VICTORIA  , the

capital of British Columbia and the principal city of Vancouver Island, in the S.E. corner of which it is finely situated (48° 25' 20" N., 123° 22' 24" W.), on a small arm of the sea, its harbour, however, only admitting vessels drawing 18 ft . Pop . (1906) about 2.5,000 . It is the oldest city in the province . It has fine streets, handsome villas and public buildings, government offices and churches . The high school is affiliated with McGill University, in Montreal . Victoria is connected with the mainland by cable, and is a favourite tourist resort for the whole west coast of North America . Till 1858 Victoria was a post of the Hudson's Bay Company . The city was incorporated in 1862, and according to the census of 1886 the population was 14,000, including Chinese and Indians, spread over an area of 4 sq. m . Until the redistribution of the fleet in 1905, the headquarters of the British Pacific squadron was at Esquimalt, a fine harbour about 3 M . W. of Victoria . This harbour, though spacious, is not much used by merchant vessels .

It is provided with a large dry-

dock and is defended by fortifications of a modern type .