SKIDEGATE, Queen Charlotte Islands, May, 1884.
_Hon. Wm. Smithe, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works of the
Province of British Columbia:_--SIR--I arrived at Masset on the 18th
of April, and on the following day, pursuant to agreement, commenced
the exploration of the Queen Charlotte Islands. I was highly pleased
with the first glimpses of Hyda land, its pleasant sloping shores and
long stretches of splendid beaches being in marked contrast to the
forbidding, rock-bound coast which had extended for hundreds of miles
along our northward course.