and turmoil incident to
getting off and being properly domiciled; the confusion of tongues and
peculiarity of temperament resembled the Babel of old. Here the
mercurial Son of France in search of a case of red wine, hot and
impulsive, belching forth "sacres" with a velocity well sustained. The
phlegmatic German stirred to excitability in quest of a "small cask of
lager and large box of cheese;" John Chinaman "Hi yah'd" for one "bag
lice all samee hab one Melican man," while a chivalric but seedy-looking
Southerner, who seemed to have "seen better days," wished he "might
be--if he didn't lay a pe-yor of boots thar whar that blanket whar." Not
to be lost in the shuffle was a tall canting specimen of Yankee-dom
perched on a water cask that "reckoned ther is right smart chance of
folks on this 'ere ship," and "kalkerlate that that boat swinging thar
war a good place to stow my fixin's in." The next day thorough system
and efficiency was brought out of chaos and good humor prevailed.

Victoria, then the capital of British Columbia, is situated on the
southern point of Vancouver's Island. On account of the salubrity of its
climate and proximity to the spacious land-locked harbor of Esquimault
it is delightful as a place of residence and well adapted to great
mercantile and industrial possibilities. It was the headquarters of the
Hudson Bay Company, a very old, wealthy, and influential English trading
company. Outside the company's fort, enclosing immense storehouses,
there were but few houses. The nucleus of a town in the shape of a few
blocks laid out, and chiefly on paper maps, was most that gave promise
of the populous city of Victoria of the present. On my arrival my goods
were sold at great advance on cost, an order for more sent by returning
steamer. I had learned prior to starting that city lots could be bought
for one hundred dollars each, and had come prepared to buy two or three
at that price. A few days before my arrival what the authorities had
designated as the "land office" had been subjected to a "Yankee rush,"
which had not only taken, and paid for all the lots mapped out, but came
near appropriating books, benches, and window sashes; hence the office
had to close down and haul off for repairs, and surveyed lots, and would
not be open for business for ten days. Meanwhile those that were in at
the first sale were still in, having real estate matters their own way.
Steamers and sailing craft were constantly arri