CHAPTER IX
PREPARATION FOR THE VOYAGE
While Jack and Mr. Fannin had been talking the vessel had been movingrapidly northward. The passengers were a mixed lot. On the upper deckwere English, Scotch, French, and Americans, while on the lower wereChinamen, a negro or two, and Indians. Many of these had considerablebundles of baggage; and with the Indians were their women, theirchildren, and their dogs.
The rounded islands that rose everywhere from the water showed grayrocky slopes, the yellow of ripened grass, and here and there clumps ofevergreen trees. The scene was a lovely one.
"Mr. Fannin," said Hugh, "I wish you'd tell me what's that plant thatI see everywhere growing in the water. I suppose, maybe, it's a kindof seaweed, but it's bigger than any seaweed that I ever heard tellof, and there's worlds and worlds of it. The other day on the beach Ipicked up some of its leaves, if that's what they are, and I found themwonderfully tough. I found I couldn't break them apart with my hands,yet they seemed soft and full of water."
"That's what we call kelp," said Mr. Fannin, "it grows in deep water,and its roots are attached to rocks or to stones or even to the sandat the bottom, and the stalk may be thirty or forty feet long. Downin the deep water the stem is very slender, often scarcely as thickas a quill, but it increases by a gradual taper, until near the topit's nearly as thick as a man's wrist. At the end of the stem or stalkis a globular swelling which varies in size, but may be as big as abaseball. From the top of this swelling point, opposite to where it'sattached to the stem, grows a bundle of a dozen or twenty ribbon-likeleaves, each from one to six inches wide and from four to six feetlong, and fluted or crimped along its edge for the whole length. Theplant is brown in color throughout. Responding, as it does, constantlyto the motion of the water, it sometimes seems almost alive. It'sa queer plant. Sometimes it's a great hindrance to the man who istravelling and sometimes a great help to him."
"I don't quite understand that," said Jack. "I can see that it mightbe hard work to get through a bed of the kelp like that one over therethat we are just passing, but how should it help a man?"
"Why," said Fannin, "the stalks are very strong, and I've seen a largecanoe held at anchor by a single stalk of the kelp. Then, too, a bigbed of the kelp is a great break to the sea. The waves can't break overa bed of kelp; and I have known of a case when a sudden squall got up,where a canoe, unable to reach shore or to get any other lee, would liebehind a kelp bed and hold onto the stalks until the squall was past."
"Do the Indians make any use of the kelp?" asked Jack.
"Yes," replied Mr. Fannin. "A number of the Indians along the coastselect the most slender stems, knot them together, and make fishinglines for the deep-sea fishing, on which they catch halibut sometimesweighing two hundred pounds. These stems are tremendously tough, andthey almost never wear out. A man may coil up one of these long linesand hang it in his house for six months, and then, if he takes it downand soaks it in water over night, in the morning it will be pliable andperfectly fit to use."
Hugh had been listening to the conversation, but not taking any part init; but now he pointed off over the kelp bed and said: "Look there!See those birds walking around on the weed. I reckon they are cranesof some sort or other." Fannin looked at them through his glasses andsaid, "Yes, that's just what they are. Two of those birds are greatblue herons, and the others are large birds, but I can't tell just whatthey are. That's another thing that the kelp is useful for. You seethe plants grow in thick beds, and the stems are continually movingin the current, and after a while they get tangled and twisted up sothat it's impossible to force them apart. In that case it's useless totry to force a canoe through them. Then, lying there so long as theydo, and keeping the water quiet, a great deal of life is attracted tothese beds. There are many fish that live near the surface, and in thewarm waters there are crabs that live among the stems and sometimescrawl out on them and rest in the sunshine. There are many shells. Allthis smaller life entices the larger life, so that gulls and ducks andsandpipers are often seen walking along or resting on the kelp. It isjust one of those things that we see often, where a lot of speciallyfavorable conditions will attract the animals that are to be favored bythese conditions."
"Well," said Hugh, "I can't get over wondering at all these things Iam seeing. This here is a new world to me, as different as can be fromwhat I've been used to all my life; and I expect, come to think aboutit, that all over the world there are many such other strange bits ofcountry that would astonish me, just as much as this does, and maybewould astonish you all, just as much as this does me."
"Yes," said Fannin, "I guess that's about so."
As they had been talking, the steamer had been winding in and outamong the islands, stopping occasionally at some little settlement,and now and then slowing to take on goods or passengers, brought offin boats or canoes from some little house that stood on one of theyellow hillsides, half hidden among the trees. There were many settlerson these islands. Most of them were engaged in stock raising. Some ofthe islands had been turned into sheep ranges, and the settlers thathad gone into this business were said by Mr. Fannin to have done well.Certainly there was here no winter which could by any chance kill thesheep, while food was abundant.
As the boat proceeded the settlements became fewer and fewer, until atlast most of the island seemed unoccupied. All three of the travellerskept watching the open hillsides in the hope that some game might beseen, but none showed itself.
"I suppose," said Jack, "that there are some deer on these islands, arethere not?"
"Yes," replied Fannin, "on almost all the larger islands that are notthickly settled there are a good many deer; and when the settlementsget to be too thick they can always start off and swim to anotherisland and try that for a while, and, if they don't like that, pass toanother."
"What sort of deer are these?" asked Jack. "Are they like the one wekilled at New Westminster?"
"Yes," said Fannin, "they are just like that; and I suppose they arethe regular black-tail deer; not the big fellow that you have out onthe plains, which, I understand, is properly called the mule deer. Thisis the only kind found along this north coast, as far as I know, untilyou get up far to the north and strike the moose. Down on the islandsof the Strait of Fuca, especially on Whidby Island, they have theVirginia deer and plenty of them. But north of that I don't think theyare found."
It was noon when they passed Gabriola Island, where they had heardthere lived a man who owned a launch. They landed here, hoping thatpossibly they might be able to engage this for their trip, but soondiscovered that the boat had not been inspected for a year, andtherefore could not be hired, unless the party was prepared to bestopped at any minute by some government official and ordered back toits starting point.
About four o'clock in the afternoon they reached Nanaimo, and Fannin,Hugh, and Jack at once set out for the Indian village, where it wasbelieved a canoe could be had. The brisk walk through the quiet forestwas pleasant, and the Indian village of half a dozen great square plankhouses interesting. After some inquiry Fannin and a big Indian drewoff to one side and held a long and animated conversation in Chinook,which, of course, was unintelligible to the other two. At length,however, Fannin announced that he was prepared to close a bargain withthe Indian, by which a canoe, large enough to carry the whole partyand their baggage, including the necessary paddles and a bowman andsteersman, could be hired for a certain price per day, for as long atime as they desired. After a short consultation it was agreed that ifthe canoe proved satisfactory it should be engaged, and a start madethe next morning. The whole party adjourned to the water's edge, where,drawn up on the beach were a number of canoes, all of them covered withboards, mats, and boughs, to protect them from the sun and rain. Thecanoe in question seemed satisfactory, and, the bargain having beenclosed, the Indians promised solemnly that they would have the canoe atthe wharf at six o'clock the next morning, so that an early start couldbe mad
e.
Returning to town, the stores were visited and a number of necessaryarticles purchased. The party was already well armed, having threerifles, a shot-gun, and several revolvers; but a mess kit had to bebought, a keg for water, all the provisions needed, a tent of somekind, some mosquito net, rope, fine copper wire, saddler's silk orwaxed thread, packages of tobacco, fishing tackle, and many smallarticles which do not take up much room, but which, under specialcircumstances, may add much to one's comfort. Each of the party alsoprovided himself here with a set of oil-skin clothing. They knew thatthey were going into a country where much rain falls, and wished toprovide against that.
After all their purchases had been made and they had seen themtransported to the hotel close to the water's edge, where they were topass the night, they started out to learn what they could about thetown.
The sole industry of Nanaimo at that time was coal mining. Here weregreat shafts and inclines, worked day and night by a great multitude ofminers. Many of them were Canadians, but many, also, were quite newlyarrived emigrants from the Old World,--Scotch, Irish, and Welsh. Thecoal--a good lignite--was in considerable demand along the coast, andit was even said that it was to be imported to Puget Sound points tosupply newly built railroads there. The inhabitants of Nanaimo, andindeed those of Vancouver Island, had talked much about a proposedrailroad that had been partially surveyed from Victoria up through themiddle of the island to Nanaimo. Such a railroad, it was generallythought, would be an enormous benefit to the whole island. Nanaimo wasnot an attractive place. The coal-dust with which it was everywherepowdered, together with the black smoke sent forth by the chimneys,gave the place an appearance of griminess which seemed to characterizemost coal-mining towns. Just why towns devoted to coal and iron miningalways used to look so shabby and forlorn and discouraged, it wouldbe hard to say; but most people familiar with such settlements in oldtimes will agree that this was usually the case. It may have been thatthe laborers and their families were obliged to work so hard thatthey had neither time nor inclination to devote to adorning, even bysimple and inexpensive methods, their dwellings or surroundings; or itmay have been that their work in the mines was so fatiguing that itrendered them blind to the town's unattractiveness.
Even then great quantities of coal were mined at Nanaimo. But as therewere no railroads on Vancouver Island the coal was transported to itsdestination wholly by water. The coal deposits were vast, and peoplebelieved that in the future this would be a great mining town, andmight yet be like some of the great mining centres of Great Britain.
That night, after supper, as they were lounging about the office of thehotel, Jack said to Mr. Fannin:
"You have told me a lot about the canoeing and canoes of these Indians,Mr. Fannin, but I don't think that you have spoken to me about the waythey keep their canoes on the beach. Those we saw this afternoon wereall covered with mats and blankets, and I can understand how it mightbe necessary to keep them protected from the weather in that way ifthey were laid up for a long time; but, as I understand it, the canoesthat we saw were being used every day."
"That is true," said Mr. Fannin; "they are in use all the time, but,nevertheless, Indians take the greatest precaution to protect them fromthe weather. It is easy enough to see why this is, if you considerthat the making of a canoe is tremendously laborious, and at besttakes many months. Now, as I have already told you, the cedar of whichthey are made splits very easily indeed, and it might well enough bethat exposure to the hot sun for a day or two would start a crackwhich would constantly grow larger, and ultimately weaken the canoe sothat it could not be used. The Indians are far-sighted enough to doeverything in their power to protect their canoes. These coast Indianstake a great deal better care of their canoes than they do of anyother property that they possess. As I have told you, they are all seatravellers, and their very existence depends on the possession of somemeans of getting about over the water. I do not know anything about itpersonally, but I understand that the Aleuts of Alaska, and the Eskimotoo, are just as careful about their boats as these Indians are. Ofcourse it is natural."
"Of course it is," said Hugh, "and you probably will see the same thingin any class of men. Look at the way our plains' Indians take care oftheir war horses and their arms and war clothes. Those are the thingson which they depend for food and for protection from their enemy; andthey cannot afford to take any chances about them. Of course their warclothes often have something of a sacred character; but you will findthat if it comes to a pinch an Indian will stick to his fastest runninghorse and his arms, and will let his war clothing go."
"Well," said Fannin, "all this is just saying that Indians are humanbeings like the rest of us."
They went to bed pretty early that night, and Fannin had them astirbefore the day had broken the next morning. On going down to the wharfthey found the canoe there, just off the shore, and the two Indianssitting in it, holding the craft in its place by an occasional paddlestroke. It took the men but a short time to bring down all theirbaggage, provisions, and mess kit to the canoe and stow the load. Aftera hasty meal at the hotel all stepped aboard and took their variousstations. Jack had been surprised to see how large a pile their baggagemade before they begun to stow it; and after the canoe had been loaded,he wondered where they had packed it all.