" In Victoria I used to get up about 9, read the newspapers, take a few solar observations with a Sextant till 12, have luncheon, and ride up to town about 2, lounge about the town paying visits and shopping till 3, then go for a ride till 4:39, get home about 5:30, have dinner at 6, cup of tea at 7:30, rubber of whist (for love) till 11, and then turn in and that was our ordinary employment.  We used to be overrun at various portions of the day by naval officers coming on shore for fun, and in the evening we used sometimes to have as many as a dozen at a time in our Mess-room, and we were all great friends with them."

-- 27 May 1860, Lt. Anderson RE

(written to little brother Jack, who evidently is travelling on the Continent)

   (Jan. 6, 1860, Semiahmoo) Darrah heard of his promotion a week ago, and our fellows at Victoria providentially sent up a dozen of champagne for us to drink to it… He has only been 5˝ years a subaltern, so he has been extremely lucky. He is a very nice fellow and we got on very well together.

None of them seem to like the Colonel [Hawkins] as he is said to have rather a petty and mean disposition… One bad trait in his character and particularly Gosset's is running down that unfortunate man Col. Moody. The latter (Gosset) calls Moody a drivelling idiot. He told me so the very first time I saw him, and that is rather a strong term for one officer to use towards another so much older. I could not help taking a dislike to Gosset from that very fact.

We expect to make some good bargains in trading with the Indians, as they will often give a fine horse for an old red jacket, and also some very valuable furs.

   (March 6, 1860, Esquimalt Barracks) I have not made any calls on anybody since I came back, but I shall have to go and see the Governour and the Admiral if possible tomorrow, and then there will be the bother and formality of dining with them which is objectionable tho' not the less necessary. There are 2 Miss Douglas's, daughters of the Governour and of course the greatest flirts on the Island and I certainly have very little desire to make their acquaintance in consequence.

"Boundary Commission Barracks,
Colville, Washington Territory, U.S.
Feb. 2, 1862

My dear Jack:

Our men gave a ball at the barracks on the 17th of last month to which all the settlers and their wives were invited.  They were all invited to come at half past 7, but they all began to assemble at half past 3, and by about 6 everybody appeared, so the ball had to begin long before its time.  They all came in their sleighs, quite 25 sleighs altogether, and as there was not stable accomodation for all their horses, the unfortunate animals had to stand out in the cold all night.

Most of the farmers' wives are half white and half Indian.  They cannot talk English but most of them talk Canadian French as well as the Indian language of their mothers.

There is a wonderful dance they have, called the "Reel de Huite", a sort of Caledonian quadrille consisting of 4 figures, which they keep dancing over and over again till the music is tired, when the ladies rush to their seats and a fresh lot spring up immediately and the fiddler has to begin again.

There are only 2 things required to get up a Ball in this part of the world, and these 2 things are a Gallon of Whisky and a Fiddler.  We had 4 fiddlers at out Ball who relieved one another so there was no cessation of music.

The ladies are rather shy and generally say "Non" or "Marche" (the latter equivalent to "Hook it") when they are asked to dance.  You then have to take hold of them by the hand and pull them out, and when once they are out in the middle of the Room they submit willingly.  On 2 or 3 occasions however after I had got my partner out, on looking away for an instant I found she had bolted, and really one is so much like another that I could not find her again, but had to take another at random.

The men had the room very nicely decorated with flags and swords and rifles and all kinds of pictures on the walls.  I suppose there must have been 80 or 90 people present including about 30 ladies.  The latter showed no symptoms of being tired, for they kept on dancing till daylight.  I stayed up till about 3.30 a.m. and I felt I had enough of the Reel de Huite, so I turned in and left them dancing away as lively as ever.

Three of the American officers came down... They brought 3 or 4 of their soldiers down with them.  One of their men was intoxicated when he arrived and in the course of the evening he found his way into Col. Hawkins' Quarters, locked the door, sat down in the arm chair in front of the fire, pulled off his boots and lit his pipe.  So the Colonel after coming out of the Ball Room, on trying his own door was astonished to find it locked.  After a good deal of shouting the soldier unlocked the door and allowed the Colonel to come into his own room, and then there was a tremendous explosion.  I never heard the Colonel in such a rage in my life, and the whole thing was so absurd that even now I can't help laughing when I think of it.

The soldier said he was an Englishman and came to take care of the Colonel's Quarters.  Then there was another explosion of anger, and the whole thing was ludicrous in the extreme.  The man after requesting permission to put on his boots, which was granted, was then taken over to our Guard House and locked up for the night.  I suspect the soldier got half killed for the offence when he returned to this own Barracks the following day.  I didn't pity the man in the least for I heard afterwards he had been bragging of being a deserter from the English army in Canada.

There was another ball given afterwards at the Hudson's Bay Company's Post about 2˝ miles from here.  There were even more people there than at our place and the dance lasted from 6 in the evening till about 12 in the middle of the next day.  Some of the ladies actually have hoops and it certainly is a very great improvement upon the straight up and down appearance of the ladies' costume without them.

I did not got to bed at all that night for I got home just in time to complete my toilet for breakfast, but as you may suppose I did not feel fit for much that day...  I don't think I shall go to any more of these gatherings!