I beg to inform you of my arrival at Victoria, the settlement of
the Hudson bay company in Vancouvers Island, on the 10th March ult. in H.M.S.S. Driver, on the 11th I landed and read my commission in presence of Commander Johnson of H.M.S Driver and the Officers and
servants of the Hudson Bay Company; No lodging being ready for me I have
been compelled to remain on board the Driver during her stay in the
colony, and took the opportunity of visiting Fort Rupert, a new
settlement which has been formed at Beaver Harbour for the purpose of
working the coals with which the North Eastern part of the Island is
said to abound; About six months ago the Hudson Bay company sent a party
of Scotch miners to Beaver Harbour, but they have not yet been able to
discover coal in any quantity; at the depth of seventy feet the largest
seam they had struck was only eight inches in depth, and the surface
coal which former reports describe as being three feet in depth and of
excellent quality, nowhere as I am assured by the miners exceeds ten
inches of which one half is slag. Should they persevere there is no
doubt that a supply of coal may eventually be obtained which will
greatly increase the value of this colony but the miners are unprovided
with proper implements, discontented with their employers, and can
scarcely be induced to work.
An application was made to me by Captain Hill commandant of the
U.S. military post at Chelakom to allow a force to proceed to Vancouvers
Island to apprehend two men, military deserters from the United States
Army who had he stated been taken from Chelakom by a schooner belonging
to the Hudson Bay company, incurring thereby a heavy penalty under the
local laws of the state of Oregon. This I declined to allow, as I conceive that no reciprocal arrangement exists between Great Britain and
the United States for the arrest of deserters for purely military offences.
The quantity of arable land, or land that can be made arable is so
far as I can ascertain exceedingly limited throughout the Island, which
consists almost entirely of broken ranges of rocky hills, intersected by
ravines and vallies so narrow as to render them useless for cultivation _
A Mr MacNeil, Agent of the Hudson Bay company at Beaver Harbour, who is considered to be better acquainted with the Indian population
than any other person, estimates their number at the very largest at ten
thousand, and these he considers to be steadily decreasing, although the
sale of spirituous liquors has been for a considerable time prohibited
and the prohibition appears to be strictly enforced. As no settlers
have at present arrived, I have considered that it is unnecessary as yet
to nominate a council as my instructions direct, for a council chosen at
present must be composed entirely of the officers of the Hudson Bay
Company few if any of whom possess the qualification of landed property
which is required to vote for members of assembly, and they would
moreover be completely under the controul of their superior officers,
but as no immediate arrival of settlers is likely to take place, and my
instructions direct me to form a council on my arrival I should wish for
a farther direction on this point, before I proceed to its formation.