Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. RIGHT OF SAVAGE8 TO THE SOIL. The right of civilized Men to occupy savage Countries—Duty of Intruders —Plots of the Ahts to attack us—Arrival of H.M. gunboat Grappkr —The Indian's notion of an English Bishop, and of the Crews of English Ships of War. / say, by sorcery he got this isle, From me he got it.—Tempest. I Spent some months very pleasantly directing the first work at the settlement. The vessels discharged their cargoes, and the carpenters worked on shore preparing timber for the houses and buildings. The first house that was built was made of logs, with split wood for the roof—rather a plain-looking hut, but nevertheless a comfortable house in all weathers. It was the kind of house that woodmen build with the axe alone. By- and-by, we had' more ambitious houses of sawn wood. The place the Indians had moved to was about a mile distant, and our conversation naturally was very much about them. In the evenings we sat round the fire discussing their dispositions and probable intentions, and the Indians did the same about us in their newTHE EIGHT TO OCCUPY SAVAGE COUNTRIES. 1 encampment. We often talked about our right as strangers to take possession of the district. The right of bond fide purchase we had, for I had bought the laud from the Government, and had purchased it a second time from the natives. Nevertheless, as the Indians disclaimed all knowledge of the colonial authorities at Victoria, and had sold the country to us, perhaps, under the fear of loaded cannon pointed towards the village, it was evident that we had taken forcible possession of the district. The American woodmen, who chiefly formed my party, discussed the whole question with great clearness. Their opinion generally was that our occupation was justifiable, and could not be ste...