their origin is veiled in
uncertainty; but the dominant opinion is that the
American continent was peopled from the plains of
Asia, and the natives of British Columbia, being pos-
sibly a later generation, were of a distinctly Mongol-
oid cast of countenance.

The first intimate knowledge of the north-west coast
came as the result of the last voyage of Captain
James Cook, who, on two former occasions, had lifted
the veil of mystery surrounding the explorations of
Australia and New Zealand, and the earth's most
southern continent... the Antarctic shoreline, where
contemporary with our time, Scott and Amundsen
have written their names in the romance of those seas.

It was after these voyages, and being pensioned
in the King’s Service that his imagination was fired
by the long-standing question of the North-West Pass-
age, and in 1776, sailed from England for the last time.

Eventually, above the horizon, appeared the coast-
line of Albion (as Drake had named California) where
he ran into foul weather, and, at the expiration of

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