The entrance to which was first shown on Judge Swan's map of his
reconnoisance along these shores in 1883, opens into the channel three
and a half miles from the west coast entrance. It is between three
and four miles in length, with two arms, one, the longest, extending
in a north-westerly direction, and the other in a northerly, uniting
about a mile and a quarter from the channel. High, steep mountains,
thickly timbered--except on the west side, where there are two or
three hundred acres of grassy openings--surround it. Three streams
of clear water flow in at the heads of the arms mentioned, and a small
island lies near their junction. There are three cabins in a
sheltered cove on the east shore about a mile from the entrance--a
rendezvous for the native seal-hunters and fishermen. Leading from
Skidegate Channel to the Pacific ocean, between Moresby and Cha-thl
islands, is eight miles in length, and from two to three hundred feet
to two miles in width. Passing through it at half-tide our canoe
grounded in several places. It was formerly much traversed by the
natives inhabiting the abandoned village of Cha-thl, on its north
shore, near the west coast entrance, and also by the Gold Harbour
people before their removal to Maud Island. There are several hundred
acres of grazing lands on the sides and tops of the mountains lying to
the southward.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,