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Viil. Introduction.

These adventurers knew but little of the country to which they
were bound. That region, the mainland of British Columbia, was then
unorganized territory, in which the Hudson’s Bay Company had a
licence of exclusive trade with the Indians. It had no government,
no towns, no roads, no means of transportation—none of the organ-
ization or accompaniments of civilization. For fifty years and more
the fur-traders had been in possession; but the only evidences of their
existence were some eight or ten trading-posts or “forts,” a few
“ brigade trails” in the interior, and a little farming at Fort Langley.

English law prevailed in the land. It is possible that justices of
the peace existed—on paper—for there is no evidence of their having
acted as such. In any event, their jurisdiction was limited to trivial
matters. Serious crimes were by the old Acts of George III. and
George IV. to be tried in Upper Canada, which meant, practically,
that they would not, and could not, be tried at all. Hence it is scarcely
an exaggeration to say that on the mainland of British Columbia there
was no law but the “law of the club and the fang.”

To this unorganized and uncivilized country the gold-seekers were
hurrying. The vessels from San Francisco landed them, first at Esqui-
malt, but later at Victoria. About one hundred and sixty miles still lay
between them and their Mecca, the bars of the Fraser. The first-comers
transported themselves as best they could. Some built boats for the
journey ; some hired Indians with their canoes; some obtained passage
in a tramp “ plunger,” or sloop, to Langley and trusted to the future for
the remainder of the way. The only British steamers on the coast
were the “ Beaver ” and the “ Otter”; but they were quite incapable
of stemming the swift current of the upper Fraser, and, besides, were
of too heavy draught to venture much beyond Langley.

James Douglas, who then occupied the dual positions of Governor
of Vancouver Island (which had been a colony since 1849) and the
head of the Hudson’s Bay Company on the Pacific Coast, seeing this
great inrush, took upon himself, of necessity and as the nearest govern-
ment official, to represent the Crown upon the mainland. He had
already issued regulations regarding the digging of gold and now
promulgated the terms upon which people might enter the country.
His action was approved by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, the Secretary
of State for the Colonies, and he was requested to continue until Par-
liament could meet and pass the necessary Act to form the Colony of
British Columbia.

As in every large gathering, the adventurers were from all walks
of life and of greatly diverse characters. The majority were, and
wished to be, well-behaved and law-abiding; but in the influx had come