Whew! "Kanaka" by Tom Koppel, used by me for some of the material I quoted, and also recommended by Don Firth, was printed in Canada in 1995 by Whitecap Books and never reprinted, hence has become a collector's item, as I just found out. Three copies listed by Amazon.ca start at $66.70 Can. and one dealer is asking $161.00 Canadian or about $140 U. S. I also checked abebooks.com and found 3 copies, from US$47.64 to US$59.95. The selling price when it was issued was US$10.95. Maybe I should put my copy away and not use it!
The story told by Don Firth about the establishment of the Belle Vue Sheep Farm is told in some detail by Tom Koppel in "Kanaka."
The famous "pig war" eventually unfolded on San Juan Island, culminating in the awarding of the Island to the United States in 1872 as described by Don. An incident with the sheep almost started the war some years earlier. As Koppel tells it: "... a Washington Territory sheriff named Barnes was sent ... to seize some of the HBC's sheep (which the Americans claimed had been brought to the island illegally, without customs being paid) and to auction off others to cover taxes .... When Barnes and his men were leaving there was a whoop from the hill and Griffin, together with some twenty Kanakas brandishing knives, were seen charging down toward them. But Barnes men drew their revolvers, so Griffin and the Kanakas beat a hasty retreat." Koppel drew his information in part from David Richardson, 1971, "Pig War Islands," Orca Publishing.
There was another HB post named Victoria in Alberta, Victoria Settlement on the North Saskatchewan River. It later became the village of Pakan. For several years, we had one of the 'river lots' surveyed by HB for their Metís employees, on which one of the habitations built by a Metís employee still stands. It and the chief factor's house of the post are the two oldest houses in Alberta still on their original sites. My interest in the Kanakas arose from this as well as trips to the Islands and visits to the Hawaiian Archives. No Kanakas are mentioned on the Victoria Settlement census that I copied at the Glenbow Archives in Calgary, although they probably crewed on the HB steamer and other boats on the River.