BRITISH COLUMBIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 569, 24 October 1862, Page 7

BRITISH COLUMBIA.

The following particulars gleaned from the pvw*n gers by the Alice Thorndike, will be read with interest. At Victoria. Vancouver's Ishnd, nil th'- passenpers were landed in good health, only one accident havintr occurred during the passage, by which a man had his Jpg brokt n. but by the surgical skill of Captain rh^rndyke, he made a good and quick recovery The township of Victoria is described by the diggers who have returned, as being a very attractive nnd prosperous little city, rather excelling Dunedin in its natural situation, and in the public spirit exhibited in its improvements. From it they crossed Puget Round to the coast of Brit'sh Columbia, and thence proceeded to the Cariboo diggings, vihich Imd attracted them to the country, and h hich have of late been exciting so much interest in the home country " Two routes are adopted to tbe-e digging, either by Fraser River, on which fine steamer* are wow plying at cheap rates, or by a line of lakes and portages, which h the roate more usually adopted. Beyond the termination of these natural facilities for communication, the tracks a^ described as being almost utterly impassable, preventing all access to the diggings except on foot, and even then the difficulties are so great a 9 to render the diggings practically unapproachable. The distance altogether from the coast is between six and seven hundred mile?, and for n consider ible distance the track runs through aim st impenetrable bush, and at so lowa level in the creeks that for miles upon miles the rond is more than knee deep with mud. Everything in the shape of supplies is necessarily carried on^tho backs of men, numbers of whom do the duties of pe.ck - horses, and become " used vp %> after very few jpurneys. According to the description of the passengers by the Alice Tborndyke, several of whom have had extensive experience in California, Australia, and New Zealand, they never were in a country characterised by such difficulties j eyen the worst parts of Neyr Zealand they speak of as a more trifle compared with the most accessible portions of country Burrcuudiflji the Cariboo diggings.

As a natural consequence of this, provisions, at. the time the New Zetland diggers arrived there, exceed- d by threefold the prices which were recently so much the S'l 1 ji'tst of Jtiuark on the opening < f the Dun>.tau diggings. A. more serious matte;- wms the fact that, exceedingly lich as some of the fist claims had been, there we c nut a ecore of claims being wrought, and the fe\v thousands who had be»'n artractel to the B[«t were realising nothing but the greatest disappointment, asgi-avated by verysei ions privations. Out of ft" oi-y'nal claims a constder.ib'e quantity of gold had beriii obtained, and it was expee'ed that, at the pioper teoson, much morp would agnia be produced; but tho-e who have returne i by the Alice Thorndykc do not anticipate, from their observation of the country that it is at all a pountryrichly and generally auriferous; but, supposing it were, the winter season is so much of an Arctic ehaiacter, the summer so brief, and the creeks so floiKled during the summer by the melting ot the Stow, that the working period of the yearis absolutely limited to a few weeks. Inconsequence of all thU, scireely one of the Nexr Zealand diggers remained on fie jrround, and all but tho.«3 who weic unable t> re urn have either cospe back by the Alu-e Thorndyke or were shipj ing by the La-ly Younjr, which a'&itook pissenijers from this in the early part of rho year. On her return passage the Aiice Thorndyke touched at the Sivnge Islanls, which Captain Thorndyke considers to be a very good place of c ill. TlWe the vessel was surrounded by two or three hnndred canoes, the natives supplying freely pi^s an I produce of the i&Lan 1, but it was wrh difficulty Captain Tlnrndyke got clear ot the crowd ; and four oi the native, who refused to po ignore he was obliged to bring on with him, and they are now on board. At present the Alice Thorndjke Ihs juvt inside the Heads, having been towo 1 thtra by the Lo Jy Rivkly on Saturday foreno>n. Her cargo consists of the well-known fine timber obtained on the Oregon, British Columbia, and Vancouver's Island coasts.

The (reelon? n-turued from LytHton on Saturday eveniug. Miss Hai not Oonlon is amonz h*r prusenaers. Among her cargo she has twelve bales of wool from Ctoniarti, which ionn the fiist of this season's phiprapnt to the port. On Saturday morning-, after leaving Oamaru, she encountered a pretty stiff gale from the N.W., nearing latterly to t!i«^ S.VV. The Won;.'a Won»a passed up \.,> DunHin lute on Saturday evening. Sh ■ loft on Wedn "-day last, and had a fair passage, calling at Lyt'elton on her way.