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seldom experienced and residents state that in the winter, which
is by all accounts the most agreeable season of the year, over-
coats are seldom necessary.

The west coast, like that of Vancouver island, has an
excessive rainfall, and is usually enveloped in mist. The central
and eastern parts of the island have considerable rain and much
cloudy weather in the early summer, interspersed with bright
sunshiny days. August is usually a month of sunshine, and
the autumn is wet. In spite of the high latitude, snow does
not lie on the ground at sea-level for any length of time in the
winter.

FLORA.

Hemlock (Plate XV) is the principal tree and makes up
more than half of the forest. Red and yellow cedar and spruce
are also plentiful and alder, yew, jack-pine, and mountain hem-
lock are found. Some of the spruce trees are very large, not
infrequently 8 feet in diameter at 5 feet from the ground, and
tower 300 feet in the air, carrying their size well up the stem.
The yellow cedar is also a wood worth special mention. It is
very close-grained and works well with edged tools, owing to its
homogeneity, and it takes a good polish. It is well adapted for
interior finishing, furniture, and cabinet work.

Undergrowth, except in the valley bottoms, and on coastal
lowlands, is not excessively abundant. The uplands are gener-
ally open; the principal shrub is a scraggly huckleberry, that
delays, but does not seriously impede travel, and even it is some-
times lacking. In the low areas, the bushes which include the
huckleberry, salmon-berry, and devil’s club grow very thickly,
and make travelling slow and arduous. Salal is found only near
the coast of the island and in the Northeast lowlands, where
dense thickets occur. Occasionally, thickets of young spruce
are encountered that are almost impenetrable, but they are not
common and on the whole the island is not so difficult of access
as it has been reported to be, though it is not easily travelled.
The surface of the ground, thickly covered as it is by layers of
dead trees and moss, is very rough, and a secure footing is not
always obtainable. The trees rise on buttressed roots above the