OF THE NORTH PACIFIC 17

Rose Spit, a distance of twenty miles, there is below
half tide a firm, sandy beach over which lorries and
wagons can pass with ease. Cattle and horses thrive on
the grass which flourishes along the beach or in the
small glades in the adjoining woods.

On the opposite side of Massett Inlet igneous rocks
crop out with patches of sand and shingle between the
rocky points. The Government has reserved the land
from the East side of Massett Inlet to Skidegate for
settlers’ homesteads, and a goodly number of pre-
emptors have taken up blocks; their homesteads are
generally close to the beach, as it is the only road by
which they can get their supplies and ship their produce.
The Government has, however, recently built a good
road from Port Clements through to Tallel on the East
coast, and from Tallel to Skidegate there is a wagon
road. The West side of Massett Inlet is densely
covered with forests of fine spruce, cedar and hemlock;
back of the forests which extend from half a mile to five
miles from the shore-line are the swamps and muskegs
separated by small belts of timber through to the hills
and the valleys which connect up with the West coast
mountains. There are no settlers and homesteads on
this side of the Inlet, and the only industry is a large
sawmill in operation at Buckley Bay, owned by the
Massett Timber Company.

The igneous formation bounds the North coast to
Cape Edenshaw with small sandy stretches here and
there. Some miles West of Virago Sound is Pillar
Bay, so called from a great column of sandstone which
rises abruptly from the beach. It is a great landmark,
about thirty feet in diameter at the base and about one
hundred feet in height.

From Parry Passage down the West coast and
through the channel to Skidegate village the coast-line

B