VANCOUVER ISLAND, a British possession, lying off the W. coast of North America, between N. lat. 48. 20. and 51., W. long. 123. and 128. 20.; separated from the mainland by Queen Charlotte Sound, the Gulf of Georgia, and Juan de Fuca Strait. It is of an irregular oblong form, stretching from N.W. to S.E. Its length from Cape Scott to Point Gonzales is 270 miles; its greatest breadth 70 miles; its mean breadth from 40 to 50; and its area estimated at 16,000 square miles. The general appearance of the island is by no means attractive. The coasts consist for the most part of steep cliffs, against which the sea dashes impetuously, and breaks itself into foam and spray at their feet. Almost immediately behind rise a uniform series of rounded hills, densely covered with pine forests; while the back-ground of the scene is filled up with a serrated ridge of bare mountains, which run like a backbone through the middle of the island from end to end. The interior, so far as it has been explored, consists of a mass of rocks and mountains; and of the level ground, which lies for the most part along the coasts, by far the greater part is covered with wood, although the portions that are clear have generally a very fertile soil. There are many small bays, harbours, and inlets along the coasts; and in the interior are some small rivers and lakes, but none of any
1 In another letter to Tonson, Vanbrugh says that the duke's property "exceeded the most extravagant guess. A round million has been moving about in loans on the land-tax, &c., exclusive of his land, his £5,000 a year upon the post-office, mortgages, South Sea stock, annuities—many in foreign banks—and yet," says Vanbrugh, "this man could neither pay his workmen their bills nor his architect his salary."
2 He says the duchess got information that Lady Vanbrugh was to be of the party, and "sent an express the night before we came there, with orders that if she came with the Castle Howard ladies, the servants should not suffer her to see either house or garden, or even enter the park; so she was forced to sit all day long, and keep me company at the inn." It seems difficult to comprehend such petty spite.
3 This, he says, was through the assistance of Sir Robert Walpole.
4 Cibber says, "However well executed these pieces were, yet they came to the ear in the same undistinguished utterance by which almost all plays had equally suffered; for, as few could plainly hear, it was not likely a great many would applaud."
5 It is not improbable, however, that the concern may have suffered from a want of business knowledge, which is only found in professed managers. It is very rare indeed that either actors or authors have been successful in such speculations.
6 The greater part of them are published in the well-known Vitruvius Britannicus.
7 Some say she was twenty years younger than himself; but Lady Mary Wortley Montague, in one of her lively letters, writes, "You know Van's taste was always odd; his inclination to ruin has given him a fancy for Mrs (Miss) Yarborough." He must have been about five and forty at the time.
8 Noble says he had a daughter who married Sir Wm. Baker.
9 The surrender is recited to be on the 9th February 17261/2 in the patent passed to Knox Ward, 28th June 1725. See Anstis.
10 The register book of St Stephen's Wallbrook runs thus:—"1726, March 31, was buried St John Vanborough in ye North Ise."
considerable size. The prevailing geological formations are gneiss and mica schist; but towards the S.E. extremity strata of limestone and sandstone occur; and among the mountains of the interior there are many blocks of granite and dikes of trap. In the central part of the island the hills are steep, rugged, and in many cases bare; the valleys narrow and shallow; and the soil such as to be of very little use. The scenery is wild without being romantic, and has neither beauty nor sublimity to attract the traveller; but some of the fertile spots along the coast are of a very different and superior character. The climate is in general agreeable and healthy. There are two seasons, a dry and a rainy. The former lasts from April to September, during which time the heat is excessive, and no rain falls. In the rainy season, from October to March, there is generally a great deal of snow and rain, but the seasons are not very certain. The flora of the island is very poor, and includes no plants that are not to be found elsewhere. The principal plant is the cammass, which has an esculent root like an onion, and is a favourite article of food with the natives. Besides this, they live principally on dried salmon and potatoes, the latter of which are probably not indigenous, but have been introduced by some of the early traders. Of wild beasts, bears, wolves, panthers, and deer, are the principal; and of birds, there are several species of grouse, woodpeckers, and a great variety of water-fowl. The most important mineral in Vancouver Island is coal, of which there are extensive and valuable seams at many places. These have already been worked to some extent. The extent of land in the island that has been appropriated was, in 1853, 19,807 acres; of which 10,172 were claimed by the Hudson Bay Company; 2374 by the Puget Sound Company; and the rest by private individuals; but of this land there are not more than 400 acres actually under culture. In these, excellent crops of wheat, barley, oats, peas, beans, turnip, and potatoes, have been raised; and the land is especially favourable to the growth of green crops. The most of the arable land lies in the neighbourhood of Victoria, at the S.E. extremity of the island, and there the majority of the settlers live, the rest being at Fort Rupert and Nanaimo, on the N.E. coast, where the principal coal mines are. All along the ocean-coast of the island the fisheries are very valuable; salmon and herrings abound to an extent almost unknown elsewhere, and mackerel and cod are also found. The produce of these fisheries, along with the coal and timber, form the principal resources of the island, as it is not at all adapted for pastoral, and only partially for agricultural purposes. The exports in 1853 included 1492 tons of coal, 16,500 cubic feet of squared timber, 150,800 feet of piles and spars, 10,000 square feet of lumber, 1000 bushels of oysters, 3540 barrels of salmon, and 200 barrels of oil; and amounted in value to about £14,350; the value of the imports for the same year, consisting chiefly of specie, provisions, and various merchandise, being estimated at £12,920. The aboriginal inhabitants, who belong to several different tribes, are in a very savage condition. Their total numbers are estimated at 17,000; while that of the settlers in 1853 amounted to about 450; but it is probable that, since the discovery of gold on the adjacent mainland of British Columbia, a great many more settlers have been attracted to Vancouver Island. Until 1789 this island was believed to form part of the mainland, but then an American captain sailed round it; and in 1792 Captain Vancouver visited it, and gave it the name of Quadra and Vancouver Island, the former of which titles, given in honour of the Spanish commandant of Nootka Sound, is now generally dropped. Vancouver Island was granted in 1848 to the Hudson Bay Company, on condition of their colonizing it.
VANDERVELDE or VANDEVELDE, WILLIAM, usually called the Younger, to distinguish him from his father
whose name he bore, and whose profession he followed, but who achieved a much greater fame as a marine-painter, was born at Amsterdam in 1633. He was originally taught by the elder Vandervelde; but, on their both removing to England, he was placed under a ship-painter named Vlieger. He succeeded his father as painter of sea-fights to Charles II. Of the older masters, Vandervelde the Younger is regarded by connoisseurs as the foremost of all marine-painters. Walpole says of him, that he "was the greatest man that has appeared in this branch of painting; the palm is not less disputed by Raffaele for history than with Vandervelde for sea-pieces." But he is far inferior to Turner in representing the grandeur of a storm, and in colour and in transparency he cannot vie with Stanfield. The National Gallery contains a few Vanderveldes, but the finest collection of his works is in Bridgewater House, the property of the Earl of Ellesmere. He lived with his father at Greenwich, where he died in 1707.
VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. See TASMANIA.