nd there are a mile or two of field and forest and sunny
oak openings; then comes the forest primeval, dense and shaggy and
well-nigh impenetrable.

Notwithstanding the importance claimed for Victoria as a commercial
center and the capital of British Columbia, it has a rather young,
loose-jointed appearance. The government buildings and some of the
business blocks on the main streets are well built and imposing in bulk
and architecture. These are far less interesting and characteristic,
however, than the mansions set in the midst of spacious pleasure grounds
and the lovely home cottages embowered in honeysuckle and climbing
roses. One soon discovers that this is no Yankee town. The English
faces and the way that English is spoken alone would tell that; while in
business quarters there is a staid dignity and moderation that is very
noticeable, and a want of American push and hurrah. Love of land and of
privacy in homes is made manifest in the residences, many of which are
built in the middle of fields and orchards or large city blocks, and in
the loving care with which these home grounds are planted. They are very
beautiful. The fineness of the climate, with its copious measure of warm
moisture distilling in dew and fog, and gentle, bathing, laving rain,
give them a freshness and floweriness that is worth going far to see.

Victoria is noted for its fine drives, and every one who can should
either walk or drive around the outskirts of the town, not only for the
fine views out over the water but to see the cascades of bloom pouring
over the gables of the cottages, and the fresh wild woods with their
flowery, fragrant underbrush. Wild roses abound almost everywhere. One
species, blooming freely along the woodland paths, is from two to three
inches in diameter, and more fragrant than any other wild rose I ever
saw excepting the sweetbriar. This rose and three species of spiraea
fairly fill the air with fragrance after a shower. And how brightly then
do the red berries of the dogwood shine out from the warm yellow-green
of leaves and mosses!

But still more interesting and significant are the glacial phenomena
displayed hereabouts. All this exuberant tree, bush, and herbaceous
vegetation, cultivated or wild, is growing upon moraine beds outspread
by waters that issued from the ancient glaciers at the time of
their recession, and scarcely at all moved or in any way modified by
post-glacial agencies. The town streets and the