Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 29).djvu/81

 thousand square miles, and the latter a hundred and fifty miles in length and thirty in breadth, containing four thousand square miles.[91]

Though somewhat broken in surface, their soil is said to be well adapted to agriculture.

They have many good harbours, and have long been the resort of those engaged in the fur trade; they enjoy a mild and salubrious climate, and have an abundance of fine fish frequenting their waters, which are taken in large quantities by the natives. Coal of good quality is found, specimens of which I obtained. The Hudson's Bay Company have made a trial of it, but, owing to its having been taken from near the surface, it {280} was not very highly spoken of. Veins of minerals are also said to exist by those acquainted with these islands.

They both appear to be more densely inhabited than other portions of the territory. The natives are considered a treacherous race, particularly those in the vicinity of Johnson's Straits,[92] and are to be closely watched when dealing with them.

At the south-east end of Vancouver's, there is a small archipelago of islands, through which the canal de Arro