No. 37

As surmised in the 17th paragraph of my despatch, No 7
of 20th of May, which reported the massacre of Mr Waddington's
road party at Bute Inlet by the Chilicoten Indians, the murderers
without delay, crossed the mountains and took to the plains of the
interior.

2. The Volunteers I despatched under Mr Brew were unable to
follow them. Even to reach the spot where Brewster, the foreman
of the Road gang, was killed, the men had to be lowered down a
precipice by ropes and those who had the nerve reached the place
where the body lay by crossing a ravine several hundreds of feet
deep on a single log. Where Indians could pass most of the New
Westminster Volunteers could follow, but the former had no need to
carry food as they entered a friendly country, the latter must
either bring with them the means of subsistence or starve. I
satisfied myself that our men ought not to be allowed to penetrate
to the interior by way of Bute Inlet. I never saw so difficult
a country. The mountains in many cases rise simply at right
angles to the plains. Glaciers are poised over narrow valleys
of almost tropical heat, and the cascades fall from the summit
of the precipice scarcely wetting the perpendicular wall of rock.
Mr Brew's party buried the remains of the Road Makers and returned
to New
Westminster.

3. Within the great barrier of the Cascade Range lies the
Chilicoten Country to which the Murderers retired. It was almost
unknown to white men until recent events have caused it to be
ransacked by armed bands of volunteers in its remotest corners.
I enclose a map drawn by the Royal Engineers of the supposed
features of the Country and also one of the Bute Inlet Country
compiled from Indian information and recent research to show
how complete our ignorance has hitherto been.

4. The Country occupied by the Chilicotens extends probably
two hundred miles North and South. From the summit of the Bute Inlet Mountains to the West Road River, East and West the tribe
roamed from the Cascade Range to the Fraser, a distance of three
hundred Miles. Most of the land is of high elevation, the vegetation
stunted and the plains of greater extent than generally found in
British Columbia. But there are many valleys of the greatest
fertility, and the rivers and lakes are innumerable. The Indian
trails which traverse the country concentre at Benshee Lake, and
that therefore was the point which any expedition sent against
the Indian Murderers would try to reach. On the failure to pass
the Bute Mountains there remained only two reasonably practicable
ways of reaching Benshee with provisions, the one by Alexandria,
the other by Bentinck Arm. Before sending Mr Brew to Bute Inlet
orders had been given for Mr Cox and a party of Volunteers to
advance on Benshee from the former point. The want of a transport,
as stated in my despatch No 8 of 20th May, prevented an
expedition from the latter.

5. Little was known of the Chilicoten Country and not much
more of its inhabitants. It was supposed that the tribe, even
after the ravages of small pox, could muster several hundred
warriors. It was seen, from the few who occasionally visited
the coast, that they were a tall, athletic race, well provided
with horses, and well supplied with Arms. They had ocasionally
made war upon the tribes near the Sea and always with success.
Three or four mule trains had passed from West to East carrying
goods to the Gold mines of Cariboo, and the drivers had become
 acquainted with Anaheim, the principal Chief of the Western
 division of the Tribe, whose seat is at Nacoontloon, and Alexis,
who resides about a hundred miles from Alexandria. The last named
had however frequent intercourse with the Whites at the Hudson
Bay fort on the Fraser, and has been occasionally visited by the
Roman Catholic priests. We had vaguely heard that a large force
 under a subordinate to Alexis occupied the lodges on Benshee,
 and that a detachment of Anaheim's men was in possession of a
palisaded fort at Sutleth. All these places lie in the trail
by which the mule trains passed. To the Southward, in the great
indentation formed by the sweep of the Cascade range, it was
believed that many of the Chilicotens had their hunting and fishing
grounds, but the country had escaped the visit of even the most
adventurous white men. Such was the extent of the knowledge of this
vast territory we possessed when it became necessary to invade it.

6. The Murderers having reached the plains to the Northward
of Bute Inlet, marched with great rapidity to Benshee Lake. They
appear to have picked up recruits on the way for the force numbered
nearly 30 Men when it approached the farm of a white settler,
William Manning. The Chief, Klatssassin, who had presided over
the massacre at Bute Inlet sent an Indian Woman to this man with
the message that he was going to kill him without delay. Manning
made no answer, but went and sat on a log outside his house. In
a few minutes the Chilicotens came down, despatched him with a
tomahawk, mangled the body brutally and threw it into a small
stream close by the house. They plundered the stores of everything,
burnt down the buildings, hay stacks, all that could thus be
destroyed, and even went to the trouble of breaking up the
ploughs and other agricultural implements.

7. Manning was the only fixed settler in this Country, but
unfortunately a train of 42 horses with eight drivers, was
approaching from Bentinck Arm, the party alluded to in my previous
 despatch. Klatsassin went to meet them, and as in the case of
Manning, at once told Macdonald, the head of the party, that he
was come to put them all to death. But the eight white men were
well armed and showed that they were likely to sell their lives
dearly, the Indians hesitated and then apparently retired. But
Macdonald knew that they were not far off and threw up some
earthworks on the summit of a small hill and remained in safety
for some days. Then he determined on retreating as fast as he
could in the Bella Coola Country. As his party left their shelter
the Chilicotens appeared in force and galloped towards them. The
white men were however first to reach a long narrow Indian bridge
over a swamp which they were able to hold against the natives,
who again retired, but only to form an ambush on the trail. A
volley was then fired at the train as it passed. Two of the men
were dismounted, a horse killed, and then an open attack made by
an overwhelming force. In it Macdonald and two of his party were
killed. The fortunate accident of the horses rushing between the
packers and the Indians enabled five of the former to escape
though they were badly wounded.

acts of violence as isolated massacres, but there is no objection
to our now avowing that an Indian Insurrection existed, extremely
formidable from the inaccessible nature of the country over which
it raged. It seemed that the whole Chilicoten tribe was involved
in it, as Benshee, where Manning was murdered is under the
 jurisdiction of Alexis; Sutleth, where Macdonald and his two
 comrades fell, is under that of Anaheim. They must have had the
 sympathy, at least, of the Bella Coolas also, for Anaheim descended
to their lands to finish the extermination of the Whites and it
was only by mere chance that a Mr Hamilton, his wife, and daughter,
escaped with their lives just as the Chilicotens arrived. The Country
had been so thinly settled by Europeans that with the departure of
the Hamiltons, the white occupation ceased from the Sea to the
Fraser. The Bella Coola Indians exposed to the visit of a Ship of
War, did not openly join in the insurrection but they made no protest
against the violation of their territory which they had heretofore so
jealously guarded.

9. Great excitement prevailed in this and the neighbouring
Colony while the extermination of our fellow countrymen proceeded
and beyond our own limits no allowance was made for my inability
to procure the Services of a ship of war, nor for the ruggedness
of the Cascade Mountains which seemed to close the access to the
interior to beasts of burden or loaded men. True, Mr Cox's party
had started from Alexandria but in numbers insufficient to suppress 
so large an insurrection. Great therefore was my satisfaction when
at last Vice Admiral Kingcome arrived on the Station and consented
to convey an Expedition to Bentinck Arm from which point we were
determined to reach if possible, the hunting grounds of the
Chilicotens. Not an hour was wilfully lost in raising a party of
volunteers, forty in number, in New Westminster. I gave the command
to Mr Brew, Police Magistrate of New Westminster, and determined on
accompanying him, at all events as far as Bella Coola, where I could
judge whether it was possible for the party to proceed.

10. On the failure of the attempt to reach the interior by
way of Bute Inlet I had written to Mr Cox to say that I had only
him to depend on, and that he must make his force sufficiently
strong to stand alone. He had some difficulty in procuring
volunteers in the Upper Country, but finally he succeeded in
enrolling a force of thirty, which he subsequently increased
to fifty and finally to sixty five men; most of them natives of
the United States and not much disposed to relish the restraint
which I put upon them in carrying on operations against the
Indians. Mr Cox left Alexandria on the 8th of June, and
reached Benshee Lake, a distance of 112 Miles by the Indian
trail on the 12th. Thirty seven horses accompanied the expedition.

11. The path on which he travelled passes over a bare hill,
within a mile of Mannings farm. From its summit Mr Cox's party
descried the Chilicotens in full occupation of their lodges. As
his advanced guard rose into sight the natives appeared to think
that another luckless pack train had fallen into their hands and
prepared to meet it; and here I think Mr Cox missed a good
opportunity of securing the persons of the murderers, as a valley
immediately on his right would have led his men unseen to the
rear of the Indian position. They however showed themselves in
force with their long train of pack horses, and the natives with
every demonstration of rage and hatred, abandoned their village
and retired to the forest. In the afternoon Mr Cox sent six men
to reconnoitre. They were fired on by the Indians, who drove them
back on the main body, reloading and firing as they advanced,
& wounding one man. On the following day the white men set fire
to the Indian lodges, when the owners again appeared with loud
yells on the top of a hill and fired off their muskets, though
without inflicting damage. Mr Cox then constructed a log fort
on the summit of a hill and waited with a flag of truce flying
for the arrival of any friendly Indians who might be in the
Country. None came, and on my arrival at Benshee on the 6th
July, I found Mr Cox and his force within the log walls of his
fortress. They were virtually besieged by an invisible enemy.

12. Meanwhile the New Westminster expedition was coming to his
assistance. When entering Bentinck Arm, the flag ship was boarded
by three wounded men from Macdonald's party. They told us of the
 rising of Anaheim, the fortunate escape of the Hamiltons, and
gave generally so gloomy an account of the state of the country
that I thought it right either to withhold Mr Brew's party, or
to go through with it myself. I selected the latter alternative.

13. Feeling that the presence of a powerful ship like the
"Sutlej" would overawe the Coast Indians, Mr Brew, with my
concurrence, took thirty of them, under the young fighting Chief,
into his pay. With thirty eight Volunteers from New Westminster,
our Indian band, and nineteen pack horses, we started from Rascal's
Village on the 20th June for Benshee Lake, in the centre of the
Chilicoten Country 250 Miles from our base of operations. As we
advanced the communications closed behind us and I had but rare
opportunities of communicating with your department.

14. The few pack trains which have passed through the Chilicoten
territory, came from Alexandria, to the head of boat navigation
on the Bella Coola River 53 miles from its Mouth. The goods are
conveyed in Canoes to the spot where land transport commences.
We therefore, as pioneers in one sense of the Bella Coola Country, the
first men to bring horses from the Sea, had to cut a trail and
build bridges for them along the whole extent of the rich Alluvial
Valley. The streams running into the river—itself a mere torrent—fed
from the glaciers immediately above us were innumerable and
our progress consequently slow. We however reached the summit of
the Cascade Mountains on 30th June and found ourselves at last
in the Chilicoten Country, having suffered the comparatively
trifling loss, in our difficult march, of three horses, twenty
Indians by desertion, and one Volunteer accidentally wounded
near Rascal's Village.

15. We had met native tribes but twice in our passage up the
Bella Coola. The Tsantonies had taken possession of Mr Hamilton's
house at the ferry and seemed disposed to dispute our passage
of the river. Our Indian allies however stood by us manfully
and by a display of force accompanied by kind words and small
presents we secured the wavering allegiance of this tribe, who
had heard of many murders of white men, but never of retribution
following. The Kishkatts, whom we subsequently fell in with in
the woods, threw away their furs and food and made off towards
the mountains. They were pursued by the Bella Coolas with a
rapidity which damped my hope of our success in catching the
tall and powerful Chilicotens. The Kishkatts were brought back
and appeared wild but docile.

16. While still engaged in the precipices of the "Great Slide,"
where the Indian trail runs up the almost perpendicular side of
a mountain of disintegrated trap rock, shouts were heard in the
back and our Indians captured one Chilicoten. We learnt subsequently
 that it was Anaheim and his followers who filled the woods. Perhaps
the resolute bearing of the Volunteers, perhaps the presence among
us of friendly Indians, prevented the attack which appears to have
been meditated; an attack which would have taken our party at a
great disadvantage, and might have had the success which was
already boasted of, as will be seen from the extract from a
Vancouver Island Paper which I enclose.

LATEST FROM BUTE INLET
ANOTHER MASSACRE

A Mr. Sampore, Mr. Waddington's store keeper, arrived from Bute
Inlet, in company with another white man, in a canoe this morning to
bring the following information of the massacre of the whole or part
of the Bentinck Arm expedition.

A report was brought down by coast Indians, and communicated by
them to the Eucletaws at Bute Inlet to the effect that the whole
expedition (Mr. Waddington thinks perhaps only a provision party with
escort) has been surprised half way up while mounting the "Original
Slide" on the Bentinck Arm Trail, the bare side of a precipitous
mountain 2000 feet high. The Indians had prepared at the top of the
mountain a number of large rocks and logs of wood which they
precipitated on the men below, and swept them down into the torrent
1000 feet beneath.

Such is the version which Mr. Sampore has brought down, and
which he found to be corroborated by accounts brought to Nanaimo,
where it was fully accredited last Sunday.

Two of the Chilcoaten murderers, before Mr. Sampore left, came
down to the head of the Inlet to reconnoitre, but immediately
disappeared when they found that they were observed. This occurrence
had so frightened the friendly Indians that they had left the town
site immediately, and encamped upon an impregnable position at the
head of the Inlet.

Nothing had been heard by the Indians of the reported disaster
to Mr. Cox's party.

We are indebted to Mr. Waddington for the above information.

17. Beyond the watchfulness necessarily incident to the march
through a country where every bush might conceal an ambush there
was but little to relieve the monotony of the travel in the
stunted forest of the high plains. Silence was generally observed,
and no shot permitted at the many grouse which would have varied
our plain food.

18. It was known that Anaheim had a palisaded fort at Nacoontloon,
and Mr Brew hoped that he and his whole branch of the Chilicotens
would make a stand there, if even in vastly superior numbers,
and bring matters to a crisis, and the long wearying marches to
a termination. But the fort was vacant, the village deserted.
Then came some variety, in the passing the scene of the last
massacre, and the painful task of burying the bodies of our
countrymen, multilated by the Indians, mangled by the wolves
and rendered ghastly by decay. Dead horses lay on the trail,
gutted pack saddles, boxes of wax candles, broken agricultural
implements, a musket shattered by a bullet. An Indian Chief
had been shot by Macdonald after he himself had received his
death wound. Him, his comrades had buried pompously, adorning
his grave with flags, but the exigencies of the war with the
whites were too great for them to sacrifice, in the usual
manner, his horse and musket for his future use.

19. To prevent the further, lengthening out of this inevitably
long despatch I enclose copy of a letter written by my direction
from Benshee Lake, by Lieutenant Cooper R.M., who acted as my
aide de camp. I should however do more full justice, than
could be done in a letter signed by himself, to the conduct
of the flying party despatched under him in pursuit of the
Indians to Lake Capana. They started off at an hours notice,
with but one horse to carry food for the whole party, the rain
coming down in torrents, and with orders not to light a fire.
The country had never been previously seen by a white man. The
principal guide was the Chilicoten prisoner. For many days they
followed in the tracks of the flying Indians and only ceased
their pursuit when all trace of the fugitives disappeared
on the smooth rock on the snow margin of the Cascade Mountains.
They were deserted by their guide, who very nearly succeeded
in taking with him the one horse attached to the expedition.

20. On the departure of Mr Cooper, the remainder of Mr Brew's
party, including myself, pushed on with great rapidity towards
Benshee. I had directed Mr Cox to meet me in person, or send
someone in whom, he had confidence, to do so, 15 miles along
the Bentinck Arm trail, but no one appeared at the spot appointed
for the conference. I had several important reasons in view in
giving this direction. I apprehended some danger to discipline
in the having so large a force of Volunteers under two distinct
commanders encamped together. I wished to be nearer to the flying
party in case disaster should have happened, but no alternative
under the circumstances was left but for us to proceed. On the
6th of July our small party marched rapidly into Mr Cox's
fortress five days earlier than we were expected.

21. There was naturally great satisfaction on both sides in
this successful junction. I was received with many cheers and
"tigers" by the Alexandria party. But the first excitement
over, I could not but enquire of Mr Cox why so large a force as sixty five men had been kept inactive for so long! They had
actually reached Benshee two days before we left New Westminster!
It appeared, that they had marched through a deserted country,
indifferent, if not hostile, to them. Alexis, the ruler, had
 not openly declared against the whites like Anaheim, but no
reliance could be placed in him. At first he was reported to be
ill. Then he was stated to be hunting Cariboo (Reindeer) in the
Mountains. However it was soon arranged that he should be waited
for no longer but that the Alexandria party should proceed on
the following morning towards Lake Takla and the Bute Inlet
Mountains. Accordingly the whole force marched out at daylight,
presenting a very fine and formidable appearance.

22. The few hours that the two parties had passed together,
sufficed to show the difference in their character. The men
raised in the Gold districts, mostly Americans, passed the
greater part of the night in dancing or playing cards to an
accompaniment of war whoops and the beating of tin pots. The
New Westminster expedition, almost exclusively English, and
comprising many discharged Sappers, spent the evening in their
usual quiet soldier-like manner. No spirituous liquor was in
either camp, yet the amusements were kept up in the one long
after total silence prevailed in the other, and a slight
estrangement commenced between the occupiers of the fort and
those encamped on the plain below which was never entirely healed.

23. The provisions had begun to run short in Mr Brew's camp,
and small as our numbers were, he had to despatch a pack train
with escort for supplies to the summit of the great Slide as
soon as Mr Cox's force had departed.

24. For three days and nights the small residue of the New Westminster party remained unable to separate, and obliged
to be vigilant at night. The fort had been left in so repulsive
a condition that Mr Brew preferred extra watchfulness outside
to the comparative security within.

The Indian scouts prowled about. The barking of the dogs at
night was frequent and angry, and fresh tracks of moccassined or bare
feet would be visible in the morning. Several of the party watched
till dawn and slept by day.

25. On the 10th the party detached on the 2nd to Capana
Lake joined us and we were sufficiently strong to venture out
in small numbers fishing or shooting.

26. A Chilicoten woman, who formerly lived with Manning, had
remained near the ruins of his farm. Mr Brew addressed himself
 to, and urged her to go to Alexis and explain how matters stood.
That this was no war with the Tribe, but merely the pursuit of
certain bad men who had, without provocation, murdered a large
number of whites. That the Governor himself had come to see
justice done, and that he promised protection to him, and all
those who accompanied him, if he would visit our camp. She was
by no means imbued with the hatred to the white man which prevailed
among the warriors of her tribe, and left on the afternoon of
7th to look for her chief. She came backwards and forwards
once or twice, brought in some children; then one man, who seemed
to be sent to test the sincerity of our professions of moderation.
When he had returned unharmed, a considerable number of squaws
formed a fishing station six miles off and entered the camp almost
daily, with growing confidence to barter trout for sugar. Fully
satisfied at last of our good faith, the women promised that
Alexis should come in if the Governor remained, and broke up their
encampment to go finally in search of him.

27. The supply of food was very low. The river had been twisted
and turned out of its course so often by the Bella Coola Indians
attached to the camp, that the fish had all been caught or driven
away. Dysentery, too, began to shew itself under a diet composed
principally of fish, (till they failed) unripe gooseberries, and a small
allowance of flour, but the pack train was now over due, and Mr Brew
determined to wait until starvation approached, and then make a
forced march for food, 112 miles into Alexandria.

28. On the 20th of July Mr Cox's party returned to Benshee,
though they had still six day's provisions left, and had no
knowledge that the New Westminster force had not received any
supplies. Mr Cox had penetrated far into the country to the
Southward, among the richest fishing, and fallen in with many
Indians. He had not even the moderate share of good luck in
native assistance which Mr Brew possessed, his men had stated
before leaving the Fraser that they would exterminate every
Chilicoten. Perhaps this boast was the cause of the absence of
Alexis and of Mr Cox's fort having been left unvisited during
the many days in which the white flag flew over it. Whatever
the cause, the Indians kept aloof, and the Northern Volunteers
marched towards Bute Inlet without much knowledge of the
reception they would meet with. It was one of deadly hostility.
The Indians kept close to them, unseen generally, but ever
present. Scouts dogged the white men's steps. Indians on
horseback kept just beyond rifle range. Endless perplexing trails,
running in circles or lost in water were prepared for their
special embarrassment. The trees about the Indian camps had
figures of white men cut in them which had been used as targets
for musket practice. One chief carried his boldness to the
point of causing to warm himself at the camp fire before
Mr Cox had gone two hundred yards from it. Shots were repeatedly
exchanged, with what effect on the enemy we know not, but Mr
McLean, the second in command on our side received a rifle
bullet through the heart. On the day on which he fell Mr Cox turned back, and retraced his steps towards Benshee.

29. The state of affairs in camp was not pleasant. The return
of the Northern Volunteers after the death of Mr Mclean would
spread the notion throughout the Indians of the whole Colony
that we had been beaten; and in point of fact, this was not
far from being the case. Mr Cox and his surviving officers
looked upon the success of the expedition as hopeless until
winter. Mr Brew concurred, and I found myself advised, after
reaching the heart of the Chilicoten country, to direct the
two bands of Volunteers who had cost so much money, and
created such great interest in the Colony, to return home,
leaving matters worse than we had found them. I already saw,
on our retreat, the insurrection spread from the sea to the
Rocky Mountains. A further effort must be made, so I at once
gave orders for the New Westminster Volunteers to take up the
work abandoned by Mr Cox's party.

30. In the afternoon a large party of Indians on horseback
appeared on the hill from which the Alexandria forces had first
become visible to the Chilicotens. The Indians halted and
dismounted. We sent to invite them into the camp, hoping that
the party consisted of Alexis and his followers. Such proved to
be the case. Having received positive assurance that the Governor
was still in camp he agreed to come in. Forming his followers
into some sort of order Alexis and his men came on at the best
pace of the horses, holding their muskets over their heads to
show that they came in peace. Having ascertained which was the
Governor, the Chief threw himself from his horse, and at once
approached me. He was dressed in a french uniform such as one
sees in the pictures of Montcalm.

30. Our

conversation was not satisfactory. I had to complain
of the murder of Manning, and enquire how he, the Chief of the
country, would think it right to go Cariboo hunting when his
men were killing every white person they saw. He said, that
is true, that the great chiefs have lost much of their authority
since the Indians hear every Englishman assume the distinction.
 That the men under Klatsassin and Teloot have renounced all
connexion with him, and have a right to make war on us without
its being any affair of his. I asked what our countrymen had
done to provoke hostilities which had been carried on against
them in such a barbarous manner. His answer was interpreted to
me in Canadian french that Klatsassin's men were "des mauvais
sauvages, qui ne connaissant pas les bon Dieu." I took the utmost
pains to make him understand that we were not at war with the
Chilicotens generally, but only with those on the Bute Inlet
trail, and these we were determined to catch or shoot down.
He enquired with something approaching to a sneer, how long
then I meant to remain on his hunting ground. I said "three
 years."

31. The night which soon closed in was an anxious one. Mr
Cox's party, which was a sort of deliberative assembly, was
dissatisfied with my having doubted the fact that where they
failed no man could succeed. Somehow when the New Westminster
men cheerfully obeyed the orders to replace them, the Alexandria
Volunteers began to think the capture of the Indians by no means
the impossibility it had been represented to be in the morning.
Then, to have assigned to them the duty of holding, with their
65 men the position recently occupied by 10 appeared offensive,
and the whole force agreed to insist on being allowed to march
again against the Indians or to retire. To make matters worse
Alexis's right hand man was recognized as having been at Bute
Inlet during the massacre, and Mr
Cox's party were anxious to
hang him at once or burn him alive, in spite of the promise
that Alexis's followers should be allowed to depart unharmed.
Already the Indians began to uncase their muskets for resistance
 and Ulnas had to be arrested for his own protection. Then
as a further trouble, Mr Brew, as Acting Treasurer, pointed
out the frightful expense of the two months supplies I was
ordering at Cariboo prices from Alexandria. Fears for the safety
of the pack train were general, and over this atmosphere of
discontent hung the dread of famine. We who had barely the
means of feeding ourselves had invited some twenty guests with
whom to share the little that remained.

32. Alexis was able to understand our position, and in the
morning ordered his horses to be saddled. It was of the utmost
importance not to allow of his departure in his present humour
and when discord seemed likely to leave the camp. Mr Brew's
knowledge of the Indians suggested probably the only way in
which the Chief could be detained. He advised me to ask him
to escort me to Alexandria. Surprised but flattered by this
mark of confidence, he agreed to remain.

33. We had started off Mr Cox's best horses to Alexandria
to bring in food when Mr Brew's pack train at length arrived.
It had been obliged to remain for additional escort. With food,
discipline and good humour—which had never deserted the Westminster
 Camp—became general, and Alexis finally agreed to accompany
the expedition to the Bute Inlet Mountains with a considerable force.

34. Mr Cox's men shortly afterwards placed themselves
unconditionally at my disposal if I would take personal command
of the whole of the Colonial forces in the field.

35. A fortnight at least must elapse in idleness
before the supplies and means of transport for the Southern
march would arrive. I had been for many weeks totally severed
from the ordinary duties of my office, and matters of great
importance required my presence in Cariboo, so I determined
on proceeding to Alexandria. My great object in joining the
expedition was to secure moderation from the white men in their
treatment of the Indians. I was determined to show, what had
not previously been seen, in this part of the world, a Government
calm and just under circumstances calculated to create exasperation.
But there was no use shutting my eyes to the fact that this was
a War—merciless on their side—in which we were engaged with
the Chilicoten nation and must be carried on as a war by us.
Happily, for the occasion, our Constables knew the use of the
rifle and revolver at least as well as the more peaceful instruments
generally used in support of the law. To the last however I did
not abandon all hopes of having justice done legally as well as
faithfully, and I left with Mr Brew, an experienced Magistrate
and man of admirable temper and discretion full powers for holding
a Court of Justice in the Chilicoten country.

36. My despatch No 25 of the 30th ultimo will have
informed you of the partial success which has already attended
the second expedition to the Bute Mountains. Klatsassin, Teloot
and all the Chiefs of the insurrection have given themselves up.
Hunted from their fishing grounds having eaten their last
horses they found themselves obliged to surrender or starve.
They have given themselves up, with the solitary condition
imposed by Klatsassin that he shall be allowed to ascend the
scaffold with his arms free, adjust the rope himself, and take
the final leap of his own accord. The prisoners have been
brought to Alexandria and they will be tried by the Chief Justice
& a Jury. If mercy can possibly be extended to some of these
"mauvais sauvages qui ne connaissant pas le bon Dieu" the opportunity
shall not be lost.

37. One of the New Westminster party has come to me from Mr
Brew with despatches. He was escorted to Alexandria by Mr Cox's
men. Mr
Brew's force, in the recesses of the Bute Mountains,
gaunt haggard, scarcely recognizable, are pursuing the Indians,
sometimes at the rate of forty miles a day. The latter driven
from their fishing grounds are burning their lodges behind them
and abandoning everything but their horses, which, like their
pursuers, they eat. If Mr
Brew's means of existence shall have
held out a few days from the date on which he wrote the last
of the Indian rebels in the Bute country will have fought him
 or surrendered. He will still however have to meet Anaheim.

38. That Europeans should thus run down wild Indians in their
own hunting grounds in summer and drive them to suicide or
surrender appears to me, I confess, little short of marvellous.
Mr
Brew has nearly completed that which he believed to be
impossible, and which—to give all their due—would have been
impossible without the assistance of the Bella Coola Chief in
tracking the Chilicotens. Whether his success be complete or not
I shall always look back with satisfaction to the time when I had
the honor to serve under him as one of the New Westminster Volunteers.