A small brass cannon gathered rust above one dilapidated
carriage, and another old gun was mounted by being lashed to a rotten
log. A single gate led into the fort, which was inhabited by the
commandant, the guard of thirty-five soldiers, and their families. The
windows of the houses were very small and without glass, the
commandant's house being a rude structure thirty by fourteen feet,
whitewashed inside and out, the floor sand and rushes, the furnishings
of the roughest handicraft. The mission proper was three miles from
the fort, with a guard of five soldiers and a corporal. Such was the
beginning of the largest city on the Pacific coast to-day.
Broughton was now sent overland to England for instructions about the
transfer of Nootka. Puget became commander of the _Chatham_. The
store ship _Daedalus_ was sent to the South Seas, and touching only
{283} at Monterey, Vancouver sailed to winter in the Sandwich Islands.
Here two duties awaited the explorer, which he carried out in a way
that left a streak both of glory and of shame across his escutcheon.
Pages:
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369