Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/423

Rh all leaning over the taffrail watching this, when suddenly the doors of the fumigation room were opened and out poured all the Chinese in their natural khaki, much to our amusement.

Vancouver city, the terminus of the C.P.R., on the mainland, has 25,000 inhabitants (1901). Until May 1886 its site was covered by a dense forest. In two months it had grown quite a town, then a fire destroyed every house save one. It lies on the fine Coal Harbour, a widening of Burrard Inlet. It is easy to see what a fine city is to be here one day.

I found the Vancouver hotel large, comfortable enough, but ordinary. Stanley Park is the Government reservation, and contains very old and gigantic trees— what a magnificent land, another of the heritages of the British race. Wonderful people!—how they attack every remote wilderness and in no time make it theirs. No wonder they are proud of their new land and their work—it makes the spectator proud to belong to such a race. Only the fittest of a nation could do what these people do.

Ere I left the ship I was summoned to the baggage-room and pointed out all my numerous trunks and cases; shuddering at the thought of what I should have to undergo in the Custom House. But having done that, and every one being busy, I was handed a check for the things, told it was all right, and bundled out.

When I boarded the famous trans-continental railway on yth March, bound for Montreal, every one seemed surprised to find me wandering about with that check asking for my baggage, and I was told it was "all right"—so I worried no more, had nothing to do with any custom-house, and embarked, wondering whether I was not leaving my luggage behind. I had two companions on the