Page:Letters to Mrs. F. F. Victor, 1878-83.djvu/23

 as citizens. I hope I am not compromised there too, for really I've often thought that the HBCo has been condemned & villified for everything but what they ought to have been condemned for, that is saddling the country with a lot of ill prepared citizens, some of whom I have seen at the polls that could not tell who was president or whether Washington was an Englishman or an Italian.

We used to have at Vancouver at that time from 100 to 150 men & it was my place to look after them—8 men the Blk-smith shop 4 Bakers 4 Coopers 4 Carpenters—24 at the Saw Mill 2 at grist mill 7 draymen 1 tinsmith—gardeners 2—besides thrashing-mill men, ploughmen—Cooks & Stewards. The men got their rations on the saturday cooked, and lived outside the Fort-in dangerous parts of the country the men were hutted inside the Forts. There were 3 Clerks in the Office Two or three in the stores & the Doctor of the establishment traded with the Indians, in a store for that special purpose, and he also served out the rations to the men on the saturday.

Before the advent of parsons and preachers the Doctor himself read the episcopal service to the inmates of the Fort & such others as choose to attend every sunday. As the American traders on the coast sold liquor to the indians the Company had to do the same. There being no bouys, pilots or charts of the river small ships were sent from England & the saving of freight an object, so that we tried to make the whiskey a bulky article, here. We had 3 Stills at work and made good whisky from Barley, but it was given up owing to the bad effect on the men. We used to put up a great deal of salmon & exchanged it with lumber, spars &c at the Islands for crude sugar, molasses and salt. It was also sent to Valparaiso. It failed in the English market, the fish mongers in London said the salmon was divested of the head—cut down the back & the back bone taken out, that the consumers of salmon there wanted something for the eye as well as the palate—they had fish k[-?] & cloths for the purpose—upon the whole it would not do & the commonality would look with distrust upon salmon at a low price....