Lafleur

"...a superior servant whose duty it is to keep up communication between the officer in charge and the brigade. This personage on the occasion of which I write was a French Canadian called La Fleur whose inordinate fear of snakes used to cause us much amusement. A dead rattlesnake which my father had one day killed and hung on a bush was the cause of great excitement. La Fleur on coming up to it, immediately set spurs to his horse and on his appearing in sight, riding furiously and waving his arms, the natural supposition was that the brigade had been attacked. "Une couleuvre monsieur" explained the situation."

"The most of the men in the Fort were either French Canadians or Kanakas - an Indian or two. The former were very jolly and contented fellows."

Notes

It is important to recognise that the majority of the first inhabitants in the Fort were French Canadian. We do not know much about most of these first people, except to know that they were here. Their names are on Hudson Bay Company servants lists, on the markers in Ross Bay Cemetery, and live on in their descendants.

"Kanaka" referred to a person from the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. Many people came from there to work in Victoria as labourers and servants.