ere, the island has such a rich green look
after California. It is quite rocky about us; but the rocks even are
carpeted deep with moss, and the old gnarled branches of the oaks have a
coating of thick, bright velvet. It is now the middle of November; and
the young grass is springing up after the rain, and even where it does
not grow there is no bare earth, but brown oak-leaves and brakes, with
soft warm colors, particularly when the sun strikes across them. The
skies, too, are like those at home, with the magnificent sunrise and
sunset that only clouds can give. The California sky is, much of the
time, pure unchanging blue.

When we first landed here, we were very much impressed by the appearance
of the coast, it being bold and rocky, like that of New England; while
on the opposite side of the straits, and almost everywhere on the Sound,
are smooth, sandy shores, or high bluffs covered with trees. The trees,
too, at once attracted our attention,--large, handsome oaks, instead of
the rough firs, and a totally different undergrowth, with many flowers
wholly unknown on the opposite side, which charmed us with their
brilliancy and variety of color; among them the delicate cyclamen, and
others that we had known only in greenhouses. They continually recalled
to us the surprise of some of the early explorers at seeing an
uncultivated country look so much like a garden. We were told that much
less rain falls here than on the American side; the winds depositing
their moisture as snow on the mountains before they reach Victoria,
which gives it a dryer winter climate.

Vancouver, in his narrative, repeatedly speaks of the serenity of the
weather here, and says that the scenery recalled to him delightful
places in England. He felt as if the smooth, lawn-like slopes of the
island must have been cleared by man. Every thing unsightly seemed to
have been removed, and only what was most graceful and picturesque
allowed to remain. He says, "I could not possibly believe that any
uncultivated country had ever been discovered exhibiting so rich a
picture." When requested by the Spanish Seignor Quadra to select some
harbor or island to which to give their joint names, in memory of their
friendship, and the successful accomplishment of their business (they
having been commissioned respectively by their governments to tender and
receive the possessions of Nootka, given back by Spain to Great
Britain), he selected this island as the fairest a