CHAPTER XVIII.

ARRIVAL AT NEW CALEDONIA—­BEAUTIFUL SCENERY—­INDIAN HOUSES—­AMUSEMENTS AT THE FORT—­THREATENED ATTACK OF INDIANS—­EXPEDITION AGAINST THEM—­BEEF-STEAKS—­NEW CALEDONIAN FARE—­MODE OF CATCHING SALMON—­SINGULAR DEATH OF NATIVE INTERPRETER—­INDIAN FUNERAL RITES—­BARBAROUS TREATMENT OF WIDOWS.

Fort St. James, the depot of New Caledonia district, stands near the outlet of Stuart’s Lake, and commands a splendid view of the surrounding country.  The lake is about fifty miles in length, and from three to four miles in breadth, stretching away to the north and north-east for about twenty miles; the view from the Fort embraces nearly the whole of this section of it, which is studded with beautiful islands.  The western shore is low, and indented by a number of small bays formed by wooded points projecting into the lake, the back-ground rising abruptly into a ridge of hills of varied height and magnitude.  On the east the view is limited to a range of two or three miles, by the intervention of a high promontory, from which the eye glances to the snowy summits of the Rocky Mountains in the distant back-ground.  I do not know that I have seen anything to compare with this charming prospect in any other part of the country; its beauties struck me even at this season of the year, when nature having partly assumed her hybernal dress, everything appeared to so much greater disadvantage.

The Indian village is situated in a lovely spot at the outlet of the lake, and consists of only five or six houses, but every house is occupied by several families.  These buildings are of a very slight and simple construction, being merely formed of stakes driven into the ground; a square piece of timber runs horizontally along the top of this wall, to which the stakes are fastened by strips of willow bark.  This inclosure, which is of a square form, is roofed in by placing two strong posts at each gable, which support the ridge pole, on which the roof sticks are placed, one end resting on the ridge pole, and the other on the wall, the whole being covered with pine bark:  there is generally a door at each end, which is cut in the wall after the building is erected.  These apertures are of a circular form, and about two and a half feet in diameter, so that a stranger finds it very awkward to pass through them.  In effecting a passage you first introduce a leg, then bending low the body you press in head and shoulders; in this position you will have some difficulty in maintaining your equilibrium, for if you draw in the rest of the body too quickly, it is a chance but you will find yourself with your head undermost:  the natives bolt through them with the agility of a weasel.