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ee ee ee ASA ONS ANN a Res SR SL ISA eak wu hees ys coc)
Richard Hicks. 17
si Din aloe ee ete NS SELB DAU eee PEE death ek eth Oca em

Captain Whannell is now here with me. I trust his account to
Your Excellency will more than ever confirm me in your high esteem
and confidence. I shall never forget Sir the high position you have
confided to me, more especially when I call to mind the circumstances—
an entire stranger in a far distant Country from friends and home.

I hope and trust you will no more be teased with such contemp-
table complaints. I have done my best to please every one, and the
more people seem to be discontented. I will now try a new and inde-
pendant course. Should you require it I can forward you high
testimonial of my conduct here.

I beg most respectfully to submit the documents forwarded to the
Crown Solicitor for rebutting the accusation, and feel confident you
will not allow me to be so unfairly wronged by this man Hawley nor
any one else. W. List (Hawley’s partner) denies the charge.

There are many parties I cannot please, do what I will. W. Sny-
der* is one, and pretends to be a friend, when his own writings in the
San Francisco papers condemn him. He boasts that he will have me
out, cost what it will. He is a bad man.

Your Excellency knows but little what I have gone through since
I have been at Fort Yale. I do not mean to complain ; on the contrary,
I am proud of the office I hold under Your controul.

With the greatest respect,

I have the honour to be
Your Excellency’s
Most obt. Hble. Servant
(Sgd.) RicHarp Hicxs,
Assistant Crown Commissioner.

Fort Yale, Nov. 24th, 1858.

BritisH CoLuMBIA,
April 5th, 1859.
To His Excellency Governor Douglas, C.B., etc.
May iT PLEASE Your EXcELLENCY:

I have the honor to inform you that very rich and extensive
diggings have been discovered in the Canoe Country,®° and that a party
of four men have taken out as high as eight hundred dollars a day, and
others are avaraging three hundred dollars daily. I have this from the
most reliable source and can be relied upon.

(49) Possibly H. M. Snyder, of San Francisco, the man who led the volunteers in their
advance against the Indians in August, 1858. See introduction.

(50) Canoe Country was the name given to the mining region about fifty or sixty miles above
Lillooet, on the Fraser.