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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmAs A des taux de rAduction diff Arents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est filmA A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrant la mAthode. rata lelure, I A □ 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 t- 'k~ p.., # ■ K-i-'^ Pi ¥19 . ^•i ' ■ TUE UOK8E-8HOE FALLS, NIAGARA-VIEW TAKEN FROJI GOAT ISLAND. li. ■M^ ' i HfcM f n» i»i».i*Wi. (>' i*^ » >' ~ * """"' toii flPT'' THE / EARTH AND ITS INII ABIT ANT S -1 'i*vV'' y^ NORTH AMERICA. A \ \ \ A- BT £:lisee reclus. EDITED BY • A. H. KEANE, B. A.,' VICE PRESIDENT ANTHROP. IKSTITUTE ; COR. MEMB. ITALIAN AND WASHINGTON ANTHROP. SOC. ; PROFES.-Oh OF ( :.. HINDOSTANI, UNIVERSITY COL. LOKTIi;. ; AUTHOR OF "ASIA," ETC. VOL. I. BRITISH INTORTH AMERICA. ILLU^SkTu 'IHTGS AND MAPS. NEW YORK: p APPLETON AND COMPANY, f 1, 3, AND 6 BOND STREET. i 1890. f :-^' ' ^ " w r 1 - /" iiTrr' B- rr*v?"'f^^^r]^.T.^\^-T*f7yi'""'^^^ :'^*"*Tv;*^;'i'''> I' i- \. ^'V ^'^^.•- N ^ S6 '~\ Ki ::«»-. -■* ;Tt-"»7^^-rwB|Jl..'^i*;1f. s^^ff??^^rr7--«»'^^wrs*^ ,-^jr ■.#.,ftpp,,,,«,gs^,,^^ -„ , ^ HI N U V. CONTENTS. nam 1—69 OHAf. . I. The New WoKLD , , . -. . .' . The DLsoovery, p. 2. Progress of Discovery along the Eastern Seaboard, p. 14. . ^ *• DiscoveryofthePacific, p. 18. The North-west Passage, p. 20. Expeditions towards tiie North Pole, p. 26. Progress of Discovery on the Northern Continent, p 32. Progress of Discovery on the Southern Continent, p. 34. Physical Features of the Twin Continents, p. 35. Contrasts and Analogies between North and South, p. 30. Geology of the New World, p. 38. Volcanic Systems, p. 40. Climate, Marine Currents, p. 42. Flora and Fauna, p. 46. Inhabitants, p. 47. Spread of Modem Culture in the New World, p. 48. Fate of the Aborigines, p. 49. Dominant Ethnical Elements, p. 51. European Iiftmigration, p. 54. Decadence of the Spanish Power, p. 50. Ascendancy of the'Vriglo-Sitxon Race, p. 57. II. Gbeeni,and "••"(;■ V* , . Historic Eetrospect, p. 60. Progress of Discovery, p. 61. Extent, Physical Features, p. 63. Geological Fonnation, p. 06. The Inland Ice-Cap, p. 67. Glaciers and Icebergs, p. 70. Upheaval and Subsidence, p. 76. Marine Cnrrenta and Tides, p. 77. Fossil Remains, p. 78. Climate, p. 79. Flora and Fauna, p. 81. Inhabitants, p. 83. Topography, p. 88. III. The Aectio Aechipelaoo •. ^ \ go , ,„ Insular Groups, p. 94. Grant and Grinnell Lands, p. 97.. Baffin Land, p. 99] The Western Insular Groups, p. 101. Climate, p. 102. Flora and Fauna, p. 104. Inhabitants, p. 106. Topography, p. 110. 60—92 IV. Alaska Exploration, p. 114. The South Alaskan Coastlands and Islands, p. 116. The Alaskan Peninsula and Aleutian Islands, p. 121. The Interior of Alaska, p. 124. Rivei-8, p. 125. Climate, p. 130. Flora, p. 132. Fauna, p. 133. Inhabitants, p. 134. Topography, p. 140. Administration, Instruction, Trade, p. 146. V. The DounnoK of Canada and Newfoundland . 1. General Considerations, p. 148. 2. British CofciwiAia.-Physical Features of British Columbia, p. 161. Fjords and Glaciers, p. 166. Vancouver and Queen Charlotte Islands, p. 169. Columbian Lakes and Rivers, p. 160. Flora and Fauna, p. 166. Inhabitants, p. 168. Resources of British Columbia, p. 173. Topography, p. 174. 3. Mrth-Wt»t Territory {Athabasca- Mackenzie and Oreat Fish Biver Basins), p. 181. Rwgressof Discovery, p. 181. Physical Features, p. , 83. Rivers and Lakes, p. 185, Climate, p. 192. Flora and Fauna, p. 193. Inhabitants p. 195. Administration —The Hudson Bay Company - Mineral Wealth, p. 198. Topography, p. 200. 113-147 148-418 , «-,. ,T»i»«if^'liy, p. 236. (). Jhsiii of the (Jtrat J.ahn and the St. Irnvniice {J'ruiiiifiii of Uiitavio and Qnilwc),f. 211. rolitioal BDundurioH, p. 242. PLynicul Features, p. 242. liivers and Lukes, p. 24(5. Luke Superior und itis AffluontH, p. 240. Lakes Huron and Erie, p. 250. Niagara River and Fulls, p 254. Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, p. 257. The Estu- niy and Gulf of St. Lawrence, p. 203. Climate of the Laureutian Basin, p. 270. Flora, p. 272. Fauna, p. 274. Inhabitants, p.274. French Canadians, p. 284. Toixj- graphy, p. 2'JO. Hamilton, Toronto, Kingston, p. 297. Ottawa, p. 302. Montreal, p. 308. Quebec, p. 320. Settlements on the Lower St. Lawrence, p. 320. Settle- ments in the Saguenay Basin, p. 328. Stations below Tadoussac, p. 331. The Oaspe Peninsula, p. 332. Chaleur Bay, p. 335. Tlio Magdalen and Bird Islands, p. 337. 0. The- Jf'iritimc Provineet {New Druniwiek—Nova Seolia - Prince Edward h/aiid), p. 337. General Survey, p. 337. Physical Features of New Brunswick, p. 339. Physical Features of Nova Scotia, Capo Breton, and Prince Edward Island, p. 340. Kivers and Lakes, p. 342. Bay of Fundy, p. 345. Climate, p. 347. Flora, p. 349. Fauna, p. 350. Inhabitants, p. 352. The Acadians, p. 353. The English- Speaking Settlers, p. 358. Topography of New Brunswick, p. 359. Topography of Nova Scotia, p. 30/. Topography of Capo Breton, p. 372. Topography of Prmce Edward Island, p. 373. Sable Island, p. 376. 7. Labrador, p. 377. Geographical Research, p. 379. Physical Features, p. 380. Lukes and Rivers, p. 381. Climate, p. 385. Flora and Fauna, p. 380. Inhabitants, p. 387. The Moravian Missions, p. 390. The Stations of the Hudson Bay Com- pany, p. 391. Fisheries, p. 391. 8. yeir/uiiiidliiiid, p. 393. Historical Retrospect, p. 393. Physical Features, p. 391. Rivers and Lakes, p. 397. The Bank of Ne\*'toundland, p. 398. Climate, p. 402. Flora and Fauna, p. 403. Inhabitants, p. 404. Colonisation, p. 406. Fisheries, p. 408. Mineml Resources, p. 411. Topography, 411. Administration, p. 414. Saint Pierre and Miquelon, p. 415. MOB VI. Economic Conditions of the Dominion 419- Populution- Immigration, p. 419. The Aborigines, p. 420. Agricidture, p. 422. The Fisheries, p. 426. Minerals, p. 428. Petroleum, p. 430. Trade, p. 434. Routes — The "Queen's Highway,'' p. 436. Shipping, p. 436. Canals, p. 437. Railways, p. 438. Administration, p. 442. l.eligiou— Education, p. 447. Con- federation, p. 449. Political Forecasts, p. 451. : . -454 Appendix I. Statistical Tables , \^ .. j | ,, II. Canadian Chronology , „ III. The Canadian North-West Territories 455 470 484 m ym m m f a^ . m- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS; MAPS FEINTED IN COLOURS. Niagara Falls . Moutreal and its Environs Quebec and its Environs . PAoa 312 320 North-East America North-West America PAOP. 337 481 419—464 PLA.TES. View taken Frontispieee 4 The Horse-Shoe Falls, Niagara from Goat Island . View taken on the Bering Sea . Tofa^e page Salvage Rock, near Harbour Grace, Newfound land . . . ... View taken in Melville Bay Ottawa River— View taken at the Saut du Carillon St. Margaret and the Stony River, Canada A Canadian Village— Beaufort, near Quebec View taken on the Sermitsialik Glacier, near Ivigtut, Greenland .... Front of the Sermitsialik Glacier General View of Upemivik Drift-ice on the Arctic Ocean View taken on the Coast of Admiralty Island, Alaska Old Bogoslov Peak, Aleutian Islands Alaskan Scenery — View taken at Juneau, Douglas Island. Tanana Station, River Yukon . General View of Sitka . View of Hell-Gate Gorge, Eraser River View taken in Gardner Channel General View of Vancouver 16 24 40 44 68 70 74 90 94 114 124 132 140 146 161 174 180 Fort Simpson, at the Mackenzie and Liards Confluence . . . To face page 202 VaUey of the Bow River— Banff Hot Springs 200 A Station of the Hudson Bay Company . . 228 The Great Glacier, seen from the Railway between Banff and Hector Pass . . 236 Vi'>w on the River Nipigon . . . . 246 riJSimpment of Canadian Woodcutters . .272 - > ; ' Ohambly, on the Richelieu, near Montreal 280 La."' Huron- View taken from French River 292 Ottawa — View taken from Parliament Terrace 302 Montreal— Ice-Block on the St. Lawrence . 314 Quebec— View taken from the Terrace in 1888 320 Ice Bridge on the St. Lawrence— View taken from Quebec 324 Falls of the Chicoutimi, near the Saguenay Confluence 330 The Roche Perr6e and Perce Villagre . . 334 Fishing Station on the East Coast of Labrador 392 General View of St. John's, Newfoundland . 402 Port of St. Pierre, Newfoundland . .414 Kicking- Horse Pass, on the Canadian Pacific Railway 438 The Dominion Parliament— View taken from the Ottawa . . . . , . 444 ri' .,;• 46. St. Ellas Range ... >. = ' . lu 13 15 21 27 29 30 31 35 39 42 44 45 40 60 53 65 62 64 06 69 70 72 73 74 70 78 80 81 87 89 90 91 96 97 101 103 105 108 110 111 115 118 rici. 40, Southeni Slope of Mount St Eliiit . 47. Horn of Aluxka . . . . . M. AlfMitian Ishinds 10. Chilkat and Cliilkoot Bays 60. Norton Buy, and Great Bend of tho Yukon 61. Yukon Delta 62. Isothermal Lines of Alaska 63. Zones of Troths and Range of Chief .i\jiiinal Species in Alaska . . . . . 6 (. Inhabitants of Alaska .... 66. ToMn OF TiiLiNKiT Chief . . . . 6(1. Tho Seal Islands 57. Island of St. Paul 68. Sitka Bay 6i). Chief Explorers of North America . 00. Boundary Line between Cinuda and tho United States in the San Juan Archipelago 01, Kicking Horse Pus.'* . 62. Kananaskis Falls . 63. Jorvis Inlet 64. Discovery Passage 65. Northern Bend of tho Eraser 66. Southern Bend of the Fra.ser 67. Sources of tho Columbia . 08. Columbia and Kootenay Valleys 69. View taken on the Uppeb Coluudla 70. Nootka Island and Inlets . 71. Old NooTKA- Indian Woman 72. Aborigines of British Columbia 73. Victoria and E:«quiinalt 74. Nanaiino . 75. Queen Charlotte Islands 76. Cbimsian Island 77. Mouths of the Eraser 78. Disposition of the Canadian Lakes 79. Swampy Delta of the Athabasca 80. Peace Riveb — View taken at Fokt dunveoan 81. The Mackenzie Delta 82. Indian Tbappees op the Uppeb Tanana 83. Po.sts of the Hudson Bay Company . 84. Cypress HiUs 85. Coulees of the Great Prairie, Alberta 86. Saskatchewan Rapids 87. Lake Agassiz 88. Bifurcation of the Saskatchewan and Qu'Appelle Rivers 89. Portages of the Old Routes between Lakes Superior and Winnipeg 90. Lake of the Woods . 91. The Nelson Emissary 92. Hudson Bay 93. Arable Lands of West Canada 04. Blackfoot Indian 96. Indian Reserves in Manitoba and the Far West . 90. Chief French Canadian Settlements in Manitoba 119 122 123 120 127 128 130 133 V)6 130 142 143 145 119 16i 154 155 167 168 101 162 lti4 106 167 170 171 172 176 177 178 lis ISO 184 187 189 191 197 201 204 206 208 209 211 212 213 216 219 222 227 228 230 ,,ijf fukiMi jiitniil id t)ie pL'lagu [A PAOI IIU r22 I'iA 120 127 12K 13U laa \:\6 130 142 143 146 uu 161 166 167 168 161 162 lt>4 106 107 170 171 172 175 177 178 179 11^0 184 , 187 FOKT NANA to and n Lakes the Far lents in 189 191 197 201 204 206 208 209 211 212 213 216 219 222 227 228 230 LIST OF lIJiUSTIlATIONS. Vtt 116. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 126. 126, 127. 128 129. 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 PAna FonT EllMONroN-SAHKATCUf.W.VN UlVKK . 231 LiiiiiIm Siirvfyinl in Miiiiiti>ba iiiiil tho Fur WoHt in IHHf) 233 Allotment of th«> SurvoyoJ Limdn . . 234 Hoiito from Ki.^land to Miiiiitobu and lIudHon Hiiy 236 C'unWrland Houho and the Lower Siih- kiiu'hpwan ...... 23(! Uppt-r I'lintf Viilloy— CVnadiun National Park 237 Culjcary— Approach to tlie Rocky Moun- tJiins 238 WinniiKig and its Laki'H .... 2;'.') Lake Momphruiuaffog .... 244 Silurian EMuariimont between Chicago and Niagara 245 Lake Superior 248 Northern WayH of Lake Superior . . 24!) Koyal iHlaiid 250 Luke Huron and Qoorgrian Bay . 252 Lake Erie 253 Niagara FallH and Rapidtt . . . ' 250 Thousand Islands 258 Intorminglod Sources of the Ottawa and Gatineau 261 Lake St. Peter 262 St. Lawrence and Richelieu Rivers . . 263 Lake St. John 266 Upper Saguenay and lla-Ha Hay . . 266 Etebnity Capk— View taken fbom Tbin- ITY Cape 267 Belle- Isle Strait 268 Magdalen Islands 269 XlMBEB AFLOAT AT THE OTTAWA SaW- Muj.8 273 Indian Tribes and European Colonies at the Beginning of the Eighteenth Cen- tury 278 Chief Centres of German Immigration in Canada 282 Increase of English and French Speaking Populations in the Dominion . . . 283 Chief Centres of French- Canadian Immi- gration in New England . . .287 Thunder Bay . . . . . .291 Sault Sainte-Marie 292 Port Huron and Samia .... 293 Lake St. Clair .295 Most Densely Peopled Region in Ontario 296 Isthmus of Niagara . . . .297 Toronto 299 Lake Nipissing 301 From Ottawa to Montreal . . . 304 Confluence of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa 307 Growth of Montreal . . . .309 rin. 138. 13'J. 140. 141. 142. 143. 114. 145. 14(1. 147. 148. 149. 160. 151. 162. 153. 164. 165. 150. 167. 168. 159. 160. 161. 162. 163. 164. 166. 166. 167. 168. 169. 170. 171. 172. 173. 174, 175. 176. 177. 178. 179. 180. 181. 182, fAoa Approximatr UiiHin of the St. Francis 319 "Canada" of Qunboo, aftor a Spanish Map of tlm Fifteenth Century, repro- duced by I )uro 321 Quebec 323 The St. Lawronce Ixttween Kaniouraska and the Saguenay 327 TodouHHHo and the Saguenay Confluence . 330 Eskimo River and Bradoro Bay . . 332 Surveyed and Arabic Lands of Gaspc . 333 Extremity of the Gaspo Peninsula . . 334 Bay of Chaleur 336 Shippegan Peninsula and Island . 338 Carboniferous Districts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick . . . .341 Lake of Brador 340 Mines Basin and Land of the Acadians . 354 Inhabitants of East Canada . . . 356 Isthmus of Chignocto . . . .301 New Brunswick Soenkby — View takes* NEAR St. Joun 363 St. John 364 I'assamaquoddy Bay .... 366 Skip Hahdoub, Nobtk of Halifax . 309 Canso Strait 372 Louisbourg 374 Charlotte-Town and Roadstead . 376 Oknk Island 380 Affluents of Melville Bay . . .382 Lake Mistassini 384 Moravian Missions on the Labrador Coast 389 Plaobntia Bat, Newfoundland . . 396 The Gander Fjords . . > . 397 Bank of Newfoundland . . . .399 Icebergs off Newfoundland . . . 401 Chief Centres ot French Population in the Dominion 407 Chief Atlantic Cables terminating at New- foundland 412 Placentia Isthmus . » /*/'.,•', r tv,.tt(l.- Miquelon Archipelago .... 416 Map ot the Great Canadian Petroleum Region 432 Direct Route from England to China . 437 Network of the East Canadian Railways 438 Transcontinental Railways of North America 439 Domain of the Pacific Railway Company . 441 Halifax and its Citadel .... 444 Ottawa, Capital of the Dominion . . 446 ■I THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS. ■ ^ BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, GREENLAND, ALASKA CirAPTER I. THE NEW WORLD. NLIKE the names of the Old World continents-Europe, Asia, Africa —that of America is shrouded in no mystery. The origin of the- former has hitherto been a question of pure conjecture, whereas we know for certam that the latter, as applied collectively to the whole of the New World, dates from 1507, appearing for the first time in a publication issued m that year at Saint-Di^ by the " Gymnase Vosgien," a group of savants and printers constituted under the patronage of the Duke of Lorraine It matters little whether this name, under its first form of Amnriffe (Amengen), was. introduced into the Cosn^o.raphi^ Introduetio by the French translator. Jean Basin de Sandocourt. or by the Suabian Waltzemulkr (Hylacomylus) ; the fact remains, that, either by one or the other, the name was inscribed in the treatise in honour of Amerigo Vespucci, one of the first explorers of the New World, but also one whose fame is lost in the dazzling glory of Columbus. The Latin text is dcci- eive as to the precis, meaning given to the recently discovered regions ; yet nothing can be advanced in support of the statement made so early as 1533 by Schoner that Vespucci had any direct relations with the Saint- I>i(5 Society and that he was base enough to claim the merit of the discovery by giving his Chris- tian name to the New World. So far from this being the case Vespucci, like Columbus himself and all contemporary navigators, was unaware that his explo- rations had contributed to reveal any regions except those of the Adatic Con- : tment. ■:^'Vj. NORTH AMERICA. The Discovery. In any case the name itself came but slowly into general use. The common appellation naturally continued for some time to bo that which had been propa- gated by the mistake made by Columbus regarding the true character of the lands discovered by him. Having set out to reach the Indies he supposed he had redis- covered them, and the term India consequently continued to be applied to the New World both in current literature and still more in official documents. Even after further exploration had established the vast distance separating India and China from the Columbian lands, and after a clear distinction had been estab- lished between the " East Indies," reached chiefly by the oriental route, and the " West Indies," lying across the track of vessels sailing westwards, the Spanish Government persisted in designating as las Indias its trans-Atlantic possessions. Even to this day the term " Indians " is that which is still most commonly applied to the American aborigines, and in regions where the Spanish language prevails they are even called Chinos, or " Chinese." On relatively few maps of the sixteenth century the new lands bear the name of America, or are even shown to be geographically independent of Asia. The first sheet of certain date on which the name itself occurs was engraved by Petrus Apianus in 1520, eight years after the death of Vespucci, and where the word elsewhere appears it is nearly always associated with others, such as Newfoundland, Brazil, Holy Cross, Atlantica or Atlantis, Peru\ ia, New Indies, and the like. It is obvious that no one designation had yet been sufficiently established to claim a decided preference on the part of cartographists. Not till the seventeenth century, over a hundred years after the discovery, did the term America acquire a definite predominance everywhere except in Spain. Its gradual adoption was clearly due, not to official pressure or to the influence of gi^at writers, but to popular feeling itself, nor can there be any doubt that euphony had much to do with its favour- able reception in the leading European languages. Thanks to its felicitous form it harmoniously rounded off the enumeration of the continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, America. Thus it happened, not for the first time in the records of humanity, that alliterative cadence contributed to perpetuate a manifest injus- tice. ' .-'-'. ' ' ■/:-■■:•},,-,"•-->,''.; •'-'t!^.?jj;:^r In the face of authentic documents there might seem to be little room for doubt on the subject under consideration. Yet there already exists a copious literature composed by writers who have vainly essayed to assign a purely local origin to the name by which the New World is now designated. When certain erudite Teutons claim it as of German origin we may cease to be surprised that the Americans, on their part, feel a pleasurable gratification in researches which trace it to their native land itself. On several occasions certain resemblances have been pointed out between Vespucci's Christian name and the local designation of some American rivers or ranges, but no attempt was made to treat the question seriously till the year 1875, when the geologist, Marcou, suggested that the term was derived from the Amerrique Mountains, skirting the east side of Lake Nicaragua t i i m iO l ii ' <»> i.iii'. iii i ii iir utt tii to/ i M awi«WiMii* M i i«i»» ( i i lui i ;*»l ii li i ftwiy | *wWi l i i ' - ■ ' * !f W iM'-i IW.IJ B ^"• '» J,-^- ii , 'i to M l i^^ ji i i. i ' a second tnnecting ng in the volcanoes ers of the fact the idland of sia across 10 stretch nainland, irregular currents, in mid- ;erveuing I fathoms, rttle over ijvozdeva 8 passing ape West Adalbert connected )n. . space of leless the irn archi- i all these bland, and oms deep, iild conse- > discover mrest the kks (boats) [>f Bering s as far as tho state- ply to the le view la of Asiatic leal types, question.* I Siberian ,•/«! wm 1 » .,1 "4' "liym ii i ii rtlAii i irt 'f i nl i W I iUM ii f (fnU i i l "■"! r- ' n i H"'"' ■ "' '"' '" ' ^— ■'■■■''■■■ -~~ " "''^iffl'ra'^'" " '' r- THE NEW WORLD. 6 us established naturally infer the western or Asiatic origin of the populations occupying the northern section of North America. Polynesian influences are also recognised in the customs, structures, and ornamental work of the islanders along the north-west coast of America from Alaska to Oregon. Moreover, the " Black Stream " which traverses the North Pacific has frequently corried Japanese flotsam to the opposite seaboard ; over sixty instances of this sort have bfen recorded since the beginning of the seventei vth century.* The same current has even occasion- ally borne junks and shipwrecked crews from one continent to the other, as, for instance, in the year 1875. Some authorities even go so far as to assert that the Buddhist propaganda, and consequently Asiatic civilisation, exercised a direct influence on the inhabitants of Mexico and of Central America during the first centuries of the Christian era. Amongst the sculptures of Copon and Palenque mystic images have been found closely resembling those of Eastern Asia ; such especially is the taiki, the most venerated symbol of the Chinese, • which, according to Hamy, represents " the combination of force and matter, of the active and the passive, of the male and ■ female principles." But, whatever is to be said of these pretended Buddhistic influences, there can be little doubt that the earliest transoceanic relations of the American continent must be referred, not to Europe or Africa, but to Asia, that is, to the West. ;:; The case, however, is reversed when we come to the recent history of the New World. If in remote ages the march of civilisation or immigration was from west to east, its direction has been from east to west, from the Nile to the Mediterranean, and thence towards the ocean, and from the eastern to the western shores of the Atlantic, within the strictly historic period. Attempts have even been made to reduce this western movement of the cultured peoples to a fixed principle. " Westward rolls the star of empire," is a familiar saying amongst English- speaking nations. Anyhow, the fact remains that throughout modern times America hfts been, relatively to Eurojjc, emphatically the western world, the " West" in the simple language of British seafarers. Beyond the Mississippi the vast plains and highlands stretching awa}' to the Pacific Ocean are also commonly designated by the name of the "Far West." v- .Ji^ V/^ ;^.: ;:!;^?S" ' Possibly at some remote epoch vessels from the eastern hemisphere may have reached this western world. Mention has been made of Phoenician navigators, and the Greek legends have been revived touching the mythical land of the Atlantes. Reference is also still made to the old Welsh traditions regarding Madoc ap Owen's discovery of the western lands wrapped in the perennial fogs of the great ocean. The Irish have similar legends, such as that associated with the name of St. Brendan ; but the marvellous accounts of their bards are unsupported by a single fact which could give them a character of certainty. The first authentic documents on the existence of a new world beyond the Atlantic date no further back than about a thousand years ago, coinciding with the epoch of the great Scandinavian migrations. Even in Italy itself, jealous of * Brooks, Complt* Sendtu de la Soe. de Giographie, July, 1886. ^^ ,''^ -m /•'■*■• : '-. 6 NORTH AMERICA. the fume of Columbus and Vespucci, no writer an/ longer doubts that North America was discovered by the Norse seafarers. The northern waters, scoured in all directions by the fearless Vikings, naturally offered the greutost facilities for exploration and conquest, for here the opposite seaboards of the Old and New Worlds approach nearest to each other. Since the time of the Greek navigator, Pytheas, these seas were doubtless much dreaded, o^ving to the dense fogs moving along the surface like whitish walls. Seafarers also feared to penetrate through the " nostrils of the earth " amid the ice-encircled shoals and waters half solidified by those masses of unmolten snow which gave rise to the legend of a " Viscous Ocean," or " Sea of Glue." Vague reports described the northern seas as shallow lagoons, or even nothing more than vast morasses, or else Troldbotcn, or a region of magicians haunted by supernatural monsters. Nevertheless, a belief also prevailed that beyond this world of spirits there stretched the shores of continuous land. On all the charts inspired by the geography of Homer the great " Ocean Stream " is represented as encircled by a narrow margin of coastlands. But, whether the land designated by the ancients by the name of Ultima Thule is to be identified with Iceland or the Faroe Islands, there can be no doubt that this familiar station had long been known as a natural starting-point for the discovery of the western continent. The Irish monks, settled in Iceland towards the end of the eighth century, were followed a hundred years later by ths Scan- dinavian Gardas, from whom the island received its present name. At that time two-thirds of the extreme northern waters had already been traversed, and here the Norse mariners also possessed the intermediate stations of the Shetland, Orkney, and Faroe archipelagoes. Navigators frequenting the seas between these insular groups could scarcely fail sooner or later to reach the shores of Greenland, driven westwards by storms or marine currents. As early as the year 977 Gunnbjorn sighted from a distance the snowy crests of a western land, and gave his name to some rocky heights or headlands projecting from the shores of the New World. Five years later Eiik the Red, banished from Iceland for murder, sailed in the direction of those remote mountains of Mid-Jokul, and on a sub- sequent voyage built himself a fortified dwelling on the coast of the west, beyond the Hvarf or southern point of the great land. Although not yet identified, the ruins of this stronghold of Brattablida may one day perhaps be found on the Igaliko fjord, erected here over nine hundred years ago. Ever since the arrival of Erik Greenland has always had inhabitants of European origin, and direct relations have been maintained at various epochs between the Scandinavian settlers in the west and the mother country. The Christian commu- uilies administered by the Sec of Greenland were even tributary to Rome, and the ecclesiastical annals make mention of furs and walrus ivory regularly shipped to Europe in payment of the " Peter's Pence." The Crusades themselves were preached in these Arctic lands,* and even after the occupation of the West Indies and mainland by the Spaniards the Norse bishopric of Gardar continued to be maintained in Greenland. Nevertheless, during the course of centuries the rela- * P. Riant, Expidiliom et PHerinagtt det Heandinm)**. iHiiiui MtiiilMilii *««*■:_- THE NEW WORLD. North ured in ties for d New ngator, moving hrough jlidified Viscous shallow i region ief also itinuous •' Ocean na Thule )ubt that , for the I towards he Scan- that time and here Shetland, een these reenland, (rear 977 and gave 38 of the r murder, )n a sub- t, beyond dentified, ad on the European ween the 1 commu- 3, and the shipped dves were jest Indies lod to be the rela- tions became constantly less frequent between the opposite coasts of the North Atlantic. For some time after the discovery the spirit of adventure and conquest was kept alive amongst the intrepid Norse sfufurers. Impatient of control the young men took to the high seas in order to escape the oppression of their rulers, and in their turn to found new states on those distant shores. But in the year 1261 Greenland fell under the direct political sway of the king of Norway ; trade became a royal monopoly ; expeditions across the Atlantic consequently grew less frequent, until at last both the Danes and Norwegians completely neglected those transmarine colonies which hud boen acquired by their enterprising forefathers. South Greenland had not been the only western region discovered by the Norse explorers. Various expeditions had coasted the wer't side of the great inland beyond 72° north latitude to the points where were found the human habitations lying nearest to the pole. But their voyages of discovery were directed chiefly to the south of Greenland. Even before the year 1000 Bjarn Heriulfson, who was sailing towards Greenland, had taken a too southerly course, thus sighting some forest-clad hills, which probably formed part of the American continent, but which he did not venture to approach. He was followed by Leif, son of Erik the Red, who first discovered the desolate ice-bound stony region of Hellu-land, which should probably be identified with the Labrador coast, although referred by most Scandinavian writers to the island of Newfoundland. He then pushed farther southwards to a wooded coast, which he named Markland, and which is supposed by Rafn, Kohl, and others to be the seaboard of Acadia or Nova Scotia. This view has been generally accepted by the commentators on the Norse Sagas, who identify the present Rhode Island between 4^ and 42° north latitude with the Vineland also discovered by Leif at the end of the year 1000. An " inscribed stone " is even shown on the banks of the Taunton River opposite the village of Dighton in Massachusetts, which the interpreters tell us relates the conquest of the surrounding tenitory by Thorfin of Iceland.* It is obvious, however, that a passage in the old Norse texts referring to the length of the day in Vineland has been interpreted by Rafn in a sense too favourable to the importance of the discoveries made by his fellow-countrymen on the east coast of North America. All things considered, the Vineland of the Norse records should more probably be placed about the northern limit of the range of the wild vine, that is, in Nova Scotia or New Bruns- wick, where also grows the " wild wheat " (zizania aquatira), mentioned in the same record8.t '^' ,-'" -;";•■ - -^.' '■:-': ,,'-^'-': But however this be, the fact is placed beyond all doubt that the Scandinavians founded regular colonies on the American mainland, the annals of which cover a period of from a hundred to a hundred and thirty years. After taking possession of the land by kindling great l>t>nfires, which proclaimed their arrival far and wide, it was their custom to set their mark on the trees and rocks, to plant their arms on the headlands and to erect strong houses and outposts at their stations. The Sagas also speak of children bom in these settlements, as well as of conflicts and of * Bafn, Antiquitntei American*. t HaUburton, Proceeding! of the R. Oeo. Soe,, January, 1886. 8 NORTH AMERICA. warriors killed in battle; graves also are amongst the remains of the old structurea attributed to these Norsemen. Like all subseqiient European invaders, the Vikings massacred the natives for the sole pleasure of shedding blood, so that the work of extermination began with the first arrival of the whites. The old accounts, how- ever, which were handed down from mouth to mouth, diversely intermingled truth and legend, and many stirring episodes appear to have been inspired only by the love of the marvellous. One of the northern regi'ms discovered by the Vikings, and since rendered uninhabitable by the cold, b-jars the name of Furdustrandir (" Wonder-strand " ), 80 named from the strange visions conjured up by the evil genii of the place. According to the legend, the new arrivals had to contend not only wiih the Skriillinger — a general name indifferently applied to all the aborigines whether Eskimo or Redskins — but also with white populations, or peoples " dressed in white," that is, certain Irish Christians living on the southern coastlands, or in the interior towards the west. To this region, placed somewhere on the New England seaboard, was given the name of Hvitramannaland (" White Men's Land ") or Irland it Mikia (" Great Ireland "*). But if the Sagas that have been handed down to our time contain much that is marvellous, they probably comprise but a small part of the real history of the Scandinavians in America. It is at least possible thai a strain of Norse blood may still survive, even beyond Greenland, amongst the indigenous populations of the New World. After the Scandinavian explorations in the northern waters, the attention of the South European seafarers was niainly directed to the temperate and tropical regions beyond the Atlantic. The memory of the earlier expeditions appears never to have been entirely lost, or rather became intermingled with traditions of diverse origin. Like the Welsh and Irish, the Arabs had also their legendary navigators, the eight Alnmgrtirim, or " Wandering Brothers," who had sailed from Lisbon in the year 1170 under a vow never to return until they had reached the remote isles beyond the seas. Other " brothers," Frisians by birth, were rumoured to have soon after embarked at Bremen, and to have reached Greenland. Towards the end of the fourteenth century two Venetians, the brothers Zeni, visited the same region, by them called " Engroneland," and the particulars recorded by them, as well as certain details of their charts, leave scarcely any doubt regarding the truth of their narrative. Lastly, the Pole, John of Szkolno was sent straight to Greenland in the year 1476 for the express purpose of reopening the communications that had so long been interrupted. Undoubtedly the report of all these voyages had spread from seaport to seaport, as attested by the contemporary marine charts, on which coastlines, although ttaced at haphazard, were at least justified by popular report. Moreover, the recent discoveries of Madeira, the Canaries, and the Azores in the Atlantic south- west of Europe, had been more or less confused in the imagination of seafarers with the ancient traditions regarding the " Fortunate Islands," and with the Christian myths about other islands inhabited by saints. All these scattered * BeauTois, La Decouverte du Nouveau Monde par Ui IrlaiidaU. gj ^el? whin relating a dream, "he took the keys of the heavy chiiins which held thj sen imprisoned." The world hitherto supimscd to be flat he proved to be round, iind thereby opened the modern era of history. His rivals overwhelmed him with outrages, ho was treated as a vain boaster, an impostor {homem /allador), " whose words were idle " ; then his enemies charged him with treason and brought him back in chains across the very ocean which he hud been the first to traverse. But after hid death a reaction set in, and by a natural tendency in the mind of man numerous writers attributed the exclu- sive glory of the dis^covery to the daring genius of Columbus. But despite all exaggeration his genius was still shown to be of the first order by his mony observations on the winds, the marine currents, the declination of the compass, and the confidence with which ho had boldly plunged into the unknown " sea of darkness." Nevertheless, the prominent part taken by Columbus in the progress of his times should not blind us to the merits of so many other fellow-workers ; least of all should it induce u i to discover in him every virtue under the sun, as if breadth of intellect and fortune's favours were still accompanied by all the higher quulities of the heart. Amongst the Itss fortunate contemporary navigators some might perhaps be mentioned who were fully equal to Columbus in scientific knowledge, and others who were certainly actuated by more disinterested motives. But it ever happens that, where multitudes of men contribute wittingly or unwittingly to one great result, some one favoured person arrives at the right moment and resumes in himself all the merit of the common work. Thus in the present case nmid numerous competitors the name of Columbus stands out conspicuously as summing up his epoch, and the year 1492 is henceforth regarded as the parting- line between two eras of human progress. J", ; i .. ^ At first the arrival of Columbus's caravals in a roadstead of the New World seemed but slightly to a£Pect the political and social relations of the civilised peoples. On the other hand great events, such as the fall of the Eastern Empire, the artistic ond literary triumphs of the Renaissance, the invention of printing, the circumnavigation of Africa, were also facts of vital importance, largely con- tributing to the evolution of thought which brought medioeval times to a close. But among all these indications of the profound change then taking place there was not one whose significance was more marked or richer in future promise than the fortunate voyage of the Genoese navigator. Thenceforth the Old World, itself not yet entirely discovered, ceased to constitute the whole inheritance of 19 NOBTH AMERICA. m- man. riviliaiitinn, whiiih from tho oarly omi>ir<'H j^roiipod round the converging ]Htint of Kuropo, Aniii, and Afrini, liad hitherto Nproud almost cxoliiNivfly along tho Mcditei ranoun Hoaboard, and tlicnto to thi; inlntn and i«hindrt of Wo8tcrn Kiiropo, now, at hint, j)osm'H.Hod the whole Hurfacu of tho gloho an itH proper Nphoro of action, llio Hum of knowledge and, eoniM'(|Uontly, tho domain of thought had been enlurget and deliver the holy heindchre. He w«. at once the H,„t Kuropoan to visit tho New ^VorM. and the hr« p ant ,, u-l«ve the nativ,. -.nd cau«e them to p^.inh in bin «ervi;o. J u he hud nvuU m th« /«tal work, and it wa« the jealousie, of others who luul also Kg. 3.-F1IWT Wmt iNDrAN Im ANI.i UHCOVlBiD BV CoLtMHW. Soalt 1 : u.ouo.ooo. ca t: 1?5 aOO Mllei. received concessions of mines and Indians that brought about revolts, intestine strife and at last the recall of Columbus ignominiously laden with chains Before his third voyage he had secured the monopoly of exi>iorution for himself and his posterity.* so that all independent expeditions had been interdicted except from the port of Cadiz under burdensome conditions. This provision, however was not enforced, and several illegal journeys would appear to have taken place to avoid paying the fiscal charges on the products of the gold mines. Even while Columbus still governed Esp.fiola two vessels, under his enemy Hoieda and the two famous pilots, Juan de la Cosa and Amerigo Vespucci, touched secretly at the wlajid, and resumed their voyage without waiting for the governor's visit These seafarers had also seen the mainland, coasting the seaboard for a far greater • Herrera. IndxM Occidentaln. . , m 14 NORTH AMERICA. M distance than Columbus, from the low-lying shores of Surinam to the Cabo de la Vela, northern extremity of the Goajiros Peninsula between the coasts of Venezuela and New Grenada. In the same year, 1499, a part of the Curaana country had already been sur- veyed by Peralonso Nino and Guerra; in 1500 Bastidas de Sevilla completed a first exploration of all the southern shores of the Caribbean Sea as far as the Gulf of Uraba, while Vincente Pinzon coasted the east side of the continent be^'ond Cape St. Roque as far as the point where now stands the city of Pernambuco, and on his return traversed the " Freshwater Sea," formed at its mouth by the Amazons river. A few weeks later these waters were again visited by Diego Lepe, and in the same year, 1500, a Portuguese fleet of thirteen vessels, under Alvarez Cabral, reached the supposed island of Santa Cruz, which was in reality the mainland of Brazil, about the southern part of the present province of Bahia. Lastly, Amerigo Vespucci, piloting another Portuguese flotilla, pushed still farther southwards, surveying the whole seaboard of Brazil as far as the Gulf of Cananea in the south temperate zone. From this point he appears to have sailed south- eastwards without again sighcing land, except a remote coastline about 62° south latitude. The Austral Island of New Georgia would seem to correspond best with the position indicated in the great navigator's report. A vast stretch of seaboard some 6,000 miles in extent had thus been opened up by the European seafarers since Columbus had penetrated into the " Dragon's Mouth," and surveyed the Orenoco Delta. He had hoped to cover himself with fresh glory, and to close his career by the discovery of a passage leading to the Indies properly so called; he had even provided himself with an Arab interpreter, and when he struck the Honduras coast he supposed he had reached Ptolemy's Golden Chersonesus, that is, the southern peninsula of Indo-China. He failed, how- ever, to turn its southern extremity, the isthmus in question forming continuous land with the continental seaboard. But in the neighbourbood of the Chiriqui Islands, where the land is already contracted to a very narrow width, he heard of another ocean lying a little farther south, and forthwith concluded that here he was within " ten days' voyage of the Ganges." Nevertheless, he vainly sought the looked-for outlet, and had to retrace his steps after rounding Cape San Bias, close to the spot where hopes are now entertained of excavating the channel which he failed to discover. After a futile attempt to found a station to work the gold mines on the coast of Veragua he set sail for Europe, dying in 1506, two years after his return. Vv • ' PiioGREss OF Discovery along the Eastern Seaboard. The exploration of the east coast of North America had begun before that of the southern continent had beea revealed by Columbus. In 1494, Gaboto, or Cabot, another Genoese navigator, had rediscovered the shores alreidy visited by the Norsemen. After becoming a Venetian citizen, Cabot, one of the best pilots of the age, had removed with his whole family to Bristol. Although his name is not actually mentioned it is suffii^iently indicated by the expression, " the most skilful ' ' !.' ;;- ' ' ".wygi ."H^iw m! w f j; s ;. ' >"' VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS. 16 mariner at that time in all England," who, in 1480, sailed from Bristol in search of the "island of Brazil," and who returned, two months luter, to an Irish seaport after having found the island in question. At least d'Avezac thinks it probable that the pilot so described was Cabot himself. In HOI, and again in 1492 and 1493, he made fresh expeditions to the western seas, and at last, in June, 1494, he discovered a "Land first sighted," and another neighbour ng land, as is expressl}^ indicated on a chart prepared fifty years later by his son, Sebastian Cabot. This " Prima Vista " was at first supposed to be the headland of Bona Vista on the north side of Trinity Bay, south-east coast of New- foundland. But, according to Sebastian's chart, the north-east point of the island of Fig. 4, — Voyages of Colvmbvs. Scale 1 : 00,000,000. 1,600 Uiles. Cape Breton was the first land sighted, the navig.itors passing thence between the present mainland of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward's Island.* Resuming the " Newfoundland navigations " in 1497 Cabot coasted the main- land for about 300 leagues, planting on the headlands at intervals a large cross with the English and Venetian flags. Next year Sebastian Cabot set sail alone and followed the coast northwards to 5(i° or 68° north latitude, that i«, to North Labrador, thence returning southwards to the shores of the present Virginia, perhaps even to those of Florida. Thus, before the close of the fifteenth century the North American seaboard was known in its salient features for a space of over * Halton and Harvey, 3re«/oH«(;f/fl»»?y,.ir'tM'i.- ' - i '>' ^.y. ' U" !' "* ' ■ L . ' f lll'i j p j I-M . ' j ' *...jr ff is, and i04,* mtro of t of the already r New- rds the ' But Green- sutirely ages of aversed >a8t till avoured North- ie, as at irtary." country f whom ttrooted aown as Basque jsted by ,. lot time ; by any y^ lalers of . Breton, Loned of farther rtheless, ccurring i in the ng with inta Ca- ils from 9 waters tist time, rhile the southern r Colum- 1 : J ■"-i /\ /^-: '. 'rt ^.■ r;J -u U , 'f ^^. ^t ."?, % 'i #?/ i"^ i .■>va ■ m m. 13'*. „;!'- mmmmtum PROGRESS OP DISCOVERY IN THE ANTILLES. 17 bus, no Spanish vessel hud i)enetrated into the Gulf of Mexico except during the circumnuvigation of Cuba. Ihis neglect was due to the fact that the Spaniards were not concerned with any systematic exploration of the shores of the New World so much as with the discovery of seas abounding in pearls, or of lands rich in gold and slaves. In 1508 Vicente Pinzon skirted the Honduras coast as far as Belize, and five years later Ponce de Leon, with his pilot, Alaminos, approaching the Gulf from another direction, we^t of the Buhamis, discovered the peninsula of Florida, which they coasted northwards to Saint- Augustine Bay, and again south- wards to Cupe Florida and the chain of the Cayos (Keys or "Reefs"). The object Fig. fi.~AxBBicAy SsABOAUO discovbrbd ddhin'o the Lifbtimb of Culvmbus. Roale 1 : 90,(X)0,U00. ■, • C'.C, Cfarittopher Colnmboa. . ^ ,, oi this expedition was no longer gold, but that marvellous " fountain of rejuve> nescence," which restores strength and beauty to old age. r' < -aj^j- ^i ;i ,, ^ The astounding discoveries made during recent years had, as it were, intoxicated the men of that period, to whom everything now seemed possible, and who began to fancy that the myths of their childhood had already been half realized. Columbus, navigating the brackish waters of the Orenooo estuary, claimed to have seen the river that descends from the "earthly Paradise." In the same way Ponce de Leon went in quest of the water that gives youth and everlasting health. But in none N. A.— 8 I 18 NORTH AMERICA. of the islands, not even in Biinini, said to contain the sacred spring itself, did he find aught but limestone or brjckish waters. Nor were those expeditions more fortunate which were afterwards conducted by Pamphilo de Narvaez, P^ernando de Soto, and Moscoso in search of gold and silver store. Alvar Nunez, however, one of Narvaez's followers, nicknamed Cabeza de Vaca (" cow-head "), reached Culiacan in Mexico, after a residence of eight years amongst the savages. ui! Discovery of the Pacific. The same year that saw the discovery of the coasts of Florida by the Spaniards witnessed an event of supreme importance in the history of geography. Nuuez de Bulboa, who, like Columbus, had long been familiar with reports of the neigh- bouring ocean, at last crossed the Isthmus of Darien, and from the brow of a hill beheld at his feet the Gulf of San Miguel and the boundless expanse of the Pacific waters. In an ecstacy of joy he rushed down to the shore, waded into the water up to his middle, and armed with buckler and sword, took possession of the great sea in the name of the King of Spain. But two years elapsed before the founda- tion of the first European settlement on the shores of the Pacific, near the pearl fisheries of Panama, and in 1517 Espinosa launched the first vessel on its blue waters, navigating them from the Isle of Pearls to Nicoya Bay, The name of " South Sea," given by Balboa to the Pacific, and still current amongst seafarers, was due to the position of the Isthmus of Darien, running in the direction from west to east. Thus, for Balboa, the Caribbean was the " North Sea," while the inlets discovered by him on the opposite side belonged to the " South Sea." Protracted efforts were made to find the passage supposed to connect the two oceans, and in 1523 Charles V. again instructed Cortez diligently to search for this channel which had escaped the attention of Columbus. During a slavt3-hunting expedition to the coast of Honduras in lil7, the slave- dealer, Hernandez de Cordova, discovered the north side of Yucatan, where he came upon the first civilized populations found in the New World. Next year Juan de Grijalva, guided by Alaminos, the best pilot of the age, pushed farther to ths west and north, coasting the Mexican seaboard as far as the river Jatalpa. The fame of the treasures of Mexico was immediately spread throughout the Spanish Antilles, attracting seafarers and conquerors from all quarters. Monte- zuma was soon replaced by Cortez as ruler of the empire, and the explorations, hitherto miinly confined to the coastlands, began to spread their network throughout the interior of the continent. The outlines of the Anahuac plateau were soon clearly traced between the regular curve of the Gulf of Mexico and the straight coastline of the seaboard watered by the Pacific. But although the '• South Sea " was known and had already been navigated by Spanish mariners, the passage leading from one ocean to the other had hitherto been sou^^ht for in vnin. In 1509 Vicente Pinzon and Di.:' d'j Solis had pushed southwards to the vast estuary of the Rio de la Plata, and perhaps even beyond that point. Six years later Diaz de Solis had been commissioned to round the msimesmi^m VOYAGE OF MAGELLAN. 19 be find tunate to, and one of uliacan (aniards Nufiez ) neigh- of a hill 5 Pacific 10 water be great founda- be pearl its blue name of leafarers, rom west be inlets detracted 8, and in lel which he slave- where he ext year farther Jatalpa. hout the Monte- orations, network ,c plateau and the gated by i hitherto d pnshed 3n beyond round the whole American continent as far as the waters discovered bv Bulboa ; but he was killed by the natives on the banks of the I'lute river itself, in which he supposed ho had found the lookcd-for intcroceanic passage, and the honour of the discovery thus fell to Magellan. Contemporary geographers justly pointed out that the South American seaboard gradually declined westwards under the Austral latitudes just as the African is deflected eastwards, thence arguitig that the New AVorld, like the old, terminated in a point, that it also had its " Cape of Good Hope." But America penetrates much farther into the Austral Seas than Africa. Hence to reach its farthest point, and to plunge into the maze of savage fjords indenting its southern extremity, needed the indomitable energy and almost superhuman will of a Magellan. The two great navigators who gave to Spain the foremost rank in the history of discoveries, were both alicno, one an Italian, the other a Portuguese, and of the two the latter accomplished the greater work, a work of geographical exploration absolutely unrivalled. Not only did Magellan discover the passage from sea to sea, but his vessel was also the first to circumnavigate the globe. Ho " lifted the earth from the shoulders of Atlas and set it spinning in the free ether."— (J. G. Kohl.) Although Magellan Strait was named the *' Spanish Highway," in contradis- tinction to the " Portuguese Highway " around Africa, the Spanish seafarers them- selves scarcely made any use of this route between the two oceans. Nevertheless, a vessel, detached by a storm from Loaysa's squadron in 1526, after clearing the Strait, was driven back to the American coast, and thus reached a Mexican port near Tehuantepec. But this vessel, commanded by Guevara, never from first to lost sighted the western seaboard of the southern continent. All the discoveries along this seaboard were made by the route across the Isthmus. In 1522 Andugoya coasted southwards to the river Biru, a small stream whose name does not appear on the charts, but which suddenly assumed great importance in the eyes of gold-hunters, thanks to the glowing accounts of the natives about the treasures of the south. Two years later was founded the famous " Company of the Biru," or '• Peru," between Pizarro, Almagro, and Hernando de Luque, an association which undoubtedly resulted in the acquisition of vast treasures, but which also brought about the extermination of whole populations, and the thraldom of all those that the fire and sword had spared. The limits of the explored regions coincided with those of the reduced lands, and the Spaniards never crossed the river Maule in the southern part of Chili. Here, at the very gate of the Araucanian territory, Gomez de Alvarado, one of Almagro's lieutenants, was arrested, and beyond this point no explorer has yet succeeded in making his way overland to Magellan Strait. The coastlands have been surveyed only from the sea, the first time in 1540 by Alonzo de Camargo, who sailed from Seville through the Strait directly to Callao. In 1579 the same route was traversed in the opposite direction by Sarmiento. But to Cook wos reserved the distinction of making the first complete circumnavigation of the globe by a course contrary to that followed by his great Portuguese predecessor. The extreme point of the New "W"orld south of the Fuegian Archipplago may 80 NOETII AMEEICA. :,4'|.. possibly have been sighted in 1526 by one of Loaysa's companions. Other mariners, such as Drake and Sarmiento, also verified the insular character of the lunds skirting the south side of the strait, and in 1616, nearly a century after the time of Magellan, Capo Horn was at last doubled by the Dutchmen, Lemaire and Schouten. A Mexican port on the North American seaboard had already been chosen by Cortez as the starting point for the flotillas of the Pacific. Nevertheless, the exploration of the coast-lands in this region made less progress than elsewhere. In 1533 Qrijalva sighted the Revillagigedo Islands and the southern point of the Califoruian peninsula ; soon after Cortez and other navigators penetrated into the Gulf of California, or " Vermilion Sea," and in 1542 Cabrillo reached as far north as Cape Mendocino, beyond 40° north latitude. This is usually supposed to have been exceeded during the same century by only one other voyage, that of Drake, who struck land some 3° farther north, and thence coasted the Cali- fornian seaboard in a southerly direction. But another long-doubted maritime expedition appears to have also taken place, although no mention is made of it in the annals of Castile.* The details, in fact, given by the navigator himself scarcely leave any room for doubt on the subject. This seafarer, the Greek, Apostolos Valerianos, who claimed to have served on board a Spanish flotilla under the name of Juan de Fuca, states that a wide breach occurs on the seaboard " between 47° and 48** north latitude,"t where a strait, sheltered by a large island, communicates with marine passages opening in various directions, north-west, north-east, east, and south-east. This fjord really exists, although it is not, as supposed by Juan de Fuca, the " Gate of Anian," affording a passage round the north part of the American con- tinent. By a strange coincidence this term Anian, perhaps the same that had been used by Marco Polo to indicate the Indo-Chinese kingdom of Annara, had been transferred by ignorant commentators to a marine passage supposed to skirt the north side of America. In the same way Zipangu came to be applied at once both to Japan and Cuba. !i I The North-west Passage. On a map published in 1542 by Sebastian Munster, the legend " Here is the route of the Moluccas" designates either a strait in the north-east of America or else a river such as might answer to the St. Lawrence. Navigators have taken three centuries and a half to discover this " North-west Passage ; " nor has anyone" yet succeeded in completely circumnavigating the double continent of America. The discovery has, in fact, been made piecemeal by fragmentary expeditions. Sebastian Cabot, who was himself perhaps preceded by the Cortereals,t advanced in the direction of the Arctic Seas in the hope of finding the famous China • Selaeion del Vinje hecho por las GoMat, Sutil y Mejioana, 1792. ■»?'*";': t The entry to the Jnan de Fuca Strait really lies some 30 miles farther south. X Bumey : Voyage* in the South Sea. ■•^KS^SSS^,: ' " 1 , 1 ii ^ i ni »i| it ■ .i |^ g iii io ii» | | « ^- THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. ai Other jf the er the •e and len by 88, the where. of the nto the as far ipposed that of e Cali- aritime it in the scarcely postolos ne name een 47° unicates ist, east, 'uca, the can con- lad been lad been ikirt the at once re is the lerica or Ive taken Is anyone" lAmerica. sditions. ladvanced 18 China passage. lie reached G7° 30' north latitude, and meeting open waters to the north-west, firmly believed in the possibility of sailing right through to China by this polar route, wliich would have been three times shorter thun that of a Panama Strait. But he was compelled by the faintheartedness of his companion. Sir Thomas Pert, to give up the attempt, and it remains doubtful whether the route followed was that of Hudson or Davis Strait. According to Biddlo and the Fig. 6. — Paet or Ameiiica known at the Clo«i of the Sixteenth Ckntukt. Soalo 1 : 1JO,(100,000. .1^00 Miles. indications recorded in the chart of Ortelius, the two navigators took the Hudson passage, which was thus discovered long before the voyages of Frobisher and Hudson. Over fifty years elapsed before Sebastian's track was again followed, nor did his successors at first reach such high latitudes. Estevan Gomez, a deserter from Magellan's expedition, appears to have got no. farther than the Bay of Fundy,the .1 ^J^|]JJ^p^ wmr' I. mv m vi» *tr* 22 NORTH AMERICA. n pf?' name of which, dospito iti present English form, is none the loss of Spanish origin. Vorruzano, a Florentine, who visited the shores of the New World by order of Francis T., ma'lo no important discovery beyond the entrance to the Hudson, while doubt has been thrown on the voyage said to have been under- taken by the Portuguese Alvarez to the St. Lawrence river in lo'2l. Jacques Cartier appears to have been the first to recognise in 1535 the fluvial character of the waters which prolong the estuary opening west of Newfoundland und of the insular groups at its entrance. The great value of Cartier's expedition in the history of geographical progress is due to the fact that it forms the starting-point of the voyages of discovery in the interior of the continent as far as the Mississippi Delta, the Rocky Mountains, and the Frozen Ocean. Contemporary geographers fancied there must be some sort of balance in the form of the various continental masses. As they believed in the existence of an Austral world corresponding in the Oceanic regions to the lands of the Northern Hemisphere, they also supposed that to Magellan Strait, ot the southern extremity of the New World, there must correspond another in the northern continent ; in fact, that " Gate of Anian," which Juan de Fuca pretended to have traversed all the way to the Atlantic. Nay, more, to them it seemed thot the attenuated form of South America must be reproduced in the noith ; hence the hope of discovering towards the extremity of Labrador a short passage leading direc*i\' from ocean to ocean. English navigators claimed an almost exclusive monup >Iy of exploration in these northern waters. The " Portuguese " route by the Cape of Good Hope as well as the " Spanish " by Magellan Strait being closed to them, they naturally sought to strike out a " British " highway in the far north. In this spirit, Willoughby and Chancellor attempted the " North-east " Passage with the view of reaching China by coasting round the north of Russia. In the same way, Frobisher endeavoured in 1676 to force the •' N V>rth-we9t " Passage by following the course indicated by Sebastian Cabot. Afte. penetrating far into a channel flowing, as he supposed, between America and Asia, this daring pioneer returned to announce the news in England. Hut in two subsequent voyages he failed to get beyond the Meta Incognita, or " Unknown Ijimit," that is, the peninsula of Kinguait, by which his western horizon had been closed in. Then Frobisher was diverted by the quest of gold from more speculotive enterprises. Having discovered certain black stones supposed to be very rich in ores, but from which the chemists vainly attempted to extract the precious metal, he sailed in 1578 with a fleet of fifteen vessels, for the purpose of shipping cargdes of these useless blocks, and erecting forts to guard the mines from foreign nations. But so uncertain was the position of the region discovered by him that it was long sought in the eastern parts of Greenland ; nor have modern metallurgists yet succeeded in identifying those black stones which gave rise to so many costly expeditions. In 1585, Davis * resumed the work of exploration, penetrating far into the broad channel which stretches east of the polar archipelago, and which now rightly bears his name. He also discovered in the western lands a winding fjord, * See life of this illustrious navigator by QBments R. Maxkham, 1889. 1 1 ,1 "H n i Kyf "*^- ; LWUV'" ' ^punish )rlo Atlantic hero ::1mo burred by inipuBRtil>l( pilot, Hui "• «ning in 1587, he cks and i ads. The famous 'led to be iiore «\i« ' ■ iiit'ul in 1610, when, after coasting tho whole of tho Labrador peniu- ila, )i' r eived between two islands tho open sea stretching uwiiy to the south and .ith-west Under the impression that this must surely be the PutuKc, ho aaii*'^ ^ultingly southwards, but his career came to a sudden end before he could b*' di fnved. Overpowered by his mutinous crew, he was placed with some companions in a small boat, and left;, almost without provisions, to perish no one knows where. In death ho may ut least have had the consolation of fancying that ho bad solved the great geographical problem. Other navigators penetrated after him into the inland sea which now bears the name of Hudson Bay. But it was soon found that this vast basin was closed on all sides, except towards the north and north-east, and tho pilot Baffin at last announced in 1616 that all hope must be given up of reaching the China f^ens by this route, and that the passage must bo sought farther north. Accordingly, under the orders of Bylot, he pushed towards the Pole through Davis Strait to its north- , west prolongation, the present Baffin Bay, reaching as high as 77° 30' north latitude in Smith Sound, which for two hundred and fifty years from that time remained unviaited by any navigator. Towards the west, Baffin observed two broad openings — Junes Sound, obstructed with ice, and Lancaster Sound, into which he cautiously penetrated. On his return to England, his verdict was, " There is no North-West Passage." This verdict was accepted as final, and all farther research in that direction wai almost entirely abandoned. The Hudson Bny Company also, which was founded in 1669, and to which Charles II. granted vast privileges, possessions, and exclusive trade rights, jealously guarded its monopoly of that ngion. A few London merchants thus became masters, not only of the coastlands round the land-locked basin, but of the whole of Arctic America, warding off all rivals*who might encroach upon their trade in peltries. All exploration of the seaboard was forbidden ; all non- authorised discoveries were buried in secret archives; false reports on the difficulties of the navigation were spread abroad, all with a view of securing to the directors the undisturbed enjoyment of their commercial privileges. To the posthumous influence of the now extinct Company have even been partly attributed the pre- judices which have hitherto prevented the settlement of the coastlands round the southern shores of Hudson Bay. But while all progress was suspended throughout the eighteenth century in the north-east, the north-western parts of the continent continued to emerge from the obscurity from which the great epoch of Spanish enterprise had failed to rescue them. The Russians now made their appearance in this field, ushering in their operations with the all-important discovery of the strait separating the two worlds. Henceforth America could no longer be regarded as a geographical dependency of China or "Tartary." In 1725 Bering rounded the extreme eastern headland if S4 NORTH AMERIC.V. of AHin, piiHHinjif through tho Htruit which now b.^urs his nfttno ; lie fiiih'd, how- evop, to (li'Hcry tho opposite or Atin'ricaii Hido of the titrait, which wiih men from n (liHtaiico by (Wozd'ov Hvo yearn hitcr. ThiH eastoru hind had already hmg In-cn ro{H)rti>d by tlio (MiukclioN to the Uusman (>o8fluckfl, who call«d it by unticipation HoMinia Zfml'n, or the '* Great Land." Its uxistonce wuh, howovi-r, ubuixhintly attoxtod by the driftwood, the H('ul[)turod blocks, tho cetaceans Iwnriiifj; embedded in their Hesh harpooiiH of Htranj^e form, and the ('o»mickn themselves had met natives of that remote rej^ion in tho ('hukehe camping-grounds. In 1741 Bering and Tcliirikov struck tho American coast near the point dominated by Mojint St. Klias, thence couHting westwards, and so discovering the Bouthorn part of Alaska and the Aleutian Archipelago. After the death of ]iuring on the island now known by his name, other daring seafarers, fishers, hunters, and traders continued the work of exploration on tho ••(irout Laud." Hut tho real form of the coastline was first revealed in 1778 by Cook, who iMUietrated into the Boring 8eu through an opening in the Aleutian chain, sailing from headland to headland across tho strait properly so called, and coasting the American side north- eastwards. Here his attempt to force the ice and thus reach England by the direct north-east pissage was frustrated by a continuous mass of pack-ice at Icy Cape. Tho farthest point reached by Cook in those waters was not exceeded till the present century ; his immediate successors, Lap^rouse and Vancouver, surveyed that part only of the seaboard which lies south of Alaska. No further attempt was made till after tho wars of the Ei. pire to force the polar ice in search of tho north-west passage. But now tho effort was renewed Avith a far nobler purpose than that by which the early explorers wore animated. The English, who had undertaken this mission as a sort of national duty, no longer aimed at collecting auriferous shingle, or even at discovering some shorter trade route between west Europe and China. Their object was rather to complete the geographic survey of the northern hemisphere, to observe all the phenomena of polar life, to study the populations scattered over those snowy or storm-tossed regions — in general, to increase the sum of human knowledge. For the purposes of this great undertaking, needing all the highest qualities of courage, steadfastness, and devotion, appeal could bo made only to the best wherever to be found. Nevertheless the work was begun by an act of injustice, the Government rejecting Scoresby because he had the misfortune not to belong to the Royal Navy^ although his previous career, as well as public opinion, pointed to him as the Arctic explorer in a pre-eminent sense. '; , . ^ ^^ >. But despite this mistake the history of the " North- West " navigations abun- dantly attests the rare skill and daring of the men employed in these missions, both as seafarers and scientific explorers. In volunteering to take part in such enterprises they resigned themselves beforehand either to the slow corruption of scurvy, or to a living tomb in some Arctic snowstorm, or else to being crushed between two blocks of ice. In any case they could not hope to escape passing many dreary winters far from their homes, without the possibility of communi- cating with their friends, constantly exposed to a lingering death by cold and hunger . "Vr ^v?.?SlKfSKS^»?@i!S!SKK'S ■limf i M m m l3 1 "'Si.' j< M. " ..y ^ l ,i^'i ^ it j^9 eight men all had peiished of disease and hardship. During this period of research the problem of the North- West Passage had been solved. In 1850 MacClure, penetrating through Bering Strait into the Frozen Ocean, coasted the American seaboard beyond Icy Cape, discovered by Coolc Then rounding Barrow Point, which had arrested Beechey iu 1826, he passed from headland to headland all the way to Banks' Slruit, where Parry had been icebound during his first expedition. Here MacClurq was himself detained for two winters ; but he had fortunately crossed the frozen strait during the spring, and had thus succeeded in bearing his dispatches to a station on Melville Island, where Kellett, arriving from the eastern channels, was blocked in his turn. Communications were in this way established between the two oceans, and when MacClure was about to send b ilf his crew southwards over the mainland, Kellett's men hastened to revive the fr ilirig spirits of the pariy, already brought to death's door by famine and despair. The North- West Passage had therefore been found by a " Magellan of the North," as Franz Schrader wrote in 1874; it had been proved possible to pass from sea to sea, but by exposure to such dangers that since the time of MacClure, Kellett and Collison, no other navigator has attempted to follow this route. Thus was closed in 1853 this chapter in the history of geogra- phical discovery, though doubtless the detailed exploration of the whole region will again be resumed according as stations and places of refuge spring up along the Arctic seaboard. Expeditions towards the North Pole. With the efforts made to force a way through the icy channels of the Polar Archipelago was naturally associated a desire to approach, or even reach, the North Po'e itself. During previous centuries mariners had already pointed in that direction through openings in the pack-ice, and, according to one legend, certain Dutch sailors had even reached the goal in 1670. In any case the names are recorded of several persons, whalers for the most part, who passed beyond the w^ ' i » ]ti ' yiff4<^iir ' ?\ ' :^ other lipped ships, [Mjlugo, ositing to the 59 were )pen to Is were er fleet he last ar from written ips and : disease ftge hud into the 'ered by 1826, he irry had detained e spring, e Island, lis turn. ,d when Kellett's lo death's sen found Lud been since ipted to geogra- sgion will ilong the [the Polar Ithe North in that Id, certain lames are lyond the EXPEDITIONS TO THE NORTH POLE. 87 80th parallel in the North Atlantic. Thus Hudson would appear to have reached 82"^ before he was arrested by the icy barrier ; in 1775 Fbipps sailed beyond Spitzbergen and the " Seven Islands"; Scoresby pushed forward in 1806 at least some twelve milc.^ Iiigher than 81°, and this explorer frequently expressed the opinion* that he might easily reach the Pole by sledging, the ice by which he was arrested being perfectly continuous and so level that if swept of its snows it might be crossed by stage-coaches. Supporting himself on the authority of these pioneers Parry induced tbe British Admiralty to entertain his project of reaching the Pole across the pack-ice. In Fig. 7. — The Nohth-West Pakbaok. ^ Soole 1 : 16,000,000. 800 HUM. this way he got as far as 82° 45', the highest record for the following half century, and 80 far the absolute highest in that region of the North Atlantic. During the latter part of the expedition no progress was made by the efforts of the men to drag their boats over the ice, for although they appeared to advance northwards, the ice itself drifted southwards with the current. Hence they had to give up the attempt and to allow themselves to drift with the ice back to the starting- point.t Hitherto the highest latitude has been gained not, as was hoped, by the open sea forming the northern prolongation of the Atlantic, but by the west side of • SooreHby, Aeeount of the Aretie Region*. t W. E. Parry, Narrative of an Attempt to reach the North Pole. 4n. ^1 m 28 NORTn AMERICA. ''i li ','i:J!li..ij| Greenland through the narrow ice-obstructed channels of the Polar Archipelago. Following up the explorations of the English navigators, Penny and Ingleiield, Eane, the American, was the first to try this route in 1858. North of Baffin and Melville Bays he penetrated into Smith Sound, where he had to force a passage across the hummock to reach other basins by which this marine channel is con- tinued in the direction of the north and north-east, few polar explorers encountered more tremendous difficulties, rugged icefields, stormy waters, disease, extreme cold, the mercury remaining frozen for four months together. Yet on his return from this terrible voyage Eane ventured to report north of the strait an easily navigable channel, completely free of ice, and beyond it the open Polar Sea. Such a report could not fail to stimulate fresh efforts in the same direction. Hayes, who had accompanied Kane on this memorable expedition, again plunged in 1800 into the chain of straits and basins which separate Greenland from the Polar Archipelago. After surmounting in sledges the ice piled up north of Smith Sound he approached some distance nearer to the Polo ; but he no longer found Kennedy Channel free of ice, as it had been during the previous voyage. Nevertheless, the ice lying farther to the north was less compact and weaker than elsewhere, and Hayes returned from his expedition still a firm believer in the hypothesis of a "free Polar sea." Hall, who followed him in 1871, and who died not far from his highest record (82° 16'), visited these supposed open waters, but found that precisely here the passage was most contracted, forming the narrow and mostly ice-obstructed Robeson Channel. On the return voyage his vessel, the Polaris, was even crushed between the floes ; but it had already been half abandoned, and it was on this occasion that nineteen persons, including an Eskimo infant two months old, drifted on some floating ice southwards to a point where they sighted a steamer near the Labrador coast. The castaways, who were furnished with some provisions and a bout, traversed over 2,000 miles during the space of six months, nearly half of which was passed in the gloom of the Polar Sea. Three years previously the crew of the German ship, the Haiisa, had met with a similar adventure on the east coast of Greenland, along which they hud drifted for eight months southwords to the station of Fredricksdul, near Cape Fare- well. The annals of Polar navigation record numerous occurrences of a like kind, such as that of MacClintock, who, in 1857, was carried in 242 days a distance of 1,300 miles in a retrogade direction. About the same time a Greenlunder und his wife, born^ on u block of ice across the struit, were landed without accident near Cape Mercy on Baffin Land.* * ' The American explorers, Kane, Hayes, and Hall were followed in 1875 by the English expedition under Nares, which also took the Smith Sound route, and which at last succeeded in penetrating through Robeson Channel into the bound- less sea flowing north of Greenland and Grinnell Land. But so far from being " free," as reported by the previous navigators, this sea appeared to be covered with huge masses of ice 25 to 30 yards thick, alternately fissured by the billows * Kiimlem, Smithsonian Miteellnneotu CoUectioni, toI. zxiii., 1882. - ^liWMiMiilBMW^ mm imsaiHmmmSm wmm «. 'ii ' ;i i | EXPEDITIONS TO THE NORTH POLE. 29 and again bound together by the froat. and strewn with blocks upraised by pressure and the sh.f ting of the centre of gravity. A sledge journey of Le sixty nnles northwards showed the sea everywhere bound by these icy fetter., while away to the north nothing was visible except interminable ice or sno;fields Accordingly, the "Free Sea" was renamed the " Paleocrystic," that is. "The Fig. 8.— H0UTK8 OF Arctic NAv.oATons. Scale i : 80,000,000. PMiy, 1821. \VeaX of Gre enwlcih •*•* ... Batua, 1889-70. Pack ioe of the PolaHi, 1W2.3. 600 Milei. rtchedsJT ;";,"" 'r *''*' ''*^''^™' °^" <>^ ^--' officers, wb! TJ'* T'^ "''' ^'''''' ^y '^' ^"»^"««"«' I^ockwood and Brainard iNorth Pole. From th« pomt they distinctly descried Cape Washington, the ■'m W t ,y Hi 80 NORTH AMERICA. northernmost land yet discovered on the globe. It lies to the north of Greenland, with which it is probably connected by intermediate ice-bound fjords. Next followed Greely's disastrous expedition, in which two-thirds of the men perished of hunger on the pack-ice about Cape Sabine, in Smith Suund. This was the last of the great polar expeditions undertaken in our days. Since then the exploration of the American Arctic waters has been left to the Scotch and other whalers, who never venture within the narrow straits. But the Tork of systematic research will certainly be continued until the Arctic regions are thoroughly known to geographers. Doubtless the quest of the precise point round which are described the circles of latitude would seem a puerile undertaking did it not also insolve the study of the surrounding lands and islands, the outlines of iimi ! '■'ii Fig. 9.— Paliocbystic Ska. Scale 1 : 7,000,00a 93' West t>r Groer>w!ch 1 1 SCO Miles. .Ife ■ - ■. )** ■ .1 :., .. ..<-';/<,/.> ..,".-v::.'^ seas and inlets, the tides and currents, the movements of the atmosphere, and other phenomena of terrestrial life. On the other hand, this work itself will be more and more facilitated with the establishment of an ever- increasing number of points of observation and victualling stations in the higher latitudes, and according as the physical conditions and resources of the neighbouring regions become more fully known. The circumpolar observatories, whose original plan is mainly due to the Arctic explorer, Woyprecht, have already been partly founded at the cost of the European nations and the United States, and Greely's voyage was undertaken for the purpose of establishing one in Lady Franklin Bay, on the very margin of the Paleocrystic Sea. It should also be remembered that all the vast resources of modern industry have not yet been placed at the service of northern explorers, and that it still remains to be seen what may be accomplished .•fli-j;J»^. ■ -^y ^^ l (»h >^^^^-■^.;al3»^.twr^l^gJ)^tr.^::t.■J>.^g?Ht' ^VlJ^■■L^ ' ^^- ' jUj vg34ax'M"-r "" '' yy. i -*gw fi . ' ,.njjjj.ii i MHiinji. ii mi ii u nn n ^ i wuM ^T , , ARCnO EXPLORATION. si by aerial navigation. About a hundred and fifty expeditions have been equipped for the Arctic waters since the discovery of America, while thousands of whalers have penetratec into the same regions. Other voyages must follow, and one at least ,s already provided for through the munificence of Gustave Lambert At present, to complete the geographical outlines of the New World, nothing remains except a survey of the North Greenland seaboard botwe.n the waters 10. -CiHCIIIPOlAU OlWEKVATuHIEll. 6 .-v OVJ^i ■"TT KinnByijjmiiii M ii !i i i r,i.ijim ) M^ i y ii> f. i » i u,>i i ' ' ., ■■ » s ' . ' w FRENCH DISCOVERIES IN NORTH AMERICA. 88 anouB n the rev, and reached )f Lake jshwater Fond :iver St. [ce. He la to the [y JoUiet Int Wis- lorant of [hundred It of the le bore [they no did not foreign Iterior of sited by Marquette, and had thence drifted with the stream down to the Gulf oi Mexico. The Jo»uit nuHsionuricH thus t(K)k the largest share in the discovery of tlie North American fluvial busina. Dut they saw with reluctance members of other religious orders, private traflcrs, and even military leaders venturing to explore a region which they regarded as their exclusive domain, and the history of the seventeenth century in Canada is full of their bickerings with other missionaries and travellers. Thus by all manner of Court intrigues and obstacles of every kind they endeavoured to exclude Cavelier de la Salle from the routes loading to the Mississippi. Nevertheless, the Norman traveller, a man of remarkable intelligence, firmness, valour, ready wit, and unflagging perseverance, achieved his purpose in the end. After three ex{)editions to the regions lying beyond the lakes, after adventures of all kinds, wars, alliances, shipwrecks, assaults, retreats, and a serious malady caused by poisoning, he at last embarked in the spring of 1682 on the " Father of Waters," exploring it to the delta in the course of fifty days' navigation. Two years later he returned from France with a flotilla to- ascend the river as viceroy of Louisiana; but the command of the vessels had been given to a personal enemy, who betrayed Cavelier, landing him almost without supplies on the present coast of Texas, and himself continuing the exploration of the Mississippi mouths. But the indomitable De la Salle, still undertaking to continue his surveys by land, was assassinated by one of his officers, a few days after setting out for the great river.* The vast regions stretching west of the Mississippi towards the Rocky Moun-- t^iins and lacustrine and fluvial plateaux draining to the Frozen Ocean, were brought within the domain of geography mainly through those " coureurs des hois," mostly independent traders, against whom the Canadian authorities issue the severest edicts. But they had a boundless world before them, and when hard pressed on. the frontier of the settlements they could retire to the hunting grounds of the red- skins. With these they entered into the closest relations, marrying their daugh- ters, but retaining the French language and preserving their relations with the peltry dealers. From sea to sea they opened up the routes afterwards followed by the European explorers. When the great traveller De la Verandrye, in 1731, crossed the " Hauteur des Terres " north-west of Luke Superior and entered the region, draining to the Arctic Ocean, he was escorted by these half-castes, who pointed, out the watersheds of lakes and rivers, the camping- grounds, the forests abounding in game. He surveyed the shores of Lake Winnipeg, the banks of the Ked River, of the Assiniboine, the Saskatchewan, the upper Missouri, and Yellowstone, and crowned these achievements by scaling the Rocky Mountains, returning to the civilised world after fourteen years of wanderings and hunting expeditions. During the present century these " voyageurs," whites or half-breeds, have still been the guides in most of the supplementary excursions undertaken to connect the various itineraries on the eastern and Pacific slopes. Even during these land expeditions the delusions of the North-west Passage continued to fira « Ft. full 1111 rni DlHiiiiimJl£ H Ortmt W*tt. T'-TT'TST' 84 NOETU AMERICA. '. ii •ffi.*;; tho iina^itiutiot) of in.iiiy Cunadiuu traders. In the abseuco of an open Hea or of a chain of Hi raits and channels between the Atlantic and I'acittc, hopes were enter- tained of discovering navigable lakes and rivers forming a commercial highway across the continent. Nearly all tho charts of the eighteenth century represent tho American Arctic regions as intersected by a labyrinth of large rivers and inland seas forming a continuous waterway between the two oceans. So late as 1789 Meares endeavoured to prove the existence of a north-west passage between iludson Bay and Bering Strait through the Winnipeg, Athabasca and Slave lakes, and by a river where occur the largest falls in the known world. Prooress of Discovery in thk Southern Continent. In South America the exploration of the interior, "which followed tho conquest of the outer plateaux and coastlands, was prosecuted, as in the north, by traders and missionaries. But on the eastern slopes of the equatorial Andes the sudden con- trast of climate and soil between tho uplands and plains, the impenetrable forests, the great watercourses, insalubrious marshlands and justly hostile populations long retarded the progress of research in the lower regions occupying the very heart of the South American continent. After Orellana's memorable journey in 1540 down the Amazons two centuries elapsed before any attempt was made by other explorers to connect their itineraries with his. In the temperate zone, where obstacles of all kinds were much less formidable travellers soon penetrated far into the interior. The " Paulistas," that is, the Brazilians of the province of St. Paul, commonly called mnmdiicos, made i.nmerous excursions westwards to tije Parana basin either for trading purposes, or more frequently to procure sLives. The Jesuits also, protectors of the natives against the Paulistas, but with a view to their own aggrandisement, establisherl themselves in the midst of the docile Guarani populations of Paraguay, here founding a purely theocratic state, where the whole social system was regulated to the sound of the church bells with public prayers and religious ceremonies. The territory of these missions was the chief scene of the researches of the Spanish naturalist, Felix de Azara at the close of the last century. About the same time Alexander von Hum- boldt and Am^d^e de Bonpland obtained from the Spanish Government the removal of the interdict imposed on all foreigners visiting this vast domain. They were thus enabled during the years 1799 — 1804 to accomplish that famous explo- ration in the equinoctial regions, which was so to say a new discovery of the Columbian world, and w bich gave such a potent impulse to the spirit of research and the study of nature. After them came Auguste de Saint- Hilaire, Spix and Martins, d'Orbigny, Darwin, de Castelnau and de Saint-Cricq, Markham, Ortbn, Bates, Master, Reiss and Stiibel, Crevaux, Thouar, Chaffanjon and others in hundreds, who traversed the land in all directions, visited the sources of the s: reams and determined the exact disposition of the mountain ranges. Compared to the work already accomplished little now remains to be done in ■ I'ROOItESS OF DISCOVERY IN SOUTil AMERICA. 85 order completely to determine the relief of both Continents in tluir more siilient features. The mountains und rivers of Lubrudor, those of the Arctic soabourd and the regions between the Mackenzie basin and Sitka Hay utill prrseiit a character of great vagueness, which, however, will gradually \)v removed with each succesMive exploring expedition. In Central America, despite the relatively small extent of the space confined between the two oceans, some districts, Jiotably the Aloscpiito Coast and the Talamanca territory in Costa Rica, still remain iinsurveyed. Farther south the regions about the headwaters of the Orenoco and Amazons, many parts of Gran Chaco, the interior of Guiana and towards the extremity of the continent some of the eastern slopes of the Patagonian Andes offer several tracts intersected Fig. 11.— Ambhicast Ihthmu8ES. Boale 1 : M,00O,c«). to 100 Fathoma. Dopthi. 100 to 2.000 Fathom*. 2,000 Fathoms and upwards. . 1,200 MUm. by but few itineraries. But on the other hand many of the settled regions have already been geodetically surveyed, while here and there the New World presents specimens of topographical work fully covoparable to that of Western Europe. Physical Features of the Twin Continents. The New World contrasts with the Old in the simplicity of its general form and the disposition of its various parts. The binary arrangement of the continental group is far more precise than in the four eastern continents, Europe and Africa, Asia and Australia, which are also disposed in twos fmm north to south, but with great irregularity in their respective contours and dimensions. Considered in its relation to all the dry land of the globe, America constitutes the eastern 86 NORTfl AMERICA. H ill and fur inort* rof|;ulur Noction of tlut HMni-circlo swtN'piii);^ round tliv I'uciHc iMHJn. Oonipurod with it tliu woNtorn mM^tion, coinpriHing Chinu, Indiiiand Africu, uppearH dinjointod and broken, and in nii)r«M)v«>r dtcoMipom'd into tho <*hain of landH running from Indo-China in tho direction of AuNtraliu. i<> axin of tho Amorinin divinion uUo coint'i(hw with itH iniiin rangcM all tho way from AhiMku to Tiorra dtd Fuogo, whoroas tho irro;;uhirity of oiitliitoH in tho Ohl Worhl niukoH it alnumt inipoHHiblo to rocogniNO itn main axin, wliioh in fact iit twofidd, running north-oant and Houth- woBt for tho water parting, oant and west for tho zone of oulturo and the inarch of civilimition. Dotli lMra, both slopes communicating through a low sill, where the project was at one timo entertained of excavating an interoceanic canal. If the structure of the two continents b© studied, not as at present limited by the encircling oceans, but also in their submerged parts, North America will be found to project south- eastwards two nearly parallel sinuous tongues of land connecting it with the southern continent. These two connecting links are Central America and the West Indies, which are themselves transversely united by the island of Cuba, while profound mirine ab3'S8C8 are revealed in the two inland seas which are enclosed on all sides by continents, islands, or peninsulas. Co.NTRASTS AND ANALOGIES BETWEK.N NoRTH AND SoUlH. A striking analogy of outline is presented by the two Americas, though not such as was conjectured by the navigators of the sixteenth century, who sought in the extreme north a strait corresponding to that of Magellan in the extreme south. Considered in their general structure both continents affect a triangular form mimMmmm^^ mn '' y^ i yM"^ ' " ?''^' " ** ^"" " ' '* ^ '^> "" I »<| »a» ) Pi^ ^ Wfmr ■ y m i ■ ! " P W »■ ANALOOIKS HKTVVKKN NOUTIE AND SOUTH AMKUH'A. 07 Iximn. HH'urH lining iviaion .''ut'go, oHHiblo Mtutli- inurcb c might oint the nenco is t of this , is con- chilo the iccessive hmus of e Atrato ig in the project itructure oceans, south - ith the and the (a, while enclosed lough not sought in le south. form d!H|M)'M>d in the sanio dirui-tiun, thi-ir threo sidoH ri'Mfioctivoly nearly parallel, an>l hitth conn«>cfe(l by two purallul rijoH — tbo iHthnuiN, propi-rly ho oalli'd, of Contrul Ainorioa and tb<' chain of tho Aniilb's. Thi> northern is ubnit one-oiglitb larger than the Mouthorn triangle; but ilM north-eaHtern m>ftion,(>oniprihing tlie Labrador IM>ninHulu, and nearly one-half of the Canadian Dominion, in Revered from the Ixtdy of the continent by a regular chain of lakes running for nearly 2,'i0() nlile^4 like u partly ubiitiirated branch of the sea between Lake Ontario and the Great liear Lake. Vast peninsular regions are thus cut olf from the trunk of the northern continent, leaving a compact mass which presents a surprising reftenibluuee tu the southern division. But, as at present constituted, of the two continents tlie northern is the less regular, the more diversified with gulfs, inlets, and peninsulas. In this respect it offers the same contrast to South America that Kurope does to the monotonous African continent. It develops a coastline of some 2(>,0()() miles, or about 0,U00 more than the southern division. Nevertheless South America, less broad though nearly as long as Africa, offers a greater elegance of contours, while, thanks to its general structure and fluvial systems, its central parts are far more accessible from the sea. Like the North it enjoys the immense advantage of vast navigable watorcoursee, such as the Amazons, Orenoco, Parana, Uruguay, Magdulena, whereas the African rivers, mostly less copious, are also obstructed by cataracts at short distances above their estuaries. A remarkable degree of symmetry has been observed beiweeu these two continental regions, which form the southern termina- tions of the great semicircle of lands sweeping round the oceanic basin of the Indian and Pacific waters. The lofty Cordilleras of South Amenca arc d'sposed along the west side, whereas in Africa the mountain ranges and highlands occur chiefly in the east. The two isthmuses of Panama and Suez connecting them with the northern continents offer the same symmetrical arrangement ; the chief South American and African rivers also flow to the Atlantic from opposite quarters, while the two protuberances formed by North Brazil and Senegambia confront each other on either side of the ocean. The two triangular masse" of America resemble each other not only in their outlines, but also to a great extent in their general relief, the disposition of their plateaux, mountain systems, plains, and rivers. Thus the lofty ranges of the Rocky Mountains and the Andes both run parallel with the western seaboard, both are decomposed in several places, breaking into two or three parallel or divergent ridges encircling elevated plateaux ; both are pierced by volcanic apertures either quiescent or still active, while their sedimentary rocks are covered with vast expanses of lavas, tufas, or scoriae. In each division the triangular form is deter- mined by the main axis of the west and a secondary orographic system occupying a part of the east side in the Appalachian range in the north, the Terra de Mar and Brazilian chains in the south. In both cases the eastern systems run parallel with the coast, but are far less elevated than the western, from which they are separated by vast fluvial basins. Hence the very centre of both continents, where Me should expect to find the loftiest uplands, is occupied by depressions, in which are ..',1 88 NOETH AMERICA. li Wit, gathered the continental waters, and these waters flow for the most part either to the Atlantic or to the lateral seas. Thus it happens that the headstreams of the Mississippi are separated by no prominent divides from those of the St. Lawrence and Red River of the North, and the same absence of relief is presented in the South b} the Orenoco, Amazons, and Parana systems. The lacustrine region occupying the central part of North America was at one time undoubtedly far more extensive than at present. The Michigan peninsula was itself a large island, and the outflow oscillated from epoch to epoch between the Hudson Mississippi, and St. Lawrence valleys. Numerous species of the Canadian lacustrine fauna present a pelagic character, and several lakes, such as Champlain and the Six Nations in New York State, present all the appearance of ancient fjords gradually cut off from the sea.* Some of the North American rivers also seem to have formerly been the deep channels of glaciers grinding their way slowly seawards. Such is the Saguenay, with its stupendous gorges scooped out to depths of 600 or 700 feet. Such is the St. Lawrence itself, which now gives access to the largest vessels for over 600 miles into the interior of the continent. It should ulso be noticed that those parts of North America which have already shaken off their icy fetters are still in the lacustrine period that followed the glacial epoch. The lakes themselves have considerably diminished in size, but in several places their eccentric labyrinthine windings siill occupy the greater part of the land. The streams have not yet regulated their course, as have those of the temperate zone in both hemispheres, but, like the Scandinavian and Finland rivers, still constitute irregular chains of lakes, connected together by a con- tinuous series of rapids, falls, cataracts, " cauldrons," in every stage of develop- ment. In this respect Canada is the most remarkable region in the whole world. Even its great watercourses, still young in a geological sense, are interrupted by obstacles of a most formidable character, and some of these have been the scene of the most memorable conflicts between rival populations. Thus the possession of the Niagara and Ottawa rivers has been contended for to the bitter end, while colonisation was arrested for long years by the Saut du Carillon and other fluvial rapids held by the Iroquois confederacy. -'» • ? I Geology of the New World. . - Before the geology of America was properly understood the opinion was often expressed that the " New " World was in its formation also more recent than the Old. Now we know on the contrary that in its present form North America is apparently the oldest of all the continental masses. Towards the close of the chalk age it had already assumed very nearly the same outlines that it now pre6ents.t All the north-eastern parts east of the great lacustrine chain, together with the polar archipelagoes, consist of crystalline formations, or else of azoic or pjleozoic sedi- • Peschel, Ullrich. t £ui de Margerie, Annuaire Giol gique, 1S88. .' . mmm ; ; f , » jit.y'w»,yyi^»tiii^M F»^^ ... f »« y t*««i a^ yi.l^ I yiii M^ » GEOLOGY OP AMERICA. 89 ther to of the wrence in the 3 at one minsula jetween of the such as ranee of raerioan ng their scooped ich now r of the B already )wed the 56, but in er part of se of the I Finland ly a con- develop- e world, upted by Boene of .ession of nd, while er fluvial men! ary rocks of extreme antiquity. The outer escarpment of the mountains skirting Labrador and stretching away to the north and north-west is composed mainly of gneiss and other archaic rocks, which fall abruptly seawards, while the opposite slope inclines gently towards the interior. "Westwards extends a vast plateau of pre-Silurian formation to which, from its bulging form, Suess has given the name of the " Canadian buckler." By erosion it has been almost entirely denuded of its upper paleozoic strata, and the whole of Hudson Bay has been excavated to a slight depth on the surface of its eastern section. No other regions occur in the New World whose form and relief have been Fig. 12. — Obnthal Watbhpartino of North Ahrkica. Soale 1 : 2,000,OUO. ^ i 90* West oF Greenwich . 180 MUcs. 7^ was often than the jnerica is the chalk irebents.t the polar izoic sedi- maintained for such vast spaces throughout the series of geological ages. Compared with the Canadian plateau the oldest parts of South America are of recent origin. Great changes have undoubtedly taken place along the outer borders of the con- tinental mass, and notably in the isthmuses and chains of islands connecting the two contineots. Although it is no longer possible to study directly the surface of the now submerged lands, their primitive continuity is, in many places, revealed by the natural history of the insular groups. Thus the distribution of the various species of moUusks throughout the West Indies makes it evident that Central America and Mexico were formerly connected with the Bahamas through the large I «!4 40 NORTH AMERICA. islands of Cuba and Iluiti. On the other hnnd the southern insular chains at one time belongod partly to the mainland of Venezuela, partly to that of Guiana.* In the same way the diversity of the faunas in the Caribbean Sea arid the Pacific Ocean shovrs that for long ages the two divisions of the New World have formed continuous land. Of 1,500 species of marine shells belonging to the Caribbean waters, less than 50 reappear on the other side of the narrow isthmus of Panama, where, according to Adams, the classified mollusks already number 1,350 species. From this it is inferred that at least since the close of the miocene epoch there has been no communication between the two oceans, even if the separating line does not date back to fur more remote ages. ,!' Jlnji •» •«. Volcanic Systems. Viewed as a whole the New World presents a remarkable contrast between its western and eastern seaboards, the former bristling with igneous cones, the latter long quiescent (except in the Antilles) and slowly eroded by the sea. Neverthe- less, the burning mountains are irregularly distributed along the west coast, and the chain is in many places broken by wide gaps. A first curvilinear range, fully as symmetrical as that of the Kuriles and Kamchatka on the Asiatic side, sweeps through the Aleutian archipelago, and is continued by other cones on the Alaskan mainland. Then follow southwards along the west coast huge mountains of lava still emitting vapours, although their cirques and craters are already filled with glaciers. Such, for instance, is Mount Wrangel, north-west of Mount St. Elias. North of the Columbia river rises a third volcanic group not yet entirely at rest, but almost extinct when compared with the formidable craters which formerly discharged mighty lava streams in these regions. * ■]■; > South of British Columbia and along the shores of California the few still smoking cones are insignificant in comparison with the great volcanic fi:$8ure sur- mounted by active craters which traverses Mexico from ocean to oceun. The region of i&'thmuses from Guatemala to Custa Rica is also intersected by an igneous chain indicating a subterranean zone in a state of permanent combustion. South America abounds even more than the north in centres of plutonic action, presenting in Columbia, the Bolivian plateau, and Chili three chief regions of fiery eruptions and underground disturbances. Lastly, in some of the lesser Antilles a few active cones rise between the Atlantic Ocean and the inner basin of the Caribbean Sea. Judging from the frequence and violence of the explosions the volcanoes of the isthniian region would appear to correspond with those of the Malay Archi- pelago on the other side of the globe. The distance between these two centres of disturbance comprises exactly one-half of the terrestrial circumference, and the two igneous chains of Costa Rica and Java are about equidistant from the equi- noctial line, the former to the north, the latter to the south of that line. The planet would thus seem to have two fiery poles, each coinciding- with a region of transi- tion between two continental masses. * Belt, A XaturaluC in Niearagua. I Mi mmmmmmmm \rtS^.'/>V a:,- - . " ' -&Jl' * ^ l \i < J > ! Kl f l l r'^mr •' :• v,'^^-R ^ ti ■. :<' h^i ^5 S •J s o b a X a < Ed M ■« > J; is .'%' I CONTRASTS OF NOBTII AND SOUTH AMERICA. 41 DlSPOSITIOX OF THE ZoNES OF TeMPER\TURE. As in the Old World, in the New also, the greater part of the dry land lies in the northern hemisphere, as if it had been drawn northwards by some attractive force emanating from the Arctic Pole. The equator passes far to the south of the connecting islands and isthmuses just above the Amazons river, which has often been designated as the "movable equator." To the north is thus left nearly eleven, to the south less than six million square miles. The consequence is that the temperate zone, the most favourable for the development of human culture, occupies in North America the broader part of the land, while in the south it is confined to the relatively narrower spaces tapering southwards to Cape Horn. But in other respects the land is less favourably distributed in the north than in the south. The vast extent of the Arctic regions renders a great part of North America almost uninhabitable, whereas the narrow southern extremity is the only inhospitable tract in South America. Formerly the two limits of European coloni- sation were the bunks of the St. Lawrence in the north and those of the Plate river in the south. At present the latter limit has been left far behind, whereas the " Hauteur des Torres " between the St. Lawrence and Labrador has not yet been crossed. Both extremities of the New World are carved into fjords, but ia the Austral division these formations occur only to the south of Chili, while in North America they begin on the west side with the St. Juan de Fuca Strait, and on the east with the St. Lawrence estuary. The tropical zone intermediate between the two temperate zones includes but a small part of North America properly so-called, but it comprises all Central America, the West Indies, and over one-half of the southern continent. This area of excessive heats and, in the wet regions, of rank vegetation, is naturally far less favourable to human progress than the lands enjoying a more temperate climate. Nevertheless, the torrid regions of the New World are indebted mainly to the neighbourhood of the sea for a special climate milder and more equable than that of the African and Asiatic countries lying under the same latitude. Thus the islands and isthmuses of the Caribbean Sea are distinguished by an essentially maritime temperature. A considerable section of equatorial America consists also of uplands, plateaux, and highlands, where again the great elevations with their cooler atmosphere compensate for the normal climatic conditions on the lowland plains. Thanks to their altitude many regions of the tropical zone are thus brought within the temperate sphere. Such, for instance, is the Msxican tableland, whose normal temperature at sea-level would be as high as 82° or 83° Fahr. But the moist and hot lower regions remain everywhere unfavourable to human advancement. Thus the magnificent Amazons river, the most copious on the globe, flows for the most part through solitudes, although tne plains comprised within its basin might amply suffice for the sustenance of all the inhabitants of the planet. jipl 42 NORTH AMERICA. Cmmate— Marine Curkents, Compared with that of the Old World, and especially of Europe, the American climate is characterised chiefly by its lower meun temperature. Under corresponding latitudes it is colder, at least in the northern hemisphere, the difference in certain places being as much as fourteen degrees. While the thermal equator of Africa and Arabiii exceeds 86" or 88° Fahr. it falls below 80° in the hottest parts of the Fig. 13. — IsOTHEUMALB OF NoUTH AmEKXA. Scale 1 : 80,000,000. 1,900 HUei. New World. But this discrepancy between both sides of the *.tlantic does not prevail uniformly throughout the year, and, in fact, is far less perceptible in summer than in winter. In the month of July the heat is as intense in the United States as under the same latitudes east of the Atlantic, but in January the glass falls as low on the banks of the Mississippi as on the Norwegian seaboard. Snow lies for months together on the ground at St. Louis and Washington under the same parallel as Lisbon, Messina, and Smyrna, places where snow is never seen ^ li gM^. '' * ' , ' j i! J ' r «. * V ■ ' w^ 0]^ ** i"!i W w i i f i tn. I m ■■^ ^J ' t '' - ' j li ^i"j>ti i *jl . y' ' ' ,M- ' jJ. W< li' i i , J[|^(j i mu. ' w, ' ' i i ' |> 'vV ' M - I w^ .wj B W f O M ii i ii CLIMATE OF AMERICA. 48 except on the tops of the neighbouring heights. To meet the winter climate of New York on the European seaboard the observer must ascend some twenty degrees nearer to the North l*ole. This rcmurkuble contrant is due to atmospheric and murine influences, which have now been carefully studied. In West Europe the prevailing winds blow from the south-west, that is, from the tropical regions pf America, and the marine currents set in the same direction. From the Cai ibbean Sea and etjuatoriul waters they flow north-eastwards without appreciably affecting the climate of North America ; they act only on the West European seaboard as far as Scandinavia and even Spitz- bergen, while the coast of North America is washed by a cold current from the polar regions. Nevertheless, the course of these marine streams is far from being constant, nor can their progress be calculated, as Maury supposed, like that of a projectile discharged from the cannon's mouth. They are often displaced, re- tarded, or accelerated, are complicated by backwaters or counter-currents, undergo the thousand influences of climate, and in their turn react on the alternation of the seasons. The hydrographic researches conducted e8i)ecially under the direction of the United States Bureau of Navigation have shown that even the Gulf Stream, one of the chief factors in determining the climate of West Europe, is far from being so uniform, at least on the surface, as was ut one time supposed. In many places under the shifting surfucc currents, the deeper waters have been observed to move along in a regular channel. Numerous spars and even abandoned vessels describe sinuous tracks, at times even returning to their first course under the influence of counter-currents. Hulks have thus drifted from Bermuda towards Florida in the opposite direction to the main stream, which sets from America towards Europe. About the end of 1887, an accident revealed the general direction of the oceanic current west of Long Island at that time, when the whole body of water was found to be moving almost due west and east under the latitudes of New York, the Azores, and Lisbon. A gigantic raft, consisting of 27,000 trunks of trees, 200 yards long, and weighing 11,000 tons, was broken up and sent adrift during a fierce gale, and the observations taken showed that over 500 of the fragments had spread out in the form of a fan in the direction of the Azores. In 225 days the flotsam had drifted some 3,500 miles, spreading north and south, under the meridian of Flores, about eleven degrees of latitude between the 3 -tth and 45th parallels. . . ' • Other currents skirting the American seaboard produce effects analogous to those of the Gulf Stream and polar current, diversely modifying the continental climate according to the windings and varying velocity of their course. Thus the Kuro-sivo, or " Black Stream," which corresponds in the Pacific to the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic, determines on the west coast of North America climatic phenomena similar to those of Western Europe. Its tepid waters setting from Japan eastwards, strike the seaboard south of Alaska, and thence sweep south- wards along the shores of Oregon and California. But as it advances from colder to warmer seas, it mingles its waters with those coming from the Arctic regions. [ 44 NORTH AMERICA. and 18 thus gruduuUy chiinged to a cold current. On the tropical coasts, it cools the atmosphere, and tempers the torrid heats. The Euro- si vo, however, ia even less uniform than the Gulf Streun. It is not originally developed in a well- defined bjsin, such as the Gulf of Mexico, nor does it assume near its source the aspect of a river flowing between solid bunks. It sets sluggishly across the Pacific, moving at a slower rate than the corresponding current in the North Atlantic. Like those of North America, the east and west seaboards of South America are also exposed to the influence acting in different ways on the climate. Thus the west side is washed by an Antarctic current, whose cold waters temper the heats of the coastlands as far us the Equator. On the other band, the east coast receives into its gulfs the tepid waters brought by a branch of the great equatorial current, which, after crossing the Atlantic from east to west, ramifies at Cape St. Roque into two secondary branches, one penetrating north-westwards into the Caribbean Sea, the other setting southwards to the La Plata estuary. Fi);. 14.— Appabbnt Anumalibs in tub Sl'bpack Cuuubnt of thb Gulf Stbxak. 50* The foil linen indicate the onnne fnllnwed b:r dotgam. The dnt'ed line* indioite the course fnlloirecl by the fnHfm«n*i of the in«At mft. The capitals indiotte the start ing-poini, the small leiters the terminal p int of flotmm. ')« II m h Thus, of the four chief currents affecting the American climate, two raise and two lower the temperature of the seaboards. But these effects are produced, so to say, in diagonal fashion, the east side of North, and the west side of South America receiving cold streams, while the west side of the former and the east side of the latter are washed by tepid waters. ■ ;" Thanks to the triangular form of its two main divisions, no part of the New World lies at any great distance from the surrounding oceans, so that a certain degree of moisture is brought by all winds to the interior. Hence the only absolutely rainless tracts are those where the rain-bearing clouds are intersected by lofty ranges, and compelled to precipitate their contents before proceeding farther. On the whole, the rainfall is heavier in the New than in the Old World, as shown by the prodigii^us volume of waters discharged by the American rivers. &€■■ -vi*Ji,- ■i j l l^l l l lllllll , ,! ^^ ! ! ! ; I I II, |;,^ffl„ ,|, yi |i, ,^ „. ^., ^ * , ' .. ' .,, -.,f' "!"■"■" ' ' '-J-" ' I " . 1 1 " ' "■- ■ ' u ^%:, ,'- *., ii ■ ,"" *• V .■■ 0--4v p^ l^^fH ^ M'* 'lji£ **7*''* '**'.- " I •", '» > - ' ;,. T "^". ' V ' 'tl. "^■ '■ "" iri ' iy y Wft" CLIMATE OF AMKRICA. 45 Of these the Amu/ons is tho lurgost in the world ; but otliorn ulso, such us tho St. Lawrouce, MissiH^ippi, Orenoco, and I'uranu, bavo few suporiors or even rivals amongst tho wutorcourses of tho opposite honiisphero. Doubtless no such tremendous downpours have yot been recorded in any part of America us those which full on the Tcherraponjio Hills in tho Brahmaputra basin. Hut the enormous discharge of the Atrato into the Oulf of UrabA, at tho north-west angle of South America, makes it far from improbable that here tho annual rainfall is fully equal to that measured in Gungetic India. In an equal area tho Atrato Fig. Id.— Cuisr Cuubents of the Ambuican Sbab. Boala 1 : 17a,0(lO,000. 3,0C0 iiiXvt. sends down a volume of water twenty-three times greater than that of the Seine. "* • Dry tracts with poor or arid soil occupy a great part of the North American plains and plateaux stretching west of the Mississippi. But deserts, properly so called, occur only about the Gulf of California, and along the Chilian and Peruvian coasts, on the outer terraces of the Andes, sheltered from the rains by the lofty rampart of the Cordilleras rising to the east. But how insignificant are these uninhabitable districts compared with the vast chain of sandy spaces occupying the greater part of a diagonal zone which extends in the Old World from Adrar on the north-west coast of Africa all the way to Chinese Manchuria. it 40 NORTH AMKRICA. i,'k ' - ■ i i>v FlORA AM) FaUWA. From tlu! (lispoHitiftn o! tlm twin coiitiiu'Hts Htrotchiiijf north und wnith iicnwa every (jliinutic zone it niij^ht iilroiuly lu' interred that their fli)rii niu«t be rohitively MKtre divtTMifiod ihiiii tliut of the Old World. In fact, notwithstundiu^ its much Niniilh'r extent, Aniericii coinpriHeN nearly uh iniiny vej^etahlo zoneH eloarly marked by the preHeneo of charactori^tie jj;enera and npeeies. From the frozen i^tlunds of the north to its austral extremity it presents every variety of vegetation, passing from the lowly mosses and liehens, the miniature forests of dwarf birch and willow of the arctic lands to larger growths gradually increasing in size in Canada and Fig. 10.— LiMiM OF FoHKHT Vbcetation is Nohtii Amib ca. Scale 1 : 73,(m().(i0(), Meridian oF or 1. Limit of Abiea alba. 2. „ larph. 3. „ aapen. 4. Limit of cedar (thnya.) b. „ black nth. 8. „ wliite elm. 7. Limit of aiicrarniiip e. s. „ red (ink. u „ dwarf willow. i.SOOMUea. the United States. Here trees of deciduous foliage prevail in the south und east, replaced chiefly by the conifer family in the western regions of British Columbia, Oregon, and California. Some of these, such as the sequoia, acquire gigantic proportion^, rivalling in girth and height the Australian eucalyptus. Under the same latitudes stretch the less abundantly watered prairies, boundless grassy plains now largely brought under tillage, and elsewhere followed by arid plateaux with growths of saline plants like those of the seashore. In Mexico and Central America the vegetable zones assume a vertical disposition, rising from the " hot lands " of the periphery to the " cold lands " of the interior. The Antilles also, as well as the southern mainland and the Andes, have each their special floras. The Amazons basin is almost entirely occupied with dense woodlands almost ■ tfrnfir FAUX A OP AMERICA. 4? itiiIM>u(>tritl)lM exci'pt by the niiturul routes of the rivor-ln-ds. No other region of thu gh)bu iH ch*tho(l with such viiit tracts of verduro, iitul thin ii the homo of urboreul vcgotiition in u pre-oniinont HoiiMe, HpuciuUy nuincd " Ilylirii" Uy botnuiNts. In the more moiithorn tcinporutc /one the ariiii(*iiriuH of the pluteuiix are Hucpocded by the gruMHy pampas corrt'HjKmding to the North American prairicH. Putngtmia a)j;:iin hiiH itH p* cullar tlora, an )iu8 alno Tierra del Fuego, with itH stunted beei'heH, itH trailing Hhrubs and liehens. Like itH flora, the American fauna is highly diverHified, thus correspcmding to the endleN!*ly varied conditions of soil and climate. Birds, flshos, amphibians, reptiles, insects of uU kinds are represented in prodigious multitudes. The mam- mals also are numerous, although the hi'-ge species characteristic of Asia and Africa have no analogous forms in America. The naturalists of the eighteenth century had already remarked that in this narrower world the animals are of smaller size. Yet America had its mastodon in a ncer.t geological epoch, while in the tertiary period the Rocky Mountains were inhabited by dinoceratu of prodigious dimen- sions.* Now, however, the New World haa no quadruped^ comparable to the elephant, rhinoceros, or giraffe, although aMior.gst its wild aivi jals there uro some of considerable si/e. Such are the white (olnr bear and tho grisly bear of the Rocky Mountains, the Canadian wapiti and moose (Iter, ti)0 jnguar of the tropical regions, commonly ttpoken of us the American " liger." In the sum»i way the puma, llama, and nundou or rhea have be.n respi^'ively c ...ad tbc "lion," " camel," and " ostrich " of tho New World, the sumo types be ,^; in fact repre- sented by distinct species in the eastern and western hemisph< rtb. As a centre of evolution South America contrast i,i ourably with ■•'■■i north, possessing a large number of animals not found in that -egion. The latter hy^ only 700 species of birds, while the former has no less than 2,300, and the contras,. between the fishes is still more striking. In this respect tho North American waters resemble those of Europe and Asia, whereas tin species peculiar to the south are reckoned by tho thousand. A single luko contains as many as all Europe, and in the Amazons basin alone Agassiz collected as many as 2,000 distinct forms. east, Imbia, jantic Indless arid BO and hm the Intilles i floras, laluiost Inhabitants. From one extremil^y to the other of the New World the various divisions of the aborigines present the most surprir? ii., uniformity of type. Excluding the Eskimo, regarded by many ethnologists ut an Asiatic race closely allied to the Chukches of north-east Siberia, all the inhabitants of America appeared at the time of the discovery to constitut a single ethnical group. Whatever local differences may exist between nc-t'ierners and southerners, between cultured and savage peoples, betw^een hunters and tillers of the soil, whatever divergences may have been produced by social usages and their 450 distinct languages, tho natives have almost without exception certain physical traits in common, notably that dark coppery complexion from which those of the north have received the * O. C. Marsh, The Oigantie Mammah of the Order Linocerata, gfer ^' hiiuiii;iti)ii&s i irh ; ^.K^^iim^^.j^ a'-vw^w,^.. J 48 NORTH AMEBICA. name of " Red Skins." All have straight black hair never crisp or wavy, and all have a grave demeanour, slow action and pulse less rapid than the inhabitants of the Old World. Their common relationship is further shown by the prevailing angular face, massive jaw, prominent superciliary arches, aquiline nose, strongly marked features differing little between the sexes, broad and relatively powerful chest. Such is the so-culled " Indian " type, differing profoundlj' from that of the true East Indians, with whom they were confounded in the imagination of Columbus and his Spanish successors. m f i\k *''!>. m Consequences of the Discovery. The discovery of the New World had a far greater influence on the destinies of mankind than could have at first been foreseen. Without America the human family remained incomplete, history sought without finding its unity. Reduced to about a sixth of its real size and destitute of the great navigable highways which give ubiquity to its inhabitants, the globe seemed infinite precisely because its limits wore unknown. But what an expansion was given to the field of human knowledge when America, emerging from darkness, took its place between Europe and China, and when the terrestrial surface was at last clearly defined ! So long as man was ignorant of his position in space and even regarded his domain as immeasurable, all theories on the nature of things were necessarily false, and scientific progress became impossible. What could astronomy lead to when, despite the teachings of a few philosophic heirs of Greece and Egj'pt, the world continued to be commonly regarded as a solid plane supporting the firmament, or el-e as the centre round which revolved the sun and stars ? And with astronomy all the associated sciences w«re doomed to rest on pure conjecture, depending not on mathematical certainty but on miracles or the flights of fancy. The Middle Ages would thus have been indefi- nitely prolonged, probably involving intellectual and moral death. But what a quickening of intellectual life, what an impulse to study and progress of all kinds when man became aware by the direct evidence of his senses that the earth swam in ether, a planet amongst the planets, one of the myriad particles wandering in boundless space ! The influence exercised by the discoveries of the Columban age was great in virtue of the actual knowledge revealed to humanity ; it was far greater through its indirect action in advam lUg the intellectual emancipation of mankind. Spread of Modern Culture to the New World. Even from the material point of view the year 1492 brought about considerable changes in both hemispheres. The aspect of the laud has been modified by the clearing of forests, by plantations, the growth of towns, the development of high- ways, the migration of plants and animals between both sides of the Atlantic basin. In respect of animals America has received far more than she has given, obtaining in exchange for a single domestic bird, the turkey, all the numerous iMMil .««^$>w THE AMERICAN ABOEIGINES. 48 Ltion species of the Old World associated with man, the elephant and camel alone excepted. Moreover, representatives of the respective wild faunas — forest birds, marine, fluvial and lacustrine fishes, insects of all kinds, have passed intentionally or not from hemisphere to hemisphere. Uncultivated plants carelessly imported with merchandise or agricultural produce still continue their migrations, and if most of them perish in their new environments, a certain number gain a fooling and even end by exterminating the native forms. And here again the Old World has been the greater benefactor, largely assimilating America in its flora as well as in its inhabitants. If in Europe the railway embankments have been overgrown by the Canadian erigeron, if many canals in England, France, and Germany have been obstructed by the " water pest" (anacharsin afsinastnim), the American plateaux have in their turn been invaded by the European thistle, while half of the northern continent has been overrun with the clover from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the Rocky Mountains. All cultivated species, with but few exceptions due to climate or other local causes, have become common to both worlds. America now grows all European fruits, mostly in greater abundance than in Europe itself ; the Arabian coffee- plant and Indian sugar-cane, also, are more productive than in the Old World. To America, on the other bund, we are indebted for the maize and the most wide- spread variety of tobacco, as well as the potato, cinchona and many other medicinal plants. By way of compensation for the destructive phylloxera, t-he has also supplied the vigorous stock by which the exhausted European vineyards are now being renovated. Fate of the Aborigines. Changes, analogous to those effected in the flora and fauna, have also taken place in the native American populations, who have been violently thrust aside, and even, in many regions, exterminated by the intruders from the Old World. Of the aboriginal tribes, many are known to have perished, and the arrival of Columbus in the Antilles was the signal for the wholesale disappearance of the insular people. Tracked by bloodhounds, forcibly baptised and thus made the " spiritual brethren " of the Spaniard, but none the less condemned to statute labour in the mines and on the plantationp, bound as serfs to the glebe, distributed in herds amongst the conquerors, and subjected to the Inquisition, the unhappy natives were speedily reduced to the condition of abject slaves. Espai'tula and Cuba, where they had numbered hundreds of thousands, were transformed to solitudes ; whole tribes were seen to renounce all civilisation, take refuge in the woods and revert to the savage life of their ancestors. Others sought in suicide an escape from the atrocious oppression of the foreigner,* and now the question is discussed whether there still survive, anywhere in the islands or on the mainland, a few half-caste descendants of the primitive insular populations. Their memory is, nevertheless, perpetuated in a considerable number of familiar words bequeathed to Spanish, and through it, to all the languages of Europe. * Las Casaa, Hitloria de la deslruceion de lot India*. y K, A. — 5 1 ♦llf( 1. "iL'd'?^'''^.!':'^''";'' l ^t ig ! '^'ff X '''^ '!' 'j? i^ *' ^ '^*" j i^ . ^ ' v'*f^'T'^ ^ . t^ r" ■ ■' ■■■ m '*"*'H THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 61 remote woodlauds. Elsewhere systematic slaughter was replaced by gradual encroachments on the native territory, whifch, in the long run, produced the same results. The aborigines of the United States east of the Mississippi have either completely disappeared, or are now represented only by a few scattered " Reserves." Wherever the conditions of life are irreconcilable, the struggle for existence continues to the advantage of the whites ; the hunter inevitably yields to the agricultun.' r-iii industrial labourer. Millions of natives have also been swept away by altoaolic drinks, smallpox and other epidemics introduced from Europe. But even in those regions where the aborigines have not been entirely destroyed, their original civilisation has ceased to exist. Many cultured communities have reverted to barbarism, or else have adapted themselves to alien social systems. The expeditions, battles and massacres of which Cortez, Pizarro and others were the heroes, drew the attention of contemporary observers to the powerful states over- thrown by the conquerors. But while the local civilisations were exciting wonder, they had already disappeared. Yet the Mexicans had displayed great engineering talent in the construction of embankments, causeways, canals, aqueducts, sewers. They possessed fine highways along which a postal service was organised, compared to which analogous European institutions were still in a rudimentary state ; they were skilled workers in gold, silver, copper and other metals ; their astronomic fccience enabled them to divide their j'^ear into eighteen months of twenty days with five complementary days, thus making three hundred and sixty-five exactly ; they recorded national events by painting and sculpture, and even made use of hieroglyphic characters. But all these products of art and science were regarded by the ignorant Spanish priests as the work of the devil, and consigned to the flames. The continuity of history was thus broken, and the mass of the people reduced to ignorance and slavery. So also in Peru, the descendants of the Quichuas and Aymaras preserved nothing of those industries which had enabled them to construct vast edifices, to lay down broad paved highways along the flanks of the mountains, to cast and chase the metals. And what remains of the ancient civilisations developed by the Ohibchas of Columbia, the Mayas of Yucatan, and the kindred Quiches of Guatemala ? These nations, however, at least still exist, although in a degraded state, whereas many other cultured populations have totally disappeared. In the impenetrable and now uninhabited forests have been discovered the grands Jt temples, the choicest sculptures of the New World, and in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta the splendid paved roads found at remote distances from all habitations are now frequented chiefly by the tapir, peccary and jaguar. % 1 I such as |to their lem and I in their Dominant Ethnical Elements. ■ji-si'i** i k'-'fh Despite the conquest, many native races still survive, protected here and there by swamps, forests, mountains or the local climate. At present, in more than half of the New World, the majority of the population are descendants of the old owners of the soil. According to the i;olilital constitutions of the Hispano- «- 52 NOBTII AMEKICA. 'in American States, differences of origin are not helJ to bo bars to civil equality. The natives themselves have in fact acquired the right to rank on a level with their conquerors, either by fighting side by side with the rebels against Spanish rule, or by taking part in all the civil wars by which the new states have been convulsed. Whatever be the pretentions of certain sections of the community, there can scarcely exist in Latin America any really pure race, for the first European immigrants from Mexico to Chili nearly all married native women, and since then twelve generations hn vo followed, diversely modified by unions between every shade of half-breeds. The American populations, which in virtue of these unions belong at once to both races, ra-.iy be estimated at about thirty millions altogether. But a third ethnical element must also be taken into account, for the negro has also contributed to people the New "World, though not as a free immigrant. I'he blacks captured on the African seaboard and sold to American planters have been roughly estimated at about fifty millions, and, in any case, they fur exceeded in numbers the European immigrants down to the close of the last century. But most of the new arrivals were swept away by disease, oppression, and hardships of all kinds, their race was perpetuated mainly by successive fresh importations, and at present the Africans are far less numerous in America than either the whites or the Indian hulf-castes. Nor have they, any more than the redskins, preserved their racial parity ; nearly all those of the West Indies, Brazil, and even the United States, have by crossings become an intermediate race, people of " colour " rather than blacks, numbering altogether about twenty millions. In Haiti, how- ever, where alone they have acquired political autonomy, more than half of the inhabitants are classed as " blacks" relativ«dy to the other citizens of lighter complexion. But even if they have remained physically pure Africans, they have been Europeanised, if not in habits, at least in institutions and language. Speaking generally, the great bulk of the population in Latin America may be regarded as consisting of three elements — European whites, African blacks, and the aborigines diversely fused in a new race. In the United States and British America, on the contrary, social feeling maintains an impassable barrier, especially between the whites and blacks, a barrier which since the emancipation has been strengthened rather than weakened. There can be no doubt that in the S:)uthern States, for instance, political causes, such as the grunting of universal franchise to the negro, have tended to widen the gap between the antagonistic elements. The illicit unions, common enough on the plantations before the abolition of slavery, have mainly ceased, with the result that the mulatto is dying out or becoming absorbed in the true black, the whole race thus showing a distinct tendency to revert to the pure African type. Thus, from the standpoint of the progressive blending of the ethnical elements, the New World is divided into two distinct sections, very unequal in extent and in no way coinciding with the natural divisions. These two sections are frequently designated by the names of Anglo-Saxon and Latin America, from the dominant peoples, or rather from the chief languages current amongst them — English in the mmm "''"^'IW i it lt iin !"! .!, . , ^;'_ ii .'..<;;,,. , .,., .y^,.y^>^ ETHNICAL ELExMENTS IN AMERICA. 58 north, the two Laiin languages, Spanish and Portuguese in the south Rnf regards the origin of the peoples themselves, these%;olt ^^^^^^^ very relative value. The "Anglo-Saxons." taking the tern, in its wideTsense! Kg. 18.— Chief Langcaoes of Amebica. Scale 1 : 115,000,000. .'Aboriginal, *■ Fi«noh. Qnawnl- B loelandla £8paiiiBli. H Portuguese. ■—————• 1,800 Miles. A Engliali. Uninhabited region!. doubtless enjoy a decided majority in the domain attributed to .hem; but the Latins, represented especially by Spaniards and Portuguese of Iberian. Keltic. or Ligurzan stock, are almost effaced in the presence of the multitudes of other «slH*v 54 NORTH AMEBICA. peoples surrounding theui — Europeans of every nationality, Africans and American aborigines. Moreover areas of different speech occur in both domains. Thus the unity of the English-speaking division is broken by Lower Canada and some districts in North America, while in the south several of the Antilles, as well as British Guiana, lie beyond the Ilispano- American world. Of the two divisions the Anglo-Saxon is the smaller in extent, but immeasurably the more important in population, industrial and commercial activity, and political power. This disparity tends also to increase from decade to decade, so that the time would seem to be approaching when the whole of the New World will be brought under the direct or indirect influence of the English-speaking section. As if in anticipation of their future destinj' the people of the United States already claim the title of " Americans " in a pre-eminent sense. JJI^' ' ' "I Progressive European Immigration. It was long ago remarked by Kohl that the peoples of West Europe shared in the New World the work of discovery and settlement, proceeding in an order from north to south corresponding to their respective positions in the Old World. Thus the Scandinavians (Danes, Icelanders, and Norwegians) occupy the shores of Greenland, and to them is due our first knowledge of the mainland southwards to and beyond the St. Lawrence. Then follow the English and the French, con- tending for the possession of Canada and the Mississippi basin. Lastly come the Spaniards and Poituguese, sharing between them the rest of America. But the populations of Central, and even of East, Europe have also aspired to take their part in the rich inheritance revealed to them beyond the seas, and colonists were thus attracted from every civilised land. In almost every American village are found representatives of these various countries, and most of the towns have more inhabitants of foreign origin than natives. Hence the astounding rapidity with which the more fertile regions of the temperate zone have been peopled, the population having increased threefold since 1825 in many of these more favoured parts. The annual arrivals are now reckoned by hundreds of thousands, and in some European countries the movement of transatlantic migra- tion may almost be described as a veritabla exodus. Certain parts of America scarcely inhabited two hundred years ago, or occupied only by a few hunting tribes, are already as densely peopled as many industrial centres in Europe. This universal migratory movement is naturally determined by climatic con- ditions, for the mortality of colonists everywhere increases in direct ratio with the difference between the climates of their old and new homes. Scandinavians, Englishmen, Germans, even southern Frenchmen, cannot venture without risk to settle in tropical lands, where their physical and moral energies are impaired and Where the family dies out unless renewed by fresh arrivals. On the other hand the Africans perish in the cold regions of North and South America. But the history of colonisation clearly shows that there still remain many broad lands well I f | i , 'i» '»i,"i i" '" »' ."n ETHNICAL ELEMENTS IN AMERICA. 65 suited for settlement by the various ethnical groups of the Old "World. Thus the French live, labour, and thrive as well under the isothermals of 36° or 36° Fuhr. in the Winnipeg basin as under those of 72° in the Mississippi delta. So also with other Europeans who tind in America a habitable zone where the total range of the temperature presents far greater extremes than in their native land. Colonists from the European temperate regions have, moreover, the choice in the New World of two suitable regions, one in the northern, the other in the southern hemisphere. Whether they settle on the banks of the St. Lawrence, or on those of the Plate River, at the foot of the Californian mountains or of the '4 Fig. 19.— Occupation op Axebica by Ikkiobants feom the Old Woeld. 1 1 : 2fiO,000,000. 18 con- ,ii the vians, iskto . and band t tbe ■s well . IM>JO Miles. Ohilian Andes, they find themselves equtjlly in an environment adapted to their constitution. The fact that America is disposed in the direction from north to south, transversely to the line followed by civilisation in tbe Old World, has modified the course of history by broadening the various streams of European migration, and directing them at once to both hemispheres. Nor does the race appear to have in any important respeot degenerated s ,N 'J ;'■: constituted, and by a remiirkablo turn of events the French Canadians also fluccet'ded in niuiiitaiiiing their effective independence. During the revolutionary war the inhabitants of Canada hud reinuinual to rebel mude by the French allies of the revolted Britinh colonies, and this h>yalty wus rowurded with the recognition of their full administrative autonomy. They were thus enabled to develop a new France far better than if they had remained under the direct dominion of the mother country, exposed to the caprice of royalty, hurassed by all manner of luws nnd regulations, in the framing of which they could themselves have had no share. French influence has inereaned in North America precisely in proportion to the political independence of the French Cunudians. Still more emphuticully may it be asserted that the English world has expanded in virtue of the independence and prosperity of the United States. Since the establishment of its political autonomy the great republic has presented a picture of progress in wealth and population, such as has never before been witnessed. Within a single century the new State has become in some respects the most powerful in the world, although possessing merely nominal land and sea forces, and scorning to line her seubonrd with bristling fortresses. In many industries she already takes the foremost rank, and aspires to outstrip all peoples in the arts of peace. Despite the manifold origin of the inhabitants, their oommon work is usually held to be the outcome of Anglo-Saxon energy, and ' ightly so, for the English mould in which American society has been cast has coii verted the continent into a " Greater Britain," enjoying the same traditions, the same language and literature, the sume laws and love of freedom as the mother country. It is chiefly through the United States that English is yearly acquiring more and more that character of a universal language which it already possesses in the commerciiil world, and which it aspires to as the medium of intercourse between all civilised peoples. The English-speaking communities in the British Isles, the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, the West Indies, Guiana and elsewhere, are yearly increased by a population of from two to three millions, and already half the letters passing through the post-offices of the world are written in the English language. Even the Spanish American republics have to submit to the Anglo-Saxon hegemony in their political institutions and the general tendency of their civilisation. " America for the Americans ! " Such is the retort of the States of the New World to the attempts of European powers to intervene in the internal affairs of the western world. From the political point of view the question may even be regarded as already set at rest. The A merican republics, with which Brazil has now (1889) thrown in her lot, have no longer to fear attack from any quarter, and the time may not be distant when they may even cease to tolerate the exis- tence of colonies depending directly on a foreign government. If Great Britain still possesses officially one-fourth of the New World, the greater part of this vast domain is an almost nninhubited wilderness, while the settled provinces constitute a practically independent commonwealth, in which the suzerain power is repre- sented by an empty title. -.^■i '^^ '^"%,t:»l isi( y^ ^ w T w " ^ - ^ i Tpii J i m itiii KTUNICAL ELKMENrs IN AMEHICA. m^ Their ,H,litic..l autonomy i. ecm.oquontly «K.ured to the ik,o,,1os of the New ^orld But rom the .Kiul Ht««.liK,i„t America i« th« inhoritnuce of all tbo colo,nats from the OM World, who have „.u.le it a now ho.o. intHKluciug the trudmonu IcustonH and unagc.. their uspira.iot.n. their ho,,... „„d the pdr of ada,>tu.K he,n«elvoa to a now environment, m^e who cull then.«..lvo« •< An.ori- cans o .h«t.ng.UHh then^elvon from other cultured p.-oples are themselves the lescendantH of Europeans, whose nutnbers are annually increaseuj^f f ^jn., < lf^t :iv^'^ j » *" ' y, '. i *' j^ 1 ^- » jnmliw ;n i ' « wy . ii' .. ' •■ ! ^ ,r - "J f m HISTORY OF GREENLAND. 61 districts, separated by au uninhabited tract. These two districts of the West and East — Wcsterbi/yd and Ostcrhijgd — have not been determined with absolute certainty, some indentifying them with the settlements founded on boia coasts, others, far more probably, with stations on the west coasts, one at a point project- ing westwards, the other on the Gulf of Iguliko, or the " Abandoned Houses," lying near Cape Farewell, east or south-east of the other colonies. This hypo- thesis is even regarded by Rink as beyond all reasonable doubt, and in any case the presence of the Scandinavian settlers is attested by some sixty old structures and runic inscriptions. Most of the Greenland runes preserved in the Copenhagen Museum were found near the southern extremity of the island; but in 1824 one was discovered in a district north of Upernivik itself, that is, beyond the last group of huts occupied by the civilised natives, on the summit of Kingiktorsoak Island in 72*^ 55' north latitude. These inscriptions have not been very clearly made out, although the form of the characters, compared with those of Norway, shows that they evidently date from the eleventh or twelfth century. In 1881 a Norse ruin, bearing the name of Narssak, or the " Plain," was also found by the missioniiry, Brodbeek, on a fjord a little east of Cape Farewell. Narssak was no doubt one of the fourteen or sixteen churches erected by the Scandinavians in Greenland for the inhabitants of the 280 villages or hamlets founded in the two districts of Westerbygd and Osterbygd. At the beginning of the twelfth century a cathedral church, depend- ing on the see of Bremen, was also built at Garde not far from the southern extremity of the land. Social, trading, and religious relations were maintained for four hundred years between the tM'o Scandinavias of Europe and America. But these relations were gradually weakened and at last brought to a close by the action of the Norwegian Crown, which had seized the Greenland colonies in 1261, destroying their old republican liberties and establishing a complete commercial monopoly. Trade was henceforth restricted to a single royal vessel, the Grdnlandnknarra, so that a shipwreck, a war, a succession to the throne, an epidemic, or other accident sufficed to interrupt all communications. Thus it happened that Greenland ceased to be visited after the " black sickness,'' which ravaged North Europe at the close of the fourteenth century. The very name pf Erik's domain was forgotten, or preserved only in legendary tradition and indicated at haphazard on contemporary maps. The desire to revisit the land was not awakened till after the great discoveries of Columbus and his rivals. 1 le a Prooresij of Discovery. - The first attempts made by the Scandinavian mariners to recover their old colonies were not succes'sful, and the renewal of exploration in the waters between Greenland and the Polar Archipelago was due to Sebastian Cabot, Frobisher, and Davis. In the seventeenth century the Danish seafarers resumed their efforts in the hope of discovering the mines of the precious metals reported by Frobisher. m^i" NORTH AMERICA. But it was still to Englishmen, Hudson and Baffin, that fell the honour of geographically surveying those northern regions. In 1607 Hudson coasted the east side to 73° north latitude, while Baffin followed the west side in its entire length from the southern extremity all the way to Smith Sound. At last the Scandinavians renewed acquaintance with their old possessions in the year 1721, when the missionary, Hans Egede, sailed from Bergen and landed on the west coast of Greenland, where he founded the village of Godthaab, or " Good Hope." But he met no descendants of the early Norse settlers, or at least he failed to recog- nise their blood in the Eskimo, probably half-breeds, who gathered round him. Since Egede's visit West Greenland has never ceased to be a political and religious dependency of Denmark. During the course of the nineteenth century several expeditions have surveyed Kg. 20.— ExmoPE and GEEEUuun) accoedino to LAtmEunrB FEisnrs. . Psli in detail more than half of the seaboard. Partial studies are due to the Arctic explorers, who drew up charts of the havens and anchorages where harbours of refuge might be establ bed. But a systematic surv.ey of the coastlands has also been undertaken by the Danish Government. In 1821 Graah studied the whole western section comprised between Cape Farewell and 62° north latitude ; two years later he explored the north coast between Disko Bay and Upemivik, aud in 1828 turned his attention to the side facing the Atlantic, here displaying the highest qualities of endurance and devotion. After a year of preliminary expedi- tions the supplies were so groatly reduced that Graah resolved to send back his four white companions and the less trustworthj of the natives, retaining only two men and six women, with whom he continued to explore the ice-bound coast in one large Eskimo boat. During two successive campaigns, interrupted by long winterings, he completed the survey of the whole coast from Cape Farewell to 65° 18' north latitude. But beyond that point he found it impossible to advance i lj i ll ii ^/jf 'i fMA y ^ Mi y f jjyy jyj ij i i^ ^ ^ "'! * -.'i"»y- ' ^ t K '^ y ,-'^ "' "/t-ar ' ' i"i ! . ' J"'";jir<,- ' ■"fWr 'T y'r ' • '. ■ rit-{i \ i".y ?"; ' r'y '' ^'j ^y " •i" " ' ''"!; EXPLORATION OP GKEENLA.ND. 63 through the fringing ice, and Egede Land, so named from a descendant of the missionary who sighted its shores from afar, still remains the least-known part of South Greenland. Nevertheless, De Blosseville, commander of the French ship, the Lilloisc, struck the seaboard about the 68th parallel in 1831, and followed it for some distance, but next yeai he perished with his vessel crushed between the pack-ice. Opera- tions were renewed in 1879 by Captain Mourier, a Dane, who reported some lofty mountains under 67° 6' and 68° lU' north latitude. In 1822 Scoresby, one of thw ablest of Arctic explorers, skirted the north-east coast for about 400 miles in a straight line ; his accurate chart was later revised and completed at certain points by Clavering and Sabine, and again by the German expedition whicL discovered the extensive Franz- Joseph Fjord. Since 1876 the exploration of the seaboard has been systematically conducted by learned naturalists, who have studied the form and elevation of the coastline, the depth of the neighbouring water., the phenomena of natural history, and the customs of the natives. Thus has been completed the survey of all the west side beyond Upernivik, and a beginning has been made with the east side. But the interior remains almost entirely unknown. Few of the numerous attempts have succeeded to penetrate far across the snowy wastes. In 1728 a governor> ignorant of the true character of the country, had imported some horses from Denmark and mustered a company of soldiers to march overland to the east side, where he expected to find the descendants of the old Norse settlers ; but the horses, objects of wonder for the Eskimo, all perished before the cavalcade could start. Twenty- three years later the trader, Lars Dalager, scaled the glacier north of Frederiks- haab, but only passed three nights on the ice. Over a century elapsed before these attempts were renewed. In 1860 Hayes, leaving his ship at anchor in Smith Channel, made his way about 60 miles inland to a point over 5,000 feet above the sea, where he was arrested by a snow- storm. In 1867 Whymper, the Alpinist, and Dr. Robert Brown vainly essayed to reach the interipr from Jakobshavn ; but in 1870 Nordenskiold and Berggren were more successful, advancing some days' march east from Egedesminde across dangerous crevasses and running waters. Again iu 1883 Nordenskiold pushed farther inland, while his Lapp guides reached the centre of Greenland, traversing 270 miles in 67 hours and rising to a height of 6,400 feet above sea-level. At last the Norwegian, Dr. Nansen, succeeded in 1888 in crossing from the east to the west coast, attaining at one point an altitude of about 10,000 feet. Although it was summer the temperature oscillated between —40° and —57° Fahr., but despite this intense cold, often aggravated by the high winds, the heroic band reached the Ameralik Fjord near Godthaab after a fearful journey of fortv-six days across glaciers^ frozen plateaux, and vast snowfields. ..Ji -.!*;.' > -. .^v .... Extent — Physicat. Features. Although its outlines are now accurately known almost everywhere except on the north-east side, t is impossible to estimate the actual extent of Greenland nA t ;i#»« fK ' ^H 4 $ Id^iiisj! M 64 without a probable error of several thousand square miles. The land being almost entirely covered with an ice-cap, it is quite uncertain whether the projections along many parts of the seaboard aro true headlands or mountains surrounded by plains rather than islands connected with the mainland by glaciers. It has even been sugg'^'sted that the whole of Greenland may bo nothing more than a vast archipelago bound together in a compact ma-s by a superstructure of thick ice and snow. Formerly the fjord into which Frobisher penetr ted in 1672 was regarded, not as an inlet of one of the Arctic islands, but as a strait traversing the southern peninsula of Greenland. In support of the insular hypothesis appeal y ' W't'..'i.*""v' ' ' ' - " ' ! ' -- ' .■ t :V?-->?'- ' %'^ ' "''^ ' '' ' ' '■!^ ' '^H"?''* ' !j< ! "'^ ■ "^ niYSICAL FEATURES OF GREENLAND. 66 vast ice was Ising tpeal has also been made to the statements of fishers claiming to have captured in the western fjords whales that had been harpooned by others in the eastern water. Nevertheless, the detailed study of (he west coast, which is free from ice for a considerable distance, makes it sufficiently evident that Greenland proper really forms a continuous mass of land. The existence of coast ranges, whose crests are seen towering above the ice in regular lines, the homogeneous character of the rocks examined in various parts of the country, the form of the inlets along the seaboard, the general disposition of mountain and plateaux, all imparts to Green- land an aspect greatly reseralling that ct Scandinavia. In both regions the formations are the same, ai»d they would present an analogous appearance were the western land disencumbered of its icy fetters. As in Norway, the coastline is fringed with ramifying peninsulas continued seawards by islets and little insular groups, and these are the lands which, with the advance and retreat of the glaciern, may alternately be attached and separated irom the mainland. The geological history of the seaboard offers numerous examples of these changes — islands that have become pro .nontories or even snow-clad mountains, and which have again been detached ; fjords filled up by glaciers and again set free ; gulfs which have been transformed to lakes, and which after ma^y years or centuries have re-established their communications with the sea. Such changes, caused by the alternation of seasons und climatic periods, are so rapid in some fjords that the charts prepared at different times all present considerable discre- pancies in the contours of the mainland. In the northern parts visited by the Greely expedition the forms of the insular groups appear to have undergone the greatest modifications in their icy integument. Here several parallel straits sepaiating elongaled islands would seem to have been entirely filled by the ice- pack from the Paleocrystic Sea and frozen ocean. Throughout their whole length the coastlnnds are mountainous and of forbid- ding aspect. Even the southernmost point at the extremity of an archipelago is a gloomy mountain, *he Eangak Kyrdlek, or Umanarsuak of the nativ^es, to which the English ';e;ifarers have giwn the name of Cape Farewell, and which the Scandinavians tall Statenhuk. North of this headland the west coast is dominated by long serrated ranges with crtsts "sharp as sharks' teeth." The mean altitude of these crests scarcely exceeds 1,600 feet, but in the interior of the southern point the peaks attain an elevation of over 7,500 feet. The inhabited regions in Danish territory have summits exceeding -3,000, and in some places even 4,000 and 5,000 feet, but north of the polar circle the mou tains are less elevated in the region of deep fjords stretching north of Disko Bay. Here the seaboard rises in gentle slopes towards the ice-fields of the interior. But the rugged inland of Disko itself, the largest on the west coast, presents crests and domes rising above 3,300 feet. Still farther north the peninsula of Nursoak has summits of 6,000 feet, while the peaks of gnoiss on the neighbouring mainland rise to heights of 6,500 feet and upwards. Beyond this point the coast range falls, although the gaze of mariners is here attracted by the eccentric form of the " Devil's Thumb," N. A.— 6 4 I 5^^ /-J -^P^'^, 66 NORTH AMERICA. a lofty otnini'nce terminating in a sort of obelisk. According to Kune the Arctic Jliijiiltindu north of Melville Bay nowhere exceed 2,000 ft^et ; on the east side of Smith Channel Hayes ascended a peak 4,170 feet high, and Nares attiibutod a height of 0,000 feet to a summit in Washington Land, the peninsula skirting the east side of Kennedy Channel. The east side of Greenland, indented like the west with fjords and fringed with islands, is the loftier and more precipitous of the two, and here rises the highest mountain hitherto discovered. In 1870 the German expedition under Koldewey penetrated into an unknown fjord, the mouth of which w^us masked by over a hundred icebergs. This long and winding inlet, which was named the Franz-Joseph Fjord, is dominated by steep escarpments from 6,000 to 7,000 feet high, and consists of horizontal layers interspersed with quartz, schists, and Fig. 22.— Cape Fabewell. Scale 1 : 1,000,000. 16Mil«a. fp-i urn limestone. Towards its western extremity in the interior of the continent the pyramidal mass aamed Mount Petermann rises, according to Payer, to an altitude of at least I^ ,000 feet. Other summits of like devation probably occur elsewhere, for the c'.piorers have already observed domes 10,000 feet high in the southern regions, wlipro Greenland is much more contracted than in higher latitudes. The backb\/ne or waterpartin{,f betwe"T\ the two slopes, placed by Nordenskjold near the west coast, is by Rink oud most other juthoritier removed to the opposite side, presenting its more prtifij ilous slope towava tiie Atlantic. Geological Formation. Most of the uplandi; denuded by the melting snows or retreating glaciers consist of crystalline rocks, such ns gneiss, granites, and porphyries. The gneiss of the Franz- Joseph Fjord conla'ns enormous crystals of garnet like those erratic "►'bs^- GEOLOOY OF GREENLAND. 67 blocks in Icelund which were perhaps transported by ice. In this part of Green- land the series of rocks is the same as in Spit/bergon, a tract of Jurassic formation here also occurring associated in like manner with carboniferous deposits and fossil plants. Some chulk beds underlying miocene strata have been observed on the west coast, while various parts of the seaboard are strewn with basalts ejected, as in Europe, during the tertiary epoch. Near Oodhavn in Disko Island a basalt escarpment rises nearly vertically to a height of 2,000 feet, and above it is seen the bluish section of a glacier over- hanging the precipice, and from time to time sending down enormous blocks of ice. The basaltic columns exposed to the action of the waves here affect the strangest forms — ciiuseways, peristyles of temples, cathedral naves where the billows break with iuiy. It was at Ovifuk near the foot of a basalt cliff in Disko that Nordenskjcild found the three huge blocks of iron, one weighing ^4 tons, which he removed to the museum of Stockholm. These blocks, till recently supposed to be of meteoric origin, are now generally believed to hiive been associuted with the eruptive basalts and dolerites occurring in the same district and also interspersed with iron of the same description. According to John Ross similar blocks are found on the shores of Melville Bay, where the material is utilised by the natives for making knives. Despite the abundance of old igneous rocks, no active volcanoes have yet been discovered in Greenland ; and although jets of hot water occur at Unartok in the south and elsewhere, none of those "very copious" thermal springs have been found, near which stood the monastery mentioned in the travels of the brothers Zeni. By means of irrigating rills the monks raised vegetables, fruits, and flowers, such as could be produced nowhere else in the country ; the hot water flowing seawards also formed a harbour free from ice, frequented ia winter by myriads of aquatic birds. The islands mentioned in the sagas as existing between Iceland and Greenland have by some been identified with those designated by Graah as .the " Gunnbjorn Reefs," while others have suggested that they may have been volcanoes blown to pieces since historic times by an explosion like that of Erakatau. The chart prepared by Ruysch for an edition of Ptolemy published in 1507 indicates in these waters the site of an island, which was said to have been " completely burnt in 1456." The Inland Ice-Cap, Till recently Hooker, Payer and others supposed that the interior of Greenland presented vast spaces free of ice, grassy valleys where herds of reindeer grazed, and popular legends were appealed to in support of this view. Nordenskjnld also suggested that the phenomenon might be explained by the action of the winds, which after crossing the inland ranges descended in warm currents like the fohn of Switzerland, and thus melted the snows of the valleys. But the systematic researches made in recent years have failed to discover any of these inland oases. The whole land appears, on the contrary, to be covered with a continuous ice-cap ' •;■'': i % 1 % ■i -■-ssliBSi^'-; 63 NORTH AMERICA. 'r*'>. & r*»:i' [,i-;i <^ fringed by glaciers which movo down the outer valleys to the neighbourhood of the sea, or to the fjords of the periphery. The valleys themselves have disap- peared and despite local irregularities the ice-cap slopes like a shield uniformly towards the interior. Thus in certain places the explorer should expect to meet elevations of 7,000 or 8,000 feet ; but owing to an optical illusion he scarcely knows whether he is climbing or descending. The horizon seems to rise on all sides, says Nordenskjold, " as if he were at the bottom of a basin." The aspect of these boundless wastes rolling away in scarcely perceptible undulations, and in the distance mingling the grey of their snows with the grey of the skies, at first gave the impression that Greenland was a uniform plateau, a sort of horizontal table. The belief now prevails that the rocky surface of the land is on the contrary carved into mountains and hills, valleys and gorges, but that the plastic snows and ice have gradually filled up all the cavities which now show only in slight sinuosities on the surface. Allowing to the whole mass of the ice-cap an average thickness of 500 feet, it would represent a total volume of about 150,000 cubic miles. This scrmrr snali, or " great ice " of the Greenlanders, flows like asphalt or tar with extreme slowness seawards, while the surface is gradually levelled by the snow falling during the course of ages and distributed by the winds. In the interior of the country the surface of the ice and snow is as smooth as if it were polished, looking like " the undisturbed surface of a frozen ocean, the long but not high billows of which rolling from east to west are not easily distinguishable to the eye."* Nevertheless the exterior form of the ice-cap has been greatly diversified at least on its outer edge, where in many places it is difficult to cross, or even quite impassable. The action of lateral pressure, of heat produced by the tremendous friction, of evaporation and filtration has often broken the surface into innumerable cones a few yards high in form and colour resembling the tents of an encampment. The depressions of the snowy plateau are filled with meres, lagoons, and lakes; streams and rivulets excavate winding gorges with crystal walls in the snow and ice. Cascades, frozen at night, plunge during the day into profound crevasses ; during the expedition of 1870 Nordenskjold saw intermittent jets of water rising to a great height, which he was unable to study, but which he supposes must be geysirs. Moraines occur, not on the inland icefields, but only at the foot of the glaciers and in the immediate vicinity of the fall. Not a single stone is to be seen on the vast expanse at any distance from the coast. But the so-called imnatakker, rocky eminences dreaded by the Eskimo as the abode of ghosts, rise in certain places like islands above the surrounding snows, and when these melt under the summer heats the observer is surprise! to find the eminences overgrown with mosses and even flowering plants. Jensen met short grasses, the carex and saxifrage, as wtU as the ranunculus and poppy sheltered beneath the mosses of one of these nuna- takker, whose humble fauna consisted of a butterfly's larva and two spiders. A solitary bird had been borne by the storm to this isolated rock, which stands 4,400 fe«t high, about 24 miles in the interior of the icefield. The existence of these * NanKen, Proeeeditigi of the R, Geograp/iieal Society, August, 1889. ' tj^m .ji];. i ^ ' '"i" ' " ! ," - _mii i :, ' . 'y y ' MFv' ^!4j * THE OllEExNLAND ICE-CAP. little centres of vcf myriads of animulculu). The inland ice is also pierced by inuumeruble little Fig. 23.— Pabt of Greenland free from Iok. He lie 1 : 0,000,000. holes of varying size filled at the bottom with drops of water and a bed of grey dust, on which grow numerous microscopic plants. This dust, which Nor- denskjold has called cryokonife, or '* ice powder," is so abundant that its mass certainly repre- sents many tons per square mile, and imparts a greyish tint to the icofields. It con- t-ists of refuse of all kinds brought by the winds, and would also appear to contain substances of cosmic origin, especially the dust of meteors traversing the atmosphere of the globe. Notwithstanding the slight general tilt of the land the Greenland ice- cap is certainly in motion. All the changes of equilibrium, however pro- duced, have the result of dis- placing the particles in the direction of the incline. When the ear is applied to the surface a muffled sound is heard, accompanied by sharper notes like those of distant explosions. These are the echoes of streams flowing in the lower depths, of blocks of ice falling into the cascades, of crevasses opening or closing. All the movements are necessarily propagated from the higher to the lower levels, so that the whole mass is gradually thrust by gravity and lateral pressure from the region of the waterparling down to the seaboard. 65 54* West OP G'-eenw'ch 120 Milei. '•4 3 l("'«. *i' ^ JH. 70 NORTH AMERICA, Gl.ArlEKS AND IcEllKRGS Although SO littlo is known of the interior the relative u 7.0 and importance of the catchment basins is revealed by the lower extremities of the frozen streams. Towards the north the east side facing Europe seems to be less rich than tho west in glaciers overtlinving seawards. ]Jut the south-east coast is fringed, according to Garde, by over 170 glaciers following north and south in a space of about 200 miles. More than half of these are fed by the inland snow- fields, and more than a third are over 5,000 feet broad at their entrance into the Atlantic. On the ■ .■'uJai-iryMeaifXnxTViKvxr '- opposite or west side the glaciers are relatively much narrower. Sermitsialik, which discharges into a fjord 1,600 feet deep. The space on the west coast comprised between 62° and 68° 30' north latitude is less encumbered with ice than any other part of Greenland, although even here several glaciers are of vast size. Such is the Frederikshaabs Isblink, which winds through a valley 26 miles long and no less than 9 miles wide at its outlet. But these frozen streams fail to roach the sea, thus leaving the coastlands free from ice for a distance of about 450 miles going northwards. In some districts the reindeer hunters advance 90 miles from the seaboard before reaching the edge of -i Ill iz; o -^;i 1 3 .1 -1 ■.1.S! 1 HSgltfi^^Sig | llJj0e;-ir) it U4lii^J^>jj»!lJJti < . «Mij^^££tM.-.J.«i>i;IUW^uti^ta^ <^^i«r ' ji;v>i iy ^^ '' V.y( '; .i'§'y. ' -. ' <( «' M. L: y'-- ..y ::; ,^v'; » >; a:0''''^uy«'MiV;':-; fc THE GREENLAND GLACIERS. 71 tbe inland ice-cap. The superficial area of the iceless zone may be estimated altogether at over 20,000 square miles. In general aspect it differs little from the Norwegian seaboard lying under the same latitude, being similarly indented with numerous fjords ramifying in various directions, though for the most part disposed at right angles with the coast. At the upper end of these long marine inlets the alluvial tracts are watered by brooks and even rivers, which, like those of the Alps, flow in summer through terminal arches at the foot of the glaciers. These temporary streams are the most copious in the whole of Greenland, yet they represent only a part of the excess of annual moisture precipitated under the form of rain or snow, for much of this moisture is also relarned to the oc an through the huge icebergs continually breaking away seawards. The long convoys of these icebergs, which drift southwards and imperil the navigation of the north Atlantic, originate on the west coast of Greenland, between 68° 30' and 76° north latitude. One of the great sources of supply is the Jakobs- havn glacier, which discharges into Disko Bay at a point where its bed is con- tracted between two lofty headlands. Still more voluminous is the Torsukatak glacier, which presents a frontal wall nearly 5 miles long, and which reaches tbe coast at Waigat Strait, north of Disko Bay. Then follow other frozen streams in the fjords along the seaboard beyond the Nursoak (Nugsuak) peninsula as far as Upernivik Bay, whose glacier at its mouth is divided into several branches by a cluster of high islets, giving it the aspect of a cataract disposed in numerous divisions by rocky piles. North of this point the glaciers have been little studied ; they are seen to disembogue between most of the headlands, although explorers do not describe them as giving rise to any large icebergs. Even tbe enormous Humboldt glacier, which develops a concave frontal wall over 60 miles long and 300 feet high above the uufathomed depths of the Kane Basin, cannot be compared to those of Danish Greenland for the number and size of its crystal fragments. Most of the glaciers reaching the coast round the Greenland seaboard present a somewhat regular frontal line, from which blocks of var^ung size break o£E with every wave and drift away with the current. But the frozen streams which yield those huge masses large enough to be called icebergs, that is, " mountains of ice," are relatively few in number, their production requiring a combination of favour- able circumstances, such us the thickness of the parent glacier, the form of its bed, the depth of the water at its mouth. The larger fragments originate for tie most part along that remarkable break which is presented in the normal formation of the coastline between Egedesminde and the Svartenhuk peninsula. Rink enumerates not more than thirty Greenland glaciers which discharge really large icebergs, and of this number only six or eight yield blocks of the first magnitude. ■ The average velocity of the congealed masses is about 60 feet in the twenty- four hours, but in 8ome places a much greater speed has been recorded, though still varying considerably with the seasons. A branch of the Augpadlartok glacier north of Upernivik, moves at the rate of 100 feet a day, the highest yet measured. But how enormous must be the pressure of the inland icefields to r 75i NORTH AMERICA. dischnrgo iuto the sea the vast quantities of icebergs which are yearly sent adrift along the Greenland seaboard ! Estimated in a single block the annual discharge from each of the five best-known glaciers would represent a mass of about seventeen billion cubic feet in capacity, and 5,600 feet in height, depth, and thickness. Reduced to a liquid state this mass would be equivalent to a stream diischarging seawards 600 cubic feet per second, or 15,600 millions a year. Each glacial basin may be compired to a fluvial bauin defined by waterpartings Fig. 25.— HXJMBOLDT Gl/AOIJSB. SttUe 1 : «,:00,000. ^;'- i 80 HUM. and ramifying into lateral basins. Lihu an ordinary river, it has its alluvial deposits, the fine particles of triturated rocks ground down by the friction of the slowly moving frozen streams. Nevertheless, moot of the precipitated moisture probably returns to the ?ea in a liquid state. Estimating at twelve inches the annual snow and rain-fall of Greenland, Rink calculates that a sixth part is discharged in the form of ice, and five-sixths by evaporation and the streams fed by the glaciers. But the alluvial matter is mainly carried ofif by the running waters, very little sediment of any kind being transported by the drift ice. ■,»;-,■_>', ■,;!_ ,,. ... m ^ * .ty^liM,iw ' ff^j^j^A j^j!) '! ^ ; j« i> >i j^s u i' >> ' .>wii » H« "' ' »' 'V « THE CEEENI.AND GLACIERS. 78 The formation of this drift ice, or floating icebergs, is one of those phenomena which were discussed long before the seiboard had been .studied, or before the breaking away of the frozen masses had actually been witnessed. Wherever the glaciers discharge through a broad valley preserving a uniform width and depth for a considerable space, and advancing seawards through a fjord of like dimen- sions, and with gently sloping bed, the ice may progress without any of those accidents caused by the inequalities of more rugged channels. Under such conditions the compact mass glides smoothly forward over its rocky bed without developing any rents or fissures. But as it moves down like a ship on its keel, it tends to rise, being at least one-twentieth lighter than the displaced water. It is Fig. 26. — Jakobshatn Glacieb. Scale 1 : eOO.OOO. ISMUea. also left without support by the sudden fall of its bed beyond the normal coast- line. Nevertheless, it still continues its onward movement through the waters to a point where its weight prevails over its force of cohesion with the frozen stream thrusting it forward. At this point it snaps off suddenly with a tremendous crash, and the iceberg, enveloped in a thousand fragments projected into space, plunges into the abyss and whirls round and round to find its centre of gravity amid the troubled waters. On recovering from the bewilderment caused by all this tumult and chaos, the spectator finds that the glacier has apparently receded a long way towards the head of the bay, in the middle of which a crystal peak is seen slowly drifting away with the current. In this he recognises the huge 74 NOETH AMERICA. fragment detached from the glacier, though seldom able to detect its primitive form, the greater part, say at least six-sevenths of its volume, sinking below the surface. In the Jakobshavn Fjord Ilelland observed several icebergs rising 300 feet above sea-level ; one even attained a height of 400 feet and was some miles long on all sides. But being too large to cross the sill at the entrance of the fjord, these enormous musses run aground at the bar, where they break into several fragments still of great size. The highest measured by Nares in the open seas rose 250 feet above the surface, and in the Denmark Channel, between Greenland and Iceland, Garde saw none exceeding 200 feet. It is easy to understand how dangerous to shipping must be the proximity of ti Fig. 27. — Movement of the Kanoebdluo-Suak Glaoiee, Uxaitak Disteiot. Bc^te 1 : 8CO,000. eanm. The aoale of heights Is 60 timet giea'er than that of length*. those glaciers which suddenly throw off such prodigious masses, whose capacity is measured in hundreds of millions, and even biUions of cubic yards. The instantaneous crash churns up the seething waters, and in many places changes the marine level by many feet, causing sudden eddies, swift currents, and even rapids like those of a river. Then the tumultuous vr-ters rush fiercely through the narrows, sweeping along the broken fragments of ice, and threatening vessels in port with imminent destruction. :',..;./ During the present geological epoch, some glaciers have been retreating, while others, such as the Sermitsialik, have advanced, sevei-al miles. But it is difficult i I-} H n o m «|«»i»", ",," I'TT' THE GREENLAND OLACIEllS. 75 to -^ay whetlier the inland ico has, on tbe whole, increased or diininiKhed. When compared, however, with a still more remote period the present aspect of the seaboard, especially in the inhabited regions, attests a retreat of the present glaciers. The coastlands now free from ico wore formerly icebound like the interior, and the peninsulas and islands fringing the shore were connected with the mainland by continuous glacial fetters, as shown by the erratic boulders, and the polished surface of the rocks. Since the retreat of those glaciers, that no longer reach the coast, deposits of sand and mud have been formed in the abandoned beds, and these deposits have even encroached on the fjords themselves. At the entrance of the inlets a submarine ridge of debris marks the limit between the outer and irmer waters. This skargard, as it is called, represents the frontal moraine of the glacier which formerly filled the whole fjord, and which has gradually receded inland. Thus Disko Bay was at one time entirely occupied by the Jacobshavn glacier, while that of Torsukatak overflowed beyond Waigat Bay, strewing erratic blocks of gneiss over the basalt banks of its bed. Greenland has consequently entered a period of higher temperature ; its glaciers have diminished in size, and the fjords formerly filled with ice have become open marine inlets. Upheaval and Subsidence. Most geologists also bilieve that considerable changes of level have taken place along the coastlands, as shown by the raised beaches occurring at various heights above the present sea-level. Some are mentioned by Hammer and Steenstrup as high as 480 feet, and the same observers have also found banks of marine shells belonging to the present fauna at an elevation of 190 feet. Never- theless these terraces and deposits are no absolute proof of upheaval, as their formation may be explained by the former extension of the glaciers. When these frozen streams advance seawards far enough to close the entrance of a lateral fjord, its communication with the sea is cut off and it becomes transformed to a lake, whose level is gradually raised until the overflow finds an outlet through some sill or crevasse. In this way lakes have been formed to the right and left of the glaciers, rising to various altitudes and carving on the surrounding cliffs regular beaches like those skirting the seashore. Then as t>\ - confining glacial barrier subsides the lake is gradually lowered, and at last c -I", usted, leaving on the flanks of the encircling hills the traces of its former presenco. On the Greenland coastlands hundreds of such lakes still exist ; but there are also other lacustrine basins which were evidently marine inlets, and which now stand above the level of the sea without having been separated from it by glacial action. Hence their origin can be explained only by the assumption of a change in the relative levels of land and water. Such is the lake discovered by Kane to the north of the Humboldt Glacier, some 30 feet higher than the spring tides. Its water has gradually become fresh, but its fauna remains marine, so that there can scarcely be any doubt it at one time formed part of the neighbouring gulf. Round about Polaris Bay, Hall visited several basins of a similar character, and up (ipiiijip^HPikji(4M^i.li-j»iji.ij*ji,]l^*iini 70 NORTH AMERICA. 'i, t*i ?' ^;.- i;-' to an all it lido of 1,700 foot hi^ observed beuches containing thick beds of driftwood und iniirino cruHtuceuns. GeologiHfH generally sui)i)080 that the region of North Greenland has been upraised during the present epoch, whereas the coustlands south of 77" north Fig. 28.— Orbbnlanu Fi.oe-Ich. Pofile 1 ; M,000,(100. West of Gneenwich ■. i<. ■>,, > FlM-Ioe. C?i/ll Qreenland Tee-Cap. 680 Uilei. latitude have undergone a movement of subsidence. Pringel, Kane, Payer and others, appeal to numerous instances of erosion and denudation, which they regard with the Eskimo as proofs of a general lowering of the land, whereas Steenstrup sees in all this nothing but local phenomena without any general significance. • # Wii S"^ ." l i M.!,tJ.;) i ^f!l|. i |J i fypj|.i f j|JiWffi^i^ l-iPH,, ./L.l- i , ■>( ■)^ •' Atlantic round tlio north of Ireland, tbo ollior from the I'acific through Ituring Stniit. F()».>iL Remains. If Qrecnliiiid, Hko other rogions, piiHRod through a glnciiil opoch, the fostdl romuiiiM preserved in its Hediincntury rocks show that it had also its hot und teiu- J. Vig, 20. — &luVI!MK.NT ur TH8 TlDAL CURKMNTI HOUND QbIINLAND. • bJO perate periods. The old formations whicn have yielded carboniferous, triassic, and Jurassic fossils, present types of organisms comparable to those at present found in the torrid zone. The upper chalk beds, abounding in vegetable forms, analogous to those of the subtropical and temperate zones, had already been examined by Giesecke at the beginning of this century. They supplied to Nordeuskjrild a very remarkable flora, especially rich in dicotyledonous plants I. ■ ■ "* •D -11 ■11^ I ■ WW! '•ww^'^^Wiwp^rv^ '^ tbo teiu- CLIMATE OF OEEENLANi>. 79 reprosontod by mimoroun fiimilios of rycudea, a troo forn and ovon a broud-fruit tr»'t>. At fbiit, tiuio tho moiin tcin|M'rature must Imvc b«'<iogn()niy fommpoiidM to ii inoro ti'iiiptnito cHinat*', uvoruj^ing about r».'J" or-'il" Falir., is ilbistrutod by Hpb'iidid Hpcciincns dincovorrd rbiuHy in Disko Islaud and tlio Hurroundin^ peiiinHuIan. (|uito a fitssil forost is burit'd under tbo ferruginous mass of Mount Atanekordhik, a peak wbicb rises to a boigbt of over a tliousand feet over against Disko, and wbicb is now surrounded by gbiciers on all sides. From these deposits Whymjxir, Nordoiiskjold, and otbors have extracted Ki!) speeiea of plants, of wbicb about three-fourths were shrubs and trees, some with stenis us thick as a num's body. Altogether there have been discovered in the Greenland strata as many as 613 species of fossil plants. The most prevalent tree is a sequoia, closely resembling the Oregon and Californian giants of the present epoch. Associated with this conifer were beeches, ouks, evergreen oaks, elms, hazelnuts, walnuts, magnolias, laurels ; and those forest trees were festooned with the vine, ivy and other creepers. A leaf of a cycadett found amongst these fossil remains is the largest ever seen, ond a true palm, iho fill Mlaria, has been discovered amongst the remains of these old Arctic forests. To develop such a flora the climate of North Greenland must ut that time have been analogous to that at present enjoyed on the shores of Lake Geneva, twenty-four degrees nearer to the equator. According to the same gradation of temperature the dry lands about the north pole itself must at the same epoch have had their forests of nspens and conifers. According to Oswald Ileer tbo change that has taken place in the climate since then represents a fall of 30° or 40'' Fahr. for North Greenland. The interval between these two ages was marked by the glacial period, whose traces are visible on the west coast. CuMATK. At present the climate of Greenland is one of the coldest in the world. The isothermal of zero traverses the land near its southern extremity, and in the northern districts whole years pass without a single summer's day, that is, with a temperature of 59° or 60° Fahr. .At Upernivik the glass falls in winter to — 47° Fahr., and even in summer it does not always rise to freezing-poiai. In September Nansen and his party had to endure colds of — 56° Fahr. for several consecutive nights. On the other hand, the greatest summer heats scarcely exceed 64° Fahr. in the shade; but they amply suffice to melt all the snow on the plains and even on the hills of the coastlands. In East Greenland the solar rays often appear unendurable to travellers, especially in virtue of the contrast with the ordinary low temperature. Payer elates that on the shores of the Franz-Joseph fjord the sailors, overcome by the heat, fell into a lethargic sleep from which it was difficult to rouse them. Scoresby saw the natives on the east coast walking about naked to cool themselves. In general the summer temperature is remarkably uniform throughout Greenland, S ;l ■?a 80 NORTH AMERICA. i ^ h I ■f.y fe' fe. !h5*(J' the few fine days of this season presenting a discrepancy of not more than 7° or 8° Fahr., as compared with differencep. of 20° or 25° recorded in winter. Towards the southern point the winter climate answers to that of Norway, while in the north it is quite Arctic* The prevailing sea breezes usually set north and south or south and north, the Fig. 30. — DisKO Island and Nubsoak Feninsxtla. Scale 1 : 3,S0O,00O. I tiOMilM. former cold and dry, but occasionally accompanied by fogs in summer, the • Temperature of various Greenland stations: — ''■.';"' North lAf itude. Mvan Temp. Summer Temp. Winter Temp Julianahaab . 60° 44' . . 33° F. . . 47° F. . . 22° F. Go'ltbaab . . 64° 8' . . 29° . 42° . 17° Jakol«havn . 69° 13' . . 24° : > . 36° 10° Upemivik . . 72° 48' . • 15° . V- .38° . 6° Sabine Island . 74° 32' . . 13° . 65° -40° -:^ f h;i^hk^iy\'^sst^f^ the CLIMATE OF GREENLAND. ai latter humid, charged with rain or snow. By an apparent anomaly the warmest winds are those on the west coast, which come from the ice-covered inland plateaux. Rising in the tepid Norwegian waters these winds are cooled in their passage across the Greenland mountains, but again become warm as they approach the western seas. Their effect is felt in the north as well as in the south, raising the winter temperature at Upemivik above freezing point, and causing the snows to melt even in the month of January. They are frequently accompanied by heavy downpours, such as that of October, 1887, at Ivigtut near Cajie Farewell, where the rainfall reached 8 inches in two days. In December the discharge exceeded 13 inches in eleven days, and the mean for the whole year rose to 46 inches. Farther north the rains are never so copious, and the climate beyond Kg. 31.— Francis Joseph Fjoed. Soale 1 : 2,500,000. .dOUfles. TJpemiTik may be described as very dry, as it also is on the east coast facing Iceland. '.ii*. >:.» .,';;.^i ,;.%."''..-■;. ...i^-^i^.-'^V'ii' ;/•■ : ■ .< _ ^ ,'-:-,„.- r^ -:-'-:. .,;v,,>;^.'. -.^.;,..w.;-,.rt.;,,s::%^ Flora AND Fauna. ■ '- ' ■' ."' Although incomparably poorer than that of miocene times, the present flora of Greenland is sufficient to clothe extensive tracts with a mantle of mosses, grasses, and brushwood. Wherever the snows melt under the influence of the sun or of the warm east winds, herbaceous and other lowly plants spring up even on the exposed nunatahher, and to a height of 5,000 feet. Owing to the uniform intensity of the solar heat the summei' flora is almost identical on the low-lying coastlands and highest mountain tops. True trees occur in the southern districts, where Egede was said to have measured some nearly 20 feet high. But the largest met by Rink during all his long rumblings was a white birch 14 feet high N. A.— 7 iHHiM i '* k 82 NORTH AMEEICA. growing amid the rocks near a Norse ruin. Few trees in fact exceed 5 or 6 feet, while most of the shrubs become trailing plants. Such are the service and alder, which on the coast reach 65° north latitude, the juniper, which advances to 67°, and the dwarf birch, which ranges beyond 72°. In its general features the Greenland flora, comprising about 400 flowering plants and several hundred species of lichens, greatly resembles that of Scan- dinavia. Hooker and Dr. Robert Brown regard it as essentially the same as that of the North European highlands and lacustrine regions. Even on the west coast facing America this European physiognomy is said to prevail, although to a less degree than on the opposite side, which appears to be much poorer in vege- table forms. But though limited, the American element is important, supplying to the natives numerous edible berries, algse, and fuci, which have saved whole tribes from starvation during periods of scarcity. The Europeans have also their little garden plots, where they grow lettuce, cabbage, turnips, and occasionally potatoes about the size of schoolboys' marbles. Like the flora, the fauna is mainly European, resembling that of Iceland, Spitzbergen, Lapland, and Novaya Zemlya, with all which regions Greenland at one time formed continuous land. The mammals, such as the reindeer, white bear, Arctic fox and hare, ermine and lemming, are those of Europe, the musk ox alone being of American origin. But this animal is not found in the habitable parts, being confined to the glacial tracts limited westwards by Smith Sound, and ranging eastwards to Franz-Joseph Fjord. The Danes have introduced a few of their domestic animals, the dog, cat, ox, pig, sheep, and goat; but on the other hand their firearms have greatly diminished the primitive fauna. Herds of rein- deer are no longer met in the northern parts beyond the European settlements, where as many as 25,000 were annually killed duri..* the years 1845-49, and 8,500 from 1851 to 1855. The swan has also become rare ; another bird, probably the auk {alca impcunis), has completely disappeared, and the eider ie now seen only in the small archipelagoes remote from the Danish villages. Beetles and moUusks are far less numerous than in Norway, from which Nordenskjold infers that the glacial period has persisted much longer in Greenland than in Scandinavia. ■ , * ; i ' ; The surrounding seas teem with animal life, comprising as many as seven species of seals and sixteen of cetaceans, besides fishes, moUusks, and smaller organisms in endless variety. The marine fauna presents a distinctly European character, and in its moUusks Davis Strait still forms part of Europe. According to seafarers at least one-fourth of the West Greenland waters is diversely coloured dark brown, green, or milky white, these tints being due to the diatomacese filling these seas to a depth of 600 or 700 feet and for many thousands of square miles. Numerous species of medusae feed in these vast " prairies," and in their turn fall a prey to the cetaceans. The neighbourhood of the coloured waters is always hailed as a good omen by the harpooners, who here secure rich harvests of seals, cetaceans, and fish. The seal is the chief resource of the Eskimo, who use the oil and fat as food, the sinews as a stout sewing thread, the I .-: j'itritt' jtfWiWi iW* > a'a^iflgiit^»ig m' ' iui w f ** in tM^ ».fi^)VllS'r.'.Vt'I,'j: i^lp!* ' ^S'piwji ' 1 . 1 . 11 INHABITANTS OF GEEENLAND. 88 skins for tho manufacture of garments, tents, and canoes. The walrus or morse is also hunted for the sake of its tusks, which yield a hard, white ivory more valuable than that of the elephant. Inhabitants. The great bulk of the present population consists of Danes, Dunish half-breeds, and the Eskimo proper, more or less modified by crossings with the early Norse settlers. Nearly all the iuhubitants, already Christianised and civilised by the missionaries, are grouped in parishes, whose organization differs from corres- ponding European communities only in those conditions that are imposed by the climate and the struggle for existence. There still survive, however, a few tribes of pure Eskimo stock, such as those recently discovered by European explorers beyond the Danish territory north of Melville Bay and on the east coast. Others also may perhaps exist along the shores of unvisited or inaccessible fjords. But tho most northern camping-ground hitherto discovered is that of Ita (Etah), situated in Port Foulke on Smith Sound, in 78° 18' north latitude. In 1875 and again in 1881 it was found abandoned ; but it is known to have been previously inhabited, and the natives had returned to the place in lb 82 and 1883.* When visited by Hall and his party, this little group of twenty persons, who had never seen any other human beings, fancied that the strangers were ghosts, the souls of their forefathers descending from the moon or rising from the depths of the abyss. In their eyes the ships of John Ross were great birds with huge flapping wings. The term " Eskimo " applied by Europeans to the natives of Greenland, the Arctic Archipelago and the Frozen Ocean, is usually interpreted by etymologists in the sense of "eaters of raw fish." This designation, which is of Algonquin origin, is supposed to have been given to the " Hyperboreans " by their Redskin neighbours proud of their superior civilization. But the Eskimo themselves, who from their isolated position had come to regard themselves as almost constituting the whole of mankind, called themselves in a general way by various names, amongst others that of Innuit or Inoit, that is, " men " in a pre-eminent sense. Karalit, another of these designations, appears to be the original form of the term " Skrallinger," applied by the early Norse invaders to the natives with whom from the first they had maintained a deadly struggle. The Europeans on the other hand are known to the Eskimo by the name of Kablunak, that is, the " Crowned," in allusion to their headdress. *: ; ; ;^ , ^'■->'\''^''~f'^'--'-:';^' [:■:--' ' The Greenland Innuits are all grouped* along tlie coastlands, as are also their western congeners «s well as the Afciatic Chukches, who probably belong to the same stock. They are prevented by the ice-cap from penetrating far inland, while fishing, their chief pursuit, obliges them to settle along the shores of the fjords and headlands. It has thus been easy to calculate their numbers in those districts where Europeans dwell amongst them. In the whole of North America they are estimated at about 30,000 altogether, while those of Greenland rathet exceed 10,000, all but 600 or 600 confined to the west coast. In certain districi? • Qreely, Three I'gar* of Arctic Service. P !l@ -m 84 NORTH AMERICA. ¥. their groups of habitations are dispersed over large spaces, the stations being some- times over 60 miles apart, and quite inaccessible one to the other except by way of the sea. Despite the vast extent of their domain, stretching 3,000 or 4,000 miles from east ta west between the Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, the different tribes everywhere present great uniformity in their appearance, customs, and idioms. Like other American languages the Eskimo is of polysynthetic form, the same structure and the same roots prevailing from Bering Strait to Labrador. Of all the dialects the most divergent is that of the few inhabitants of East Greenland, a fact due either to their long isolation, or else to the custom of scrupulously avoiding all combinations of syllables that might recall the names of the departed. Every death thus contributes to modify the current speech. The striking analogy in their customs presented by the hyperborean Eskimo and the troglodytes of the stone age in West Europe has suggested the theory of a relationship between the two groups of populations. The peoples who occupied the Dordogne basin when its climate resembled that now prevailing in the polar regions, are supposed to have gradually retired northwards with the increase of temperature. Following the retreat of the snows and of the animals inured to an Arctic climate, they thus at last reached the polar circle and became the ancestors of the present Innuits. Rink, however, who has dwelt longest amongst the Green- landers, does not consider this theory justified. According to him the Eskimo are pure Americans, who while contrasting in appearance with their immediate neighbours in the British possessions, nevertheless present every shade of transition to the American type through their congeners of Alaska, the Charlotte Islands, and British Columbia.* Amongst the Greenland Eskimo are most frequently found men of average and even high stature, especially on the east coast. Most of those on the west side are short, but thickset and robust, with short legs, small hands, and a yellowish- white complexion. The face is broad and fiat, the nose very small, the eyes brown and slightly oblique like the Chinese, the hair black, lank and falling over the forehead, the expression mild, suggesting that of the seal, the animal which is ever in their thoughts, and whose death is their life. Tbey have also the seal's gait and carriage, as well as the rounded figure well lined with fat to protect it from the cold. What essentially distinguishes the Eskimo from the Mongolian, with whom he was till recently affiliated, is the extremely " dolichocephalous" form of his head, the skull, with its vertical sides and sharp crest, often affecting a " scaphocephalous " or boat-like shape. According to Dall the cranial capacity is higher than that of the Redskins. Both sexes are dressed verj' much alike. European fashions, however, have already penetrated amongst the Greenlanders, and in many districts, men are now met wearing the garb of European labourers, while the women deck them- selves with cotton stuffs and many-coloured ribbons. But in winter no costume could advantageously replace their capacious boots, spalskin pantaloons, close- • H Rink, The Eikitno Tribet. T|p/. il ;V^Ji|g j -i:i^jy»W;'(itft|rfi ( |^ i ^^^ ^ INHABITANTS OP GREENLAND. 88 I fitting jacket, and the nmaut, or hood which "keeps haby warm." In Danish Greenland the women no longer tattoo their chin, cheeks, hands, or feet, nor do they now insert variegated threads under the skin, the missionaries having inter- dicted these " pagan " practices. Singing, dancing, the relation of the old legends, even athletic games amongst the young people were also formerly sternly repressed. Indulgence in strong drinks is allowed only once a year, on the anniversary of the King of Denmark, and the royal monopoly of the trade with Greenland is justified on the ground that in this way the importation of spirits is prevented. At present all the Eskimo of the Danish territory are Protestants. Hans Egede, their first missionary, landed in 1721 on the spot \< here now stands the station of Godthaab. He was followed twelve years later by the Moravian Brothers, who founded their "sheepfold" in the same district, but who had long to wait for the fiock. Aiming at a complete revolution in Eskimo society, these foreign " magicians " bad constantly to contend with the angakok, or native wizards, whom they endeavoured not only to deprive of all religious prestige, but also to set aside as civil counsellors and magistrates. With the conversion of the natives complete submission was secured, the only troubles that have since arisen being caused by the excessive zeal of the neophytes, who aspired to the rdle of prophets and founders of new sects. On the west coast no trace survives of the old heathendom except the name of the supreme god, Tornarsuk, which has been adopted as that of the devil, while the bugakak, or good spirits of old, have now become the demons of the lower regions. For over a century Greenland parents have ceased to place a dog's head near the graves of departed infants, " so that the soul of the dog, which finds its way everywhere, may lead the child to the land of spirits." In East Greenland the bodies of the dead are thrown into the sea, except in times of epidemics, when the survivors shift their quarters and leave the corpses in the abandoned huts. Carved wooden figures, recalling the " genealogical trees " of the South Alaskan islanders, still adorn the entrance of the houses in the northernmost villages on the Atlantic coast. In their hunting expeditions these villagers often see phantoms gliding over the heights ; these are the ghosts of the departed returning to scare the living. Their conversion to Christ iai Ity has scarcely bettered the material condition of the Greenlanders. The hovels, constructed of alternate layers of stone, earth, and turf, and roofed with earth supported by a little driftwood, are small and gloomy, and often give way. Being mostly destitute of stoves or hearths, they can be heated only by the lamp, the " soul of the dwelling " during the long winter months. Escaping at last with the warm season from these foul dens, the inmates remove the roofs to let wind and rain cleanse their abodes, and meantime pitch their tents in some more healthy spot. On the fast coast every community consists of a single house, harbouring on an average ten families, or about fifty persons. Here fire is still procured by the primitive method of rubbing two bits of wood together. In all Greenland there are Ecarcely fifty head of cattle ; sheep, goats, and even 86 NOBTH AMERICA. poultry are also rarely met, jealously guarded in the enclosures of a few war Ithy Europeans. The only domestic aniraul of real value is the dog, a savage beast of uncertain temper, often tortured by hunger, and, now threatened with extinction. The question arises, how the natives themselves can hope to survive when deprived of the animal that now conveys them from fjord to fjord and transports the produce of the fisheries to their settlements? In 1877- there were still 1,800 dogs and 320 sledges in all Greenland, and it has been proposed to replace the dog by the reindeer. But the natives have not yet learnt to tame this animal, which has moreover become very rare in the neighbourhood of the Danish settlements. The only remedy seems to be the introduction of the Lapps with their domestic herds. The Greenlanders have two kinds of boats, the kaiiak, used for fishing, and the umiak for transport. Although the word kayak, borrowed from the Tatars of Siberia, has made the round of the globe from the caique of Constantinople to the West Indian caynco, the Greenland boat is peculiar to the Eskimo world. Formed of sealskins stretched on a frame 16. to 20 feet long, and 2 feet wide, it presents only one narrow opening, into which the native introduces himself enve- loped in a cloak which is sewed to the boat. Provided with a double paddle he glides over the waves almost as swiftly as the seal itself, a good boatman averaging 80 miles a day. If it capsizes a single stroke of the paddle sufiices to right the craft, which weighs only 55 or 60 pounds, and may easilj' be transported overland. The umiak, or " women's boat," so called because usually propelled by women, is also made of sealskins stretched on a frame, but is flat-bottomed and large enough to carry as much as three tons of merchandise. Collision with a block of ice would suffice to sink it, so that it has to be managed with great care, the crew seldom venturing beyond the line of breakers into the high sea. If the produce of the chase and fisheries could be uniformly distributed from season to season, it might perhaps suffice for the wants of these scattered com- munities. But the communications are so difficult that times of plenty are often followed by long periods of scarcity. The old cannibal practices no longer exist ; infanticide is rare ; the aged and sick no longer invite their friends to despatch them. But the same work of destruction is continued by famine and misery. About 8 per cent, of the deaths are those of men drowned in their kayaks. The consequence is a considerable disparity of the sexes, the women outnumbering the men in the proportion of about 115 to 100. All writers on the subject consider that the Greenland natives are dying out. According to Egede there were as many as thirty thousand on the west coast at the beginning of the last century ; but so rapid was the decrease that a hundred years later Graah estimated the whole population in the Danish region at a little over six thousand. Since then, however, there has been a 6li<>ht increase, and at present it is about stationary between nine thousand five hundred and ten thou- sand. But this is mainly due to crossings, which give a more vigorous (Offspring than that of the pure race. Immigration also contributes to maintain the ■VW "" ' , ' ' J " I ' . ' l ■■ * '! WH ' HHUfelWI Wg M '' "'* ' "'^%i%P(»l',')i»*y;i^^t > < » '' i jf ''; r* »; ; ' m^t i INHABITANTS OP GREENLAND. 87 equilibrium, the wild tribes of the east coast beiug contluuallv attracted to the European settlements. Possessing great natural intelligence combined with love of instruct ion, the Greenlanders may justly claim to bo civilised. The great majority road and write their mother tongue, and sing European melodies, while several speak English or Danish. Nearly all the families have their little library, and read their Eskimo newspaper, as well as the collections of national legends, illustrated with "P^, 32. — GBEBNuun) Egxnto. i-:.'\ eng^vings by native artists. Greenland even possesses at least one original work, the account of the voyages of Hans Hendrik, companion of Kane, Hall, Hayes and Nares. Formerly, the right of property was restricted to objects of personal use, such as clothes and weapons ; the hunting grounds belonged to the whole community, and the produce of the chase or fisheries was equally distributed amongst all. The rights of communal property were also regulated and safeguarded by general assemblies followed by public banquets. Bui the Europeans have changed all that by introducing the principle of sale and purchase, by enlarging to their own profit the rights of personal ownership, and proclaiming the new gospel of " every man for himself." The result is a general impoverishment and moral degradation of the people. They are no longer like the Eskimo visited by Graah 88 NORTH AMERICA. on the east coast: "the gentlest, the most upright and virtuous of men." Nerertheloss, the language possesses not a single abusive term, and it is impossible to swear in Eskimo. . Topography. The part of Greenland where Eric the Ii«d built his stronghold, and where the banished Norsemen llocked around him is still one of the least deserted regions, as it also is the most fertile and temperate. Julianahaab, capital of this district, contains one-fourth of the entire population of the country grouped on tlie banks of a small stream in a grassy valley near a deep fjord, which is unfortunately not easily accessible to shipping. Navigation is obstructed by the numerous icebergs drifting with the polar current across the entrance, and skippers have to make a long detour to the north in order to reach the anchorage off Julianahaab. As many as a hundred Norse, or other ruins, are scattered over the district, and at the very extremity of the fjord are shown the remains of the structures attributed to the first conqueror of Greenland. There are also some debris of old buildings on the terminal islet of Cape Farewell itself ; but at present the southernmost group of habitations is the Moravian missionary station of Frederiksdal, the point first reached by the Eskimo immigrants from the east coast. Here the inland icefield, pent up between two mountains, is only a few miles broad ; the passage from one slope to the other presents little diflBculty, and is occasionally utilised by the white bear. The Frederikshaab district, which follows that of Julianahaab in the direction of the north, is limited by branches of the ice-cap covering the whole of the interior. Southwards the glaciers reach the coast near the rugged insular heights of Cape Desolation ; in the north is visible the enormous isblinh of Frederikshaab, the bluish glint of its crystal surface reflected on the grey sky. The village, whence the district takes its name, has the advantage of an excellent harbour, sheltered by islands, but encircled by rocks and morasses. On this coast the most important station is Ivigiut, or Ivigtoh, which has become famous for its absolutely unique deposits of cryolite. This mineral, of a whitish colour, was long known to the Greenlanders, and had been described by European mineralogists ; but it was first utilised in 1856 by Sainte-Claire Deville for the preparation of aluminium. At present it is chiefly valuable for the soda and salts of alum used in dyeing, which are extracted from it. The natives reduce it to powder, which they mix with their tobacco to increase its strength. The Ivigtut deposits have been granted to a private company, in return for a yearly sum paid to the Danish Government. The beds, which are not very extensive, lie dt the base of a precipi- tous rock on the seashore, so that vessels are able to ship their cargoes on the spot. It might also be possible to work the numerous beds of asbestos, as well as the eudialyte of Julianahaab, a substance which supplies the best burners for electric lights. . In any other region Godthaab would be an admirable trading centre, thanks to the labyrinth of fjords which here penetrate far into the interior. But this is ■*i |j i \| i y) i yiy» ii;i i'jl ^ilii lil l »l»ji i w' ii ^ hfc*l-L-.- -iH^' ■liMMNiimMfMi«»«naw< afesttriJt ? ^ttiu< i iUi i n ■' (limaiLuMJJUwuy "»»• ■i ;i,i ' ■" ■' ] if| fa »ii ^i ^r« > * > \iUiri ftX iJ!h ' f (i f< i* » i'' * r< i>l u ■■« " * ■ ' « Mll» ■ ■ III" I ADMINISTUATION OF OREfiNLANI) Ul Adminihtuatiox. Offieiully the whole of flrecnlniul IxIonj^H to Dcniniirk, but tlio actual I)iiniHh territory I'oinpriHt'H only tiro inhubitinl part of tho \vt>Ht coa^t lM't\vi«t>n (^apo Kan>- well und TuMiumik. Homdos tho two " governors " of North and South (iruonland. tho conunun iul ugonts nettled in all the HtatioiiH along the Heahoard ar«' reproHcnta- liveH of authority umongHt tho nw/JvoH, and depend theinselveR directly on the Board of Trade ut Copenhagen. Tho Lutheruu mimionarioa are also included in tho number of ofhcial functionaries, '>eing uppi ntod by tho MiiUHter of I'ublie Instruction and udministeriuj,' their pat ish's without b«'ing subject to tho control of the civil governors. Lastly thi \roravian missionaries, although without oHirial Fig. 36.— Upebnivik, itb Isuta and Olaouks. Scale 1 : OSn.000. > UMUef. status, alt^o enjoy considerable influehee, being at once the mayors and magistrates of the communities grouped around their stations and comprising one-fifth of tho whole population. " Three physicians named by the Danish Government are charged with the sanitary inspection of the coastlands, that is, of a tract over 950 miles long. Each commune is now constituted in a municipality, whose council forms a tribunal for adjusting differences, imposing fines and in serious cases sentencing to the bastinado. •'^ "■■'■•" "V'- '.:'-'"■'• •:' .^^'T'".^^--.'"' Since 1774 the Greenland trade is an absolute monopoly of the Danish Govern- ment, which maintains along the coast some .sixty factories where European wares are given in exchange for such local produce as sealskins and train oil, eiderdown, feathers, walrus ivory, fox, bear, and reindeer peltry. The annual value of this WW Mhi ■Ml ■^ v\ \ i-^' i .-i'.'' ■Aft' > » k**!.* ^au««:.i.- ., ;tVi.;.-.,\;\5.'.(t-.'; THE ARCTIC ABCHIPELAOO. 95 The Polar Sea and its Approaches. North of the Robeson Channel and Parry Island stretches thut Polar Sea which the first American explorers (Kane, Hall and Hayes) supposed to be "free," but which Nares and Greely afterwards found to be filled with "old ice," the accumu- lations of different epochs partly melting in summer and again frozen during the long winters. According to Greely the pack-ice here rarely exceeds 7 or 8 feet, although in one of the fjords of Grinnell Land some was found apparently over 12 feet thick. The crystalline mass increases in thickness during the winter and even in spring to the middle or end of May, and then diminishes in summer. Hence the thicker masses accumulated in the straits and in the Paleoorystic Sea would not appear to be old ice which has remained stationary since its formation, but heaps of blocks pressing one against the other, and gradually growing in size by the addition of other fragments either thrown up on top or drifting underneath. In the Polar Sea much of the drift ice differs in form from the Greenland ice- bergs. Tnstead of rising in sharp points, precipitous sides, nnd irregular domes, it generally presents vertical walls and flat upper surfaces, thus resembling the prodigious cubic blocks seen in the Antarctic waters. Greely and his companions observed nearly a hundred from 30 to over 300 yards thick. As in the Austral seas these regular masses do not originate, like the Greenland icebergs, in glaciers discharging their contents seawards far beyond the coastline, but they are " land ice " deposited on some level plain and then gradually pushed forward by the pressure of the inland pack, and thus at last sent adrift like a raft. In winter nearly all the islands of the Arctic Archipelago are united with each other and with the American mainland by continuous frozen masses, consisting of old fragments soldered together by young ice. But despite the floes and other icy fetters covering the Arctic seas, the currents and tides still make their way through all the straits and sounds. The early navigators who penetrated into the polar waters in search of the North -West Passage carefully observed the undula- tions of the tidal waves, in the hope that their course might indicate the quarter whence came the great Pacific current. Rut these phenomena, influenced by the most diverse conditions, form of the basins, breadth and depth of the channels, direction of the winds, alternations of temperature, salinity of the water, quantity of drift ice, have frequently perplexed and deceived seafarers, rather than aided them in their researches. The prodigious accumulations of ice often observed in Smith Sound and the Kennedy nnd Robeson Channels seems to be in a large measure due to the con- flicts of opposing currents in these confined spaces. One such current is a branch of the Atlantic Gulf Stream, which frequently brings driftwood and wreckage from great distances. But the most powerful current is that of the Polar or Paleo- orystic Sea, which often breaks up the ice-floe, and sweeps its fragments away to Baffin Bay and the Labrador waters. The large driftwood sent down through Robeson Channel shows that this current comes from beyond the Polar Sea, on the shores of whose basin no trees grow except dwarf willows scarcely an inch high. mmm 06 NO^TH AMERICA. But the driftwood here in question appears to be that of the walnut, ash, or pine, which could come only from the temperate zone. Possibly some of it may be brought from south Japan with a branch of the KuroSivo, entering Bering Strait and then sweeping round to the north-east in the direction of Greenland. In Lancaster Sound, and the other channels through which Baffin Bay com- Eig. 36. — Channels leaoino to the PALEOOBTsno Sea. Scale 1 : 7,000,000. lao Milet. municates with the west polar waters, the tidee are very low ; the highest scarcely exceed forty inches, and are usually not observed at all. Under the pack south of Melville Island the low tides rise only one or two inches. In all these inland channels the icebergs are also of very small dze. During the whole of his voyar' from Lancaster Sound westwards,. Parry met none rising more than 30 feet above the surface. The humidity which is precipitated in these regions under the r'dT.lMi'i'.. . .k>k^ . -£_-k ■»rU;.^A'.^ m^m^i^ f ^ ^^ i«-r ■«•• ■■T' *f^-':.-*. iii> ii" iiif^i ir<'itflfi^'j> GRANT AND ORINNELL LANDS. 97 form of snow or rain is far less than in Greenland. During a whole year Parry J I V recorded only forty-three days when a few drops of rain or flakes of snow fell, and -*•< 08 NORTH AMERICA. E < i explorers occusionally recognise their tracks in the snow after an absence of a twelvemonth. Grant and Grinneix Lands. The lands facing Greenland, west of Smith Sound, Kennedy and Robeson Channels, do not appear to form a single island ; but in any ca^e they are pro- foundly indented by fjords and broken into peninsulas. Grant Land, the northern- most of the Arctic Aichipelago, is connected only by a mountainous isthmus with its southern continuation, Grinnell Land. Grinnell Land itself is limited south- wards by Huyes Sound, which, according to all the surrounding natives, is not a fjord or inlet, but a strait passing right through to the western seas. Elles- mere Land, as the district south of this strait has been named, forms, with the still more southerly Lincoln Land, the region known to the Eskimo by the name of Umingman Nuna, that is, " Land of the Musk Ox." It is separated from the island of North Devon by Jones Sound, which is at times completely blocked by the ice-pack. In 1853 Belcher found Jones Sound quite free, and navigated it for a distance of about 250 miles. It is one of the channels opening in the direction of the North Pole, and it is surprising that none of the Arctic explorers have yet tried to reach that goal through this lateral and apparently more easy route. Aldrich and his party, who advanced nearly 250 miles west of Robeson Channel, along the shores of the Frozen Ocean, saw no mountains in this part of Grant Land. The highest ridges scarcely exceed 1,000 feet, nor are the hills anywhere disposed in continuous chains, but scattered in irregular masses, furrowed by ravines in all directions. Here the ice was everywhere compact and solid, and seemed very old, without any fissures and covered with a thick n^v^. From the headlands no trace could be detected of open water, and on the coast plains it was impossible to say where the land ended and the sea began. Cape Alfred Ernest, the extreme point reached by Aldrich, probably forms the north-western headland of Grant Land, for the coast seems here to trend south- wards in the direction of the Greely Fjord, discovered in 1882 by Lockwood. Off this coast the water seems shallow, Markham having touched the bottom in 70 feet about 46 miles from land. But near Gape May, in the south-east, Greely's expe- dition failed to reach the ground with a line of 135 fathoms. The United States Mountains, a range running south-west and north east, forms the southern limit of Grant Land. This somewhat uniform range presents a series of long snowy crests, with a mean altitude of from 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Towards the centre of the island, which Greely's party traversed in various direc- tions, a peak, named Mount Arthur, has an elevation of 4,600 feet, and is probably the culminating point of Grinnell Land. Some large glaciers flow from the United States range, but the permanent snows do not extend southwards, and here the island is completely free of ice and snow during the summer. For a space, estimated by Greely at 150 miles east and west, with a mean breadth of 40 miles, the surface is carpeted with green grasses and flowers, and diversified with meres, rivulets, and cascades. Tbe phenomenon of such a climate under 81° |^jl|a/f|!f) 8 %<0i^^ - BAFFIN T-AND. 00 and 82° north latitude is uttiibiitcd by Grecly to tho sliglit annual snowfall, and the precipitous form of the rock'*, on which tho snow is unable to lodge. South of Grinnell Land tho EUosraere coast facing Greenland continues to pre- sent a line of steep cliffs along the shores of the straits, but the interior has not yet been visited. All these sliores, both of the Archipelago and Greenland, are disposed in parallel terraces at levels up to a height of 1,500, and even '<},000 feet, and the shells embedded in the rocks are identical with those of tb" neighbouring seas. On the flanks of one mountain Kane counted forty-one rcg . ar steps like those of a gigantic staircase. On the margins of lakes, which were formerly marine inlets gradually separated from the sea, Greely also found large driftwood sufficiently preserved to be useful as fuel. The banks of Archer Fjord, an inlet of Lady Franklin Bay, contain thick beds of vegetable foFsils in the form of coal. Baffin Land. Baffin Land, which is the largest island in the Arctic Archipelago, and which is shown on numerous maps as divided into several fragments, skirts the west side of the Greenland waters between Hudson Strait and Lancaster Sound. It has a total area of at least 265,000 square miles, and this vast expanse is considerably increased by its numerous insular dependencies. The two most important of these islands are Uivang at the north-east corner, wliich has received the name of Bylot in memory of the almost forgotten cuptain under whom Baffin served, and Tujakjuak, the Resolution Island of the English charts, which lies at the south-east angle towards the entrance of Hudson Strait. Baffin Land itself is disposed in three sections, Aggo in the north, Akudnirn in the middle, and Oko in the south, these Eskimo terms being explained to mean the " windward land." the "midland," and the "leeward land." . The east coust of Baffin Land is dominated by a gneii^s and granite range, whose sharp crests in several places reach an altitude of 6,500 feet and even more. The lofty headlands projecting eastwards rise precipitously above the surface, and beyond them in the interior isolated or serrated black crags are seen towering above the white expanse of the snowfields. One of the best known of these eminences is Raleigh Peak (4,600 feet), which was so named by Davis in 1586, and which presents the aspect of a great Alpine summit rising to the south of Exeter Bay. The seaboard is indented by fjords which penetrate far inland, terminating at low ridges, by which they are separated from other inlets of similar formation on the west side. The whole region is thus divided by deep fissures into parallel sections, which a subsidence of the land would resolve into separate insular musses. These fissures themselves are subdivided at intervals by transverse ridges, either natural rocky barriers or the remains of moraines, which for the most part enclose small lakes or tarns. Notwithstanding the inaccessible character of the land, due to its rugged surface, the sudden changes of temperature, the blinding snowstorms, fogs and fierce gales which prevail, especially in summer and autumn, the Eskimo succeed I! y 1 >. 'I ^!SrissiimS>^^. 100 NORTH AMERICA. in crossing Hnffin liUiid from sea to sen, and seven of their routes are indicated on the miip prepared by UoaH. Whalers have also crossed from east to west the Bouth-westorn j)art separaltd by Fox Strait from Melville Peninsula. In 1876 Iloach, after traversing a siniU coast range on Cumberland Hay, descended from lake to lake to the vast plain where lies the Nettilling, or Kennedy Lake, one of the chief trysting-places of the Kskimo hunters and iiMhers. From the few explorations made in the interior it appears that, west of the eastern coast range, Haffin liand is occupied by granite hills, which full gradually down to the silurian and fossili'erous limestone western plains. I^akes, which were formerly marine gulfs and channels, are dotted over the centre of this plain, on which are still found the remains of the walrus, whale and other marine animals. Amakjuak, one of the lakes not yet visited by Europeans, is reported by the Eskimo to lie not far from the north side of Hudson Strait. The much larger Lake Kennedy is connected with Cumberland Hay on the east side by on almost continuous chain of meres and ponds, although its overflow is discharged westwards to Fox Channel. In the'mountains of HafHn Land occur mineral deposits that have not yet been worked. Coal and graphite have been foun.i in many places, but steatite (soap- stone) and beds of driftwood are less abundant. The former is used by the natives for making their lamps, and even the latter has acquired some value since the industrial conditions have bean so profoundly changed by contact with the Europeans In the islands skirting the north side of the long I'ne of channels between the Baffin and liering seas, the mountains present in many districts a formidable oppearance with their steep escarpments, terraced cliffs, and vertical walls. But the average height of the peaks, crests, or plateaux, scarcely exceeds 800 or 1,000 feet. Few summits attain an elevation of 1,650 feet, although in this part of the Arctic Archipelago some eminences rise to 2,300 feet and upwards. Such is that in North Kent, an islet at the north-west extremity of Tujau, the North Devpn of the English charts. The rocky shores of this island and of the other members of the Parry group stretching westwards, present here and there the fantastic outlines of fortresses whose ramparts consist of horizontal layers of lime- stone and argillaceous sediment, forming an alternating series of raised and depressed surfaces. Other promontories form huge masses of gneiss interspersed with garnet ; some again are columnar basalts ; but in no part of the archipelago has the presence of volcanic cones, ashes or scoria) been placed beyond doubt. In the Parry group the oldest for.Tiations occur in the east, the more recent, in the west. Thus north of Lancaster Sound the rocks are crystalline, gi*anite or gneiss, followed westwards by silurian strata, and still farther west by carboni- ferous sandstones and ferruginous limestones in Bathurst, Byam, Martin, and Melville Islands, and other limestones associated with Jurassic rocks in Prince Patrick Island in the extreme north-west. The coal measures of the Parry group date from the same age as those of Be ir Island, north of Scandinavia, and are overlaid by the same marine limest'tnes. These coincidences at such vast distances mimmimmmm — - },kMmf!M^' >' ^vH ' ^!^ ' ''> '' ^-* ■«< w, »pi. THE WESTERN ARCTIC ISLANI^ "have been uppe lU-d to in support of the hypothesis of « | formerly comprised all the Arctic regions, but which hits pui hemispheres. 101 •ontinent which 8ub*i fttd in Ixith The Western Insular Groups. Went of IjttflRn Limd the peninsulas and islands skirting the northern shorns of British America must be regarded as a geographic unit independently of their present junction with or severance from the mainland. The channels winding between continent und inlands are relatively shallow, nowhere more than 200 fathoms deep, so that a slight subsidence of the waters would transform the u Fig. 38.— BiiRBOW Strait. Boato 1 : MWO.OOO. ^i55^ 120 MUm. insular groups to peninsulas. On the other hand a corresponding upheaval of the marine level would convert into fjords and even straits, the chains of lakes which at a former epoch were evidently branches of the sea. The contours of the archipelago as traced by the present coastlines are a passing phenomenon of no permanent geographical importance. In this respect the whole peninsular region, limited southwards by a line continuing westwards the north coast of Labrador, and terminating at the Mackenzie delta, forms part of the Arctic Archipelago. The Melville peninsula, attached to the continent by a narrow neck of land ; the Boothia Felix peninsula, which the first explorers supposed to be an island ; lastly Adelaide Land, scarcely severed from the mainland by Sherman Bay, thus belong to the same natural division as King William, Prince Albert and Bering I u i i»i 'ii iivj i , > m ^'< 102 NORTH AMKRICA. LandN. Tlio abort ivo struits indicutwl on the nide of Hudson Huy by tbo Wogor ond Chostetfield inlotn, und on thu*, of the Polar Soo by Hlicrriiiiii Huy, are tho natural limits of this r<>gion of tho Arctic inHular world. Throughout tho whole of thexe pcninNulua and iHlandH there iit a complete abHcnoe of mountain ranges properly so culled. The highoHt Hummitn obBerve])th8 of the earth. Tho northern lightu were uIho formerly l)oliovcd to inereuse in number and intensity in the direction of the polo, thus illuminiitinp;, like the solur ruys, tho long night of 50, 100, or even l^O days that Arctic navigators have to pasN in those high latitudes. This foregone conclusion of physicixts lias not been verified by obBorvation. The auroral coruscations are in fact rarer and usually h mm vivid in the Arctic An-hipelago than in Labrador and North Scaiulinavia. They hiostly roll upwards in the form of whitish ribbons, undulating iti space like streamers of Ilg. 30.— HAOimio Poui. S«ale 1 : «,IK>0,000. ' vt' I I eo MUea. pale light against the black ground of night. The phenomena of refraction are also very common in the unequally heated atmospheric strata resting on the polar seas. Islands, vessels, hills, and icebergs assume the most fantastic forms ; the moon becomes oval or even polygonal and develops an encircling halo, while several suns shine in the firmament, all connected by crosses or circles of light. Refraction also at times elevates the line of the horizon far above its true position, as when Parry sighted a coastline 100 miles distant. The vibrations of sound become equally intensified, the scrunching of frozen snow under passing sledges being heard at a distance of nine or ten miles. Apart from the considerution of latitude, the annual temperature is lower in 104 NORTH AMEBICA. |i: Hi the Arctic Archipelago than in Greenland itself. At Port Rensselaer Kane recorded 97° below freezing-point Fahrenheit ; Nures and his companions endured a cold of 90°, and MacClure 94° at Mercy Bay in January. But inoteoi-ologists accept these figures only as probable approximations, for the mercury freezes at — 40° F. while spirit thermometers are untrustworthy beyond — 58° F. In any case the winter temperature in these regions is extremely low, averaging — 32° F. in Grinnell Land and the Parry Islands, and at Port Bensselaer — 36° F. in March. The only month when the mercury stands above freezing- point is July, when the moisture is precipitated in the form of rain, snow or sleet prevailing during the rest of the year. Even farther south the mean winter temperature is about — 22° F. on the west side of the Davis and Baffin Seas.* By a most remarkable meteorological phenomenon all winds, from whatever quarter they blow, have the effect of raising th3 local temperature in t^ese regions. During calms, that is, the normal winter weather, the heavier and colder air prevails with higher barometric pressure. But when the equilibrium is disturbed and the atmospheric currents rush in, the actual cold diminishes considerably, although it is more felt and more irksome to travellers than the intense cold of calm weather. As a rule a rapid rise of temperature is not welcomed by explorers, because followed by aerial disturbances and storms. The increase of heat is also generally accompanied by thick fogs, which greatly contribute to the disappearance of the ice-puck. It breaks up and, as the Eskimo say, " is eaten by the fog." Flora and Fauna. ft Although of a lowly type, the flora of the Arctic Archipelago is not lacking in beauty. In Grinnell Land the " willow groves " scarcely one or two inches high cover extensive tracts with green tints, while the lichens of all kinds — brown, red, yellow, and green — seem to present more vivid shades of colour than in other lati- tudes. Vast spaces are also covered with red saxifrages and with the dryas, a tiny rose with tufts of white flowers. In a few weeks the plants complete their life history, bursting into bloom almost as soon as they appear above the snows. The margins of many lakes are fringed with tall grasses 20 inches high ; but the vegetable kingdom supplies nothing suitable for fuel except driftwood, and even this is plentiful only at the entrance of Davis Strait and on the coasts facing the Bering Sea. The lands, however, contiguous to the American mainland produce a lowly plant, the cansfope tetragonia, very rich in a resinous substance which is carefully collected and used as " firewood." The plants gathered during Bl I Temperatures in various parta of the Arctic ArohipelagfO : North I^Utnde. Mean Temp Winter Island . . 66M1' . -1-9° F. Repulse Bay . 66° 26' . -1-6" 8 IgrlooUk . . 69' 20' . -1-6° Port Bowen . 73° U' . +*° Port Leopold . 73" 60' . +3' Mercy Bay . 74-6' . +2- i!ort KcuBselocr . . 78° 37' . —1' Bnmnier Temp . -f34°F. . . -i-40" . -1-34" . -j.36* . -j-33''8 . -f37" . -H8° Winter Tempi —20° R —24° —21° ' —24° —32° —28'* —31° l l8 i i gS i tt«B i W >i.i>Wll MMWIWi l >iW^^ 'isi'^0i^0m*mr FAUNA OF THE ARCTIC ISLANDS. 106 the Penny expedition, chiefly along the shores of the "Wellington Channel between North Devon and Cornvrallis Island, comprised as many as fifty-four phanerogams. The islands have also their fauna; like the American mainland, they are inhabited by the wolf, fox, hare, lemming, ermine ; and the Eskimo speak of them ! I as the " Land of the White Bear " in a pre-eminent sense. The musk ox roams as far north as Grir neli land, which was formerly also frequented by the rein- dt'er. At least one species of bird, the ptarmigan (lagopus rupedrio), passes the whole year in the sane region, to which about thirty birds of passage flook in r?""'* ir warms, and some inlets are inhabited by the cod; 'ae variety captured off the south coast of Baffin Land is said to have a more lelicate flavour than that of Newfoundland. The mosquito, scourge of the Arctic regions south of 70° north latitude, almost entirely disappears in the more northern islands. One variety of spider reaches as far as the Parry group, which, however, lies beyond the range of the beetle and butterfly. Yet these insects are still numerous in the islands near the mainland, where some species are remarkable for their brilliant colours. Inhabitants. The insular Eskimo, far less numerous than those of Greenland, are undoubt- edly allied to them in race and speech, although long isolation has developed consi- derable diversity amongst the several groups. In an area approximately estimated at 800,000 square miles the whole population scarcely exceeds two or at most three thou- sand souls. The different tribal or family subdivisions are generally named from the districts usually occupiedby them. Thus those settled on Hudson Strait are the Siko- suilarmiuts, that is, the Miuf, or " People, of the Iceless Shore." So also the Aggo- •aaagasKir^^ a iJ B I Ijg a INHABITANTS OF THE ABCTIO ISLANDS. 107 miuts and Akudnir-miuts (Oko-miuts) of BafBn Land, and many othors. One of the most divergent tribes, at least in their social usages, are the Tulirpings, the only c(»mmunity which, till recently, oocnpied an inland territory. They dwelt on the bunks of Lake Kennedy, inhabit* by the seal ; but now they reside on the sea- shore, like all the natives of the Archipelago. Like them also, they have greatly diminished in numbers since the arrival of the European explorers. One of the strongest, if not the strongest, of all the Innuit groups is that of the Nechillika, who formerly held the isthmus of Buothia, but who, since the middle of the cen- tury, have migrated towards the northern and western shores of King Willinm Land. Here they find seal and fi^h in abundance, and hunt the reindeer in sum- mer, and are thus able to lay up sufficient supplies for the long winter days. About the second decade of the present century the natives of Cumberland Bay were said to number about fifteen hundred persons ; but in 1884 Boas estimated at a hundred, more or less, the whole population of Baffin Land, one of the least deserted regions of the Archipelago. Contagious diseases, and especially syphilis, introduced by the white sailors, have certainly been the cause of these deplorable ravages. In 1883 diphtheria, attributed by the Eskimo to Boas himself, was added to the other disastrous epidemics, while the extermination of the race is hastened by infanticide, prevalent in some tribes. The famines, by which the population has often been decimated, have ofren wrongly been assigned to the falling o£P of the fisheries. Doubtless, the whale has almost entirely disappeared, and is now pursued by the Eskimo only in Hudson Strait and the neighbouring waters. But the seal, which is not captured by the European whalers, is still found in multitudes along the shores of Baffin Land. In spring, however, it is difficult to take, the ice having become too weak to bear the hunters, while still too strong to be forced by their kayaks. They are also frequently kept ashore by continuous stormy weather, and. the distress is greatly increased when a member of the tribe happens to die, custom then requiring all hunting and fishing to be suspended for several days. Vestiges of old habitations have been met by most explorers at various points of the seaboard. The remains of cabins occur in all the Parry Islands, and large villages formerly stood on sites hundreds of miles remote from all present camping- grounds. The objects of human industry found nearest to the pole were a sledge, a lamp, and a scraper, collected by' Fielden on the shores of the Paleocrystic Sea six or seven miles below 82° north latitude. Greely also discovered some ruins in the interior of Grinnell L md, which, however, seemed to have been merely temporary structures. In this region he draws the limits of the zone of per- manent habitation to the north of 80° north latitude, a line coinciding with the extreme frontier of the territory roamed over by the reindeer and visited by the walrus. The natives have legends about the Tornits, an older race of barbarians un- acqiiainted with the bow and arrow, but skilled magicians. In certain mythical tales they are confounded with monstrous beings, said to have had human bodies and the paws of dogs. The Tornits were either exterminated or else died out, because " the world was too small to contain both races." The Eskimo themselves, though jij;i»^:^:miiteSfe»iiiL^ 108 NORTH AMEEICA. the least numerous of men, are confirmed Multhusians ; although lost as it were in the immensity of space, the earth still seems scarcely rich enough for their support. Compelled to lead a nomad life by the necessities of the chase, fishing and Fig. 41. — Melville Fknimsula and NEioHBOuaiNa Isles, fbou an Eskiho Chabt. '5 AfsyttninS £/iua (wYntenia/sinefJ Musk ox trade, the natives are familiar with vast stretches of their insular domain. By inquiry made at a small number of intermediate stations an intelligent explorer might easily malie himself acquainted vdth. all the routes lying between the shores mmmm INHABITANTS OF THE ARCTIC ISLANDS. 100 of the Baffin Sea and the Mackenzie delta. But in undertaking long expeditions the Eskimo hunters require to take every precuution, for many uomniunilies are separated by the traditions of blood and the vendetta. Even those not rendered hostile \ hereditary feuds foster feelings of mutual jealousy and suspicion. Amongst !;he Neehilliks a woman armed with a knife advances to meet all strangers, offering them peace or war. After certain preliminaries they are received into the tribe on a footing of equality ; wives are assigned to them and they cease to belong to the maternal group. Marriage is, in fact, one of the chief causes of expatriation, the husband nearly always leaving his own people to dwell with those of his bride. The adoption of strange children also contributes variously to intermingle the tribes, and half-breeds have become numerous since the whalers have visited these regions and founded stations, round which the natives have grouped themselves. So great is the influence of the whiter that from the shores of the Baffin Sea to Alaska the medium of intercourse is a sort of Anglo-Eskimo, into which some Danish, Portuguese, and even Polynesian words have also been introduced. The French term "troc" is usually employed for barter of all kinds; but despite all these foreign additions, the vocabulary of this jargon is very limited. The Eskimo of the Arctic Archipelago recognise no authority. Custom is their only law, and when some unforeseen event upsetting ail their calculations requires them to depart from established usage the change must be made by common consent. The natives have a vague belief in a supreme being, but they carve no idols, nor do they perform any ceremonies to escape from a future life of everlasting winter or secure the blessing of an eternal summer. Marriages are generally arranged long beforehand, the girls being occasionally betrothed in their cradle. Men and women, as well as the different tribes, are distinguished by the cut of their hair, the fashion of their dress, and the tattoo marks on nose, cheeks, and chin, but the practice of tatooing is falling into abeyance. Although recognising no masters the community formerly paid great deference to one of the elders, the wise man who knew everything, and who was consulted on all weighty matters. He indicated the auspicious days for changing residence, undertaking journeys and hunting expeditions. He presided at the public feasts ond interceded for the community with the propitious deities. After his death he received great honours, and in his grave were deposited arms, utensils, orna- ments, and other valuables ; especially himting and fishing gear wherewith to pro- vide himself with food in the other world. ^o . . Instead of the kayak the natives now generally make use of boats purchased from the whalers. But they retain most of their old industries, and as artists greatly excel the Labrador and Hudson Bay Eskimo. Their garments, implements of the chase, and carved objects are made more solidly and with greater taste. Their surprising sense of locality is alluded to by all explorers, and they have often prepared charts, the accuracy of which hits been recognised by European mariners. To one of these charts executed by the Eskimo, Iligink, Parry was indebted for the discovery of the Fury and Hecla Strait. i?^«5^' 110 NORTH AMERICA. Topography. A region such as the Arctic Archipelago could scarcely contain any centres of population beyond a few permanent or temporary encampments. At present the en- campment most frequented by the European seafarers is Kekerten, situated on an island in Tinikjuarbing (Cumberland) Bay at the entrance of the Kingnait Fjord. At Kekerten have been established the only two whaling stations in the Arctic Pig. 42.— GtniBiEBi.Ain> Bat. Scale 1 : 3,800,000. 65' Weat of Gree . 80 Miles. Islands, and these have attracted the natives from all quarters. Kingiia, another group of huts at the northern extremity of Cumberland Bay, owed its passing fume to the choice made of it by the German Commission as the site of one of the circurapolar meteorological observatories. Farther south Hall discovered in Fro- bisher Bay a large number of objects, cordage, bricks, bits of iron, wood, and coal, which he supposed must have belonged to Frobisher's expeditions of 1676-78, and which are now preserved in the Greenwich Naval Museum. The island where these relics were found is known to the natives by the name of Kodlunarn, " Island of the White Man." A few islands and inlets along the coast have also become famous in the annals TOPOGRATHY OF THE ARCTIC ISLANDS. Ill of geographical exploration, thanks to the shoiter they have afforded to navigators, or else to the forcible sojourns made in them by Arctic explorers. Thus Fort Conger in Lady Franklin Bay, and the red syenitic headland of Cape Subine in EUesmere Land, recall the misfortunes of the disastrous Qreely expedition. Fig. 43.— Retbkat or thb Fbamklui ExPKonioir. Soak 1 : 3,000,000. .seilita. mnals Beei'hey Inland at the south-west comer of North Devon was the chief rendezvous of the polar explorers, thanks to its happy position at the intersection of the straits between the Wellington, Lancaster, Barrow, Prince Regent, and Peel channels. 112 NOETH AMEEI(?A. Winter Harbour, on the south coast of Melville Island, has been known since Parry wintered here in 1819, and here also was effected in 1853 the junction of the circumnavigation routes by the meeting of Kellett and M'Glure. A Winter Inland is also one of tlie historical places in the Arctic Ocean, thanks to Parry's residence here during his second expedition, when his vessel became entangled in the " no thoroughfare " of Repulse Bay south of Melville Peninsula, and when he vainly endeavoured to cross the strait to which he left the name of his ships, the Fury and Hecla. Port Bowen and Port Leopold, facing each other on the Prince Regent Strait, where nothing is to be seen except " sandstone, snow, and ice," similarly recall the sufferings of other Arctic heroes, while Bellot Strait between Korth Somerset and Boothia Felix perpetuates the memory of that devoted mariner who disappeared amid the floes of Wellington Channel, and in whose honour a monument was raised on Beechoy Island. But the best-known places are those where have been discovered the traces of the retreat made by the ill-fated companions of Sir John Franklin. Such are Point Victory, where M'Clintock came upon the first indications of the disastrous result of the expedition ; Cape Felix near the spot where the two vessels were blocked by the ice-pack ; Erebus Bay where the graves of the dead begin to show along the beach; Simpson Strait where the survivors at last reached terra firma; Famine Bay, crossed by one only of the fugitives to perish in his turn a little further on in an inlet of the Adelaide Peninsula. The calamitous end of this expedition, which gave rise to so many expeditions in search of the castaways, was the chief cause of the long suspension of Arctic exploration that then ensued. But research will in future be facilitated by the establishment of fixed stations which can be provisioned from various points of the mainland. Nor have all the resources of modern industry yet been enlisted in the service of Arctic navigation. The Polaris was the first steamer employed in this service, and that so recently as the year 1871. In 1850 John Ross let off two carrier pigeons in Barrow Strait, and one of these birds reached Scotland in 120 hours after a flight of 2,500 miles. A table of the Arctic lands with their chief subdivisions will be found in the Appendix. ' »'^ ' wtm!mminv\vim*Mii!mwinvm\ CHAPTER IV. ALASKA. tbe ;^-#;- HE north-weat extremity of North America bears the official desig* nation of Alaska, which according to some etymologists is derived from the native words Al-ak-shuk, or " the Great Land." This name it takes from the curved peninsula which projects to the =^ south-east of the Bering Sea, and is continued westwards by the chain of the Aleutian Islands. Aliad-a, the name formerly attributed to the penin- sula in most written documents, has gradually yielded to the form Alaska, which has been extended to the whole region as far as HI'' west longitude. This region formed part of the Russian empire till the year 1867, when it was sold to the United States for a sum equivalent to about £1,500,000. Although public opinion in America had long protested against this purchase, the price is 'certainly low enough for a territory nearly 600,000 square miles in extent, and which is nut exclusively a land of mountains, frozen lakes and snows, as has been so often asserted. Alaska possesses on the contrary vast forests, mines, and , fisheries. With exception of the Seal Islands its resources have doubtless been but imperfectly developed, while the white population is still thinly scattered along the south coast, the only inhabitable district. Nevertheless, it seems strange that the Russian Government should have consented to surrender its vast possessions in the New World, which, although of no fiscal value, added not a little to the dignity of the empire. The step has been explained by the desire felt by Russia, at that time at enmity with Great Britain, of showing her sympathy with the great republic, and of sowing the seeds of future dissension between the two conterminous states. The south-east part of Alaska is indicated by natural frontiers ; starting from 64° 40' north latitude, it comprises the coastlands as far as the divide formed by the coast range. But where this divide lies more than 10 marine leagues (34 miles) from the sea, the frontier towards British America will be traced at this distance parallel with the coastline. Near the superb landmark of Mount St. Elias, whose crest is probably just within the American border,* the limit becomes quite con- * Dall'a determination of 1874 gureSO^ 20' 45' latitude ; 141° 00' 12" longitude, juat twelve seoonda on the American side. -n il .^-an Point on the Arctic Ocean. Uud the political limit followed the most salient feature of this region, it would have been drawn from Mount St. Elias towards the ranges which enclose on the east the sources of the Copper River, und then those of the Yukon and its affluents. With the addition of these upland valleys Alaska would have been enlarged by at least one-third, though its economic importance would scarcely have been enhanced, these parts of the country being almost uninhabited. The present population, estimated at less than 34,000 by the census of 1880, would at most have been increased by perhaps 2,000 or 3,000 had the whole of the Upper Yukon basin been annexed. All the adjacent islands — Chichagov, Baranov, Admiralty, Kupriunov, Prince of Wales, Revilla-Gigedo, and the surrounding clusters of islets — belong politically to the United Stages, as does also the Aleutian chain as fur as the island of Attu. (>mitting these inlands and smaller inlets, the coastline of Alaska has been estimated at about 8,000 miles. But this long stretch of seaboard with its creeks, gulfs, and bays, numerous especially along the south coast, is but of slight value under such a frigid climate. All that part of Alaska lying north of Bering Strait is, so to say, cut oif by the line of the Arctic Circle. Exploration. ',•:,,,'„":,' ^^..v / 1"';^' : V i'WvV'''. During the first decades of the eighteenth century the Russians had already a vague knowledge of the existence of the " Great Continent in the East," which was reached by Gvozdev in 1730. But on the maps constructed from current reports the name of Alaska is attributed to an island in Bering Strait. Systematic exploration first began in 1741, when Bering and Chirikov, the former accom- panied by the naturalist Steller, the latter by the geographer Delisle de la Croy^re, made independent surveys of the districts near Mount St. Elias, coasting the sea- board and Aleutian chain, but without penetrating inland. In 1745 Novodiskov reached the island of Attu from Kamchatka, and was followed by numerous adventurers. The Spaniard, Quadra, got no farther than the southern islands in 1775 ; Aneaga stopped short at the Aleutians, and Cook, who penetrat«d into the Arctic Ocean as far as Ice Cape, also confined his surveys to the coastlrne. But the Aleutian Islands had already been overrun by Russian traders and hunters ; the costly American peltries had found their way to the European and Chinese markets, and the extermination of the natives had begun. In 1785 Jelikov founded several settlements on the mainland, although these were occa- sionally designated in a general way by the name of ostrova, or " islands." Being absolute masters of the seaboard, and controlling the inland trade through the native hunters, the Russians were able to effect their exchanges without making long journeys into the interior. Nevertheless, they gradually became familiar with all the south-western parts of Alaska south of the Yukon. In 1829 the Russian half-caste Eolmakov ascended the Nushaguk, flowing to Bristol Bay, as .i3S^ tii • M.ni. i\^-^^am„^i .■malm'- ■ '^m. ••.'Vi'i.'. ■■■?.■ ^' n rf . ;''ii3p. fi ' lyi ■<■, 'ju^^^^m-k^mi^ .:• ■ ■ :. „ Hnsi;^ SOUTH ALASKLiN COASTLANDS AND ISLANDS. 117 jarly dian, tions, I and ;o the 1, and Bstem those {ected station ,'erally 3COmC8 bussian lish or French ora the rent in of the d States arcation parallel may be raversed J of low s far as that of lO alto- Here m when appears Spunish Baranov jone it is )f over a which north I from the le formed part of the continent, or at least been connected with it by glaciers. South of Alaska the broad Dixon Strait, betv.een Prince of Wales and the Queen Charlotte Archipelago, interrupts the maze of islets, and here the zone of fjords is much narrower, although still continued southwards to the entrance of the Juan de Fuca passage, where it abruptly terminates at the headland of Cape Flattery. North of Cross Sound the shore, although still indented, is far more regular than in South Alaska, and beyond the Peninsula and Aleutian Islands it is disposed in long slightly curved lines and mas-ive peninsulas. Along the Arctic seaboard the shore-line stretches west and east without any prominent headlands, and here the deepest indentations are fringed with low sandy ridges. The ramifying fjord-like formations on the South Alaskan coast are evidently due to the structure of the mountains, which have become folded and diversely ruptured, producing a labyrinth of faults and fissures, which were formerly filled with glaciers, and which are now flooded by the sea branching off into a thousand straits and channels. The complexity of these islands, the largest of which have retained the names given to ihem by the Russian navigators of the last century, is sometimes designated by the general appellation of the Alexander Archipelago. Nevertheless, Prince of Walos Island, largest of the group, and its neighbour Revilla-Gigedo with some others, recall the share taken by the English and Spanish mariners in the work of discovery. Between the islands and the main- land a sheltered navigable highway is offered to the coast steamers by the intervening passages which are of analogous form to the fjords penetrating inland. Their average depth is enormous, that of the Tungas Straits at the southern entrance of the Alaskan fjords exceeding 400 fathoms. The range of lofty mountains begins immediately beyond the Archipelago, towering above the coast which from this point trends in nearly a straight line north- westwards. Mount Lap^rouse rises to a height of 11,300 feet in the terminal peninsula which is limited on the east side by the fjord of Glacier Bay. Beyond it follow Mount Crillon nearly 16,400 feet high, and Mount Fuirweather, which despite its name is wrapped in fogs for over half the year. The copious rains and snows falling on these mountains and their offshoots have given rise to e:itensive glaciers overflowing into all the divergent valleys. On the east slope these glaciers merge together in enormous streams which descend to the shore and even advance beyond the coastline, discharging seawards small crystalline blocks, which travellers compare to flocks of swans swimming on the blue waters. North of Cross Sound the highlands develop a vast amphitheatre round the moving ice-field which advances in white promontories down to the deep waters, and in many places the base of the glittering escarpments may be followed for several miles. Of all these glaciers the largest is the Muir, whose terminal wall, 2o0 feet high, plunges into water 516 feet deep. Its discharge is estimated by G. F. Wright at about 140,000,000 cubic feet per day during the month of August,* which is equivalent to a river sending down about 1,580 cubic feet prr • ProKtduig^ofthe Roffal Oe'tgrapliieal S-eiety.Te\nxk9.ty,\iVI.''' ;''--'.^-' ■'••'-^i.- i ! 118 NORTH AMERICA. second. The whole of this region is an.Al'pine world, a "marine Switzerland," whose base is encircled by straits and inlets^ instead of verdant valleys. These natural marvels already attract hundreds of tourists from California, Oregon, and Canada. Mount St. EHas, probably tbe etrfmibating^ point of the North American continent, belongs to the same coast range as Mounts Crillon and Fairweather. It is girdled by glaciers above which its sharp pyramidal peak rises to a height of 19,100 feet. * The " Great " Mountain, as it is called by the natives, is perfectly t ¥':' t I rf Kg. 46.— St. Elujb Rakoe. Scale 1 : 4^000,000. . flOHUes. i ( reg.ular, at least on the three sides which alone have as yet been seen by observers. Ridges of ice sparkle on all the prominences, and here and there crystal offshoots project above the precipices. Below the escarpments, about half-way up its flank, a broad cirque is seen to open in the form of a crater, which perhaps without suf- ficient reason is supposed to be an extinct cone. At the foot of the outer talus of this chnsm, which is now filled with ice, the gluciul stream winds down the slopes * Or 19,500, according to Lieuteuant Allen. - < ; ' lean MOUNT ST. ELIAS. 119 with an average breadth of about six niilea between snowy heights, every gorge of which sends a smaller contribution to the Tyndall glacier, as the main stream has been named. The waters collected in its lower depths swell up at its base above enormous moraines ; here are formed temporary lakelets which are strewn with floating blocks of ice, but which soon escape through lateral fissures. Fig. 46.— SoBTHEES Slope op Moimr St. Elus. Srnle 1 : 400.00. . »-. .' ■ ,6 UUw. The glacier itself also seems to disappear at the point where the slopes begin to gradually fall off in the direction of the sea ; here are mingled in chaotic con- fusion heaps of shingle and boulders, shale, elate, granite, quartz, porphyry, trachyte, basalt, amid which are here and there visible the layers of blue ice, It -.'•• rr m^ yiM 120 NOBTH AMEEICA. foaming torrents or sheets of smooth water. Lower down its extensive moraine formation, which covers the glacier for a width of about nine miles, is itself clothed with a layer of earth, where grows a dense forest of spruce, alder, willows, birches, and maples, while the whole mass of stones, clay, brushwood, and trees, is borne along at an extremely slow rate by the glacier flowing beneath. The accumulated forest-clad debris, thus advancing seawards, at last overwhelms the coast forests themselves, the aspect of nature changing from year to yeur with the progress or retreat of the glacier, the shifting refuse, floods, crevasses, or sudden eruptions of the "nderground stream. The Yahtse-tah, or Jones, as this river has been re- named, plunges, " broad as the Thames," into the hidden galleries of ice and moraines, and after a sub-glacial course of about eight miles reappears in countless channels winding between the mud and sand flats of a broad delta. Alpine climbers have reached a height of 11,461 feet on a steep ice-ridge in the amphitheatre of secondary summits encircling the crater-like cirque of the St. Elias. This mountain surpasses all others on the globe in the extent of the ice and snow fields, which have to be traversed between their lower limit, about 3,000 feet above sea-level, and the terminal crest. In fact, at some points it might be possible to ascend the whole way from base to summit on an uninterrupted sheet of ice, for the Agassiz glacier advances to the water's edge, terminating in sparkling white cliffs 150 to 300 feet high, which descend 650 feet on the marine bed. One of the " dead" glaciers, that is, covered with earth and shingle, sloping north-westward in the direction of Yakatat Bay, has a surface oi At least eighty square miles.* Westwards, Mount St. Elias. is continued by a ridge which falls rapidly, but whose crests none the less present a superb aspect, and send down glaciers of considerable size. One of these falls precipitously from a lateral valley as if to bar the course of the Copper River ; but the ice itself is visible only through the crevices, the lower part being almost everywhere covered nth. shingle, earth, scrub, and even trees. A little farther on the deep inlet of Prince William Sound interrupts the coast range, which is only indicated at intervals by the chain of islands half closing the entrance of the sound. But beyond this break the oro- graphic system reappears in the Kenai range, which is continued seawards by the large Afognuk and Kadiak islands, and still farther west by a few islets running parallel with the Aleutian Archipelago. The Sbugach (Chugach) Alps, whose snowy amphitheatre, 7,200 feet high^ encircles the northern bend of Prince William Sound, are connected by spurs with the St. Elias chain, and the volcanic group east of the Copper River may be re- garded as forming part of the same system. Mount Wrangell, the highest peak in this region, has often been described as rivalling the St. Elias in height ; but it would appear to fall considerably below 18,000 feet,t while its neighbour. Mount Tillman, is about 1,000 feet lower. It is certainly a volcano, and although ice- capped like the Kamchatka cones, its crater erhitted dense volumes of vapour in f^i • Harold W. Topham, Proeeedingt of the J!oya'. Geographical Soeiety.July, 1889. t Yet Lieutenant Allen asserts that it risei 18,400 feet abore the forks of the Copper River, which are themselves 2,000 feet above the sea. This would inako it 20,400 feet or 1,000 higher than St. Elias. 'oij i mixmMSKi Fmamm m mmtmm uiuiMWftiJw Mi THE ALASKAN PliNINSULA AND ISLANDS. 121 1884. Mount Drum is also of igneous origin, though now extinct. Other neighbouring summits may also be of volcanic formation, for the banks of all the headstreams of the Yukon present thick layers of scorisD, which would seem to have been ejected by Wrangell and the surrounding mountains. Immediately above a gorge of the Copper River rises the " Spirit Mountain " (2,800 feet), so called by the natives, who occasionally hear the muffled roar of the evil spirits within its recesses. West of the Atna River the crests of the hills encircling the Kenai Peninsula still maintain an altitude of from 10,000 to 12,000 feet. The Alaskan Alps, which form a curved prolongation of the Rocky ^fountains properly so called, are still to a great extent very little known. At the Perrier Pass, between the Chilkoot Sound and the source of the Yukon, they are little over 4,000 feet high, while the Miles Pass, lying much farther west between the Copper and Tanana valleys, falls, according to Allen, to less than ;3,100 feet, though the neighbouring summits are double that height. The depressions of the rugged plateau, which here forms the waterparting, are flooded with smull lakes or tarns. None of the peaks of the Alaskan Alps appear to attain 1 0,000 feet ; but although less elevated than the southern coast range they are much more regular, develop- ing a vast curve, whose main axis runs parallel with the south coast and the Yukon valley. The Alaskan Peninsula and Aleutian Islands. Towards the neck of the Alaskan peninsula, the range skirts Cook's Inlet at no great distance from the superb Iliamna (Ilyamna) volcano, by the Spanish navigator Arteaga named the " Wonderful." Its highest peak rises to a height of 12,000 feet ; but the crater, which occasionally emits vapours, stands at a much lower elevation. Nevertheless Petroff failed to reach its rim owing to its steep sides and dangerous ravines, swept by avalanches of snow, Near Iliamna rises the less elevated Mount Redoute, a perfectly regular mass of scoriae, which was emit- ting smoke when seen by Wrangell in 1819. These two cones form the eastern limits of the long Alaskan peninsula, the middle of which is marked by the superb Veniaminov with its encircling cortege of snowy peaks. Veniaminov was in con- tinuous eruption during the years 1830 — 40. ^ ■ Beyond this point begins the long chain of the Aleutian Islands, which sweep round from the north to the south-west and then to the west, developing a regular arc of a circle nt'ith a radius of about 900 miles. In no other part of the world are seen two systems of terrestrial prominences presenting a greater analogy of forms and origin than do the two volcanic chains of the Aleutians prolonging the American peninsula. of Alaska, and the Kuriles, continuinQ; the Asiatic peninsula of Kamchatka. The resemblance between these insular groups is extended even to the bed of the ocean. Both enclose relatively shallow seas on their concave northern sides, while on the opposite side they plunge into the abysmal waters of the Pacific. Nevertheless, within the Aleutian range occur depths of 750 and even 1,000 fathoms. The whole chain is divided into the four secondary groups ;i 1 •) tt > 122 NORTH AMERICA. of the Fox, Andreanov, Rat, and Near Islands, the last so named from their proximity to Siberia. Although lying on the same fault in the terrestrial crust, the peninsular Alaskan range, sometimes designated by the name of Tchigmit, is intersected at intervals by very low sills or portages, the perenosai of the Russians, which, in fact, are utilised by the boatmen for transporting their canoes from one slope to the other. These Kg. 47.— HOBN OF AXASZA. Soale 1 : 9,000,000. 60*. ^ po' 55- \fs=^j!i^..\ \^^ui?^:ji^<"""iy. jam^==^ ^^"WCH^ W^^ — ti '^3ik^^if ■■=: a I^Jdllljl 7^^^^ p SV ^nsvi^^s J^ft^iifcy*^-^- .laiiSJLs^iM^f^m'vjf. mi tsttfit mMi-i-. E^.:_ '■—J^--- — - ^<|i^JP" ;.i','j.ij'.,R, 160* . West of Greenwich 150- 0«o25 Fatboma. Depths. 9fi to 2,600 Fatbouu. 2.800 Fathoms aad upwards. 16U Miles. gaps, which follow throughout the whole length of the peninsula, represent the straits formerly connecting the corresponding fjords on the north and south coasts. Towards the neck of the peninsula the two opposite fjords of Cook's Inlet and Bristol Bay are already half connected by an extensive lake, bearing the name of the neighbouring Iliamna volcano Farther on follow other lakes, each flooding one of the transverse sections by which the long peninsular horn is divided into distinct fragments. All these lacustrine basins send their overflow northwards to the Mm J ALEUTIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 128 Bering Sea, towards which the mountains slope gently, while presenting precipitous escarpments to the deep southern waters. Although occurring at long distances from each other, one or other of the Alaskan or Aleutian cones is nearly always in eruption, and during the historic period over thirty of these cones have been the scene of underground disturbances. Vapours and lavas are often ejected by Mount Alay at the neck of the peninsula, and Pavlosky, towards the extremity of the horn, is also pierced by an active crater. In 1826 Chichaldinsk, the highest Tolcano in Unimak Island (8,700 feet) ejected dense clouds of ashes, which changed day into a terrible night, partly des- troying the animals on the island and neighbouring lands. The following yeur a second eruption took place, after which a second crater was opened to the east of the old one. Makushin, in Unalashka (5,000 feet), is one of the most active in Fig." 48. — Aleutian Islands. Soale 1 : 15,000,000. to 1.000 Fatbuma. Depth*. 1,000 7l»tboiiu and upwards. m— seo mum. emitting vapours, although no 'eruption has taken place during the present century. New islands occasionally make their appearance in the Aleutian waters, as, in 1796, when Bogoslov, or St. John the " Theologian," rose about 100 feet above the surface and gradually increased in size till 1826, when it formed a peak over 420 feet high, with an oval base about 5 miles in circumference. Since then it has again been reduced by erosions to little over 250 feet ; but in 1883, the year of the Krakatau outburst, a second cone, the Orewink volcano, appeard 220 yards to the north-west of Bogoslov. At the same time Mount Augustine, near the entrance to Cook's Inlet, became convulsed, and the disturbance was followed by the appear- ance of another islet. Thermal springs and mud volcanoes occur in many parts of the Archipelago. .«,-««■,■■» '■■i I jA'miiwiai i iuB K jM - ' 124 NORTH AMERICA. The two Pribilov islunds, Suiiit Paul and Saint George, as well as Saint Matthew further north, and the twin island of Saint Lawrence in the middle of the Bering Sea, are also of volcanic orijjin ; but all the craters are obliterated, except that of Otter Island, near Saint Paul, and Pinnacled Rock, south of Saint Matthew, from which vapours are incessantly ejected at a height of 1,500 feet above the sea. On the American side of the strait the small headlands projecting into Norton Sound, north of the Yukon delta, are formed of old streams of black basalt. The insular peaks of Kusilvak (2,000 feet), the rive Nordenskiold crests (1,000 foet), now encircled by alluvia, and the heights of Cape Newenhara (2,460 feef) were also formerly volcanoes. I • i t: The Interior o-' Alaska. -• The inland ranges running north of the Alaskan Alps have been surveyed only at a few points, and their general trend has not yet been determined. Some belong to the paleozoic formations, others to chalk and even to tertiary times, and these abound in fossils and especially in impressions of foliage. At several points along the coast observers have discovered d.^posits of lignite, and rich beds of coal are found at Cape Lisburn on the shores of the Frozen Ocean. These were utilized bj' Hooper during his Arctic explorations in 1880. As they approach the Bering and Arctic waters the Alaskan mountains appear to spread out like the ribs of a fan, and here they are certainly less elevated than in the south. The Kumiantzov chain, between the Yukon and the Polar Sea, would seem nowhere to exceed 4,000 feet, so that the Alaskan system taken as a whole appears to fall gradually in the direction of the north and north-west. Despite its higher latitude, North Alaska has no glaciers comparable to those of the southern region. The di£Eerence is due to the absence in the north of lofty mountains with vast catchment basins and long valleys, where the frozen streams might wind down the slopes like the running waters. Nevertheless, these northern glaciers descend like others from the uplands of the interior towards the coast ; only their motion is extremely slow, and in certain places they may even remain stationary owing to the lack of incline, or the absence of pressure from above. During his voyage on board the Jturik along the shores of the sound now bearing his name, Kotzebue noticed with surprise that a promontory covered with vege- table humus and an abundant growth of flowering plants consisted of a long glacier fissured by deep crevices. On the same sound Seeman and his companions on the Herald made a similar, but even more remarkable discovery, that of a fossil glacier higher than the surrounding hills, and continued along the coast in the direction of the east at an elevation of over 650 feet. As afterwards ascertained by Dull and other explorers, this mountain of ice is completely covered with a layer of mud several yards thick, supporting a vegetation of willows, herbaceous plants, mosses, and lichens. Numerous discoveries of bones showed further that the underlying ice must have THE ALASKAN RIVERS. 125 been forniod, not centurii'H but ages ajjo, for atnotigMt tho rcniiiius wore thoso of tho mamniotb and of the bone, long extinct in Anu>ricu. According to Dull and others, there are no traccH of glacial action went of tho Rocky Mountains greatly exceeding the present limits of the frozen utroiuns, and it is remiirkuble that no erratic boulders are met on tho plains near Kotzebiio Sound. IJut in South Alaska, and esiMJcially in Lynn and Glacier Days dear proofs occur of shrinkage. Some marine islands are certainly old moraines, and almvo the Muir glacier rise high striated ditfs, which were at one time entirely covered by the ice. George W. Dawson even endeavours to show that the whole space between the Rocky Mountains and the coast ranges was formerly filled by a vast icefield with a northern frond. r The Alaskan Rivers. A few streams ice-bound in winter flow in summer to the Arctic Oijcon, cutting a channel through the floe-ice whifch here fringes the coast. Such are the Colville (Nigalek-kok), the Meade, the Nunatuk (Noatak), and the Kovak, the last two falling into Eotzcbue Sound. But south of these streams, which are i^eldom navigable, the coast is reached by the Yukon, the most copious of all American rivers flowing to the Pacific, and one of tho largest in the whole world. Petroff and other American geographers assign it a volume one- third greatir even than that of the Mississippi, which would imply a mean discharge of about 740,000 cubic feet per second. This estimate, however, does not appear to be bused on accurate measurements, and it should also be remembered that in winter, when the Mississippi is overflowing its banks, the Yukon on the contrary is deprived of its afllucnts, which at times are frozen through to the bottom ; hence its winter discharge represents but a very small proportion of its volume in summer. In any case the Yukon compares favourably in size both with the St. Lawrence and Mississippi, its length from the source visited by Schwatka to the mouth of its chief branch being no Inss than 2,000 miles, and the area of its basin about 400,000 square miles, considerably more than three times that of the British Isles. It is also entirely free from fulls or rapids and accessible to steamers as far as British territory above the Lewis and Pelly confluence. » The region of the Upper Yukon was long known to the Canadian and Scotch trappers of the Hudson Bay Company ; but they were unable to connect the course of the rivers frequented by them with that of the main stream, the chief artery of the whole of north-west America. The Yukon was first ascended in 1863 by the Russian trader, Ivan Lukin, to the British frontier, though the account of his journey was never published. The oldest authentic chart of the river within the present limits of Alaska, is due to Ketchura and Laberge,* servants of a telegraph company, who in 1867 pushed forward to Fort Selkirk, 380 miles beyond the conventional frontier. Then after the cession of Alaska to the United States, Raymond was charged with the official survey of the whole fluvial basin within the former Russian territory. * Not Lebatye, as the name of this Canadian is reproduced in all English works. 1" - ;■ t' 120 NORTH AMERirA. According to Scliwiitku the iiiitin IwudHtrcatn (IfHCfiidn from the Porrier I'uhh (4,100 fi'ot), HO nuincd in houour of tbo Frt-nch j^-oj^rnpher. Colloctiug ita wut«r« in ('riitor Luke on tho opposite slope of the (liiikut Mountains near the Ly»u Channel, tho Tukheeua torrent, gradually swollen by numerous tributaries from Fig. 40.— Chilkat and Ciiilkoot Bats. 1 1 I regarded an the niuin Htrcum. Further down the Newberry, the Hig Hulmon, or d'Abbiidio, und the Pelly follow on the (>U8tern alopc ; the luHt mentioned is sometiinim dooignuted as the Yukon throughout its whole course, on the information Huppliod by Campbell, who descended it in lSo2. But Sohwutku has shown that the Ijowes is the true Yukon, Fig. do.— NoMTON Bat, akv Ouut Bbvd or nis Yuxow. '^ Depth*. to its aafett and upward!. i_— eOMUef. having a discharge about a fifth greater than the ?c''y, 37,000 as compared with 29,000 cubic feet. Beyond the Rocky Mountains it is joined by the Stewart and the Porcupine, or Rat, whose valley runs parallel with the coast of the Arctic Ocean. At this confluence the Yukon is only about 400 feet above the sea, and here becomes navigable for steamers drav hig 3 or 4 feet of water. Lower down it expands to a breadth of some miles and Ramifies into numerous branches winding round islands and islrts masking the real river banks. Lower down the branches converge in a single bed, where the navigation is somewhat obstructed by the so-called " Ramparts." But beyond this rocky gorge the stream again ^gi ' Mrij ' »? ? wi^-f;fv 185 Milei. |i' -> within 30 miles of Norton Sound, with which it is connected by an easy portage. Below the isthmus the Yukon continues its south-westerly course, and then trends to the west and north before ramifying into the numerous brauohes of its delta. Although the mainstream was long known as the Kvickpak, from the native name .4;-.v-,-fi:-fi!(R!#i35^'^ THE ALASKAN RIVERS. 129 of the middlo branch, nuvigution is confined to the Aphun, or nortDern branch, which bus an average breadth of 1,600 yards, winding for 40 miles through a willow-fringed bed to an open estuary half obstructed by a bar. The Kvickpak, Kusilvuk, and all the other branches with their lateral channels are similarly separated from the sea by sandy bars, none of which are flooded by more than 10 feet of water. The sea itself is here endangered by alluvial banks, and so shallow that clear water 30 or 40 feet deep scarcely anywhere occurs 60 miles off the shore. In summer and autumn the river rolls down a vast volume of water which melts the fioe-ice and tempers the climate along the coast. But the floating ice becomes again united in winter and spring, forming a cordon of islets round the delta. Fluvial ice also obstructs the delta during this season, and one year persisted so long that the sulmou in vain attempted to ascend the channels. Although really a very large w.itercourse, the Kuskokvira, compared with the Yukon, is regarded only as a secondary stream. It even in some respects belongs to the same fluvial system, for in its lower reaches it approaches the Yukon, and traverses the same alluvial plains. Both rivers are connected by lakes or lagoons alternately dry and flooded, so that the traveller is often uncertain which fluvial basin he is traversing. On the southern slope of the coast range the largest itream flowing entirely within Alaskan territory is the Copper Eivipr. (Atnah), which has been ascended by Allen to the head of the navigation Helow the easy portages leading to the upper course of the Tanana. After describing a great curve to the north, west, and south, round the highlands dominated by Mount Wrangell, the mainstream is joined from the east by Chittynia, which is the true " Copper " River. One of its affluents sends down such a quantity of the metal in solution that salmon are unable to live in its yellow waters. Hence Allen was not justified in applying the name of Copper River to the section of the mainstream which lies above the Chittynia confluence. A few miles below this confluence the united streams plunge into Wood's Canon, one of the wildest gorges in the whole of America. This tortuous chasm, nearly 3 miles long, is contracted in some places to scarcely 120 feet between its vertical basalt walls; but at certain sudden turns the fi^^8uro expands into broad basins without any visible issue. The gorge is enclosed by rocky terraces from 100 to 50O feet' high, black and almost destitute of vegetation. Here and there a few stunted shrubs are seen on the cliffs, and from an over- hanging ledge a broad rivulet is precipitated into the stream, though for the greater part of the year the fall is a solid crystalline mass. Below the gorge begins the lower course of the Copper River, which, after winding to the west of the chain terminating in the " Mountain of Spirits," receives contril utions from the surrounding gluciers, and ramifies into several channels interFecting the alluvial plains of its delta. Occasionally the stream' is partially blocked by the projecting glaciers, greatly endangering the navigation. The Tuku, Stikeen. and other rivers flowing to the southern fjords belong to Alaska only in their lower course, nearly the whole of their catchment ba.^'ins being comprised in British territory. M. A.— 10 ■ m il ' I 'l .11 - , 7;' f S'^--S:..'>»/^^'*:.,. ^'^ 180 NOETII AMEMOA. Oi.iMATK OF Alaska The character of the Alaskan climate is sufficiently indicated by those rivers which send down such enormous quantities of ice to the ocean, and which are themselves ice-bound for eight months in the year. The central depression traversed by the Yukon partly corresponds with the natural parting line between the two sections of the country, draining one to the Arctic, the other to the Pacific waters. At one point near Fort Yukon the Arctic circle itself touches the Fig. 63. — Ibothxbhai. Lombs or Alaska. Scale I : 20,000,000. 165° W»at oP Greenwich course of tlie river, and after intersecting the tundras crosses Kotzebue Sound, leaving Bering Strait entirely within the temperate zone. Hence the climate of the northern section resembles that of the Polar Archipelago. During Ray's residence at Barrow Point the glass never rose to 64'^ /., while it often fell to — 13°. A temperature of — 52° hn even been recorded, but the region south of Bering Strait is much warmer, the mean heat being several degrees higher than under the corresponding latitude on the east side of the continent.* This comparative mildness is due to the disposition of the mountain ranges, * Contrant between the west and east coasts of America under the same latitude : — Sitka, on the west side, 67° Lat. -, , . . 41° F. mean tempemture. Nain, on the east side, 67° 10' ,, ;:;';". 26° ,, THE CLIMATE OF ALASKA. 181 which shelter the southern coastlunds from the pulur winds. On the other hand, the great curve of the peninsula of Alaska, continued westwards by the Aleutian Chain, deflects towards Asia all the cold waters from the Frozen Ocean, while the tepid stream from Japan penetrutt'S freely into all the bays and inlets along the southern seaboard. The winter snows are soon melted, and the harbours are covered only by thin sheets of ice, so that vessels are able to ride at anchor throughout the yeiu. J^ut if the winters are mild, the summers are moist and relatively cold. The sky is mostly overcast by the clouds gathered up by the prevailing south-east winds, and precipitating their contents almost incessantly.* Being interrupted by numerous breaches, the mountainous Aleutian Chain receives a slighter rainfall than the ooast-ranges sweeping round in the direction of British Columbia The precipitation is heavy, especially on the coastlands which begin at St. Elias, and which lie at a right angle with the winds and currents of the north Pacific, the annual rainfall here rising to several yards. Fort Tungas, the southernmost station in Alaska, is the wettest spot on the whole American seaboard, from Bering Strait to Tierra del Fuego. /But on the opposite slope of the mountains, in the Tanana and Euskokvim valleys, the climate assumes a more continental character. Throughout the interior of Alaska, the ground is permanently frozen below the surface, in some places to a depth of at least tlO feet. The moisture is thus prevented fiom filtering through, and the upper strata, even on the slopes of the hills, become swampy in the warm season. On the other hand, the carpet of mosses and lichens covering the ground arrests the effect of the solar rays in the depths of the sub-soil.t The main current of the Japanese "Black Stream" strikes th« southern extremity of the Alaskan seaboard, here ramifying into two branches, one of which flows south-eastwards along the Oregon and Ctlifornian coasts, while the other turns back along the shores of Alaska and the Aleutian Chain. Within this vast semicircle, the water has a mean temperature of 48° to 50° F., that is, a few degrees higher than the neighbouring coast. But north of the Aleutians, the mean temperature of the oceanic waters diminishes rapidly, though shifting with the seasons according as the various secondary currents predominate in the Bering Strait. According to most navigators, the southern waters prevail during the greater part of the year; but throughout the winter a glacial uorth-w* st wind penetrates into the strait and is accompanied by large quantities of wutet- which usually follow the Asiatic coast, while the more t(>pid currents turn back along the American coast. Thus is produced a sort of eddy, which is revealed by the I Iranges, * Rainj dayH at Sitka, 286 in the year (Dall). t Meteorolugioal conditions at vaiioiut pointw of AlaHka : — ExtrciDM N. lAt. ilmi Temp. ofCnld. nf HMt DainAin Banow Point . . 71° 18- . . - 4° F. . . - 62° F. . +66° F. . 1 inch. Fort Yuikon . 67° 12' . . +16° . —36° . . +6J° . — St. Michael . 63° 27' . . +24° . —64° . . +76° • . • •■!(?) Sitka . 67° 3 . . +4I» . — 4° . . +75° . 81 Fort Tongaii . . 64° 46' . . +*<• 0° . . +91° . 84 Analaiihka . 6:f 29' . . +30° «° . . +77° « 182 NORTH AMERICA. ! '•i^ drift ice, but which disappears when the Strait is unnuuUy clused by the ice-pack, lu the inlets along both sides of the horn of Alaska, the tides rise to a great lieight, over 50 feet in the Euskokvim estuary, and in Cook Strait forming a bore of 26 feet. Iii these waters the ' woollies," or sudden squalls sweeping down from the surrounding uplands, are much dreaded by mariners. F1.0HA OF Alaska. - ,' To the difference of climate corresponds a striking contrast in the aspect of the two seaboards facing one another on Bering Strait. The Asiatic side, washed by cold waters, i"; almost destitute of vegetation beyond mosses, lichens, or a few dwarf bushes in the sheltered places, while on the American coast flourish whole fttrests of shrubs, growing to a height of 20 feet, and yielding abundant crops of berries. In spring, the plains are diversified' by the brilliant colours of dowering plants, and the terraces of Cape Lisburn, at the north-west angle of Alaska, look like a garden.* But the northern coasts, between Eotzebue Sound and the Mackenzie estuary, are completely destitute of trees, driftwood being the only timber known on this seaboard. Nearly the whole region extending north of the Arctic Circle is a mere stretch of marshy plains or tundras perfectly uniform in appearance, frozen or spongy according to the seasons, and thickly dotted over with argillaceous knolls a few yards high. To cross these dreary wastes, the traveller has to jump from knoll to knoll at the risk of falling into the intervening depressions and getting entangled in the matted roots of the herbaceous or woody vegetation.. North of the Yukon the \nllows an 1 alders are mere s(|rub and grow not in continous forests ' jt in scattered clumps on the less spongy mounds and knolls. Even the Aleutian Islands have no forests of spontaneous growth, the only large trees being the firs or pines planted since the beginning of the present century. These trees have struck root, but do not germinate, and unless carefully protected the little woodlands of Amakuak and Unalashka must soon disappear. The herbaceous vegetatioi of this archipelago nowhere presents any Asiatic types; American in the east, it becomes purely Arctic towards the western extremity. The European clover thrives well in South Alaska. Great forests, chiefly formed of conifers, begin with the semicircle of coast- lands sweeping round southwards in the direction of British Columbia. The section of Eudiak Island facing westwards is still under grass, while the opposite side is already covered with timber, the parting line between the two zones corresponding with the difference in the atmospheric currents. The west is exposed to the cold Asiatic winds, the cast to the gules from the American uplands, which blow with such fury that the trees, especially in the Alex mder Archipelago, are all inclined in the direction of the west.t These southern forests, where the most valuable species is the yellow cedur {cu/tressus mitkatenain), ore scarcely less • Berthold Seeman, The f'oyage of the '' HertiU." t Seton Karr, Atmtka. f \ I \t: I ,r, a. , i , ^ • \ ■ 'VA'j»iiitjt*i'.,i";i'i^-;,'f'Jdf:i^',S" '■:' ■':-rCr,,Aipm&i: i FLORA AND FAUNA OF ALASKA. 18U difficult of access than the almost impenetrable thickets o[ the Amazonian and other tropical regions. The rains, prevailing for nine months in the year, foster an undergrowth of dank herbage concealing quagmires and sheets of water, decaying roots and snags dangerous to the wayfarer. The excessive moisture which stimulates vegetable growth, at the same time deprives the flowers of their Fig. 63.— ZoiTES OF TiuiEs AMU Ranob of Chibf Animal SpeaKS in Alaska. Bcale 1 : 90,000,000. 10^ '■" Tundna. Limit nf Dwarf Willnw. Bnnieof ri Conlfen. T.imit "f T Jmit of Mnrraf Pine. Amerioiui Larch. M . £30 MUfs. fragrance, and the fruits of their flavour. The berries gathered in the neighbour- hood of Sitka are almost tasteless. Fauna. ■/„■,".,-■-; '- ■ ■ According to Dall, the Alaskan fauna comprises 62 species, all of which occur elsewhere — in Siberia, the Arctic Archipelago, British America, and the United States. The northern continuation of the Rocky Mountains forms the divide between the Canadian and Arctic types on the one hand, and those of Oregon on the other, both zones merging together towards the horn of .Alaska (Dall). The white bear is met only in the regions facing the Polar Sea. black and brown bears ^** L ^i 181 NORTH AMERICA. b «ww'*^'i ' . ' ^^ ' ■ ' , '» " '* "* INHABITANTS OF ALASKA. 185 Tboy have no chiefs, cither elected or hereditary, and dwoll in a state of absolute equality. Neighbouring septs are never at ':ar, and oven crimes, if cnromitted, go unpunished. The idea of personal property is scarooly developed, except in respect of bouts ; hence the people make no scruple to help themselves to what- ever takes their fancy, unless it be in a cabin or a cache. On the other hand when in their turn deprived of anything, they make no demand for restitution. Wrangling is unknown, the children are left to amuse themselves in their own way, and the women are treated on a footing uf perfect equality with the men. "M Fig. 54.~lNHikBrrAMT8 OP Alaska. Scale 1 : ilO,000,U()U OtoSO FaUwmi. Septha. SO to BOO FaUmina. GOOFfethonw •ad npwarda. . saoMiiM. No contract is considered settled until ratified by them, and not even the shortest trip is undertaken without their advice. But the marriage tie is easily broken, especially on the occasion of long hunting or fishing expeditions, when the weaker women remain in the village with the old and feeble, while the others accompany the men. There are no funeral rites, although apparitions are much dreaded. They also fear Tunya, the invisible spirit, dwelling in the earth, the water, and the heavens ; Eiolya, the spirit of the aurora borealis, is likewise dreaded, and nheu ^% ".T^TS**-'"^'^-.''""'''^ - 180 NOUTH AMEBICA. ! \'\ obliged to bi' iibroud during the starless nights they urtn themselves with an ivory wund against the malevolent genii. In certain districts the aged and children are killed during times of scarcity. As amongst the Siberian Chukchcs, the old people themselves usk to be despatched, whereupon thoy receive a dose of nux vomica ; then their throats are cut and they are delivered to the dogs, who will be devoured in their turn. The Eskimo of Alaska seem to have lost some of their skill as carvers und sculptoni. In the American museums are preserved admirable carvings on bone and wood, repre- senting deer and other animals in all attitudes, carvings which no native artist could now execute. The Alaskans also cultivate pottery ; but as buut-builders und fishers they are greatly excelled by their kindred of Greenland, and their arms are also of a very rude typo compared with those of the eastern Innuits. The Alaikan villages have always their kanhga, or place of assembly, a large structure where are held public deliberations and theatrical performances. In the Kuskokvim district, these " municipal buildings " are furnished with benches disposed in amphitheatrieal form. The ordinary dwellings consist of interlaced branches covered with a thick laN'er of hard earth and lighted by a block of ice placed in a narrow opening on top. The Aleutians, so named by the Russians, call themselves Unungun, or Eagu- tuya Kungios, that is, " People of the East," thus attesting their continental origin. All the early travellers describe them in much the same language that Ray applies to the Eskimo ci Barrow Point. Thus Cook speaks of these islanders as the most peaceful and incffensivo people he had ever met, who might serve as examples for the most civilized nation on the globe. The Aleuts are in truth the most patient and resigned of mortals, never uttering a complaint or shedding a tear ; yet they are animated by the deepest affection for their families, and have been known to die of hunger in order to leave their children the remaining stock of provisions. As long as they enjoyed independence the Aleutians were a cheerful people ; but after enduring the hard yoke of the Russians they became moody and de- pressed. No indignity had been spared them, and their manhood was so com- pletely brok'-'n, that they henceforth submitted to everything with absolute resignation. Hence during the first period of the Russian rule, they rapidly dim- inished in number, and phthisis threatened to sweep away the whole race. Acconl- ing to Jelikov, the island of Kadiak alone had formerly 50,000 inhabitants ; but in 1779 the whole population of the archipelago had been reduced to about 20,000. Fourteen years later they numbered little over 8,000 and in 1840 were reduced to 4,007. But since then they have again begun to increase, while the national type has been greatly modified by crossings. Although the "Creoles," as the half-castes are called, resemble their Aleut mothers more than their Russian fathers, the race on the whole seems to have been physically and morally improved. The Unalashka islanders had alreadv been half Russified in character and usages fully fifty years ago. Hence the usages of the Aleuts are known mainly by tradition and the discoveries made in the old habitations and graves. In the Shumagin Archipelago Wl,ty-: J INIIADI'J VNTH OF ALASKA. 18: sages I'inurt haM explored ono of the burial cuvis, where the bodies wore Riirroundod by various objects, Huch as carved and painted iiiasks, some differing little from those of the ancient Toltccs, while others were applied to the face, doubtless in order to beguile the evil spirits, and avert their malice. The dead were stretched on mossy beds containing a complete collection of the implements and utensils at that time manufactured by the natives. In other graves the skeletons lie in a crouched attitude, the head resting on the knees, as in the case of the Peruvian mumniies. The Eskimo apply the term Ingalil, that is, " Unintelligible," to the Alaskiiii Indians, whoso language they do nut understand. These Indians, a branch of the widespread Athabascii.i or Tinnoh family, occupy the Yukon basin above the low- lying alluvial tracts, and towards the south they reach the coast between Cook Inlet and the mouth of the Copper River. But in many places the transitions between the various races are so gradual that various tribes are grouped by some observers with the Eskimo, by others with the Red Skins. They are collectively called " Siwaches," this term being nothing more than an English mispronunciation of the Canadian " 8auvuges," and they have themselves adopted the designation of " Boston Siwaches," thereby betraying a consciousness of their ethnical kinship with the United States Indians. On the Upper and Middle Yukon the Canadian trappers group them, under the name of Loucheux, with the neighbouring Indians within the British frontier. The special tribal names are for the most part derived not 60 much from .my particular or characteristic features as from the localities occupied by them. Thus have been named the Yukon-Kuchins, or " People of the Yukon," the Tenan-Euchins, or " People of the Knolls " (on the Tanana), the Eocha-Euchins.or " Lowlanders," near the delta, the Hun-Kuchins, or " Foresters," the Atna-Tana, or " People of the Atna " (Copper River). These last, if not all the others, speak an Athabascan dialect, and Allen has detected a striking resem- blance between them and the Mexican Apaches, who are also members of the Athabascan family. . ' Lying beyond the sphere of Russian nnd American influence, the Indians of the Tanana basin have preserved their primitive usages. They still paint their faces, wear head-dresses of feathers, insert bits of bone or stone in the cartilage of the nose, and adorn their skin robes with fringes and glass beads. The Tanana valley is probably the only part oi North America where the Red Skin may still be seen in his primitive state. In one of the Upper Yukon tribes customs survive which recall the time when the widow sacrificed herself, as in India, on the funeral pyre of her husband. When the flames begin to dart up between the fagots, she is required to clasp the corpse, and allow her hair to be singed, and then thrust her hand through the blazing fire to touch his breast at the risk of her life. In return the ashes are placed in a pouch which she wears for two years round her neck.* One of the most numerous and original of these tribes are the Kinai or Thnaiana, that is, " Men " who dwell in the Einai Peninsula, east of the horn of Alaska. Amongst them the Shamans are by far the most respected members of the community. But they are expected on all occasions to recite songs, and to * Sheldon JiiokBon, ^/a ita. J 188 NORTU AMERICA. If' ' ll cninpoao now verncs in order to aHtoni^h and propitiute tho genii. Tho most revered of Htiperior beingH is tho constellation of the Plough, nuppoHed to bo the unccstorof thu ruco. Tho ruvou is uIho voneruted as their father, and this deity is thu contri of all their nutionul myths. Watur, islandH, rocks, everything in nature is peopled by spirits, who must bo invoked to secure success in all tht'* undertakings. Kluiih is tho " groat lord of tho hill-tops," and ho inr.<,t ^\' uiTored ougles' plumes, Hsh, soul-oil, in return for tho anticipated gamo. The populations scattered along the South Alaskan soulraard, south-east of the (/oppcr River and in the adjacent aruhipelagoes, are known by the collective names of Thlinkit and Kolosh. The latter term, which has fallen into abeyance since Russian times, appears to bo a corrupt form of the Aleutian Kaluga, meaning " disk," in reference to the lip ornament, analogous to tho botoquc of the Bolooudos, worn by the Thlinkit women. Since 1840 the Thliukits are said to have decreased from about 20,000 to 7,000 or 8,000, subdivided into numerous tribal groups, according to the islands or river valleys inhabited by them. Such are the Chilkuts and Cbilkuts of Lynn Sound, the Thahk-hicbes about the headwaters of the Yukon, the Sitkas, from whom the oupitul of Alaska takes its name, the Stickccus, Tungus, and others. Tho Haidas of the Queen Charlotte Islands are also represented in South Alaska. All these natives are distinguished by their prominent features, so different from the flat Eskimo face, and presenting a certain Jewish physiognomy. Although almost indifferent to cold, owing to their fish diet, they suffer much from the ravages of leprosy, by which some are disfigured beyond all human form. They are also infested by a particular species of parasite, the »taphylinu» pedieulua. Their spacious and substantial habitations are embellished with intricate carvings, in which the initiated are able to read the family history. Formerly almost every house was also guarded by one or two wooden pillars <30 to 50 feet high, carved from base to top with figures of men, animals, and diverse objects, and at first supposed to be the creation of a grotesque fancy. Now they are known to be genealogical trees, in which each figure represents an ancestor of the race. The totems, or symbolical images distinguishing every family, are introduced, like the heraldic emblems of the European nobles, to commemorate the fame of their illus- trious forefathers. In front of many houses stand two such trees, one for the paternal, the other for the maternal line. Certain villages on the seashore present forests of these sculptured posts sheltered by the natural pine forests of the back- g-'ound. The two great divisions are those of the Raven and the Wolf, subdivided into the secondary clans of the Frogs, Geese, Owls, Eagles, Bears, Sharks, Whales, and others of high and low caste. Some of the figures are executed with surprising truth to nature, attesting the marvellous powers of observation of the natives. But others, such as that of a crocodile on the grave of a chief, represent forms which the Thlinkits can never have seen, and have evidently reproduced from hearsay, or more probably from traditions handed down from times anterior to the migration to their present homes. All agree in the belief that their ancestors came originally from the south-east. ■I f I i| ; nn )i nmui,|.H »> J.)l >ii WP,n M il> - ' "WIJI ' ,;W. i ;. '< . ' ,l" '' -J ' l." "" if l, ^/ '" MWU W nM i'i . !) " ...,,-, , ,. INIlAHITANTd OF ALASKA. IHO Under fi»r<>i)ifn iiifluMnouH tho artistic MmM^ in waiiitig, und alri'udy thu tiiioHt Mpociiiit'iis found in tlieir Iiouhoh und gruvtm huve Iwen loinovt'd to tho Atnorieun und Kuropeun musouinii. The nuHsionurios, ulso, in thoir oxcusHivo zoa), endou- v<)ur to BtipproM all tho old mortuary ritot — ox|)osure of thi 1>«)dy on u plut- fortn or in a cunoo, burial in tho houHo or neighbouring forest, lubmernion in tho Heu or btreums, luatl}', croinution, which is hold up to npociul obloquy. Vlg. H. —Tomb or Thuniit CiiiRr. •id ■S B Although generally of a mild temperament, the Thlinkits do not submit like the EHkimo to oppression. Intertribal wars are frequent, and in 1851 the Chilkats, crossing the Rocky Mountains, joined the Thahk-hichea in an expedition 500 miles from their homes, against Fort Selkh*k, which was interfering with the local trade. Most of the tribes have chiefs ; who, however, are bound to conform to custom — they cannot declare war without the assent of the council, and all abuse of power is promptly resented. On the other band, the greatest honours are paid to them, and formerly human victims were even immolated on their graves. -.iJj'.cTi'-'jJC'K'H ;*'!*£.'.; 140 NOBTH AMERICA. The last captives reserved for these funeral rites were ransomed by the Russians toward, the middle of the century.* The whites are scarcely represented in Alaska, except by the " Creoles," nearly all half-breeds of Russian and Aleut descent without any strain of Indian blood. A few Norwegian fishers and American miners reside in the southern districts ; but the recent attempt to attract Iceluhders to Kudiak was unsuccessful, those islanders preferring the dryer though colder climate of Manitoba. Topography of Alaska. There are no American stations north of Bering Strait. Barter Island, west of the Mackenzie estuary, is, however, visited periodically during the fair, which is frequented even by the Asiatic Chukches. Barrow Point was occupied for two years only for meteorological purposes ; but a station or harbour of refuge must soon be established for the whalers, either here or at Bort-C/urence, an excellent haven sheltered by the extreme headland of the American continent. The village of Kinging (Kingegan), facing East Cape on the Asiatic side, is uninhabited except in summer, when it is frequented by the Eskimo from all quarters for trading purposes. During this season the island of St. Lawrence also does some traffic in furs, ivcry, and whalebone with the Asiatic continent. . ;■ • On the south side of Norton Sound are met the first white stations, Unalaklit, at the mouth of the river of like name, and St. Michael, an excellent harbour sheltered by a large volcanic island forming the natural port of the whole Yukon b««in. Here is the chief station of the Fur Company ; but the surrounding swampy district yields littla produce to support an export trade. I Throughout its whole course of over 2,000 miles the Yukon has no larger centre of population than its little port of St. Michael. Fort Selkirk, at the con- fluence of the Lewis and Felly, within the Canadian frontier, has remained a ruin since its capture by the Chilkats, and is now replaced by Forts Reliance and Belleisle, built by Mercier for the Hudson Bay Company, Fort Yukon, con- veniently situated at the Porcupine confluence, was formerly a busy station during the barter season ; but it had to be abandoned when the geographical surveys showed that it stood, not in British, but in America,n territory. i Some 20 miles below Nuklukayet, at the junction of the Yukon and Tanana, the new station of Mercier or Tamma was founded in 1868 by a French Canadian company. It is already one of the most important trading places in Alaska, and here are brought the best peltries by the Atna-Tunas and other Indians, sometimes from distances of over 'JOG miles. Farther on, ihe banks of the Yukon are almost completely deserted since the destruction of the Nulatos and other verain tribes by wars and epidemics. Anvik, at the head of the portage across the tundras to St. Michael, marks the parting line between the Indians and Eskimo, neither of whom ever cross the common border. Ikogmnt, on the southern bend of the Yukon, ^t the terminus of the Kunkokvim portage, is the centre of the Russian missions y . . . • Hooper, T/ie Tenti of ihe Tuxki. •.ifiji m Urn- I f TOPOGRAPnY OF ALASKA. 141 for the whole of Alusku. Lower down, near the bifurcation of the delta, stands the factory of Andreicnkiij, one of the most important of the Company's trading- places. In this low-lying region there are several large camping-grounds, such as Kmhtunuk, Kongiganagamitt and Kinagamiut, with a total population of about 3,000 full-blood Eskimo enjoying a relative degree of prosperity. The walrus still frequents the neighbouring coasts, and the natives display as much skill as their ancestors in carving the ivory obtained from the tusks of the animal. On the Euskokvim the chief station is Kolmakovskiy, founded in 1839 by the Russians 200 miles above the estuary. From Port Alexander, at the mouth of i\e Nushagak river or Bristol Bay, are exported the skins of the musk-rat, all of which are sold in France and Germany. But the whole trade of the Yukon basin, at most £5,000 a year, has greatly fallen off with the decrease of the native popu- lation, caused by the scarcity of game, drink, and general demoralisation. Nor are the American employes of the Company any longer satisfied with the modest pay which the English and Russian traders formerly gave to their trappers. Not more than fifteen whites are at present engaged in the peltry trade throughout the vast basin of the Yukon, wbere blankete are still the currency in all transuclious with the Eskimo and Indians. The Eskimo inhabiting the islands of the Bering Sea live almost exclusively on fish and game ; but despite the abundance of animals in these waters they are at jimes prevented by the pack-ice from procuring sufficient supplies. Thus in 1878 as many as 400, including nearly all the children and over a third of the women, perished of hunger in the island of St. Lawrence, out of a total popula- tion of about a thousand. On the other hand the little Pribylov islands have become the chief source of wealth for the whole of Alaska, since the American Company has here established its famous fur-seal " rookeries." The archipelago, long known to the Aleuts under tho name of Atyk, comprises, besides a few islets and rewfs, the two islands of St. George and St. Paul, discovered by Pribylov in 1786 and 1787, the first 930 feet high, the second lower and dotted over with cones and craters. They were originally uninhabited, but were soon frequented by Russian and afterwards by Knglish fishers, who pursued the fur-bearing seals so recklessly that these valuable animals were , threatened with total extermina- tion. The chase was thus necessarily interrupted, and would have ceased altogether had not some speculators conceived the idea of converting the island into a vast marine farm, and systematically working the fisheries wilh a close season. In a few years they were repeopled, and at present co .tain on an average about 5,000,000 seals, of which 100,000 are yearly killed by the chartered company which has obtained the concession of the islands from the American Government at a yearly rental of £52,000. The same " Alaska Commercial Company " leases from the Rusi>ian Government the Siberian islands of Bering and Copper for a royalty of two roubles for every captured seal, or about £4,000 u year. The whcle population of the Pribylov Archipelago, about 400 Aleuts and Creoles, depends diiectly or indirectly on the company, "''g^y.yffljgsg^. ' ' ' *^' ? I ' j ' f ' igy'^^ ^' '" ' .V ' I' f Ji / gJs;!! ' j ' f " ' i?*i?." TOPOGRAPHY OP ALASKA. 148 are pursued by the servants of the company. From 20,000 to 25,000 sea-lions {eumetopias Stelleri) inhabit the island of St. Paul during the summer, and 7,000 or 8,000 pess the season in St. George, where they numbered 200,000 or 300,000 at the close of lust century. The Aleuts prefer their flesh to that of the fur- bearing seal, and utilise their skins to cover their baidaras or fishing-boats. The walrus is now met only in Walrus Island, a steep rock rarely visited by the whites stationed at St. Paul. The natives hunt the walrus for its tusks, and the sea-otter for its cosily fur, which is usually valued at £12, but which has fetched us much as £100. The sea-otter hds been almost completely exterminated in the ■) Fig. 67.— Island of St. Paui.. Soale 1 : 240,000. Bschelnn. nt,i8< Feet. Depths. -K Af Fef t nnil 6«sl Fiuniliea. , eii'it'o. Pribylov Archipelago, as well as in Cook's Inlet ; but from 6,000 to 6,000 are still annually captured in the group of Saanak islets south of the bom of Alaska. Since the occupation of Alaska by the Urited States, this valuable auimal has gradually increased in numbers by the eiiforcement of a close season. In the Aleutian Archipelago the chief station is Iluiliuk {Illoolooli), better known by its Russian name of Unalanhka, on the north hide of Unala&hka Island at Captain's Harbour, a well-sheltered haven, free of ice throughout the year. The neighbouring island of Uniraak doi^s some trade in sulphur, and before the introduction of firearms supplied the Aleuts with obsidian for the manufacture of J 144 NORTH AMERICA. knives and harpoons. Nearly all the islands west of Unalashka are at present uninhabited, except Atkha, which has some permanently occupied hamlets, and Attn, at the extremity of the chain, whose inhabitants since the disappearance of the sea- otter have introduced the blue fox, and have also domest-cated the wild ! 1 He)-* open nortL Near the south-west extremity of Alaska Peninsula, some Norwegians, who have abandoned their mother tongue for English, have established themselves on a deep inlet near Belkovsktj, whither they bring the produce of their fisheries and the sea otters captured in the mnghbouring Saanak islets. Recently, attention has been directed to the shoals of cod which abound on this seaboard as far as the Bering Sea on the one hand and the Juan de Fuca Strait on the other. The Alaskan cod, however, is far less appreciated than that of Newfoundland, probably because not so carefully cured for the European and American markets. The Scandinavian settlers at Belk;>vsky have also perhaps another source of future weallh in the carboniferous deposits of Unga in the Sbumagin group, although the coal is very sulphurous. On the mainland follow other stations at intervals of about 60 miles. But in these wateis tlsc most important is St. Paul, on the east side of Kadiak Island, whicb Wi 1832 was the capital of all the Russian American possessions. • But I'V ?rat of fhe administration was, for no apparent reason, then removed to u i7«rar)''T Island, which certainly possesses less advantages than Kadluk. iha . tinitt. i is less copious, the forests are more accessible, leaving a few pauc u:v <'ati1e-hreeding, the surrounding waters i»re richer in fish, and due A KiidiNk runs Cook's Inlet, where salmon attaias its greatest perfection in size and flavour. The average weight is no less than 50 pounds, and some have been taken weighini, as much as 100 pounds. ;' • : ' '^ X; ' v Niichek or Port-Evhcs, on Nuchok Island, near the mouth of the Copper River ; Yitkatnt, an abandoned penal settlement near the foot of Mount St. Elias ; and Lihiyn, on the magnificent land-locked harbour below Cape Fairweather explored by Laporouse, are mere fishing hamlets or stations visited chiefly by explorers. Towards the middle of the century as many as 400 whalers were occasionally assembled in these waters : in 1880 not more than forty visited all the Alaskan seas. :; ' i Juneau Cifi/, or Ilarrinfmr.f, at present the largest place in Alaska, stands east of the St. Elias Alps and Cu^e, Spence, at the foot of a steep fovest-clad hill not far from the most productiv: gold mines in the whole territory. The richest deposits are in Douglas Islan i, separated by a narrow channel from Juneau, which also prepares considerable quantities of prciti es uiui of salmon for the Californiau market. .;> ■, ,; , ';?, ■ v-::,::r-=4 •.^- 7i_ ■,,',. "i^;- Sitka, the Nova-Arkhanfjehk of the Tvussians, was founded in 1799, and brcume the capital of Alaska In 1832, when it was also declared a tree port for the whole world. Nevertheless, it has remained a wretched village of some 300 inhabitants at the head of a sound on the east side of Baranov Island, which is still almont entirely covered with pine forests. Its gold, copper and coal mines ML rnian "V'?i ?'' ^'iwr' j "i ' iji ^;mm¥y >i »,vf ''' %^>fiir*j9r-?v^WJS!!l ' ''^^ ^ ^^ a>^" ' .f:"^v-m}^i TOPOOEArnY OF ALASKA. 145 are abandoned, and its industries are reduced to fishing and some trade in timber. The town is not visible from the sea, being marked by headlands and numerous islets ; but at the issue of a winding channel it is seen grouped on a rising ground near the bold headland of Cape Edgecumbe and at the western foot of the superb Mount Verstovia. WestA'ards the port is sheltered by Japonskiy Island, and, although obstructed by reefs and islets, is spacious enough to acconi- Fig. 68.— Sitka Bat. Soale 1 : 900,000. . ~. Tepths. to .S3 Feat. 82 to 3-.0 Feet. 320 to 641) itet. 640 Feet and upward!. a Mile*. modate a whole fleet, but is scarcely visited except by the regular steamer from San Francisco. Sitka is regarded as an unhealthy place, doubtless owing to the spongy nature of the soil. The streets are scavengered chiefly by a species of singing raven (corvus cacatoil), a bird which is sacred in the eyes of the natives, but which preys upon the poultry and even attacks swine. Some 20 miles south of Sitka flews a copious thermal and sulphurous spring, which has always been m^jch frequented by the Thlinkits. On the slopes of Verstovia have been discovered some deposits of very pure bismuth. , ». A.— 11 .._,... .:„^ ....;;ffU , s-'va; 146 NORTH AMERICA. Farther south the other so-culled " towns," Wrangell and Fort Tungnn, are inferior even to Sitka in population and traffic. They are merely factories, which till recently enjoyed some little importance 'as military outposts against the Indians. But Wrangell was really a large place during the four years between 1874 and 1879, when the Califomian miners were flocking to the placers of Cussiar, in British Columbia. From Wrangell they received their supplies and through it forwarded their gold dust. i (I- !'<"■■ m m Administration — Instruction — Trade. Although an American possession by right of purchase, Alaska really lies almost beyond the United States from the administrative point of view. Military posts had to be established along the seaboard, the natives having resented the transfer of their territory to new masters. But there were no revolts, the report having been spread that these new masters " had many guns ; " the garrisons were consequently withdrawn as useless. The central government has also incurred some expenditure in the exploration of the country ; but the scientific missions have not been carried out on a strictly systematic plan. The sums voted for the instruction of the natives have not been directly applied, and even the custom- house, introduced at first in Sitka, has been everywhere abolished. In fact Alaska had been considered unworthy to occupy the attention of the Washington Legislature, when the Government felt itself called upon to protect the interests of the Alaskan Company leasing the Pribylov Islands, by declaring the Bering Sea a " closed " basin, and interdicting seal and walrus fishing to all foreign vessels even beyond the line of 3 miles from the shore. But these pretensions seem incompatible with the precedents of international right, and will scarcely be accepted by Great Britain, the power most interested in the question of the fisheries in the northern seas. In 1821 Bussia had also attempted to close the Bering Sea ; but although at that time she held possession of both coasts, the claim was not admitted by the other naval powers.* In religious matters the Russian Government has reserved a certain degree of authority, for it still remains the official protector of the Orthodox Greek religion and subsidises the churches of Sitka, Kadiak, and Unalashka. The Russian prelate residing at San Francisco is the spiritual head of all his co-religionists in Alaska. For the education of the natives in Russian, English, Eskimo, or Thlinkit the authority remains in the same way, not with the federal government, but with the Russian priests and the missionaries of various denominations. These religious bodies have in many places taken upon themselves to decree compulsory instruction for all native children between the ages of five and nineteen, and in Sitka they have even exercised judicial functions, condemning to a day's imprison- ment pupils playing the truant. Nevertheless, general instruction cannot have yet penetrated very deeply, for the whole of Alaska is still without a single periodical of any kind. • J. Q. Kohl, Oeaehiehlt der Enideekung Amerika'$. i ■£-■ I) '/^S'^;'^*i'.' ' I . WM!J | l lf ji I ■ ■ ^ ■ n I p». - i^. .^.!J | ■ ,|j. > |;.. ii |j j i II ..B.^ i y i ^^ I II . i j . I.,,, n y^y ,! , u 1-3 o 1,1 i i li. I % i| IM ' . ' "l ' """ ■ '-■> "»,<'■ m , ! { V Ml "W m i I i .a iii ii "V w^'r ^m ) 7 "" ■■ "< «< -W W ADMINISTIIATION OF ALASKA. U1 IJeforc iy84 there wore neither juHtkes nor police, und except in Sitka, Kudiuk, Juiieuu, and Unulushku, justice wus irregularly udminiHtered by the ini»8ionarie8, white lundownera or pUHsing sou-captuins. In the trading districtH the reul udmiuistrutora are the representatives of the Alaska (Commercial Company, owneiH not only of the seal-rookeries, but virtually also of the natives themselves, who, however, are far better treated than during the Russian sway. The whole import trade of Alaska was valued in 1888 at il(J4,000. Sitka and the other southern seaports are now conne<;ted by a fortnightly steam service with San Francisco, and in summer the magnificent scenery attracts numerous American and other tourists. The project has even already been mooted of a railway to run from the Canadian Trunk Line along the east foot of the Rocky Mountains to the Upper Yukon basin. The fertile tracts along the Peace River as well as the mineral districts of the Stickeen Valley would thus be opened up for colonisation, and a fov,' immigrants would then undoubtedly find their way to the more attrac- tive parts of Alaska. Sitka is connected by a telegraph with the North American system ; but the line intended to cross Bering Strait and connect, the Old and New- Worlds was abandoned in 18G7, when this project was rendered useless by the succegs of the Transatlantic Cable. "^ i V« lA , ; . CHAPTER V. THE DOMINION OF CANADA AND NEWFOUNDLAND. I.-GENEliAL CONSIDERATIONS. ■"HE vast stretch of lands occupying all the northern section of North Amei'ii^a, and politically defined as the " Dominion of Canada," constitutes no distinct geographical unit. The frontier towards the United States is in a great measure purely conventional, running for about 1,300 miles from Juan de Fuca Strait to the Lake of the Woods along 4!)° north latitude, an ideal limit which crossfs lofty ranges, plateaux, and rivers, irrespective of all mountain axes or div'^Jes between the fluvial basins. Thus the headwaters of the Columbia river lie within Canadian territory, while its lower course flows through the north-west corner of the United States. So alao the Upper Mi; )uri aflHuents riiie north of the political frontier, and on the other hand the Red River of the north, main brunch of a stream falling into Hudson Bay, takes its origin fai to he south of the border near the sources of the Mississippi. Beyond the Lak« > f 'he V 'ds, which is traversed by a tortuous dividing line regardless of all n».'i..'.' oojiviitions, the frontier follows the Rainy Lake and River, and an old pc ' . to Lake Superior. In the region of the great lakes, however, the line coim k:^.! with the natural features, skirting the north side of Lake Superior f the Sault Ste. Marie, then dipping south of Cockburn and Great Manitoulin Islands, so as to enclose the whole of the peninsula formed by Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario, and, lastly, following the left ba'ik of the St. Lawrence as far as 45° north latitude. But here again begins another conventional line, keeping to the same parallel across rivers and lakes to the vicinity of the source of the Connecticut river. Beyond this point the common frontier runs at fir^t north-east along a mountain crest, and is then further deflected in such a way that the State of Maine approaches at one point close to the right bank of the St. Lawrence and then encroaches on the greater part of the Upper St. John valley. The territory of the Dominion is geographically known in direct proportion to the density of its civilised populations. Canada, properly so called, that is, the part of the St. Lawrence valley comprised between the great lakes and fluvial J!isannMaM|ii|a«|M|afa '* I ...^ f it ^'IS IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian iia microraproductions historiquas riHift GENERAI. CONSIDEEATIONS. 149 estuary, is at once the most thickly peopled and the most thoroughly surveyed. Farther west, the points astronomically determined become rarer, but are continu- ally increasing and drawing nearer to each other, thanks to the opening of t'le transcontinental railway and the rapid settlement of the country. Geological sections and charts are being multiplied ; the main directions of mountain ranges and rivers, hitherto roughly sketched, are being more accurately determined. In the southern regions, near the United States frontier, the early itineraries have Fig. 69.- Chief Exflobebs of Noktb AiiEmcA. 40" West of Greenwich 120* 1494. J. C. John Cahnt. 1494-9fi. Sebantian Cabot. IfiOO. Cortereal. 1A24. Gomel. IftSS. Csrtier. IMS. Cabrillo. Ift76. Frobither. 1A79. Drake. lfi%. Davis. Ifi92 (T) Juan de Fooa. 1610. Hndnn. 1612. Button. 1618-16. Champlain. I61A Baffin. 1618. Mnnk. 1681. Jamea. „ Fox. 1684. Albnnel. 16&»-6Ji. Cbouard. 1609. Allonez. Iti71. Marquette. 1673. JoUet. lt«2. Cavelier de la Sille. 1721. De la VAi-aDdrye. ., Egede. 1737. Bering. 17»0. GTonUev. 1741. Bering and Tohirjkov. 1770-78 Heame. 177H. Cook. 1786. Lap^oae. 1786-87. P. Egede. 1788-93. Mackencie. 179-.2. Quadra, VanooUTer. 1806. Clarke and Lewis. 1818. R. Rnas. ., P. Parry. 1818-28. Scoreiby. 1819. F. H. R. Franklin, Hood, and Richardson. 1819-15. Franklin. 1821-80. Oraah. . 1826. Bob. Be«>chey. 1831. Blueae iUe. „ J. 0. Boss. 1833-86 Bnok. ia<«l-43. Nicolet. 18 7-38. Dense and Simpson. 1842. Zagoskin. 1861. Hao01ni«. „ CollJnron. ., KeUett 1864-60. Kane. 1868. Palliaer. 1868. HacOlintock. 1860-68. Hall. 1862. Mil on and Cbeadle. 1863-78. Petitot. 18ti6. Whymper. ., Dall. 1N60. Raymond. 1869-78. BnUer. 1870, 83. NordensUeld. IWS-Se. Mercier. lCTi-87. DawBon. 1879. Hourier. 1H79 83. Schwalka. 188U-83. Petroff. 1881-82. R»y. 1683-84. Boas. 1884. Holm. Peck. li;86. Binnell. „ AUen. 1888. Nanien. ceased to possess anything beyond an historical interest, having already been replaced by more regular surveys. But towards the north our knowledge of the general configuration of the land is still dependent on the broadly-traced routes of such explorers as Heame, Mackenzie, Bank, Richardson, Petitot, or Dawson. In the northern continent, all the natural divisions mainly follow the direction of the meridian. Thus the Pacific seaboard, the coast ranges, the plateaux and jfc. 150 NORTH AMERICA. crests of the Rocky Mountains system,, the terraced tablelands, median plain, more or less parallel ridges of the Laurcutiun and Appalachian chains, and lastly, the Atlantic coastlands are all disposed from north to south, or at least run in the direction from the polar to the torrid zone, whereas the frontiers of the two great continental states have been drawn transversely to all these natural limits. Even in the climates there is no approximate coincidence between the Canadian frontier and any isothermal line, the meteorological phenomena being distributed not so much according to latitude as along greatly deflected curves, which in many places run parallel with the continental coastlines. The zoological and botanical limits are also far from coinciding with the degrees of latitude. Were the Canadian populations grouped in a compact homogeneous mass, the Dominion might be freely developed in a distinct political nationality without en- during the inconvenience of the fantastic frontier traced along its southern border. But this vast region, exceeding the United States themselves in superficial area, is still sparsely peopled, the inhabitants being for the most part distributed along the frontier, and in sojne places alone, particularly the peninsular part of the province of Ontario, and the region of Lower Canada of which Montreal is the centre, this cordon broadens into loops, where the population is dense enough to constitute really independent groups and autonomous centres of political and social life. But elsewhere along the chain of towns and settlements, the common national senti- ment is weakened by the natural attractions of the conterminous communities irre- spective of fictitious diplomatic limitations. No great importance can consequently be attached to a preca ious po'itical frontier liable to be effaced by the least change of equilibrium. It will therefore be more convenient to neglect the geometrical lines traced on the maps by the diplomatists of London and Washington, and deal separately with the natural regions as detennined by mountain ranges, river valleys, and climates. On the other hand, the island of Newfoundland, as well as a portion of Labrador, may be regarded as fragments of the Canadian territory, although not yet forming part of the Dominion as officiallv constituted. IL-BRITISH COLUMBIA. RoL'KY Mountains— QuEKN Charlotte and Vano)uver Islands. The limits of British Columbia, as fixed by legislation, are no less eccentric than those of the Dominion itself. In order to simplify the administrative requirements, it was thought sufficient to trace the divisions according to the rough charts at the time available, without any adequate knowledge of the physical conditions. Thus the northern frontier was drawn at 60° north latitude and the southern at 49°. Towards the east, one half of the parting-line between British Columbia nnd the North-West Provinces was made to coincide with 120° west longitude, while on the north-west it follows the already described serpentine %ACeiidiAii;^^S-iiiiSi^^J-^i'->A;^d>Ma'^^ PHYSICAL FEATURES OF lUUTISII COLUMBIA. ISl Alaskan boundary. The only natural frontiers arc, on the south-west, the Pucific coast, and on the south-east, the crest of the easternmost ridge of the Rocky Mountains. Had the limit been taken as indicated by the routes of the Canadian trappers, the discoveries and formal acts of possession made by Vancouver, and the first surveys of the Columbia estuary by Grey in 179'3, the basin of this great river, as well as Puget Sound and the Juan de Fuca Strait, would have been assigned to Canada. But the English diplomatists displayed less energy than their American opponents, and the parting-line, as fixed by the arbitration of the German Emperor in 1872, left to the States all the islands and inlets lying south and east of the deepest channel between the mainland and Vancouver Island. The San Juan Archipelago, between the Ilaro and Rosario Straits, was also ceded to the Americans. Overlooking these arbitrary lines of demarcation, British Columbia may be regarded as a distinct geographical unit by studying separately the whole section of the Rocky Mountains which stretches from the sources of the Yukon to the middle course of the Columbia, and which is indented by innumerable fjords of the seaboard between the Alaskan Islands and the Juan de Fuca Strait. This region has an approximate area of 370,000 square miles, with a scattered population of scarcely 150,000 Indians and whites; the latter element, however, rapidly in- creasing, at least in the southern and more settled districts. The seaboard was exclu^ively explored by Spanish and English navigators, especially Quadra and Vancouver, as shown by the geographical nomenclature, although the large island is no longer " Quadra and Vancouver," as bad been agreed between the two mariners. The interior has been gradually explored by the trappers and miners ; but Mackenzie was the first scientific traveller who crossed the mountain ranges between the north-west plains and the Pacific in 1792. Mackenzie followed the middle course of the Fraser river, which he supposed to be the Columbia, and which in 1806 was named after the Scotch trader, Simon Fraser. The travellers, mostly servants of the Hudson Bay Company, who opened up this section of the Pacific Seaboard were nearly all Scotchmen, and the whole region was long known by the name of New Caledonia. m\ eccentric ni strati ve the rough physical le and the n British 120° west serpentine Physical Features of Britisfi Columbia. The various chains of the Rocky Mountains comprised between Alaska, the Mac- kenzie basin, and the head-waters of the Peace River, under 56 north latitude, are known only in a general way through the reports of the traders and miners. But their geological survey has still to be made, and in this respect they remain a blank on our maps. The main range, running parallel with the Alaskan coast, east of the Lewes, or Upper Yukon basin, appears to be of moderate elevation, and forms only a secondary water-parting, being pierced by streams belonging some to the Arctic, some to the Pacific basin. Thus the upper affluents, both of the Stickeen and of the Skeena, rise in the same regions as the tributaries of the -^V-' -r -jy- ^. i«i | iiir ^ j,L. . ii j iiiii T H, ^i' _^ fP»» j 'W V ,- i. . , |i'r .i^iJU »fi J ^ ' , ip>^ ^ i. n^H I BK^ |W' '.- !, ^^ X ^. f ?*> 152 NORTH AMERICA. Liarda and Peace rivers, which flow to the Mackenzie. In these regions the loftiest ranges do not probably exceed 10,000 feet ; towards 55° 30' north latitude they develop a central nucleus, in which are united the various parallel chains Fi(f. 60.— BouNDABY Line between Canada and the United States' in the San Juan Abohipelaoo. Scale 1 : 1,200,000. 12 5* 30- West oF Greenwich I22*30' Deptba. Settled Frontier. to 100 Fathoms, 100 FathumK and upwai'dn. Frontier proposed by Canada. . 18 MilcB. coming from the north, and whence diverge the upper waters of the Stickeen, Skeena, Peace, and Fraser rivers. ; Immediately south of this nucleus, the " Peak Mountains " of the older maps, the whole orographic system falls so rapidly that the whole of British Columbia, from the Pacific Coast to the plains watered by the Peace River, may be traversed without anywhere ascending more than 3,400 feet ; * the breach formed by the Peace itself is only 2,000 feet high. The great northern bend of the Fraser in- • G. M. Dawson, Quarterly Journal of the Oeo. Soc., Feb., 1878. ^ • .-. ■jMaiftS^fii'rf .'ifflaa^;- . .'mtxi i ropo8ed to carry the transcontinental railway, is 3,820 feet high, and farther south the Athabasca Pass is dominated by Mounts IJrown and Hooker, said to be respectively 10,000 and 17,000 feet. But the surveyors who have begun • the triangulation of the region near the frontier consider these rough estimates excessive. In any case, the passes connecting both slopes in this part of the main range are so easy as to excite the astonishment of travellers. Milton and Cheadle had actually crossed the Yellow Head Pass before discovering that they had traversed the water-parting between the two basins. South-east of the Athabascan group follows a series of peaks generally named after British naturalists ; such are Lyell, Sullivan (7,850), Forbes (8,440), Murchi- son, Balfour, Lefroy (11,600). These are the mountains perceived by the traveller advancing from the plains of the Saskatchewan, and more specially known as the " Rockies." Seen from the rolling prairies of Alberta territory their greyish, bare walls, nearly pyramidal in form, and streaked with snow on their northern elopes, present an imposing appearance. Some of the escarpments reveal their horizontal strata, deposited during the Devonian, Carboniferous, and Cretaceous ages ; others have been diversely folded and dislocated, but are inclined for the most part towards the east. Some resemble enormous slabs of slate, some pyramids cut into regular steps.* East of the main range, the foot hills, running in the same direction, traverse the centre of the plain in disconnected groups, such as Dal- housie, with its vertical castellated walls over against the Yellow Head Pass, the more iiniform Palliser Range named after o-ye of the first explorers, and the Porcupine Hills south of Calgary, near the frontier, which also belong to this system of the " Little Rockies." The part of the chain crossed by the Pacific Railway, several portions of which have been reserved as " national Parks," is naturally the best known section of these uplands. From the foot of the hills, already 3,000 to 4,000 feet high, the road slopes very gradually and uniformly to a narrow gorge, the Gate of the Rocky Mountains, beyond which it ascends to its highest point, at Kicking Horse or Hector's Pass (5,300 feet), dominated on the north by Mount Stephen. The Kananaskis (Palliser) and most other southern passes are still lower, scarcely axceeding 5,000 feet ; but the Kootenay, about 30 miles from the frontier, rises *'/ • W. Spotswood Oreen, Proe. of the R. Oeog. Soe., March, 1889. ..J; ,.,.,, .; 4. 154 NORTH AMKRICA. to an I'lovution of 5,950 feet. In its upper course, the Kunaniiskis, already a broad stream, plunges over a romantic full, after which it continues its course, with little interruption, down to its confluence with the Saskatchewan. Farther west the parallel ridgea occupying the space enclosed by the winding valleys of the Columbia and its great affluent, the Kootenay, are distinguished from the main chain of the Rocky Mountains by the name of the Selkirk Range. They are crossed by the Paciflc Railway at Roger's Pass (4,275 feet), which is dominated by mountains about 10,000 feet high. Although generally lower than those of the I Fijf. 61.— KicKiNo HoBSE Pass. Soalo 1 : SSO.OCO. ^i^HgHQ ^fl^^^MI^ rWar! 1 M DaBSRSI^lKJK uW&^bhDCSxJ^ lEpP^m^^^^ n H^^?<^Hfl ^^^BsKm^^Mml&aL Wi-ni^M wJ n^S^V^ a^SyBi^VflRiP u 51° iHK''^VBSIP Msi- 30- I^M ^M^V^H ^^^Ml w m^^^ ^^^ 1 ^^iSn ^Hr^H^B'i i 51" ^pH I^BBB| is,. ^o-^mmm^m ■^M^HRBk'j^SBlBr mU^K ^miSstf' Mr^^ m^kY0^ 'I^RWKjP^H^^g SUH^^HtvilS^-^j^^^^HI^B ^HK.^ ^Wi] w^,mm ^IPPiiil^H^ ^^^ Wl II6'50- Weal oF Greeow'ich 116' t» aiiiM. t^. I'- Rockies, the Selkirk peaks have larger glaciers, a fact due to the greater abun- dance of moisture brought by the rain-bearing clouds from the Pacific. A snow- field just south of the culminating point, Mount Sir Donald (10,645 feet), has a superficial area of over 20 square miles, and sends down several ice streams into all the surrounding valleys. Owing to the same cause, the slopes below the snow- line are clothed with a magnificent forest vegetation, which, however, greatly impedes the progress of exploration in these uplands. Of all the highlands in the New World, the Selkirk Range most resembles the European Alps, everywhere presenting the same contrast between verdant promontories and valleys filled with glaciers. Enormous moraines, now abandoned in the lower valleys, show that in this region the glacial rivers were far more extensive than at present. Another chain, less regular than the parallel Selkirk and Rocky ranges, rises west of the Columbia valley below the great northern bend. This is the Gold Range, so named from the auriferous sands which till lately were profitably washed "-^'-'-■■'- ''•■ ■ ""■■ rlii-Tifnfn;^ rilYSICAL FEATURES OF BRITTSII COLUMBIA. 165 in its lower valleys. Its culminating points ure lower than tlio^e of the Selkirk highlands, but it appears to be of older formation, the prevailing rocks being granit<»8, gneiss, crystalline f^chists, and other azoic deposits. < 1*1 50 In general, the relief of British Columbia presents the form of an inclined plane which, from the watershed of the Rocky Mountains, falls gradually south- westwards in the direction of the Fraser estuary in the Gulf of Georgia. Were •4 wiriMliiiiiiM^ ■ w> ' - ' )> ' •• fi'T'-'-/ ' -rrr 16U NORTH AMERICA. the marino lovol ruisod 3,000 feet u groat part of the region dominated by the rainiHeations of the Gold Range would be changed to straits and inlets. Towards the conventional frontier at 4!)" north latitude, the various chains lose their dis- tinctive geoli)gi('al characters, hero consisting of uniform strata deposited during the first fosMiliferous ages, but still separated by deep valleys. Thus a certain nitural limit, vaguely coinciding with the political boundary, may bo traced north of the lower Columbia between the conterminous states. On the seaboard the so-called " Coast " or " Cascade " Range, continuing the Alaskan mountains southwards to California, really consi-ts not of one, but of a multitude of distinct musses and ridges ; all, however, disposed north-west and south-east, parallel with the coast and the main axis of the Rocky Mountains. Their rugged slopes and the savage aspect of the steep cliffs and e-tcurpments, over which were formerly discharged vast streams of basalt, impart to these uplands a great apparent altitude, although they are really somewhat lower than the eastern chains. Some fall below 2,000 feet, while the highest peaks, towards the south, approach 10,000 feet. The whole system is decomposed into distinct fragments, towards the coast by variously ramifying fjords, and towards the Fraser River by lakes or old lacustrine valleys, which at a remote geological epoch were themselves fjords. Fjords and Glaciers. The present marine inlets resemble those of Scotland and Norway, only they are generally narrower, and bounded by higher and more parallel cliffs. Their form has suggested the hypothesis that they are river valleys slowly eroded by the water, according as the seaboard rose above the marine level. But these rivers were succeeded by ice-streams, which gradually filled the fluvial bed, thus pre- serving its exact outline throughout the whole glacial period. When released from their icy fetters, the Columbian fjords were subjected to further transformations. Their upper reaches were filled by the alluvial matter of their lateral affluents, the parts that have thus silted up being indicated by marshy tracts. Small submarine deltas continue these tracts for a short distance into the fjord, which then abruptly sinks to enormous depths, ranging in some places from 1,000 to 1,200 feet, Lastly, a now flooded moraine, as on the coasts of Greenland and Scotland, marks the parting-line between the open sea and the inner sounds. The whole of the Columbian seaboard is thus indented by profound inlets, such as the Portland Canal on the Alaskan frontier, which penetrates over 40 miles inland opposite Dixon Channel, between the Prince of Wales and Queen Charlotte Archipelagoes. Here the broad channel obviously forms a seaward continuation of the Canal, both being due to the same geological agents. Opposite the Queen Charlotte Islands occurs the still more intricate Douglas Channel, which is again continued south-westwards by the Gardner Channel, penetrating nearly 70 miles inland. Farther south the Dean and Bentinck inlets are remarkable for their extreme regularity, forming two long canals at right angles with the coast, con- nected by a transverse canal, and throwing off several secondary canals also at " '1 1,^ .. t ! » ! ' t" FJORDS OF BRITISH COLUMHIA. 1,-57 right anj?lo8. Dean Inlot, with tho lukelotH and vaIU>y» tanuiu^ its eaHtwur.l continuation, is connoctod with the Fnisor river by a continuous depression, the whole Hvsfom showing clearly that fjords, lakes, and rivers were all determined by the saino geological agencies. la the Boutho- > part of Columbia numerous analogous formations, such us Pig. 03.— Jbbtm Inlet. Boiil* 1 : MUO.OOO. to 100 Fathonu. Depths, 100 to 260 Fathoms. Vy> Fathoms and upwards. MSMUes. Knight, Bute, Toba, Jervis, Howe, and Burrard Inlets, are connected through a labyrinth of channels with the broad Gulf of Georgia flowing between Van- couver Island and the mainlf.nd. And the Gulf of Georgia itself, from its entrance at Juan de Fuca Strait and through the corkscrew windings of Puget Sound pene- ' I l' .l .Jl I «>! ■ IfiS NORTH AMKlllCA. truting snulliwtirdB into tho lu>urt of Ori'gon, 18 nntliing more than ft vtiHt fjonl projecting itH iirinH in all dircctioiiH liko iin unormotiD octopuH. Tlu'NO Himtlicrn t'joidM, owing to tlu) neighbourhood of ir r«t Bettled dintrictH and eusier highwiiVH of conimuniotition, aro b«tti»r known than those of tho north. Many of thoni had to be explored in detail when the engincerB were Hoanliing for the most convenient oceanic terniinu-s of the trann-contincntal railway. None of thorn proMont Huch an inipot«ing aspect an JerviN Inl< t, which exceeds 50 miles in length, with a mean breadth of -'{ miles, its rocky walls at some points con- s'. i: I: Fig. 04.— DiiKOViRY Pawuue. Boil* I : 1,100.000. Depths. z^ to 100 Fatlioma. 1ing in vertical cliffs above caverns, through which rush the roariog waters. Although at present separated by a marine channel about 130 miles wide, the Queen Charlotte and Vancouver Islands belong to the same geological formation, constituting a single chain, which runs parallel with the Rocky, Selkirk, Gold and Cascade ranges. Of the Queen Charlotte group much of the relief has dis- appeared. An intermediate valley has been transformed to a strait, the Skidegate Inlet uiid the Archipelago is thus divided into the two large islands of Graham in the north, and Moresby in the south ; the latter continued southwards by a chain of reefs and islets, and rising in some of its peaks to a height of 5,000 feet. The more compact island of "ancouver presents a more regular chain of mountains, which culminate about the geometrical centre of the island in the Victoria peak (7,670 feet). The disposition of the granites, triassic and cretaceous rocks, in both groups is such as to leave little doubt of their geological continuity. Like the • Alfred R. C. Selwyn, Oeological and Kaiural History Survey of Canada. t O. M. DawaoD, op. eit. 'TX^ W^^' ! ^i^'S^W^ ''^ ' '''''''^' ' ' "'^'''^'''^''^'''^ h -' 160 NORTH AMERICA. '( -- : I: I continental seaboard, the west coast of Vancouver is indented by fjords, one of which, the Quatsino Sound, ramifies through the interior nearly to the opposite coast. Farther south is the smaller but better known Nootka Sound, visited by so many great navigators since Cook's voyage in 1778. Columbian Lakes and Rivers. In the interior of Columbia, the lakes, although partly filled up by debris and fluvial deposits, are almost as numerous as the fjords of the seaboard. They abound especially in the region formerly occupied by the vast freshwater sea between the Skeena, Fraser and Peace valleys. Here still survive the Tacla, Trembleur, Stewart and Francois reservoirs, all of which send their overflow to the Fraser through the Nakosla or Stewart River. Lakes Chilco, Quesnelle, and Shuswap, belong also to the Fraser basin; while the southern lakes — Kootenay, Arrow, and Okanagan — drain to the Columbia or its affluents. All these still flooded or dried up basins occupy fissures in the terrestrial crust uniformly disposed either north-west and south-east, parallel with the axis of the Rocky Mountains, or else north and south, or west and east. By their intersection, the three systems of fractures develop a network of lines, which are frequently disposed in symme- trical triangles, a phenomenon analogous to that observed in the South of Norway. The Columbian rivers, which were formerly, and to some extent still are, chains of lakes, also flow in many parts of their course through ilssures in the terrestrial crust, little modified by erosion and sedimentary deposits. The Taku, which falls iato the Alaskan fjord of like name, is joined by headstreams flowing through narrow fractures running parallel with the coast. So also the Stickeen, a very copious river, which rises in the lacustrine region of Columbia, and which in its lower reaches is also comprised within Alaskan territor_j . Several of its upper tributaries, as well as the main stream itself, present a zigzag course, turning abruptly at right angles in the clefts of their rocky beds. A little above its mbuth the Stickeen is interrupted by falls, below which its bunks are skirted right and left by glaciers, thrusting their frontal walls and moraines right into the current. Farther south the Nasse, near which rises an extinct volcano, flows entirely within Columbian territory. It has given a definite form to its valley, whereas the far more copious Skeena still retains throughout a great part of its course the aspect of a chain of lakes. Lake Babine, one of these narrow basins, is no less than ninety miles long. It was so named by the Canadian trappers from the " babine," or lip-ornament, worn by the Indians dwelling on its banks, and resembling the "kolosh" of the Thlinkits and Haidas. All the lower course of the Skeena is still a narrow fjord dominated by mountains over 6,000 feet high. Excluding the Columbia, whose upper course alone lies within Canadian territory, the Fraser is the largest river in British Columbia. It rises in the Yellow Head Lake, whence it flows first north-west, parallel with the axis of the Rocky Mountains; then it bends at a sharp angle round to south, in order to follow a fissure which is disposed in the direction from north to south. At this angle it I m il wwn i Ill 11 1 » is, one of e opposite visited by lebris and •d. Tiiey I water sea he Tacla, rerflow to inelle, and Kootenay, :he8e still y disposed intains, or le systems 3 symme- : Norway. re, chains terrestrial hich falls through a, a very ich in its its upper 3, turning above its :ted right into the ino, flows ts valley, tart of its w basins, pers from mks, and er course leet high. Canadian 58 in the xis of the to follow 8 angle it [ I i i 1 i !■■ BIVEBS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 101 X is joined by several of its upper affluents, such as the Bear, "Willow, North Fraser and Stewart (Nakosla) ; this last, which is the largest of all, comes from the north- west highlands, and is fed by numerous lakes, all taking the form of long narrow basins. In its upper course the Fraser receives affluents converging almost from every quarter except the north; here, however, the Punais, or Parsnip River, flows Hg. 65. — NoBTHEBN Bend of the Fbasbb. Boale 1 : 1,700,000. s fi 93 O ^ , aOHile*. in the opposite direction, as one of the main headstreams of the Mackenzie. The fault in the terrestrial crust, occupied by the two water-courses, thus belongs to the same fissure ; only it is inclined along two opposite slopes belonging to two difEerent fluvial basins. South of its great bend, the Fraser, flowing henceforth almost due south nearly to the coast, receives from the west the dark current of the Blackwater, and then from the east the more copious Quesnelle rising in the tortuous lake of the same name. Farther down it is joined from the west by the Chilcotin, an emissary from a lake near and parp.Mel to Bute Inlet. In this part of its course the pent-up stream flows at a great depth between the mountains, and in many places ii is impossible to follow its banks. Hence to ascend or descend its valleys, the travellei has to N. A,— 12 ii i ii i ii !iiyn i ,| i . i j. ii ,pi.. ii -i. i - i I.: •■- 162 NORTH AMERICA. f jv ■... i ^ I t «• i II-' Wk-: scale tbe overhanging bluffs, or even to cross the lateral passes. Tims at the issue of the little lake Seton, near its west bank, the route till recently followed w^as deflected westwards, rising through a series of lacustrine terraces to Summit Lake, Fig. oS.— SouTHEBN Bend op the Fkaseb. Boole 1 : 9fi0,000. IS2*io' reeowicK ■I2l'30 80 Miles. and thence turning southward in the direction of the Lower Fraser through another chain of partly navigable lakes. Summit Lake, which stands at an elevation of about 1 ,800 feet, presents the peculiarity of discharging its waters through two different channels into the Fraser.* Henceforth the transcontinental railway, • B. 0. Majme, Four Teart in BritUh Columbia. '"' '^v^'^''^ rtt::;r'''T' jtiX' -.Tf •:-;■><:*- ^^ff RIVERS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 108 which descends to the Fraser through the valley of its eastern affluent, the Thompson, relieves travellers from the necessity of following the round-about route of Summit Lake. The Thompson, after issuing from the winding basin of Lake Shuswap and collecting several large affluents from various directions, emerges on some broad grassy valleys, which have already been brought partly under tillage. But hero and there it plunges into some g.aomy gorges ; of less formidable aspect, however, than the " dalles," or cafions, in which the Fraser contracts its bed below ihe con- fluence. The first miners attracted to the upper valleys in quest of gold have left graphic accounts of the dangers of this route, with its " hell-gates," before a carriage road and railway hud triumphed over the obstacles by bridges, viaducts, and levellings. In several places the vertical walls rise 500 and even 1,000 feet above the stream, which rushes in a series of falls and rapids through these gloomy narrows. Many lives were lost in the attempts to ascend or descend the " Crazy River," as it was named by the miners, in reference either to its changeful moods, or to those who were mud enough to face such perils in their search of wealth. The Fraser is really navigable only in its lower course, where it changes its direction from south to west. Here the mean depth is no less than 50 to 60 feet, and for over 30 miles above its mouth ships find good anchorage close to the shore, exposed only to the danger caused by snags drifting with the current or stranded on the sandbanks. The river is lowest during the first three months of the year ; but with the melting of the snows in April it rises rapidly, by mid- summer reaching 50 feet in the canons, and 25 to 30 below the narrows, and flooding the low-lying plains at its mouth. The sediment brought down with the current has encroached on the Gulf of Georgia, developing a marshy delta with constantly shifting channels. The " Sturgeon Bank," or bar, which half closes the mouth of the Fraser, presents no serious obstacle to navigation. The United States having taken the lion's share of these western lands. Great Britain had to abandon the greater part of the Columbia basin, retaining only the upper valley as fur as the confluence of Clarke's River. Thus the upland region enclosed between the two ssmicircles of the Upper Columbia and Kootenay lies all but its southern extremity within the Canadian frontier. Few geographical formations are more remarka-ble than this upland region occupied by the Selkirk Mountains, and encircled like an enormous fortress by a moat of navigable waters. The Columbia also presents the almost unique phenomenon of a river already fully developed at its very source. Expanding at once into a navigable lake it is separated from the Kootenay, here also navigable, only by a low isthmus 2,660 yards broad, through which a canal has easily been cut. The long depression which is traversed in opposite directions by these two rivers has obviously been sculptured by the same geological agencies. Dawson has shown that the general tilt of the valley was formerly in the direction of the south ; it was in this direc- tion that were transported all the erratic boulders and other glacial debris. At present the Upper Columbia, alternately lake and river, develops a course of about 200 miles along the west foot of the Rocky Mountains; then, after an - ■ :\''.-''' • [ [ i \ f - K V i '^' i k. i f I 1»4 NORTH AMEBICA. abrupt bend, like that of the Upper Fraser, it trends also to the south, both rivers thus presenting the same disposition in their upper reaches. After forming the Upper and Lower Arrow Lakes, a continuous sheet about 100 miles long, the Columbia is joined by the Kootenay, the two streams, which almost touched at their sources, thus merging in one some 450 miles from their origin. In point of fact, the same fold in the Bocky Mountains, from .the southern bond of the Kootenay in the United States to the Cassair district under 66° north latitude, Pig. 67.— SOUECBS OP THE COLUMBIA. Soale 1 : 570,000. , 12 MilM. is successively occupied by the Kootenay, Columbia, Fraser, Parsnip and other basins. . ' ,i The changes produced in the level of the two rivers and their lakes are attested by the old water marks, visible at various elevations on the flank of the mountains, as well as in the Alaskan fjords. Cook's Inlet, and Prince William Sound. These parallel terraces, or " benches " as they are locally called, are one of the most general features in the relief of the land, and are numerous, especially in the Fraser and Columbia basins. In several districts they are disposed like the steps of a building, rising with perfect regularity to a height of nearly 4,000 feet, and in one place near the great northern bend of the JVaser to 5,250 feet. These benches are evidently of diverse origin, marine beaches, margins of lacustrine basins or river beds, according to the thousand oscillations of the ground.* • G. M. Dawaon, op. eit. CLIMATE OF BKITISH COLUMBIA. Climate of Columbia. 165 The south-west angle of British Columbia, that is, where the mean tempera- ture is highest, is intersected by tlje isothermal of 50° F., which corresponds to Fig 68.— COLUICBIA AND KOOTENAY VaLLEYS. Scale 1 : 8,000,000. • R2 Miles that of Paris. But beyond this point the heat diminishes gradually northwards and eastwards, and at the north-east extremity of the province the annual isotherm falls to about 35° F., answering to that of Winnipeg. Under the ■ I wiyi i i»ii ijnt ) (, i .a[ff ii iniiji i |JHj„ W"^' 16G NORTH AMERICA. iDfluence of the winds and murine currents the isotherms ure deflected fur to the north along the coustlands. Thus, instead of coinciding with the parallels of latitude, they run south-east and north-west, and on the northern seaboard even follow the coastline. By a strange anomaly, «howing how little the climate at times depends on geographical position, the summer heats are greater in Vancouver Island than in California, as fur south as Monterey, which is nearly 900 miles nearer to the equator. This curious reversal of the climatic conditions is due to the influence of the Japanese " Gulf Stream " on the west coast of Vancouver.* But notwithstanding the mildness of the western and southern districts the climate of Columbia is in general inferior to that of Europe, the winters being longer and colder, the summers shorter and hotter. Winter begins usually in September or October, and lasts till May, and is marked by much snow, rain, frosts, and fogs. The inland lakes and rivers remain ice-bound for weeks together, and even the lower course of the Fraser has occasionally been frozen. The mean elevu tion of the land, scarcely less than 4,000 feet, tends to increase the rigour of its climate, which, however, is not the chief obstacle to its settlement. European colonies have been founded wherever the soil is productive, the moisture not excos. sive, and the communications easy.' Thanks to the general conformation of the country, the different regions all receive some share of the rainfall, although the contrast is great between the dry eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and the west side exposed to the moisture- bearing winds from the Pacific. In the south Vancouver acts as a sort of screen, receiving most of the rainfall on its western slopes, and leaving comparatively little for the east side and the opposite coastlands. In the north there are no islands large enough to intercept the supply, which is consequently almost entirely discharged on the uplands of the mainland. ^^ Flora AND Fauna. .>.'*' The vegetation corresponds to the distribution of the rainfall. In the southern and drier regions, the slopes are covered with bunch-grass, which makes such excellent fodder, and which contributes so much to the wealth of the colony. These pastures, on which the cattle graze throughout the year, ascend the hill-sides to a height of 3,000 feet, at which elevation much wheat is also grown. Most of the territory receives sufficient moisture to support a large forest v&j^etation, and in .some places the woods are so dense and continuous that many of the early travellers speak of British Columbia as one vast forest. According to Dawson, about two-thirds of the country is under timber, the prevailing species being the conifers, some of which acquire gigantic proportions. The yellow or Douglas pine, most valuable of the Columbian trees, in some places * Temperature of New Westmintiter, Sonth Goltimbis, 49° 12' north latitude : — ^ ' July, hottest month, 61° F. ; extreme, 88° F. January, coldest month, 34° F. ; extreme, 16° F. ' ' ■ c Yearly average, 47° F. • . „ . _, ^ Annual rain and snow fall, 63 inches in 198 days. ■■■ FLORA OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 107 grows to a height of 350 feet with a perfectly straight stem branchless for 100 feet. No timber excels it in strength, elasticity, and power of resisting extremes of temperoture ; it thrives especially in the southern districts and Vancouver Island. Another useful conifer is the pinm Lambertiana, which yields a sweetish resin, used by the natives instead of sugar. The maples, poplars, and aspens, rival most of the pines in size, while the ^JSii arbutus becomes in Vancouver quite a forest tree. Columbia is especially rich m shrubs bearing edible berries, which are gathered by the natives, and even ex- ported to San Francisco. All the vegetables of Central and North Europe thrive well, and most fruit trees yield excellent crops. Large animals are somewhat rare, the formidable grizzly bear being seldom ■f. ' -^tf.V-.fiii^'M^-yT': " ^" • TM t'VT'f^^W ^^r ^*'' 168 NORTH AMERICA. \ - t fleon except in the Rooky Mountains, while olsowhore the bluck bear alone is met. This variety never attacks innn, and oquully hurnih'Bs is the puma {/cHh concohr), which ranges northwards to the Fraser Valley and Vancouver. The superb mountain sheep bounds from crag to crjg on the rocky heights, and lower down the caribou {rangifer earihon) and wapiti frequent the grassy plateaux, plains, and islands, while deer abound, especially in the wooded islands along the coast. Wolves seldom leave the depths of the forest except in severe winters, and a few bison from beyond the Rocky Mountains are said still to roam over some of the grassy districts. In Columbia are found nearly all the fur animals of Alaska and the Mackenzie basin — the marten, fox, beaver — and the sea otter is even said to survive on the north-west coast of Vancouver. On the other hand there are no venomous snakes, but several harmless serpents, regarded by the native hunters as a great delicacy. The avifauna is represented by numerous families, including even several species of (he humming-bird, which are seen flitting from bush to bush even before the snow has disappeared from the slopes of the hills. But in the number and variety of its fishes, British Columbia probably surpasses all other regions of the temperate zone. The marine inlets and rivers teem with salmon, trout, sturgeon, whitefish, herrings, sardines, anchovies, and many species unknown in Europe. The cod-bank off the south coast of Alaska is continued along the shores of Columbia, and the waters between Queen Charlotte and Vancouver islands are frequented by the "black cod," whose flesh is said to be superior to that of the ordinary species. There are no lobsters, but crabs and prawns, as well as oysters and mussels, are found in great quantities. Such was the abundance of fish in the Columbian rivers in the early period of colonisation, that during the season, the banks below the falls were strewn with innumerable salmon, which bad failed to surmount the obstructions. They were taken in hundreds and thousands with nets or casks, and even raked ashore. The hulakan, or " candle-fish," is used by the Indians, as by the Alaskan Eskimo, for lighting their houses. Inhabitants of British Columbia. ' British Columbia is scanlily occupied by an indigenous population, broken into distinct tribes numerous in proportion to the vast territory over which they are scattered. They are estimated altogether at from thirty thousand to forty thou- sand, while the tribal groups are reckoned by the score, each with its distinct denomination, though often differing little from their neighbours in origin, appear- ance, or usages. Hence the impossibility of classifying these various groups according to their real affinities, or even according to their lang^ag^s, of which most observers are profoundly ignorant. It is now, also, too late to study the extinct tribes, or those whose primitive features have been effaced by servitude and the demoralisation so often resulting from contact with Europeans. In a general way the natives are divided into islanders, coastlanders, and inlanders, a classification to some extent based on social habits, some being fishers 9 8jj.l.J- ' -t'r.J&-aj»;"!B ea ^•'.*- INHABITANTS Uh' BRITISH COLUMBIA. IdO or seafarers livinj? on a finh diet, others hunters dependent on the producio of the chase. In the absence of uny common national dofignution, the insuhtr und couHt. tribes have been collectively gnmped um " Columbians," a term also applied to the seaboard populations of Washington and <_)regon in the United States. The inland peoples are in the same way called "Red-skins," or " Indiann," and several are undoubtedly related to the prairie Indians beyond the Rocky Mountains. Still, they must often differ greatly in origin, or at least the dispersion must have taken place at very remote times, for there are few regions where the languiigcs current amongst apparently kindred tribes present more profound differences, A perfectly distinct family is that of the Ilaidas, who occupy the Queen Charlotte Archipelago, and nearly the whole of Prince of Wales Island, as well as the opposite Alaskan and Columbian coastlands.* The vaiious clans take their names from tlie districts or rivers occupied by them — o», for instance, the Nasse, Skeena, and Bellacoola tribes. The Ilaida domain stretches eastwards to the Upper Fraser Basin, and may be estimated at about .'30,000 square miles, with a population certa nly less than fifteen thousand. In Queen Charlotte the natives, formerly numerous, are now reduced to less than two thousand. The Ilaidas are generally supposed to be more akin to the northern Thlinkits than to their southern neighbours, although the two languageb are quite distinct. Those who have not been degraded by European vices, are distinguished amongst all the western populations by their shapely figures, their strength, skill, graceful carriage, and regular features. Nevertheless, the prevailing type is still that of other American aborigines — broad face, prominent cheekbones, small sparkling eyes, shaded by overhanging superciliary arches. The women are very muscular, but as a rule less good-looking than the men, and till recently disfigured themselves by the hideous lip ornament so generally worn along this seaboard. Among&t some tribes, especially the Bellacoolas, the beads of the children are flattened, and till lately the custom prevailed of painting the body in colourH, which changed with the different feasts and ceremonies. For the dance they wear animal masks and figures of quadrupeds, birds and fishes painted on the breast ; but when excited to a pitch of frenzy, these Corybantes will often throw aside the mask and full upon a dog, tearing it to pieces with their teeth and devouring the flesh. Formeily their fury .was vented not on dogs but on men, who were treated in the same way to appease the spirit agitating them. Before the arrival of the Europeans, a conspicuous object in the Iluida villages Wiis the chief's house, or assembly room, sometimes spacious enough to contain an audience of seven hundred persons. Some of the houses are decorated with wood carvings, or else, os amongst the Thlinkits, marked by " genealogical trees." The Haidas display great skill, especially in building and adorning their canoes, which are propelled with remarkable speed by means of shovel-shaped oars. The finest, made of cedar, are those of the Eaigani in the Prince of Wales Archipelago, who are renowned far and wide for their beautifully carved pipes, and other objects embellished with eccentric designs. Strange to say, the Queen Charl'itte Haidas, * Q. M. Dawaon, On th« Haida Indian* of tk4 Qmtn Charhtt* Itlandtt. ■ "J ^ l 'l* nm iii i,. i uL i » m, i .» i m i .»« 170 NUilTU AMEttlCA. who roNoiiihlo the Polyr.esiunH in bo inuny respocti, uro (\\iUo ij^norunt of the urt of Hwiinining.* I'owor bol(ii)(^M to woulth, und many of tl>o (liiofw t-xcrcint) u doHpotic authority. Tho nophow iiihuritM from tho undo throu^^h tho fomiiU) liiu, mid in many tribtH inatriurchul cMiHtomii still Hurvivu. Thoro uru noHutllod Iuwk, though the murderer who fails to pay tho up|M)int(>d fino is often put to deuth. Shivory existt. «'ther by purchoAO or capture, and thu chiefn frecptently immolate humiin victims at buriuK', ; Kg. 70.— NooTKA Ihlaud and Inuen, BmI« 1 : 7,800,000. |g7'80- Wait oF Greenwich IS6*40 OtoSO FHthom*. Dtptlis. AO Fathoma Mid upwards. 12 HUea. or to render incantations more efHcacioua ; for these chiefs are above all magicians credited with power over the spirits, whom they pretend to keep shut up in a mysterious box in order to have them always ut their service. Several of the Iloida communities have been demoralised by drink and gambling; nevertheless some progress has been made, and the Queen Charlotte Islanders, formerly sea-otter hunters, have now become skilful agriculturists, exporting large quantities of potatoes to the coastlands. The Chimsyans of the Metla-Katla • Fr. Poole, Queen Charlotte Itlandt. MHUJi INII.VIUTANTS OF IIUITISII COLUMIUA. 171 district huvu uUu ubundonotl tlu-ir 4*1(1 uiii^eii, and uro now uiuifr tho ulnolutu Hway of ii nuHHionary, at onco kiiifj;, pritwt, and ^eiitTul coiitroUor of tlu< public propi-rty. ThesoChriMtiuiiN, now droHNcd like ICuroiMums, have n'<'oiitly boon oblij^cd to nii^ratu northwardx into Alawka in coiiMCiiiu nru of rdi^ioiiH wran^liuf^B and coniniurcial rivalrii'B between their theocratic nuwler and tho blnj^liMh traderH. Thu NootkaH of Vancouver and thoopp«mitu coant havu Ix'un ho nanioil by ('ook for no apparent reason, the term being unknown to tho nutivcs theniMelvet*. 2S4)\()ral of thu Vuncol^^iT tribcM n •) collectively culled Ahts, from the ending of Tig. 71. O/.D NooTKA- Indian Woman. the special names borne by tbera. On linguistic grounds the Nootkus might be grouped in four distinct families ; but they are usually named from the districts they inhabit. They are on the whole more robust than the Ilaidas, with shorter figures and less expressive features. The oblique eye, Hut beardless face, and yellow brown complexion give to some a strikingly Chinese appearance. Before the arrival of the Europeans the heads of the children were flattened and the crown compressed to a point by means of clotb and bark bandages. The bead of a young girl measured by Mayne towered no less than eighteen inchea " above the eyes.* ^^ ■ ♦ Four Year* in £riti»A Coluvtbia and Vaiteouver laland. V^-v -■ni ;■ . '.-i^'- :i :< \f> K ^i il ii. ii|ii r ,,t r pp . y„ ;mMt ' ("!ii'-'-wn gj aw^t ' a ' "'ji."'.- -"H-^ ' :.,v <"" ■,^V.V> ' ^IJ!^■'ij4 ,pi w iw i ; ii< iti i ij i i i i i» i i i )ii f! i j|*ijip |i ). 174 NOBTH AMERICA. W largest quantities were yielded by the Lower Fraser and Thompson disti-icts ; then followed the Caribou region, south of the great bend of the Fraser ; after which the miners pushed north towards Gardner Channel, the Skeena basin, and the valley of the Omineca, a tributary of the Peace River. Lastly, in 1872, the stream wus directed by the discoveries of Thibert and MacCuUoch towards the Cassiar Country, between the Stickeen basin and the Liards River, near the Alaskan frontier, where a few patient gleaners, chiefly Chinese, still linger. During the first years the Columbian mines yielded from £800,000 to £1,000,000 annually, rising in 1801 to £1,400,000. At present many of the grounds are exhausted, the miners have disappeared, and ihe total yearly output varies from £120,000 to £200,000. The total yield from 18-58 to 1888 is valued at £11,240,000. Columbia also possesses some productive deposits of native silver. ) > The general conformation of these highlands shows that the gold is here distributed in the same manner as in California, and the workers are accordingly able to profit by the experiences of their precursors. In the districts where they have not yet been expelled, the natives are employed on most of the laborious operations, Other mining industries, such as that of bituminous coal, have also acquired considerable importance. From the first days of the colonization passing steamers were supplied with coal from Vancouver. Then mining operations were systematically developed, and at present many villages look like suburbs of New- castle, with their heaps of shale, their lifts and machinery. The pits, situated, so to say, on the very quays of the seaports, already yield enough to support an export trade. But the anthracite on the banks of the Skidegate Channel, in the Queen Charlotte Archipelago, has not yet been regularly worked, although said to be equal to that of Pennsylvania. '': ■ V •■: ' »: ■ ' Stock-breeding, especially for the Califomian market, is also acquiring a considerable development, while the fisheries yield abundance of excellent salmon tinned on the spot, and exported in yearly increasing quantities. Capitalists have also begun to work the vast forests of the coastlands, and a brisk lumber trade has already been established. ^ , .; ^ ,.■ Topography. .» ( Of no other region can it be said with greater truth that a single railway con- stitutes its vital artery. But for the trunk line traversing it from east to west, British Columbia would be cut off from the commercial world, except at a few isolated points along the seaboard ; nor could it maintain any direct relations with the Dominion of Canada. The first whites who settled in the country nearly all reached it from California, and when the rush of miners was directed towards the new Eldorado, most of the precious metal was shipped to San Francisco. From year to year the communications with the States became more direct and con- tinuous. Despite the political ties, Vancouver and the neighbouring settlements became more and more associated with the great republic, and the British Govern- ment had reason to fear that this remote colony might, by the very fovce of events, inevitably become a political dependency of San Francisco. fii' I ] ■ifii j pa . |i| | i i H l» »^' | MH » ■;^l^if^5;i-■al-^::■i^;■'-i'?■i.-^'r■.. iK ' V - vm mi "^pif'^fs^iw^ i^-'- r \ t i. - '^'«.;-J^'j.-f W»f? 't'.- ^^la.jj.'i.'.v* f 1 5.i ": ■■*.:*•■: j3i iiii nj iT>!> ^r | g| i r i» ^y^ > »|H »i if»j|i i i...i ,»wrt ,. . .» TOPOORAPHY OF BEITISH COLUMBIA. 170 To counteract this current it was found indispensable to connect the St. Lawrence and Fraser basins by a rapid line of communicatioL, although considera- tions of economy naturally delayed the execution of this costly project. Whnn it Fig. 73.— ViCTOHIA AND EsOOTHALT. Scale 1 : 650,000. 1 25° 40' Weet oF GreBnwich 23" SO- San^s expcaed at low vater. OtofiO Fathoms. Dep'hs. 60 to 100 Fatboma. 100 FHthomi and upward*. ISHilea. ■mmm joined the Dominion of Canada in 1871, British Columbia exacted the condition that a trans-continental railway should be constructed across the Rocky Mountains by the year 1891. But such was the urgency of this work that the company, [f i MI l i .IIIIW) l l ) t p l «I W^i., i »glli.H. i 176 NORTU AMEEICA. aided by the liberality of the Canadian Qovernment, was able to complete the line from ocean to ocean in 1886. All the centres of population und traffic naturally gravitated towards this great artery, which traverses the Lower Fraser valley to its mouth over against Juan de Fuca Strait aiid Puget Sound. Vancouver Island, lying south of the Queen "Charlotte group, nearer to the mainland, and opposite the excellent harbours of the inknd waters, was sure to attract the attention of the early colonists. Nevertheless, very little of the country has been settled, and not more than 15,000 acres were under tillage in 1884. The first arrivals came by the eea route, and grouped themselves round a station of the Hudson Bay Company, which is supposed to be the Cordoba, or Camosin, discovered in 1700 by Manuel Quinipe, at the south-east corner of the island opposite Puget Sound. On the discovery of gold in the Fraser basin, Fort Victoria, as the factory was named by the English settlers, became the rallying-point of speculators and miners flocking from California. Within a twelvemonth, as many as 30,000 persons were crowded round the station in log huts or under canvas, and a regular town rapidly sprang up, with fine thoroughfares crossing each other at right angle?, squares, quays, and harbour works. At present*yictoria is a pleasant little English town, adorned with shady walks, a beautiful park, and a reservoir abundantly supplied from a lake six miles off. The bay is bridged by a handsome viaduct, and several avenues lead north-west to the well-sheltered port of Esquimau, Here the British and Canadian Governments have constructed an arsenal and dockyards, and both places are connected by frequent steam service with Alaska, California, and the opposite coast. Victoria will also, sooner or later, form the terminun of the transcontinental railway, which is to cross the Seymour Narrows by a long viaduct, and then traverse the channels of Valdes and other islands, reaching the mainland at Bute Inlet, and penetrating inland through the Homathco and Chilcotin valleys. A branch of this projected line already connects Victoria with Nanaimo, which lies 70 miles north-west on a good harbour, and in a district yielding the best coal on the Pacific seaboard. This coal is exported to China, the Sandwich Islands and California, and also supplies the British squadron stationed in these waters. The mines are reached by a shaft over 650 feet deep sunk in the very centre of the town, and giving access to galleries which run a great distance under the ground and neighbouring Gulf of Georgia. Nearly a thousand hands were at work in these galleries when a sudden explosion of fire-damp destroyed 149 miners, and since then the pits have been almos' abandoned. But those of Wellington, a little farther north, are actively worked by a Belgian company. Other coal- fields occur towards the middle of the east coast, and industrial populations must soon be attracted to these deposits, which are conveniently situated for smelting the excellent iron ores found in Texada Island. The Queen Charlotte Archipelago is also one of those Columbian ra{r'''^iR which, thanks to its mild rlimute, fertile soil, and geographical position, iu;>l:c become the :'^"tre of a considerable population. Yet it has hitherto been almost entirely neglected by European settlers. Discovered in 1774 by Juan Perez, its insular TOPOORArHY OF BBITISII COLUMBIA. 177 plete the id traffic )r Fraser 9r to the i sure to e country 84. The on of the iscovered ite Puget le factory itors and 8 30,000 a regular at right pleasaat reservoir bandsome port of 'ucted an n service sooner or cross the aides and 1 through no, which the best ^ndwich in these the very ice under 8 were at 9 miners, lington, a ler coal- ons must smelting ns which, become entirely :s insular formation was first determined by the American trader, Grey, in 1789. Siiu:o then it has been frequently visited by trappers, while its geology, natural history, and ethnology have been carefully studied by G. M. Dawson, the chief scientific explorer of the Canadian '• Far West." But the first white colonists only made their appearance siuce the rush to the Columbian goldfields. Here also some auriferous sands have been found, but nowhere in sufficient abundance to establish a regular mining industry. Missions have been founded on the coasts of the Queen Charlotte group, notably of Masset, on 'an inlet which ramifies in a series of lakes fur into the '.- Pig. 74.— Nanamo smie 1 : soaooo. •v., . ' • ^^ I 49- 10' >»> — - 1 40' 10 49" ESS., ' - #' Htm %::k "'■■■;> ^ m ffi^S Is*'-' gSp^ ^s :^ ^ fmits^mu ss#- «. Unlike any other Canudiun Ht>ttleinent, it was a lurgo place from the very Hr«t, and uh Hoon uh its name wue heard in Kurope it waH already a j^rcat fommorciul centre of British North America. Its regular streets cover a space largo enough to accommodate a population of 100, 000 ; it ponsesses neveral public monumentH, banks, churches, and hotels ; its thoroughfares are lit with gas and electricify and it is well supplied with good water from the hills lying north of Burrard Inlet. Railways branch off to (ho north and south of the city ; bridges cross the estuary of False Hay running to the south and parallel wifh liurrurd Inlet; quays, prtntoons, and warehouses have been erected; the transcontinental line is continued by steamer to Vancouver Island, Oregon, ('alifornia, Alaska, Japan, and (' lina, and other lines are projected towards New Zealand and Australia. Vancouver has thus at a stroke become the chief station on one of the great trade routes cnconipas^^ing the globe. A fine park, 1,0U0 acres in extent, occupies the north-western peninsula, which half closes the entrance to the port and lupletely shelters it from the west winds. III.— NORTH-WEhT TERRITORY. Athahasc'a-Mackenzie axi> Great Fisu Rivkr Basins. With the exception of Labrador the great division of the Dominion draining to the Arctic Ocean is less known than any part of British North America. The Mackenzie basin has doubtless been traversed in various direetions ; but it has been studied only along the line of widely distant itineraries. V'onsequently many of its geographical features have yet to be determined with precision, as is evident from the numerous discrepancies occurring even on the n.ist recent maps. A century has elapsed since the whole region was traversed for the firr>t time. Doubtless the Canadian trappers had penetrated far beyond the permanent European settlements ; but none of them appear to have advanced northwards beyond the sources of the Athabasca. It was surprising enough that solitary traders could have ventured even so fur beyond the extreme posts held by the whites, passing from tribe to tribe in the midst of enemies or doubtful f riendit, and making their way through forests and across innuraerablu lakes, rivers, and portages hundreds of miles from their base of supplies. The young Canadians, whether whites or lialf-breeds, took pride in iilunging into these formidable western solitudes, and returning inured to every hardship, accustomed to face all dangers. Such a traming made men, and to it may largely be due the tenacity with which the French Canadian nationality has held its ground in the midst of the Anglo Saxon world. --'-■':;'; ;.^- •■- Progress of Discovery. The first purely geographical exploration was that of Samuel Heame, despatched in 1770 by the Hudson Bay Company northwards in the direction of the Arctic waters. After pushing westwards to the Athabascan basin Ileurne reached the shores of the Frozen Ocean ; but the account of his voyage remained in the mmmmmimti 182 NOETH AMERICA. r pospession of the company for twenty years, when it was at last published in com- pliance with a promise made to Laperouse. A few years after Hearne's expedi- tion the Beaulieu family, Canadian half-breeds, founded a settlement north of Lake Athabasca, and in 1778 a fort was erected on its margin. Then Pond, an Englishman, guided by these half-castes, advanced to the Great Slave Lake, and seven years later Mackenzie descended the course of the river which bears his name, and thus reached the shores of the Arctic Ocean, which he supposed to be the Pacific. The following year he again penetrated into the same basin and after ascending the Peace River crossed o^or to the western slope of the region now known as British Columbia. Thus was opened a first transcontinental route across North America. This memorable expedition was followed by others in the same direction ; but no record was preserved of these voyages made in the service of the two rival companies, that of the " North- West," heir to the Old French Association, and that of " Hudson Bay." Both alike employed French and Scotch whites and half- breeds ; but their resources were chiefly employed in thwarting one another, in stirring up feuds between their respective Indian subjects, in seizing their opjx)- nents' factories and taking possession of the routes and portages. Geographical studies were not furthered by these underhand struggles, which more than once broke into open hostilities. After Mackenzie's expedition no great voyage of discovery was undertaken till 1820, when Franklin traversed the north-west territories between Lake Winnipeg and the Arctic Ocean. Five years later he descended the Mackenzie to its mouth, and carefully surveyed the delta, while his companions. Back and Richardson, explored the regions stretching eastwards to the Coppermine River. A few years later Back resumed his polar explorations, and discovered the source and the mouth of the Great Fish River, or Back's River, as it is sometimes called. Afterwards Dease and Simpson coasted the shores of the Frozen Ocean between the Mackenzie and Back estuaries, and when Franklin and his com- panions were lost among the Arctic lands, this region was traversed in various directions by search parties under Rae, Richardson, PuUen, Hooper, Anderson, Stewart, Hayes and Schwatki. Catholic missionaries, notably Petitot, also contributed to a better knowledge of the Mackenzie and other rivers flowing to the polar seas. The official limits of the North-West Territory bear no relation to its physical features, and in any case have only been laid down provisionally in anticipation of further changes. In this enormous region the single province of Athabasca has alone been constituted, its frontiers, as is so often the case in America, being traced in geotnetrical lines along the degrees of latitude and longitude, except on the east side, where they partly coincide with the course of the Athabasca and Great Slave Rivers. But beyond this district, the territory officially com- prises the wholb section of the Rocky Mountains between Alaska and British Columbia, as well as the vast spaces extending north to the Arctic Ocean and east to Hudson Bay. THE NORTH- WE3T TEREITORY. 188 Physical Featttres. Including the not yet organised province of Keewatin in the south-east, the North- West Territory with the polar archipelago comprises more than half of all the lands constituting the Dominion of Canada. But if the country bo taken within its natural limits, that is, leaving to Alaska the Yukon basin, and to Manitoba the tracts draining to Hudson Bay, all the Canadian lands whose waters flow to the Frozen Ocean present an area of about one million square miles, or nine times that of the British Isles. Yet the whole population, whites, Indians and Eskimo, scarcely exceeds fifteen thousand ; in other words, this region is still almost uninhabited. This vast triangulir space sloping towards the Arctic Ocean is intersected by the chain of lakes running from the Canadian " Mediterranean " to the Great Bear Lake parallel with the axis of the Rocky Mountains and the west coast of the continent. This chain of inland waters forms a parting line between two quite distinct regions. So early as 1823 the American explorer. Long, traversing districts far to the south of the Mackenzie, had noticed the remarkable fact that the lacustrine depression coincides with the line of contact between two different geological formations, and the same remark has since been extended to the other great freshwater basins of British America. On the east the rocks consist uniformly of crystalline masses, on the west of far more recent sedimentary strata. The aspect of the country corresponds to the nature of the soil, the gneiss and granite formations being studded with innumerable cavities of all sizes forming meres, tarns or wooded lakes, while the stratified rocks of the west constitute rolling prairies dispos- d at a comparatively gentle incline. On the west side the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains occupy a consider- able part of the North- West Territory, and some of the advanced spurs even rise in isolated groups above the undulating plains extending east of the main range. Moreover, a number of eminences, which here and there develop into ridges, branch off from the Rockies in the direction of the Arctic Ocean. These " ribs " of the spinal axis, disposed for the most part in parallel lines, are pierced at intervals by the emissaries of lakes which were formerly pent up, but which by long erosive action have gradually foun^ an outlet seawards. ■ One of these transverse ridges begins with the Bighorn group immediately east of the headwaters of the Athabasca, and forms the watershed between that basin and the Saskatchewan. Towards the sources of the Churchill, or English River, which flows to the Hudson Bay, the ground falls between thp.t basin and the Clearwater, an affluent of the Athabasca, and here is the famous La Loche or Methy Portage, formerly crossed by all travellers proceeding to the north-west. It consists of a long sandy plateau about 1,550 feet high, or nearly 600 above the plains sloping towards Lake Winnipeg. Between this lake and La Loche, regarded as the. common limit of two distinct territoiies, tliere occur as many as thirty-six other portages where boats have to load and unload. A second line of hills branching from the main range north of the sources of the ElVERS OF THE NOBTH-WEST TEREITORY. 185 ■ Slave which of tho v \ -;V- the Greut Slave Lake to heights of over 1,000 feet, and near the ocean attain an ' altitude of over 5,000 feet. , . ,v^ • -, • . In this region the Kooky Mountains, or at least u range belonging to the sume orographic systen), ipproaches the Mackenzie, and here forms the watcrparting between the Yukon and the rivers flowing to the Arctic Ocean. According to Petitot masses of phonolith abound in these northern mountains, and several cones near the east side of the Mackenzie delta at a distance resemble heaps of scoria) ; MacClure reckoned as many as fifteen emitting wreaths of smoke and by him compared to " limekilns." ■„ -"^^ : In several districts are met small cones similar to the maccaluhe of Sicily, and occasionally emitting smoke, whence their Canadian name, boucanea. When in a state of activity they deposit sulphur, salt and other chemical substances along the course of their rivulets, and diffuse an odour generally like that of petroleum. They usually occur on tbe banks of rivers in the neighbourhood of bituminous schists, lignites and saline rocks. Elsewhere a huge bed of porous sandstone, satu- rated with mineral oil, burns like coal, and salt is found especially amongst the hills west of the Mackenzie, where, according to the natives, whole mountains are composed of rock salt. On the other hand the granites in the eastern region between the Arctic and Hudson Bay basins, coutain deposits or traces of g^ld, silver and especially copper. So early as 1715 copper ores had been procured by the agents of the Hudson Bay Company from the Coppermine district. A process of upheaval appears to have taken place along the Arctic seaboard, unless the ocean has here receded northwards. West of the Coppermine estuary Franklin collected driftwood at an elevation far above the present sea-level, and the same phenomenon was observed by Richardson on the west side of the Copper- mine basin. On both sides of this river old marine inlets have been observed, which are now severed from the open sea by low beaches and narrow strips of sand. Eskimo Lake near the Mackenzie delta would sevm to be such a forma- tion, its water still being somewhat brackish.* But according to Petitot the Sitiji, as this lake is called by the natives, is merely an expansion of the small river Natnwja, which reaches the coast east of the Mackenzie. ' Rivers and Lakks. ws the "8, and Lakes. )eyond The Athabasci, main upper branch of the Mackenzie, has its southernmost source in the so-called "Committee's Puach-bowl," a lakelet situated on the east flank of Mount Brown in the Rocky Mountains. On the opposite side of the Yellow Head Pass, the streams flow west to the Columbia basin, and north-west to the Franer, while the Athabasca, or Whirlpool River, escapes from the hills north- eastwards, and is soon joined by several affluents euch as the Miette, Baptiste, MacLeod, and Pembina. But the hydrographic nomenclature of this region is in a very confused state, every watercourse being differently named by the English, the Canadian trappers, and the various local Indian tribes. The term Athabasca * John Ricbardaon. FraQkliu's Seeond Nariativ* of a Sttonti ErpedHioH to the Pniar Sea*. - - . : l-yi;-' '^ .-.■i.*^r v"'^^ 186 NOBTH AMERICA. itself is rarely used, the Canadians calling it the Biche, a term which they aho apply to other rivers. But according to Petitot, the Athabasca is wrongly named the Elk River on some English maps, for the animal formerly called the biche by the lJoi8-Br{ile truppers is not the elk of English writers, but the uapiti, or " reindeer of the rocks." From the west the Athabasca receives the drainage of the Lesser Slave Lake, as well as the overflow of several other lakes. Beyond a gorge cut through the sandstone rocks to a depth of over 300 feet, its valley broadens out, and in several places is studded with those extinct or still active " boucanes " which are numerous especially in the basin of the Mackenzie proper. At the foot of tho Bark Mountain, the Athabasca traverses the " Great Rapids," a perfectly uniform inclined plain about 60 miles long, where the water is uninterrupted by a single fall, and its smooth surface ruffled only by rocks of various size projecting above the surface. Some 550 miles from its source, the Athabasca enters the large lake of like name, at a point a considerable distance from its former mouth. At present the alluvial delta extends about f30 miles towards the north-east, and is intersected by a multitude of channels, which change their direction and relative size with every fresh inundation. The chief branch retains the name of Athabasca, and another is known as the " Riviere des Embarras," owing to the numerous snags washed down with the stream. The delta is also joined by channels from the Clear Water and from the Peace River, and in some years, notably 1871 and 1876, its whole surface has been transformed to a shallow muddy bay. The former herbaceous vegetation of the islands has been replaced by conifers, and the term Athabasca, meu,ning in the Algonquin language, " grassy carpet," and doubtless originally restricted to the delfaic region, has lost its significance. The lake, standing about 500 feet above sea-level, takes the form of a crescent with its convex side facing northwards. But its shores are very irregular and deeply indented by inlets, and like other lakes of this region, it occupies a depres- sion in the granite rocks, which here form steep but low banks. A few rounded hills of Laurentian and Huronian formation, offshoots of the Caribou Mountains, appear only on the north side, so that Heame was scarcely justified in naming this basin the " Lake of Hills." It is joined on the east by several considerable streams, mostly emissaries from smaller lacustrine basins. Hearne, bowever, was wrong- in connecting with this hydrographic system the Wollaston and Deer Lakes, which drain through the Churchill to Hudson Bay. At its western extremity the lake receives its great tributary, and here also lies its outlet, so that the deltaic region is common both to affluent and effluent. But owing to the gradual desiccation of the land, the streams have a tendency to be deflected eastwards. The main branch of the effluent, which here takes the name of the Great Slave River, also winds between low-lying plains alternately dry and flooded. But it is rapidly increased in volume after receiving the various channels through which the Peace River ramifies at its mouth. The Peace rises in British Columbia, on the elevated plains formerly occupied by a vast lacustrine ba.<>in. i^i>iiu:~t>> <..••■■': I : EIVERS AND LAKES OF THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. 187 while its chief branch, the Panais or Parsnip River, takes its origin north of the great bend of the Fraser, the two streams being connected, according to Petitot, by a portage scarcely more than 300 yards long. After escaping from its upper valley, the Parijnip is joined by the Finlay, the united stream taking the name of Unshagah, or " Peace," * and forcing its way through a romantic gorge in the Rocky Mountains down to the plains. After rushing over a limestone ledge 8 or 10 feet high, it enters the Athabascan depression through a fertile region abor id- ing in grassy prairies, magnificent forests, and herbaceous slopes. Fig. 79.— Swampy Delta of the Atuabasca. Soale 1 : 1,900,000. ■ i-:-»- West oF Greenwich 112° ISMUei. Being formed by the united waters of the Athabasca and Peace rivers, the Great Slave is a very copious stream ; but at its passage through the Caribou hills its course is obstructed by long rapids, so that the boatmen have to cross seven portages successively between the confluences of the Dog River from the east and of the Salt from the west. Below these granitic barriers, begins under another name the true Mackenzie, the Des Ned he, or " Great River," of the natives, which is henceforth perfectly navigable for about 1,450 miles to its estuary in the Arctic Ocean. It flows at first between wooded alluvial banks, beyond * Daniel Gordon, Mountain and Prairie. p I 188 NORTH AMERICA. which it ramifies through several brunches in «i now dried up lacustrine region to its mouth in the Great Slave Luke, so named from the Indians occupying its western shores. This inlund sea, one of the largest in North America, fills u depression running Houth-west and north-east parallel with the series of rocky ridges traversing the North- West Territory from one extremity to the other. It is no less than 300 miles long, with a varying breadth 60 miles at the widest points, and a total area roughly estimated at 10,000 square miles, or some fifty tiiius that of Lake Geneva. The western section is shallow, being half filled up by the sedimentary matter deposited by the Great Slave, Hay, and other affluents. But the eastern section, encircled by steep cliffs or banks, is said to.have a depth of over 650 feet. Here also the shores are more indented by long narrow inlets, the two easternmost of which are separated by a sharp peninsula, terminating in a headland of black serpentine, called the " Rock of the Pipes," because it supplies the material with which the Yellow Enife Indians make thtir calumets. Each of the inlets of the Great Slave Lake has itn affluents, themselves emis- saries from other lakes. Thus the long northern gulf rec^^ives the overflow from Pike, Marten, and Graudin Lakes ; Christie Bay in the south-easit some smaller tributaries, and MacLeod Bay in the north-east the discharge from Aylmer, Clinton-Colden, Artillery, and other basins, all draining through the " Queue de I'Eau." Some 12 mibs above its mouth, this affluent tumbles over the Parry Falls, said by Back to be 400 to 500 feet high, and so contracted that one fancies one might take it at a bound. Vapours rise in clouds hundreds of yards above the chasm ; but during tho eight winter months, the chief beauty of the cascade is due to the pendant icicles fringing the overhanging ledges, and protruding from the cavities of the rocky walls. An endless variety of tints is impurted to the scene by the green mosses and ruddy ferruginous cliffs, producing an effect to which even that of Niagara cannot be compared. On the Hay River, another aflluent of the lake, other cascades occur, which have also been described by enthusiastic explorers as " finer than Niagara." The Great Slave Luke, whose northern waters are crossed by the sixty- third parallel, forms with the tributary basins a parting line between two climates. On emerging from the lake through its north-west outlet the Mackenzie enters its Arctic valley, where it expands at first into almost stagnant basins, then contracts its bunks and fulls rapidly down to its confluence with the Liards, a large tributary from the south. Like the Peace, the Liatds or " Poplars," rises on the west slope of the Rocky Mountains, and after collecting the overflow of the Dease and other lakes, escapes through a very precipitous breach in the mountains. Below the confluence the mainstream almost everywhere maintains a width of at least '2,000 yards ; but at many points, especially above the mountain gorges, its banks recede as much as 4 or 5 miles, while the lateral terraces, standing at various elevations up to 350 feet above the present stream, attest the enormous volume of water discharged through this fluvial bed at a former geological epoch. Several rapids, of which the Sans-Saut alone offers any dangers to the navigation, follow along this part RIVERS AND LAKES OF THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. 189 of its course down to the neighbourhood of the Fork Luke, where the river ramifies through the branches of its delta. ■ -^--~'' The Great Rear Lake, h'ke the two other large lacustrine basins belonging to the Athabasca-Mackenzie hydrographic system, lies to the east of the Mackenzie, from which it is separated by an isthmus some CO miles broad. Although not so long, the Great Bear is much wider than the Great Slave Lake, and also appears to cover a greater area and to contain a larger volume, judging at least from the soundings of Franklin, who failed to touch the bottom with a 45- fathom plummet. 190 NORTH AMER/.CA. The busin consists of five bays with intervening rocky promontories from 650 to 800 feet high, beyond which stretch the north-eastern solitudes, snowy wastes swept by the Arctic winds and covered with a snow-cup for the greater part of the year; in 1838 the lake itself was ice-bound fur ten months. All the bays receive affluents except the north-western, which is separated by a portage only a few hundred yards wide from the Hare-skin River, now flowing to the Lower Mackenzie, but at one time apparently a tributary of the lake. On the other hand the Ijake of the Woods on the north side probably sends its overflow through an underground channel to the Great Bear Lake. According to Petitot's map, the vast delta of the Mackenzie extends north and south a distance of 90 miles with an area of 4,000 square miles, and is still rapidly encroaching on the sea. This delta, however, is common also to the Peel or Plumee, which joins it from the west, and whose mouth has been mistaken by Franklin and other navigators for a branch of the Mackenzie. After issuing from the Rocky Mountains the Peel winds between this range and a lateral limestone ridge through a desolate level plain, whence its Canadian name of Plumee (D^plumee), that is, " treeless," " waste," or " arid." According to Maclsbiter, a forked channel sends its two navigable branches, one to the Peel, the other to the Rat, an affluent of the Yukon. ' Since 1887 the Athabasca- Mackenzie, which has a total length of nearly 2,700 miles and a catchment basin of at least 460,000 square miles, has been regularly utilized for the transport of provisions und merchandise. Steamers starting from Lake Winnipeg ascend the Saskatchewan la a large rapid, which is turned by a short railway, beyond which the navigation is renewed. Then a carriage road 100 miles long runs to the Athabasca, which is descended by alternate steamers and flat-bottomed boats to Fort Smith on the Great Slave River. Hero occurs another portage of 12 miles, beyond which steamers drawing o feet ply regularly on the Mackenzie to its estuary as well as on the Peace and Liards rivers and on Lake Dease. Thus is presented on the united Saskatchewan and Athabasca-Mackenzie basins an almost completely ndvigable waterway of about 7,500 miles, beyond which the navigation might be continue! along the Arctic seaboard to Bering Strait at least for three months in the year. The Anderson, MacFarlane, and other streams flowing east of the Mackenzie in parallel courses to the Frozen Ocean are of coniparatively small size, and traverse a dreary solitude, where the rocky cavities are flooded with innumerable little lakes, which send their overflow either through surface channels or underground passages seawards. The Coppermine, so named from the native copper collected on its banks, is, however, a very large river with a course estimated at 360 miles,' while its valley forms the northern continuation of the Yellow Knife, a tributary of the Great Slave Lake. Being long known to the Indians and trappers for its mineral wealth, the Coppermine was selected as the object of the fir^t scientific expedition sent to the north-west under Samuel Hearne in 1770. In the lower part of its course it is completely obstructed by numerous falls and rapids, the last of which has been named Bloodj* Fall in memory of the Eskimo here massacred EIVERS ANT) LAKES OF THE N0UTU-WE8T TERRITORY. 101 by the Indians. It Ilea 10 or 12 miles ubove ('oronution Qiilf, u broud basin separating the insular musses of Wullastoii, Prince Albert, and Victoria Lands from the continent. A slight upheaval of the ground would convert this gulf into an inland sea like the Athabasca, Oreut Slave and Ueur lakes, which would Fig. 81.— The MACUi^tUB Delta. 8Mackcnzie Kystom, that it has often wrongly been described us connected with that basin. Throughout its whole course, estimated by Back at 000 miles, it flows through a dreary inhospitable waste of rocks and barren plains, whoso monotony is unrelieved by a single tree. In its middle course it floods several largo depressions, and is here obstructed by numerous rapids, of which Back rcck(»ned as mony as eighty- three. At its mouth, which is also barred by sand-banks, the Great Fish expands into a broad estuary, opening upon a marine inlet which resembles Coronation Gulf with its complexities of buys, straits, and fjords, and which, like it, would be transformed to a luke by a slight upheaval of the land. On the other bund, a subsidence of a few yards would change to islands the large Boothia and Melville Peninsulas. The natural limit of the North- West TeiTitory in this direction is the Rae Isthmus, marked by a double chain of lak^s and meres between the Arctic Ocean and the nortliern straits of Hudson Bay. This angular limit of the continent is traced ulon^ a general line running south-oast and north-west, and coinciding with the sraboard between Newfoundland and Boothia Felix. Climate ok the North-Wkst Territouy. In its oscillations south of the true North Pole, the meteorological pole usually passes above the northern lands, which for seven or eight months remain covered with snow, while the subsoil is permanently frozen beneath a thin layer of humus, which thaws sufficiently for a few Arctic plants to strike their rootlets into the ground. The whole of the Mackenzie delta, as well as the lower course of the Coppermine and Back rivers, belongs to this polar zone, where for a long night of two mcnths the sun never rises above the horizon. The glass has occasionally fallen to —62° Fahr. at the New Fort Good Hope in 66° 20' north latitude, and for six months, from October I7th to April 24th, the average temperature has been — 14° Fahr. at Fort Confidence in 66° 54' latitude. At these low temperatures the human breath rises in the air as dense white vapour, whose sudden condensa- tion into extremely minute icicles is accompanied by a slight crackling noise.* Snow seldom falls during intensely cold weather, and Petitot never observed it when the glass stood lower than 18° Fahr. The numerous kinds of snow, for which the natives have a surprisiig variety of terms, are produced under special conditions of the temperature, winds and vapours ; usually it is formed very near the surface of the earth in the lower stratum of fogs, while higher up the sky is • Meteorologfioal roix)rdH in the North -West Territory : — MCMI ExIrcmMof Extreme* of LaUtude. Tempernture. Cold. iimt. Fort Dunregan . 65° 66' . . 31° Fahr. . . —60° Fahr. . . 90° Fahr. Fort ChippewajTHn . . 58° 43' . . 27° . -49° . 80° Fort Rae . 62° 39' . . 22° . —40° . 78° Port Good Hope . . (10° 20' . • ~ . ■ "■ ■■ "' . . -62° . — CLIMATE OF THE NORTII-WEHT TEimiTf)UY. 103 biMiof ■eat. iFahr. perfectly clear with bright sun and atura. Tlie Hiiro-Rkin Iiuliuns divide the year into Hixtccn parts, eoch Hpeciully named with reforonce to tho snows or frosts, the winter dui-kncss and the brightness of summer. Itut they scrupulously avoid uttering the name of the sun, which must be respectfully referred to by some complimentary periphriise. During the short summer the heats often appear intolerable even to tlio natives, who sleep away a considerable part of this period, n/hile much of the long winter night is devoted to the chuse, travelling, and fur-dressing. "When the sun remains forty-eight hours above the horizon the temperature scarcely changes from midday to midnight. Abrupt changes coincide with the shifting of the winds, the cold currents coming from the east, north-east, and even south- east, the relatively mild from the north and north-west. The latter, flowing from large marine surfaces, often assume th(» character of fierce gales ; prevailing especially in January, and at times tepid enough to cause a momentary thaw. In the southern part of the basin, notably in the I'eace Valley where the mean temperature lies near the freezing point, the west winds have a like influence, rendering these regions habitable and even capable of supporting a considerable population. The so-called " Chinook Winds," setting from the Pacific Ocean and sweeping across the Columbian PluLeou and Rocky Mountains, resemble the east winds of Greenland, the Swiss fohn and the " autan " of the Pyrenees, all developing a degree of heat through the condensation of the air after crossing the mountains. Thanks to the deflection of the isothermals north- westwards under the influence of these Pacific currents, the valleys of the Athabasca and Peace livers are scarcely colder than that of the Lower St. Lawrence, while the summer heat suffices to ripen cereals. Here the chief dangers are the early and late frosts, which have been observed on the banks of the Peuce River even in the month of August, On the other hand these regions are greatly favoured by the long duration of the solar heat, the sun remaining above the horizon at midsummer for over seventeen hours under 56° north latitude, that is, about the middle course of the Peace. Anemones flourish in this valley earlier than on the banks of the Ottawa 730 miles nearer the equator. ..._.. —.■.'-■••. -• • ^ ' ■ Flora and Fauna. The Athabasca-Mackenzie basit is naturally divided into two distinct botanical regions, the forest zone of the south and south-west, the treeless of the north and north-east. In the former the prevailing tree is the white pine, with which are associated other conifers, spruces, firs, cedars and larches, which, how- ever, scarcely reach so far north as 62°. The aspen and balsam are also common, their range extending even to 68°, and from them several rivers take their name. The white birch abounds in the forest districts, but is seldom allowed to reach maturity, the Indians felling all well-grown stem^ ^or their boats. Lastly the dwarf birch, alder and willow advance northwards to the region of mosses and trailing plants. Petitot even speaks of " gigantic " willows, apparently a distinct N. A.— 14 " i ll. i| i i i i ,|i ii #ii i ^'jiijp i |it;||ii^j ii MiiN ii'i i , 104 NORTH AMERICA. if HpociuH, oil th»' blinks nf fho Poel River. On iho ihori'H of the Oieut Bear ImVo voj^ot:i)ion (li'vulojm »o Hlowly tlmt jirii-B four hundred years old huvo a girth Hcurcely excooding H or ^0 iiicheH I'orries of all kinds ulK)und in the forent region ; formerly fho IndiiuiH of tho SiiHkiUv.iOwiin niigruted every RUtninor to the I'etiee Valley, '2'>0 niih'H from their eamping j^rounds, in qiu'Ht of those fruitN,* and owing to tho failure of tho erop huudrcda of nativ«H periMhcd in 18S!). In many of tho foroit dimricts prairier; altornato with the woodlandM, tho dimijipeiiranee of tho timber being probably duo partly to deficient moiNtun , but porhapH mainly to contlagrations. Where no fires break out for a number of years, trees begin to spring up again, the second growth consisting chiefly of the aspen, here and thoro of tho birch ; but these so;)n perish and are replaced by the white i)ine, the characteristic troo of tho north-western forest zone. The treeless boreal region, tho "barren grounds" of ]<]nglish writers, occupy a viist space especially in tho eastern parts bordering on Hudson Bay. Tho Great Fish River busiu is entirely comprised within this zone. From tho verge of the forests south of Chesterfield Inlet to tho Frozen Ocean along the shores of Melville Peninsula or IJoothia Felix the traveller may roam for over 000 miles across plains and plateaux covered with nothing but lichens, mosses and short herbage. Nevertheless, these boundless wastes also yield the blackberry, tho wild raspberry, whortleberry, gooseberry, strawberry, saskatoon pembina (vibitniHHt cdnlc), supplying nutriment to the bear and even to mun himself. In many places these •' barren grounds " also yield abundant pasture to herbivorous animals, the reindeer lichen, commonly called the " bread of the caribou," covering vast tracts. Even tho rocks are clothed with an almost edible vegeta- tion, such as the gyrophom prohoncidca, which despite its disagreeablo flavour has saved tho life of many a traveller and fur-hunter. The parting line between the forest and steppe zones coincides also with that of two distinct zoological regions. Manj' animals keep exclusively to the wood- lands and clearings, while others roam the boundless mossy plains. In the southern zone still survive a few herds of the forest bison, which scarcely differs from the prairie species. Here also are met the wapiti, the nice amcncanns and the caribou {rangifer caribou), a species of deer also common on the northern plains. The beaver, like most other fur-bearing animals, whether carnivorous or her- bivorous, is confined to the woodlands, where the rabbit and its enemy, the lynx, incroabo and diminish in numbers by periods of seven to nine years. After multiplying prodigiously, they are swept away by some contagious disease, the few survivors preserving the stock, which in a few years again teenas as before. ' . - * ; In the northern steppes the mammals are represented by a species of caribou {rangifci' groenlandicus), the berry-eating brown bear, the musk ox, wolf, fox, Arctic hare, and other fur-bearing animals, most of which, however, migrate southwards in winter. Aquatic birds, which are very numerous, also shift their • Batler, The Great Lone Land. '-^vm m i it'M wm^ INIIAUITANTS OF TlIK NollTll WKSl' TKUUITOIIY. 19S quurtora with thu wniNonn, unci uvoii tniirino fiHltos iihcoiuI ii lon^ way up tho eatuiirios. Af. Macoun utiuiiiorutus 82 p[M>ci<>H inhabitiiiff tho Muckon/io, including Bulmon, perch, und whitefitih (roiryoniiH y'i, Liry'a, &c. '^'^': T'^'r ,'^',!'i^K'' 196 NORTH AMERICA. t|< ! i ::i;\- ..■?:,?'''(■ Churcbill River and the Great Slave Lake. Near this lake, and especially about its northern shores, also dwell the Dog-ribs, so named from the national legend of their canine descent. According to Petitot these Indians all stammer. At a recent epoch they were to a great extent exterminated by the Slave tribe, which occupies the western shores of the lake. Gentle, timid, and long-suffering, these "Slaves" had well earned the contemptuous name bestowed on them; but they were at lust driven to turn on their oppressors. In the Mackenzie Valley the language of barter is the Slave jargon, a mixture of Slave, Kree, and French- Canadian elements. Mary of the Chippewayans are distinguished by their natural intelligence, and King mentions a skilful musician who constructed au excellent fiddle, which he played with much taste.* They usually dress in the European fashion, and build themselves comfortable little houses ; nor do they any longer pierce the lips and cartilage of the nose for the insertion of buttons, bones, or shells. On the slopes of the Rocky Mountains are met the Beavers, the Carriers, the Babines, the Naanneh, or " People of the West," and others connected on one hand with the Slaves, on the other with the Tinnehs of British Columbia and with the Tanana Indians of the Yukon and its waterpartings. The Hare-skins, so-named from their costume, are an inoffensive nation scattered in small groups over the steppes bordering on the Eskimo domain. Lastly the Lower Mackenzie and the region stretching thence westwards into Alaska belong to the Loucheux, who were so called by the early Caiiadian trappers on account of their sinister oblique glance. Mackenzie also gave them the uncomplimentary name of " Quarrellers," from their wranglings with the Eskimo, of which he had been witness. But Franklin explains the term Loucheux in the sense of "cautious" or "wary" in reference to their skill in looking both ways at once, to avoid the arrows of the enemy. According to Petitot they are ten times more numerous in Alaska than in the Mackenzie basin ; but it is chiefly on the banks of this river that they come in contact with Europeans for the sale of their peltries. They practise circum- cision, and some of their Eskimo neighbours have adopted the same rite, which ip very rare amongst Indian tribes, though said by Mackenzie to be also general amongst the Dog- ribs. But despite this practice the Loucheux, as well as all the other Tinneh, except a few remote groups in the Rocky Mountains, have become fervent Roman Catholics. - : ^ . . The third ethnical family in the Athabasca-Mackenzie basin are the Eyinisuks, or " Men," the " Cris des Bois " of the Canadian trappers, whence the Cree, or Kree, of English writers. They are a gentle, upright people, now reduced to about a thousand, all Catholics, like their Tinneh neighbours. The true domain of the Kree nation is the Upper Saskatchewan basin, whence they gradually spread beyond the portages northwards. Of all the Indians of the North- West Ihej' are most threatened by the rising tide of white im- migration ; some hundreds of whites and Chinese have already settled on the Upper Athabasca and on the Peace River in the Omineca and Cassiar terri- • Richard King, Journey to the Shores of the Arctic Ocean. are the whence people, ghbours. whence Indians hite im- l on the ar terri- INHABITANTS OF THE NOETH-WEST TERRITOBT. tory, and these are regarded by all Canadians as the pioneers of many Fig. 82.— Indian Tbappbbs op the Uppkb Tanana. ""s^r**^ '- millions destined to transform those vast solitudes into flourishing settlements. I' l»mLiy^ ' i^l ' i'h ' i''''i 'i 'f>> ^' >'^''ftMk ^ ^^ ^ ^^ ^ ^ 'f 198 NORTH AMERICA. Administkation — The Hudson Bay Company — Mineral "Wealth. ,,;::)! ■:■ i in tan III 'I 1 •in M (HI m X!£il:ilS^ THE HUDSON BAY COMrANY. 100 ho way them- tbiugs. On the other hand, the Company totally disregards the adrainiistrutive divisions, and continues to divide its territory iuto districts not according to degrees of latitude and longitude, but according to the abundance ond quality of the game. Each district has its " capital," that is, a factory or trading poet, comprising a group of three or four wooden structures enclosed by a square palisade 15 to 20 feet high. Most of these '• forts " being military only in name, tlie palisades remain unfortified except where some precauti^ are needed by the attitude of the natives. In 1875, the servants of the Company numbered about a thousand, mainly English, Scotch, Anglo-Saxon, and French Canadians, and Franco- Canadian half-breeds, these List being still the dominant element. The half-caste trappers in the Company's service have few equals in the world for physical strength, skill, endurance of cold and hardships, and coolness in the presence of danger. In the woodlands they have to discover tlie tracks by the scent of bear or caribou, or by the slight indications of their forerunners. From beneath the snow they have to disclose the lichens required to attract the musk ox. They thread their way unerringly across a labyrinth of dunes and rocks. Amid the endless intricacies of the lakes they detect the emissaries by the faintest landmarks. During the long winter nights, when dogged by wolves or bears, they guide themselves by the position of the stars. When they are associated together in small groups, they can lend each other mutual aid ; but at times they find themselves cut ofi from all help, and then their life becomes a continuous struggle with death. A wrong turn in the forest, a breakdown in crossing a portage, a false stroke of the oar in shooting a rapid, loss of supplies or failure to ring down the game, the slightest mischance in these boundless solitudes suffices uO involve them in imminent peril. Against famine especially every precaution has to be taken, and no expedition goes unprovided, with the indispensable peramican, which in like bulk contains almost more nutritious elements than any similar preparation. So satisfying is it that even the most voracious Indian can consume no more than five poundH in the twenty^four hours, the normal ration being half that quantity.* In the districts where no white settlements exist, the price of merchandise, blankets, and other woven goods, tobacco, ammunition, pemmican, and the like* is always valued in peltries, this " currency " itself having an ideal value. Formerly it consisted of real beaver-skins, but each article having its tariff fixed at a given number of "beavers," the exchange is effected without this symbol itself, which in some districts cannot be procured, and which is at present valued at about two shillings sterling. With the changes of fashion and the greater or less abundance of game, the peltries themselves rise or fall in price. Thus ermine being no longer in demand, this animal has ceased to be hunted, thus escaping the total extermination by which it was at one time threatened. The beaver also has had a period of respite since its fur has ceased to be used in the manufacture of hats. In the same way, the black fox has fallen in price owing to the discovery of the secret by which other peltries may be dyed a glossy durable black. The use * Butler, The Great Lone Land. ■/J , l> -; ' i » v: « ■;■: : 800 NORTH AMERICA. of strj'clmiiio lo tuke wolves and foxes has indirectly caused the wholesale destruction of many other fur-bearing animals, amongst which are the glutton {(jitlo fiiWKs), respected for its almost human intelligence, and the skunk, dreaded less for its pungent odour than its bite, which causes a kind of rabies, different from but no less dangerous than that of the dog or wolf. Notwithstanding the importance of the fur trade, future settlers will probably be attracted to the North- West Territory by its mineral resources. The valleys of the Liards and its affluents, and especially the basin in which is situated Lake Dease, appear to contain gold in abundance. Here are the famous Cassiar mines, so named from the Kaska Indians of the surrounding uplands, and the village of Laketon on the delta of Dease Creek was formerly the centre of a busy floating population. As indicated by its name, the Coppermine Valley is rich in copper deposits, and the old writers tell us that the few aborigines of this region used the native metal without smelting, but simply hammering it with stones.* Salt beds have been found both north and south of Lake Athabasca, where also occur stores of gypsum, lignite and kaolin, while, according to the latest reports of the geologists, the reservoirs of mineral oil would appear to surpass all those hitherto discovered in the New World. Indications of its presence have been observed everywhere from the Saskatchewan basin to Cape Bathurst, a total distance of 1,400 miles north and south. In the opinion of the Canadians, these petroleum- fields should already be regarded as a chief future resource of the Dominion. The Government accordingly proposes to reserve a space of about 40,000 square mileo between the Lesser Slave and Athabasca Lakes for future concessions to capitalists capable of working these treasu»'es. Soundings recently marie in the same regions have also revealed the existence of vast supplies of inflammable gases. Topography. In the absence of towns in the ordinary sense, the trading stations scattered over the North- West Territory possess vital importance as necessary rallying- points for all travellers, and as positions chosen on account of their natural advantages for carrying on the barter trade between the hunters and the agents of the Hudson Bay Company. Should future cities ever spring up in these vast solitudes, they will inevitably occupy such favoured sites, just as Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Niagara, Winnipeg have grouped themselves round the forts erected by the early Canadian explorers. Some of the Athabasca-Mackenzie forts have already acquired a certain celebrity in connection with the names of Mackenzie, Franklin, Back, Richardson, and other renowned explorers. One of the most important of these forts is Jasper House, standing at an altitude of over 3,300 feet, at the confluence of the Miette and Upper Athabasca opposite the Yellow- Head Pass, which leads westwards to the Fraser valley. But the largest place in the whole of the North-West Territory is the village and mission of Luke La Bic/ie, which has a mixed population of 600 Erees and French half- * Dohba, AceouHt of Hudton't Say. ..-'■■■ TOrOGBAPnY OF THE NORTH "WEST TEREITORT. 201 breeds. It commands the portages connecting tLe Upper Atliabusca, the northern fork of the Saskatchewan and the Churchill, not far from Atliabusca Landing, which has lately become the most frequented port and the head of the navigation in the Athabasca-Mackenzie basin. Fort MacMurrai/ commands the confluence of the Athabasca and Clearwater at the famous La Loche portage, which for a hundred years was the main route of Canadian travellers and trappers. At the western extremity of Lake Athabasca, Fort Chippewaijan has several times shifted with the shiftings of the alluvial delta, and now stands opposite the mouth of the affluent and near the head of the outlet, not far from a mission and an orphanage which in 1888 contained 67 inmates, quite a large population for Fig. 83.— Poars or the Hudson Bay CoMPAinf. Scale 1 : 60,00<),0:)O. 45: West or Greenwich C30 Miles. those almost uninhabited regions. Fort Fond du Lac, at the eastern extremity of Lake Athabasca, is the most advanced station towards the regions which drain to Hudson Bay. In the Peace basin the chief station is Fort Dunvegav, near the British Columbia frontier. Fort Smith, the much-frequented port at the portage of the rapids between the Athabasca and the Mackenzie on the Great Slave River, is followed northwards by Forts Resolution and Providence on the Great Slave Lake. These places have become famous in connection witli Franklin's expedition, juat as Fort Beliance is associated with that of Back. But the latter, founded only for the purpose of furthering the exploration of the Great Fish River, has now been al andoned, while Fort Rao, on the northern inlet of the Great Slave Lake, has been restored, at 202 NORTH AMERICA. the joint churge of the British aud Canudian treasuries, as the central meteorologi- cal station in the North-West Territory. In the region comprised between the Great Slave and Great Boar lakes, the chief station is Fovt Simpnon, at the confluence of the Liards and Mackenzie rivers, where it commands the route from the sources of the Stickeen to South Alaska. The new Fort Good Hope, which replaces an old post swept away by the floods of the Mackenzie in 1836, occupies a position analogous to that of Fort Norman, at tlie junction of the Mackenzie and Hare-skin rivers. On the other hand. Fort Macplierson, on the Peel River, has been maintained in a state of defence since 1848, in order to command the Eskimo and Loucheux territories, which are conterminous about tho Mackenzie delta. In the vast " barren grounds " stretching from the Mackenzie eastwards, the only factory maintained by the Hudson Bay Company is Furt Enterprise, which occupies a central position in the triangular space formed by the Great Slave Lake, Great Bear Lake and Coronation Gulf. Fort Confidence, which had been erected on the north-east gulf of Great Bear Lake, has been abandoned. IV.— LAKE WINNIPEG BASIN AND REGION DRAINING TO HUDSON BAY. Alberta — Saskatcukwan — Assiniboia — Manitoba — Keewatin. IB ! A large section of this territory, forming a portion of the former Ruperts' Land or domain of the Hudson Bay Company, has already been divided into administrative provinces, which, however, follow geometrical lines rather than natural frontiers. The four territories, cut into so many rectangles draining to Hudson Bay, are the Province of Manitoba, and the Districts of Albkbta, Sas- katchewan and AssiNiBoiA, which, with the whole of the Athabasca-Mackenzie basin, comprised the so-called " North-West Territory." Towards the east and north- east the region sweeping round the west side of Hudson Bay still remains open, either to be eventually divided into new provinces, or else assigned to one or other of the already constituted states of the Dominion. '1 his undefined space, which merges imperceptibly northwards in the unexplored tundras between Hudson Bay and the Great Fish River, has been provisionally designated by the name of Keewatin, or " North Wind," a name fully justified by the rude climate of these bleak north-eastern wastes. _ ' '...lA^Jt .:■: --J.^'- ■ -:■.;- On the south the Winnipeg provinces are limited by the forty-ninth parallel, the conventional boundary between the Dominion and the United Stat-s. Had the true parting-line been adopted between the Winnipeg and Mississippi basins, the first landmark would have been placed in the Rocky Mountains of Montana between the headstreams of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers, respective tributaries of the Saskatchewan and Missouri. From this point the water-parting runs north-eastwards for about 440 miles through Canadian territory, and then turns mmmmm lit I . -Xvs-Ti-r.-sc: — '^srf~-f — te«fe5*"'* rilYSICAL FEATURES OF THE WTNNirEO REGION. 908 south-custwnrds through North Dakota and MinnoHota, so as to enclose (he basins of the Red and Iluiny Rivers, both affluents of Lake Winnipeg. Within the Canudiun frontier the portage between tiiis basin and that of Lake Superior lies a short distance to the west of the latter. In the absence of complete trigonoraetiic 8urve3'8, the vnst Winnipeg region, as officially circumscribed, can only be roughly estimated at about 850,000 square miles, with a white and aboriginal popi 'vtion probably not exceeding 200,000 in 188y. But the stream of immigration has already been directed towards these provinces, where vast tracts of productive soil have been opened up by the Canadian Pacific and other railways. The Pacific line, especially, traversing the whole region from Lake Superior to the Rocky Mountains, has become the great artery whence life is distributed throughout the surrounding lands. It replaces the natural routes of the lakes, rivers, and portages, along which traffic formerly moved at a slow pace. Physical Features. Within the vrinnipeg basin the Rocky Mountains throw off no branches, pnperly so called, to the eastern pkins. Here the rolling prairies dash like billows against the foot of a rorfiy headland, and the transition is everywhere abrupt between the escarpments and the steppe lands. The heights scattered over the region between the Rocky Mountains and Lake Winnipeg resemble the fragments of plateaux eaten away by erosive action, and nowhere rise to any great elevation above the surrounding steppe. Taken altogether, the whole of this region may be considered as forming three terraces with parallel scarps following successively from the foot of the mountains to the Winn ipeg depression, and standing at the respective altitudes of 3,300, 1,600 and 650 feet. The various eminences rising above the escarpments have the aspect of hills or ranges only when seen from the lower terraces. On the off side they merge in the plains themselves, or at least have merely the aspect of slight undulations. The western terrace, stretching along the base of the Rocky Mountains, has an average breadth of about 450 miles, and falls abruptly in ravined cliffs down to the plains watered by the Mouse, the Qu'Arpelle, and the Saskatchewan, about the converging point of its two forks. On this plateau, which slopes gently east- wards, the heights which present most the aspect of a range, especially when half veiled in the rising mists, are the Cypress Hills, whose highest crests have an absolute height of 4,000 feet, and about 1,000 above the surrounding saline lacustrine plains. These almost isolated hills form a waterparting between the Saskatchewan and Missouri basins. They are encompassed by fluvial channels, some dry, some still flooded, which radia'ie in every direction, and which are connected by no well-marked high grounds, with the Three Buttes (6,900 feet), in the neighbouring state of Montana. , - The Hand Hills, lising between the two great forks of the Saskatchewan north of the Pacific Railway, are also encircled by arid tracts, hard clays of the chalk epoch, where no shrub can strike root. Such, also, is the character of the other chalk 204 NORTH AMERICA. or sandstone emiiicncos risiiij^ from u fow hundred to porliapH a ihotiBund feet above the moan level oi the plateau. In Home districts the prairie is likewise traversed by ranges of dunes, and oven shifting Hands. Of all these rising groiuids the ni(mt pieturewpie are the Wood Mountains, wliioh lie within the Missouri basin, their northern extremity being Nurnmnded by afHuents of that river. They are interseeted from east to west by the frontier-lino between Canada and the I'uited States, thanks to which they were till recently u Fig. 84.— CvniEss Hnxi. Soalo 1 : .,500,000. '4 Sf/cA /rAr iio'io' West or Greenwich ?.6 Mih«. place of refuge for Indians escaping from the Republic. Here the famous Dakota cliief, Sitting Bull, pitched his camp in 1862, after overpowering and massacring a detachment of American troops. The upland valley and neigh- bouring prairies were also roamed by myriads of bisons, ^^hich supplied superabundant food for the Red skins. Now Indians and bisons alike have vanished. The scarp of the western terrace is uniformly disposed south-east and north- west parallel with the main axis of the Rocky Mountains. It takes the Canadian name of Coteau du Missouri, Coteau des Prairies, or Grand Coteau, and runs almost uninterruptedly for about 650 miles from the Missouri to the Saskutche- w i ' lii i iii w li i t l i " -' I'ilY.SK'AL FEATURK8 OF THE WINNII'KO UKOION. 908 wun ncroHS tho conventional frontier. Tho Grand Ctitoun prowMits the ORpoct, not of a sinjflo scarp or contimiouM slope, hut of cndloos hiiftrx, or knolU, und roundud promontories consisting of boulders und gravels, evidently ice-borne during the glucittl period. Tho finer d/'bris, such us clays und sands, were carried farther uHeld, und then distributed by the running waters over the lower terraces. The Grand Coteuu is interrupu-d only by u few gorges for the passage of rivers, which have developed mores, for the niost part sulino or brackish, along tho face of tho escarpments. The «'.\iston<'e of ancient lakes is also attested by cavities now dried up, but filled with whitish efflorescences. On tho plutoau tho chains of sulino ponds and now empty lucustrino dcpreesions murk the passage of old glacial streams, which have run dry drring the present geological epoch. Altogether, it seems evident that the hmg r.unpurt of the (^oteuu is simply tho front of a vast moraine which wus furmerly curritnl from tho Rocky Mountuins down to the central depression of ihu continent. The blocks piled up along tho frontal lino belong to all uges from the Luurentiun to recent times; but the sunds, clays, und surface rocks of the plateau itself are of chalk and tertiary formation. They contain vast deposits of lignite, whence the expression " plateau of the tertiary lignite," sometimes applied ccdlectively to the upper terrace. The remains of large extinct animals have been found in several places, and aro venerated by the Indians as belonging to some potent spirit. The intermediate terrace bounded on tho west by the Grand Coteau is much narrower, scarcely exceeding 200 miles from scarp to scarp. Like the upper plateau, it presents isolated knolls, showing traces of erosion, and remaining us stundiug proofs of u former higher level reduced by denudation. The outer edge, broadly pierced by fluvial valleys, is far less regular than the Grand Coteau, being broken into separate masses, which present the appearance of mountains only on their eastern slope. Such are the Pembina Hills, west of the Red River of the North, the Riding Mountains, Duck Mountuins, and Porcupine Hills, west of Lakes Manitoba and Winnepegosis. The groups scattered over tlio plateau also bear the names of animals — Turtle, Moose, Pheasant, Beaver Hills or " Jlloun- tains." Northwards the terrace itself falls abruptly down to the Saskatchewan valley. Lastly, the eastern and lowest terrace skirts the valley of the Red River and the Winnipeg depression. These old alluvial tracts consist of a thick layer of humus containing in abundance the ashes of grasses yearly consumed by the prairie fires. Tho subsoil is also alluvial, but changed to a marly consistence by intermixture with the countless shells of freshwater mollusks. Few regions can compare with this for natural fertility. But a large part of the valley is occupied with marshy tracts, which it would be too costly to reclaim for tillage They produce, however, an abundance of course grasses. / Rivers and Lakks. runs tche- The chief watercourse of this region is that known in its upper reaches between the Rocky Mountains and Luke Winnipeg as the Saskatchewan, properly 200 NORTH AMERICA. KiMiHkutchiwan, or " Bwift-flowinf? riv»^r." Both of tlio main forkn bcur tliis „uin„ — North und South S«8kutchewun — tho former being fwl by the largrNt j^hiciern, und flowinj^ through rogionii whop* tho ruirifall is ni«mt nbundant. Tho Uriizeuu nnd its other chief heiidntroams riHO aniid tlio ghicicpH of tlio Rocky Mountains iminodiat»'ly to tho iwtufh of tho Hourcos of tho AthnbuHcii, thoir milky current flowing thoncio north- enatwurds to their confluonco with tho Cloarwutor. lU'low tho confliicncw tho North SuHkatchowan, winding iMitwoon sandy, cluy, und raurly banks, romuiiis a turbid Kfroum ospocially during tho floods. In the spring a few lakes send down a salino fluid, which dries up in tho summer, IJeaver Lake being the only lacustrine basin which sends a permanent emissary to the Suskat- F'itf. 8S.— CouL^EB or TiiH Ubeat Pbaibie. Albbkta. BwU 1 : 1,0(10,000. West cf" Gi-eenwich , dO Miles. N chewan. At the confluence of this tributary t^e main stream sweeps round the Beaver Hills, beyond which it trends south-eastwards along the foot of the Grand Coteau. In this part of its course it is joined by the meandering Battle River. Like the north fork, the South Saskatchewan, better known because skirted by the Pacific Railway, is formed by numerous torrents flowing from the glaciers of the Rocky Mountains. Here ♦he chief branch is the Bow River, which is followed by the transcontinental railway in its ascent to the Kicking Horse Pass. Rising in a glacial lake west of Mount Hector, the Bow River flows south-east- wards through the Banff Valley, and after receiving the overflow of the Devil's ■mmmmam 'S! !| m p.% I l ifSi II I n tmrm RIVERS AND LAKES OF THE WINNIPEG REGION. 207 Lake, escapes through the " Gap " down to the plateaux. Here it receives the Belly River from the southern valleys, and is joined by all the glacial torrents within 130 miles of the Rocky Mountains. In the Grande Prairie of Alberta the Red Deer sends its waters to the South Saskatchewan ; but here many ravines, formerly flooded by permanent streams, have now only temporary rivulets, or even meres with no outflow, which dry up in summer, leaving on their bed selenite efflorescences. The Canadian word coufee or couk has been adopted in English nomenclature to describe these valleys with recurrent streams or saline tarns. Below the Red Deer, the South Saskatchewan flows in a deep gorge through the terminal moraines of the Grand Coteau, beyond which it trends northwards to its confluence with the north fork, their united waters forming the main or great Saskatchewan. Formerly the southern fork probably continued its course through the Qu'Ap- pelle, affluent of the Assiniboine. During the early explorations of the Great West, Palliser and Hector believed they had- discovered in this valley a navigable highway between the Saskatchewan and the Red River of the North.* On thi? almost level terrace the running waters easily change their course, a flight land- slip or the displacement of a sandhill sufficing to divert their currents from one basin to another. Here it was the shifting dunes that caused the South Saskat- chewan to bifurcate, deflecting the main current to the great valley of the north. The rivulet now occupying its old abandoned bed is called the Aitkov, or "River that turns." In the latter part of their course the two Saskatchewans flow nearly parallel north-eastwards. Below the confluence the main stream runs at an average width of about 1,000 feet between two high banks ; but here and there it expands into broad basins studded with sandbanks and islands overgrown with poplars and willows. On both sides the riverain banks are skirted by parallel watercourses, which, like the Saskatchewan itself, appear to be the remains of an old glacial stream. On the south side flows the Carrot, which is connected with the main stream by a transverse channel ; on the north the Big Sturgeon, and on this side the plateau is also studded with numerous lakes. Pine Island Lake, one of these large sheets of water below the Big Sturgeon confluence, communicates with the Saskatchewan through several mouths, which shift their course with the floods, at high water setting northwards to the lake, at ebb southwards to the river. Chains of lacustrine basins connected with Pine Island Lake follow north-eastwards and northwards towards the Nelson and Churchill rivers, and during the great floods a temporary communication is established between the latter and Lake Cumberland, an affluent of the Saskatchewan.f ""' Below the junction of Pine Island Lake, the Saskatchewan describes the so- called "Big Bend" northwards, and then takes another turn to penetrate a narrow rocky gorge, the "Pas" of the Canadian voyagcws, where the water rushes ^^' .^^ .. , A, X. * Petermann' I MittheUmtgm, 1860; Youle Hiud, .^Mtntistn« and SatkaUhewan Exploring Expedition 'i/•\■^•v•'■■^^V ;-;;.. ^^j- ;.>>;;:- i'-i"^^ Besides the Saskatchewan, from which it receives over half of its supplies, Winnipeg is also fed by several other tributaries, amongst which is the Little Saskatchewan which enters the basin towards the middle of the west bank. This river is the emissary from Lake Manitoba, which gives its name to the central and most important province in the Hudson Bay basin. The depression which it occupies is disposed parallel with Lake Winnipeg, and both lakes are fragments ElVEES AND LAKES OJj^ THE WINNIPEG REGION. 208 on the ^bich a 3 Lake, p larger I, which icome a feet; in I, where to form )f I^ake is here 53" 12' ring the velocity During ake from ned to a iirrent at supplies, le Little k. This central which it ■agments of the inland sea which formerly flooded the whole central region of the conti- nent. North-westwards Manitoba is separated only by a narrow isthmus from Lake "Winnipegosis, or "Little Winnipeg," which is disposed in the same direction, the two basins having a collective length of about 250 miles, or nearly the same as Winnipeg itself. But they are narrower and shallower, and in summer Winni- pegosis i < bovn «what brackish, owing to the copious saline springs near the west side. It slunds about 20 feet higher than Manitoba, into which it urains through the Water-hen River. Manitoba itself is 40 feet higher than Winnipeg, to which Hg. 87.— Lake Aoassiz. Scale 1 : 8 000,000. 49" ISOMUea. it sends its overflow through the stream which, farther down, after trave sing another lake, takes the name of the Lesser Saskatchewan. It has been proposed to pierce the isthmus, about 12 or 14 feet high, which separates Manitoba from the Assiniboine River, a project which would double the extent of navigable highways about the city of Winnipeg. Although less copious than the Saskatchewan, the Red River of the North might from the geological standpoint be regarded as the main stream of the whole hydrographic system. It lies in the axis of the depression occupied by Lake Winnipeg, an axis which at the same time coincides with the central depression of the whole continent between the Rocky and Appalachian ranges. The Red River rises in the centre of Minnesota, about 1,300 feet above sea-level in the Elbow Lake, N. A.— 15 ■••IM ■-*.».'.iAiI\K;'Ai.¥Ali? V'if J ■ ^'i I mU I 'P- 210 NORTH AMERICA. whence it flows first south through a series of lakelets to the sbcllow Otter- tail Lake, thenoe sweeping round to west and south. In its upper course it thus describes a complete semicircle in the reverse direction from that of the Upper Mississippi, farther east. The common region of their sources is a typical lacustrine district containing over 700 lakes, some of which are of considerable size, so that in many places the watery element is more extensive than the dry land. Navigable canals might easily be opened between all these basins, from the Bed River to the Mississippi and thence to the St. Lo«i" and Lake Superior. Geologists hold that beyond doubt the Red River was formerly a tributary of the Mississippi, through the Minnesota. Between the Traverse basin, whence flows an affluent of the Red River, and Bigstone Lake, source of the Minnesota, the divide is scarcely six feet high, and occasionally during the floods the northern sends its waters to the southern basin, thus temporarily restoring the old waterway. The upper Minnesota valley presents the aspect of a great fluvial bed, in which the present rivulet seems as if lost, and this valley is continued northwards by that of the Red River. With the eye we may follow the broad channel formerly excavated by the emissary of the great lake, of ^vhich only a fragment now survives. The overflow of this basin, to which Warren has given the name of " Agassiz," must have been discharged southwards, for on the north side it was barred by the rampart of ice at that time covering the whole of boreal America. But when this barrier gradually retreated northwards, affording the overflow an issue through Lake Winnipeg and the Nelson to Hudson Bay, the southern watershed between the Minnesota and the Red River again arose above the surface, and the Red River ceased to be a tributary of the Mississippi.* After escaping from the lacustrine region, the Red River winds northwards through a valley which mainly coincides with the meridian. From the Brecken- ridge meander to the political frontier the difltan,ce in a straight line is 190 miles, and 460 with all the windings. The fall is very slight, and at the frontier the placid current still flows 800 feet above 3ea-level through a prairie valley, whose uniformity presents a strong contrast to the aspect of most other rivers in taeir upland valleys. Its banks nowhere show any rocks except here and there a f jw erratic boulders, locally called " hard-heads." The soil everywhere consists of recent alluvia, resting on the sedimentary matter deposited by the former lake. In its upper course the river, controlled by the numerous lacustrine reservoirs which it floods, remains at a somewhat uniEorm level throughout the year ; but lower down, where it traverses the prairies, the winter floods rise from 34 to 40 feet above low-water mark, and here steamers have been ssen careering over the ploughed lands. These tremendous inimdations ar lue to the irregular melting of the ice, which disappears first in the southern parts of the basin, where the water, being unable to break through its icy barriers farther north, accumulates and overflows its banks far and wide. At this period it is of a dirty white, not of a red flolour, as might be supposed from its name. But according to the Indian legend • Winohell, Popular Seienee Monthly, June and July, 1873. i j EIVEBS AND LAKES OF THE WINNIPEG EEGION. 211 il Lake, icribes a isissippi, I district n many avigable 3r lo the )utary of whence innesota, northern aterway. in which ieards by formerly lent now \ga8siz," ed by the Jut when e through between the Bed )rth wards Brecken- 90 miles, ontier the ey, whose in tiieir ere a fiw onsists of lake. reservoirs yrear ; but 34 to 40 over the melting (vhere the ulates and )t of a red an legend this name has reference lo the blood that mingled with the stream during a fierce battle between some Suultcux and Assiniboine tribes. At the point where it crosses the frontier, the mean discharge is estimated at 2,800 cubic feet per second. In Manitoba the Red River receives the Roseau, the Kat and the Seine on its right bank, and on its left the Sale or Salle, originally Salee, that is " Saline," from the salt springs flowing to its channel. But on this left or west side the chief a£Buent is the Assiniboine, which gives its name to one of the great divisions of this region. The Assiniboine rises on an elevated part of the plateau west of Lake Winnipegosis, and flows at first south and south-east in the direction of the Hg. 88 — BiFUBOATioN OF TBE Sabkatohzwan akd Qu'Afpeixe Ritebs. Scale 1 : 670,000. 50' so 106" 40 West tir b reen wieh .eviiea. Mississippi. The plains traversed by it were till lately inhabited exclusively by the Salteux and the Dakota Assiniboines from whom it takes its name. It is also known as Stony River, not so much from its rocky bed as from its shallow current for a great part of the year winding between argillaceous or sandy banks, which are fissured by the heat and then fall in great masses into the stream when swollen by the melting snows. The Qu'Appelle, or Calling River, so named from the voice of an invisible spirit, joins the middle course of the Assiniboine, without, however, adding much to its volume, despite a course of nearly 400 miles. The discharge of the main stream itself scarcely exceeds 1,700 or 1,800 cubic feet per second in summer. A remarkable feature of the Qu'Appelle is the continuous line of communica- tion which it maintains with another river through a basin with a double outflow. ■"itf' f)l'' It ■-t.k ' -Jftti.. 212 NORTH AMERICA. East of the " Elbow " of the South Saskatchewan, some sandhills, the highest of wliich rise from 60 to 70 feet above the ground, have gradually raised the bed of a deep valley excavated to a depth of over 100 feet below the plateau, without, however, completely filliilg it up, and the upper course of the South Saskatchewan is continued eastwards through this winding depression, which exceeds 6,000 feet in average width. At the point where the valley has been most elevated by the accumulating sands, some 70 feet above the low-water level of the Saskatchewan, the space between the dunes is occupied by a little baf>in which sends the Aiktow Creek in one direction to the Saskatchewan, and the Qu'Appelle in another to the Assiniboine. Along the bed of the latter a chain of narrow lakes at least 30 feet deep follows at intervals ; of these the most remarkable are the four Fishing Fig. 89.- FoBTAOEB OF Tim Old Routes between Lakes Supbbiob Ain> Winnipeo. SoUe 1 : (WX)O,00O. 48' 95° West oF Greenwich SO- 125 Mflea. Lakes, which are separated by intervening alluvial plains deposited by the lateral torrents, the whole forming collectively a long basin of crescent shape, -r ,,^;. •■;.*; > A similar bifurcation to that of the Aiktow Creek is said to occur at the base of the long scarp formed by the Grand Coteau of ihe Missouri, where the two little " Mouse Rivers " would appear to flow from a common basin, one to the Qu'Appelle, the- other to the lower Assiniboine. After receiving the Qu'Appelle, the Assiniboine, here flowing through a broad deep channel, trends eastwards in the direction of the Red River. In this part of its lower course it is joined by the Mouse, which makes a great bend in United States territory, and it then flows within a short distance to the south of Lake Manitoba to the Red River at the sjwt chosen as the site of Winnipeg City. During heavy floods, the Rat, flowing between the Assiniboine and Lake Manitoba, i> jhest of 3 bed of vithout, tchewan 000 feet i by the tcbewan, ) Aiktow er to the it 30 feet Fishing 51* 4S he lateral t the base •e the two ne to the through a In this bend in south of peg City. Manitoba, t ElVEBS AND L.UCE9 OF THE WINNIPEG REGION. SI 8 is said to convey some of the Assiniboine waters to the lake. It would be easy to construct a canal across the isthmus, while a barrage would suffice to divert the South Saskatchewan to the Assiniboine through the Qu'Appelle, thus transforming these two watercourses into a continuous navigable highway. At present the Assiniboine is scarcely available for navigation, despite the length of its course, the main branch of which is alone estimated at 800 miles. Below the capital of Manitoba the united waters of the Assiniboine and Red River keep the name of the latter stream, and continue to follow its general Fig. 90.— Lakk of the Woods. Scale 1 : 4fiO,0(X). 94*-t5' ■ West oF Greenwich 94',s- I 6 Miles. northerly direction. About 36 miles below the confluence the marshy plains through which the channels ramify present all the appearances of a delta, beyond which the vast expanse of Lake Winnipeg stretches away to the north. The time is approaching when this delta will merge in that of the river Winnipeg (Wi-nipi, or " Turbid Water," so named in the Kree larguage from the white argillaceous sadiment held in solution in its current), which enters the lake some 25 miles farther to the north-east. Although a less copious stream than the Saskatchewan, the Winnip-^g is historically more important as the natural highway of communi- cation with Lake'Superior and the other lacustrine basins constituting the Canadian Mediterranean. This route was followed by the hunting tribts, and after them by the Canadian trappers. . Ji^:.%::AM.r:^::-:i-i .^--''^-'^^ .-s-'^'^t^^- The river itself drains a considerable area, rising within 25 miles of the west ~J ^Ifmm ■'■•' ■!■ T 214 NORTH AMERICA. coast, of Iiuko Superior at the " Grand Portage," a rising ground about 20 feet high, which forms the parting line between the two basins. From this point, which stands 1,440 feet above sea-lcvol, all the waters flow from lake to lake through steep gullies, where the boats rusk the less dangerous rapids, and are carried across the portages where the' faU» cannot be navigated. Before the construction of roads and other improvements, the journey of 660 miles between the two great lakes occupied at least 28 or 30 days ; in 1 870 the British expedi- tion sent to suppress the revolt of the half-breeds took three months to march from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg. Of the other more or less difficult routes open to the daring trappers, one of the most frequented is that which has been chosen as the frontier line between the United States and the Dominion, and which the civil engineer, Dawson, has made comparatively easy by the construction of roads across the portages, and by canal- ising the lakes and conuectiug streams. Now, however, all these highways have been superseded by the Pacific Railway, which covers the whole distance in less than a single day. The lacustrine region within the Dominion, separating the Superior and Winni- peg basins, is even more studded with winding and ramifying sheets of water than is the State of Minnesota about the sources of the Red River. Within a space 370 miles long east and west, by 185 miles north and south, the labyrinth of lakes is as endless as is that of the islets in the lakes themselves ; everywhere an inex- tricable intermingling of land and water. Amongst the hundreds, the thousands of lakes, some are large enough to be regarded in any other country but Canada as great inland seas. Such is " Rainy " Lake, a term which, although adopted by the French Canadians (Eac do la P/uie), is really a popular English form of Ren^, the name of its Canadian discoverer. The basin is encircled by dome-shaped cliffs from 300 to 500 feet high, with intervening swamps and thickets. The emissary, to which the misnomer " Rainy " has also been extended, never freezes above the falls by which its course is interrupted. The Rainy River flows between somewhat elevated banks, which were formerly shaded by large trees. But at a distance varying from a few hundred to a few thousand yards, the surface of the ground is little better than a quagmire resting on n^asses of peat, into which a stake may be driven some 30 feet without touching the bottom. > Of all the basins between Lake Superior and Winnipeg, the largest is the Lake of Woods, which, is fed by the Rainy River, and which is no less than 400 miles in circumferoncoj But it is divided by innumerable islets and promontories into secondary basins, which increase and diminish in extent with the floods and droughts. In the north-western part especially, the islands are numbered by the hundred, all varying in size, elevation, and the character of their flora. Some are merely grassy stretches almost flush with the water ; some present wooded heights, and others rocky cliffs, either with vertical walls or else disposed in terraces, the whole offering an unrivalled variety of scenery. In some pi aces the water is said to be 180 feet deep ; but the average scarcely exceeds 30 feet. Here occurs the so-called Canadian rice (zizania aquaticfJ), the folk avoine or RIVEES AND LAKES OF TUE WlNxVIPEO REGION. 216 20 feet I point, to lake lud are ire the jetween expedi- march one of reen the as made y canal- ys hove ) in less 1 Winni- »f water 1 a space of lakes an inex- bousands ; Canada opted by of Ren^, id cliffs iinissary, ve the mewhat distance round is may be [he Lake )0 miles hies into iods and by the tome are I heights, laces, the }r is said jvoine or " wild outs " of the Canadians, a r'ant characteristic of the Missisnippi regions, and in Canada met only in the lacustrine district of the Luke of Woods. West- wards this lake is continued by a tnunkeg or peaty tract, which was formerly flooded, and which cannot be crossed except in winter, when the whole spongy tangle is frozen hard and covered with snow. t. ..' . ,. . , •*— *i English River, which flows north of the Lake of Woods westwards to the Winnipeg River, is rather a succession of lakes than a river in the ordinary sense. Rising in the vast basin of Luke Seul, probubly so named because of its desolate aspect, the English River forms the chief affluent of the Winnipeg River, which escapes through several channels, a kind of reversed delta, from the Luke of Woods, and which, during a course of KiO miles, falls 346 feet through a scries uf picturesque cataracts, whose lovely wooded islets contrast with the rugged granite rocks on both sides. According to Butler, the Winnipeg Rivtr has a mean dis- charge of about 140,000 cubic feet per second, or double that of tlie Rhine. The vast reservoir of Lake Winnipeg, where converge the Oreat and Little Saskatchewan, the Red River, the emissaries of the Lake of Woods and Lake Seul, besides many other less important streams, is one of the great lacustrine basins of the globe, covering an area estimated at 9,000 square mile^ ; it has a circumference of over 900 miles, and extends north and south at least 250 mile9 in a straight line. At its broadest part, opposite the mouth of the Saskatchewan, it is about 60 miles wide, but at the narrows it contracts to 6 or 7 miles. Winni- peg is thus disposed in two distinct basins, the " Little Lake " in the south, and the " Great Lake " in the north. The elevation is variously estimated at from 625 to 700 feet above Hudson Bay ; but it is a very shallow basin, the deepest parts scarcely exceeding 70 feet, and in many plaoes the mud and sund-banks are covered with only 2 or 3 feet of water for great distunofs from the shore, which is subject to great fluctuations with the alternating wet and dry seusons. Here and there crystalline rocks fringe the east margin ; but the opposite side is bordered by low-lying and even swampy tracts for considerable distances, while towards the northern extremity the primitive contours have been masked by perfectly regular semicircular tongues of land, one of which bears the well-merited name of Mossy Point. Under the shelter of this long and slightly elevated promontory are collected the effluent waters, which, after forming a winding Ip.ke, ramify round a large island, below which they again converge in a common channel. The Nelson, or Bourbon as this great emissary was formerly called by Canadian truppers, rolls down a liquid mass estimated at no less than 280,000 cubic feet per second. But despite its enormous volume, the Nelson is so obstructed b}' stupendous falls, rapids, and " cauldrons," that it is navigable only by canoes which can be trans- ported overland across the numerous portages. During a course of about 400 miles it has a totaVfall of 650 feet. Below Lakes Fendu (Split) and des Muettes, its current becomes more tranquil, and deep enough for lurge vessels ; but its mouth ia Hudson Bay is obstructed by a sliallow bar. It is noteworthy that, despite the quantity of sediment brought down, the Nelson has not developed a il 1 Wi eI :i ;, !- 21(( N«.>RTU AMEIllCA. (leltu boyond the normal constline. It enters the buy through a funuel-Bhuped estuary, which ])eni-trulo8 a considerable distance inland, and which |M)rhups represents u purtly obliterated f jwd. On the banks of this estuary were interred, in 1(512, the remains of the navigator, Nelson, whose name is perpetuated by the river. On ita south side the same estuary is reached by the York, or Hayes, formerly Fig. 01. — The Vkumh Emimubt. Scale 1 I 1,«>3,0(X). sy West oF Greenwich 98' IbMITm. the Sainte Th^rese, which, like so many other watercourses in this region, is rather a chain of lacustrine basins, varying in size and connected together by falls and rapids. Being shorter, less meandering, and freer from ice in winter than the Nelson, the Hayes is used by the trappers as the trade route between Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay ; they generally traverse the whole distance of 260 miles, including detours, in about twenty-five days. ,* i.f:'V' . • »«;?} niVERS AND LAKEa OF THE WINNirEO REGION. 217 egion, 18 by falls ter than jen Lake of 250 Tho IIuyoH is one »)f those watercourses which prfsent tlio rare phenomenon of a continuous flow to two differont slopes. Nour u pluce culled the Painted Rook tho current brunches into two channels, one of which flows northwestwards to Hudson Buy, while the other joins tho Winnipeg emissary. Next to the Nelson the lurjfest affluent of IIud>0 fei't by hIiuIIow iiioruN, wlione wuUtr near the count is ntill bruckUh, hut in the interior quite fri'sh. Everything seems to nhow thot the ground luis been gradually upheaved. The ridges lying farthest from the sea urp a\'r .■ tlio niout elevated, and the driftwood found in the intermediate depression:* '-^.'sts of tree stems at various stages of decomposition, according to their distance fi .,*. ,irewnt bouch.* Homo ure still found at un elevation of over 50 feet above the present aea-level. Certain indications seem to show that at the mouth of the Churchill the relative subsidence of the sea has been about six or seven feet since the last century. Hudson Bay. This vast inland sea, so inappropriately designated as a "buy," must be ro-^arded as belonging to the same geological region as the Winnipeg basin ; it was formerly covered by the same ice-cap, and its bod is inclined in the same way aa the plains which slope gently from the foot of the Rocky Mountains east wards and north-eastwards. From the same plains the marine basin receives its most copious affluents, while the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, notwithstanding their proximity to the bay, at lea^t on the maps, are in reality separated from it by an elevated parting line which is rarely crossed except by a few of the surrounding aborigines. The vuat plateau of Labrador also, which stretches east of the great northern " Mediterranean," constitutes a separate physical region, whose inhabited parts face towards the Atlantic. Even during the two and a-half centuries of rudi- mentary history which have passed over the boreal regions, Hudson Bay has always been intimately associated with the former territories of the company to which it gave its name. It was through the channel flowing between Ijabrador and BafHn Land, and through the waters of Hudson Bay, that the ships of the powerful association brought their supplies to the stations founded by the trappers. Through the same water highway the settlers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan expect one day to forward their produce to England. Their future shipping ports lie neither on the St. Lawrence nor on the Atlantic seaboard, but at the mouths of the Nelson, Churchill, and Moose rivers. Including the secondary inlets and channels of communication, Hudson Bay covers an area estimated by R. Bell at 520,000 square miles. Even the Bay proper, enclosed by the northern islands of Southampton, Manself and others, has an extent of 320,000 square miles, that is, about the same as the western section of the Mediterranean from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Siciliai^ waters, lis whole catchment basin comprises a region of at least 800,000 square miles, or more than one- fourth of the Dominion. From the southern extremity of- James Bay, the extreme southarn inlet, to the eastern entrance of Hudson Strait, there is a clear navigable waterway of over 1,250 miles. * A. P. Law, Oeologieal Survey nf Canada, Annual Report, 1886. t Mantel, not MamJUld, as given on nearly all maps ; m named by Button in 1612. ®1< nn HUDSON HAY. 210 Hut notwithniandinji^ its vast nizo throughout most of its expaniifl IFudiion Hay in littlo more thun u floodod doprcHnion, which would be ti'unsforini>d by ii slight upheaval to a part uf the surrounding muinlund. The whole of Jamea Uuy ia u Fig. 93.— Hi'iMON Bat. 8oiU->>»:.:,- 220 NOllTH AMERICA. were it dried up it would present the same general aspect as the Americun prairies.* Towards the centre and at the entrance the water is deeper, the soundings having recorded over 100 fathoms, while in Hudson Strait, through which the bay communicates with the ocean, the depth increases to 270 fathoms. The aspect of the shore corresponds as a rule with the depth of the neighbouring waters, being low where they are shallow, high and steep where they are relatively deep. On the coast of East Main, that is, the Labrador side, the waters are dominated by headlands 1,000 and even 2,000 feet high. The fauna is similarly varied, few marine fishes being found in the shallow, brackish waters of James Bay, whereas farther north the bay is frequented by nearly all the Polar species. Parallel with the steep Labrador Coast occur the dangerous reefs of eruptive rocks known by the name of "Sleepers," and apparently representing an old coastline about 250 miles long. Towards the north the bay is sepurated b)' the large gneiss island of Southampton from the broad Fox Channel and other passages ramifying through the Arctic Archipelago. Till recently this island was supposed to be much more extensive. Now, however, it is known to be separated by Fisher Strait from a southern island not yet named on the maps, and about the size of Mangel Island, which lias to the east, and which resembles an enormous gravel table. Hudson Strait is likewise studded with islands, huge masses of gneiss and conglomerate plateaux. Despite the shallow waters, the west side of the bay is nearly destitute of islands. The best knjwn, as a rendezvous of whalers, is Marble Island south of Chesterfield Inlet, whose dazzling white cliffs, however, are composed, not of marble, but of a coarse limestone with white quartzites and micaceous schists. The ocean tides are felt in all the inlets, but are much weaker in the south and west than in the north, falling from 35 or 40 feet at Ungava Bay, on the north Labrador Coast, to 12 or 14 in the Churchill and Nelson estuaries. From these tidal movements it has been argued that Hudson Strait can never be entirely blocked by ice, and that there is always an open passage through which the tidal waves aie propagated. In such a climate, whei-e the mean temperature is always several degrees below freezing-point, ice cannot fail to be abundant ; but the secondary bays and inlets alone are completely frozen in winter. Still the naviga- tion is discontinued during this season, and vessels seldom attempt the passage of Hudson Strait before July. They usually reach York station on the west ride about September 4th, the earliest recorded being August 6th, the latest October 7th. t Owik'g to the shallowness of the water, which is rapidly heated by the summer sun, nearly all the ice formed within the Bay is melted an the spot, so that very little of the lloe ice drifts towards the Strait. The danger to navigation arises chiefty from the masses coming from Fox Channel in summer and obstructing Hudson Strait. These icebergs contain much mud and fragments of rocks, brought evidently from the islands of the Arctic Archipelago, and especially from BalBn Land. • 'Robert BeQ, Geological Siirvet/, 1885. ■; t A. R. Gordon, Report on the Hudton Bay Expedition 0/I886. ' ' " "n HUDSON BAY— CLIMATE. 821 Other dangers arising from the currents, tides, and fogs greatly impede the navigation, which for sailing vessels is limited to two months in th" year. So skilfully have these vessels been handled that before 1864, when two wure wrecked on Mansel Island, not one of the 133 were lost which were despatched by the Hudson Bay Company since the year 1789. By the aid of steim the navigation will be better regulated, and kept open for about four months from July 1st to the end of October. A more complete exploration of the seaboard will also probably discover the currents followed by the drift ice, and lay down the more favourable routes to follow. The first expeditions had been undertaken in connection with the researchcb for the North-West Passage, which was the exclusive aim of Hudson, Button, James, Fox, Munk, Gibb, Middleton, Smith. The same goal was pursued in the present century by John Ross and Parry, when they explored all the inlets of Fox Channel. But henceforth the attention of navigators will be concentrated on the bay itself, the character of its coasts, the constitution of its rocks, the force and direction of its tidal and other currents. This systematic exploration has already been begun on the south side, along the Nelson and Churchill estuaries, and in the islands of Hudson Strait. Climate. The vast domain stretching from 49° north latitude to and beyond the Arctic Circle presents a great diversity of climates. "While the isothermal line of 46° F. intersects the south-western region, in the north-east the mean annual temperature falls below 14° F., that is, nearly 20 degrees under freezing-point. In other words most of the territory, if not actually uninhabitable, is at least too cold for perma- nent European settlements. The true limit of coloniaation is indicated by the iso- thermal of zero, which comprises all the upper Saskatchewan Valley and crosses the middle part of Lake Winnipeg, thus approximately coinciding with the monthly isothermals of 68° F. in July and 4° F. in January. Compared with the St. Lawrence basin, this southern zone of the Hudson Bay slope might contain many millions of iluhabitants, and will probably contain them before many decades have passed. ' ' ' l i 1, In the inhabitable region the climate is essentially continental, despite the vast expanses of water occupying a great part of the territory. The winters are very severe, the summers correspondingly hot, while the intermediate seasons, especially spring, are scarcely perceptible. Between the extremes the glass oscillates as much as 1 40" or 14o.°, and in Manitoba the discrepancy between the dny and night temperatures is also greater than in any other British colony. In this respect the climate of the Winnipeg region recalls that of West Siberia. Yet these con- ditions agree perfectly with the general health anil physical constitution of the white settlers, and scarcely any other region is more unanimously pronounced to be perfectly salubrious by the immigrants themselves. It is occasionally visited by fierce snow-storms ; but these blizzards come, not from the northern but from till 222 NORTH AMERICA. the southern regions, and are usually of a much milder type than in the United States. In summer, after the sudden transition which changes the aspect of prairie and woodland us if by magic, the intense heats are tempered by the breeze which revolves with the sun. In this part of the continent, lying in the central depres- sion about midway between the Polar seas and the Gulf of Mexico, the winds coming from the frigid and torrid zones, from the Atlantic and Pacific, are nearly balanced, the most prevalent being those of the west and south-west, that is, the counter-trade8 of the northern hemisphere. At the foot of the Bocky Mountains the 80-calle t " Chinook " winds sweep abruptly down from the uplands and Fig. 93. — Aeable Lands of Wkst Canada. Boale 1 : 18,000,000. West of Greenwich HO' 100* Arable Lind Rcoordiog U> PuUiser. Other Arable l^nd. . SIC Mile*. resume their original temperature, drying the ground, " lapping up the snow and drinking the water." In some districts, especially south of the Assiniboine and Qu'Appelle rivers towards the United States frontier the chief drawback is the deficient rainfall. The yearly precipitation supposed to be indispensable for profitable corn-growing is estimated at about 20 inches, and this proportion is considerably exceeded in the central parts of Manitoba watered by the Red River, where most of the rains occur in summer, precisely when most needed by the crops. But there are also vast tracts where the annual rainfall is less than 20 inches, and here stock-breeding rather than tillage will probably form the staple industry of the future.* The panegyrists of Manitoba deny that the southern districts destitute of * Meteorological observations on the Hudson Bay slope . — • - Annual Temp. Fx'rMnwi. Rainfkll. Heat. Cold. Winnipeg (49° 63' N.) . . 36" F. . . 96° F. . -43° F. . . 26 inches. Fort Y'..rk (57° N.) . 22" . 99° -46° . 32 „ i * mm'i m^ '1 -4» lited >w and rivers linfall. . •owing in the occur so vast eeding ute of ;:M:XC CLIMATE OF THE WINNIPEG EEGION. 228 arborescent vegetation, or even quite arid, suffer from a deficient supply of mois- ture. They protest especially against the term " desert " applied by Palliser to the region watered by the Moose River near the United States frontier. Anyhow this region is studded with saline lakes, and even contains a certain number of closed basins, such as that of the " Old Wives," where the water disappears with- out any visible outflow. Very probably the southern terraces of the province of Assiniboia owe their scanty vegetation to the slight rainfall. In this respect thev form a northern continuation of the continental region in the United Stati s, where is seen a gradual transition from the argillaceous and saline desert to the grassy plains, and from the prairies to woodlands and forests. Doubtless the tracts under timber have been considerably reduced by forest fires ; but these ravages are themselves a proof that the local climate is not favourable to the development of large growth, and that, once destroyed, the forests are with difficulty replaced. Before the white colonisation small woods of the willow, poplar, and aspen grew in the moist hollows especiuily at the foot of the dunes, and in the glens of the uplands improperly described as " mountains." The woodman's axe has been more destructive than the incendiary fires caused by the Indians. - '- : ■■ _ '^ ■ ' ■.■^ V ' ■- -"■■'.,■ _. ; \ ■ - •■ Flora and Fauna. On the whole the general character of the Manitoban vegetation is much the same as that of Ontario, which, although lying more to the south, is traversed by the same isothermal lines. Nevertheless the beech, maple, and pine' predominant in the southern province are not found in the Assiniboine valley, where even the oak and ash are rare. The commonest arborescent plants are the poplar, elm and willow, while here and there the wild briar, vine and other woody forms develop impenetrable thickets. The wild hop and other trailing plants spread their meshes over all the taller growths, and plants yielding berries of divers flavour and colour are as abundant as in the Mackenzie basin. Wild fruits, such as the plum and cherry, which in other provinces are very sour, have here quite a sweet taste, a phenomenon attributed by Macoun to the clear skies and dry atmosphere. The dunes are nearly everywhere covered with a species of trailing juniper, and with the kinnikinik {ardodaphylos uca ursi), the bark of which, mixed with tobacco, forms the most highly prized narcotic of the Indians and half breeds. Two species of cactus range as far north as the Assiniboine basin, and the natives are also acquainted with a " fever tree," an aspen or trembling poplar, from the bark of which is prepared a decoction as a cure for the sharp attacks of ague West of the plains the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains, and even the isolated Cypress Hills, have a distinct flora of an essentially alpine and boreal type, contrast- ing with the vegetation of the surrounding prairies. The wild fauna comprises the same species as those of the conterminous lands; but several animals have already disappeared with the progress of colonisation. The " panther " of the trappers, that is, the puma {/efts concolor), now very rare in the remote upland valleys, has long vanished from the plains. The wapiti also ^>tS>i-?fe. !X>.- 224 NORTH AMEEICA. is rarely seen, and still more rarely the cabri, or pronged-borned antelope (anfifo- carpa americana). The bison, herds of wbiob are still said to survive in the Mac- kenzie basin, are now known only by tradition on the plains of the Saskatchewan, wht. • they existed in countless numbers within the memory of man. They were systematically exterminated by the natives, the half-breeds and the whites, who formed a vast circle round a herd, which was gradually driven towards a palisaded or rocky enclosure, where all were slaughtered. The whites taking part in these butcheries often took nothing but the tongue, while the Indian used the flesh for food, the sinews as bowstrings or for sewing his garments, the skin for clothes, tent, or boat, the horns for keeping his powder. For a century the flesh of the bison had been the almost exclusive food of all trappers and travellers in the " Great Lone Land," where as many as ten millions were said to have roamed the boundless western prairies, and where a few of pure or mixed breed alone now survive in the preserves of some of the great cattle-breeders. As many as 230,000 are said to have been killed in the single year 1855 on the United States frontier.* Of the smaller mammals the beaver, eagerly pursued by the trappers, has become rare, while the musk rat, protected by the nature of his retreats, still abounds in the boggy districts. The surprising fecundity of this animalj which breeds three times in the season, enables it to repair the losses caused by inundations and frosts penetrating too deeply into the ground or lasting too long. Fully as industrious as the beaver, the musk rat builds himself a spherical cabin by means of tall grasses interlaced and coated with clay. His bed of bay is placed above the level of the annual floods, and during the winter he maintains a system of ventilators in the ice of the neighbouring pond, his reseivoir of fish, the boles being bordered with moss and plugged with clay. This is the only representative of the rat family in the Hudson regions ; but there are several species of other rodents whff burrow in the ground and feed on the roots of plants. Such is the so-called " prairie dog " or gopher {spertnophilus, Frank.), which mounts guard in comio fashion at the mouth of its underground dwelling. The feathered tribe, poorly represented on the prairies, offers great variety in the Manitoba valleys, where Macoun enumerates as many as 235 species. Most of them recall European forms, such as eagles, owls, cranro, duck, gulls, partridges, swallows, sparrows, and chaffinches. The blackbird is most dreaded as a greedy devourer of corn, while the cow-bird [molothras pecoras), which builds no nests, is a great favourite, often keeping company for weeks together with the waggon teams across the plains, perching on the horses and snapping up the gadflies and other winged pests. As in British Columbia, a Mexican humming-bird passes the summer on the Manitoban plains, and is met as far north as the Churchill valley ill 67° north latitude. Thus this tiny creature, which glows like a burning coal in the foliage, makes a journey of at least 3,000 miles in spring and autumn between its winter and summer resorts. Owing to the character of the soil and extensive river and lake ^./stems, this region abounds both in fish and reptiles. In certain places the garter-snake * Duncan Q. F. Moodonald, Britiih Columbia and Vaueouver't Itland. ^''''^•/>i^' "^ l t! ' >l;ff.v ' | ! !"f ^ ' , INHABITANTS OP THE WINNIPEG EEOION. 225 {eutcenia sirtalis) may be seeu in myriads coiled round the shrubs ; lizards also swarm in the clearings, and have given their names to numerous lakes and mountains ; frogs deafen the ear in all the marshy tracts, and in crossing swamps and streams the wayfarer runs the risk of being covered with leeches. But the tortoise is rare and never met beyond 51° north latitude. Of the forty-two species of fishes enumerated by Moucon the most valuable for the natives is the whitefish (coregonm albus), which is taken in multitudes in the Hudsonian lakes. These waters also teem with sturgeon, salmon, trout, pike, carp, and " loach " {lota maculosun), the last mentioned being so named from its form and its gelatinous skin. The carp is noted for its almost incredible tenacity of life ; after being frozen up in the ice it recovers when thawed out, and survives decapitation a long time. The earth worms, so common in the United States, are wanting in Manitoba and the North- West Territory, so that Darwin's theory as to the fertilising action of these organisms is not here applicable. ,■1 ^^ ;^ % ■I W I Inhabitants. 18, this fcr- snake The aborigines scattered over the vast region comprised between Hudson Bay and the Rocky Mountains east and west, the United States frontier and the Athabasca-Mackenzie basin south and north, belong almost exclusively to the widespread Algonquin family, which also at one time occupied nearly the whole of the St. Lawrence basin, and all the north-eastern states except the Iroquois enclave. The various tribes settled on the banks of the Saskatchewan, the Red River and Winnipeg are all allied to the Algonquins of Lower Canada and the States, the chief nation being the Erees, who also range northwards into the Mac- kenzie basin. Before the period of colonisation all the aborigines were grouped according to locality and manner of life, into the two broad divisions of Prairie and Forest Indians. The former, who comprise the Blackfeet and neighbouring groups, the Krees of the Ssskatcbewan, ffiid the Assiniboines of the Qu'Appelle, hunted the bison, and dwelt in camps, obeying warlike chiefs, and maintaining a constant state of hostilities with the surroiiiidin j> tribes. The latter, called also " Stone," Sfony, or •' Thi(!kwood," and comprismg the Krees of the swampy districts and ijie Saulteux or "Fall Indians" of Manitooa, were partly fishers and partly hunters. Roaming the forests in small groups in pursuit of the deer, they were generally peaceful, the chiefs, where they existed, possessing merely a nominal authority. Formerly the most formidable of these groups were the Blackfeet, who accord- ing to the national legend at one time dwelt on the alluvial plains of Manitoba, where the mud blackened their mocassins, whence their tribal name. Driven by the Krees to the western plains, they roamed till recently over the plateaux at the eastern foot of the Rocky Mountains between the headstreams of the Saskatchewan and the Cypress Hills. Nearly always at war with their neighbours, they were continually prowling round about the Krees in the east, the Assiniboines and Flat- ». A.— 16 226 NORTH AMERICA. tk* heads of the south and soith-west, and the Kootenays of the west. The whites who visited their territory commanded their respect hy constant vigilance and attention to their firearms. Three hands, who call themselves kinsmen and who all speak the same language, form the Blackfeet Confederation. These aro thi Salsikas, or Blackfeet proper, the Keiiia or Blood Indians, and the Piegans (Pigan, Paegan), called also Pagans by English writers, either through a popular etymology, or because they long re- jected Christianity; (ill recently they still continued to celebrate the feast of the Sun. From a remote period the Harsi or Gros Ventres, a branch of the great Arrapahoe nation, had also been admitted into the Blackfeet alliance, and for many genera- tions took part in thtir plundering expeditions. They spoke both their native tongue and that of their allies, which for its softness and harmony has been called the Italian of those regions. The Blackfeet were said to number 30,000 souls in 1836, that is, before the appearance of smallpox, and even about the middle of the century they were still estimated at 7,500. But in 1884 the three nations were reduced to 4,330, all settled ii rcse.vct. which they are forbidden to leave. The Krees, properly so called, formerly occupied the B-f d River basin, but ih' y "ere driven westwards at an earlj' date ; before the M'hite invasion their doiiiain comprised all the prairie region stretching south of the CJhurobill to the 'rifi iicts on the Dakota frontier. They contended with the Blackfeet for the p iisession of the western plains, but, like all the other Indians, they are now Cftn.!;-'.;!! to reserves. TL?i Krees call themselves Nehiyawck, a word of doubtful meaning, but explained by Lecpmte in the sense of "t/ue men " or "chosen people." By their Chippeway neighbours they are called Kiuistinok, the Knistineaux or Kristineaux of the early documents, of which Kroe is supposed to be a contraction. Of all the Kree tribes those of the prairie appear to be of purest stock ; they are also the most valiant and industrious, and speak the most elegant form of the national language, for which a special syllabic alphabet has been invented. This aggluti- nating idiom was adopted as a kind of lingua franca amongst the surrounding Chippeway, Assiniboin'^-, Blackfeet, and Sarsi Indians, and the Krees also exercised a preponderating influence on their white visilors ; hence the Canadian trappers {coureiirs de hois - /' de prairies) almost exclusively selected their wives amongst these Indians. The French half-breeds generally spoke Kree, and many even became menii ers of the maternal tribe. The Muskegons, that is, '^rees of the muskegs or swamps, hence called "Swampies" by English wriiers, have boeu long enough detached from the primitive stock to constitut* i; distinct grouj. ; their dialect, however, still resembles the Kree of the prairie more than any other Algonquin tongue. They occupy the marshy regions bordering the North Saskatchewan, Lakes Winnipeg and Winnipegosis, north of the Saulteux or Chippeways. As indicated by their French name, these C!hippeways (Ojibways) formerly d^velt near the Sault Sainte-Marie, through which the overflow of Lake Superior INHABITANTS OF THE WINNIPEG REGION. 227 18 discharged into the Huron-Michigan basin. The Assiniboines, who dwell on the river of like name, in the neighbourhood of the kindred Sioux (Dakotas), take the name of "Stony," either from their arid rocky domain, or else from the primitive custom of boiling their cooking water by means of heated stones. Like the Krees they are divided into prairie and forest Assiniboines, both equally reduced in power and numbers. Before 1780 they were said to be very numerous Fig. 94. — Blacztoot Indian. ng, but y their tineaux all the Iso the ational ggluti- unding ercised rappers .mongst iny even called fom the ter, still They [innipeg formerly Superior throughout the southern part of their territory, but were nearlj- exterminated by an epidemic of smallpox. Although the Canadian Government has always treated the aborigines with kindness if not justice, they are none the less disappearing, and this decay would appear to be largely due to the policy pursued with regard to their lands. The trifling sums granted for the purchase of their teiritory were nearly always paid exclusively to the chiefs,* while the tribes themselves were removed to reserves, to which they were forcibly confined. The children also have been removed * Mean price of 18 million acres bought from the Indians, one penny per aero.— (Youle Hind.) .1 =i? % ;^iA^- -J,lJ..-'',i\)lA:'''>*^'.--S>^- - ■■■^'■^ 228 NORTH AMEEICA. from the family influence, taught the Pjnglish language and brought up to some agricultural or industrial trade, the result being that, though they may become useful citizens, they necessarily cease to be Indians. The Red skins have had to accept the new order of things, settling down in the various reserves assigned to them by the Government, unless they were willing to break the tribal connection altogether. But by taking this step they renounce their share of the collective pension, and accept a personal grant of land, thereby entering single handed into the struggle for life with their English neighbours. Lacking all national cohesion, they must henceforth gradually become absorbed in the working classes; they are already largely employed as navvies on the railways, as waggoners, herdsmen, and on the drainage works. Many have Fig. 96. — Indiak Rbsbsveb in Manitoba and thb Fab Wkst. Boale 1 : 18,000,000. ~ ' m MilM. become successful agriculturists, especially along the banks of the Saskatchewan, where may be seen their well-tilled plots, neat cottages, outhouses, and agricultural instruments. ; In the reserves the most fatal maladies are the measles and consumption, the latter especially amongst the children of the half-breeds; on the other hand the natives are said to be entirely free from cancer. Amongst the independent Indians the great scourge is famine, which has at times swept away whole tribes. Colonisation. Although the colonisation of the "Winnipeg basin has only recently been fully developed, it may be said to have begun with the explorations of Varennes de la V^randrye (1731 — 1745), after which alliances between the half-breeds and the Indians became more and more frequent. In order to protect the peltry trade De la Verandrye and his sons establish* d factories on the lakes and portages, and u. ,i ■^^r-'^SSTTP.-.'^rr "i^ ^rrc.^» '.T^^'Tsstis*??' '.^Iffwc -■«'^* fe-'i in :Mi^ ,L ... •„f . *«:• ': l ..,..H P iJ il |)l|Lp [ jU ppffir l»: T COLONIZATION OF THE WINNIPEG REGION. 220 Fort Jonquiiiro, founded in 1752, is said to have stodd iicur the foot of tho Tlocky MouuttiiiM on tho site of the proHont town of Culgury. Tho first colony, properly so culled, was that organised by Lord Selkirk in 18L1, wh(>n about a hundred Highlanders and Irishmen landed at a port on Hudson liuy, and after a hard winter passed in those inhospitable regions, made their way to tho Red River basin. Here they were well received and provided with all necessaries by tho Hudson Bay Company ; but dissensions soon broke out between them and the Company's servants, and this pioneer group, attacked by the half-breeds and savages, had to disperse. But ten years later, after tho conclusion of the hostilities between the two rival Companies, tho little Red River settlement was able to resume its peaceful career. For many years it was certainly the most isolated European settlement in the whole world ; its most frequented highway of communication with civilised lands traversed 730 miles of extremely diBicult ground, across lakes, rivers obstructed by falls and rapids, rocky portages and swamps, and terminating on tho shores of Hudson Bay, an almost Arctic inland sea open to navigation only for tw'> months in the year. In 1870, when the monopoly of t' 'Company was abolished and Manitoba constituted an independent colony, i civilised population of the Red River district comprised about 12,000 French and Scotch half-breeds. The Bois-brClli^s, as the French half-breeds were culled, were by far the more numerous, occupying the tract between the United States frontier and the site of the present town of Winnipeg. Some were also settled on the Assiniboine, and others on the Saskat- chewan near Fort Edmonton. So little were they acquainted with the outer world that they called all whites "French," and one of Simpson's Canadian guides fancied all imported wares came from "la vieille France de Londres" ("Old France of London "). The " Orcanais " (Orcadians), as all the Scotch settlers were indiscriminately called, were chiefly established on the lower Red River near Lake Winnipeg. More than half of them spoke Gaelic, though the majority also understood English. The trappers employed by the rival French company (" Compagnie du Nord-Ouest ") were also required to learn French. Thus it happens that many families of Scotch origin are now classed as French half-breeds, just as some of the Bois-brf^les call themselves Scotch. But according to all observers, great differences exist between the two groups. The French half-caste is taller, more slim and pliant, and runs* rather than walks.* He assimilates himself easily to the Indian, and his native wife becomes a real helpmate. His children combine with the cheerfulness, vehemence, and passion of the French the strength, pliancy, endurance, and marvellous skill in inter- preting all natural phenomena characteristic of the Indian. They are generous, reckless, and improvident, born trappers, hunters, and traders, taking reluctantly to agriculture. The Scotch half-breed, on the contrary, adapts himself with diflBculty to the * H. Havard, The French Half -breeds of the North- West, Smithsonian E«port ; John Beade, Proceed- ingi, ^c, of the R. Society of Canada, 1886. ■ i „Y i/<» n.-'iif!^ Jm A) uffHpring Ht'ldoin tuko uftur tlio inotltor, but liko tho i'uther, (iro t hough t^':, perHovoriug, iiieu of fuw worilH, agriuulturuliHta for tho imohI piirt, und ttuitkbrt - lers. With tho ubolition of monopolies, and tho introduction of iree colonisution, tho rolativo proportion of the ruco8 wus soon revorsed. Tho iinniigrunts wore nuturally drawn mainly from tho neighbouring province of Ortario, settled ulmoht exdusivi'ly by people of English speech. The European settlers came also nearly altogether from the Uritinh IsIandH, (lermany, and the United States. At tho last decennial census of IHKl, the whole population was found to have iucrcaMed fivefold since the middle of tho century, while the pure or mixed French element had only doubled. The preponderance hod therefore passed to the Engliah- Fig. 06. - Chief Fbbnoh Canai)ia-< SBTTunanrn in Makitoda. Scale I : s.aoo.nno. . 62 HUM. I speaking settlers, and the disparity steadily increases in their favour. Ai the same time, the number of their representatives also Increases in the Legislative Assembly. This change of ethnical equilibrium has not been effected without a certain ebullition of national feeling, and has even given rise to occasional political dis- turbances. The French half-breeds, suffering under real or fanciful injuries connected with the land question and their traditional privileges, have twice risen in arras against their British rulers. Both revolts were easily quelled by the Government, which was able to draw an unlimited number of English volunteers from Ontario, and now the Manitoban half-breeds appear to have frankly accepted the situation, and given up all thoughts of rebellion. But they also run the risk of being worsted in another and scarcely less important struggle. When the provincial government was constituted, both languages were regarded ae possessing • gl '! M ft »l ' t !IS l! ' M '.' --^'J U ^l.X I ' W .>U i r .. «- ^^-^^Oi #1 J 5,* IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) PhotDgraphic Sciences Corporation i CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microraproductions / Institut Canadian da microraproductions historiquas Ml 'fvi%f/t^.B'fi;.yi COLONIZATION OF THE WINNIPEQ EEQION. 281 equal rights, and all official documents had to be drawn up in English and French. Now, however, the British section protests against this arrangement, and not only insists on the exclusive use of English by the Manitoban Government, but also K) S to demands the substitution of English for French in the French public schools, even in districts where the French element still predominates. Such is the case especially in the valleys of the Seine and the Hat and in the southern and eastern parts of the Bed River basin, in a few districts of the Sale, 232 NOETH AMERICA. Assiniboine, Qu'Appelle and Mouse valleys, on the shores of Lake Manitoba, in the Cypress Hills, and on both forks of the Saskatchewan. The French element is increasing by arrivals both from Lower Canada and the United States, and St. Leon, in the Pembina district west of Winnipeg, is peopled almost exclusively by Canadians from Massachusetts. Tn recent years a few hundred immigrants from France and Belgium (Wallons) have annually settled among their Canadian kindred. A fresh stream of Scotch immigration, that of the Crofters from the Hebrides, has recently been directed towards Manitoba, and to all these French and British colonists have now been added other arrivals, especially from the north of Europe. Amongst these are the German Mennonites, who left Russia to escape from the military conscription, and settled in 1876, to the number of 7,000 or 8,000, in " reserves " granted to them on both banks of the Red River. They keep quite aloof from the surrounding populations, whereas the Scandinavians become rapidly anglicised. Many of these have settled along the Pacific Railway between Lake Superior and the city of Winnipeg, while thousands of Icelanders have occupied extensive tracts assigned to them on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. .If this movement continues there will soon be more Icelanders in the Dominion than in their native land. They have already their own schools and newspapers, and amongst ihem the birth-rate is three times higher thim the mortality. Even some Mormons have found their way into the Alberta district, where they have settled on the river Lee, south of Calgary. They are chiefly recruited amongst the Scandinavians, but they have conformed to the laws of the land by renouncing polygamy. Manitoba and the other regions of the southern zone are a sort of " land of promise," declared to be " the best wheat-growing country in the world." The great valley partly watered by the Red River presents considerable stretches of excellent arable land wherever the waters are not collected in stagnant lakes and swamps. The intermediate terrace also comprises vast tracts of productive soil, known as the " Fertile Belt," and the whole region, some 260,000 square miles in extent, favourable either for tillage or stockbreediug, is continually being enlarged according as the settlements spread north or west in the Saskatchewan basin. Here an expanse of about 80,000 square miles is fringed on the north by con- tinuous forests, on the west by the Rocky Mountains, on the south by the prairies and saline plains, eastwards by the lakes and swamps. Within these well- marked natural frontiers, the land presents the aspect of a vast park pleasantly diversified with clumps of pines or aspens, grassy prairies, tall herbage, copious streams winding along the foot of gently undulating hills, lakes and lagoons flooding the depressions, and reflecting the surrounding verdure in their limpid waters. To the fertile soil corresponds a climate no less favourable for the growth of cereals, but, whatever may be said to the contrary, the average yield does not exceed 26 bushels per acre. Agriculturalists regard the severe frosts as an advantage for corn-growing. The subsoil; frozen to a considerable depth, thaws very slowly during the summer, thus continually liberating the moisture, which EESOUECES OF THE WINNIPEG REGIONS. 288 gradually rises to the surface by capillary attraction. Other advanlages are the dry winters and clear nights, no raw, damp, cold weather, nor any of those alter- nating frosts and thaws so trying to plant life. But in some disastrous years, the spring is accompanied by clouds of locusts [calopterus aprctus) which are hatched on the plateaux of Montana and Dakota, and then move north-westwards parallel with the Rocky Mountains, devouring all green things along the line of march. In the year 1875 great ravages were caused by this plague. The uplands along the slopes of the " Rockies," as well as all the fertile plateau region over 1,500 or 1,600 feet in altitude, are admirably suited for stock- breeding. Speculators have already introduced thousands of cattle, which in the single district of Alberta numbered no less than 113,000 in 1889. They live throughout the year on the runs, even in the depth of winter scraping up the Fijf. 98.— Lands Subveykd in Manitoba and the Fab West dj 1886. Soilel : 18 000 000. Area of Preliminary Survey. Area of Final Survey. . 18fi HUei. snow in search of herbage, and apparently less subject to disease than stall-fed animals, only during the prevalence of whirlwinds the calves and less hardy milch- cows have to be hand-fed. Cattle have already begun to be exported, and despite the vast distance, the Alberta district now sends thousands by the Pacific Railway to Montreal, where they are shipped to England. Horse-breeding succeeds equally well in the " Canadian Piedmont," that is, in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and these regions are expected one day to become the chief centre of the industry in the Dominion. Since 1884 experiments have also been made with sheep-farming, with the result that all the imported breeds have thriven. In certain districts they have had to be protected against the wild dogs escaping from the Indian encampments and living like wolves by the chase. In the Red River valley the land has been parcelled out according to the old , u, .n . | j y'. i; 284 NORTU AMERICA. Canadian method in p'.irallel strips fronting the rivor and extending two miles buck. But clsowhero the surveyed lands in Manitoba and neighbouring districts have been divided into townships, each forming a perfect square, whose four sides, six miles long, face the four cardinal points, and enclose an area of exactly 30 square miles. The townships themselves are subdivided into sections of 640 acres, or one square mile, one fourth of which (100 acres) constitutes the allot- ment assigned to each settler, who receives his title-deeds after paying ten dollars and keeping the plot under cultivation for three consecutive years. The colonist has also the right of purchasing in the immediate neighbourhood of his homestead an equal number of acres, the price of which, as fixed by the Fig. 99. — Allothent of the Subveyeu Lands. Scale 1 : S6O.00O. .WSO' West ol breenwich II4°30' tttada of the Canndian Paeiflo Railway Co. Landi belonging to the Rtn<«, Bohoolrs and Hudson Bay Co. . 6 Hilei. Government, varies with their distance from the Pacific Railway. These induce- ments have doubtless attracted thousands of settlers, who, however, find that their allotments lie at an average distance of from 20 to 25 miles from the nearest railway- stations, while some are so remote as to be for the present at least quite useless. The farmer attempting to cultivate these parts is ruined by cartage. Hence he is compelled to buy land near the stations, where the ground not already granted to the Pacific Railway Company has fallen into the hands of the speculators.* Nevertheless, the value of all the land is slowly increasing, especially in the vicinity of the towns and stations. On both sides of the trunk line and its branches the country has been divided • Ingersoll, Canadian Pacific Railway. '^ : ' r,r"! f V ' divided nESOUROES OF THE WINNIPEG REGIONS. 285 into five lateral zones of varying width, where the upset price of the plotu increu9ea fivefold, from four to twenty shillings, in exact proportion to the distance. Nearly everywhere these lots alternate like the squares of a draughtboard between the two chief owners, the Canadian Government and the Pacific Railway Company ; moreover two lots in every thirty-six are set apart for the public schools, and two for the Hudson Bay Company. The settlers are allowed ten years to pay the purchase money, which bears interest at six per cent. All this is very well for those who have the necessary capital, and who are able to anticipate the legal term of payment. But the majority have probably to borrow the money exacted by Government, the companies and private speculators, and may have thus to pay double interest before securing their title-deeds. But despite these and other drawbacks, Manitoba is favourably distinguished Fig. 100.— Route fbox England to Manitoba and Hudson Bat. Scale 1 ; 48.000.000. West of Pans . uao Mfles. by the relatively largu number of its independent resident landowners ; of 17,000 not more than 1,000 are absentees. At the same time great landed estates are already being developed, apart from those granted to the Hudson Bay and railway companies. A single fariu in the Qu'Appelle valley covers an extent of 100 square miles, and the plough here drives a furrow four miles long. In these regions, railway enterprise precedes the arrival of immigrants ; in fact the lots are not surveyed,, nor the sites of towns and villages selected until the rails have been laid down. Besides the transcontinental trunk line and that connecting Lake Winnipeg with the Upper Mississippi basin, others have already been constructed connecting the lakes and rivers with the chief markets of the country. But one important project remains still unrealised, a line aCcrding direct communication between the agricultural districts and their natural outlet, Hudson Bay. This sea is nearer to the city of Winnipeg than is the Gulf of St. Lawrence, while on the other hand the voyage is shorter between the Nelson and Churchill estuaries and Liverpool than between this port and New York. 2.J0 NORTH AMERICA. Unfortunutoly Iludson Bay is closed oven to 8teum ntivigation for at least eight months in the yeur, and wheat, the staple product of Manitoba, gerniinatea at the very time when this inland sea becomes blocked with ice. Nevertheless, the economic conditions are being gradually modified by the progress of colonisation. A new railway running from the Rod River to tho confluence of the Saskatchewan has already diminished tho distance, and tho shortest line to England should now be drawn, not from Winnipeg City, but from the Saskatchewan " Horn." New industries have also sprung up, and ere long coal and petroleum as woU as cereals will be exported from these regions. Topography. The chief branches of tho North Saskatchewan, flowing through a region still destitute of railways, possess no centres of population beyond a few trading stations. Fig. 101. — CPMBKRI.tND HOUBH AMD THE LOWBB SASKATCHEWAN. SoUe 1 : aaWU,0OO, 53 esHllea. The old Fort Edmonton, the nearest village to the sources, is already over 180 miles east of the Rocky Mountains. It stands on a high blufi on the north side of the river, which is here 660 feet wide. From this place runs the most fre- quented route towards Athabasca-landing at the head of the Athabasca- Mackenzie navigation. Saint Albert, a little to the north-west of Edmonton, is inhabited by agricultural Erees, who have already their houses, granaries and schools. Below Edmonton follow at long intervals the Uttle stations of Victoria, St. Paul, Fort Fitt, and the rising town of Battleford at the confluence of the Battle with the North Saskatchewan. Lower down come Carleton and Prince Albert, the latter capital of the Saskatchewan district, and connected by rail with Winnipeg, Its position in the Fertile Belt near the junction of the two forks of the Saskatche- wan, and on the natural highway leading over the Loche portage northwards to I: „ii,,iiiif\'h'--^ti--i'-~-- 'T¥^itTfifft4-ni'.fr>i4iifiifr —pafciBSJKi- \ r.:tVirii'i"'iiV,*"i''"'°'-'^^'"" TOrOOUAl'IIY OF THE WINNII'EO UEOIONS. 287 the Mackonzie buNin, cnsuroH for Prince Albert a (lomiiiunt place iimon^Ht the future cities of the Fur WeHt. Yet u more convenient (;oininercial ctMitre would appc • to be Fort la Come,- at the confluence itself of the two Suskatchowanfl. Then follows the unproductive swampy region of the Lower SuMkafchowan, where Cumherlaml Hoiitie, or Fort Cumherlnnd, was an important trading station before the abandonment of the old northern routes by water and the diflicult portages. The Upper South Saskatchewan basin presents a striking contrast to that of the northern fork in the density of its population and the number of its towns uud Fig. 102. — Uppbh Banff Vaixkt— Canadian National Pabx. Bode 1 : 660,000. , 18 HHei. villages. This contrast is due to the Canadian Pacific Railway, which traverses the whole region, and winds its way upwards between the glaciers descending from the Rocky Mountains. Here is situated the rising town of Banff in a wild and romantic district, which with its magnificent cirque, cascades, forests and snowy crests, has been secured by the Dominion as national property. The ther- mal waters of Banff, which stands at an altitude of 4,500 feet, are frequented by a constantly increasing number of visitors. Lower down in the same picturesque valley stands the flourishing town of Canmore, and quite on the plains 80 miles from Banff the still more important station of Calgary, the chief centre of the cattle and horse ranches of this extensive i88 NOBTII AMHIUPA. Bto<'k-1)roo(liiig (llntrlot. Tioth Tiilj^iiry unci ♦^o plonnnnt littlo ntiitinn of MurLend (A/finiu), on an nfHiicnt, of tlic Molly Uiv«r, ;iro in tlm ncijjfliliourhooil of coiiUloldH which th»! hick of iircwtHxl in the jiruiric region must Moon l)ring into requiHition. Mci/iriiif Hilt, whi(!h occupies ii fuvourablo position ut the Houth-west corner of Assiniboia hch)W tlio confluenco of th" How ond Holly rivers, and at tho junction of two railways, also jMixsesses coal-minus which aro already being worked. lialorfir, Honio 00 nules above tho conHuenco, nmrks the scene of a victory gained by tho confederate troops over the rebel IJois-Urfth^s. Jlftjimi, capital of Assiniboia, and seat of tho legislature for oil the western provinces between Manitoba and British Columbia, lies on tho Pacific Railway and on an afHuent of the (iu'Aj)pelle in tho costorn part of the district. In the (iu'Aj)pelle valley the chief market also bears tho name of Qu'App-//c. J'vrt Ellicc lies at the confluence of this river with tho Assiniboinc ; it is Fig. 103.— Caloabt— Appboaoh to thb Rooky Mou.ntaiws. Eoala 1 : 8,000,000. 18 HilAS. fev fei r followed eastwards by Birtle {Bird-tail), Minnedosa and Rapid Citij, all on affluents of the Qu' Appelle. In the direction of Winnipeg the centres of population become more and more numerous. The flourishing town of Brandon, founded in 1879 on tho south side of the Assiniboine, has increased, rapidly, as has also Portage- la- Prairie, or simply Portage, built on an isthmus separating the Assiniboine from Lake Manitoba. This formerly swampy district has been reclaimed and is now tho " garden of Winnipeg." As early as 1734 the Canadian trappers had erected a little fort at the i- fluence of the Red River with the Assiniboine. On its site now stands the " queen of the West," the proud title arrogated to itself by Winnipeg City. Several trading stations had succeeded to the original post of Fort Rouge, and Fort Qarry, the last of these fortified stations, was still in existence a few years ago. t^fliaam iiH».iililllii«itlfjiil.l'ltirTTIll|lilil<^^T<-it«lfi'tll,iM!ll&»iTt»i*';tW»i.' iAiwiiiaMMiiiiiiiriirBft''fflya\Yii'in .... '•'JfeMte;^-^jm:A.':i*);y^^'!fey; i | j |yjg^ - ^^^ TOrOOUAlllY OF TUE WINNIPEG HEdlONS. 2U0 But Winnipop, jjroporly ho culled, dutcd from nlK)ut ISfiO, thiit is, after tho ulM»litioii of tlie iii()no|M)ly of tin; lIudMoii May roinpiiny. It iiicrouMcd witli jfnnit rapidity itfttM- Muiiitolm hud cntori'd us u Novuruigu Mtuto into tho Cunudiun con- Fig. 104.— WiNNiPcrt AND m Laku. HoiU 1 : S,W),ino. :-=^ Afo/son KT^^i^sA^ . 62 Mllei. federaoy, and especially after the completion of the transcontinental railway, of which "Winnipeg is the chief station between the province of Ontario and British Columbia. No less than six other lines of railway now radiate in all directions round the city, connecting it with the United States system, while another is being constructed in the direction of Duluth, the western emporium of Lake Superior. "f^i >^j*Hi**tip%!fttfert?ftflplf{ffiSv(^ : iL « ' ■■ t^i^i ' :i-:fi ' ^-T^ " v ' '^ ^ "'JgJ^^^^yf^^^ ' iiJ' Ir ^ ' ^ l i ' ph' • . 160 NORTU AMERICA. continental seaboard, the west coast of Vancouver is indented by fjords, one of which, the Quatsino Sound, ramifies through the interior nearly to the opposite coast. Farther south is the smaller but better known Nootka Sound, visited by so many great navigators since Cook's voyage in 1778. ■ i I ^' Columbian Lakes and Riveks. In the interior of Columbia, the lakes, although partly filled up by debris and fluvial deposits, are almost as numerous as the fjords of the seaboard. They abound especially in the region formerly occupied by the vast freshwater sea between the Skeena, Fraser and Peace valleys. Here still survive the Tacla, Trembleur, Stewart and Francois reservoirs, all of which send their overflow to the Fraser through the Nakosla or Stewart River. Lakes Chilco, Quesnelle, and Shuswap, belong also to the Fraser basin ; while the southern lakes — Kootenay, Arrow, and Okanagan — drain to the Columbia or its affluents. All these still flooded or dried up basins occupy fissures in the terrestrial crust uniformly disposed either north-west and south-east, parallel with the axis of the Rocky Mountains, or else north and south, or west and east. By their intersection, the three systems of fractures develop a network of lines, which are frequently disposed in symme- trical triangles, a phenomenon analogous to that observed in the South of Norway. The Columbian rivers, which were formerly, and to some extent still are, chains of lakes, also flow in many parts of their course through fissures in the terrestrial crust, little modified by erosion and sedimentary deposits. The Taku, which falls into the Alaskan fjord of like name, is joined by headstreams flowing through narrow fractures running parallel with the coast. So also the Stickeen, a very copious river, which rises in the lacustrine region of Columbia, and which in its lower reaches is also comprised within Alaskan territory, Several of its upper tributaries, as well as the main stream itself, present a zigzag course, turning abruptly at right angles in the clefts of their rocky beds. A little above its mouth the Stickeen is interrupted by falls, below which its banks are skirted right and left by glaciers, thrusting their frontal walls and moraines right into the current. Farther south the Nasse, near which rises an extinct volcano, flows entirely within Columbian territory. It has given a definite form to its valley, whereas the far more copious Skeena still retains throughout a great part of its course the aspect of a chain of lakes. Lake Babine, one of these narrow basins, is no less than ninety miles long. It was so named by the Canadian trappers from the " babine," or lip-ornament, worn by the Indians dwelling on its banks, and resembling the " kolosh " of the Thlinkits and Haidus. All the lower course of the Skeena is still a narrow fjord dominated by mountains over 6,000 feet high. Excluding the Columbia, whose upper course alone lies within Canadian territory, the Fraser is the largest river in British Columbia. It rises in the Yellow Head Lake, whence it flows first north-west, parallel with the axis of the Rocky Mountains; then it bends at a sharp angle round to soutlx, in order to follow a fissure whicli is disposed in the direction from north to south. At this angle it i I ■JKIw'iitViiiwiilKi'P -« wiw i iiiiiiiiiii i 'iir: ^ da, one of le opposite visited by debris and rd. They 3 water sea ihe Taela, verflow to snelle, and Kootenay, these still y disposed mtaius, or 30 systems n symme- f Norway, ire, chains terrestrial rhich falls f through n, a very lich in its its upper e, turning above its rted right . into the mo, flows its valley, part of its li'i hiilf Willi i iili a ii 111 inhinaii -vmr^ THE LAURENTIAN BASIN. 241 incouver ore than 38 streets )tel8, and northern sity town !ge. Till I, the city in stream ace. The i. the Men- nks of the ion of the ion on the ;his inter- year of its also a new ead of the rapids. I ides, where en founded he left side Oppo- anding the pers in the ike near its ation, and route along lies. Near lies, huilt of 120,000, a eo-Tinneh, ig potatoes, lel freighted mpetcs with antic packet settled and trhile that of ered. Fort York is the old Fort Bourbon, which the French Canadians twice wrested from the English, holding it till the peace of Utrecht in 1713. Southwards along the shores of the bay follow other posts of the company, such as Forf8 Severn and Albany at the mouths of the rivers of like name, and Orignal or Moose Factor i/ at the south-west corner of James Bay. This last, lying nearest to the great lakes (only 310 miles from Mishipicoten on Lake Superior), is the head of all the southern factories, and will probably be the tirst place on Hudson Bay to be connected by rail with the Canadian railway system. v.— BASIN OF THE GREAT LAKES AND THE ST. LAWRENCE. (Provinces of Ontario and Quebec.) A part only of the vast basin drained by the St. Lawrence is comprised within the Canadian frontier. The chief, or at least the most copious headstreams doubt- less flow through the territory of the Dominion ; but to the United States belongs the St. Louis, that is, the watercourse which is usually regarded as the main branch of the river, because it lies along the geographical axis of the basin. Even a part of the northern shores of Lake Superior, together wiih its chief island, is included in the State of Minnesota, and the whole of Lake Michigan with all the surrounding coastlands also belongs to the United States. East of the Sault Sainte Marie the political parting line follows the long axis of the lakes and their connecting channels, and even in the lower part of the basin, where alone both sides are assigned to Canada, some of the large tributaries, such as Lake Champlain, are excluded from her domain. The whole of the catchment basin of the St. Lawrence is estimated at about 586,000 square miles, of which less than one-half, say 280,000 square miles, lies within the Canadian frontier. This territory, however, is incomparably the most populous and wealthiest part of the Dominion. Here are concentrated nineteen twentieths of the whole popula- tion, together with all the large towns, the industries, trading centres, educational establishments, in a word the political and social life of the country. Through the estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence this section of British North America lies open to Europe, whence came the first immigrants, and whence are annually received fresh streams of population. From the historic standpoint also the shores of the St. Lawrence constitute what is popularly understood by the word *' Canada " in a pre-eminent sense. So many conflicts have here taken place between savages and savages, between the red men and the whites, between whites and whites, this region has been the scene of so many sudden political convulsions and epic dramas, that, compared with the rest of North America, Canada alone might seem to have passed through a historic period. Even at present this history is continued by the peaceful rivalri;j9 of two peoples united by the same political institutins, but differing in speech, usages, religion, and even national aspirations. N. A.— 17 242 NOETH AMERICA, P(»',iTicAL Boundaries. Canada properly so called ifi about exactly divided between the two races, Ontario or the upper province being inhabited by peoples of English speech, and Quebec or the lower province, by the French Canadians. To these two provinces have recently been added the vast solitudes, which extend northwards to Hudson Bay, but which as yet possess no economic importance. The line of • separation between Ontario or D pper, and Quebec or Lower Canada coincides very closely with the ethnical and linguistic parting line. It follows the course of the river Ottawa from the southern extremity of Lake Temiscaming to within a short distance of its confluence with the St. Lawrence. North of the lake the frontier, not yet accurately surveyed, runs due north to Hudson Bay. North-westwards Ontario is separated from the Keewatin Territory by the Albany Biver, while its southern and south-eastern frontiers coincide with the boundary line between the Dominion and the United States. Quebec also is conterminous towards the south-east with the Great Bepublic, and is partly separated by Chaleur Bay from the British province of New Brunswick ; but towards Labrador the boundary is purely conventional, following the d2nd parallel of north latitude. Eastwards Quebec is separated by Blanc-Sablon Bay on the Strait of Belle Isle from the maritime district of Labrador attached to Newfound- land. Physical Features. The St. Lawrence basin, so remarkable for its vast lacustrine reservoirs, great fluvial artery and estua.-'-, is traversed by no lofty ranges. Even about the region of the farthest hejdstreams the only rising grounds are gently inclined scarps and granite cliffs polished and rounded by old glacial action. But north of Lake Superior the ground rises gradually to the chain which forms the beginning of the border range to which Gameau has given the now generally accepted designation of the " Laurentides." This range, however, has a mean height of scarcely more than 1,500 or l.f'OO feet, and Mount " Tremblante," some 60 miles north-west of Montreal, rises little above 2,000 feet, while the culminating points near the Saguenay appear to be only 4,000 feet high. They present a uniform aspect of rounded hills nearly everywhere covered with timber, separated by wind- ing valleys with precipitous banks and by irregular lacustrine depressions. The main axis of the Laurentides nowhere coincides with the hauteur des terres, that is, the watershed between the streams flowing on the one side to the St. Lawrence, on the other to Hudson Bay. Throughout its lower course and its estuary the St. Lawrence follows the direction of the longitudinal axis of the Laurentides. Judging from the nature of the geological formations, this mountain system might appear to have its origin in the vicinity of the Frozen Ocean east of the Mackenzie. But the scientific surveys of those remote regions are still too defeo- live to enable geographers to determine with accuracy the general direction of the main axis running north-west and south-east, where the relief of the l:ind presents PHYSICAL FEATUBES OF THE LAURENTIAN BASIN. 248 races, peecb, le two irds to Line of • 9S very o! the a short rontier, by the pith the s also is s partly ick; but I parallel ],y on the ewfound- [)ir8, great ibout the y inclined it north of beginning r accepted height of le 60 miles bing points a uniform d by wind- ns. r dea tene», to the St. rse and its ixis of the tain system east of the Til too defec- Iction of the Imd presents rather the form of a plateau with denuded slopes than of a mountain range strictly so called. Even in the province of Ontario nothing occurs except irregular masses of slight relative altitude, whose normal trend it is difficult to recognise. The so- called La Cloche " Mountains," north of the strait connecting Lake Huron with Georgian Bay, are scarcely more than 1,000 feet high. Those which farther east dominate Lake Nipissing range from 1,400 to 1,600 feet, and even towards the centre of Ontario between Ottawa and Toronto the culminating point does not exceed 2,300 feet. Interrupted by the Ottawa fluvial valley, the Laurentides are continued north-eastwards parallel with the St. Lawrence at a mean distance of about 30 miles from its left bank. North of Quebec it gradually approaches the river, where it develops the imposing, headland of Cape Tourmente, nearly 2,000 feet high, followed lower down by the still more elevated and deeply ravined bluff des Eboulements (2,620 feet). Beyond the Saguenay the Laurentian system is continued along the estuary, where it merges at last in the granitic uplands of Labrador. The Laurentides consist almost exclusively of metamorphic rocks, old sedi- mentary deposits afterwards highly crystallised during the course of ages. They are the oldest known stratified formations on the American continent, and probably correspond with the old gneiss formations of Scotland and Scandinavia. Through- out the whole orographic system the northern rocks were deposited at such a remote epoch that they have preserved no traces of animal or vegetable organisms. But the southern ranges belong to more recent periods, and here have been found some of the most remarkable fossil remains preserved in our geological museums. Where the limestones crop out the soil is generally very fertile, and here nearly all the village settlements have been founded, the less productive gneiss and quartz regions being relatively uninhabited. Since the formation of the fossiliferous strata great changes have taken place in the relief of the land. In the clays of Montreal have been found the skeletons of a cetacean and of a species of seal, and higher up banks of like formation filled with marine shells occur 5t)0 feet above the present soa-level. South of the St. Lawrence the heights skirting the river correspond in general disposition with the northern system of the Laurentides. Beginning abruptly with the Gasp^ headland, they skirt the right bank very closely, leaving only a narrow beach between the water and their slopes. These heights, called the Shikshak Mountains in East Gasp^, present steep escarpments with rounded crests, of gloomy monotonous aspect, unrelieved by any variety of outline. Even the culminating points, which fall below 4,000 feet, rise little above the mean altitude of the range. Farther east, where the system takes the name of Notre- Dame, the range gradually diminishes in height, and diverges somewhat from the St. Lawrence, ultimately merging in the waterpartiug between the estuary and the Atlantic. -* ' ' ■< Its ramifications, occupying the part of the province of Quebec called the Eastern Townships, are connected in United States territory with the Green Moun- 244 NORTH AMERICA. tains, that is, the chief terminal branch of the Appalachian system. The chains are broken by broad gaps, through which communication is effected between the Laurenti.^n and Atlantic slopes. Such is the depression flooded by the elongated Lake Memphremagog, which runs parallel with the White and Green Mountains Fig. 106 —Lake Mekpbbeiiaooo. Sonla 1 : 400,000. I* mi ':'■ east and west, and which sends its overflow through the St. Francis to the St. Lawrence. Between the two ranges skirting the St. Lawrence the plains on both sides have been pierced by a few eruptive cones, such as the Mont Royal, which gives •: its name to the largest city in Canada (Mont-real). From the summit of this superb basalt eminence are visible other igneous heights, such as Montarville, rising above the low -lying plains between the St. Lawrence and the Richelieu; "'■ lanu JiiwMiiiH.'« PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE LAURENTIAN BASIN. 245 chains )en the ingated antaiua Beloeil, 80 named from the fine view commanded by this isolated peak; Rougcmont and several other eminences of volcanic origin. The general aspect of the Laurentian basin, enclosed north and south by two ranges of vast antiquity and elsewhere occupied by more recent formations, bears evidence of the comparative repose which has prevailed throughout this region during a series >^ ! geological epochs. In fact the main geographical features of the land appear to have undergone little change, beyond those modifications duo to erosion, and to the accumulation of glacial, lacustrine, and fluvial deposits. A remarkable proof of this persistence of the main physical outlines is afforded by the shore-line, which is developed in semicircular form for over 600 miles from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the entrance of Georgian Bay. Fig. 106.— SlLUBUS ESOABFHENT BETWEEN ChICAOO AIH) NiAOAXA. Scale 1 : 11.000,(>0O. 46' 45' 42* 42' 66' West oF Greenwich 76" .250 HUM. to the St. oth sides (h gives of this lontarville, lichelieu ; North of Chicago the silurian formations sweep round the Michigan waters, developing a regular line of cliffs along the west coast as far as Green Bay. Here they are interrupted by a broad gap, but are indicated by islands and reefs, and reappear north of the bay, running thence north and east along the north side of Mackinac Strait and Lake Huron. On its south side the large island of Manitoulin forma part of this silurian system, whereas the north shore facing the Laurentides presents very irregular outlines. The entrance of Georgian Bay forms another break, beyond which the escarpment is continued round the east side of Lake Huron along the foot of the so-called Blue Mountains, 1,500 or 1,600 feet high. It even extends across the province of Ontaiio in a south-easterly direction to the south side of Lake Ontario, where it is pierced by the river Niagara. The falls themselves stood originally at this point, but gradually receded southwards with the continual erosion of the fluvial gorge. From the same silurian limestone ,-ii!ijipij.9i|ij,»,iW";i<" 246 NORTH AMERICA. cliffs were also precipitated the other cascudes of the rivers flowing through the state of New York northwards to Lake Ontario, whose southern shores must at that epoch have presented a spectacle of stupendous magnificence. Farther on the escarpment is continued inland, extending north of the Mohawk Valley towards the Hudson, and at last merging in the Adirondack Mountains. Rivers and Lakes. The St. Lawrence is one of the great rivers of the globe whose geological history is least developed. Not more than about a seventh part of the whole catchment basin forms a regular fluvial bed, and even this watercourse expands at several points to fill such lacustrine basins as those of St. Francis, St. Louis, and St. Peter. All the upper part of the basin as far as the Thousand Islands is still occupied by the great lakes, themselves a remnant of the vast inland sea, which after the melting of the ice-cap stretched far into the interior of the continent. At its lower extremity also the so-called mouth of the St. Lawrence is merely a broad marine inlet ; for this river has no delta and the sea may be said to begin at Quebec. Evidently it is of relatively recent formation, young, for instance, as compared with the Nile. Even where it assumes the character of a river in the strict sense, it has not yet succeeded in regulating its banks by developing a regularly alternating succession of normal meanderings in accordance with the law of " reciprocal curves." Lake Superior and its Affluents. The vast lacusti'ine basins of the upper course, which formerly drained on the one hand towards Hudson Bay, on the other towards the Gulf of Mexico, but which at present belong to the Laurentian slope, still continue the process of exhaustion by the accumulation of sedimentary deposits, but with extreme slow- ness. The surrounding heights are of low elevation and consist of hard rocks, which resist the action of water and weathering. On the other hand the tributary streams are mostly lacustrine emissaries, bringing down little sediment and hold- ing nothing in solution except chemical substances. Then the great lakes them- selves are so vast and so deep, that the alluvial matter deposited by these tributaries seems infinitesimal. It is further to be considored that long geological ages will be required to wear away the fluvial beds at the outlet of Lake Ontario, a^ Niagara Falls between Erie and Ontario, and at the Sault Sainte-Marie (" Saint Mary Falls ") between Superior and Huron. Nevertheless a rough estimate may be formed of the time needed to empty the Canadian " Mediterranean," and thus convert the St. Lawrence basin to a normal watercourse from its source to its mouth. If 45,000 years be required to effaoa the comparatively insignificant Lake of Geneva fed by the Rhone and the Dranse, both rich in sedimentary matter,* it would take their limpid affluents at least 60 million years to fill up the great Canadian reservoirs.t -.■■■.'.r-^i^::,''>:^-y.^^.-r-^ • F. A. "ForttX, BiiUelin de la Soe. Vaudoite des Science) naturelles, November, 1B88. t Greenleaf, Waler- Power of the North-Wettem Statu, United States Censiu/or 1881, vol. xvii. ■ '^ )ugh the must at rther on t Valley eological le whole ipands at ouis, and ds is still ea, which ontinent. merely a ) begin at stance, as rer in the sloping a ,h the law led on the Mexico, but process of eme slow- lard rocks, ) tributary and hold- kes thera- tributaries f ed to wear uween Erie n Superior ) needed to ce basin to required to le and the iffluents at 1. xvii. ..ff i .li L I mi l ! » ■ , sj i i»i i |. iii |i, i ii iBiii qi i ptB iii H i i l iiltyn i i, ! ) ! ' JII||| ! ^MyiHff l |JWl J.il ! tn > i w »i i ; y lU i LAKE SUrERIOB. 247 The St. Lou's 18 regarded as the main briini-h of the St. Lawrence, becauRe it falls into the western or furthest extremity of Lake Superior. Nevertheless this lake receives other affluents quite us large and even larger than the St. Louis, which, although rising 30 miles north of the lake and over GO miles from its western extremity, has its source in United States territory in the midst of a lacustrine district standing about 1,000 feet higher than Luke Superior. After flowing west and south-west as if to join the Mississippi, with which it might easily be connected by a canal, the St. Louis trends cost and south-eust, traversing an extremely rugged district through a series of falls and rapids constantly varying in form and he'ght. In the 12 or 14 last miles of its course it has a total incline of 460 feet, with, a mean discharge of about 1,200 cubic feet per second. At Thunder Bay on its north-west side Lake Superior receives the contributions of the Kaministiquia, whose basin is entirely comprised within Canadian territory. From the peaty ground where it rises this river receives a blackish water charged with vegetable humus, and flows sluggishly through an almost flat plain to the pic- turesque island-studded Great Dog Lake. At the outlet of this reservoir the Little Dog River, as it is here called, descends rapidly over a series of six falls, whose foaming waters rushing between pine-clad slopes may all be seen from several projecting ledges. Lower down the Kaministiquia, or " Wandering River," escapes from the region of gneiss and granites, and at Eakabeka, the " Split Rock," develops a magnificent fall 120 feet high above the delta where it enters Lake Superior through three branches. Eastwards follows another considerable affluent, the Black Sturgeon. But the most copious feeder of Lake Superior is the Nipigon, which rises in the lake of the same name, the Annimibigon of the Indians. This vast sheet of water, which some geographers propose to include in the group of the "Great Oanadion Lakes," stretches some 60 miles north and south and about 50 miles east and west with a total area of 3,000 square miles. But much of this space is occupied by several hundred islands of all sizes, in several places completely masking the real contours of the lake. Nipigon, which has an extreme depth of 540 feet, receives on its north-west side its chief affluent, the Ombabika, from a lakelet of double outflow, which also sends an emissary through the Albany to Hudson Bay. The Nipigon emissary, that is, the Nipigon River, has a total decline of 250 feet in a course of 46 miles, during which it traverses a series of alternating lake- lets and rapids with such velocity that within the last 30 years it is said to have eroded its rocky bed to a depth of 40 inches. After its junction with Lake Superior its course is, so to say, continued by Nipigon Strait, a channel flanked by basaltic walls, ^hich like the columns of Fingal's Cave are hollowed out by the waves at their base. Farther east Lake Superior is joined by the Michipicoten, another large stream, which with its portages and thoce of the Moose River offers the shortest route between the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay. "=^ . .. - Superior, largest and deepest of the American reservoirs, and the most exten- sive freshwater basin on the surface of the globe, stretches east and west a distance ■wwrf 248 NORTH AMKRKA. of about 300 inilcs with nn extreme brondth of 100 niiloH, and a total coastline of no IcBH than 1,740 miles includiiiji; all the secondary bays and inlets. The Kitchi Gomi, or " Great Luke," as the surrounding Ojibways call it, has the general form of a crescent with its convex side facing northwards ; but the regularity of the southern contour-line is broken by the long projecting horn of the Keweenaw peninsula. In the central parts, the soundings generally reveal depths of 650 feet, and north of the Keweenaw peninsula Reynolds discovered a sub-lacustrine ridge, where the plummet fell rapidly from 730 to 1,150 foot, though this record is contradicted by others taken by the sume explorer, and showing only 850 feet at this very spot. His chart, however, indicates 1,000 feet at a point more to tho north-east. In any case tho lacustrine bed falls below the surface of the Fig. 107.- Lake Superior. Boato 1 : «,BOO,COO. OtoW Fatbomi. 0«pt)i8. DOtnlOO Fathomi, 100 Fathomt and upward*. 12S MUes. Atlantic, above which the lake stands at a mean height of not more than 630 feet. The mud brought up from the bottom consists almost everywhere of a sticky clay, which rapidly hardens in the air, and which contains innumerable little ahells. The water, fed by hundreds of torrents from the live rock, is so limpid that near the shore the sands and shingle may be seen at a depth of several yards. Little alluvial matter is brought down by the floods, and this is mostly deposited about the deltas. On the other hand, the surrounding catchment basin is relatively very narrow, so that the general lacustrine level never varies more than about three feet. • ' ' ■' " -'■''. v Superior is subject to the full fury of the northern, north-western, and north- eastern gales, sweeping uninterruptedly over the plains from the Polar Sea and LAKE HUl'KRIOR. 840 line of Kitchi il form of the f^eenaw et, and ridge, cord is feet at to the of the 9 V J HudHou Day, luHhiiig its wutcrN into tretiundouH wtivos, and at times i^trcwing its surface with wreckugo. Sundy beaches occur, espociiiUy on the west side, hut the husin is mostly encircled by rocky cliffs such as the eruptive musses cominunding the entrance of Thunder Jky, where Pie Island rises to a height of HoO feet, and on the south side the " Pictured Rocks," variegated sandstone walls near Great Island. The o( ntrul parts ore entirely free from rocks, reefs, or islands, uU of which occur in tlie vicinity of the coast. Such are St. Ignuce Island, whose busult musses rise to a height of 1,440 feet over against Nipigon Uuy, and Iloyul Island, the largest Fig. 108.— NosniKnN Bays or Laxk StTPEiiioB. Scale 1 : S!0O,(X)0. OtoAO Fathoms. IVptha. SOtulOO Fatboma. 100 Fathoma and upward!. han 630 . 80 MUea. a sticky >le little limpid al yards, ieposited ■elatively an about id north- Sea and in the lake, which, although lying in Canadian waters, is included in United States territory. • : ' ■.^ This island, which extends south west and north-east, a length of 44 with a hreadth of not more than 7 miles, presents quite a unique formation. It forms u group of dolerite cliffs varying in height, but nowhere exceeding .680 feet, and all disposed side by side in narrow ridges, sharp as knife-blades, with intervening narrow glens occupied by meadows, meres, and lakes. The upper rocks are harder than the lower, so that the periphery has everywhere been eroded by the waves. Michipicoten, another large island on the Canadian side, is also formed of mm "»<"W" 2M NOUTII AMEUK'A. eruptive rock« over O.'iO feet liiKh, but thoy ore dinposeil in u regular oval inaflfl eonneeted by u Nubmurine »ill with tho mighbouriug Curibou laluml, noted fur its rich copper n)iuo8. LaKKS IIl'K(»N AND KkIK. In Wh'tefinh Huy, nt the Bouth-eant unglo of tho luke, tlio overflow is di«i- ehurged through tho winding ehunnel of the St. Mury, which einiiwury varies from ubout hulf u niilo to over a mile iu width. Ilolweon ite low HundHtonc blinks, tho current is obstructed by u rocky lodge, forming the f»\mouB " suult," Ki to 18 feet high, which wuh discovered iu 1(H1 by the niisHionuries Uuymbuult und Fig. lOO.-RoTAI. ISLAITD. Bolt t : flai),000. Depth*. OtoSO fsthomi. BO to 100 Fathoms. 100 FMthomi niid upward*. 13 HilM. Jogues, and which for many years arrested the navigation between the lower lakes and Superior. But for over half a century this obstacle has been turned, and riverain craft can now ascend from Belle Isle to the St. Louis Biver, a total distance of 2,100 miles from the Atlantic. Below the rapids the St. Mary River is divided into two branches, each of which again ramifies into numerous channels winding between a chain of low willow-grown islands. The southern branch fulls directly into Lake Huron, while the northern is continued by the ^orth Channel along the Canadian shore to Georgian Bay, the great north-ejstem inlet of Lake Huron. The regular line of insular land between these two basins includes the Great Mauitoulin Inland, the LAKE.S inmON AND ERIE. Ml le lower turned, a total largoat in the whole bunln of tho Cunudiun M(>(lit«>rriin<>an. Thin Riicrcd land, uIkxIu of tho " Hupromu Manitu," contiata niuiiily of Hiluriun liinoNtont'H arorod with doi>p Kasurea, und pierced by grottoa. Murray uttrihutoa to uiid(>r);r(tund curronta tho phenomunoti here pronontc-d by Luke Munitu-Wuiiing, which, though fed only by u little aurfiico rivulet, nevertholeas given rise to a very copioua .'iniasary. The Cockburn and Drutnmund ialundH lying farther weat are alao known by the numoa of Middle and West Munitoulin. Georgian 'Wy ia sufficiently diatiiict from Huron to bo regarded as a separato basin. It communieutos with tho raiiin resorVoir only through the winding pusaagoH of North (Jhunnel, and by tho island -atuddod atruita flowing between Oreot Munitoulin and Suugeen, or Indian Penineulu. It also contruata with Huron in the greater irregularity of iis shores, which are curved into deep inlets und even fjords penetrating fur inland between steep rocky wulla. In the central parts, it is very deep, and even noiir Cabot Head, the pronujutory of Indian Peninsula, a trough has been discovered over 500 feet deep. Of all the grout Canadian basins Georgian Bay receives the greatest relative supply of water. The two large lakes Nipissing and Tumaguming, besides numerous smaller reservoirs, send it their overflow through French River, one of the most romantic streams in Canada. Tumagaming is one of the few basins which have a double outlet, one through tho Montreal emissary to the Ottawa, the other to Lake Nipissing, a deep reservoir where Morin has recorded soundings of G'iO feet. Nipissing itself is also said to have two emissaries, one through the French River to Georgian Bay, the other underground to the Mattawun tributary of the Ottawa. But however this be, tho French River alone represents a very copious outflow, estimated at over 9,000 cubic feet per second. Other large feeders of Georgian Bay are the Maganetawan and the Severn, which carries off the overflow of the large Lake Simcoe and of several other smaller basins in the province of Ontario. Huron, which Champlain culled the " Freshwater Sea," is about half the size of Superior, which it resembles in its general ouiline, only that it is disposed not east and west, but north and south. With the vast Lake Michigan, which lies entirely within the United States, it forms an enormous semicircle fringed by the already described silurian escarpments. The middle of this semicircle is filled by the Michigan Peninsula, the exuct centre of which is occupied by a carboniferous basin. All the surrounding hills bear traces in their terraced boaches of the vast inland sea which at one time covered all the peninsulas at present intervening between the Great Lakes. According to a legend probably of Indian origin, Huron is the deepest of all the Laurentian lakes, and a sounding-line 1800 feet long is said to have failed to touch the bottom near the entrance of Saginaw Bay on the west side. Neverthe- less, the carefully executed soundings of the American marine indicate an average depth of not more than 160 feet in this region. The deepest trough lies about midway betweon Thunder Bay and the entrance to Georgian Bay, which is 700 feet deep. The bed rises gradually towards the shores, but offers only a very few !f II y»j )! j«nii' ii' n;'''i | ; ii i»ii>n i < ii »iii i juj i i. i .iim^. i i. i i nu i i_,..Mi| « ) i (ijtM i> ' : 174 NOBTH AMERICA. largest quantities were yielded by the Lower Fraser and Thompson districts ; then followed the Caribou region, south of the great bend of the Fraser ; after which the miners pushed north towards Gardner Channel, the Skeena basin, and the valley of the Omineca, a tributary of the Peace River. Lastly, in 1872, the stream was directed by the discoveries of Thibert and MacCuUoch towards the Cassiar Country, between the Stickeen basin and the Liards River, near the Alaskan frontier, where a few patient gleaners, chiefly Chinese, still linger. During the first years the Columbian mines yielded from £800,000 to £1,000,000 annually, rising in 1801 to £1,400,000. At present many of the grounds are exhausted, the miners have disappeared, and the total yearly output varies from £120,000 to £200,000. The total yield from 1858 to 1888 is valued at £11,240,000. Columbia also possesses some productive deposits of native silver. ! The general conformation of these highlands shows that the gold is here distributed in the same manner as in California, and the workers are accordingly able to profit by the experiences of their piccursors. In the districts where they have not yet been expelled, the natives are employed on most of the laborious operations. Other mining industries, such as that of bituminous coal, have also acquired consideraV^a importance. From the first days of the colonization passing steamers were supplied with coal from Vancouver. Then mining operations were systematically developed, and at present many villages look like suburbs of New- castle, with their heaps of shale, their lifts and machinery. The pits, situated, so to say, on the very quays of the seaports, already yield enough to support an export trade. But the anthracite on the banks of the Skidegate Channel, in the Queen Charlotte Archipelago, has not yet been regularly worked, although said to be equal to that of Pennsylvania. ; . \ )■:■• Stock-breeding, especially for the Californian market, is also acquiring a considerable development, while the fisheries yield abundance of excellent salmon tinned on the spot, and exported in yearly increasing quantities. Capitalists have also begun to work the vast forests of the coastlands, and a brisk lumber trade has already been established. Topography. \: Of no other region can it be said with greater truth that a single railway con- stitutes its vital artery. But for the trunk line traversing it from east to west, British Columbia would be cut off from the commercial world, except at a few isolated points along the seaboard ; nor could it maintain any direct relations with the Dominion of Canada. The first whites who settled in the country nearly all reached it from California, and when the rush of miners was directed towards the new Eldorado, most of the precious metal was shipped to San Francisco. From year to year the communications with the States became more direct and con- tinuous. Despite the political ties, Vancouver and the neighbouring settlements became more and more associated with the great republic, and the British Govern- ment had reason to fear that this remote colony might, by the very fovce of events, inevitably become a political dependency of San Francisco. £iiS-Vi-.!.'-.,:-it,.iH 252 NORTH AMERICA. available anchoring- grounds. To this cause, combined with its more northerly position beyond the roain.line of railway from New York and New England, is due the absence of large ports, such as those that have sprung up on Lakes Michigan, Erie, and Ontario. The MichillimackintiC, or Mackinaw Strait, through which Huron com- municates with Michigan, stands like Georgian Bay at the same level as the basins themselves. Consequently all three form a single sheet of water at the common elevation of 595 feet above the Atlantic. Lake Simcoe, the Wentaron of the Indians, and " Lac des Claies " of the French Canadians, now communicates with Georgian Bay only through a Fig. 110.— Laxe HxmoN and Geobqia. Bay. Scale 1 : 5,000,000.* -^^^V^^ /'^i^s^^N^gflte^fclJp *^ k° Crt. ^^^^\ 4S ^^^^^^=^"''t:ft^hiam»I^^IS^^^^ ^^^ A, ^^'^^*"^'^^^*^''^8ite8'/WWri^»rXHl' '°'hf~~i''^'TSBfii ^rsniniula HjT- -7- ___}^ 3.'" — jF ^^^1 4s: ^py'yi»«fi^ai — L^- - ' -^ ^/■11^-^ \^.r.:'fi--.- JLt^ ^ r^ff'i^^™' ^" '' ' K^^^wi v,,^^UoO«|Z . "t^^ itiiaTOeundgvi»iif>Rfc~rrrj*''X /I ^^m\ ^oKn^^^^M'^.^^ 84« Wast oF G^«enwic^^ 80' • Dep'hB. OtoBO Fathoms. fiO Fathoms and npwards. . 60 Miles. fluvial channel, but it represents a broad strait by which Huron was formerly connected with Lake Ontario, thus converting into an island the present thickly- peopled peninsular region of the province of Ontario. At the southern extremity of Huron the sandy bed gradually rises to within 23 f -3t of the surface, thus forming a bar at the head of the St. Clair (Sainte Claire) emissary. This river, which is accessible to large vessels, winds along in a tranquil stream broken by no rapids, and at an average incline of a little over half an inch in the mile, but about the middle of its course it ramifies amid shallows, where a navigable canal has had to be constructed. After traversing Lake St. Clair, it takes the name of Detroit, and a few miles below the city of that name falls into the west end of Lake Erie. Its mean discharge, which varies Mht- LAKES HURON AND ERIE. 258 little throughout the year, is estimated at ahout 250,000 cubic feet per second. But this estimate seems too low when compared with the volume of the Niagara River, which should be about the same as that of the St, Clair slightly increased by the few insignificant affluents of Lake Erie. The chief tributary of the Detroit is the Thames, which traverses the most thickly-inhabited and best-cultivated district in Ontario. Lake Erie, that is, " Cherry Lake," is the southernmost of the great Canadian basins. It is crossed by the forty-second parallel, and consequently lies under about the same latitude as the Adriatic and the Gulf of Lions. It is also disposed south-west and north-east nearly in a line with the axis of the lower valley of the St. Lawrence, while its somewhat regular oval form shows that it has reached the transitional stage between a lacustrine basin and a fluvial channel. Even in its Hg. 111.— Lake Erib. Scale 1 : 4,000,000. Depths. 82tn80 Feet. 80 to 160 Feet. ISO Feet and upwarda. flOMUea. comparative shallowness, averaging only 50 feet with an extreme depth of 200 off Long Point on the east side, it approaches more to the character of a river. Of all the great basins Erie alone has its bed at a higher elevation than the level of the Atlantic. The whole reservoir forms three successive terraces : the western, 25 to 40 feet deep, the central, 60 to 80, and the eastern, where occur the greatest depths. The western constitutes an almost indepandent basin separated from the rest by the long promontory of Point Pel^, continued southwards by the island of the same name and another sandbank. In some places the bed is composed of sand and clay, but more generally of mud formed by the disintegration of the surrounding limestone cliffs. The navigation is much endangered both by sandbanks and shallows along the shelving beach, and in winter by the ice, especially in the southern parts, which remain frozen longer than elsewhere, ■■'in'' 264 NOBTH AMEEICA. Niagara River and Falls. At its nortli-cast extremity Erie sends its overflow to Ontario through the famous Niagara Kiver of the Iroquois, a name of which various forms and meanings are given by etymologists.* The river is only about 36 miles long, but the difference of level between the two lakes is no less than 330 feet, and at one plunge about half of this difference, say 150 feet, is cleared. The silurian escarpment which encircles Lakes Michigan and Huron, and which also skirted Lake Erie before its partial exhaustion, is here broken by the force of the waters. But this M a comparatively recent event in the geographical history of the globe, and the river has only had time to transform its falls to rapids for about half of its original " high level " course. Hence it still flows tranquilly from Erie to the stupendous cataracts, and thence tumultuously towards Ontario, the cataracts lying almost midway between the upper and lower reservoir. But the early documents assign a far greater elevation to the falls, Joliet amongst others asserting that " Lake Erie falls into Lake Frontenac (Ontario) by a fall of 120 toises," t while Hennepin estimates the plunge at " 600 feet." At its outlet close to Buffalo, the emissary, here about 650 feet broad, flows at first in a placid current northwards, and then ramifies into two broad branches encircling Grand Island. Below this island, which is 12 miles long, the reunited stream resembles a lake, expanding to about two miles between its low-lying banks. So far it has fallen only 20 feet, flowing at an average depth of 25 to 30 feet. But at the confluence of the Chippewa, on its left bank, the incline becomes more decided, and the current grows more and more rapid between its converging banks. First are developed long sinuous undulations, then chopping white-crested waves, as the stream is parted into two branches, which sweep in tremendous rapids, and with irresistible velocity, round both sides of the densely wooded Goat Island. On the right, the smaller branch, contracted to a breadth of less than 500 feet, rushes wildly amid the projecting rocks and ledges along the American side ; on the left, the main branch, comprising over four- fifths of the whole volume, fills a semicircular amphitheatre over a mile in all directions, where the liquid masses expand into a vast chaos of angry waters. Viewed from the southern point of Goat Island, the two inclined streams, whose foaming crests shut out all perspective higher up, seem to descend from " the windows of heaven." The observer is overwhelmed with awe at the sight of these prodigious floods, appar- ently rushing headlong from the near horizon, and lower down suddenly vanishing out of sight. The "American" and "Canadian " Falls, as they are respectively called, are parted by the northern bluff of Goat Island facing the chasm, one plunging in a relatively thin sheet slightly concave towards the centre, the other developing the vast semicircle of the " Horseshoe Falls," a name, however, which is scarcely any • Such are Niakarf, " Great Noise ; " Ooiahgarah, " Thunder of Waters ; " Onyahrah, <• Passage between two lakes ; " Onghiahrah, name of an nncient riverain tribe.— [Picturenque Canada.) t The old French toist answered to the English fathom, being equivalent to 6 French, or 6'396 English feet. . ., .-.',..;-*> i . i. -Si y|l j»y ii H.H» i _i[ i . L ^ JU.|lp i| ". ' MW i f. " . | Lyt^J i Jt ' : '!' gi,^-jH.V'yv,M I .- ! I j » t .m I v t m I. NIAGARA 19* »■ : Ii-^--^^;. ipfa=Jt=====i== Upu 39»k West <£ C IMS UNES OF EROSIOlf OF I 1S75 1 ■ 14- 500 NEWyORK. L^ .i'P wimtifs^^f^' ^"■¥ NIAGARA FALLS West rf Gpceawioli UMES OF EROSIOK OF THE CAHADMN FALL. 1S75 18ft6 1 . 14- 500. NEW -yORK. V. .U^PLETON A^QO 1889 V ' J ■ i | i iiy.'..jim ww » » i i ' ji'" ,« p i ! I' ill ! m NIAGARA FALLS. 265 longer juatiBed. Like so many other Canadian cascades, it ftrms rather a " chaudi^re," or " cauldron," where the sheets of whitish and emerald green water descend on three sides into a common basin, and where they disappear for a moment in a dense mass of ascending vapours. Thus to the downward rush corresponds an upward movement, caused by the recoil of a great river suddenly precipitated into a deep chasm, where its waters are torn by a hundred hidden reefs and dissolved into clouds of mist, which continually roll up and are re-condensed in the higher atmospheric strata, again descending on the surrounding heights in the form of rain, where the sun describes an ever-shifting rainbow. At times, the thunder of the waters is wafted to a considerable distance on the breeze ; but as a rule the visitor is surprised by the apparent stillness, and even in the immediate vicinity of the Falls misses the deafening roar supposed to be heard far and wide. Nor does the Niagara any longer roll down its tumultuous waters in the vast solitude of the primeval forests, as at the time when it was first visited by Europeans. The noisy life of towns and factories, the whistle of the locomotive and rush of trains blend with the roar of the waters and often drown their voice. At one point on the American side the view is somewhat marred by industrial structures of a mean type. Nevertheless, both banks close to the falls, together with Goat Island, have become national properties, and the stupendous spectacle may now be freely contemplated from shady avenues, artificial platforms, and other convenient points. On the Canadian side, the railway train, emerging on a pleasant forest glade close to the scene, obligingly waits while the traveller enjoys a hasty glimpse of the marvellous sheet of liquid green curving over the rocky ledge ; a few minutes later iie is hurried away, his mind filled with a vision as of some supernatural world. The actual volume of water precipitated by both falls has been diversely esti- mated ; yet the discharge varies little, except in winter when the river banks are frozen, when crystal pendants are attached to every projecting ledge, the aqueous vapours massed in cones along the margins, and the living falls pent in right and left by congealed crystalline cascades. At times, the huge blocks of ice drifting with the current have collected in an enormous pack beneath the falls, forming a temporary bridge right across the tttream, irom which the spectacle could be surveyed from below. w ' : ■ v Even in summer the changes of volume are caused less by the greater or less abundance of rain, than by the direction and force of the winds, which drive the Erie waters now to one, now to another quarter, thus producing a difference of three or four feet in the level of the current at the outlet. At this season the mean discharge has been estimated at about 350,000 cubic feet per second, or, say, twenty times the volume of the Seine at Paris.* The force of the falls has also been approximately estimated at from five to seven millions of horse-power, and some fanatical engineers, deploring this annual loss of some £40,000,000, have expressed the hope that the whole of the power now running waste may some day * Barrett, 325,000 ; Clarke, 38d,000 ; but the United States Censoa of 1880 only 165,000 (f). ~: - _ i tiJ. i' i"i| | | > i| r m' i "^il|^iW ' w,i^ ii »t' »| ,i ii j.iU i ii i «. '^l i ttgBmi^ 266 NOBTU AMERICA. be turned to account in the American factories. A canal, or mill-race, constructed on the right bunk, already supplies driving power to numerous workshops dis- figuring the landscape, and it has been proposed to utilise the Canadian Falls fur the production of electricity. Since the first drawings made by Hennepin in 1678, considerable changes '\ Fig. 112.— NuoABA Faujb and lUnoa. 8oBontiong ; Lac de Conty ; Cat Lake. Ontario : Kanandario ; Staniadorio ; Lac des Outoouoronnons (Champlain) ; Lao des LtKjuois ; ,.. Cataraqui; Lao Saint-Louis ; Lao Frontenao. (Winsor, ^Mim«a; Gameau; Suite, &o.) N.A.— 18 1" -"» ' "" ■ " "V -I l l ; t%w.>| i ' i y;,]w »i tss NORTH AMERICA. height of from lOO to 200 feot alxjvo tho lucuHtrine level, no obviounly represents an older margin, that it has been numed the " I^ake Ridge." This ridge, itself a prolongation of the Niagara cliff, is interrupted at intervals by the channels of the Qenesseo, Oswego, and other streams rushing over fulls and rapids from basins which, like Ontario, have been gradually contracted in size. One of these channels represents a strait through which Ontario formerly sent its overflow to the Atlantic through the Mohawk and Hudson valleys.* Like that of Erie, the elongated and regular form of Ontario shows that it has entered the period of transition between a lacustrine and a fluvial basin. Its south side runs nearly in a straight line without any indentation, and for more thin half Fig. 113— THonBAND lBi.Ain)fl. B7 jver. ular cent m, and here the ' Can Kiiaii side, cucIohom eddies, penetration of light, iaciat!' f^, iMnteraturo at the surftK ind ' >irer down, differences of fauna, and ''e HIkp,* The two coldest basins an< S iHrior and rirgiun in the lower depths varies from .yf to 30^ 1 tht ™< nearly 20 degrees higher. In 1843 Superior was con Towards its eastern extremity, Ontario loses it« r ramifying peninsula of Quint^, projecting fron) numerous inlets, winding channels, and wooded islaudit. T\h\. follows, towards the outlet, a perfect labyrinth of islets of all sizes and forms, thickly studding the head of the St. Lawrence, and collectively known us the " Thousand IslandH," though really numbering nearly two thousand, and even more if all theeyots, reefs, and rocks be included which are flooded or exposed with the rise and fall of the waters. Some are large enough to be covered with dense forest or grassy slopes ; others are mere patches of verdure, or shaded perhaps by a solitary wide-branching tree. Some of the fluvial channels are so narrow that the palatial steamers glide smoothly along amid avenues of rich vegetation, varied with sunny glades, smiling gardens, or a tangle of matted foliage almost interlacing overhead. Then the leafy waterway suddenly broadens to the proportion of a land-locked lake still fringed with green slopes, where all outlets are masked hy the tall forest growths clothing the converging rocky heights. These rooky heights, throughout the archipelago, are of silurian formation, the "Thousand Islands " evidently forming an eastward continuation of the " Thou- sand Headlands " of Quint<$ and the adjacent coast. One of these islands, strewn with picturesque boulders and overgrown with magnificent timber, has been reserved for the Canadian public as a national park for ever. Others, bought by wealthy American citizens, have been converted to delightful pleasaunces and summer retreats ; for within the broad bounds of the Dominion, there are no lovelier land and water scapes than those of this marvellous fluvial archipelago. Below the Thousand Islands, the St. Lawrence flows as a fully developed river north-eastwards, receiving on its right bank numerous affluents from the Adirondack uplands in the State of New York. At intervals it expands into specious basins resembling lakes, and even bearing that name, as, for instance, the St. Regis and St. Francis Lakes. But elsewhere the river contracts its walls, and develops long lines of rapids such as La Plate, TjCS Galops, Le Long Sault, the Cedars, the Cascades, and so on. But the skilled Canadian boatmen are accus- tomed to shoot these inclines, one of which, the Long Sault, is nearly ten miles * Table of the Laorentian lakes of over 600 squnre milef in extent : — ' - ' •■■ • ' ■ Pi ,i':'^';.i" ?_:-, Depth in feet. Heiffhtofhed Vnlnme in Height in feet Are^i In 1 im- ."^ above or How millions of above wa- level. e^. miles. Extreme. Mean. ■ea-level (feet) cubic ftet. Nipigon . 840 3,000 640 330 —266 26,000-5 Superior . . 627 31,400 1,000 700 —400 629,3960 Michigan . . 696 26,600 870 400 —280 262,6000 Hur6n • II 18,000 690 330 —110 169,000-0 Oeorgian Baj II 6,000 330 190 —262 26,640-0 Erie . . 664 10,000 630 390 -{-366 17,760-0 Ontario . 236 7,300 740 200 -1-600 63,365-0 (Riynolds, Maoomb, Engelhardt, Sohennerhorn, &c.) " yi ."" I . \ 200 NORTH AMERICA. long, and the up-stream auviguliuQ is kept opvii by a regulur syatera of cauulisa- tion. liolow St. KranciN Luko the St. liawronco is joined on the left bunk by its largest tributary, the Ottawa, the " rivi«Vo des Outuouuis " of the eurly French chroniclers. This romantic struiini, longer than the Rhino, more copious than the Nile, is already a conniderable wotercourso where it enters the Tuiniscuniiiig (" Deep Water ") basin below the " hauteur des terres."* ]}ut ils upper course is entirely obstructed by a series of no less than fifteen cataracts, whence thf^ section takes the name of the " rivit^re des Quinze " (" River of the Fifteen," that is, Portages). Towards the north its headstrearas intermingle their waters with those of Lake Abittibe, which belongs to the Hudson Buy slope, sending most of its overflow through a large emissary to the Moose River. At the outlet of Abittibe, the Ottawa receives through u superb cascade 115 feet high the contributions of the still larger EipptA'ii (Kijjeuwu) basin, whose wooded shores stretch away to the south-east in an endless labyrinth of channels, Ht raits, creeks, inlets branching off in every itnuginablo direction. Even in Ounuda there are few watercourses more diversified than the Ottawa, whose main channel offers a continuous succesnion of contrasts. Here a cascade, there a rapid, farther on a meeting of many waters which again break into divergent streams ; then a narrow fluvial gorge flanked by jagged rocky walls, followed by a long chain of narrow lake?, and here and there even broad basins, whoso bays stretch away beyond the horizon. Such is the inflnitoly varied ( haracter of the romantic stream which forms the political boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The some aspect is presented by its affluents, especially those flowing through Ontario to its right bank. Such are the Mattawan, the Bonne Chdre, the Madawaska, even a " Mississippi," and lower down the Rideau with a canal through which Ottawa, capital of the Dominion, communicates directly with Lake Ontario. From the Quebec side come the copious rivers Moiue, Noire, Coulonge and Gatineau, the last mentioned rising in the same district of the " height of land " as the Ottawa itself, which it joins, after a course of 370 miles, opposite the Canadian capital. Farther east come three other large streams, the Li^vre, Rouge and Nord, all from the same waterparting. Before reaching the St. Lawrence the Ottawa resumes the aspect of an elongated lake, that of the Two Mountains, which sends one ramifying branch north-eastwards to the Montreal archipelago, while the main current sweeps in two streams round the wooded island of Perrot to its confluence with the St. Lawrence. Its volume appears to be greater than that of the Rhine or the Rhone, being estimated at the Carillon falls opposite Qrenville, and below all its large tributaries, at 84,000 cubic feet per second. t ' Even after its junction with this great tributary, the St. Lawrence continues * Literally "the height of land," the familiar French -Canadian expression for any parting line between two water systems. The watershed here intended is the divide between the St. Lawrence and HudHon Bay basinH. t Flood waters, 150,000 ; low water, 33,000 ; mean, 84,000 (T. C. Clarke, Report of the Ottawa Survey). THE ST. LAWRENCE. 261 liso- cnnu ik by its ^ French [)us thuii iRCuminK courso is ?nco thi ' Fifteen," ir wfttors , Ben(liii lowor reaches were too nhullow for shipn of hoiivy draught, Luke St, I'ctcr, midway Iwtwoen Montreal and (iuebt>c, luiving scarcely more tlian 14 or U) feet at the "pasH." The alluvial mutter, which has already changed the whole of the upper course into grasny plains or Nwumps, lius gradually ruiHcd the hcd of the river lower down ; but by dint of couMtant dredging a channel iw kept open twice as Fig. lU.— IxraBKiNULEo SouROKs or Tns Ottawa amo Gatimiau. I 1 ! *,ooo.ooo. • ■46 I aouu«a. deep as that formed by the river. The marine tides cease to be felt 90 miles below Quebec. Above Lake St. Peter the St. Lawrence is joined by the Richelieu or Sorel, "half lake, half river," which rises in Lake George, New York State, and traverses the muf*h larger basin of Lake Cbamplain, whose northern inlets penetrate across ihe frontier into Canadian territory. Here the Richelieu assumes the aspect of a river, and after forming a few rapids expands at Chambly into a broad basin, which marks the limit of steam navigation. - A study of the low peninsula at the confluence just above Lake St. Peter eeems to show that here the Richelieu occupies the channel through which the St. Lawrence formerly flowed. Before piercing the rocky barrier which arrested its course at Montreal, the main stream was deflected southwards across the present marshy tract of Laprairie to the Chambly basin, where it flooded the valley at present traversed by the Richelieu. The general level exceeds only by a few rl ■, 180 NOETH AMERICA. itself is rarely used, the Canadians calling it the Biche, a term wbich tbey also apply to other rivers. But according to Petitot, the Athabasca is wrongly named the Elk River on some English maps, for the animal formerly called the biche by the Bois-Brftle truppers is not the elk of English writers, but the uapiti, or " reindeer of the rocks." From the west the Athabasca receives the drainage of the Lesser Slave Lake, as well as the overflow of several other lakes. Beyond a gorge cut through the sandstone rocks to a depth of over 300 feet, its valley bnnidens out, and in several places is studded with those extinct or still active " boucanes " which are numerous especially in the basin of the Mackenzie proper. At the foot of the Bark Mountain, the Athabasca traverses the " Great Rapids," a perfectly uniform inclined plain about 60 miles long, where the water is uninterrupted by a single fall, and its smooth surface ruffled only by rocks of various size projecting above the surface. Some 550 miles from its source, the Athabasca enters the large lake of like name, at a point a considerable distance from its former mouth. At present the alluvial delta extends about 30 miles towards the north-east, and is intersected by a multitude of channels, which change their direction and relative size with every fresh inundation. The chief branch retains the name of Athabasca, and another is known as the " Rividre des Embarras," owing to the numerous snags washed down with the stream. The delta is also joined by channels from the Clear Water and from the Peace River, and in some years, notably 1871 and 1876, its whole surface has been transformed to a shallow muddy bay. The former herbaceous vegetation of the islands has been replaced by conifers, and the term Athabasca, meaning in the Algonquin language, " grassy carpet," and doubtless originally restricted to the dclfaic region, has lost its significance. " •■"' '""'- ;" C ' ? The lake, standing about 500 feet above sea-level, takes the form of a crescent with its convex side facing northwards. But its shores are very irregular and deeply indented by inlets, and like other lakes of this region, it occupies a depres- sion in the granite rocks, which here form steep but low banks. A few rounded hills of Laurentian and Huronian formation, ofPshoots of the Caribou Mountains, appear only on the north side, so that He:irne was scarcely justified in naming this basin the " Lake of Hills." It is joined on the east by several considerable streams, mostly emissaries *rom smaller lacustrine basins. Hearne, however, was wrong- in connecting with this hydrographic system the Wollaston and Deer Lakes, which drain through the Churchill to Hudson Bay. At its western extremity the lake receives its great tributary, and here also lies its outlet, so that the deltaic region is common both to affluent and effluent. But owing to the gradual desiccation of the land, the streams have a tendency to be deflected eastwards. The main branch of the effluent, which here takes the name of the Great Slave River, also winds between low-lying plains alternately dry and flooded. But it is rapidly increased in volume after receiving the various channels through which the Peace River ramifies at its mouth. The Peace rises in British Columbia, on the elevated plains formerly occupied by a vast lacustrine ba.oin, EIVEH9 AND LAKES OF THE NOBTH-WEST TERRITORY. 187 while its chief branch, the Panais or Parsnip River, takes its origin north of the great bend of the Fraser, the two streams being connected, according to Petitot, by a portage scarcely more than 300 yards long. After escaping from its upper valley, the Parsnip is joined by the Finlay, the united stream taking the name of Unshagah, or " Peace," * and forcing its way through a romantic gorge in the Rocky Mountains down to the plains. After rushing over a limestone ledge 8 or 10 feet high, it enters the Athabascan depression through a fertile region aboun'^- ing in grassy prairies, magnificent forests, and herbaceous slopes. Fig. 79.— Swampy Delta of the Atuabasoa. Scale 1 : 1,900,000. i:^if-T-'! ' West oF Greenwich 112* ISMUci. Being formed by the united waters of the Athabasca and Peace rivers, the Great Slave is a very copious stream ; but at its passage through the Caribou hills its course is obstructed by long rapids, so that the boatmen have to cross seven portages successively between the confluences of the Dog River from the east and of the Salt from the west. Below these granitic barriers, begins under another name the true Mackenzie, the Des Nedhe, or " Great River," of the natives, which is henceforth perfectly navigable for about 1 ,450 miles to its estuary in the Arctic Ocean. It flows at flrst between wooded alluvial banks, beyond * Daniel Gk>rdon, Mountain and Prairie. 202 NOBTH AMERICA. ' 'J^ yards that of both streams, while the Montreal and Chambly basins tliemselves stand at about the ijame height above Lake St. Peter, 13 and 12 feet respectively. During the floods the St. Lawrence even now sends some of its overflow to Lake Chambly. Below the Richelieu Lake St. Peter receives on the same side the Yaraaska, and lower down the St. Francis, the emissary of the deep Lake Memphremagog. Next to the Ottawa the largest affluent of the St. Lawrence, at least within its Fig. 115. — Lake St. Peteb. Soile 1 : 050,000. West or G'-eenyyich 7S'30- otoie fe«t. LepUis. 16 Feet and opwai'd*. 12 Miles. Strictly fluvial course, is the St. Maurice, which rises in the Height of Land, where.it intermingles its headstreams with those of the Gatineau. It springs from lakes and receives the contributions of laVes on both sides, so that it ia already larger than the Loire or the Garonne before rushing over the edge of the syenite plateau to enter the Laurent ian plains. Although only one in a thousand falls, all remarkable for their volume and picturesque beauty, the Chaounigan cascade presents special features, distinguishing it amongst so many marvels. Above the falls the mainstream ramifies into two great branches and several secondary channels winding amid a cluster of wooded islets. From a bluff rising above the very centre of the chasm the currents are seen converging from all emselves ectively. to Lake side the ep Lake within its 15 M iw- of Land, 't springs that it ia ge of the thousand laounigan r marvelc. d several lufE rising from all THE ST. LAWRENCE, points and tumbling in wild disorder into the " Devil's Whirlpool," a vast cirque where the tumultuous waters are churned up and dashed against the encirclin^; cliffs. Then the stream is suddenly pent up in a guUey scarcely 100 feet wide, where the whole body of water is engulfed beneath an overhanging rocky wall. Immediately below, the thundering cataract again expands into a broad basin, I4g. 116.— St. Lawbbnob and Rioheuito Ritebs. Seal* 1 : T0(\000. »18 45' UlUlM. while the dunes and sandy tracts of the lower course recall the time when the whole region was flooded by a vast lake. Between the various cataracts obstruct- ing its upper course, the St. Maurice is navigable by steamers for a total distance of 200 miles. The Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. ,j Soon after passing the Quebec narrows and branching round the largpe island of Orleans the St. Lawrence losee the aspect of a river and enters its great estuary. 864 NORTH AMEBICA. ! Here the bunks diverge uniformly, as they approach the Gulf of St. Lawrence, whore the Laureutiun waters are lost in the broad Atlantic. Below Quebec, where the tides rise 10 or 17 feet, the transformation of the fluvial channel to a marine inlet is effected very gradually. The ebb and flow, less and less affected by the upper currents, become continually more uniform ; the water, while fresh at Cape Diamond, increases steadily in salinity ; schools of porpoises and other cetaceans begin to make their appearance, while marine fishes and mullusks penetrate far up the channel. The volume of water also increases enormously, the tidal currents between the Labrador and Gasp^ coasts being a hundredfold greater than the discharge at Quebec, which according to the lowest estimates amounts to 430,000 cubic feet per second. About 120 miles below Quebec the estuary receives the waters of the Saguenay, itself resembling a fjord far more than a river, at least in its lower course. Its farthest heudstreams rise '250 miles in a straight line from the banks of the St. Lawrence, at an altitude of 1,400 or 1,600 feet above the sea in a still imperfectly explored district of the Height of Land. One of the chief branches, whose impetuous cataracts were ascended during the last century by the botanist, Michaux, bears the name of Mistassiui, or " Great Rock." This is also the designation of a large lake on the Hudson Bay slope of Labrador, and was applied by the early Jesuit explorers to the river under the impression that this stream connected Lake Mistassiui with St. John Lake. Other watercourses, such as the Peribonka, Ashuapmu8huan,Wiachwau, and Me- tabechuan, converge on this lacustrine basin, which is of nearly circular form and at present 370 square miles in extent ; but it was formerly much larger, as shown by the belt of sands encirclinf the whole periphery. These great northern streams, often several thousand yardi wide at their mouth, wash down enormous quantities of sands, and the Mistassini itsjlf is even known by the name of the " Sandy River." In the month of October Lake St. John is already frozen, and in the depth of winter it is traversed in all directions by sledges. According to the seasons the level varies greatly, the flood waters rising at least 16 and in some years as many as 2o or 26 feet. Although the mean depth is only from 50 to 65 feet, the sounding- line has revealed the existence of a profound trough about a mile wide, which runs along the west side south-eastwards in a line with the axis of the Ashuap- mushuan valley, and which is said by Dumais to range from 200 to 250 and perhaps even 300 feet in depth.* This "crevasse," as the fishermen call it, reappears farther on in the Green Lake, the Eenogamishish with its southern prolongation, the Eenogami, 1,000 feet deep, and again in the Ha-Ha and the lower Saguenay. This series of fissures evidently represents an ancient fjord at one time occupied by a glacier, but to a great extent obliterated, since the remains of the moraines have been swept away by the running waters. East of Lake St. John the crtvasse, formerly continuoui^, has been broken into separate basins, the beds of which are being slowly raised. - , • v ■ ' ' put. * Dumais, AISS. Notet. Joseph Bosa'n chart, however, vrives only 200 or 206 feet for the deepest } ' i\ \ m. LAKE ST. JOHN.— THE 8AQUENAY. 266 awrence, )c, where 1 marine d by the 1 at Cape setuceans te far up currents than the ) 430,000 laguenay, irse. It8 » of the in a still brancheM, i botauittt, I also the as applied tis stream a, and Me- irm and at )wn by the ams, often !S of sands, er." depth of easons the many as sounding- ido, which Ashuap- 250 and m call it, southern and the sient fjord since the East of /y separate r the deepest \.- After the effaceraent of the original passage, other openings were necessarily formed, and at present the overflow of St. John Lake escapes through the so-called great and little discharges, which meet low^ down to form the Saguenay proper. In its upper course this torrent differs Utile from the other characteristic Canadian streams, cascades, rapids and still waters (" dormant") following in quick succes- sion to the Tcrre Rompne, near the point where the Chicoutimi emissary of Lake Eenogami rushes over a great cataract down to the Saguenuy. Here the main- stream, nearly 1,200 yards broad and dominated by frowning cliffs, already presents the aspect of a great river. Farther down it becomes still wider, and at the junction of Ha-Ha Bay assumes the character of a Norwegian or Alaskan fjord. On both sides of the Fig. 117.— Lake St Johw. Scale 1 : l.tuO.OOO. 48' So W*3t oF Greenwich 72° 7i' .90 HUM. sinuous stream, which varies in breadth but is nowhere less than several thousand yards from shore to shore, the rocky banks rise higher and higher. Here the river, whose dark waters are richly charged with organic matter, assumes a gloomy aspect, whence its Indian name of the " Dead River." Although not "fathomless," as has been asserted, despite Bayfield's soundings in 1830, the channel is enormously deep, no less than 900 feet near its mouth ; but like all fjords it terminates in the St. Lawrence e^«tuary with a sill covered by no more than from 40 to 60 feet of water. Every summer visitors flock in crowds to contemplate this astonishing marine inlet with its superb gneiss or syenite cliffs rising hundreds of yards above the water. One of these bluffs on the south side has been called the " Tableau" from its perfectly smooth face, as if prepared for some monumental rock inscription ; *'1^;;'((!<^5;''T'''1Si*,!!f^vM'*-*»<'' 286 NORTH AMEBICA. another, also on the south side, has been dedicated to the " Trinity " because of the three enormous superimposed steps presented by its escarpment, which has a total height of 1 ,650 feet. East of this headland the shore is indented by a semi- circular bay, and the reverse of Cape Trinity appears absolutely vertical, or even at some points overhanging. Facing it on the other side of the bay, but on the same side of the river, rises another promontory, for which the solemn majesty of the scene has suggested the name of " Eternity." Though higher than the other Hg. 118.— Ufpkb SAouENAr axd Ha-Ha Bat. Hotle 1 : 370,000. • ••••.• . •• •' *•. .•■•.••.••.••.:.•.•.;.>■;: West op Greenwich BnndB cxpnued at iow w.iter. 0*0 38 Feet DepUuk 32 to aao Feet. santo640 Feet. 6 Mile* 640 Feet and upwards. this cape is of less formidable aspect ; it is rounded off above and its terraced slopes are clothed with timber. Here was arrested the terrible forest conflagra- tion of 1872. < Below Cape Eternity follow other famous headlands along both shores of the Saguenay, which is here joined by several rivulets and even rivers, such as the St. Margaret, a noted trout stream visited in summer by hundreds of anglerb. South of the St. Lawrence, the elongated and deep Temiscoaata Lake lies iu THE SAOUENAY. 267 se of the 8 a total ' a semi- I, or even ut on the lajesty of the other n the prolonged axis of the Saguenay, and is continued in New Brunswick as far as the Bay of Fundy by the deep valley of the St. John River. Thus it would seem as if the two fissures now separated by the broad estuary of the St. Lawrence are two sections of the same fault in the terrestrial crust partly filled in, but still capable of being traced. When the St. Lawrence flowed through the Hudson terraced conflagra- res of the \, such as ndreds of ,ke lies in valley to New York Bay, the Saguenay would appear to have flowed from St. John Lake through St. John River to the Bay of Fundy. Below the Saguenay, the estuary still continues to receive some considerable affluents, all' on its left or north bank. On the south side the space between the hills and the coast is too confined to give rise to any large streams. But another 268 NORTH AMEEICA. striking contrast is presented by the opposite shores of the Laurentian estuary. The south coast develops a curved contour-line of remarkable regularity, which is evidently due to the action of a current at work for ages rounding off the sharp headlands, filling the creeks and inlets with sand, and thus gradually effacing all natural rugosities. This current is that of the ebb>tide, which is always more con- tinuous and less irregular than that of the flow. The north coast exposed to the rising tides is far less uniform in its general outline, and here is found the Poiute ' Kg. 120.— Bbixe-Ibls Stbait. „ Scale t : 3,500,000. Deptht. .■-V 0to25 Fathoms. 86 Fatbonu and upward*. esJIUtfi. de Monts, the most conspicuous headland and chief landmark of seafarers at the entrance of the estuary. The irregularity of this seaboard is further increased by the alluvia of the Betsiamite, Outardes, Manicouagan, Moisie, Mingan, St. Augustin and other streams from Labrador, which develop little sandy and muddy deltas advancing beyond the normal coastline. •" .?v. ;,. The St Lawrence estuary, 110 miles broad at the entrance, contains numerous islands, all disposed parallel with the coast in the direction of the tidal currents. Such is Orleans, the Bacchus of ihe early navigators, nearly 20 miles long, situated just below Quebec. Such also is the far larger Anticosti, lying in mid- \\ Cit» ^9^mm ANTICOSTI. 269 estuary. which is he sharp facing all ttore con- led to the lie Pointe channel at the other extremity of the estuary, which retuina in a somewhat modified form its Indian name, Nuticostek, " hunting-ground of the hear." About 135 miles long and 30 broad in its central part, this monotonous insular mass presents the fortn of a plane sufficiently inclined southwards to shelter it from the stormy northern winds, and give it a relatively mild climate. Anticosti is of silurian formation, consisting of calcareous strata, abounding in fossil wood, and covered on the south side with almost impenetrable thickets of isa- 51' I* ers at the creased by ingan, St. nd muddy numerous currents, liles long, g in mid- Fig. 121.— MAOEALtN Islands. Beato 1 : 1,800,000. . to ^0 Feet. Depth*. 80to lUO Feet. 160 Feet and upward', 18 MilM. conifers, 10 or 12 feet high. It appears never to have formed part of the main- land, for it contains none of the reptiles found on either side of the estuary. Whole families of insects common on the neighbouring coastlaiids are also absent, while the black bear has evidently crossed over in winter, when the surrounding waters are ice-bound. ■• ', At Anticosti the estuary merges in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a shallow basin apparently excavated by erosive action in relatively recent times. The former continuity of the land from shore to shore is attested by the uniform character of 'i ! v;i;AV^y'vn ,., , . . 61° 68' . 28° .-^. (P) • . 49° t Mean annual rain and snowfall in the Laurentian basin, 30 to 40 inches. 272 NOllTU AMElllOA. Fr.oRA. Tho Liiurontiun bosin is oswiitiully a foreHt rogion; except in tho rorky westorn distriotH, tho wholo lund not cloiir«>(l for cultivution is still thickly covorod with tinib T. i*jven the abundoued cloaring't uiid the tructs ruvuged by fire arc soun again overgrown with plants of loss eeonouiic value but of more rapid growth. From one end of tho lund to the other the general aspect of tho woodlands changes little in the direction from cast to west, the chief contruits occurring between the northern and southern regions owing to the differences of temperature. Thus tho walnut forests of the southern districts of Ontario watered by Lake Erie disappear farther north ; the red codar also extends no farther than the Huron and Ontario basins, and corresponding limits are assigned to otlier species, such as the white oak, beech, Hugur-maplo, white and red pine. For the most part the limiting lines of vegetation present a rough parallelism with the isotherraals which are disposed south-west and north-east in the direction of the St, Lawrence valley.* North of the Laurentide range, and ospwially beyond the Jleight of Land, the forest trees, being ex[)08od to longer and more rigorous winters, are of smaller size than those of tho fluvial region. Dominant amongst the sixty species of forest trees are the conifers, whioh resemble the analogous European forms and bear the same names, such as pines, firs, spruces, yellow, red, grey, or white cedars, arborvitoo (thiu/n Canadrme), and others. The willow family is represented by the poplars (" Hards "), balsams, and other forms. One of the most valuable trees is the white birch, of which the Indians make their bark canoes light enough to be transpoi^'ed by a single man across tho pnrtnges. Tho forests also yield several fruit- bearing trees, notably the cherry, and shrubs giving an abundant supply of edible berries. The sugar maple (acer saccharinum) is distinguished by its rapid growth and the splendid tints of its autumn foliage no less than by its majestic form, excellent timber, and the great abundance of saccharine contained in its sap. From this syrup is made a highly esteemed sugar, some of the larger trees yielding as much as 600 or 700 pounds in the season. The maple has been chosen as the emblem of their nationality by the French Canadians, who drape their banners with it on festive occasions. Its northern limit is also that of the wild vine, which coils round the toll trees and hangs its bunches of grapes from every branch. Most of the forest region still belongs to the Government, and is divided into lots successively farmed to speculators. The timber merchants who rent the so- called " limits," that is, tracts parcelled out into so many tens or hundreds of square miles, undertake to prevent all useless destruction. After selecting the trees required to be fellpd ond transported, they must leave the rest, and restore to the State the lots uudetcriorated. But such provisions are nugatory, and the forests continue to be recklessly destroyed without a thought for the future. The woodmen, engaged in the autumn, ascend the rivers in order to reach the " heights " in time to establish their " camps," and begin work as soon as the • Robert Bell, Map thowiug the feiteral northern limit* of the principal forett treetof Canada, ^ rooky woHtorn covered with ' fire are soon •apid growth, lunds uhunges f between the 'e. Thus the Crie disappear 1 and Ontario as the white limiting lines 1 are disposed • North of e forest trees, ze than those •nifers, whioh )uch as pines, madenae), and balsams, and jf which the a single man s, notably the ) sugar maple [id tints of its and the great lade a highly '00 pounds in inality by the casions. Its toll trees and divided into rent the so- hundreds of selecting the ., and restore tory, and the uture. to reach the soon as the lanada. ,. : BNCAMPMKNT OF CANADIAN WOODCUPTKHS, « ( ■ rtmrnm ■mm m .^mia -' -r^ ".t'pn.j i » .#' i ». .yip, i . ijf i| i a l | ||pi| mp|.ij|4|j | || »i j|^JB| || |^j^^ IE -■. FLOUA OF TlIK I.AUUENTIAN MAHIN. 278 f^round idcoMnul with miow. Tlio wiuftr sinisoii is ittiliriod for fcllinp; the tiinlHr, which is truii^porU'd urroMt tlu> huril tilippcry ground to tho torroiitH iind piltd up along tho hunks. Then U8 hoou us thu ice nielti th« h)g4 are Hcnt adrift iind Hoiitt'il down utt<>ndiHl hy houtraeii urmod with hooks to clear away ohHtacluN, provout " juins," a »d keep tho waterway open. Thcso men are expom-d to nmny pcrilH tthout the TuIIh and rapidH, houio of wliich tliey shoot on the raftH couMtntctt'd uf thotiinUtr; they alHo HulTer much from the moiHturo and from damaged pro- viHiouH, causing a kind of scurvy known as " black leg." Kut those who eHcape these dangers generally acquire a remarkuble degree of strength, t^kill, firmne»<8, Pig. 133. — TlHDKB AFL04T AT TlIK OttAWa SAW-Mni*. and presence of mind. Most of these intrepid "draveurs" are of French- Canadian origin ; they delight in braving death, and may be seen rushing the swift stream as they spring from block to block, or even descend the cataracts clinging to a single log. Yet despite those constant risks accidents would be far less numerous but for their love of drink, indulged in on feast-days and after receiving their wages. They are fond of the poetry of their romantic calling, and for them, some- times by them, have been composed the most popular CaDridian songs : — " Nous arona saut^ le Long Sault, NouH I'sTons saute tout d'un moroeau ! Ah ! que I'hiyer est longue ! Dans les ohantiers nous hivemerons, Dans les chantiers nouii hivemeruns ! . • • • • • . ^,.. ■"•;'.*?'■ ;.:■..■ " ■ '- K .A-i 202 NORTH AMERICA. the joint charge of the British and Canadian treasuries, as the central meteorologi- cal station in the North-West Territory. In the region comprised between the Great Slave and Great Bear lakes, the chief station is Fort Simpnon, at the confluence of the Liards and Mackenzie rivers, where it commands the route from the sources of the Stickeen to South Alaska. The new Fort Good Hope, which replaces an old post swept away by the floods of the Mackenzie in 183G, occupies a position analogous to that of Fort Norman, at the junction of the Mackenzie and Hare-skin rivers. On the other hand. Fort 3Licp/iprson, on the Peel River, has been maintained in a state of defence since 1848, in order to command the Eskimo and Loucheux territories, which are conterminous about the Mackenzie delta. In the vast " barren grounds " stretching from the Mackenzie eastwards, the only factory maintained by the Hudson Bay Company is Fort Enterprise, which occupies a central position in the triangular space formed by the Great Slave Lake, Great Bear Lake and Coronation Gulf. Fort Confidence, which had been erected on the north- east gulf of Great Bear Lake, has been abandoned. IV.— LAKE WINNIPEG BASIN AND EEQION DEATNING TO HUDSON BAY. Alberta — Saskatcukwan — Assiniboia — Manitoba — Keewatix. A large section of this territory, forming a portion of the former Ruperts' Land or domain of the Hudson Bay Company, has already been divided into administrative provinces, which, however, follow geometrical lines rather than natural frontiers. The four territories, cut into so many rectangles draining to Hudson Bay, are the Province of Manitoba, and the Districts of Alberta, Sas- katchewan and Assiniboia, which, with the whole of the Athabasca-Mackenzie basin, comprised the so-called " North- West Territory." Towards the east and north- east the region sweeping round the west side of Hudson Bay still remains open, either to be eventually divided into new provinces, or else assigned to one or other of the already constituted states of the Dominion, 1 his undefined space, which merges imperceptibly northwards in the unexplored tundras between Hudson Bay and the Great Fish River, has been provisionally designated by the name of Keewatin, or " North Wind," a name fully justified by the rude climate of these bleak north-eastern wastes. _ - ,> On the south the Winnipeg provinces are limited by the forty-ninth parallel, the conventional boundary between the Dominion and the United States Had the true parting-line been adopted between the Winnipeg and Mississippi basins, the first landmark would have been placed in the Rocky Mountains of Montana between the headstreams of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers, respective tributaries of the Saskatchewan and Missouri. From this point the water-parting runs north-eastwards for about 440 miles through Canadian territory, and then turns 274 NORTH AMERICA. Huuli, roulant, ma boule roulant, £n roulant ma boule roulant, En roulant ma boule." • To the woodmen succeed the tillers of the soil ; the former thin the forests, the latter destroy them. In the immediate neighbourhood of the towns or land- ing stages they fell the timber with axes ; but in remote districts, where it can- not be brought to market, they fire the woods to clear the ground for their crops and orchards. But years often pass before the roots can be entirely got rid of ; at times also the process proves too costly ; the plot is abandoned, under- growths resume possession of the soil, and the charred trunks of the forest giants disappear beneath a tangle of creepers. During the months of August and July fires are forbidden, owing to the danger of their spreading in the dry weather far beyond the intended limits. But despite all precautions the flames are at times fanned into destructive con- flagrations, which can be arrested neither by stream nor lake until they have burnt themselves out. Thus a few years ago such a fire destroyed all the wood- lands in the Saguenay region stretching from Lake St. John to the Metabetchouun river and thence to Cape Eternity. In every part of Canada are met such " brules," or fired districts, where the woods take a long time to spring up again. Amongst the species threatened with destruction is the useful black walnut {juglant nigra), Avhich is all the more valuable that it serves for grafting on the European variety. Fauna. All the large wild animals tend to disappear with the primeval forests. The Laurentian basin, which during the early days of colonisation supplied the French trappers with nearly all their peltries, now imports from the North- West Territory the furs so lavishly worn by the Canadians. The moose-deer and the other cervidse are met only in the more remote parts, and even the beaver has been driven far to the north. A few pumas are still seen, but bears are very numerous. In the fluvial waters cetaceans are becoming rare, and the whale no longer follows in the wake of vessels as far as Montreal. Those " sea cows " have disappeared that gave their name to so many points along the shores of the gulf and estuary ; the seals also have ceased to penetrate through the Richelieu river to Lake Champlain, just as they have ceased to frequent the Hudson and the estuaries on the New England seaboard. Nevertheless the porpoise still ascends the Saguenay 600 or 700 miles from the high sea. Wild beasts have been replaced by domestic animals, horses, cattle, sheep, goats, imported from Europe ; the bird tribe also has been partly renewed by the introduction of poultry, pigeons, and the audacious sparrow, whose depredations have already caused the colonists to regret its appearance in the New World. Inhabitants. The aborigines have certainly diminished since the arrival of the first Europeans. Cartier and Champlain met Indians in every part of the territory, * 'Eitnesi Qstf^on, Chaniiom populairet du Canada. , . . i.i... ,, ^f INHABITANTS OF THE LAURENTIAN BASIN. 275 he forests, [IB or land- lere it can- l for their rely got rid ned, under- orest giants ifing to the ided limits, ■uctive con- 1 they have 1 the wood- itabetchouun •e met such ig up again, lack walnut tting on the [orests. The 1 the French est Territory >ther cervidso driven far to )U8. In the >llow8 in the >peared that [estuary; the Ohamplain, on the New lenay 600 or lattle, sheep, lewed by the (depredations 1 World. 9f the first Ihe territory, and at that time their scattered groups probably exceeded 100,000 between the Mississippi portages and the entrance of the St. Lawrence estuary. At present these groups are reduced to a few mostly settled communities lost in the surging tide of white colonisation. Including those still in the wild state beyond the " Height of Land " towards the shores of Hudson Bay, they number perhaps not more than 30,000 altogether. Living by the chase and fishing, the descendants of the original owners of the land necessarily decreased according as game dis- appeared or fell into other hands. They retreated before the intruding Europeans, just as they themselves had driven north or exterminated the Innuits or Skral- Hnger, who under the name of Eskimo still survived on the Gulf of St, Lawrence down to the last century, and whose remains are met throughout the whole region of the Great Lakes. If the few remnants of the Indian tribes still hold their ground, and even increase in some of the reserves assigned to them, it is only on condition of completely changing their mode of life, by becoming tillers of the soil, artisans, sailors, and intermingling more and more with the whites even by marriage. In fact, the Canadian Indians have scarcely any longer any true representatives. They live only in history and legend. Their civilised settlements near Montreal reveal their inner life less vividly than the sepulchral mounds scattered over various regions, but especially on the shores of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, as well as on the portages about Lake Superior. The wild tribes were accustomed to deposit their dead on the bare rock, protecting them with large stones from predatory beasts ; then after a few years the bones were collected and interred in some conspicuous place, usually near a portage or on a bluff or headland wherever there was enough earth to raise a mound, which became an object of veneration for their descendants. On the banks of the Rainy River all such burrows are covered with a little birch-bark roof, with a narrow opening on the south side where the friends of the departed offered tobacco, rice and other presents during their periodical visits to the grave.* "^ •.; , ,-• . i ..y- Formerly the Indians deposited in the common or private graves their most valued treasures, such as furs, necklaces, arms, copper kettles, instruments and jewel- lery. These deposits have supplied to archaeologists the materials for reconstruct- ing the social history, the arts, industries and general culture of the aborigines. Before the arrival of the whites to help in the work of exterminution, the Indians themselves were constantly massacring each other. Everywhere the local names recall their sanguinary conflicts, and on such sites the very bones arte often collected of those who perished in the fight. Thus were found on ihe banks of the French River a heap of human remains, representing a whole tribe of Iroquois massacred to the last man by the Hurons. The Iroquois in their turn destroyed the Huron villages which were formerly dotted thickly over the shores of Lake Siracoe, and of which nothing is now seen except some charred timber. One day the Huron braves were descending the St. Maurice above the Chaounigan Falls. The prows of their canoes had just been turned towards the beach when a * H. Youle Hinde, Canadian Red River, and AuimboMe and Saskatchewan Expedition!. 276 NOKTH AMERICA. numerous band of Iroquois were discovered lying in ambush behind the trees. With one accord the Hurons again steered their boats towards the already swiftly rushing current, and the notes of their death song and of the defiant whoop hurled against their implacuble foe were presently intermingled with the roar of the raging cataract. In the absence of written records some of these desperate struggles ure commemoruted in the popular Canadian songs : — " Un noir corbean, volant h I'aventure, Viont ae peruher tout pr^s de ma toiture. Jo lui ai dit : ' Man^feur de phair humaine, Va-t'en cheroher autre viande que luienno ; Va-t'en lA-baa, dans oes boia et marais, Ta trouveras plutdeura corps iroquoia ; Tu trouveraa des chairs, ausai des os. Va-t'en manger, lainse-moi en repos."* In a short period of four centuries, the same lands have been successively deserted and repeopled by men of different oiigin — Algonquins, Hurons, Sioux. But most of the survivors belong to the great Algonquin family. In the upper basin and along the shores of Ijuke Superior are found the descendants of Suulteux or Ojibways akin to those of Lake Winnepeg. Other Ojibways, as well as Mississaugas and Amikouis (Wyaadots), dwell on the north side of Lake Huron, the former hunting-ground of the Outawaia (" Oreillards "), called by Champlain "Cheveux relev^s " from their fashion of wearing the hair tied in a knot on t^" top of the head. For the Siime reason others, whose descendants still linger abv x' the headwiiters of the St. Maurice, are known as " Tetes de Boule." The Nipissings, Temiscamings, and Abittibis receive their names from the northern lakes, where their posterity is not yet quite extinct. North and sou'h of the Ottawa, whose name recalls a momentary sojourn of the Outawais, two rivers are known as those of the " Little Nation " from an Algonquin people of less importance than the " Great Nation," the Algonquins proper, whose villages stretched along the middle course of the St. Lawrence above the estuary. All branches recognised as " Fathers " the southern Algonquins, or " Wolves," better known as Delawares, or Lenni-Lennape, that is, " Men of Men," wlio gave to their kindred tribes the names of " Children " and " Ni-phews."! In the northern forests of the lacustrine regions lurked the Papinachois and the Attiakmege (Attikamegs), or " White Fish," so named from their chief food. The inhabitants of the Laurentides and of the Height of Land, who are at present the most numerously represented, took their general designation of " Montagnais," or " Highlanders," from the nature of their territory. Lastly, about the lower part of the estuary, and on the north side, the French met the Abenaki, or rather, Wabanak'., that is, " People of the Dawn," or " Eustlanders," who are frequently mentioned in the early chronicles, and whose national, poetry takes a conspicuous pl.ice in the history of native American lilerature.+ ' - ' • Ernest Oagpaon, «p. eit. ■ » • , i t Francis Pxrkman, The Coiitpiraey of Pmtiae. X Liyhthall; LeWid ; Juhn Bea Je, Tnutmetiont »fjh« JR. Soe. of Cun du, 1887. ' ll l llll Mi lllllll U l^l Wi il i '■'i~.l,J& mm THE CANADIAN A.BOBIOINES. 277 the trees, dy swiftly int whoop ;he roar of iggles are tuccessively ' •ons, Sioux. the upper of Suulteux as well as ake Huron, Charaplain Luot on <^^" inger alx i> from the nd sou'h of two rivers »ple of less )8e villages tuary. All ves," hotter ave to their achois and " chief food. at present . ontagnais," the lower • ,orrathor, frequently conspicuous Of all the Algonquins of the Laurentian hasin, the Montagnais are the least removed from the primitive state, thanks to their forest life, remote from all white settlements. North of the Height of Land there are some who have even resisted the influence of the missionarius, while others, uhandoned by the priests, have reverted to their pagan practices. Their idiom differs greatly from the Algonquin dialects current on the St. Lawrence, and in their relations with the surrounding trihes they make use of a common trade jargon. The second ethnical family in the Laurentian basin was that of the Yendats (Wyandots), to whom' the French gave the name of " Hurons," from hure, a wild boar's head, to which their style of headdress gave them a certain resemblance. They dwelt on the east side of the " Freshwater .Sea," which bears their name, and south-eastwards in the Erie and Ontario basins. Their neighbours and allies were the Petuneux, or "Tobacco People," who occupied the shores of Georgian Bay.* In the middle of the seventeenth century the Huron nation was most numerous west of Lake Simcoe, where it possessed thirty-two villages with a total population of at least 11,000. Some writers even speak of 30,000 or 35,000 centred in this peninsular district of Ontario. They must have been far more widespread at an earlier period, bui/ the relentless hostility of the kindred Iroquois had compelled them to contract the limits of their domain, and to live in a relatively compact body. Thus nearly the whole territory comprised between the river Ottawa and Lake Simcoe had been abandoned. Then came a day when the rich Huron land itself was changed to a wilderness. Instead of crowded village names, the French maps of the eighteenth century show nothing but that of the " Destroyed Nation." In this district M. Taoh^ has examined sixteen huge " charnel-houses," one of which contained over a thousand skeletons heaped together in disorder, and mingled with all kinds of objects, pipes, glass beads, strings of shells, copper ornaments of Mexican origin, other ornaments and instruments procured from the French. The north side of Lake Erie with the Niagara River valley was held by the " Neutral Nation," who vainly endeavoured to maintain the balance of power between the Hurons and the Iroquois. According to some etymologists, their tribal name Onghiarah is perpetuated in a modified form in that of the famous river and its falls. According to Charlevoix, the Iroquois, a nation of warriors and orators, were so named from the formula with which they concluded their speeches : hiro, " I have spoken," followed by the exclamation hwi! uttered in a tone of jubilation, sadnees, or rage, according to circumstances. But they culled themselves Hottinonshiendi, " Hut-bailders," and their dwellings were in foct larger, better built, and more strongly fortified than those of their neighbours. The chief seat of the Iroquois race lay south of Luke Ontario, where are still the reserves of their five original branches, the " Five Nations," t which after * F. X. Gimoan, Hitloire du Canada. t Seneoas or Tiionnontuaiu, Gayogas or Qoyogwins, Oneidu or Uneyuts, Uohawks or Mahaku< ase, and Onondagoa. ,• •.£- ^ 278 NOBTH AMERICA. their alliance with the southern Tuscaroras became the "Six Nations." The most formidable of all were the Mohawks, whose ascendancy was so marked that they at last came to be regarded as the chief representatives of the confederacy. Nearly always victorious in battle, thanks to their valour, tactics and prestige, the Iroquois had arrogantly assumed the title of " Men superior to all others." They figure conspicuously in legend and romance, and have been selected by many writers as the true type uf the Indian. Nevertheless, they differed in many respects from the other natives, and especially from their Algonquin neighbours, Figr- 123. — Indun Tbibbs kvn Edbopkan Colomiks at thb BBOiiranfa or thb ISth Cbmtcbt. Scale 1 : 85,000,000. Weat oF Greenwich Bcgions ooloniaed at us, strong, ve changed rns foreign According to a local tradition, the Iroquois formerly olai8unce " en persons 1 amongst : numerous the Bay of tation, the 8, properly This slow Lcadia was egarded as } " and the s from the g in those ' others of } than the 1, and the le estuary ; captured, ling to the )uring the itions, and, t that the I the seas, as were venteenth py IV., the ics " were isideration, so tp look said Pont- . ot expelled the New ispicion. tivation of ;o discover During n quest of Itry trade, when the V, 880 NORTH AMEBICA. li, leaving any settlers behinl them. In lo^9, sixty-five years after Cartier's first voyage, (^hauvin, armed with a royal concesaiou, attempted to found a first per- manent establisbmont in Canada, selecting for the i^ite of his " maison de plaisance " Tadoussac, at the St. Lawrence and Saguenay confluence. Here sixteen persons were lett to pass the winter ; but next year all were dead or dispersed amongst tbe Indians. Chauvin's successors directed their attention to the seaboard, and after numerous vicissitudes, a fresh start was made by tbe foundation of Port Royal, on the Bay of Fiindy, which wiis afterwards abandoned and again rebuilt. This station, the modern Anniipolis, is the first Acadian settlement ; but the Canadians, properly so called, date their history from the foundation of Quebec in 1608. This slow progress was due to the prevailing monopoly system. Thus, in 1602, Acadia was the property of Poutraincourt, and nil the rest of " New France " was regarded as belonging to Mdlle. de Guercheville. Those authorised by Henry IV. to trade with the " Terres Neufves " and the neighbouring coasts, were required not only to remove all strangers from the conceded territories, but even to expel all Frenchmen found intruding in those parts. In 1603 the king forbids all captains, pilots, mariners, or others of tbe ocean sea to carry on any trade or traffic in the river higher up than the district of Qaspe. Doubtless these orders were mostly disregarded, and the Basque and Breton fishermen continued to visit the entrance of the estuary ; but they did so at their peril, and were liable to be pursued and captured, they and their vessels, and brought to France " to be dealt with according to the law." To the commer, ial monopolies was added religious intolerance. During the first essays the Protestants showed most eagerness to join the expeditions, and, considering the state of France at that time, it was natural to expect that the persecuted Huguenots would readily seek to found new homes beyond the seas. The shores of the St. Lawrence would have been rapidly colonised, as were those of the Atlantic by the English Dissenters during the course of tbe seventeenth century. But after some hesitation, inspired by the tolerance of Henry IV., the policy of the official colonisers was finally adopted, and all " heretics " were excluded froih Canadian territory. Unity of faith was the primary consideration, and the priests, charged with the conversion of the aborigines, had also tp look after the orthodoxy of their white fellow-countrymen. "The king," said Pont-, chartrain, after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, " the king has not expelled the Protestants from France to allow them to set up a republic in the New World." Even the very Catholics of La Rochelle \ ere regarded with suspicion. Nor was this all. The French immigrants gave no heed to the cultivation of the land. Eager to acquire wealth, they wanted, like the Spaniards, to discover gold and silver mines, and return in a few years laden with the spoils. During their residence in Canada they sailed from inlet to inlet, everywhere in quest of mineral treasures. But being compelled to rest satisfied with the peltry trade, itself profitable enough, they looked to France fur all supplies, and when the ier's first Brst per- uisunce " n persons amongst numerous le Bay of ation, the , properly rhis slow cadia was igarded as " and the from the f in those others of than the , and the 5 estuary ; captured, ing to the uring the ions, and, that the the seas, as were venteenth y IV., the C8 " were {deration, 50 to look mid Pont- . t expelled the New ipicion. '"" iivation of discover During quest of try trade, nrhen the :,^'i'M^^m'i^'::i.: iff.r! ^R ! i *'--Mi» 210 NORTH AMERICA. whence it flows first south through a series of lakelets to the shallow Otter tail Lake, thenoe sweeping round to west and south. In its upper course it thus describes a complete semicircle in the reverse direction from that of the Upper Mississippi, farther east. The common region of their sources is a typical lacustrine district containing over 700 lakes, some of which are of considerable size, so that in many places the watery element is more extensive than the dry land. Navigable canals might easily be opened between all these basins, from the Red River to the Mississippi and thence to the St. Louis and Lake Superior. Geologists hold that beyond doubt the Red River was formerly a tributary of the Mississippi, through the Minnesota. Between the Traverse basin, whence flows aa affluent of the Red River, and Bigstone Lake, source of the Minnesota, the divide is scarcely six feet high, and occasionally during the floods the northern sends its waters to the southern basin, thus temporarily restoring the old waterway. The upper Minnesota valley presents the aspect of a great fluvial bed, in which the present rivulet seems as if lost, and this valley is continued northwards by that of the Red River. With the eye we may follow the broad channel formerly e.\cavated by the emissary of the great lake, of yvhich only a fragment now survives. The overflow of this basin, to which Warren has given the name of " Agassiz," must have been discharged southwards, for on the north side it was barred by the rampart of ice at that time covering the whole of boreal America. But when this barrier gradually retreated northwards, affording the overflow an issue through Lake Winnipeg and the Nelson to Hudson Bay, the southern watershed between the Minnesota and the Red River again arose above the surface, and the Red River ceased to be a tributary of the Mississippi.* Aftet escaping from the lacustrine region, the Red River winds northwards through a valloy which mainly coincides with the meridian. From the Brecken- ridge meander to the political frontier the dj«tan,ce in a straight line is 190 miles, and 460 with all the windings. The fall is very slight, and at the frontier the placid current still flows 800 feet above sea-level through a prairie valley, whoso uniformity i)resents a strong contrast to the aspect of most other rivers in thtir upland valleys. Its banks nowhere show any rocks except here and there a fev erratic boulders, locally called " hard-heads." The soil everywhere consists of recent alluvia, resting on the sedimentary matter deposited by the former lake. In its upper course the river, controlled by the numerous lacustrine reservoirs which it floods, remains at a somewhat uniEorm level throughout the year ; but lower down, where it traver-'tes the prairies, the winter floods rise from 34 to 40 feet above low-water mark, and here steamers have been ssen careering over the ploughed lands. These tremendous inundations are due to the irregular melting of the ice, which disappears first in the southern parts of the basin, where the water, being unable to break through its icy barriers farther north, accumulates and overflows its banks far and wide. At this period it is of a dirty white, not of a red colour, as might be supposed from its name. But according to the Indian legend • Winohell, Popular Science Monthly, June and July, 1873. EIVEBS AND LAKES OF THE WINNIPEG EEGION. 211 this name has reference lo the blood that mingled with ihe stream during a fierce battle between some Saultcux and Assiniboine tribes. At the point where it crosses the frontier, the mean discharge is estimated ut 2,800 cubic feet per second. In Manitoba the Red River receives the Roseau, tlie Rat and the Seine on its right bank, and on its left the Sale or Salle, originally Salee, that is " Saline," from the salt springs flowing to its channel. But on this left or west side the chief affluent is the Assiniboine, which gives its name to one of the great divisions of this region. The Assiniboine rises on an elevated part of the plateau west of Lake Winnipegosis, and flows at first south and south-east in the direction of the Vig. 88 — BlFUBCATION OF THE SASKATCHEWAN AND Qu'ApFEIXE RiTEBS. Scale 1 : 670,000. 106* «»0 West dr GreenivieK .eUiles. Mississippi. The plains traversed by it were till lately inhabited exclusively by the Salteux and the Dakota Assiniboines from whom it takes its name. It is also known as Stony River, not so much from its rocky bed as from its shallow current for a great part of the year winding between argillaceous or sandy banks, which are fissured by the heat and then fall in great masses into the stream when swollen by the melting snows. The Qu'Appelle, or Calling River, so named from the voice of an invisible spirit, joins the middle course of the Assiniboine, without, however, adding much to its volume, despite a course of nearly 400 miles. The discharge of the main stream itself scarcely exceeds 1,700 or 1,800 cubic feet per second in summer. A remarkable feature of the Qu'Appelle is the continuous line of communica- tion which it maintains with another river through a basin with a double outflow. i ,a wrm^ ^^ ^m^ » m «jT?^ - " ! ' 5. y .'.%v 282 NORTU AMERICA. that nearly ull were Normans in a mifltako, although it is true enough thut the groat majority came from the west of Franco ; Hcarcely any names of wmthern origin occur in ('unu(h>, hut mnny families have taken the numen of plants, animals, or localitie'*, iis well us those of the French towns whence they emigrated. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the whole Franco Canadian iK)jm- lution, including the Acadians, numbered lO.OOO, and during the last sixty ycors of French rule it wus twice doubled. Hut while the French Canadians were increasing fourfold, the neighbouring Knglish settlers hud increased tenfold, from 20-2.(»(»() in 1700 to 2,r>00,000 olxmt 1700. It was thus foreseen tint in case of a conriict the Fronc'> colony would be crushed, and to avoid this danger it was even Fig. 124.— GmKr Onrsia or OamtAii buuoiiATioM ui (Jamaoa. H(«1» 1 : ^^0Oft,0flO. 52* ^' 43' 620 Mile*. proposed to convert the whole region into a vast penal settlement and transport thither all French convicts. When the final straggle began in 1759, England was able to invade Canada at the centre and the two extremities simultaneously, and the three invading armies comprised altogether as many fighting men as there were inhabitants in the French settlements.* Hence the wonder is, not that they bad to yield, but that they held out .80 long. After the British occupation it seemed inevitable that the feeble Franco- Canadian element, totally severed from the mother country, and thinly scattered over a vast region without any important central rallying-point, must necessarily disappear in the surging tide of Anglo-Saxon ascendancy. But on the contrary the 60,000 Canadians, as the French element is usually called in a special sense, have become two millions, having increased thirtyfold since the conquest. This astounding growth, has, moreover, been effected without any immigration from * Despatches of Montcalm, April 12tb, 1759. ■• -W 'f " •^HP INHABITANTS OF CANADA. 288 ti tbut the ' Doutheru 8, auiiuaU, d. iiun jM)])!!- jixty yoara liuns were ifold, from 1 cane of a t was even France for a whole century, none having taken place till 187^, when a few hundred' settled on the shoroH of the St. Lawrence. Rut a number of Hcotch and Knglinh, many of thpm descendants of soldiers who came an masters and conquerors, have b<venil appear to have even trimslated or mudified their family names. In any cawe no people in the world have better-established genealogies than the French Canadians. A learned archojologist has been able to trace through two and a half centuries the family trees of the whole nation, consulting for the pur- pose some 800,000 civil and oflBoial documents.* The surprising growth of the Franco Canadian population is attested by the decennial census. But this population has had a severe struggle to maintain its Fig. 12S.— IiroBKASB OF Eirauaa Airo FsBircw SetAxitta Populatioms in thb Dominiom. "TTI bS- transport Canada at ing armies the French ; they held le Franco- scattered lecessarily contrary bcial sensic, lest. This Ltion from Inhab. "--^"-^ 1 r- L ,C 1 3:000000 a 500.000 8.ooanoa 1 500000 I.OOOXIOO 500000 400 000 800.000 aooooo 100.000 fc,---^- 1 -i \ 1 _,' \ i._ ..1 _ . ! I '"^-^-rr^::::^:::^:::^:::::: 1 . 1 1 ■ 1 . 1 17 89 1799 1809 1819 1839 1859 1849 1859 1869 1879 16 189 nationality and language amid the surrounding hostile elements. Even the British authorities, with every desire to conciliate, have at times yielded to racial prejudice, as in 1806, when they arrested on a charge of high treason the editors of a journal entitled, " Our Institutions, our Language, and our Laws." Public offices were almost exclusively entrusted to the English and to them alone were distributed the State lands, to the extent of 3,000,000 acres between 1793 and 1811. These and other grievances at last became so intolerable, that a revolt broke out, and was not quelled without much bloodshed, public executions, and wholesale proscriptions. In 1840 French was abolished as a legal and parliamentary language, but this measure was revoked nine years afterwards, when the Canadians of the Lower St. Lawrence definitely secured their constitutional rights. Beyond this province the vast region stretching west of the Ottawa River has *CyTprietiTaag»BY,IHetionnairefMalogiqued«»famillMeanadiennei. ". ■ It . • f I" 1 ' " i'l- l "j"! ! ' , ' "M ' "." '' IN NORTH AMKUICA. 4 i*k'- linon timiiily wMthnl by Kn^liHh-Npoiikiiiff coloniNtM. After the conquoHt the Itritinh (iovornmciit uctivfly protiiotud uiiii^rittiim in thin direct ion, uiul thu coticlu!jy naturally acquire the dominant lunguuge, and thus becomo rapidly absorbed in the Anglo-Saxon world. During tho last docudi.'s the Scandinavian immigration has acquired a steadily increasing imi)ort- anco. Ilonco the French Canadians cannot hope to keep pace with, much 1(>b8 to countorbulauco, tho English speaking populations throughout tho vast expanse of tho Confederation. Whatever progress they may themselves make, tho relative proportion of the two nationalities mu«t bo modified from year to yeor, always to the udvuntugo of their British rivals. FiiENrii Canadians. But the Franco-Cunadiuns have at all events succeeded in definitely establishing their predominance in the region originally settled by their forefathers. Even the city of Queboc, which tho English converted into a second " Gibraltar," peopling it with British soldiers and functionaries, has coniplotely recovered its French nationality. Montreal, also, which Anglo-Saxon energy, favoured by its natural ]X)sition, his made the industrial and commercial centre of the Con< federation, is resuming the Franco- Canadian character, which had almost disappeared. At present these two cities, by far the moat important in the province of Quebec, have become the strongholds of French -Canadian nation* ality. Not only have the old French colonies remained tho patrimony of the race, but the adjacent lands have also been gradually annexed. Thus several English, Scotch, and Irish colonies settled round about Montreal and along the banks of the St. Lawrence are now exclusively occupied by the Franco-Canadians, who have successively bought up all the lands. The East Counties, a British district created by the Government between French Canada and the United States in order to prevent all political alliances between the conterminous populations, are being slowly encroached upon by tho French-speaking peasantry. Nay, more ! At tho time of the division of Canada into the two provinces now bearing the names of Quebec and Ontario, great care was taken by the Govern- ment to group tho populations in accordance with their respective ethnical origins. The eastern districts of the upper provinces were at that date un- INIIAIUTANTS OP CANADA. 285 i|u<>Ht the , uiul the urrivul of (1m in tliu un dglith irs of the roin Groat I the two go of the le terrible tend to lunguuge, i; the last g iinijort- ch h.'Bs to xpanso of lo relative always to tablishing Prt. Even ibraltar," )vered its a the Con- almost it in the nation- the race, English, cs of the vho have district States in ions, are ices now Govem- ethnical date un- doubtedly l')iijj;liNh, (-oMtiiinitig only u tow iiH)latt>d French groups. Now, howover, th>>M(> couiitioH contain over 2'i per cent, of the French olcMU'nt, un iiuTuuHu of nearly 10 per cent, in the doiade ending in IHHf . The ('iinadian peiiMuntry, K'hh eiiturpriHing but more thrifty than their Anglo- Siixon rivuN, neize every opjxirtunity of accpiiriiig the ninrtgaged landN iM-yimd the Ottiiwa. They J)iiy ouhIi down, and when they grow loo nunierouH the KngllNli, disliking tiiiN foreign inviiHion, leuvt* thediHtrict and migrate further wettt. In the course of u single generation, several Anglo-Saxon vilhigtM have thus iie( n completely deuutionaliHed. On the other hand, the ^niuU Ciinadiun eolonien settled in Ontario before the arrival of the Hriti«h immigruntH have not only held their ground, but have enlarged thoir bonlers. Sueh is the group on the east side of the Detroit Kiver, where the French ])opulati(in increased from Ichn than .I.OOO in 1H51 to over 14,500 in 1881. Such, also, the Nottawasugu enclave on Lake Huron. It is e(»i)ecially noteworthy that the Franco-Canadian seltlenienls no longer consiHt, as formerly, of two long streets clotie to the bunks of the St. Lawrence, but are also distributed some Hstance inland. Every town becomes a converging cejitre for the rural populations, . nd tl eir domain .hus becomes enlarged and consolidated. It will bt increased threefold ly the ^.-eupation of the upper affluents already begun about Lake St. John, and thv Canadians hope that the clearance of the northern woodlands as far us the Height »•' Land, o'' ^ ovcu beyond it to Hudson Huy, will be effected by men of thoir race, nnd to in '• advantage. They expect one day to colonise all the territory traversed b_) t.ie Pacific Railway north of the great lakes, and thus to join hands w' V t'.eir kinsmen '" Manitoba, us they have already done through the Guspe per>aisui> with the Acadians of New liruuswick and Nova Scotia. But it is a far cry from the sources of the Ottawa to those of the Winnepeg. The intervening arable lands are i carce, and a portion of them has already been occupied by some formidable competitors, especially the Scandinavian settlers. An J how the French Canadians huvo great confidence in the future of their race. Thoy are animated by a buoyant spirit which promises to carry them triumphantly over all obstacles. Having successfully withstood so many trials which might well have proved fatal tO their national aspirations, they fancy themselves destined always to overcome adverse fate. They apply to themselves the words addressed by one ' *^he founders of Montreal to the first settlers : " You are as a grain of mustard ..c. x, but you will increase until your branches overshadow the earth ; your children shall fill the world." At any rate their American domain will become densely peopled if the birth- rate is maintained at the same proportion as during the past hundred years. The " moral constraint " preached by Stuart Mill and other political economists has made no proselytes in Canada. Candidates for public office have been rejected by the electors for the crime of celibacy. All marry young, and the families are very numerous, averaging from five to six children. Happy parents are not seldom soen on holidays surrounded by as many as twenty sons and daughters, and f 286 NOBTH AMERICA. n* instances have been known of aged people leaving behind them a posterity of over five hundred living persons. The population is normally doubled every twenty-eight years, and it would be effected even still more rapidly if the hygienic treatment of children were better understood. At present infant mortality is very high, although after the first years ailments become rare, and cases of longevity are more frequent than elsewhere. As many as twenty aged couples have been known to jointly celebrate their " golden wedding," and in certain years, notably 1888, not merely the relative but the absolute increase of the Franco- Canadian population has exceeded that of the mother country. At the same proportion the French inhabitants of Canada would actually exceed those of France before the close of the twentieth century. But the natural growth of the Canadian population is greatly reduced by emigration. It is often remarked that, compared with the English and Germans, the French are a stay-at-home people. But however true such a statement may be for the French of Europe, it is totally inapplicable to those of the St. Lawrence basin. The French of the New World have on the contrary a dash of the nomad in their veins, and the terms " Canadian " and " voyageur " have almost become synonymous throughout the North-West territories. Descendants of adventurers who had not dreaded to cross the seas at a time when the difficulties and perils inseparable from the foundation of remote settlements were far greater than at present, the Franco-Canadians have inherited the spirit of adventure, and this spirit was increased by their manner of life during the early times of the colonisation. The struggles with the Red-skins, military or trading expeditions across rivers, lakes, and forests, encampments in the woods and prairies, accus- tomed the descendants of the first squatters to a wandering existence. The same tendency was encouraged by the mei)hod of cultivation adopted by the settlers in a region too vast to be occupied all at once. Each settler might be satisfied with the plot of land granted to the first colonists, but his children expected to receive similar allotments for themselves. If the circunistances were favourable they built their log-huts near that of their father ; otherwise, they moved farther afield in search of good arable lands. Thus the movement of colonisation advanced westwards along both banks of the river, and then inland up the -.-lUeys of the tributary streams. Such was the need of expansion that many of the settlers even moved northwards, removing from a comparatively mild to a far more rigorous climate. Nevertheless, the chief stream of migration was directed southwards, and a large number cf Canadians following in the footsteps of their forefathers, the discoverers of Louisiana, crossed the Great Lakes to found new settlements on the plains of Illinois. But a still more copious stream set in the direction of the conterminous lands, that is, to New York and the New England states. The industrial tpwns of this region attracted the youth of both sexes, who during prosperous manu- facturing seasons received good wages, enabling many young women to save enough for a respectable dowry, and even to live in comfort on their return to their homes. . /. _ _ ... - . .-v.-.r:-,-.' .■"-.^— -:<,^-,- -, - -:.%.... -,.,. -.-...^ ..-.,*., .-.,- 1 INHABITANTS OF CANADA. 287 ;y of over would be Bre better the iirtit ent tban celebrate erely the exceeded of Canada lentury. duced by Germans, nent may Lawrence be nomad it become [venturers ,nd perils r than at , and this es of the it ions es, accus- The same ttlers in a sfied with receive ible they her afield banks of was the removing less, the imber cf verers of >lains of rminous al tpwns 8 manu- to save eturn to Thus many places in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, especially Burlington, Concord, Manchester, Nashua, besides the chief cities in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, received numerous Franco-Canadian colonists, and all these places have a separate quarter known as " Little Canada." It is impossible to indicate the exact number of these Canadian immigrants Fig. 126. — Chief CENTBisa or Fbenou- Canadian LauuoBATioN in Nilw Enolans. Scale 1 : 6,000,000. 186 MUe«. according to birth or descent, as the United States census returns regard as American citizens all those who are born within the territory of the republic without discriminating between those of English and French origin. But most • statisticians estimate at not less than 600,000 the number of Canadians of French ■ speech resident in the States, or more than one-fourth of the whole of the Franco- Canadian population. According to the Roman Catholic diocesan statistics 293 NOETH AMERICA. 326,000 French Cunaamns were residing in the New England slates tilone in the year 1884, and those settled in other parts of the northern states between New York and Chicago may perhaps be estimated at about the same number. But opinions vary as to the proportion of these emigrants who ultimately return to thoir Canadian homes. A certain number merely cross the frontiers in search of employment, returning as soon as they have earned enough to set up for themselves. But the majority settle permanently in the States, and thousands of Canadian families have already Anglicised their names. Formerly, these Canadian settlers, mostly ignorant aliens lost amid popula- tions differing in language, religion, and usages, formed an insignificant section of the community ; yet comparatively few lost their distinctive personality, the majority keeping aloof, grouped round the chapel and the school where the national speech was preserved. Now they have become strong enough in several places to form independent political parties, hold annual assemblies, found " institutes," publish periodicals, combine together in vindication of a nationality which was supposed to have been absorbed in the surrounding Anglo-Saxon world. In Massachusetts, over two-thirds of the adults refuse to become natura- lised Americans, and in the north-eastern states there already exists a "Cana- dian question." Is the Latin element supplied by Canadian immigration destined to be assimilated like all the other foreign ingredients introduced from Europe ? South of the frontier some districts have, on the contrary, already become " Frenchified." In Maine and New Hampshire the total population decreases, while the Canadian element increases mainly through the natural exces» of births over the mortality. ^ This great outflow towards the States is regarded by the patriotic party as a calamity because it tends to diminish the cohesion of the race. A large portion of the emigrants appear to have lost their nationality altogether, as it is feared that in the struggle for existence the Franco-Canadian exiles maj% sooner or later, merely add strength to their rivals. Btit on the other hand the growing facilities of inter-communication may have the effect of enabling Canadian families tu maintain their rapid increase, and thus preserve a numerical preponderance in the districts occupied by them. , vlff ;,, j > ?*:e | ' ' . Although the modifications caused by climate and change of life have not yet been carefully studied, it appears certain that on the whole the French race has not degenerated in the Laur' ntian basin. It may even be said to have improved in physical strength, stature, and the power of resisting the attacks of diiiease. The avei" 'e type seems to have scarcely changed, and the natives of Montreal or Quebec mot in the streets of Paris present no peculiarities specially characteristic of their transatlantic origin. The women, however, are said to have, on the whole, acquired more regidar and stronger, though somewhat coarser and less animated features than those of their French sisters. The Canadian is naturally light- hearted and eminently sociable. This is seen even in his dwelling, which is open to the outer world and furnished with the friendly verandah, where hosts and guests may be seen balancing themselves in their rocking-chairs. INHABITANTS OF CANADA. 289 in the n New lirnately tiers in set up -^ ousands popula- , section lity, the lere the several s, found tionality lo-Saxon I natura- " Cana- destined Europe ? become lecreases, of births arty is a portion is feared or later, 'acililies nilies to M in the not yet race has mproved disease, itreal or ctefristic ■le whole, nimated y ligbt- is open osts and II Living in proximity to the " Bostonians," or " Yankees," the Franco-Cana- dians are not men to be easily duped, and from their ranks are chiefly recruited the members of the legal profession. But on the whole the two races conduct their respective affairs with about equal success, the English displaying more initiative, the French more method and less show. The latter have, however, the advantage of knowing both languages, all educated French-Canadians speaking English correctly, and even supplying some of the most brilliant orators to the Ottawa House of Parliament. It might be feared that this circumstance might tend to corrupt the national speech, and reduce it to a kind of jargon full of English words and expressions. Such fears are not altogether chimerical, and the Canadian, like the French Anglomaniac, is often heard interlarding his conversation with all manner of English terms and idioms in season and out of season. But the tendency has been checked by a revival of better taste aided by the stings of the satirist. In other respects the language of the well educated is still that of the old country, preserving, however, a rich treasure of graphic words which have become obsolete in France. The pronunciation is everywhere much the same, except that / is often pronounced with a slight aspiration, as in Charente-Inf^rieure and Deux- Sevres. Canadian literature, comprising nearly 1,200 works and double that number of pamphlets, may be regarded as rich for a population which numbered less than 100,000 at the beginning of the present century. Some of the old French songs ' have been orally transmitted, but often so modified that it is not always easy to recognise their true origin. They have been adapted to the new surroundings, but the old poetic spirit still remains unimpaired. Every band of woodmen, evevy boat's crew has its special singers, often its improvisator! and poets, who, like the old ballad-makers, throw into verse the various incidents of their life. Amongst her relatively numerous writers Canada also possesses some masters of style, and quite a school of local historians have revived the dramatic records of the past. Compared to their English fellow-citizens, the Franco- Canadians certainly excel in the importance of their historical and literary works, but are inferior in all branches of the applied sciences. The geological exploration of the Dominion, so brilliantly begun by the English naturali' ^, Logan, has since been prosecuted almost exclusively by others of English blood, natives either of Great Britain or of Canada, and even most of their fellow- workers in the various depart- ments of natural history belong to the same race. ^ The great majority of the French Canadians are Roman Catholics. In 1765, soon after the British conquest, there were only 500 Protestants in a total population of 69,000 ; and it may be stated, in a general way, that at present the total number of Catholics returned by the census of 1881 corresponds pietty closely to that of the French and Irish elements, at least in the province of Quebec. Nationality and religion coincide almost everywhere in this province, T'here the influence of the clergy is so great that the few priests who become Protestants generally carry their congregations with them. At the Canadian national feast of N. A.— 20 ev m 290 NORTH AMERICA. St. John the Baptist, religious ceremonies and civic demonstrations are curiously intermingled, and the very name of Jeun-Baptiste, like Patrick or Puddy in Ireland, is used in ordinary language as synonymous with French Canadian. All "perverts" to Protestantism are regarded as also traitors to their nationality, and generally become tabooed, so that most of them have to remove elsewhere. In French Canada Freethinkers are not numerous, or at least they are not grouped in distinct circles, while as patriots they always side with their Catholic fellow-countrymen. Apart from them, all Franco-Canadians would seem to pro- fess a simple faith not yet disturbed by the doubts of modern philosophy or scepticism. The French clergy are generally regarded by the patriots us the mainstay of their nationality. Yet they would appear to have followed rather than led the movement. On all great occasions, where the higher interests of the British Government were at stake, the hierarchy has given proof of the most devoted loyalty. It also frequently happens that in mixed parishes, where the Irish and French disagree in the choice of a pastor, the Irish carry the day and English becomes the official religious language. With few exceptions the Canadian clergy show themselves hostile to modern France, the " Land of the Revolution." They delight to celebrate the France of the old monarchy, and their flag would still be the white standard of the fleur-de-lis, the flag raised by the French half-breeds when they revolted in Manitoba. Topography. Nearly the whole of the population of the Laurentian basin is concentrated in the peninsular space comprised between Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario, and along the banks of the Ottawa and of the St. Lawrence as far as Quebec. Beyond these regions the land is very thinly peopled and contains scarcely any places of importance. Towards the west especially the province of Ontario is almost unin- habited. In this direction the administration extends fur beyond the natural limits of the Laurentian busin. The outlying stations lie on the frontiers of Manitoba within the Lake Winnipeg basin, and, by a curious contradiction, the capital of this district is fCeewaiin, formerly capital of the district of the same name, which stretches away to the northern solitudes far beyond the jurisdiction of Ontario. Keewatin, which was at one time called the Portage du Rat by the Canadian trappers, lies on the Pacific Railway at the point where the Winnipeg River escapes from the Lake of the Woods. The same great trunk line pos' sses two ports on Lake Superior, Fort William, on the west side of Thunder Bay at the mouth of the Euministiquia, formerly a fortified post of the Hudson Bay Company ; and Pari Arthur, or Arthur Laiidinrj on a deep bay about six miles further north. Both are rising places, probably destined to merge ia one vast city us a great outlet for the agricidtural produce of the Far West. They have already their grain elevators, warehouses, and steamers, plying on the lake and affording wnter comrnunicution with the American cities of SBESE ! curiously Puddy in lian. All lality, and •e. >y are not r Catholic in to pro- losophy or (lainstay of an led the he British igt devoted ) Irish and id English lian clergy m." They Ltld still he half-hreeds entrated in intario, and Beyond ly places of most unin- •al limits of I Manitoba e capital of ame, which of Ontario, e Canadian lipeg River rt Williom, formerly a ur Landing 58, probably produce of id steamers, san cities of TOrOGRAPHY OF CANADA. Duluth, Milwaukee, and Chicago. Port Arthur, the larger of the two, and the most important place on the railway between Winnipeg and Ottawa, is com- placently called by its inhabitants the " Future Chicago " of Canada. The dioritio rock of Siker lakt, at the extremity of Thunder Cape, which encloses Thunder Buy on the east side, has become famous in the mining records 291 ^ of Canada. Its valuable argentiferous lode, discovered in 1868, yielded in the ten years from 1870 to 1879 a total sum of £630,000. Since then. Badger and several other very productive mines in the Thunder Bay district have been discovered and surveyed. Crushing mills, saw mills, and other industrial establishments, mostly belonging to American citizens, have sprung up below the great Kakubaka Falls, the "Niagara" of 'the Canadian West. ;;^ :::.''c-.mJ;.-'V ■ --v.^- -*;'-^-' ■- . ^-^^Xhe ancient post of Sainte-Marie, round which were formerly grouped the huts 'i'i 292 NORTH AMEIIICA. of the Saulteux Indians, is also a rising place, and will certainly become one of the great industrial centres of the continent. The Canadian village lies on the rapids over against the American town of Sault, and both localities boar the same nume. Sault Sainte-Marie is already an important centre of inland navigation, thanks to the canal constructed in 1855 on the American side, which is utilised by craft of all kinds with a collective annual capacity of about 6,000,000 tons. At an islet on the Kritish side the engineers have begun the construction of a second larger and deeper canal, which will also supply water-power for the Canadian factories. The " Sault " is, moreover, an international station of the tirst importance on the railway connecting St. Paul and Minneapolis with Montreal. In anticipation of the future agricultural development of this lake region, the M Fig. 128.— Sault Sainte-Mabie. Scale 1 : 600,000. ^ ''- 84°4o' Weat oF Gpeer>wich 84" 10- OtoSS DeptlM. 82 to 80 Feet. SnFeet and upwarda . 18 HUes. ■■-■' -■ ■ ■ ■ '-->' ■■¥-■ Pacific Railway Company has here founded the station of Algoma Mills, so named from the surrounding territory of Algoma, " land of the Algonquins." It stands on a deep and well-sheltered harbour on North Channel, in a central position for the converging lines of navigation on Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron. Facing it is the large island of Manitouliii, which, till 1870, was a territory reserved for the Ottaw^a and Saulteux Indians ; but the white settlers have invaded this, as they have so many other reserves, and now they far outnumber the natives. • A few ports, whose future depends on the progress of inland colonisation, follow east and south eastwards along the shores of Georgian Bay. From Pariy Sound is forwarded the produce of the Muskoka district, partly colonised by civil- ised Indians from the east. Pcnetanyuishene, " Moving Sands," and Collinguood, towards the southern extremity of the bay, are the nearest ports to Barrie, Orillia, II iWW— SH ano of the the rapids me ntiine. thanks to \f craft of t an islet nd larger factories, jce on the •egion. the 46' 50' •48 . BO 'V • 80 named It stands osition for ad Huron, •y reserved raded this, atives. tlonisatiou, om Pari'y by civil- 'oUinguood, 'le, Orillia, 1 I I TOl'OGUAl'IIY OF CANADA. 2i)8 and the romai>*',c ehon-B of Lake Hiincoo. In ibo neighbourlKKMl are the French- Cuuudiuii colonies of NoitaitiiHdga, inhabited by deHcendaiitH of trnppers settled here since the last century. In the autuo district has also bcoti founded an estab* lishnientof Russian Mennouites. On Lake Huron the most frequented Cunndinn port is Oiirn Sound, now con- Fig. 129. — POBT HUBON AND SaBMIA. 8ftiia 1 : ie,ooa Depth!. 0«o88 Feet ^ XSFeet and npwarda. , 2.200 Tarda. nected with Sydenham at the extremity of an inlet near the neck of Indian Peninsula. It is the best harbour on the lake, with water at its quays deep enough for the largest vessels. Thanks to the railways, Owen Sound has become the port of Toronto for all produce coming from the north-west. •;, ■: C: :• • . The other ports, such as Southampton, Port Elgin, Kincardine, and Goderich, are all shallow and badly sheltered. Six bunks of native salt, discovered at a depth 294 NORTH AMERKX of 1)80 foet in tho iirighbcturhood of Kincurdino uihI OofU-ric)', Niipply Hoine twenty fuctorios in the dintriet. Tlicy liuve u totul tliickni'HH of l.'JO font. Saniid, on the east bank of the St. (Uuir lliver ut tho outlet of Lake Huron, prm^tieully forms ii single city with tho American town of Port Huron on tho opponito wide. The eonvorging lines of railway are connected by steam ferries, and in 181)1 a subway 2,000 yards long will be opened between tho two places. This passage runs ut u depth of 7>j feet below tho ground, and of tho totul length about 800 yurds lie bduouth the river. Except W(i//aci'fjiiri/, which stunds on a lateral channel of Lake St. Clair, all the other towns and villages along the St. Cluir River are twins. Thus the large city of Detroit, metropolis of the State of Michigun, is supplemented on the Canadian side by Witxhor, capital of Essex County, at the southern extremity of the peninsular section of Ontario. The Big Dear River, one of the affluents of Lake St. Clair, traverses a highly productive district, which is being rapidly developed, especially since the petroleum wells of the United States have shown signs of exhaustion. In the Big Bear basin also occur oil reservoirs, which have already been tapped, as ut Petrolia and other places. Besides its mineral wealth this basin has great agricultural resources, though in this respect inferior to tho valley of tho Thames. This river, the Tranche or Tranchee of the early French explorers, also discharges into Lake St. Clair, its course following an old coastline of Luke Erie. In this district Stratford and Woodntock are thriving agricultural centres, while London, the capital, accepts its name quite seriously. Its streets, squares, and public buildings have been named from the corresponding quarters and monuments of the English metropolis, and one of the governors of Canada wanted to make it the capital of the colony. Surrounded by the best-cultivated fields and gardens in the province of Ontario, London is also proud of its industrial activity, and possesses several large educational establishments. Its valuable sulphur springs even make it a watering- place, while the neighbouring town of IngersoU has become the chief centre of the cheese industry in Ontario. London is connected with Lake Erie through the flourishing town of St. Thomas, another railway centre, where large rolling-stock works have been established. Port Stanley, on an inlet of Lake Erie, is the outport both of London and St. Thomas. South-westwards, the alluvial lands traversed by the Thames before entering Lake St. Clair have earned the name of the " Garden of Ontario." Chatham, the central market, was the chief refuge of runaways in the days of slavery. Here are 8ettle.d as many as 2,000 of their descendants, nearly a fourth of the whole population, while they number 1,500 at Windsor, where they are as numerous as the French Canadians. The basin of the Grand River, which flows southwards through the eastern parts of the lacustrine peninsula, rivals the Thames valley in the density of its population. In its upper valley is found the largest German settlement in Canada, consisting chiefly of Mennonite and Lutheran communities grouped round TOIHXJKAPUY OF CANADA. MS le twenty o Huron, a on the n ferrioH, vo places. Ill length St. Cluir, Thus the ;e(l on the tremity of raverses a since the In the Big ut PetroHa ses, though rianche or :. Clair, its •afford and accepts its een named opolis, and ,he colony. >f Ontario, rerul large t watering- centre of )wn of St. lave been rt both of •sed by the Garden of 'ays in the ts, nearly a where they the eastern nsity of its tleraent in luped round about Horlin, cupitul of the dixtrii-t, uiid at Tlnmburg, ^5trn».Mburg, and other places luaring Oerman namoH. Hut although iheso colonicN have founded (icrtimn ^choolB for their children, KugliHh is already the donniiiint language iu the district, an it is everywhere throughout the province of Ontario. Our//)h, the largoHt town in the Grand liiver basin, is altcgothor English, as is also Golf, which lies farther south. Uraut/onl, so named in hoiKJur of tho faraouH Iroquois chief, lirant, is Anglo-Saxon, if not in tho origin of its inhabitants, at any rate in its language and usages. The Iroquois of the country, settled round tho council hall of the Six Nations, at the borough of I'uscarora, are Fig. 130.— Laxb 8t. Claib. dealt 1 : 900,000. ai" West oF GreenwicU 82*30 Deptbi. OtulS Feet. Ifl Feet and upwttHi. — — 18 MUm. amongst the most loyal subjects of the Queen of England. One of their schools, the Mohawk Institute, is quite a model establishment, such as is rarely found even amongst white populations. Between Gait and Brantford is situated the only town named from the French capital ; but even this Paris lies within the pale of British colonisation, and its name is due to the deposits of gypsum (plaster of Paris) found in the vicinity. By a curious coincidence the artistic objects produced by the skilled artisans of this place more closely resemble the products of Paribiun industry than any others. 996 NOnTII AMERICA. 'liH. Kiiit of lln' poniiiMilii tho fluviul viilloy of the Niijif/irii River in truvormnl in itn cntiro length by thu Wclland Caiiiil, wliicli foriiiH tlio coiiiiuctitiK link Ix'twuon tho liiioH of niivi^tition on I-akc« Kric and Ontario. Tlio townH of ihiMdiNtriot aro ev(>n iK'ttur known tlian tlio8o of tlio (irund uud 'nianum vuIIcvm, tliankn to tho numurous Htrangers who oomo to visit th; I"' ' /t-fipj/ tho wuHon. At tho ■outhurn entrance of tlio Niagara Iliver, /"k/ ^r" ■^tardit ovor agaiuutt the American city of HufTalo. A little further on ) ,.'»•«< corroB|)ond8 to tho suburb of HuiYulo, where tho river huH been bridged by the railwa; viaduct. Helow the FiiUh, the Canadian side has also itn little settlement, which is connected with the American town of Nimjara FulU by the faniouH suHpenHion bridge 1,270 foet long, which was blown down during the tcriiiicbli/Kard of 1888 FJK- i:M.-Moirr Denhxt Proi-i.ko Rkoion in Untaiuo. Bula 1 : V,AUO,000. 82° Wrst o? Greenwiph 80° .aoHnec and immediately afterwards re-orected. Clifton, about two miles lower down, is similarly connected with the opposite town of Niagara City by an international bridge shorter but higher than that above the falls. Queemton, at the northern extremity of the rapids, where the river enters smooth water, faces the American town of Lewiston. Lastly, at the point where the Niagara enters Lake Ontario, stands the town of Niagara, to which ag^in corresponds Youngtown on the American side. Niagara is one of the oldest places in Ontario, having been founded under the name of Newark after the War of Independence by loyalist refugees from the States. It was the first capital of the province, and some incidents of the war are recalled by Forts George and Niagara, the former on the British, the latter on the American side of the estuary. Like the other towns of the Niagara valley, Newark at one time possessed some commercial importance, but most of the traffic has gravitated farther west to the Welland Canal, which is also lined with towns and villages from Port »(>(! in itA iM'twuni Htrict nro cs to tho At the tiiuat the bo Buburb which iH UHpoiiHion lof 1HH8 ^J down, is cruational var enters int where tich again the oldest the "War capital of eorge and e estuary. Bsed some ther west rom Port this place occupies a low-lying unhealthy position near the northern end of the channel. Hamilton — Toronto — Kingston. ffatnilton, the third largest city in the province, stands on a much more favourable site near the west corner of Lake Ontario, on a canal connecting it with Burlington Bay, and in a cirque limited on the west side by the silurian escarpment which farther east has been pierced by the Niagara river. The I \J..5' ..■.,.l~ ..MUllHip ii j ^ IIJJl l .,[ < - [ U|i "W^" ^mfm^rm n i ■ » i j i ■ - • 1 COLONIZATION OF THE WINNIPEG REGION. 220 Fort JoiHiuWro, founded in 1762, ia said to hiivo stood near the foot of the Rocky MounttiiiiH on the site of the present town of Culjjury. The first colony, properly so culled, was thut organised by Tjord Selkirk in IHIl, whon about a hundred Highlanders and Irishmen landed ut a port on Hudson litiy, and uftor a hard winter passed in those inhospitublo regions, made their way to the Red River basin. Here they were well received and provided with all necessaries by the Hudson May Company ; but dissensions soon broke out between them and the Company's servants, and this pioneer group, attacked by the half-breeds and savages, had to disperse. Rut ten years later, after the conclusion of the hostilities between the two rival Companies, the little Red River settlement was able to resume its peaceful career. For many years it was certainly the most isolated European settlement in the whole world ; its most frequented highway of communication with civilised lands traversed 730 miles of extremely diflicult ground, acrosb lakes, rivers obstructed by falls and rapids, rocky portages and swamps, and terminating on tho shores of Hudson Bay, an almost Arctic inland sea open to navigation only for two months in the year. In 1870, when the monopoly of the ^npany was abolished and Manitoba constituted an independent colony, th Used population of the Red River district comprised about 12,000 French una Scotch half-breeds. The Bois-brCkl6s, as the French half-breeds were culled, were by far the more numerous, occupying tho tract between the United States frontier and the site of the present town of Winnipeg. Some were also settled on the Assiniboine, and others on the Saskat- chewan near Fort Edmonton. So little were they acquainted with the outer world that they called all whites "French," and one of Simpson's Canadian guides fancied all imported wares came from •' la vieille France de Londres " (" Old France of Lordon "). The " Orcauais " (Orcadians), as all the Scotch settlers were indiscriminately called, were chiefly established on the lower Red River near Lake Winnipeg. More than half of them spoke Gaelic, though the majority also understood English. The trappers employed by the rival French company (" Compagnie du Nord-Ouest ") were also required to leirn French. Thus it happens that many families of Scotch origin are now classed as French half-breeds, just as some of the Bois-brilles call themselves Scotch. But according to all observers, great differences exist between the two groups. The French half-caste is taller, more slim and pliant, and runs* rather than walks.* He assimilates himself easily to the Indian, and his native wife becomes a real helpmate. His children combine with the cheerfulnese, vehemence, and passion of the French the strength, pliancy, endurance, and marvellous skill in inter- preting all natural phenomena characteristic of the Indian. They are generous, reckless, and improvident, born trappers, hunters, and traders, taking reluctantly to agriculture. The Scotch half-breed, on the contrary, adapts himself with difficulty to the * H. Havard, 7%« French Half-breeds of the North- West, Smithsonian Beport ; John Roade, Proceed- ings, ^c, of the R. Society of Canada, 1885. i ..!,>. t^ ■'^'S "•^■r*'X;.,-;y■«^■ 208 NORTH AMERICA. inhabitants t)f Hamilton give the name of " Mountain " to this steep cliff, in their eyes the Mountain in a superlative sense. It is traversed by a cunal connecting Hamilton Bay with Duudas and the ufHuents of Lake Huron. Hamilton is increasing rapidly, but notwithstanding its advantageous geo- graphical position at the extremity of the natural highway connecting Lakes Ontario and Huron, it has already been far distanced by its eastern neighbour, Toronto, which possesses a better-developed railway system, radial ing in all directions. Toronto, capital of the province of Ontario, and " Queen of the West," occupies on Lake Ontario a sandy tract, which slopes gently northwards between the two rivers Don on the east and Humber on the west side. The town is regularly laid out, nearly all the streets intersecting each other at right angles and i-unning either parallel or vertical with the lake, but the general effect is somewhat mono- tonous and commonplace. The view of the lake is masked by a slightly wooded tongue of land, which encloses the harbour, leaving an open channel on the west side 12 or 13 feet deep. At first sight Toronto would not seem to enjoy any special natural advantages. It has no navigable river, nor is its port accessible to vessels of heavy draught. But it occupies a central position with respect to the fertile lands of the province of Ontario, and it lies directly opposite the highway opened by the Niagara 'valley towards Lake Erie and the United States. In former times the Indians from the north held their peltry sales on ihio spot, and it was for the purpose of controlling them and drawing a I'evenue from the trade that the French erected Fort Rouille in 1749 at the mouth of the river now known as the Humber. This fort was abandoned when the present city was founded in 1794. It was at first called York, or Little York, and this continued to be its official name till the year 1834. The term "Toronto," which ultimately prevailed, and which means in Iroquois " Trees on the Water," was at first applied to the sandy spit off the harbour, and then to the whole district as far as Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay. Its selection as the provincial capital added greatly to the natural advan- tages of the rising settlement, whose destinies were secured by the develop- ment of the railway system, which has its converging-point at Toron'o. Since then the city has continued to progress at such a rapid »"Bte that it hopes to equal Or even outstrip Montreal before the end of the century. The population rose from 900 it. 1813, and 9,000 in 1834, to over 86,000 in 1881, and nearly 180,000 with the suburbs in 18^9 ! Montreal, however, has the immense advantage of direct communicati« x with the Atlantic, besides commanding the great trade routes to the interior of the continent. On the other hand, Toronto lies in a relatively densely peopled district, and owing to the sandy soil, enjoys a better climate than its rival. The streets are wider and better shaded, and the average mortality much lower, 21'45 as compared with 27*91 per 1,000. Perhaps the greater ethnical unity of its population may also be considered a point in its favour. Tho inhabitants being nearly all of English speech, are not W^J^^" TOPOGRAPnY OF CANADA. 209 I cliff, In a cuual (0U8 geo- ig Lakes jighbour, g in all * occupies the two larly laid mnning at mono- .y wooded the west [vantages, draught. 3 province i Niagara le Indians le purpose le French vn as the It was name till ind which ly spit off Georgian ^al advan- develop- it it hopes population id nearly immense iding the 1, Toronto [)il, enjoys i, and the isidered a 1, are not troubled by intestine rivalries and wranglings " hich prevent hurnionious action for the common good. If the trade of Toronto i^ still inferior to that of Montreal, its literary and bcientific activity is greater ; its periodical press is better edited, and commands a wider circle of readers ; its book trade also is brisker ; and its high schools display greater educational vigour. The university, founded in 1827, but nearly destroyed by the disastrous fire of 1890, is the chief establishment of the kind in Canada. Its several libraries are open to the public, and its schools are amongst the finest monuments in the city. Several parks, both in the interior and neighbourhood, contribute to the general health of the place, and it is in their Fig. 133.— ToBO.NiTO. Scale 1 : ISO.OOO. W..i oF G reenwic h 79° 25' 79'20- OtoH Feet. Depths. 12 *o 120 Feet. 120 Feet and upwards. .8 Miles. vicinity or even beneath the shade of their groves that most of the scholastic establishmentb have been erected. .-j ^ Eastwards follow a few little havens, such as Whithy, Oahawa (the " Portage "), a busy manufacturing place, Port Hope, pleasantly situated, and surrounded by dockyards, Coboiirg, with numerous fine residences, extensive parks, and shady thoroughfares. Cobourg is also a university town, whose faculties are com- pleted by an Academy of Medicine founded at Montreal by the "Wesleyan Church. _ \:-. '■'-.,_■■■-■ \.- :' ' '-r^..- -''' :■ - , ■ ^ ■ '^-"'^ ;>■' Farther east, Bellccille, which has also a large college with the title of university, lies at the mouth of the river Moira, on the winding Bay of Quinte. Its port communicates in two directions with Lake Ontario, eastwards, through a natural channel which meanders between the islands and headlands, and which ■ 1 800 NOETH AMERICA. ^y. sends its ramifications towards the two industrial towns of Deseronto and Napance ; westwards by a canal free of locks, but only 12 feet deep, cut through the neck of Prince Edward Peninsula near the important town of Trenton, whore are the largest paper mills in Canada. North-west of Belleville lies the thriving town of Peteihnro, surrounded by a labyrinth of lakes, which also drain to the Bay of Quinte, formerly Eintsio. The Otonabee river, which flows by Peterboro, carries the overflow of Stony Lake to Rise Lake through a series of falls and rapids which are utilised to drive the wheels of numerous factories. Like its western neighbour, Lindsay, Peterboro is a converging-point for several of the Ontario railway lines. It is also proposed to make it the centre of the navigable canals intended to connect the various ports of Lake Ontario with those of Lake Huron. It is also proposed to construct a ship railway between the two lakes. Kingston, at the eastern extremity of Lake Ontario, has recently become a busy trading place, and is now the chief inland port between Toronto rad Montreal- So early as the year 1673 the French had already perceived the strategic impor- tance of this site, and 400 men had here erected the fortress of Cataraqui or Catamcoui, so named from the river which reaches the St. Lawrence at this point. But the outlying station was, so to say, lost in the midst of the Iroquois popula- tions, and its garrison had to be withdrawn. Frontenac rebuilt the fort in 1G95, and since that time Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, has continued to be the chiei military town in Upper Canada. Kingston is still fortified and armed with batteries and the Dominion here maintains a military establishment, from which are recruited the staff and engineering corps. This school takes rank with the training colleges of Great Britain, its best pupils receiving commissions in the English army. Before the administration was removed to Toronto, Kingston was the capital of Upper Canada, and even for the three years from 1841 to 1844, during the period of the open struggle between the British Government and the French Canadians, it served as the chief centre of authority in the province of Ontario, where, besides Niagara, it is at present the only fortified town. Its importance, however, is mainly due to its military college, its Presbyterian " university," its medical schools, and its lumber and grain trade. Through a narrow cutting in a rocky sill the lakes drained by the Cataraqui communicate with those which discharge through the Rideau, thus connecting Kingston with Ottawa, capital of the Dominion. At Kingston the St. Lawrence, from the first a mighty stream, begins to ramify into a thousand chanitels between the "Thoiisand Islands." The village of Gananoque on the left bank of the river is lost amid this labyrinth of waters. But the busy town of Brockville over against Morristown on the American side lies on one of the " narrows " where the whole stream is pent up in a single channel. /' . ■ '■ -• -'. ' ' ■^'^ -■'■;■•:' '-^"v-i*.: .-■:>>.; Lower down follows Prescott, which may be regarded as a mere suburb of the American town of Ogdensburg, the chief port of the State of New York on the •;^&&', TOrOGEAPHY OF CANADA. 801 )anee ; eck of re tbe I by a The ake to ve tbe boro is osed to 8 ports truct a a busy ontreal- 1 impor- raqui or is point. popula- in 1G95, be cbiei ion bere taflE and ,f Great le capital iriug tbe French Ontario, (ortance, ■sitv," its ;ting in a !e which sapital of begins to lie village If waters. rican side a single Lrb of the Irk on tbe St. Lawrence, but lying in a district partly colonised by French Canadians. Ogdensburg was formerly tbe Fort Presentation of the French settlers. Below the Long Sault, a foionidable chain of rapids turned on the north cide by a canal 12 miles long, stands the manufacturing town of Cornwall, which marks the point where the St. Lawrence begins to flow entirely through Canadian territory. Work? are now in progress by which the canal will acquire a uniform depth of from 14 to 16 feet. The American frontier, which here strikes inland, intersects the town of Saint-Rrgia, occupied by a community of civilised Iroquois Indians. Just below this point the river ramifies into several branches round about Crrand Island and a whole cluster of islets, which serve as the foundations for the Kg. 134.— Lake Nipissino. Scale 1 : 1,700,000. 40 SOMilM. supports of a viaduct thrown across the stream from Coteau Lauding to Valley- field. Over this bridge, 3,000 yards long, is carried the railway running from Ottawa directly to New York. Beyond Grand Island a strait flowing between two wooded headlands leads at once to the vast basin formed by the confluence of the St. Lawrence wiih the Ottawa. The Ottawa itself rises too far to the north beyond the Height of Land for its northern valley to contain any important centres of population. Nearly the whole of this vast region is still a mere waste of rocks and woodlands, and hitherto the white colonists have reached no farther than the shores of Lake Teiniscaming. Even this young settlement lies, so to say, in the wilderness, a day's journey by water and portages north of Mailawa, whence it draws its supplies. Mattawa, that is, " Confluence," is conveniently situated on the right bank of the Ottawa ^. ■i ; 'i? .. i i'. ' 802 NORTH AMERICA. and of its tributary, the Mattawan, in a district containing auriferous deposits. Till recently an obscure station of the Hudson Bay Company, it has now acquired some importance as one of the chief stations on the transcontinental railway, and as a centre of distribution in the northern part of the province of Ontario. But Mattawa still presents a very modest appearance, with its little houses scattered amid the surrounding boulders which give to the plain the aspect of a giants' cemetery. The lumber sent down from the upper Ottawa and from the Mattawan meets at this place, and partly supplies the lociil sawmills. A speculator has also succeeded in making Mattawa the depot for the timber from Lake Nipissing and from Georgian Bay despite the waterparting between these basins and that of the Ottawa. A steam-engine on a hill commanding the eastern inlet of Lake Nipis- sing raises the logs by means of an endless chain, and transfers them to another lake which drains to the Mattawan. South and south-east of Lake Nipissing the Government still possesses from ten to twelve million acres of land, which was till recently uninhabited, but a con- siderable portion of which is studded with lakes and is quite capable of cultiva- tion. These lands are given gratuitously in lots of 100 acres to any settlers who undertake to build a house, reside on the land, and cultivate it. The colonisation of this region, formerly supposed to be unproductive, began in 1878, and a few villages have already sprung up in several districts. The Pacific Railway skirting the north side of Lake Nipissing is gradually trans- forming its little wayside stations into agricultural and trading centres^ where the Canadian population predominates. Sudbury, the chief town in the district, lies in a country abounding in copper, iron, and nickel mines. Calkndar, near Lake Nipissing, ocQupies a convenient position on the lake and near the converging- point of the railways. Ottawa. ' . Pembrole, Arnpn'or, Aijlmer, and other places on the Ottawa below Mattawa, have acquired some trade, thanks to their position near the rapids, where pas- sengers, goods, and rafts are obliged to stop, and where the necessary water- power is obtained to work the sawmills. Oltaica itself, formerly Bytoucn, would have remained a mere lumber village, had not the Queen of England been induced to select it as the capital of the Dominion. In 1800 a daring pioneer from Massachusetts settled here with a few companions, and began to clear the land ; but no lumber was floated down the watercourses to Quebec before the year 180G. In 1831 a village of 1,000 inhabitants, nearly all Americans or Scotch, had already sprung up at the Ottawa Falls, and soon after the canal m'ps completed which con- nects the Ottawa with the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario through the course of the Rideau and the chain of lakes traversed by the Cataraqui. This great hydraulic work had been carried out mainly for strategic purposes, in order to facilitate the transport of troops and supplies between the Lower St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, in case the Americans should seize the channels at the Thousand leposits. icquired vay, and io. But icattered 1 giants' an meets has also isiug and at of the ie Nipis- » another Bses from »ut a con- l cultiva- 1,ler8 who ve, began lets. The illy trans- where the strict, lies lear Lake nverging- Mattawa, iphere pas- ary water- own, would en induced meer from the land; year 180G. md already which con- e course of This great in order to „ Lawrence e Thousand "' '^'^'' ?,^!, 'i BH ' y^tv-. ■ni'. ' , ' -y)f ■ ' k-i: ' ,i.". '' n. i . i , ii ', ' ", ' .", i j,i'! i,,;v ' '- , '' ,' ' ; "" ^' TOPOGRAPHY OP CANADA. 808 iHlands. Fortunately it has hitherto been used exclusively for the development of trude, and it has tended greatly to increase the value of the Ottawa sawmills. In 1858 the rising town of Ottawa was chosen as the capital of the confederacy, and the first parliament was hero assembled in 1805 ; since then the neighbouring villages of New Edinburgh and liochcHtereil.e have been annexed to the growing metropolis, which, thanks to the political and administrative concentration, has already become the fifth largest city of the Dominion. It is exceeded in popula- tion only by Montreal, Toronto, Quebec, and St. John, and it hopes in course of time to surpass all its rivals. Ottawa is admirably situated on a rocky plateau, which commands the right bank of the Ottawa below the so-called Chaudi^re Fulls. Its suburbs extend west- wards above the rapids and eastwards beyond the Rideau River, while on the opposite side, consequently within the province of Quebec, the flanks of the escarp- ment are occupied by the industrial town of Hull. The eyots and ledges skirting both sides of the falls and rapids are already covered with workshops, sawmills, depots, and numerous wood houses. But despite all these unsightly structures the falls which gave rise to the city of Ottawa still present a superb picture. The stream, which higher up expands to a width of over 1,600 feet winding between numerous poplar-clad islets, suddenly contracts towards a rocky chasm scarcely 200 feet broad, and plunges into a boiling "cauldron," whence it escapes in a long foamy current expanding into a tranquil basin opposite the city. Here also the Ottawa is joined by the Rideau tumbling over a cascade 60 feet high, and develop- ing a perfectly regular white rideau or " curtain " in front of the limestone cliff. But this cataract also, formerly one of the most romantic in Canada, has been dis- figured by the mean walls of workshops. The Ottawa lumber industry is the largest in Canada, and special machinery has here been erected for converting the logs into planks, battens, tubs, buckets, matches, and a thousand other objects. Hundreds of steam saws are kept going night and day ; the surface disappears at many points beneath the rafts moored to the banks, and the waters of the inlets and even of the whirlpools are strewn with thick layers of sawdust. But these layers get gradually saturated and then sink to the bottom, where they accumulate to such an extent that in certain cavities of the river the depth has been- diminished by 40 or 50 feet. Then 'he accuraulaied masses begin to ferment, and in winter when the stream is frozen over the gases escaping from below are at times strong enough to burst through the ice with an explosion like that of a volcanic eruption.* The Houses of Parliament have been erected in the finest part of the city on the terrace projecting eastwards to the Rideau Canal, which has here '^'een cut to a depth of 160 feet in the live rock. The buildings, in the Lombard Gothic style, are disposed in three groups round about an exteubive grassy lawn, the greyish sandstone blocks being relieved by copings oi pink limestone and marble, which produces a pleasant effect. Lofty towers of varied form, some extremely pictur- esque, rise to a considerable height above the roofs, and this majestic pile is ' • Benjamin Suite ; Sandford Fleming, &o. ■i I •■US?* fc*,ttf'^*»,r.' :*'V, 804 N(JRTI1 AMEEICA. altogether the most sumptuous monupicnt ia the Dominion. But its chief bcuiity is due to the magniHcent panorama stretching round the rocky terrace, whence the eye sweeps over the distant chuiii of the wooded Laurentian hills, and the sparkling waters of the river with its tranquil bays, lakes, whirlpools, and foaming cataracts. An extremely graceful rotunda standing at the extremity of the terrace behind the chief building contains the library, which already numbers over 100,000 volumes, besides pamphlets and periodicals. This is the most important collection in the State, and it is growing so rapidly that it will soon have to bo removed to Fig. 136.— Fboh Ottawa to Montbkal. Scale 1 : l,SOO,nOO. ■^^ % .•"«i ^;w,My?^^)v^^mm^;i^>^^m. .-.• \ ^-.SA- >•• ..^fasi.. U-liiL.Jli.fltr^y^ ."1. ... Tv-/- \/m ^." -'y •,• y.v'j^^itiiflPiCS^ ■ '"""i^iisr'T^pijA' • ''■ ■ ''^>^"i<*^\\^/- "W-' Us* • '^*' '•Jp^'^^ -• -'"^- 7-'-'-1n*ni"« S^injJ 'f - 'llfff T^'^iB^-! ^n ZD ^^sfeii^^^S "io' J 1 • ",\_;_; . • *-^Afc>}^^V> • V''» •■ -^ ' ' jf^r-"^^^* -^^*'^#^M*t?^* •^'*'*i>^^''» V'-"'''^ *' "^f* **^JoM^^j^* \ "f 7^--')t *' ..^^^^'^"^^^^'J^^^^^^'/^'JfL'jg^ ' '/^ * ■ if** '■ '\ >^ ' ,*^^ /^.,jprz,~7^» ' 'Sf\' * •\^ \_ ' A j^x^^^>*'*^^^ ^^uiifflii^ ^'''X: * .'jy ' '• t\ -^v. * .u , u * * Mi :.-9>^^v(.;r^^ 45: /• ** W . ^Mm'^'9 .* / .r9,, \^'/» •p/-jy la"' *\* •H.,' V.A • •• N»« V •- A ^' v^jfl^kvinjc^V-/:;.'/f^:M"°(* •"( '\^"-vS\-;i[ .••.■^- •• .. ..-. •"•.".V.«'/i Wesi oF Greene. ch 75" '74' 80MUe«. larger premises. The most valued sestion, specially devoted to the history of Canada, comprises about 8,000 works and a large number of manuscripts. Ottawa also contains a valuable museum connected with the geological explora- tion of the Dominion. The petrographic and other documents, which reveal the gradual discovery of the boundless regions of British America, are here admirably classed ; by their means the student may easily follow the track of the explorers, who go forth every year to thoroughly explore those districts of the North- West Territory and Pacific seaboard which are still known only by superficial surveys. In the neighbourhood of Ottawa is another most useful institution, the school of agriculture, gardening and rural industries, with 500 acres of ground, where the study of the acclimatation of exotic plants is successfully carried on. In these experiments French seedlings are chiefly used. The Canadian capital has of ■y /. s L ' ^ w j ^ ^.S ' . ii .ati. i j.'.Li ■ j.' ''' . i? J. T .JJ -w^ Trrrtrr ■ i ' i TOPOGRAPHY OF CANADA. 806 beauty whence and the foaming e behind 100,000 loUection moved to history of 8. al explora- reveal the admirably explorers, he North- superficial the school und, where In these ital has of course also its university ; which howovor, scarcely yet rivals those of Montn-al, Quebec, and Toronto. Although founded exclusively by Eiiglish-speuking settlers, Ottawa, like Mon- treal, is now a double oity as regards the nationality of its inliabitiints. Tlio French element forms doubtless but a small minority ; but its relative proportion is increasing from year to year. Hull, on the opposite or ()uebec side of the Ottawa, is entirely French, and the Franco-Canadians are already in a majority in some quarters of Ottawa itself ; but from the aspect of their suburbs it is easily seen that they are for the most part poorer than the English. Thej' are chiefly woodmen, lightermen, or factory hands living on their wages, and residing in wretched little wooden houses in dirty, badly-pjved streets. But all quarters are at least supplied with an extraordinary abundance of good water. From the river above the falls Ottawa draws sufficient to furnish each person with ten times ns much pure water as is thought necessary even in the best-administered European towns. Ottawa has also become ati important railway centre, and is already connected by three lines with Montreal. One of these is carried on a graceful steel bridge over the river above the falls, and almost immediately afterwards crosses the great river Gatineau, which every year floats down hundreds of thousands of logs for the sawmills of Ottawa. In 1889 a " jam " of 200,000 tree-trunks occurred at one of the narrows, threatening the plains lower down with a tremendous avalanche of a novel character. All the upper valley abounds in iron ores nd in graphite. The rocks in the vicinity of the confluence, and especially in the outskirts of Templitoii, are extremely rich in phosphates, which are at present for the most part exported, not being yet needed for the little land under tillage in the district itself. Along its lower course the Ottawa is joined by a large number of rivers, and at almost every railway -station the line crosses some affluent blocked with rafts floated down for the factories on the lower reaches of the main stream. Buckiiuj- ham, on the copious Hare River, has a crowded population engaged in its numerous sawmills ; Papineaiivilk, chief town of the old domain of the " Little Nation," is one of Canada's historical sites; and I'Oi'Ignal, on the right bank, is the largest place in the lower Ottawa vallrfy. The surrounding forests, however, despite its name, are no longer frequented by the orignal deer. In summer large numbers of strangers and invalids land at this station, attracted by the neighbouring Caledonia Spring-i, whose sulphurous, valine, and ioduretted waters are regarded as sovereign remedies against rheumatism and other maladies. At Gretmlle, a large place on the left bank, a canal and lateral railway enable riverain craft and passengers to turn the famous Carillon rajids. Near the village of this name below the falls and factories is shown the spot where, in 1660, sixteen Frenchmen from Montreal, a Huron and four Algonquins, commanded by Daulac, threw themselves into a little log fort to delay the march of 700 or 800 Iroquois warriors who were invading the colony, thus saving the'ir fellow-country- men at the sacrifice of their own lives. All perished, the last survivor despatching his wounded comrades with a hatchet to save them from torture and the stake; N. A.— 21 '1 :■ % ■ nu^t'iirdH liiiko St. Louis ih liinitc( oy tho Hue viaduct of Luchino, wliich ('(itiiu'ols tliu railwiiy nyHteina on bitth h'uIvh of tho St. Lawronco. Thin bridgu, •J, 700 foot lonj^, is of irregular form ; towurJH Licliinc it proHonts a series of piers placed eloHo togcthor ; then it eroHs«'H the doep tliaiinol by two loii;,r Mi)anH, l)eyond which it in continued towiirds tho right bunk by u hi;.{h enibunknient fringed with osiers. Hut despite this lack of synunetry tho structure [jfoduces u very graceful ellect, thanks to the extronio lightness of the sections su'peiKkd above the stieum; it was completed in seven months. Ctiu(jhiitiii((iji(, which is connected by tho viaduct with Lachine, is un old Irofiuois settlement still inhabi'','d by their descendants, who nunibortd n .. j3o to the wooded hill which dominates the island at the confluence; it iiad thus already received its numo over a century before the French had erected a single hut on tho spot previously occupied by the triple palisades of the Iroquois village of Hoclielagu. Tho exact site of this village has not been determined, but according to M. Benjamin Suite, it stood ut the very foot of the h.ll now occupied by Montreal ; the modern suburb which has taken the name of the Indian strong- hold lies at the northern extremity of the city, and skeletons, pot'ery and arms have been brought to light in many parts of the island.* After the first French visit great changes ha"d taken place, and when Chump- lain arrived in 1611, the Iroquois had already been driven out by the Algonquins. Their station of Ilochehiga hud been so completely destroyed that no vestige of it could be discovered. Recognising tho udmiruble position of Mont-Royal as the converging point of all the routes from the regions of the Upper Laurentian basin, Champlain endeavoured to establish a factory on the spot ; but the first • J. W. Dawson, Fouil Mm and their Modern Repntentalive*. ■ .:^Vi^'wWf.^-v^t»+?ii4I '^ fri'iiH-mloUH oatiiij^ uiid hint", which .'his brid^^i), ricH of piors MiiiH, beyond ringed with ery gruouful the Htiuuin; 13, in un old )or(d ni I' V bo whites i. liuns only in xl, niooasaina k themselvPB irge of one of tho British gnissy veyc- ce, stands oa nkment here obtuined of e largest city : Boston. It 1," given by B confluence ; h had erected [ the Iroquois termined, but now occupied ndian strong- ery and arms vhen Champ- B Algonquins. • vestige of it Royal as the T Laurontian but the first IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) M #>-^ L&t26 12.5 IM ■iWM HA U. 11.6 6" «'i Photographic Sciences Corporation W^ ^^. ;• w ' V t-'X . Ni •1.,". >•. sjjmjuc -\ ••. ■*'° ' '■* "^ p N S^^Theri se/ tV' S'HenJtM*** H r" tN- ' fo ?w lOse ,n;:'js^- \*-. .Buslac ;s:" t** ■■•/' ( I i» -.:<• ,3.0os^daLac^ 'X' •vV^S^l^r » aiixAn^aiS •*\, -.8 .t ^5b '9. v.--/ ''•/.. Miont lO 'tf' '^i Cdmo m^ HO 7* ••'>•• >^|^dpeuLU ^* fi^ PCbir* lO** C«n^ /.J^n V -o.-. -; w. . •--,• ;.■ S. 'X 1j^oUl£t> B West of Greenifich ^:'^•••;.;^.v m 'o; •i:Aj;^J *ySv^ 1:250 000. -A ,,„ NEW TOKV^.C AFPLETC c. •• • X • --. ^[Twi, — -- .-•....■. 1 a«; ■ ■ ••° -^-^v J^»"Y • ■' --v '■ ■ ••■ /■ *i .- - -f''^ vapw I ,v»»**'- ^ir E. RES w » 'a A icEeipv^* A V^, ■o'.'W i^jifeHrdHb^^^" .-v^^r V, ^-^ srifc^ ,v-. Cote Usti J? . .8. • ■V' ■W •• . -^^ ■ t-i ,/ / lO-* «a" A' 73^30 1:250 000. ^ NEW vok;;. J^ 6 Miles. -•.I-'PLETON & C9 I ■3 im i il lii lH ii H i 1, 11 iii i. i j ii iiuy i j j i) i jp i j g ji i a^i i ffi.Kj f IMP i s < f p i j iWW i VW»,^ '' Mgi rivaU in tho potty itiduatriim uiul workshops, uiul ncMirly uIwiivh tliiir political opponents and encraios, occupy the Oriffin-Town quiirtor, which lies in tlio former mar \y district hijfher up the river. Recontly, tho Italian colony, doubtlcHH defltinod, 8iH)ner or later, to merge in the French -Canadian section, has increased rapidly ; hut the Oerrauns are scattered in small groups over tho city. Those who pass under this ni|i;j TOPOaRAPHT OP CANADA. 817 is more easily accessible by the steam -ferry rounding St. Helen's Island. During a recent severe winter a railway was extemporised on the frozen surface, and the trains ran regularly for several months, until the locomotive at last crushed through the ice-cap. From Montreal to Quebec and St. Anne on the left, and to Rivi,jre-du-Loup on the right side, villages and hamlets follow almost continuously. Here the concessions extend on an average about 2,200 yards inland, but the river frontage is very narrow, ranging from 190 to 380 feet so as to give as many as possible the advan- tage of access to the great artery. lioucherville, below Longueuil, is almost masked Fig. 140.— Icicles on the Feont o» a House afteb a Fibb. •-•1 ' .^ .-■Ai-/ -r '..' .e J^4 »?!■■< ,1' . >^'.^' by a chain of wooded islands, noted amongst sportsmen as excellent duck-shooting grounds. In spring the ice floating down from above is intercepted by these islands, and here a fresh jam is often formed, greatly retarding the navigation sea- son. The channels between these islands are gradually silting up from the alluvial matter here deposited by the harbour drainage works, and if the process is con- tinued much longer, the archipelago will form part of the mainland. Lower down on the same side Vavennes, opposite St. Theresa Island, is much frequented for its saline springs. On the opposite side the -St. Lawrence is joined by the northern branch of the Ottawa, which is itself divided into two channels by the large island of Jesus. Both branches are studded with villages, none of which ••«Bi3?. ■>■; fe\:tT 818 NORTH AMERICA. has acquired any commercial or industrial importance. The most frequented is Saui (tux Ricollets, which is separated from Montreal by the hills of the public park. St. Theresa, some distance inland, is the converging-point of several rail wayn. Between the Montreal archipelago and the mouth of the tlichelieu the banks of the St. Lawrence are occupied only by some straggling villages ; here the largest place is Assumption, which, however, lies a few miles from the main stream in a fertile district encircled by a river accessible to steamers. At the Richelieu confluence stands the busy town of Sorel, commanding from its high cliffs the Fig. 141.— Railway ox the Fbozen St. Lawuencb. cluster of islands which fill the western extremity of St. Peter's Lake. Sorel is much frequented by steamers plying on the St. Lawrence and on the Richelieu as far as the head of the navigation at the Chambly basin, which expands into a broad sheet of water dominated by the ruins of an old French fortress. Beyond this point the Richelieu is blocked by rapids, which, however, are turned by a navi- gable canal giving access to St. John's, close to the United States frontier. North of Farnhitm, an important railway centre on the Taraaska, lies the in- dustrial town of St. Hyacinth, noted for its numerous factories. Another river reaching St. Peter's Lake almost immediately to the east of the Yamaska delta, com- prises within its basin the most thickly-poopled districts of the region known by ij Wii ■TW y i iyy/q i ' ^.f^g^f^^ipi ' r # n;.w .' j i ^tw !; r-y*"f/; ■ "v*fy.\% ' ^\- ' . ' 7 \^^^\\^-?^i '.. ' t-: ' " ^ i» «w |ii»i^ y. ' . i ? TOrOORAPIIY OF CANADA. 819 the name of " Cantons de Test." Sherbrooke, capital of this region, stands at the confluence of the Magog and St. Francis rivers, and is also a busy industrial centre, with numerous cloth, paper and other mills. Magog, at the northern extremity of Lake Memphremagog, has a large cotton-spinning factory, and Lcmonrillc, at the bend of the St. Francis below the confluence, is one of the Canadian University towns. The muddy banKS of St. Peter's Lake present scarcely any suitable sites for villages ; nearly all the little groups of habitations, such as Bertliier and Ripiire-du- Loup {Louiaeville) on the north, Tammka, St. Francu, l.t' i» - / I I I 1 1 1 , J i i I i« t ,. |iw p )mj|i ipi I H.. I . i [ I ■ 1 1 ■ 1 ^ I ^ » i ■ wygypw^ i^j 5 ^' 1 ' < », i i mh j,< i i L »i g 1 j w^yfpfyw^r w»aaiii*Ba »iW'MwW>T>tWftt"t»wa*T'i ' ii itmw**^f'fi¥'!tim -^jui^mmm^''- -m- *»nmmwtm; ■ nw . PMI^J!, !,'- 'f"!^ t'%> ' ,'t T ^ Vi^.M " . ME g ^ ' ! l QUEBEC AND ITS ■^' !ir I- 250000. NEWT'ORK, O APPLE! 1. .r._'^;.4*f^' ;,,,..( * l,.M|ll.»p W tiiiKlit Heom npucious enough for a river in west Europe, hero lookn rolutivoly ao narrow thut we involuntarily regurd it merely iim a hrunch of the mighty St. Law- rence. The buNin of the Ht. ChurloH, which, immediutely below the heudlund, ex- pundd to u far griater wi. «<.) ^ . ^ " •' '•'•'''' ''til^fl i fi' i nrii i t i t i iii ii iiii i ili i ii i ijiiii "'"^fn.iifti ! .V TOPOGEAPHY OF CANADA. which occurred in the month of Octoher, 1889. The whole of this poor quarter should, in fact, be removed to a better position, and the tumbledown structures replaced by grassy swards. Meantime the new quarters are being developed back of Diamond Cape on the Plains of Abraham and in the direction of the St. Charles river. Quebec owes its beauty especially to the marvellous panorama which is un- folded from the citadel, the Laval University, and Dufferin Terrace, a broad plat- Fig. 144. — Quebec. 8tmi» 1 : 70,000. Depth*. Sandi exposed at low mter. StnSS Pmi. -r ->)"'' "" "'■■"'V 3Sto 160 Feet. I 8,900 Tarde. 160 Feet aiid upwarda. form standing on the promontory midway between the St. Lawrence ant^ the St. Charles estuary. Lower down, the hill is skirted by a semicircle of buildings', and quite a new quarter, occupied by docks and warehouses, has been developed at the point between the two sheets of water. Steam-ferries ply between both banks and the high cliffs of L^vis are crowned by a long line of villages, interrupted here and there by patches of verdure. North-eastwards, between the widening branches of the St. Lawrence, are seen the gently undulating green plains of Orleans Island ; still more picturesque are the slopes on the left side merging northwards in the hazy atmosphere which half veils the distant headlands and the superb crest of Tourmente Cape. . ., . , -7^ ... 824 NORTH AMERICA. ti! Ceudes the citadel and the Dufferin esplanade Quebec has its historical monn- ments ; iu this lespect it has, in fact, few rivals in the New Worid. On a square near the cathedral stands the obelisk raised to the memory of the two captains, Wolfe and Montcalm, united iu death, in glory, and in the common tomb raised to them by posterity. Other columns, beyond the urban precincts, commemorate the last battles oi Abt-ahnm and Suintt-Foi/e ; a cippus has also recently been placed on the banks of the St. Charles to mark the site of the spot chosen by Cartier for his winter quarters during his famous voyage of discovery. Champlain's tumb is supposed to have been discovered in a house in Quebec, and the building is shown where Montcalm breathed his last. Some religious edifices, the basilica, other churches, seminaries, and convents, possess precious tablets, dating for the most part from the period anterior to the French Revolution. Unfortunately such old records, books, and other collections still remain unprotected by a fire-proof building, although the Canadian libraries are constantly suffering from conflagrations : " they are only good for bonfires," hat) become a popular saying. The Laval University, so named from the prelate * who in 1663 founded the seminary transformed in the middle of the present century to a school of science, includes the most important collection of paintings in America north of Boston, containing originals by Tintoretto, Pug^t, and Rubens. The library, comprising about 100,000 volumes, is admirably classiBed, and ranks in importance next to that of the present Canadian capital; its mineralogical collection has been specially arranged by Haiiy. Quebec has long ceased to be the largest city in the Dominion ; at present it yields in population both to Montreal and Toronto, and judging from its slow progress it will soon be outstripped by other more inoderu and more industrious places. It numbers about 90,000 inhabitants, including the suburbs on the left and the villages on the right bank, which ought to be regarded as forming part of Quebec, us they share in its trade and are the termini of the railway systems con- necting it with New Brunswick and the United States. Doubtless Quebec has the advantage of an excellent harbour, now completed by slips and docks ; it may also be regarded as the head of the navigation for sailing vessels. But since the deepening of Lake St. Peter, the largest steamers are able to ascend the river right up to Montreal ; hence the aggregate of the Quebec * MonMeigneur de Laval, a noted perxonage in Canadian eoclesiaatioal histoiy, ws8 the fint biiihop of "New Franco." A Rcion of the noble familj of Montmorency, "he had all the vigonr, all the courage, and a full pro|>ortiun of the pride which belonged to his lineage. He arrived in Qnebeo in 1()58, and aiwumed, with no faltering grasp, the reins of ecclesiaiitical power. He divided the country into regular parishes ; he founded in 1663 the Seminary of Quebec, the Orand Seminary for the training of the clergy of his diocese, and the Little Seminary for general education. To this institution he devoted all his own wealth, and, after thirty years' labour, retired to spend within its walls the remainder of his life. It was not till 1852 that the ultimate design of its founder was realised and the Seminary was erected into the Laval University. The building, which is 297 feet long, and five storeys high, with a wing '2Gd feet long, stands out boldly in the forefront of the upper town, presenting an imposing appearance as viewed from the water below. There are four faculties in this university — theologT-, law, mulieinc, and art. It haa thirty-four professors and three hundred students, and fourteen ooUeg^ and four grand seminaries arc afiUiated to it.— (E. B. Biggar, op. eit.) V ■ 'j^& i ^ ss! ii'£ t ^s»iiii&s 'sww ^^ '.'^ ' !" ; )"', l y ,^ij i' "w j jwj pi n; gg TOl'OaEAPHY OF CANADA. 827 flnuridbiiig watering-pluces. The whirlpool of the "Gouffro," near Coudres lalund, was till recently much dreaded by boatmen, but it is gradually silting up. Fig. 146. — Thk St. LikWUBNCB between Kauoubaska and thb Saouenat. 8oal« 1 ; 480 000. 48- ' 69" 50- 69°30- Wesb oF Greenw.ch tjauda. Dep^ha Oto33 Feot. 31 to 160 Feet. 160 Feet and npwarda. 6 Ugh' house. , eMOea. The neighbouring headland of the " Cap aux Corbeaux " (" Raven Cape ") is said to have received its name from the carnivorous birds waiting for the bodies of the seafarers drowned in the whirlpool. ^^ 8S8 NORTn AMERICA. mi Ririire-du-Loup, the largest town of the lower St. Lawrence below Quobtc, takes its name from a neighbouring stream which here develops a magniKcent cascade. It hos also been called Fra»crville in honour of the old lords of the manor, who are still the most distinguished persons in the district. Rivi^re-du-Loup has in recent times acquired considerable importance as the converging-point of three main railways, the Grand Trunk, the Intercolonial, and the line running from the shores of Luke Temiscouota (the " Deep ") in the direction of New Brunswick and the port of St. John's. Its staple industry is the manufacture of boots and shoes, and, thanks to its position on the estuary, it is rapidly becoming a popular bathing- place. But hitherto the Canadian fashionable world has shown a preference for the nearly circular beach of Cacouna, some six miles further on. The word " Cacouna," which means " turtle," describes accurately enough the form of the bay, which is protected by a long high headland, connected with the mainland by a sandy nock like that of Giens or Monte Argentaro. Settlements in the Sagvenat Ba8in. Over against Cacouna the St. Lawrence is joined by the Saguenay, a river the solemn grandeur of whose scenery never fails to impress all observers with feelings almost akin to terror. " Who has not heard of the Saguenay P " exclaims Mr. Stuart Cumberland, " that river which the early explorers thought led to the nethermost pit. For downright gloomy awfulness there is nothing to equal it in the world ; and as the boat glides over the black fathomless water, through the chasm rent by angry nature in the frowning, cheerless rocks, one finds it diiUcult to overcome the first feeling of awe that the scene creates. With the fall of night, and with all brightness gone out of the skies, the surroundings assume an even more fearful aspect. From out of the inky darkness strange devilish forms seem to issue and flit in threatening attitudes before you, whilst from out of the depths of the impenetrable caverns, in accordance with your f^ncy, there come the despairing moans of souls lost in endless torture. The early settlers were at constant feud with the evil spirits of this most demoniacal river, and at its mouth they built a church — the first one in Canada — the ruins of which still exist." * The region traversed by this remarkable watercourse is not, as was supposed by the early settlers, a " kingdom rich in gold and precious stones " ; nevertheless, it supplies treasures of another kind, and the Hudson Bay Company, which inherited this " kingdom,'.' was so jealous of its exclusive possession, that till the year 1838, no trapper was allowed to clear the land, cultivate the soil, or even fell timber ; according to their claims, nobody had a right to touch " fur or fir " within these bcoad acres.t Thus a region, which had already been partially surveyed by Normandin in 1735, lapsed into the condition of a terra incognila, and it is only within the present generation that the ploughshare has made its appearance on the shores of Lake • The Quem't Highway, p. 388. t Arthur Buies, Le Sagutnay et la vul ie du Lae Saint-Jean. I I II . 1 ! . i .m f^rm^^fmt" TOPOOfiAPHY OF CANADA. 820 St. John. The first essays at colonisation, in 1848, were of u heroic character. It had long been known that the whole of the lacustrine busiti was broadly girdled round by alluvial lands easily cultivable and highly productive, resting on a substratum of calcareous rocks. But how were they to be reached, lying as they did beyond the mountainous zone of the upper Saguenay and tho Luurentidc Hills, hundreds of miles from all highways. Yet daring pioneers, mostly from Mul Bay, Eamouraska, and other v. j;e8 on the shores of the St. Lawrence, plunged into the unknown, remote from all their bases of supplies. Hewing their way through the woodlands, or stemming the swift currents on frail rafts, at last they reached a valley which seemed to have formerly been an emissary of the lake, and here they founded a settlement to which they gave the name of Ildwrt- fille, in honour of their pastor, at once their spiritual and temporal guide. This was the parent colony, whence sprang all the other communes now flinging the southern and western shore*) of the lake. The marvellous salubrity of the land, where the birth-rate is fivefold higher than the mortality, contributes even more than direct immigration to its occupation. Despite the lack of roads and bridges, the forest clearings are steadily advancing round the northern and eastern margins, and in the near future the great inland sea will be completely girdled by a broad zone of villages and cultivated lauds. The population is doubled from decade to decade, and during the fine season the district is resorted to by crowds of American anglers to whip the waters for the tranauinh, called in English the "land-locked salmon," though not a member of the salmonidse. It is now proposed to regulate the level of the lake by sluices at the two " discharges " towards the Saguenay. — ': * . In the lacustrine basin the largest place is Boberval, named after an early explorer who traversed the Laurentide regions in the year 1542. The houses of Roberval are disposed along the sandy beach on the verge of a vast plain, now completely disafforested, for in the eyes of the settler " the tree is the enemy." Northwards rises a rocky eminence, a cran, as it is locally called, whence a wide prospect is commanded of the tilled lands about Sainte-Prime and other communes, last outlying stations of civilisation towards the north. Farther on, the only habitations are those of a few Montagnais Indians, and beyond Hudson Bay those of the Eskimo' fishers. East of the " cran " of Sainte-Prime, a terrace named Poinfe-Bkiie has been reserved for the Lake Indians ; the lands granted to them are amongst the best in Canada, and the forests, by which they are partly overgrown, have recently been destroyed by a fire. The whites are forbidden to encroach on this tract, where a little rudimentary agriculture is practised by a few half-breeds. They still live mainly by fishing and hunting, and the bow and arrow are the characteristic toys of their children. Nearly all the Montagnais of this reserve have erected their tents, their shanties and stacks on the margin of the lake, grouped round about a chapel whose altars, decorated with banners and artificial flowers, they are proud of showing to strangers. There are few more pleasant sites than that of la Pointe-Bleue, where the path winds along the cliff below its maple, wild cherry, ■,«. 880 NOliTH AMERICA. I and aspen groves, between which vistas are afforded of the glittering lake with its crocks and inl'^ta, its white sandy beach and wooded islets. The port of the St. John dibtriot and of the upper Saguenay basin is the thriving town of Chicoutimi, on both banks of the river of the same name, at the head of the navigation. The Ereo name of the place, " Depth so far," answers exactly to the conditions, although steamers have to await the flood tides to reach the station. A busy lumber trade is carried on along the banks of the Suguenay below its confluence with the Chicoutimi, which descends through a series of Fig. UO. — ^TaDOUSSXO AMD THE SaoUENAY COMnUEMOl. Sou* 1 : 10,000. W«H oF Greanwich 69*42 69* 56- ^ :. ■ Sands czpoied at low water. ototn Ftat. Daptlw. SOtoim Feet. ■T-.'VH :^^M:.--"i'^: ■■-' ieoto3K> SMKMtand npwuda. hi^ 18 Mile*. .,t rapids from the deep Lake Eenogami. The last cascade, 40 feet high, occurs just above the confluence, and the roar of its foaming waters is heard in the town itself. The lumber trade is here monopolised by a single family, owners of nearly all the surrounding forests. Above the town stands an obelisk, raised in honour of the " father of the Saguenay," that is, the specidator who has managed to control, for his own benefit, the joint labour of all the riverain populations. At Chicoutimi much of the lumber is shipped for export, chiefly by Norwegian brigs. Farther down, Ha-Ha Bay is fringed by a few villages above the deep gorges of the Saguenay. ^ ..■,,- ->.. >,•;;■',.;%;.-■ ;. .j;»j».,v-^v,.» . -.y-j l ^.-—^^ ^«..^,.^-„..^ ^^^^^y^^gjg|^|jj^^^g«^^j ' ■ *"» ^>IA'pi.^l|43f | H'g'i;M ' "i? ' ?-'' ' 'i ' '-;"^ ■ p 1 1 ' mi fvumfT. " ' ' ' '- TOl'OGIlAl'IIY OF CANADA. 881 Tadounaoc, at the confluence of the Saguonuy unci St. Lawrenco, and on the left bunk of bcth rivers, buH acquired nomo iniporfanoe us u port of cull for steamers, and us a summor resort frequented especially by Aniericuns ; but os a truding-pluce it has not justified the hopes of the eurly French nuvigutors. In 1599 Chuuvin hero landed a few men und founded u temporary settlement ; a few years later it be ame u regular factory where the MontugniUH came to barter their peltries, and for a long time the col()ni^ors of Canada hesitated between Tadoussuc and (iuoboc before they finally decided in favour of the latter an the centre of the administration. At present the chief industry of Tudoussac is pisciculture, carried on in the Ame d la JJan/uc, a basin where us many us two millions of salmon fry are annually reared. It has often been proposed to establish a winter harbour ut tlio foot of the headland on the right side of the Suguenuy over against Tudoussac. At this point tho water never freezes, as it does at Quebec and Montreal, and the Atluntic liners might anchor here, instead of stopping short ui the outer ports, such as Halifax or St. John. Stations below Tadoussac. Beyond Tadoussao the left side of the St. Lawrence presents nothing but a few scattered habitations. Here the river valleys are narrow, the mountains steep, the climate severe, while the vegetation of this rugged region is parched by the formidable north-east winds. A few missionary stations, round which are grouped the Indian huts, a number of factories, maintained by the Hudson Buy Company for the purchase of peltries, lighth'nises, and sheds for fish-curing, occur at intervals along the coast as far as the / lanc-Sablon creek, which murks the frontier between the province of Quebec and Labrador properly so called. In the current language, however, the Canadinns apply the term Labrador to the part of the seaboard which extends north of the estuary and gulf of St. Lawrence us fur as Belle-Isle Strait. Despite its rude climate daring men do not fear to settle on the seaboard, and this "Labrador" is spoken of as a promising region for future colonisation. A few hamlets have already been founded here and there by Acadians from the Magdalene Archipelago, and by other pioneers from the opposite Gusp^ peninsula ; the population, though scanty, is nevertheless doubled every ten years. One of the chief stations is the mission of Betsiamite or Beraamis, a village of Montagnais onrl half-breeds on the north side of an estuary here joined by the Betsiamite river, which is navigable by small craft for a distance of about 30 miles. Before 1844, when the Catholic missions were re-estublished, the Montagnais hud relapsed into heathendom, and many of these Indians are still pagans.* Moisie, at the mouth of the river of like name, is also mentioned as one of the places whose position holds out promise of future commercial prosperity ; it has often been proposed to utilise the neighbouring sands, which contain a large V. • • C. H. Famham, " The Ifontagnaia," Harper's New Monthly Magazine. ■>v> '".?»■.'-■■„ 832 NORTH AMERICA. proportion of magnetic iron. Another place of future promise is the humlet of Mingan, which faces the Mingan Archipelago opposite Anticosti. The lands about the mouth of the St. Augustine river are said to be highly productive by their few occupants, and the valley might certainly furnish for export considerable quantities of timber. Lastly, near the entrance of Belle- Isle Strait, follow the stations of Eskimo Point, Good Hope, Belks- Amours, Bra- dore, and Blanc-Sablon. Should a town ever rise on the shores of Bradore Bay, it may claim to stand on the site of the oldest settlement in Canada. In 1508, that is, a century before the foundation of Quebec, here stood the Breton town of Brest, which during the fishing season had a floating population of as many as 3,000 souls.* But the royal monopoly granted to the Governors of Canada Fig. 147.— Eskimo Rtveb and Bbadobe Bat. Scale 1 : 1.600,000. 58° 10' We 9t o F breen.wich 57'io' to .12 Feet. Oepthx. S3 to 80 Feet 80 Feet and upwards. 18 Miles. nipped the little republic in the bud. In the vicinity are still seen a few remains of old structures, some of French, some of Eskimo origin. Thk GaspS Peninsula. The right side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is less of a solitude than the Cana- dian-Labrador coast. Here have been founded the little villages of Trois-Pistoles, Bic, Rimouski, Mitis, and Matane, all situated at the foot of the coast range. Itimouskt, at present merely a landing-stage, hopes one day to become a large place, thanks to its fine harbour; here the Atlantic packets stop to land and receive the European mails, and Kimouski is also the first or last point of the • Quebec Literary and Hittorieal Society, 1841 ; Benjamin Suite, Hittoire de* Canndietu franfai». '■■^ fl'Jrt^JI^l^^UWMiHl*' ~' .gm>u.'yp]>!imvy 1^1, TOPOGRAPHY OP CANADA. 888 continent reached or quitted by passeng^ers. Beyond it as far ns the Newfound- land waters nothing is visible except the long low line of the almost uninhabited shores of Anticosti. Till recently the only occupants of this large island were a few salvage men and lighthouse keepers, and the only cultivated lands the little garden plots round their dwellings. Formerly seafarers wrecked on these inhos- pitable shores were often reduced to the direst distress, resorting even to canni- balism to preserve their lives.* The chief settlement, composed exclusively of Franco-Canadians, lies near the western extremity.t The southern slope of the Gasp^ peninsula, which is washed by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is indented round the coast by numerous fjords, whose harbours have attracted a few groups of population. Gasp^ (Gihakspek, or Montagnais) Fig. us.— SVBTETED AMD AsABLE LAin>8 OF OASPfi. Scale 1 : S,S0O,O0O. Bnrreyed Lands. 63 Milea. IS a sort of Finisterre, or " Land's End," analogous to the western extremity of Brittany, or the terminal peninsulas of Spain and England. Hence this advanced promontory of the continent has played a certain part in the history of geo- graphical research. Jacques Cartier landed here ; here also Boquemont lost a fleet, captured by the English, and other naval battles were fought in th*^ neigh- bouring waters. • At present the Gaspesians are occupied chiefly with fishing and navigation. The interior is a complete solitude, so bleak, rugged, and barren that the surface has not even yet been officially surveyed. The little station of Oaapi stands * Shipwrecks on the coasts of Anticosti from 1870 to 1880 : 106 yessels, manned bj 2,000 hands, of whom 300 perished. (J. U. Gregory, L'tU cf Anticotti et set Naufraget.) t Fauoher de Saint- Maurice, .D« ". .... K 1 ^ 881 NORTH AMERICA. on a creek near the head of the spacious inlet of Gasp^ Buy, and its har< hour offers certain advantages for the projected winter station for transatlantic stearnors. Another .^nlet a little farther south has been well named Mai Bay from its Ilg. 149.— EXTBEWTT OF TBS OASPfi PENnfBnLA. SoOe 1 : 000,000. 49" 64*30' West of Greenwich r— 1" OloSO Feet. Depths. SUto 100 Feet. 160 Feet and upwarda. . IS Vflf 1. dangeroiis reefs and banks. Near the south-east approach the village of PercS stands on the rocky shore at the foot of the lofty headland of St. Anne, whose natural ourioaities render it one of the most ren:arkable spots on the North ..— inr«< il i ^M , : ' ward*. . £0 liUrs. Despite the romantic beauty of its surroundings, Perc4 fails to attract visitors, who are repelled by the intolerable stench of the cod here used to manure the ground. " At Perc^," says a proverb, " the potatoes have codfish bones." ' ''^ ■ ' Chaleur Bat. A short distance south of Perc^ stands the low htodland of Cape d'Espoir (" Cape of Hope "), of which by a curious popular etymology the English have made Cape Despair, a name too well justified by the numerous shipwrecks on this coast. Nevertheless, this cape marks the entrance to the magnificent inlet to which Jacques Cartier g&ve the name of Bote des Chaleurs (Chaleur Bay). His visit took place in 1535, but it had probably already been discovered by the 83(1 NOBTH AMERICA, Spanish nuvigators, for a " Spanish Bay " is figured on the old maps on this part of the coast. Chaleur Bay opens like a second Gulf of St. Lawrence to the south of Gasp^ Bay. Round its whole extent it is encircled by ranges of dome-shaped undulating hills pierced at intervals by the mouths of numerous streams here reaching the coast. Although occasionally ruffled by storms, the bay is usually tranquil, with clear skies free of fog, and slight tidal currents accompanied by scersely perceptible eddies. It abounds in cod, herring, and other fishes, whence its Mic-Mac name, " Fish Sea," one far more justified than its French designation, for it has at times been completely frozen over. These waters are visited by somo American fishers whose captures are intended chiefly for the New Englnnd markets ; but for over a century most of the fishing- smacks have been owned by a Jersey family succeeded by a financial company, and this feudal system still persists almost intact. The fishermen being encum- bered with debt for the loans advanced to them by the speculators, could scarcely attempt to get rid of these burdens without being declared insolvent by the courts. In this land of legend and weird memories Chaleur Bay could not fail to be associated with some supernatural manifestation. Here it assumes the form of a " phantom light," which, like similar phenomena elsewhere, is spoken of by everybody, but actually seen only by a favoured few. It is said to flit about in various parts of the bay, now under one form, now under another, at one time resembling a great ball of fire within a mile or two of the shore, at another assuming the appearance of a burning vessel many miles away. " Sometimes it shoots like a meteor, at others it glides along with a slow and dignified motion. Sometimes it seams to rest upon the water ; sometimes it mounts rapidly in the air and descends again. It is altogether mysterious and eccentric. " The light is generally followed by a storm, and, as an instance of its mys- teriousness and eccentricity, it on one occasion, I am assured, actually appeared above the ice in the depth of winter. " I have watched more than once for a sight of the phantom, but luck was never with me, and I can therefore ofPer no personal opinion with regard to it. " In conclusion I may, however, say that amongst the simple fishing folk there is a tradition that some three-quarters of a century ago the crew of a vessel lying in the bay mutinied, killed their loyal companions, and plundered the ship. In making off with the plunder, however, they were wrecked off the coast and drowned, having been led to their destruction by a mystic light which appeared for the first time in the memory of man. " This is all very well, but why this light continues to appear after it had effected its purpose is not at all clear." * The towns and villages on the coast, such as Paspebiac, or New Carlisle, Carleton, Campbelltown, and Dalhousie, are grouped roimd the large establishments where the fish is cured. As many as 1,500 smacks, manned by 2,800 hands, are _^ , ■ . * Stuart Cnmberland, op. eit. ,. . ,, ., ^^ .^ '> I ! ■■r " ony question of duliniiting tlioso Bcarcrly known tcrritoriiH, they "/oro coUcctivuly known by tho nume of Acadiu or Cudiii, dorivod from tlu* Indiiui word rw/y or 'jiiofMf/, which, ttcconliiig to moHt otyniologJHts, has HJiiiply th«' moaning of " country." After tho Itntinh occupation this name foil into aboyiinci", but it in now propoHod again to revive it as tho general designation of the throe maritime provinces. These minor states, acting separately in the councils of the Ihmiinion, have too little influence to enforce their views ; but when grou{KHl together they ho|)0 to exercise as much authority as the other memlxTH of the Confederacy, and even at times control the majority by their canting vote. Jlut, however this be, their relative influence must always (h-pend on tho number of inhabitants, and this number is far from increasing as rapidly as that of the other provinces despite their favourable commercial position in that part of America which lies nearest to west Europe. ;i ok to the leterminec )8ed like it lal horn of Lawrence, pe Breton Magdalen Physical Fbatures of Nkw Brunswick. The mean elevation of Now Brunswick is certainly low, and the highest point in the whole region probably falls below 3,300 feet. The Bald Mountain, a cone- shaped trappean I'ock, which dominates all the other summits in tho north-west district, is only 2,470 feet high, and the rounded crest of the Blue Mountain farther south in the same range has an absolute altitude of less than 1,600 feet, rising about 760 feet above the surrounding hke-studded valleys. Hence these heights appear as mere hills of slight elevation, and their slopes and escarpments are almost everywhere forest-clad. It would be difficult anywhere to find an eminence affording an extensive view, except, perhaps, in the vicinity of the sea, where a few bold headlands rise above the waves and neighbouring archipela- goes. From the general aspect of the lond geologists find some difficulty in deter- mining the character of the rocks, except where they are exposed in the river gorges or railway cuttings. The surface soil, which must be removed to reach the substratum, is usually covered with a green mantle in summer and a white in winter. This surface soil- consists chiefly of glacial deposits and clnys, while nearly all the underlying rocks appear to belong to the paleozoic and carbonifer- ous epochs. All the central and north-eastern districts are formed of strata dating from the coal age and remarkable for the regularity of their horizontally stratified rocks. There are no hills, and only here and there a few depressions filled with peat, swampy or lacustrine waters. The coal beds themselves arc usually thin and of small extent, but interspersed with them are also minerals, gypsum, native salt, while they are covered with a soil admirably suited for the cultivation of fniit trees and cereals. Hence the carboniferous region is also tho chief agricultural domain in New Brunswick, West of the coal measures a narrow bolt of igneous formations runs south-west and north-east parallel with the general trend of the Appalachian system. . >• ! ^l f ^ ,yv^«^. . y > |^ l' -^• • ^ .f!^ ','■,■?,'■ 840 NORTH AMERICA. The New BmrxswicK Intervals. Along most of the New Brunswick rivers are found extensive low-lying tracts, which consist of alluvial deposits, and are locally known by the name of " the intervals." They have a surface layer of rich loam, easily worked and resting on a substratum of clay or sand. Some of these fertile tracts stand above the level of the highest floods, while others are periodically inundated by this spring freshets. Nearly all the islands in the rivers are of like formation, and a large portion of the intervals, which in some instances extend for over a'mile back from the river banks, has already been brought under tillage. In some places the intervals rise in terraces to the slopes of the surrounding hills, so that here the lower cultivated and annually inundated lands are succeeded by other arable tracts rising above the reach of the highest floods. But all alike are equally productive, whether they occur along the main rivers or in the valleys of their smallest affluents. Before they were cleared for cultivation these intervals were often densely wooded, and almost everywhere overgrown with a rich and varied vegetation. Referring to their appearance at that time. Dr. Bailey, of the New Brunswick University, remarked that, " these interval lands, while they forbade any attempts at geological exploration, could scarcely fail to attract attention for their evident fertility, and for the very remarkable luxuriance of their vegetation, elms and mountain ash attaining an enormous growth, arbor vitse, spruce, fir, birch, and poplar being very numerous, while the shrubs, herbs, and ferns, some of the latter attaining a height of four or five feet, were generally of a kind to indicate great fertility of the soil supporting them." * ■U Physical Features of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Prince Edward Island. Gradually contracting between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Bay of Fundy, the whole region is reduced at its narrowest point to an isthmus 15 or 16 miles wide, which rises little above the surrounding seas. The line of demarca- tion, drawn at this point between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, represents no geological division, for the carboniferous formation is continued east of the isthmus in the Acadian peninsula, where it develops OAtremely thick beds of excel- lent fuel which is worked chiefly in the northern districts. As in New Brunswick, these Acadian coal-fields are very flat ; the eminences rising above them belong to other formations, partly igneous, partly paleozoic. Most of the higher summits of volcanic origin occur in the so-called Cobequid " Mountains," which begin at the headland projecting between the two basins at the head of the Bay of Fundy, and run thence eastwards parallel with Prince Edward Island, ranging in height from about 900 to a little over 1,000 feet. The eminences occurring elsewhere in Nova Scotia are even lower, but they are disposed in a line with the main axis of the peninsula, and at many points • Dr. Bailey, Official Report, 1864. ""W'jgBW PHYSICAL FEATURES OF NOVA SCOTIA. 841 present a superb appearance seen from the inlets washing their base. Lastly the eastern shores of the Bay of Fiindy are skirted by n double chain of eruptive rocks, the "North Mountains" and the "South Mountains," between which the bay communicates through the Annapolis Gut with an inner basin. In Cape Breton, which forms a northern extension of Nova Scotia, the only marked rising grounds are a few silurian heights in the north, for the most part deeply ravined and of difficult access. Prince Edward Island, whose irregular crescent is developed parallel with the Fig. 162.— CABBONIFEBOtja DiSTBICTS OF NoVA ScOTIA AND NeW BeUNSWIOK. Scale t : 7,000,000. W«st op Greenwich 65* Coalfleldi. 1 185 Mile*. contours of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is a low-lying region almost divided into separate masses by the deep bays and inlets indenting its northern and southern shores, and at some points nearly meeting in the interior. A very slight subsi- dence would transform the island into an archipelago. The waters, which, by their erosive action, have separated Prince Edward from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, have evidently followed an original fault in the terrestrial crust, dating from a very remote epoch. The island belongs geologically to a different '^w 812 NOETH AMEBICA. I \': system, being of triassic origin and presenting no trace of the carboniferous rocks churacteristic of the opposite mainland. The coal measures of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton have a collective area of 325,000 acres, and contain a supply of fuel estimated at about 4,000 millions of tons, enough to supply the present consumption of Great Britain fur over thirty years. Throughout the whole of these lands, situated at the Atlantic extremity of Canada, glacial action is everywhere conspicuously evident. The soil is covered tc a great depth with the ddbris of ancient moraines, clays, and boulders, the faces of the rocks presenting regular striations, according to which the glaciers would appear to have moved in the direction from north to south or south-east. In many valleys, notably in that of the St. John, the drift did not follow the present course of the streams, but moved even athwart their beds.* Hence the general geographi- cal disposition of the fluvial valleys must have changed since the glacial epoch. The drift gravels contain a certain proportion of gold derived from the hard rocks of the neighbouring mountains, but the recent alluvia are found to be far less rich in the precious metal. Nova Scotia possesses some productive mines, but in the neighbourhood of theae deposits gold-dust has in vain been sought in the sands of the running waters. Its absence is explained by the recent passage of the glaciers. The streams would appear to have acted somewhat like the gold- hunters themselves, carrying seawards the clays, sands, comminuted particles, and leaving behind the heavier gravels and the residuum of the precious metal. The glaciers on the contrary carried away both gravels and gold-dust. Certain graded terraces skirting the New Brunswick rivers seem to show that, since the glacial epoch, the level of land and surrounding waters has changed several times.t Rivers and Lakes of Nbw Brunswick. South of the St. Lawrence the most copious stream in the Dominion flowing to the Atlantic is the St. John, which was formerly called the Lushtuk, or " Long Hiver," and which has a total length of about 450 miles. Some of the head waters have their source in the dorsal ridge which skirts the left bank of the St. Lawrence at a mean distance of from 12 to 15 miles. To the St. John basin belongs the little Lake Madawaska (St. Francis), near Rivi^re-du-Loup ; but the WoUastook, or main upper branch, has its origin in a depression which is much farther removed from the St. Lawrence, and which is developed in the direction from south-west to north-east parallel with the fluvial valley. This direction is followed as far as the Madawaska confluence, where the St. John trends eastwards, and then south-eastwards to its estuary in the Bay of Fundy. Along its course it receives the waters of numerous lakes both in the Canadian and United States mountains, which send their overflow to both banks through many cascades and rapids. \ ^ ,. , * Mutthew, Hunt, DawBon, and others. t Thomas Belt, Glaeial Period in North America, Transaotioni of the Nora Scotia Inatitnte of Natural Science, 1866. I! i-il- r;»agS-s~jriasrf--5«» EIVEES OP NEW BRUNSWICK. 848 18 rocks I area of [lions of r thirty sniity of covered he faces rs would In many tt course ographi- poch. the hard to be far lines, but bit in the assage of ;he gold- icles, and tal. The Certain since the i several lowing to )r " Long the head ik of the )hn basin but the h is much ) direction irection is eastwards, s course it ted States icades and te of Natural In its upper valley the St. John itself develops the finest falls in New Bruns- wick. Below a deep expanse of smooth water, the stream disappears in a narrow gorge, and after sweeping down a steep incline plunges with a drop of 60 feet over a limestone barrier. Hight and left numerous little cataracts, tumbling head- long from the lateral projections, merge in the foaming channel of the main stream. Beyond this chasm the rapids are continued for over half a mile to another espAnse, where the snags sent down from above are seen whirling round in the eddies. Farther down the St. John receives its two largest affluents, the Aroostook, which joins its left bank from the State of Maine, and the Tobique, descending on the opposite side from the hills encircling the Bay of Chaleur. Alpestrine scenery now gives place to soft and charming landscapes, where the meandering stream winds placidly between rounded grassy or wooded hills. Here and there traces may be seen of old beaches along the slopes of the valley, and considerably higher than the present fluvial level. Such wnter-marks attest the great changes that have taken place in recent geological times in the relief of the land. But the great extent of these changes can best be studied in the lower reaches, where the St. John expands into a broad estuary navigable by vessels of heavy draught. Along the whole of the New Brunswick coastlands the rocky heights are disposed parallel with the Bay of Fundy and with Nova Scotin, in a line with the main axis of the Appalachian Mountains. This general dis- position of the ridges from south-east to north-west opposed a physical impediment to the seaward course of the St. John ; the consequence is that above each rocky barrier the river and its affluents have formed extensive lacustrine basins. Four large lakes thus follow each other east of the lower St. John, flooding parallel valleys between the coast chains. At the very mouth of the river is deve- loped a marshy expanse with a creek which seems to have been the former fluvial channel. The present mouth has been formed by the rupture of a rooky limestone barrier, whose walls are now seen rising about 100 feet above the surface. This breach in the rock-bound coast presents a unique phenomenon. At low water the St. John, confined to a channel 460 feet wide, descends to the basin through two falls, the higher of which forms a uniform sheet 24 to 26 feet high. As the tide rises the lower cascade is gradually efiPaced, and th?n the base of the second becomes swamped, as it were, the outer or landward attaining the same level as the seaward current. The two streams become intermingled in conflicting eddies, and during exceptionally strong tides the cascfule becomes, so to say, reversed, the tidal stream rushing up the bed of the river sometimes as far as the capital, 80 miles inland. During the short period of equilibrium between the two levels steamers are able to penetrate from the roadstead into the St. John, whose course is navigable for over 250 miles from the sea. Formerly the Indians and Canadian trappers ascended it as far as a portage, whence they crossed into the St. Lawrence basin^ reaching Quebec by the bed of the Chaudiere River. The St. John, like the St. Law- rence, becomes a source of danger to the riverain populations by the jamming SjSS^^t; 8U NORTH AMERICA. and bursting of its icy fetters. Thus in 1831 the frozen masses suddenly burst above the narrows at Fredericton, and, getting jammed in this gorge, they became piled up in an immense dam, causing the river to flow back and threatening (he town with complete destruction* No other New Brunswick stream can compare with the St. John in size or volume, although others also send down a considerable current and are even navigable for some distance from the sea. In the north the long eStuary of the Bay of Chaleur, which reproduces on a smaller scale that of the St. Lawrence, receives the waters of the Restigouche (" Five Fingers "), a large stream which has been selected as the frontier towards the province of Quebec. In the south an inlet from the same estuary takes its name from the Nipisquit (Nipisguit), a considerable affluent from the south-west, which, like the St. John, has also its " grand falls." The extensive plains between the St. John and Nipisquit basins are traversed by the various streams whose united waters form the Miramichi, which reaches the east coast at Miramichi Bay, a broad inlet sheltered at its mouth by a cluster of inlets. The Miramichi basin, which is next in importance to that of the St. John, lies entirely within the province of which it occupies all the central parts. Its estuary is perfectly safe, and the lower reaches are deep enough for large steamers to ascend some miles inland. At a short distance from the coast the main stream ramifies into two branches, which are again subdivided into several secondary channels branching off in various directions. The farthest headotream, whose waters appear to intermingle at some points with those of the St. John affluents, takes the name of the South-west Miramichi, and rises near the United States frontier. It flows for over 80 miles through a comparatively settled and productive region, though even here extensi'^a tracts of good land still remain unoccupied. All the other tributaries, such as the North-west Miramichi, the '• Little South- west," the Renous, the Cain's River, and the Bartholomew, are navigable by boats of light draught, and settlements have already been formed on many of the "intervals" traversed by them. All the streams forming the wide-branching Miramichi system flow through a region of great fertility, abounding in fine forest and pasture lands. Extensive lumbering operations are carried on, especially about their sources, the logs being floated down to the saw-mills, M'hich are kept constantly at work at Chatham, Newcastle, and other flourishing places about the estuary. The St. Croix, which flows to Fassamaquoddy Bay, forms the political frontier towards the State of Maine. It is a considerable stream, receiving the overflow of two chains of lakes, one of which lies beyond the frontier in the State of Maine, while the other forms with the river the boundary between that state and New Brunswick. The St. Croix is navigable as far as St. Stephen, which lies about 16 miles from its mouth at the head of the tidal waters. The estuary in Fassama- quoddy Bay forms one of the finest harbours on the whole of the north-east seaboard. This harbour of St. Andrews, as it is called from the neighbouring * A. Leith Adams. r ', s' ,,;'i;,-v;.i -'. v<- ■.::>>; .;;';^,■.' i BAY OF FUNDY. 84 S ly burst became ing the size or ire even y of the iwrence, m wbich he south sguit), a also its 'ersed by iches the sluster of it. John, TtS. Its steamers n stream econdary n, whose affluents, ed States reductive occupied. B South- by boats of the 'ranching in fine especially are kept about the 1 frontier rerflow of >f Maine, and New about 16 Passama- aorth-east ^hbouring town of that name, has an area of about 100 square miles, is well sheltored by the West Isles, which form a natural breakwater at its entrance, and baa the great advantage of good anchorage almost completely free from obstruction by ice throughout the year. Altogether New Brunswick enjoys an unusual extent of navigable waters, flowing almost entirely through wooded or arable lands of great fertility, and developing spacious and well-sheltered harbours at their tidal estuaries. Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Prince Edward Island are too contracted to develop large watercourses ; but many of the streams expand into broad estuaries at their mouth. Both on the north and south sides the maritime provinces are deeply indented by such estuaries and other inlets, which were, perhaps, ancient fjords, but which have long ceased to present the typical ospect of such foima- tions. They nowhere show the meandering course, precipitous walls and deep channels characteristic of the Alaskan sounds and inlets, the contour lines and general relief having been, during the course ,of ages, profoundly modified by erosive action. Sounds and Inlets. — Bay of Fundy. In the north the great circular current of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which penetrates into Northumberland Strait between Prince Edward Island and the mainland, has sculptured the seaboard in the direction from north-west to south- east. But on the opposite side the waters entering the Bay of Fundy and setting south-west and north-east, have enlarged the fluvial valleys opened in that direction between the parallel spurs of the main mountain ranges. In Northum- berland Strait, a comparatively shallow depression in the earth's crust, the average depth varies from 50 to 60 feet, sinking in the cavities to about 100 feet. The curious Bras d'Or, or better, Brador Lake, which occupies a large part of Cape Breton, afiects the form of a horse-shoe, opening northwards through a double channel. This basin has better preserved its primitive character of a fault in the terrestrial crust, its north-east entrance, called " Little Brador," developing a narrow gorge between the cliffs, while in the basin itself depths of over 100 fathoms have been recorded in the deeper troughs. On the seaward side of Nova Scotia the beds of the various inlets are normally inclined in the direction of the marine bed, which in these waters shoals at the average rate of about 14 or 15 feet per mile. The Bay of Fundy, whose Anglicised name is supposed to be a corruption either of "Fond de la Baie," or of "Baya Fonda" ("Deep Bay "), presents the most favourable conditions for the development of the phenomenon of the tidal bore, as observed in so many fluvial estuaries. Here, also, the systematic study of the surrounding constlands has shown that the vast volume of water alternately rising and falling in the secondary inlets has had the effect of modifying the form of the seaboard and even that of the marine bed itself. South of Cape d'Or, which commands the entrance of the Mines (Minas) Channel, the sea, whose average depth in these waters is less than 25 fathoms, has been excavated to a depth of 45 or even 840 NORTH AMERICA. 50 fathoms below the surface. Farther on the soundings have recorded depths of 58 or 60 fathoms. Not only does the swift current prevent the deposits of sands in these chasms, but it erodes the live rock itself ; hence the coast is here everywhere formed of bare cliffs. At the extremity of Chignecto Bay each of the secondary inlets, where the daily ebb and flow presents a difference of level of 40, 60, and even 65 feet, has been carved by these tremendous tidal currents out of the paleozoic rocks of Fig. 153. — Laxe of Bbadob. Boale 1 : 1,300,000. Dcpthi. Feet. 3 to 160 Feet. t60tne40 Feet. 640 Feet and opwardi. , ISHilw. the isthmus connecting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The sea, in fact, is continually eating away this isthmus, so that the time may come when the Ba}' of Fundy will communicate directly with Northumberland Strait, thus trans- forming Nova Scotia to an island. 7*^ « vr. A".(iiii^v? >> ;<^v*;:>- vjji The little Amherst, Oulac, Tantramar, and Missiquash rivulets, which at ebb are almost lost amongst the sands, are changed at flood tide into vast estuaries three or four miles wide, while the low-lying shores of Minudie Island, with their vast beds of seaweed, are completely flooded at high water. The contrast between I. CLIMATE OF THE MARITIME PROVINCES. 847 I depths posits of t is here here the feet, has rocks ol ,7 ,^V' If, ■ ! in fact, is 1 the Bav ms trans- lich at ebb t estuaries with their jt between the neighbouring seas is most striking. In the south the whole land seems to be periodically inundated with a deluge of rising waters, whereas the tidal currents seem to make no perceptible change in tlie form of the seaboard round Verte Buy in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where t^je highest tides scarcely exceed nine feet. Climate of the Maritime Pkovinces. Although the Maritime Provinces lie under a somewhat more southern latitude, their climate on the whole resembles that of the St. Lawrence estuary. On the coastlands the summer heats are no doubt tempered by the Newfoundland fogs, and the severity of winter mitigated by the southern winds and the warm currents penetrating into the Bay of Fundy and its secondary inlets. But the effect of these modifying influences is almost confined to the seaboard, leaving the interior of the country subject to the normal conditions. The contrast presented by the central plains and the maritime districts is represented by a discrepancy of as many as 30° F. between the extreme tempera- tures. Thus at Fredericton the summer heats are 8° or 10° higher and the winter colds 18° or 20° lower thiin at St. John.* Summer is followed by an autumn of early frosts and biting north winds, ushering in a winter which lasts more than half the year with alternating bright and snowy weather. So rapid is the tran- sition from winter to summer that two or three days of mild spring weather a.e followed by the season of intense heats. At times forty-eight hours suffice to completely clothe a leafless tree with a fully-developed foliage. On the coastlands the average annual rainfall amounts to about 40 inches. On the subject of the climate of New Brunswick, so important for intending emigrants to the Maritime Provinces, Mr. Ch. Lagrin, Secretary of the Local Board of Agriculture, has embodied much useful information in his memoir on the " Resources, Progress, and Advantages " of this province. " The climate of New Brunswick," be remarks, "is favourable to the successful prosecution of agriculture, and to the longpevity of the inhabitants. It has been the custom to represent the climate of Canada as made up of extremes ; but it must always be borne in mind that Canada is a country almost as large as Europe, and extending through nearly as many degrees of latitude ; that it is subject to many influences affecting the climate, of which it presents every variety from the balmy, rainless summers and mild, wet winters of Southern British Columbia, to the almost unbroken winter of the Arctic zone. " New Brunswick goes to neither extreme, for, although there may be exceptional * Temperature of the Maritime Provinces : — •>« ■*•;"' North LaHtude. Mean I fempenture. Fredericton 45° 67' 42° F. St. John 46° 17' 41° . Sydney 46° 8' 47» Charlottetown . ^;.' . , . 46° 14' 40» Halifax . . . . . 44° 39' 42» . t Differences of summer and winter temperatures at Fredericton and St. Juhn : — Fredericton +96° to —36° F. ■ V ._ . f St John -J^8°to— 33° ■ J Mn uj ii twi i inu i n i yi>i i 4 i f » | i , i| .i i j;j ii^ j ! |. ^ |) iY|^^p^^l^Wj«il1 818 NOBTH AMERICA. (lays every year whou the thermometer registers above 90° Fahrenheit or below — 20°, a man can do more days* work out of doors in the course of the year in the Province than he can in any part of the British Isles. During the coldest days children go to school, and men engage in their ordinary outdoor employment without inconvenience. A common working dress for out-of-door wear in the coldest weather consists of u suit of heavy knit underwear, a flannel shirt, trousers of homespun wool cloth, one or two pairs of woollen socks, a pair of boots, larri- giins or moccasins, a coat or ' jumper ' of the name material as the trousers, a cloth cop with coverings for the ears, and a pair of woollen mittens. *' Clad thus a man can work out of doors all day long in the coldest winter weather ever felt in New Brunswick. If he is going on a long drive he will put on a heavy topcoat. Everybody who lives on a farm in New Brunswick is well provided with conifortoble clothing, and the cold of winter, so far from being a drawback or an inconvenience, is both an advantage in many respects and a source of much enjoyment. New settlers in the country are invariably agreeably dis- appointed in the winter weather. The New Deumaik settlers say that, on the whole, it is preferable to that of Denmark, and the Kincardine and other settlers from Great Britain say that, owing to the cheapness of excellent fuel, the dryness of the air, and the infrequency of serious storms, a New Brunswick winter is pleasantcr than one in Great Britain. " Summer in New Brunswick is usually very fine. In every season there are a few very hot days, but the greater part of summer is as delightful as the weather in any part of the world. The province is a favourite resort of thousands of persons from the Atlantic States, who seek a more enjoyable climate than they can find at home. " The course of the seasons is somewhat as follows : — •' The year generally begins with the rivers and lakes frozen over firmly, and a foot of snow upon the ground ; at least, this would be an ideal beginning for the year. The Christmas marketing will have made hard snow roads all over the country, on which a pair of horses will transport immense loads of produce. Lumbering operations are at this season under full sway. " March is sometimes stormy, but its average temperature is higher than that of the two preceding; months. Towards the close the &now begins to disappear from much-used roads and in sunny places. " About the middle of April the ice in the rivers begins to break up, so that when May comes in navigation is open. In May vegetation begins to make rapid progress, and the grof^th appears wonderful to a person not familiar with the New Brunswick climate. A warm rain and a few days of bright sunshine completely transform the face of the country. " In June planting is continued, and so rapidly do things mature,- that crops may be put in late in this month and yet have an excellent chance of coming to perfection. In July haymaking begins, and towards the last of August early grain is harvested and early apples are ready for marketing. The harvest con- tinues during September, ^hich is generally the finest mouth in the year. In " ii ui.. i i||u p ■W il l i - j i ifm m i m^m FLORA CI' THE MARITIME PROVINCES. 840 or below ur iu the lest days ploymont ir in the , trousers its, lurri- •ousers, a ist winter » will put k is well 1 being a I a source ably dis- iit, on the )r settlers e dryness winter is here are a e weather usands of han they nly, and a ig for the over the produce. an that of ipear from ip, so that to make liliar with sunshine that crops coming to just early rvest con- year. In October the root crop will be hiirvested, and early in November a fall of snow may be looked for, to bo followed by a few days of most genial weather, known us the ' Indian summer.' " December is the beginning of winter, the effect of which upon agriculture is, on the whole, not disadvantageous. The heavy frosts render the ground friable and open, doing more good than could be accomplished by several ploughings. To the pulverising action oi the frost on the soil is attributed the remarkable yield of root crops in New Brunswick. " Fever, ague and malarial fevers are unknown. There is an abundance of the best water everywhere ; iu fact, in all that is necessary to produce rugged man New Brunswick is unsurpassed. In all parts of North America the natives of this Province are admitted to be above the average iu strength and endurance." Flora. The Acadian flora is specially remarkable for the surprising proportion of its Arctic forms. In this respect it bears most resemblance to that of the Scandinavian peninsula, despite the vast extent of the intervening Atlantic waters. Till recently New Brunswick was an almost continuous forest, scarcely interrupted by the rivers, lakes and mossy tracts, which were formerly flooded depressions, but whose sphagnous growths have gradually absorbed the moisture, themselves expanding like huge sponges below the surface. Even within the last half-century some lakes of considerable size have thus disappeared beneath the encroaching bog- mosses.* In 1825 a terrible confligratiou. generally known as " the great Miramichi fire," destroyed nearly the whole of the forests in the northern and central regions of New Brunswick. The space laid waste covered 3,000,000 acres. Even in New England the sun was obscured by volumes of smoke, and at night the horizon was lit up by the reflection of the flames. Newcastle and the other villages on the coast were reduced to ashes, and to escape the Are the people had to plunge into the rivers or else take refuge with their domestic animals and the wild beasts on the reefs and sandbanks. After the devastation the evergreen pines were mostly replaced by trees with deciduous foliage, but here and there in the new woodlands are seen a few conifers still intermingled, after three-quarters of a century, with the charred trunks of the older plants. Another great fire consumed the northern forests in the summer of the year 1870 when the country had suffered from a protracted drought. Formerly the Indians set fire to the woods in order to drive out the game, or else to repel the white settlers from the ar>\ble lands. The " gloomy days," to which reference is made in the early recoids of colonisation both in Canada and New England, probably owed their appalling darkness to an atmosphere charged with the smoke and ashes of some conflagration raging in the distance. • , Fruit trees and berry-bearing plants of all kinds thrive well in the Maritime :-TJJUIBtl^!^mBW!'h'' HH ' . I i fiyi - . i ,u B

i seen only in a single district of New Brunswick, and it has now probably disappeared altogether. The kitchen-middens left in many places along the shore by the ancient Algonquin or Eskimo populations contain large quantities of the bones of this animal, generally split for the extraction of the marrow. In 1873 the beaver was still found in certain districts 80 or 90 miles from the coast, but if he has himself disappeared, he has at least left many vestiges of his work in the fine meadow-lands occurring along the river-banks above his former dams. There are few watercourses in New Brunswick which do not present at intervals such rich grassy tracts, which yield the best hay in the country. According to the popular saying, " the work of the beaver is more lasting than that of the Indian." The pekan or " fisher " (Pennant's marten) and other fur-bearing animals are also becoming more and more rare. Since the beginning of the present century, the walrus has ceased to frequent the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick waters, where it abounded during the eighteenth century. This marine animal has now withdrawn to the Arctic seas some 600 or 700 miles nearer to the pole. Seals formerly congregated in thousands in all the neighbouring inlets. In 1797, the southern channel having been completely frozen, their herds attempted to cross Prince Edward Island to the north side, and on this occasion hundreds were captured in the forests.* The year 1825 is also memorable in the zoological annals of the island. This was the so-called " mouse year," when these rodents swarmed in such prodigious quantities that, after devouring all the crops and grain, they marched down to the seashore, where they perished in countless multitudes, their bodies forming thick beds like masses of seaweed along the beach. * John Stewart, An Account of Priiict Edward Iilaiid. ■ w I .■ yj.'rri « 'i i T;;f, »wiii" FAUNA OF THE MAKITIME PROVINCES. 851 arc noted diHtricts tho more isol)errio8, nd ; bluo- ispborries ,e marshy vated, the y even to ?at is the ort. ighout the still met, sh prohibit • wail seen isappeared ire by the le bones of 8 from the iges of his above hia ch do not lay in the er is more inimals are it century, ick waters, il has now >ole. Seals 1 1797, the ed to cross idreds were zoological ese rodents crops and a. countless 2; the beach. Amongst tho birds which formerly viisitcd the Maritime Provinces, nud which were met by tho first European settlers, mention is made of tho great auk, as well as a species of duck called tho " Labrador duck." It is difiicult to nf^oount for the disappearance of the latter, which was not an awkward bird like tho penguin, but possessed great power of flight, so that it might cu'^ily have retired to more distant haunts without disappearing altogether. Certain shellfish are now also vainly sought on the coasts which were observed by the naturalists of the last century, but their disappearance is explained by the pollution of the water by the quantities of sawdust covering the seashoro round all the estuaries.* The reptiles and amphibia are represented in the Mari- time Provinces by a few snakes, none of which are poisonous, by numerous turtles, frogs, and salamanders. Amongst the loveliest denizens of the woodlands is the ruby-throat humming- bird, which arrives every year from the Caribbean Islands towards the end of May simultaneously with the appearance of the young foliage. It tarries longer than the swallow and other migratory birds of larger size, suddenly disappearing towards the end of September. It is surprising that the fledglings bom during the brief summer season can acquire sufficient strength to wing their flight across the seas to their distant winter quarters in the West Indies. The humming-bird of the east coastlands of America differs little from the species which on the opposite side of the continent migrates ])eriodically between Central America and British Columbia. In the middle of the last century the fresh and marine waters of the Maritime Provinces teemed with animal life to a marvellous extent. Even still submarine banks are met where the fish are crowded together in compact masses. In 1837, during a fierce storm, a marshy lagoon communicating with the sea had its muddy bed completely covered with fish " heaped up like herrings in a borrel," and mixed with crabs, lobsters, moUusks, and annelids of all kinds. The rocks in the channel were covered with a seething mass of these decomposed animal remains, which in some places were deposited to a depth of several feet. For a distance of 5 or 6 miles the atmosphere was poisoned by the gases arising from this putrid matter, which yielded a superabundance of manure to the farmers of the surround- ing district. At present the salmon has ceased to ascend several of the watercourses in the Maritime Provinces, and in those which it still frequents nearly all that are captured bear traces of the injuries inflicted by the hook or by the meshes of the fishermen's nets. But the deep-sea fish which visit the coasts during the spawning season still abound in amazing quantities, and fishing still continues to be one of the staple industries of New Brunswick. Even in the harbour of St. John, crowded as it is with shipping, a species of cod is captured in large quantities. In g^d seasons as many as 20,000 barrels are exported, representing a total weight of over 1,750 tons. * 'Hitehoodk, Seienlijtc Survey of t/ie Slate of Mttitu. ' . "tf"^" ! 'lH;.fH. ' ",i. ' WVM ■ ■■ W*! ' H ' > ' t' i ! IM NOIITII AMERICA. InHAJIITANTS ok THK MaRITIMK I'llOVlNCKS. The former inhabltantB have loft numerous traces of their presence, especiully implomonts and woujM)n8, both of chipped und imlishod stone. Their cumping- grounds were concontratod especially on the banks of the Grand Lake, an affluent of the Lower St. John, and in the valley of the Tobique River. No objects belonging to a bronze age have boon found, and the chert arrow-heads and hatchets wore succeeded by the iron weapons stamped with the flour-do-lis, which the French traders sold to the natives, and which are still picked up liere and there in the wotnls. Although tho aborigines had no pottery, they were none the less already artists, judging, at least, from tho rude sculptures now and then brought to light by the geologists and hunters. One of these carved on a rock on the banks of Luke Utopia, not far from PaHsamaquoddy Bay, is a boldly-chiselled medallion, such as none of the present natives could attempt to imitate. The practice of giving the local Indians the name of " brother " has passed from the French trappers to the present white populations, although in their mouth the term sounds somewhat like irony. The whites have allowed their " brothers " to perish, if they have not directly hastened their extinction. Accord- ing to the French missionaries the aborigines of Acadia, including the islands and peninsulas, probably numbered 10,000 towards the beginning of the seventeenth century, but the census of 1881 returned only about 3,400 altogether, of whom over 1,600 resided in Nova Scotia. The Mic-Mac8 and otheii Ahorioines. This remnant of the old owners of the land belong to three different Algonquin tribes : the Mic-Macs, or Souriquois, scattered over Nova Scotia and the northern parts of New Brunswick ; the Etchemins, or Eteminquois, who dwelt more to the south in tho basin of the St. John River, and who ranged at one time as far as the banks of the St. Lawrence opposite the Quebec headland ; lastly, the Melicites (Milicites), who now occupy a few reserves on the south frontier of New Brunswick, but who are more numerous in the contiguous state of Maine. Their Protestant neighbours, the New England Puritans, call them " Amalekites," in allusion to the accursed race whom the children of Israel were called upon to exter- minate. The original language of the Mic-Macs, which they still speak, is said to contain a certain number of words resembling synonymous roots in the European languages, a phenomenon regarded by certain writers as an indication of a long sojourn of the Scandinavians in the country.* Both the Mic-Macs and Etchemins have also borrowed a number of expressions from the early French settlers, with whom they always lived on a friendly footing. These Algonquins are no longer full-blood Indians, all their groups having * Dawton, Acadian Geology; Ch G. Leland, Algonquin Ltgtndi of New England, i!Mi_iu«.;t ^ipii f?m S,SJPli»|«,#' «B- INIIAniTANTS OF TUE MARITIME PUOnNCES. 86a HpeciuUy :;umping* 1 ufHuent o objects cads and lis, which horo and 8 already it to light ) banks of medalliou, 1U8 passed h in their »wed tlieir J. Accord- slands and eventeenth r, of whom Algonquin northern nore to the le as far as Melicites Brunswick, Protestant in allusion to exter- is said to e European in of a long Etchemins ttlers, with ups having nd. been croHHi'd with the French, Scotch, and English settlers cstabliMhcd in the country for over ihreo hundred yours. NevorlholcHst it is imposHiblo tu confound any of them with tiioir Kuropeun neighbours. Tln;ir racial clniructers have Won but slightly nioditicd, and all arc still distinguished by tliuir tliickKct Kgurus, large nose, thick lips, large mouth, prominent clieekboiios, HmuU eycn, smooth or lank black hair. Leith Adams considurs that they resundde thu Ki'kimo more closely than they do the ordinary Hed-skins. The miijority ago prematurely, and more than ludfof the children perinhafew days after birth, ordurii'g the teething period. Consumption, which is very prevalent amongst the white inhabitants of the Maritime Provinces, commits great havoc amongst the natives. Very few of theMC Indians cultivate the plots round about their cabins; most of them still prefer fishing and hunting, occupying their spare time in building canoes, in basket-work, or embroidering mocassins. According to the early missionaries their ancestors had no cult, and practised no religious ceremonies of any kind ; at present they pass for Roman Catholics. The \:]ukoi*ean SErrLEus — The Acauians. It was on an island in the f : . Cn ''\ estuary, within the Etchemin territory, that the first French sett'oment '^ is found ^ by t'o Mouts. But half of the colonists having been carried off by the ten' le " land sickness," this fatal spot had to be abandoned for Port Royal, a .:.oie favourably situated station on the east side of the Bay of Fundy. ^^ .ra this point He colonisation, frequently interrupted by wars, spread slowl ' aio q; the neighbouring coastlands. At the beginning of the eighteenth Qentury, a hundred ye ■■•> : fter the founda- tion of I'ort Royal, the whole of the white population in French Acadia, that is, in the maritime region south of the St. Lawrence basin, numbered not more than 1,300 or 1,400; in 1713 they had increased to 2,100, the great majority from Normandy and Perche.* This vigoious population of peasantry and fishers con- tinued to grow by the natural excess of births over deaths, and towards the middle of the eighteenth century their numbers had been multiplied sixfold. In virtue of the treaty of Utrecht Acadia was ceded to Great Britain ; but the French colonists having been recognised as " neutrals," the oath of allegiance required by the 3ri " h <^overnment guaranteed to them the privilege of never being called upon t<> ' ;.u:e up arms either against their former fellow- citizens, or against their " brothers," the Indians. According as they increased in numbers, or enlarged the "^rea of their cultivated lands, they seemed, if not dangerous, at least inconven '.'ut neighbours for the British settlers. Troubles arose on the borders, followed by complaints and charges of high treason,! and increasingly * Benjamin. 8idte, Hiitoirt des Canadient franfait ' ■- /. ■ ; ■ ' t The general charge was that they had forfeited their neutrality, and as British BU>«ject8 had been guilty of treason by furnishing the French and hostile Indianj with information, besides supplying them with provisions and places of refuge. The chief specific charge was that as many as three hundred of these Aoadians had been aotoally found in arms assisting the Canadians at Fort Beau-Si'jour when N. A.— 24 I 854 NOBTH AMEEICA. 'exacting demands for the expulsion of the French settlers and the confiscation of their lands. At last, measures of spoliation were decided upon, without awaiting instructions from the British Government, which was opposed to such proceedings, and which, on the contrary, advised that" the Acadians should he left in the peaceful possession of their villages and fields."* In 1755, Lawrence, Governor of Nova Scotia, invited all the French settlers, young and old, to assemble in the churches, where a royal Fig. 154.— Mikes Ba8:n and Lanb of the Acadians. 8«ale 1 : 2,1!C0,0(M. 64°40' West oF Greenwich 65°4Q' SO Miles. "!' decree would be communicated to them. Most of the inhabitants presented them- selves unarmed, and without iMispicion, at the indicated places, where they learnt to their amazement that " their lands, their houses, their cattle, their flocks, were ' confiscated by the Crown," that they themselves were condemned to transportation, but that the king " in his great goodness," hoped " always to find them loyal subjects in whatever part of the world their lot might be cast." The Acadians, already prisoners of the king, vainly attempted to escape ; vessels presently arrived from Boston, and the unhappy colonists were driven in *hat place was captured by the Eagliih. But whether these ohurges were well founded or not there can be no doubt that the ill-fated Aoadiins were treated with unnecessary harshness and cruelty. Many were certainly innocent, and some, such as Ben6 Leblano, the Notary Public mentioned in Long- fellow's Evangeline, had even proved their loyalty to the British Government at the risk of their own lives and liberties) ; yet all alike were involved in the general ru'n.— Ed. • Rameau de Saint-Pere, Unt Colonie Feodale en Ainerique ; Casgrain, Un Pclennage au pi>j) d^ Evangeline. , INHABITANTS OF THE MARITIME PROVINCES. 856 ifiscation of instructions and which, lI possession otia, invited here a royal resented them- 3re they learnt eir flocks, were transportation, nd them loyal ited to escape ; were driven in mnded or not there ihness and cruelty, mentioned in Longf- le risk of their own Peleriuage au pi'J' batches to the landing-stages. Despite the solemn promises of the governor, several families were broken up ; the " grand derangement," as the Acadians called this enforced exodus, was accompanied by outrage and murder, and at the very moment of embarking, the exiles beheld the terrible spectacle of the raging fires devouring their houses and farmsteads. According to the official registers sent to the Government, the exiles numbered altogether about 6,300 ; but Haliburton's estimate is nearly 8,000, without reckon- ing the hundreds said to have been killed, or to have died of cold and exhaustion in the forests, swamps, and marine inlets. More than half of the Acadian popu- lation, estimated at 14,000, and by Rameau at 16,000, disappeared during the terrible year ; the survivors, thanks to the friendship of the Indians, found a precarious refuge in the more inaccessible districts of the interior. The great majority were distributed almost indiscriminately amongst the different English colonies of the Atlantic seaboard, but they were received with sympathy in Maryland alone, whose inhabitants professed the same faith. Famine and smallpox carried off hundreds, and the stations along the routes were marked by the remains of the dead. In many places they were refused work on the farms, or else they were offered employment on the condition of being re-baptized as Protestants, or surrendering their children to the shepherds.* A large number were transported a second time, some to the West Indies, others as far as British Guiana. As many as 1,500 were brought to England, where they were allowed to perish in the worst slums of Liverpool, Bristol, or Southampton. The survi- vors were at last restored to the mother country, many being removed to Poitou, Berry, and especially Belle-lle-en-Mer, where some of their descendants are still found. ri -■ V A few families were also fortunate enough to reach France direct from Acadia. But the largest group, destined later to constitute a separate colony, found their way to Louisiana, drifting in a flotilla of boats down the current of the Ohio and Mississippi. They numbered about 500, and in their new homes they gradually increased, thanks to the arrival of fresh refugees coming from St. Domingo and other West Indian islands. Even now, a certain number of these " Canadian " families still keep nloof from the bulk of the Louisiana " Creoles " of French origin. Various " Cadies," or Acadian communities, were also founded near Quebec and in other Canadian villages. Lastly, a number of the Acadian sea- farers, having no other resource, took to piracy, infesting the British settlements on the Atlantic seaboard, capturing vessels and plundering unprotected settle- ments. ■■;'*:J/v.;:,u,-/'^.^. .-:;.■' -v;' \-".. .v../,v";' --. ,..", ■ * In 1759, after the fall of Quebec and the submission of the Canadians to English rule, the Nova Scotian authorities, being now at peace with France, and having no longer any pretext for preventing the return of the Acudians, allowed the exiles to come back in hundreds. In some instances the members of scattered • It should, however, be stated, in justice to the New Englanders, that many of the exiles "became a burden to the public, owing, in a gieat degree, to the invincible repugnance which they felt in accepting the usual charitable, though humiliating, establishment of paupers for their children." — ^Miuot.) n •^m' 856 NORTH AMERICA. families again became united after years of separation ; but they sought in vain to resume possession of the lands they had brought under cultivation ; their farms had all passed into the hands of others. They were obliged to wander from place to place, and settle on new lands, without, however, being able to obtain regular titles. Scarcely had they cleared the ground when it was granted to English or Scotch colonists, and the Acadians were thus driven again into exile, or else to take service as hirelings on the lands of strangers. Their social position remained unsettled, their very existen' e scarcely tolerated till after the American War of Fig. 155. - Inhabitants of East Canada. Scale 1 : 18,000,000. 40' CuDudianx West oF Greenwich English nni Ameiicous. Germana. . 310 Mite*. CD Dewrt. Independence, when British supremacy in Canada seemed to be seriously endan- gered Even then the Acadians were refused the right of establishing compact colonies ; each of their settlements had to be isolated between two Protestant estates, and none of the returned exiles were permitted to settle on the sea-coast. At last, by the abolition of the oath of allegiance, in 1827, they were entirely assimilated to the other citizens, and declared eligible for public functions. But notwithstanding several generations of oppression, the French Acadians, who seemed more than once on the point of being exterminated, had never ceased to multiply. During the hundred years, from 1785 to 1885, the Acadian popula- tion doubled itself once every twenty-seven years, and in 1881 the Maritime fj. ' ■ ' INHABITANTS OF THE MARITIME PROVINCES. 857 1; in vain to their farms from place lin regular English or , or else to n remained san War of riously endan- (hing compact «ro Protestant the sea-coast, were entirely ctions. ach Acadians, i never ceased iadian popula- the Maritime Provinces contained altogether a French population of 108,605 ; at present they must number about 130,000, or one-seventh of all the inhabitants. All immigrants, however, are of English, German, or Scandinavian speech, and there is also a considerable movement of emigration towards the United States. But nearly all the English-speaking emigrants from the Maritime Provinces settle permanently abroad, whereas the Acadians, who seek employment in the quarries, brickfields, and fisheries of New England, generally return every season to Canadian territory. Thus it happens that the annual progress of the Acadians is more rapid than that of the other ethnical elements of the country. Should the present birth-rate be maintained in the French families, they will eventually constitute the majority in several districts, and resume the political and social influence of which they were violently deprived about the middle of the last century. Nearly everywhere the Acadians reside in separate enclaves, isolated from the rest of the population. Thus, in Prince Edward Island, they are concentrated chiefly in the north-west extremity of the land ; in Nova Scotia they occupy the south-western districts on the shores of the Atlantic and the Bay of Fundy ; their villages also skirt both sides of the Cunso Channel, and Madame Island at its southern entrance is in their exclusive possession. In New Brunswick, where they are relatively still more numerous, they constitute one-fifth of the entire population. Here their colonies are dotted lound the shores of the Bay of Chaleur and of Miramichi Bay, and farther south on the coast of Northumberland Strait. Lastly, they inhabit all the north-western part of the country bordering on the province of Quebec. The territory of Madawaska, that is to say, both the Canadian and American sides of the upper St John valley, already belongs to the Acadians, descendants of those who took refuge in the unknown forests of the interior during the terrible days of the enforced exodus. The northern frontier of New Brunswick is the only part of the Maritime Pro- vinces where the Acadians come in contact with their Canadian kinsmen. But, strange to say, although both are equally of French origin and members of the Boman Catholic Church, the two sections do not regard themselves as altogether forming a single nationality. Having dwelt apart, separated by vast distances and subjected to difforent historical vicissitudes, they have developed other traditions and other usages. Their patron saints are different, as are also their national feasts. The Canadians, being more wealthy and more highly cultured, readily fancy themselves sprung of a nobler stock, while the Acadians, on their part, reproach their Quebec fellow-countrymen with having sacrificed the interests of the weak to those of the strong in the council-chambers of the Dominion. Nevertheless, both branches have already met together in friendly congress on various occasions. The English-speaking Settlers. In the Maritime Provinces, the English, Scotch, and Irish settlors, whether natives of the British Isles or born in the country, are represented in nearly equal proportions, the first two numbering about 220,000 e .ch, the third sorae- :mmt 858 ■''^■■: NOllTU AMERICA. what less than 200,000. In New Brunswick the ethnical preponderance belongs to the Irish, while the term ITova Scotia is justified by the numerical ascendancy of the Scotch in that region. The Scotch are also in a majority in Prince Edward Island. Nevertheless the gradual fusion of all these British communities naturally redounds to the advantage of those who have given their language and institutions to the country. Kelts or Anglo-Saxons, all call themselves English ; even the Germans, descendirnts of settlers introduced during the last century, and, for the most part, domiciled on the Atlantic shores of Nova Scotia south-west of Halifax, have already been Anglicised. Amongst them, however, were included a large number of Dutch and even of French-speaking Swiss, and French names are by no means rare amongst families originally classed as Germans. On the other hand there still exists a certain proportion of Scotch Highlanders, who speak the Gaelic language at least in the family circle. Thus, in the New World, there survive separate communities of this languug"^, which has already been reduced to such narrow limits in the Old World. These Gaelic-speaking groups are found chiefly in the interior of Cape Breton and in the central and hilly parts of Nova Scotia. Everywhere they live on excellent terms with their Acadian neighbours, also jealous guardians of their national speech. To those linguistic enclaves must also be added a few groups of Icelanders, who have in recent jears settled in Nova Scotia with varying success. Hitherto immigration has been slight, so that the growth of the population in the Maritime Provinces is due almost entirely to the excess of births over the mortality. But this excess is itsalf slight, and, in several districts, scarcely causes any perceptible increase, a phenomenon which may perhaps be connected with the prevalence of certain grave maladies. Thus leprosy makes terrible ravages amongst the New Brunswick Acadians, great eaters of fish, who, for several generations, have in no respect modified their habits, migrating little and neglect- ing to renovate their blood by alliances with strangers. Amongst the English and Scotch inhabitants of Halifax, also, mental disorders are very prevalent, most families at least having one of its members affected by tome form of insanity. Phthisis, pneumonia and diphtheria make great ravages in the eastern provinces of the Dominion, and in Nova Scotia nearly one-fourth of the whole mortality is attributed to consumption ; the proportion per thousand rises from 138 in the province of Quebec to 226 in New Brunswick, and 241 in Nova Scotia. In the citadel of Halifax three out of every ten deaths in the English garrison are referred to some form of chest disease. ^ /, ■-:'-''',:'^-:^'i- '-/'-•:'''■'':"■/..•:„,:- ' The blacks, descendants of runaway or emancipated slaves removed by the British Government to Novti .>eotia, also suffer much from the same class of diseases. Nevertheless, these Africans, notwithstanding the asperity of this northern climate with its keen winds, fogs, and storms, have become acclimatised. During the ten years from 1871 to 1881 their numbers were increased in the normal way from a little ov£r 6,200 to more than 7,000. The rapid increase of families and the numerous cases of longevity sufficiently attest the general salubrity of the climate. ^IP^-'-pn!-.-.:;-.v.»sr:. INIIABITANTS OF THE MARITIME PEOVINCES. 369 ice belongs lendancy of ,ce Edward !8 naturally institutions even the ' ,nd, for the of Halifux, * dcd a large nes are by other hand the Gaelic lere survive iced to such 3und chiefly 'fova Scotia, fhbours, also es must also led in Nova With regard to longevity, of which subject Mr. E. B. Biggar has made a special study, it would appear that an unusually large proportion of the inhabitant of the Maritime Provinces are found to be octogenarians, while nonagenarians and even centenarians are relatively numerous. In a total population of about 870,000 the census of 1881 Returned nearly 7,000 as over eighty years of age — 3,853 in Nova Scotia, 3,227 in New Brunswick, and 883 in Cape Breton ; according to the same census there were 44 then living over a hundred years old, that is 24, 12 and 8 in the three provinces respectively. A list is given of 26 inhabitants of Nova Scotia whose ages are stated to range from 100 to 117. Many of these are still living, but the figures do not appear to be in all cases absolutely trust- worthy. A corresponding list for New Brunswick contains the names of 22 centenarians, some of whom are said to be 108, 109, and even 110 years old. But without attaching too much importance to these statements, it may be safely concluded that both the British and French races thrive well in the Maritime Provinces, where they are now thoroughly acclimatised and nowhere betray any physical deterioration in their transatlantic homes. They are in every respect as lobust, as vigorous and long-lived as the parent stocks, and the Acadians seem on the whole to be even a stronger and more healthy people than their French progenitors. , )opulation in ths over the arcely causes cted with the riblo ravages 1, for several » and neglect- the English revalent, most I of insanity, tern provinces e mortality is a 138 in the jotia. In the m are referred noved by the same class of perity of this e acclimatised, icreased in the pid increase of it the general Topography of I^ew Brunswick. On the south side of the Bay of Chaleur New Brunswick possesses no centres of population beyond a few fishing-ports, such as Dalhousie, Bathuritt, and Cara- quet. Fisheries and oyster-beds are found in the waters of Shippegan, a triangular island separated from the mainland by a winding channel which forms an excel- lent harbour, or rather a group of harbours, and which has been proposed as a port of call for the transatlantic liners. In the neighbourhood of Shippegan, on an inlet or lagoon separated from the sea by a sandy spit, stands the little Acadian village of Tracadie, well known for its lazaretto or leper establishment. The malady is said by some to have been introduced by some mariners from the Levant in the eighteenth century, but others attribute it to consanguineous marriages, which are very numerous both in this district and on other parts of the coast. The scourge may also perhaps "be partly due, as in Norway, to a diet composed too exclusively of fish. However, it appears to be gradually disappearing. In 1889, the hospital contained only twenty-three patients suffering from leprosj', and of these four came from Cape Breton.* Miramichi Bay, which lies farther south on the east coast of New Brunswick, has often proved false to its name, which is explained to mean " happy retreat." The French colonies here founded in the seventeenth . century were successively destroyed b)' the English, and on many occasions the settlers seeking lefuge in the woods perished of hunger. In the year 1760 the district was completely wasted, not a single white cabin escaping. In 1775 a few Scotch colonists arrived; biit • i/o»//*«/.Sy fur the en to 120 h may l)e the pur- •xistence, )ointcd at are, but I r, instead eeded six lo for 25 tons cun 'etitcodiac j-point of tives, car- istrial and il to Eng- B^hbouring vorked to and ealiiie it numbers enormous res. *'; ■' r Acadian led as tbe krered their The tracts [ reclaimed vhich were the border IS Catholic {T, takes its ! the river •f 5^ Bazil jelled from mited with re formerly , and which is so named, L also partly inhabited by Acadiuns, with whom uru now associated some immigrants from Scandinavia. Lower down the other towns along the bunks IS o M m .5P of the St. John were founded by French settlers, who, during the last century, had to give place to the " Bostonian " conquerors, and later to the American ■Tl i ij 'M HJ " . I I I " , 1 i i /^ Tiii »■ ..' I . t>"t>% ' ..w"y.', ,.i '' ..;U:VJ, ' '," minii^a ' ; ; . 804 NORTH AMKRICA. " loyuliiits," whoso fidelity was rcwiirdoil by tho HriliHli fjioveniineiil putting tlioin in j)oaHesHi<)n of other people's estutos. WiwiMock ia surrounded by the most fertile IuikIh and finest orchurds in tho St. John Vulley. It lies 00 miles above Fwdencton near the point where tho river Fig. 168.— St. JoHir. Boak- 1 : 70,000. 66°S' Weat oF GreenwicK 66°3'- Depths. s Sanda and iveis exposed at low water. 0»oS8 Feet. -J^ e 83 «o 160 Feet. leo Feet and upwoids. I 2.200 Yards. begins to trend round from the south to the south-east. Fredericton, capital of New Brunswick, is the seat of the provincial university, and the handsomest and best- built city in tho state. Besides the university it is adorned by a fine Anglican cathedral, a Government House, a city hall, court-house, and some other more or hmh TOrOORAl'IlY OF THE MARITIME TROVINCES. 866 ■I 46' ■|4. yi- less imi)o.sin<^ public buildings. Fredorieton lies 84 milo« by wafer from tho Uiiy of Fundy, and tlio rivor, buro tbree-quarters of a mile wide, is nuvigublo to tins j>oint for vohhcIs of IviO tonn. Altlioupfb inferior in ruiik to tbo capital, Sf. John greatly surpnMRCR it in popu- lation, coinitiorcittl activity and wealth. It was also tho site of a French colony, and tho rotidHtoud was visited in 1604 by Champlain, who guvc their naiin's to the headland and river. Thirty years later Claude de lu Tour hero established a factory for the barter of peltries with the Indians. But constant surprises, attacks, botnbardments, and fires prevented the place from developing, and it acquired no importance till the return of peace, and especially after tho year 1783, when a British fleet here landed 5,000 loyalist emigrants from tho United States. In 1877 a great part of the city wos swept oway by a conflogration, but it soon rose fairer than ever from its ashes. A successful rival of Halifax, where trade is hampered by the naval station, St. John has become one of the most flourishing seaports in the Dominion, and already takes the fourth place for popu- lation, being exceeded in this respect only by Montreal, Quebec, and Toronto. The heart of the city occupies a rocky peninsula between the old and new mouths of the river. The streets are laid out like a chess-board, intersecting each other at right angles, despite the inequalities of the ground, which had in many places to be levelled by blasting operations. Formerly the highest rising ground of the peninsular spjce between the two islets served as a citadel, but is now used as a convenient place for games of strength and skill. Towards the roadstead the ground is occupied by wharfs, slips, and landing-stages for the steam ferry-boats plying between St. John and the basins of the town of Carlclon, built on the west side of the estuary. A Talley traversed by the Intercolonial trunk-line separates the city properly BO called from Portland and other northern suburbs, all of which are now comprised within the municipal boundaries of St. John. Beyond these suburbs stretch the public parks, while numerous suburban residences are scattered over the neigh- bouring vales and round the margin of the lakes. After having long remained stationary, even losing a part of its population through emigration to the United States, St. John has recovered its activity and importance, the revival of trade being largely due to the development of the railway system, and especially to the trunk-line now connecting this seaport, through Montreal and the Sault Sainte-Marie, with Minneapolis and the other great corn-markets of the Upper Mississippi basin. St. John enjoys an enormous advantage over Montreal and the other Laurenti in ports, inasmuch as it is free from ice throughout the whole year. The shipping for the year 1888 comprised over 11,000 vessels of nearly 1,500,000 tons. At the extreme south-eastern angle of Canadian territory the little town of St. Andrews, lying on a long peninsula between Passamaquoddy Bay and the St. Clair River east and west, aspires to become a future rival of St. John ; it also claims the advantage of being the most convenient station on the Atlantic for the navigation between Canada and Europe. At the beginning of the present century ; ■'v« 800 KORTII AMERICA. it curried on a largo export trade in timber with England and the West Indiun ; but in consequenoo of certain cu^tom-houso rogulationv the 8e:it of this industry wiih shifted, and St. Andrews fell into a stute of decuy, while farther north the Yig IfiO. — PASaAMAQUODM ] ■■■% B«Ut 1 1 1,000,UOO. ••. .■ }•' '^ • T—^-x — ;r- Sl Staphs e7'Bo- WeatoF Greenwich fl6*40' Depths. Otoet Feel. 64 Feet and upwards. — 18 Miles. Canadim town of St. Sfrphen, on the St. Clair River, rapidly increased in trade and population. Nevertheless St. Andrews still enjoys the advantage it derives from the iidiufl ; but lustry wan north the TOl'OGIlArHY OF THE MABITIME I'ROVlNCEa. 807 pictureRquo PuBsuniuquoddy Bay, with its numerous i»-1cr and JHlotH and encircling heu(lliiiid« of pink grunito. At the ()iitran<-o li«m tho dangcroun group of rcofn known un tlio " WoIvcb." AnotluT ixhmd, diHposcd liko a breukwatrr ovor againnt tho Araerii-an haibour of KuHlport, has rocoived tho namo of Cumpobcllo. Farther seawards rims the largo iHlund of Gruud Manan, which is encirch'd by red clifTs and clothed with timber. Hoth Grand Manan and Campobcllo are vinitod in summer by thousands of strangers, mostly from Itoston and other Masmchusctis towns, some invalids, others pleasuro-seokers. ■ \ \ed in trade )9 from the Topography op Nova SfxrriA. On the opposite side of the Bay of Fundy the shores of Nova Scotio, which belonged to the same Acadia as New Brunswick, were like it frequently ravaged by war, tho Bostonian Puritans being imable to tolerate tho presence of French and Indian Roman Catholics in their neighbourhood. The town of AmhevHt, situated on the Chignecto isthmus, stands on a site which was long contested by the rival French and British settlers. The ruins of forts are still shown in the surrounding woods and prairies, while the sanguinary conflicts that here took place are commemorated in such local names as that of Bloody Bridge still borne by a bridge crossing a neighbouring creek. At present, thanks to its rich meadow-lands, the district is one of the must flourishing in Nova Scotia. All the lowlying coastlands are protected by levees or embankments against the strong tidal currents ; as in Holland the flocks and herds moy be seen grazing behind these dykes many feet below the surface of the sea. Analogous to tho position of Amherst is that of Truro at the extremity of the large branch of the Bay of Fundy known as the Cobequid Bay. It is now occu- pied by people of English speech although, like Amherst, standing on the site of an old French station. In this region not a single Acadian survives, no descendants of the exiled race having returned, as they have in other districts. The plains where they were most numerous, that is, round the southern shores of the Mines Basin, have also lost the original French settlers, who had transformed the whole country to a smiling garden. Eastwards the river Avon, formerly called the Pisiquid, or " Meeting of the Waters," from the large number of creeks converging in its valley, forms the frontier of this rich land of gardens, orchards, and meadows. The district is watered by the Gaspereaux, the Riviere aux Canards, the Riviere nux Habitanta, and other streams which have for the most part preserved their French names. ^i-'v^'v.^.-- ; -'^>>::, . ;■■ , ■ .r^ jy A peninsula, jPormerly submerged at high water, but now protected b; stout embankments, which had been begun by the Acadian settlers, projects seawards between the marine channels. This is the famous Qrand-Pri, the grassy plain which formerly gave its name to the whole district. Now it is much better known as the " Land of Evangeline," for there is scarcely a poem more universally popular in New England and in other English-speaking countries than that in "^*?''', 'il NORTH AMEEIOA. which Longfellow relates the painful Odyssey of the Acadian exiles.* Towards the end of the eighteenth century, when some of the survivors returned to their homes thirty or forty years after the " grand derangement," they found their holdings occupied by a new generation of settlers from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, England, and Scotland.! Ihey had consequently to wander farther afield in search of other still unoccupied lands. Grand-Pr^ itself has not been chosen as the site of any towns or villages, as if the present possessors feared the district was haunted ; but the lowlying tracts are fringed with a dense population. In this district the chief town is Windsor,, which stands on one of the branches of the Avon estuary, and which possesses the most famous public school in Nova S'^otia. Large quantities of gypsum are shipped for the United States at all the landing-stages of the Mines Basin ; but the coal- pits and gold-washings from which this branch of the Bay of Fundy takes its name have long ceased, to be worked. Famhorongh, a busy little trading-place, commands the northern entrance of the Mines Basin. From Windsor and Kentville, the two largest centres of urban populatior. in the land of Evangeline, a railway leads to Anita/iolis Royal, the Port Royal of the French. Goat Island, which lies in the narrow marine channel at Annapolis Gut, the old " Riviere Dauphin," was the site occupied by the first establishment founded by de Monts in the year 1604, In the vicinity stand the modern town and sea- port of Dighy. The citadel of Aiinnpolis, which often changed hands during the Anglo-French wars, is still standing, and has been reserved a? Crown property, although no English garrison has been stationed here. The Acadians of the surrounding district had also to forsake their villages and farmsteads ; but thousands of the refugees found a retreat along the shores of the lakes and rivers in the south-west corner of Nova Scotia. Here they joined the Mic-Mac Indians, adopting their language and forming with them an independent little theocratic state, which wai long administered by a Roman Catholic priest. Their descendants, now subject to the Anglo-Canadian laws and living almost exclusively on fishing and agricul- ture, take scarcely any part in the general industrial activity of their neighbours of British origin. The apples raised in this district are said to be the best in * In reading this account of the " painful Odyssey," however, the student of history jGuuld be warned that the poet has obscured the true facts of the expulsion " beneath a glamour of romance and pathos." It must always be remerjbered that tho policy at that time adopted was rendered absolutely necessary by political considerations. Quebec had not yet fallen, and there seemed reason to believe that the Acadians, though British subjects, n "e directly or indirectly aiding their Canadian fellow- countrymen in prolonging tho struggle for ipremacy on the North American continent. When that struggle was decided in favour of the Angio-Saxon race by the capture of Quebec, the Acadians were permitted to return, anil many did actually resume possesHicm of their ancestral homes, though tmder altered social and political conditions. — Ed. t So the poet: — - >• " Still stands the forest primeval, but under the shade of its branches , \ Dwells another race, with other customs and language, "'' " . Only along the shore of the mournful and misty Atlantic "^ ^^ Linger a few Acadian peasants, whose fathers from exile Wandered back to their native land to die in its bosom." , ,r {EvoH^tlim, adflntm.) -• * I • '"■"WHItWHM B ^mw j ,iiyyj^>; ' ;,wp ■■ ■ ' )|i7!{fiMii««iii,iiiij,i.il,iiilJPi,,i iiii, ij ^ ■. ji,.. mE TOPOGRAPH Y OF THE MARITIME PROVINCES. 869 1 wards the eir homes holdings England. h of other illages, as ing tracts i Windsor,. ssesses the re shipped t the coal- \f takes its ling-place, tior in the >yal of the apolis Gut, int founded and sea- glo -French Ithough no iurrounding (ads of the I south-west pting their , which wa^ low subject md agricul- neighbours the best in uuld be warned le and pathos." utely necessary o believe that nadian fellow - t. When that Aoadiaas were , though under " ■-■','■> the New World, and whole cargoes of them are shipped for New York and New England. Yarmouth, southern metropolis of Nova Scotia, lies on a narrow creek some -I I * J f.iV f. />.•?:; *.\.i three miles from the open sea. Of all Canadian towns it most resembles those of Massachusetts, having, in fact, been founded towards the middle of the last century by some seafarers from New England, whose numbers were increased by some N. A.— 25 /-"N* 870 NORTH AMERICA. American loyalists after the War of Independence. Yarraoutli is occupied mainly with fishing and shipping, this port owning over 300 vessels of more than 100,000 tons burden. It enjoys the advantages of direct steam communication with Boston, Halifax, and the other seaports round the neighbouring coasts. But while Yarmouth flourishes, Shvlbnrne, which lies on the other side of Cape Sable, and which was founded under analogous conditions, has lost much of its former importance, despite its magniticent group of harbours. The colony of loyalists which was here founded in the year 1783 constructed two vast establish- ments, which attracted a numerous seafaring and artisan population ; the object appears to have been to make Shelburne the capital of all the maritime pro- vinces that had remained faithful to England, and as many as 12,000 persons were soon concentrated at this point of Nova Scotia. But the surrounding regions, studded with numerous lakelets flooding the granite depressions, possessed no agricultural resources for the new city ; on the other hand the prospects of trade and commerce did not correspond to the hope of the Ameritan immigrants, and most of the inhabitants had to disperse or return to their homes. The colony of southern blacks that had accompanied them still survives in the neighbourhood of Shelburne, notwithstanding the great difference between the climates of Nova Scotia and Virginia. Beyond Shelburne the dangerous coast extending north-westwards in the direction of Halifax offers a succession of small havens, of which the busiest are Liverpool and Lunenburg, partly inhabited by immigrants from Germany. At the time when the British Government was expelling the Acadiuns, it was endeavour- ing to attract German settlers by granting them free gifts of land. Here and therein the vicinity of Lunenburg echoes of the German patois are heard amongst the older peasantry. Halifax, capital and largest city of Nova Scotia, stands towards the middle of the east coast on the banks of a fjord which ramifies in several branches north- wards, and which forms an excellent harbour, spacious enough to accommodate the largest fleets. The Indians called it Shebucto, that is, the " Chief Port," and the French gave it the name of Jiuie Same. The original settlement, exclusively military, received in 1749 some colonists from Massachusetts ; these were followed by a 'few German immigrants from Europe, but the civil population increased very slowly round about the citadel. The city, which is regularly built, but of a dull, mean aspect, extends along the west side of the harbour over against the suburb of Dartmouth, which occupies the amphitheatre of bills on the opposite side- Steam ferries ply between the two places, and a few men-of-war are generally riding at anchor in the harbcur. The formidable stronghold, which dominates the city from a ], eight of 250 feet, occupies the summit of the neighbouring hill, and its batteries are so disposed as to develop a tremendous cross fire with those of Dartmouth, George Island, and the outer huibour. The estuary is skirted by arsenals, dockyards, slips, and repairing docks. Halifax, the best-appointed British naval station in the American waters, possesses a graving-dock 600 feet long and 100 wide, which is consequently larger ' ■WI ' V'V^.I ' Ri i TTT^ TOPOGEAPHY OF THE MARITIME PHOVINCES. 871 )ied mainly lan 100,000 'ith Boston, lide of Cape auch of its e colony of st establish- the object iritirae pro- 000 persona surrounding ns, possessed prospects of immigrants, The colony lighbourhood ,tes of Nova rards in the B busiest are my. At the 18 endeavour- l. Here and eard amongst he middle of inches north- •mmodate the ort," and the t, exclusively were followed increased very but of a dull, st the suburb opposite side- are generally ht of 250 feet, disposed as to sland, and the , and repairing lerioan waters, ■qucntly larger. than that of Bermuda. Its barracks are occupied by a British regiraont, the only regular troops still kept by the Imperial Government in the territory of the Do- minion. Being mainly a military town, with a large number of functionaries maintained at the charge of the Imperial Budget, Halifax is considered one of the least industrious places in the Confederacy, taking little advantage of its magniiicent position on a peninsula projecting towards the Old World far beyond the normal coastline of the American continent. In 1887, an average year, not more than 4,153 trading vessels, with a total capacity of 843,000 tons, were entered at this port. Its most flourishing period was during the American "War of Secegsion, when, under cover of neutrality, it smuggled contrabands of war into the Southern States, and gave a refuge to the Southern privateers. The gold-mines, formerly, worked in the immediate vicinity of Dartmouth and south'Cast of Halifax in the Gold River, are nearly exhausted. Hammond's Plains, a village in the environs of Halifax, is still inhabited by the black descendants of emancipated slaves which the British fleet transported in 1815 from Maryland and Virginia. North-east of Halifax the rock-bound fjord-indented coastlands are nowhere very fertile. Thanks to the general poverty of the soil, the Acadians, returning to their ancestral homes after the War of Independence, were able to resume possession of their still unoccupied lands. One of these French colonies is settled at Chezzei- cook, about 20 miles north-east of Halifax, while others occupy the shores of the Gut of Canso, ^between Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. Towards the year 1860 it was expected that these districts of Nova Scotia would be rapidly enriched, especially in the districts of Ship-harbour, Tangier, and Sherbrooke, where several auriferous deposits had been discovered. But this new source of wealth was soon exhausted by the speculators, and the country was again deserted. Even the port of Ouysborough, so conveniently situated at the head of Cheda- bucto Bay and at the eastern entrance of the Canso Channel, is nothing more than an obscure fishing-station. Pictou, the busiest place along the north coast, is the outport for the coal extracted from the mines of New Glasgow and Stellarton. llie total output of all the Nova Scotia coal-pits exceeded 1,680,000 tons in the year 1886. The inhabitants of Fictoa are to a great extent descendants of Highland settlers who still speak the Gaelic language amongst themselves. Antigonish, which lies between Pictou and the Canso Gut, is also a Highland colony, which contends with the surrounding Acadians for the ethnical supremacy in those districts. But both elements will probably ere long be swallowed up in ;.he tide of cosmopolitan settlers, for capitalists are already planning the construc- tion of a great commercial emporium at the entrance of the trade route formed by the Canso Channel. The little havens of Port Mulgrave on the south, and of Port Hawkeabury and Fori Hastings on the north or Cape Breton side, will be replaced by a large seaport already named Terminal City, with extensive docks, magazines, warehouses, and railways, and with whatever else may be required by the thou- sands of vessels which yearly traverse this natural canal between the Atlantic and 1 .41 4 872 NORTH AMERICA. the Gulf of St. Law rence. One of tho Transatlantic cables has its terminus at Port Hustings. TopoGiiAPHY OF Cape Bp.kton. The little Madame Island, a member of the Cape Breton insular group, is one of those few Acadian lands which have exclusively preserved their early French popu- lation. These islanders, nearly all occupied with fishing and navigation, are grouped round the borough of Arichat, the chief fishing-station between Halifax i *' Fig. 161.— Canso Strait. Scale 1 : 600,000. ■BI'sO' West or Greenwich OtoSS Feet. Depth!. 82 to SO Feet. ei'lO' 80 Feet and upwanis. 12 Milei. and St. John's of Newfoundland. Here also, as in the villages on the Bay of Chaleur, the fisthers are in the hands of the Jersey speculators who have monopo- lised nearly all the shore fisheries in these waters. North of Madame Island the old Acadian settlement of St. Peter {Samt-Pierre) has acquired some importance to the disadvajitage of Arichat, thanks to a canal 880 5'ards long and 12 or 13 feet deep, which has been cut through a low isthmus, and which cnablis vessels to penetrate into the inland sea of Bradore (Bras it Or), mm '.■ 'fi>J B j P! «»»« ' «" ' i , .J. , TOPOOEAPHY OF TOE MARITIME PROVINCES. 878 iuuB at Port ap, is one of [•ench popu- [gation, are ien Ilalifux 451 46 is SE ^ 4S 'SO' a the Bay of lave monopo- and visit all the ports of the interior. By this important" engineering work Cape Breton has heen divided into two distinct islands. St. Peter, like most of the vil- lages lying farther north and bearing B'rench names, is now inhabited by High- landers from the west of Scotland and the Hebrides. These Highlanders constitute the dominant element throughout the whole of Cape Breton, and they have kept more aloof from the other populations in the district of Baddecli (Bideque), a town lying on the shores of the Bras d'Or. In the neighbourhood of Baddeck the Mic- Mac Indians also bave best preserved their language and customs. On the north- west coast of Cape Breton lies the Acadian settlement of Cheticump. Sydney, formerly the capital and still the largest place in the province of Cape Breton, has been enriched by its traffic in the coal extracted from the mines of the surrounding district. These mines are connected by a network of railways with the docks and landing-stages of the port, which communicates by steam ferry- boats with North Sydney on the opposite side of the harbour. The coal-fields have been known and worked itit the last two centuries, their chief markets being the manufacturing tovi^ns of New England. Even slill nearly all the coals extracted from the Nova Scotia mines are exported to the United States, where they are chiefly used in the manufacture of gas. Sydney is one of the places which hope to be selected as terminal stations of the Transatlantic trade with England ; nor are its aspirations altogether ground- less, for it is the easternmost of all the Canadian seaports. Unfortunately its harbour is blocked by ice for three months in the year. In the year 1888 its shipping had a total capacity of over one million tons, more than double that of any other Cape Breton or Nova Scotian seaport except Halifax. Another more open seaport, and perhaps a more convenient station for the Transatlantic service, is the famous citadel of Louisboury, which lies near the head- land whence the island takes its name of Cape Breton. Louisbourg, the old ^^ Havre d I' Anglais," was long the military key of the Nova Scotia and Newfound- land wat.".-y 874 NOllTH AMERICA. coast, where the little Lennox Island has been reserved for their exclusive use ; here no whites are allowed to settle. The Acadians, who were the first European settlers, suffered the same fate as their Nova Scotian kinsfolk, aiui under the same pretext of being a standing menace li Rg. 162. — LOUISBOTTBO. 8oal« I ; 70,000. West oF Gi-«enwIcV) 59*59' 59*57' to Si Feet. Depths. 88 to 80 Feet. 80 to 160 Feet. ISMUea. Mi ■v. to the power of England. But after their expulsion, the sixty-seven persons, retired military officers or court favourites, amongst whom the British Govern- ment disposed of the island by lottery, found it difficult to bring under cultivation the 20,000 acres which fell to the lot of each. Many were fain to recall the French peasantry who had taken refuge in the forests, and reinstate them in isc i iimii,wiiiiij— I • " ' '' '"'M,{'ffV/fi^r"^f^f'y- '- ^^ ! i;.>nji ' . i jwu" wft!t > i i r\ i'» i ;' r ''. . '? . ' TOrOGEAPnY OF THE MAEITIME TROVINCES. 876 usive use; ime fate as Dg menace 45 55 ^ 4S '55 )*57' their holdings.* At present the Acadians are found in every part of the island ; but they are dominant only in the northern peninsula round about Tignkh, a Fig. 163.— Chahlotte Town axs Roadsteao. Boale 1 : 600,000. 46- 65° 20 Weat or (jreenwicH Depthi. Sands exposed at low water. OtoSi Feet. 82 to 80 Feet. 80 Feet and upwards. 18 MUes. en persons, ish Govern- ' cultivation o recall the Lte them in village where begins the main line of railway running from one extremity to the other of the province. The feudal organisation of propert)'^ preventing the peasantry from becoming * Jotia SiamKti, An Account of Princt Edward' hland. t -m ' i ' !f ' flt^i^[f?m '.7 i9!^ r pirWV{-TjJV:\m ^^ '?5|"vr",-T" 876 NORTH AMEUICA. freeholders of tho plots cultivated by thorn, long checked the agriculturul develop- ment and goneral progress of this fertile island, which might easily be converted into a vast giirdon. Most of those who had received the original concessions abstained from recalling the Acadian exiles, and ailosved their estates to lie fallow till after the American Wur of Independence. Then thousands of disbanded troops and of fugitive loyalists flocked to the island, and after the constitution of the Dominion lands had to be found for the colonists by spending £160,000 in buying back a portion of the domain which the royal caprice had so recklessly granted to a few favourites. Charlotte- Town, capital of Prince Kdward Island, lies on tlie south coast on a well-sheltered harbour which the Acadians named Fort La Joie. As the centre of the provincial administration, Charlotte-Town has acquired exceptional importance, and its prosperity ha^ given a stimulus to the trade of tho neighbouring town of Summerndc, which also lies on the south side of the island over against New Bruns- wick. Here are shipped large quantities of cereals grown on the fertile plains of the surrounding district, as well as oysters of excellent quality, which are raised farther east in Bedeque Bay. Other centres of population are Alborfo", ubout 40 miles from Summerside, on Cascumpec Bay, which is much frequented by fishing smacks during the season ; Georgetown, about 30 miles east of Charlotte-Town, on the promontory at the confluence of the Cardigan and Brudenell rivers, with a fine harbour open far into the winter; lastly, Souris, the eastern terminus of the railway, 60 miles east of Charlotte-Town, the outlet for the exports of a large portion of King's County. Souris has also a commodious harbour, which has lately been much improved to meet the requirements of its increasing export trade. Prince Edward Island has numerous orchards, but its primeval forests have all disappeared. The local breed of horses is highly prized by the Americans for their speed and other good qualities. Saiilk Island. Sable Island, which lies in 44" N. latitude, about 100 miles off the east coast of Nova Scotia, is distinguished especially for the remarkable changes of form which it has undergone during the short period of three centuries of its historic life. These changes, which are due to the action of marine currents and storms, may he studied on the charts taken nt various periods. On the oldest French maps the island is represented as about 46 miles long, and about 3 J miles wide; and an English map of 1776 reduces it to no more than 11 or 12 miles in length, and 500 yards in width, and at the same time shifts the west point over 12 miles more to the east. Further reductions and changes of position are figured on the charts of the years 1818, 1800, and 1888, and at present the island, atfecting the form of a crescent, with its convex side facing southwards, is only 25| by IJ miles, while tho west point has advanced 28 miles farther seawards ; the high dunes also, Hie M i UMUBM wnmm f .' iffi 'jw. ■■ i w .ijv » ' j.jti t s' ' LABBADOE. 377 •til dovelop- e converted concessions ie fallow till troops and e Dominion ing back a d to a few coast on a centre of importance, ig town of Bruns- pluina of are raised "few le imerside, on the season ; tory at the iir open far miles east ig's County, improved to Bsts have all nericans for le east coast ? form which historic life, storms, may rench maps 9 wide ; and length, and i miles more harts of the le form of a miles, while dunes also, which formerly exceeded 200 feet, are now scarcely 80 feet in height. A lake in the interior has followed all these displacements of the sandy dunes and of the island itself, being at times completely separated from the sea, and again commu- nicating with it through a channel. In 18-'J6 two American sloops, which had taken refuge in this lake, were unable to get back again. From time to time the inhabitants duplaco their station and their lighthouse, and live in dread of the island being some day swept bodily away by the raging storm. Many acres of sandy shore have at times been swallowed up by the waves in a single night. But while the island diminishes in size, the dangerous sandbank on which it rests does not appear to have been eroded by the sea. In stormy weather the waves break 7 or 8 and even 12 miles from the beach in shallows 65 or 70 feet deep. These breakers strike the stoutest hearts with awe, and are all the more dangerous in consequence of the continually shifting currents and the dense fogs prevailing in these waters. For weeks together, not a single boat is able to approach the island, and then only at the relatively sheltered inlet on the north side. Sable Island has been called an " ocean graveyard ; " since 1802, when a marine station was first established here, over a hundred and fifty shipwrecks have been recorded on the surrounding banks ; but a much larger number of disasters were indicated, without being identified, by the nameless wreckage of other vessels. Thanks to the admirable organisation of the station, one of the best regulated in the world, most of the shipwrecked seafarers are rescued from a watery grave. It is surprising that such a place could have been chosen as the site of one of the earliest essays at colonisation ia America. The Marquis de la Roche, who had received from Henry IV. the concession and absolute control over Canada, began the work of colonisation by landing forty of his people on Sable Island, hoping to remove them again after finding a favourable place for tillage. This was in 1578, and seven years later twelve of these ill-fated persons were found still alive, but reduced to a state of savagery.* The present inhabitants are employed by an English company in raising a breed of ponies which graze in the grassy dells between the saudy dunes, t VII.— LABRADOR. This geographical name is used in diverse senses by different writers. It is npplied in a general way to the whole of the peninsular region comprised between Hudson Strait, the Atlantic, the St. Lawrence Gulf and estuary ; but it seems difficult to determine the limits of this vast territory on its landward side. Accord- ing to the natural features of the ground the true frontier should be indicated by a line drawn from the mouth of Rupert River, in Hudson Bay, to the St. Lawrence and Saguenay confluence ; but the political divisions interfere with this natural • Garaeau, Suite, &o. + Stuart-Fossard, Bulletin de la Sooiite de Gcogiaphie cominerciale du Havre, Nov.-Dec., 1888. >'-i .j»"ii"" ' "ga^j ' , '" ' " <; ' >. '^ I' l- if * " ■ ' '■ ■""■■tf i »;w ; , ' iii ' <|'-i", > . ' . ' W >' " ' i"f 1 wwB * " III ' 4^ i ■ '!' III 'i 878 NORTH AMERICA. frontier, for the province of Quebec coniprirr a port of the territory extending farther north iis far as 52'^ north latitude. If this Canadian slice bo regarded us distinct from Labrador, properly so called, as may bo justified by the fact that it belongs to the Laurcntian area of drainage, then the enormous triangular expanse pointing in the direction of the Arctic Archipelago, will still comprise a superficial area estimated at some 480,000 square miles, or about four times that of the British Isles. Nearly the whole of this space, which is scarcely known beyond its periphery, belongs to the Dominion of Canada, that part alone excepted which extundu as far as Ungovo Bay, below Hudson Strait, and which is claimed by the sjolony of Newfoundland as a prolon- gation of its fishing domain. This point, however, is not yet settled, for the original charter of Nova Scotia extends the jurisdiction of that colony as far as Hudson Strait on the mainland. As soon as the commercial and industrial resources of Labrador are suflQoiently developed, the conterminous provinces will doubtless proceed to settle the quejtion of its political frontiers. Etymologists have much discussed, and will doubtless long continue to discuss, the origin and meaning of this word " Labrador," Its Latin appearance suggested to the old cartographers, the form Terra LaboratorU* Terra Affricola.f But it may well be asked by what strange irony such a name could have been applied to a bleak and frozen region, whore no husbandman had ever driven a plough into the soil, where Jacques Cartier saw not " as much earth as would fill a basket." No document left by the early navigators, who first visited the Labrador peninsula, justifies the supposition that they could have stultified themselves by giving to such an icy region a name having the sense of " land of the labourer." On the Labrador coast, says Mr. Handle F. Holme, " not a tree is to be seen ; there is nothing there but bare rocks, and occasionally a little stunted gross. It is almost perpetual winter."+ BidJle, whose hypothesis is adopted by the hi-itorian, Parkman, suggests that, at the time of his first voyage in 1500, Gaspar Cortereal captured a certoin number of natives and carried them off to work on the Portuguese plontations. Labrador would thus hove received its name as being f, good field for recruiting the labour market. But although this supposition may bo justified by the conduct of most seafaring peoples at that epoch, it is unsupported by any extant records or despatches of the Lusitanion navigator; nor would an Arcticland, thinly occupied by a few fishing and hunting communities, have been a very promising region from which to procure h«nds for subtropical plantations. Others have identified the word Labrador with Labour, the name of a district at the foot of the western Pyrenees, and have endeavoured, on this ground, to show that the American " Labour " must have been discovered by Bosque navigators. § A tradition is olso current amongst the Canadians settled on the seaboard, according to which a • Map reproduced by Kunstmann, £«<(/«A«»^ . t Sebastian Munster, Coimographia. X A Journey into the Interior of Labrador, Prr.Deedings of the R. Geographical Society, April, 1888. § P. Margry, Let Navigations fran^aitet. m&mm (!H«p, I M^ i» !|»l^lB II ui.il.|,'.'!A'-lflW!J.' H ^ t m"-- ' ?;?"!-. ■fr LAliBADOU. 879 r extending ly 80 culled, f drainage, the Arctic ,000 square lule uf this )omiuion of Bay, below 8 a prolon-' led, for the ly as far as I industrial )vince8 will 9 to discuss, te suggested i.t But it I applied to plough into II a basket." >r peninsula, y giving to ." On the (n ; there is It is almost iggests that, 3d a certain plantations, r recruiting the conduct it records or aly occupied region from lentified the the western [6 American tradition is g to which a jty, April, 188S. Basque or a PortuguoBO, named Labrador, was the first navigator to roach those waters, having preceded oven the Curtcreals thoinselvcs. But history knows nothing of this explorer ; nor has it preserved any truce of the expression " bras d'or," supposed to have been generally applied by the French seafarers to uU those murine passages which they found to be easily navigated. Nevertheless, it is certain that several inlets in these waters, notably at Capo Breton, and on the Labrador seaboard, bear such names as " Bras d'Or," Brodore, Brador, and Braduur. On the maps of the eighteenth century, the inland sea in Capo Breton bears the name of r^abrador, while the two approaches are respectively culled " Great " and •' Little " Labrador. The inlet indenting the coast of the mainland near the southern entrance of Belle-Isle Strait is specially known by the name of " Bradore Bay," and this is the very place where, before the colonisa- tion of Cunadu, the fishers assembled in the largest numbers, and where they founded the station of Brest. It would accordingly seem reasonable to suppose that this word Brador, whence Labrador, had some local orif,in deriving perhaps from a native (Algonquin) word with the meaning of strait, sound, buy, or creek.* Geographical Resrarch. Of all the regions comprised within the vast domain of the Dominion, Labrabor has been the least explored. Even the tundras bordering on the Arctic seas in the fur north have been more frequently visited by travellers. Judging by their title-pages, a considerable number of works would seem to contain narratives of journeys made in Labrador ; but most of these works have reference only to the " Canadian Labrador," that is, to the western extremity of the province of Quebec, and even that region itself is but very imperfectly known. The only persons who have penetrated far into the interior beyond the height of land are the Indians, a few missionaries, and some agents of the Hudson Bay Company. Then the Canadian priest, Lacasse, cur^ of the parish of Mingan on the south coast opposite the island of Anticosti, traversed the country from south to north as far as Ungava Buj'. In 1838 and 1841 the trader Maclean crossed the north-eastern region between Ungava Bay and Hamilton Inlet ; about the year 1860 Mr. Kennedy, another, of the Company's agents, visited a part of the same country, and these are the only two white men who are known to have ever seen the famous Grand Falls on the Grand River before the year 1888. In 1884 the Protestant missionary. Peck, succeeded in crossing from the shores of Hudson Bay to Ungava Bay by ascending the Little Whale River to the plateau, and descending by the valley of the Koksoak (Big or South River). The various expeditions sent to Luke Mistassini have contributed to enlarge our knowledge of thje approaches to Labrador proper ; but most of the itineraries have yielded very meagre geographical data, and even these have not yet been entirely harmonised. So little light has been thrown upon the real configuration " \ * Jideailaxoon, BulleHndd la SocijtS deG^offraphie, 18S8. 880 NOUTn AMERICA. of tlic interior thut report utill upouks of unk' >ffn lukcR, "an liirj^o ua Oiiturio," which aru 8ui>„.iiii LABRADOB. 881 Chudleigli rises to a height of 1,650 feet, and beyond this point Ihe system reappears ia Besolution Island and the coast range skirting the east side of Baffin Land. The eastern mountains of Labrador coxisist mainly of granites and gneisses, and the presence of porphyries has blso been determined by the naturalist, Lieber.* Several mountains terminate in open cavities, presenting the form of breached craters; yet the character of the rocks shows that they cannot be volcanoes. These crater-like formations are supposed to be due to the long persistence of the snows which gradually soften and decompose the rocks and clays, thus in the course of ages carving them int^ vast amphitheatres. The granitic island of Okak on the east coast north of Nain is one of these so-called craters now half submerged in the Atlantic. Pieces of pumice are occasionally picked up on the Labrador coast ; but these floating fragments of scoriaD are not of local origin, but have drifted with the marine currents westwards from Iceland. The blocks of labradorite, mostly blue or green, very rarely red, have nowhere been discovered in the cliffs, but are always found in fragments of varying size scattered along the marine and lacus- trine shores. The Eskimo often bring specimens from an inland basin lying to the west of Nain, and this mineral is also very common about the entrance of Hamilton Inlet ; huge boulders of it lie about the beach, and Holme states that he sailed from the North- West River down to Rigolet at the narrows above the Inlet " in a schooner entirely ballasted with this beautiful stone." Lakes and Rivers flowing to the Ari.ANTic and Ungava Bay. West of the coast range the whole of east Labrador is occupied by a moun- tainous tableland studded with lakes and furrowed by rivers. According to Hind and Holme these uplands have a probable elevation of over 2,000 feet above the sea. The surface is strewn with rocky fragments worn by weathering, or looking as if they had been rolled by flood waters. North and west the ground slopes gradually, presenting a uniform incline to the streams flowing towards Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay. But. towards the south and south-east the fall is much more precipitous, and here the running waters develop cascades and rapids. Thus the rivers of Canadian Labrador rush over a continuous succession of cataracts, none of which, however, can compare in magnitude with those of the Grand River flowing to Hamilton Inlet. Neither Maclean nor Kennedy gives the height of the Grand Falls, which would appear to have a drop of at least 1,000 feet. At this point, which is 230 miles from the sea, the river, fed by a string of lakes disposed in the direction from north to south on the plateau, is already a considerable stream, being 500 yards broad above the falls, and suddenly contracting to 50 j-^ards before plunging into the chasm. According to Holme the Indians have a superstitious dread of • O. M. Lieber, Peterinann't Mitteilmgen, 1861. — j .. ,.i Ml.. » ' . '■Vl. ' .';* ' ^ ' , ' ! ''- i?.''.')'f^;,-, ' t!i'>'f! 'm^^yjw 7 r^j;5fy^yyy f |^^^>wffl^^(^^ 882 NORTH AMERICA. the falls, believing them to be haunted, and as they also suppose that no one can look upon them and live, they carefully avoid them. Kennedy was guided to the spot not by a native of the district, but by an Iroquois from Montreal, who did not entirely share the Labi-ador Indian superstitions. The Montagnais scarcely ever venture beyond Lake "Waminikapou, a crescent-shaped basin which fills a narrow crescent-shaped valley about 40 miles long traversed by the Grand River. Farther down the river forms various other rapids but only one cascade, con- sisting of two stages with a total drop of 70 feet. A little below these falls the river expands into the broad basin of Melville, or Big Bay, apparently a land- locked sheet of water, but really communicating through a " rigolet," or narrow %:.>■" Fig. 165. — Affluents of Melville Bat. Seals 1 : 10,000,000. ..60 West o? Greenwich . 125 MUes. ,vr- gullet, with Hamilton Inlet and the ocean. The various sections of the inlet have a total length of no less than 150 miles. Besides the Grand River, Melville Bay receives other affluents, one of the largest of which is the Nascopi, which descends from the north-west through a long chain of lakes, one of which it traverses just before entering the marine estuary. The maps of Labrador based on the reports of the Indians and traders show an uninterrupted network of lakes and rivers all communicating with each other and draining in three different directions, towards the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Atlantic, and Ungava Bay. It is highly probable that these statements are incor- rect, and that the communications from slope to slope are made not by fluvial channels or by lakes with double outflow, but as elsewhere by portages. All such !V?'i#"*''\'slT''r-'''''' i ij ^ffli ! ~ v ?' jfy)»ffly i >jji i|i iyiffJj'AWJ;7vy ' '^i ' '^sf! ? ^'rW ! ^^^^ if H^ iw i i i.n i^ w' ^iyi I LABEADOE. LO one can led to the bo did not rcely ever 1 a narrow cade, con- i falls the ly a land- or narrow 55' )5' inlet have ne of the through a le marine 'B show an other and fence, the are incor- by fluvial All such primitive maps, from that of the Garden of Eden and the "tables" of the ancients which represented the Danube as discharging through two mouths into the Black Sea and the Adriatic, down to those of medisDval times with their two or three African Niles running wildly over the continent, invariably show in the interior of every country one or more reservoirs with a multiplicity of divergent emissaries. Even in the beginning of the present century Chateaubriand speaks with enthu- siasm of that common source of four rivers, the Mississippi, which disappears southwards in the Gulf of Mexico, the St, Lawrence which flows eastwards to the Atlantic, the " Outawais," which trends northwards to the polar seas, and " the western stream which carries to the setting sun the tribute of its floods for the ocean of Noutouka."* North of Hamilton Inlet, whose affluents pierce the outer escarpments of the plateau, the eastern slope of the coast range is too narrow for the development of any large fluvial basins with lateral arteries. Hence the seaboard here presents nothing but a succession of fjords, inlets, islands, and islets without any large river estuaries. But on the western slope there has been ample space for the formation of extensive watercouriies. Such is the Eoksoak, the Big or South Kiver of English writers, which reaches the coast at the head of Ungava Bay. It rises in the same part of the plateau a" the Grand River of the eastern slope, with which it is represented by certain rudimentary and obviously erroneous maps as communicating through several strings of lakes. Were this the case the eastern coast range would be completely isolated by a continuous channel of alternating fluvial and lacustrine depressions. In any case it is at least certain that the Koksoak is fed by a large number of very extensive lakes, amongst others the Meshikamou, the Petchikapou, and the Eaniapu^ikaw. Lakes and Rivers flowing to Hudson Bay. The western slope,, which belongs to the catchment basin of Hudson Bay, comprises over one-half of the whole of Labrador. Accordingly the watercourses are here both numerous and of great length. According to the reports of the trappers most of them flow in parallel valleys all sloping from east to west at right angles with the shore line. This slope has also its Big River, a very copious stream, which is exceeded in volume only by the 'Churchill and Nelson of all the affluents of Hudson Bay. South of the Big River the chief tributaries of James Bay are the East Main, which about coincides with the official boundary of the province of Quebec, and Rupert's River, the emissary of Lake Mistassini. North of the Big River flow to Hudson Bay, properly so called, the Great Whale, the Little Whale, the Clear- water, and the Nastapoka. The Clear-water, emissary of the lake of like name, falls into a large basin, called Richmond Gulf, which communicates with Hudson Bay through a passage too narrow to allow of the free play of the tidal current. Hence the formation of swift rapids and whirlpools, where the Indians never venture in their canoes during the ebb tides. But owing to this constant agitation ,. . • Voyage en Amerique. _^ T^T I. 884 XOifTH AMERICA. of the wutcrs tbe csiuury i« never frozen in winter, and is consequently frequented by multitudes of waders, seals, und porpoises. Lake Mustassim. Lake Wistu.'sini, the " Greut King," or the "Greut Stone," lies north of the sources of the St. Maurice and Saguenay Rivers on the Hudson Bay slope of the Fig. 166. — Laxb Mistassimi. Srnle t : l,20O,il0l>. i-=-s^' 501 SO 7a» West oF Greenwich 73* ■ 25MUe«. height of land, and withiu the part of Labrador a8i!>igned to Quebec. It is one of , ■ the great lakes of the Moutagnais country, perhaps the largest and certainly the , ' :' most famous. Mistassini was long the subject of mysterious legends, doubtless ;,";,.•' In 1672 it was explored by the missionary, Albanel, who afterwards made his way ■iiu |i ;m, i I i . ' -i, i «v !« ' • m - ' > " ' M""i v.if>.. LABRADOR. 887 12 milos een blasts mate mtiy irda made ,ve only a ' laborious he depres- 'flow their loaquitoes, e air and ■ days, the scope for loration of ly feasible. 1 some bay it also be I from the L the same nd Hudson r the slopes f fine trees, ght. Near He far less Hoffenthal pecially the 'orests have the tundra ; shrubs, the its, amongst g is ■visible ;reen. The i by prepar- ean Temp. 23° F. 21° 19° 20" ': ing the ground with sand mixed with decaying seaweed. At the more southerly stations of Nuin and Ilopedalo tboy thus succeed, by dint of much caro, in raising cabbages, cauliflowers, radishes and lettuces ; they also grow the pottito, but the ridges have nearly every night to be protected from the frost. Holme concludes generally that " as an agricultural or pastoral country Labrador has no prospects ; and unless its mineral resources are some day turned to account, I cannot see that the country will ever be very different from what it is now." The wild animals are the same as those in the far north — reindeer, caribou, musk ox, bears, wolves, foxes, otters, aad other smaller fur-bearing animals, except the beaver, which the trappers have scarcely ever met.* The caribou has already become rare in the southern parts of the country, and several of the Hudson Bay Company's stations having ceased to yield any peltries have had to be abandoned. Reptiles are very rare, although a harmless sniike is still met on the northern plateaux, and three species of frogs are found in the marshes near Unguva Bay. Dogs are kept by the natives of the interior for hunting the porcupine, which, with ptarmigan and fish from the lakes, constitutes their chief nutriment. Those dwelling on the seaboard depend on the sea and on the same fishes that attract the Newfoundland fi!>hers during the open season. No domestic cattle are bred, and, according to Holme, there was only one cow in 1887 on the whole of the east coast in the south-west corner of Hauiilton Inlet ; not a single horse, bhe( p, or goat. The reason for this is that Eskimo dogs are a necessity and are kept in large numbers, but are so ferocious that it is almost impossible to keep any other kind of animal iu association with them. Some insects, such as the common house- fly, elsewhere the usual companion of the white man, have not followed him to Tiabrador. Inhabitants of Lakrador. Like the North- West Territory the north-east region of Labrador yields sufficient supplies for a few wandering groups of Indians and Eskimo, the former - chiefly in the southern districts, the latter on the eastern and northern shores of the peninsula. Altogether the population of Labrador north of the height of land probably does not exceed 10,000 m :•':■. A census taken by the Newfound- land Government returned for the east coiu b, from Blano Sublon at the Canadian frontier to Cape Cbudleigh, a total of 4,211 Indians, E»kimo, whites, and half- breeds, ^■■■^v;;",^''. -,v' ';;/''_'■"■;.-'" "^ ".; „ '"■•' ^-'v'"'" •"' '".'''," ■■•''•" The Indians, who inhabit the forests and the shores of the lakes, belong to the great Kree nation, and are divided into two families, the Montagnais, akin to those settled round Lake St. John, and the Nascopi. or •' Men."t The latter, who number only a few hundred altogether, wander round the lacustrine basin to which they give thiir name; but they also traverse every part of Labrador, either passing • Holme, however, mentions the beaver as one of the fur animaln commonly trapped in Labrador. His list includes the black bear, wolf, wolverine, lynx (or mountain oat) red, white, blue, and silver fox, otter, beaver, marten, musquasih, and mink. t Steexua, Labradoi: ^ •-: ■■': ' •* " '. I i- ' . i i>w* ' "g^j;'-'j ' 'Kfmwf;^f,' ' j f "i¥^. ' fi i rifm- 888 NOHTH AMERICA. k r- K from luke to lako in their bark canoea, or eliio plodding lioavily but unwearily over tho snowy wastes in their clumsy anow-shoos. They are seldom seen at the Company's stuiions, and they generally keep aloof from the whites, so that very few half breeds are found amongst them. They live in wigwams covered with birch- bark or with caribou skins, and in winter they heap up the snow in dense masoea round about their dwellings. Like the other still uncivilised Indian tribes, the Naacopis subject the young men to severe trials, especially to that of hunger, before admitting them to rank ai equals ; the periods of long fasts are often renewed during this time of proba- tion. The terrible custom of despatching the aged and infirm still prevails amongst the Nascopis ; to the son, the brother, or the most intimate friend of the victim ia assigned the duty of performing this piuvis but painful office. Formerly the Indians and Eskimo were continually at war, and the former usually had tho advantage in their conflicts. Eskimo Island, about 12 miles inland from Hamilton Inlet, is pointed out as the scene of a legendary battle between the hereditary foes, the cause of contention on this occasion being the tt'isortion of the Indians that the Great Spirit had drawn a natural boundary between the respective territories of the two races, all the forest-clad land belonging to the Indians, and all the barren, treeless tundras to the Eskimo. But the latter objected to this arrangement, whereupon a great battle was fought to decide the point at issue. The tradition appears to be confirmed by the large number of Eskimo graves discovered on the island by Holme. These graves were of the usual Eskimo type, rough unhewn blocks of stone heaped together in an oblong form, the inside space measuring 2 by 1| feet. Many had been disturbed by wolves and bears, but most of them still contained human remains. According to the tradition the Indians were again victorious. The Norsemen also were constantly at war with the "Skrallinger," that is, the Labrador Eskimo, during their expeditions to the American mainland. In the middle of the eighteenth century these Eskimo still occupied several inlets on the coast of the Canadian Labrador, where they dwelt in harmony with the French fishers, of whom they called themselves "friends and comrades." Certain islands and a bay in the Gulf of St. Lawrence still bear Eskimo names ; but at present few of this race are found farther south than Hamilton Inlet, which may now be regarded as the southern limit of their domain. On its shores dwell several Eskimo fjmilies, while the whole coast stretching thence north-westwards to Cape Chudleigh belongs exclusively to them. They differ little in appearance and language from the Eskimo peoples of Greenland and the Polar Archipelago. From the latter they are separated by the by no means impassable barrier of Hudson Strait. Maclean met at one of the Labrador stations some Innuits who had ventured across the channel on a raft made of irregular logs of driftwood. On the east coast they are generally of small size, the average height not exceeding five feet. But those of the west coast are taller and more robust, and for the most part have not only an abundant head of hair, but. also a fully developed beard reaching down to the breast. This feature is ' ■' " " HWW ! li < ff'"*"W ' ^ VI f »«-Vti- ' - ' ^.' ' . L ABBA DOE. 880 un wearily len at the that very rith birch- 80 ina8«ea he young m to rank of proba- 8 amongst ) victim is lie former 12 miles ary battle being the boundary belonging the latter lecide the number of are of the an oblong turbed by iording to hat is, the In the ets on the le French tin islands It present y now be ill several is to Cape peoples of ted by the one of the on a raft .y of small ; coast are it head of I feature is doubtless duo to the numerous crossings with the whites, several villages being entirely irthubited by hulf-breeds. liiko the .lissionurics residing with them, they are much inclined to corpulence. Mortality is cxcesMvo amongst the children, espociully since the introduction of Fig. 107. — MoHAviA.v Missions o.n the Ladoadob Coast. Boole 1 : 8,000,(XiO. ^n^ . 62 2Uie>. the European diet, that is, flour and potatoes. The race is supposed to be dying out, although the Christian communities administered by the Moravian missionaries still number from 1,200 to 1,400, as formerly. At the last census they were 1,347 altogether. "■ ' ">"" » ■■■".4-. '' '*'?^*'?»»» ,i 800 NORTH AMKRTOA. C; I r i wy^ TlIK MoUAVIAN MlShiuNS. For ovcrn century the most incloinont Houhoiird of Luhrudor lian born iiihahilcd by wliitos, nionibora of tho Momviuii nuHMioiid. So early an 1752 a " brother " of this (;()niiniiiiity endt'uvouicd to found ii Htu'»)n ononeof thoinlots on thiH inhonpit- ublofouMt; but ho wus inurdorcd together with five Huilors, uiid tho nuHMon wuh not resuni('t. Some years ago the last vestige of the village was obliterated by th( erosions of the sea, which is constantly encroaching on the laud in this direction. ^ ^ , ' V The Labrador Fisheries. During the summer months, and generally from June to October, the Labrador fishing-grounds attract large numbers of fishers from England and Newfoundland ; at the height of the season, the literally " floating " population of this seaboard may be estimated at about 30,000, and to these must be added all the Eskimo 892 NORTH AMERICA. and iialf-breeds who congregate about the stations and curing- places. Every creek and inlet, every beach on the islands and mainland, suitable for the purpose, is temporarily occupied by drying-sheds and platforms, which are later covered with the winter snows. A steamer plies regularly between Nain and Newfoundland, and other craft keep up the communications between the fishing-stations along the coast. Formerly, the Newfoundland fishers ventured no further north than Sandwich Hai'hour, the headlands of the Mealy Mountains marking the extreme limits of their explorations. But about the year 1830, some bold navigators pushed forward as far as Hamilton Inlet, and thus the fishing-grounds were gradually extended from inlet to inlet as far as Cupe Chudleigh, terminal headland on the Atlantic coast. It was discovered that the cod-banks occupy all the waters of the sounds and fjords, and even the channels winding between the groups of islands and islets along the seaboard, as well as the outer submarine banks, where the icebergs are grounded in depths of from 25 to 35 fathoms. Altogether, these Labrador fisheries comprise an available space of about 7,000 square miles, and are consequently more extensive than those of the great bank of Newfoundland itself. The annual value of the produce is estimated at nearly a million sterling. The early fishers visited these waters with little hope of finding an abundance of cod so far north, as the more common animal forms, such as herrings and capelans, on which the cod feeds, gradually diminish in the direction of these higher latitudes, until at last they disappear altogether. They were not then aware that in the boreal seas the cod finds an ample supply of other food, such as numerous species of crustaceans and jell'^-fish which swarm in the straits and sounds round about the stranded icebergs. The myriads of minute organisms which change the colour of the marine water in the neighbourhood of the ice-floes afford nutriment to the medusae, which in their turn are devoured by the cod, w' "'jh is again so largely consumed by man, and especially by the Mediterranean peoples. ' ■ ■ ' \ The fishing season is gradually shortened in the direction of the polar seas. Thus it lasts, on an average, about 140 days on the Newfoundland Banks, but not more than two months in the neighbourhood of Cape Chudleigh: According to Henry J. Hind, each degree of latitude corresponds to a week's delay in the appearance of the shoals of cod.* The tisherraei* do not remain throughout the winter season on the northern shores of Labvador ; but, on the south coast, those of Newfoundland have permanent settleraents on the estuaries of the salmon rivers. In winter they are chiefly employed in trapping the fur-bearing animals. Salmon is becoming rare on the east coast of Ijabrador, and dense shoals are now met only in Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay, beyond Cape Chudleigh. Salmon- peel and trout, however, are stiH abundant everywhere ; whitefish is also common, and is preferred by many to salmon itself. In Hudson Strait whales are occa- sionally stranded. When the Eskimo succeed in capturing one of these huge Official Report on the Fishing-Groundt of Northern Labrador, 1870. ;,v.:;!r;:^j i. Every le purpose, vered with foundland, ions along a Sandtcich B limits of rs pushed gradually nd on the waters of groups of aks, where ther, these miles, and ^foundland sterling, abundance rrings and >n of these ) not then tther food, the straits ) organisms iie ice-floes )y the cod, literranean polar seas. IS, but not jcording to lay in the ighout the st, those of non rivers. 3. shouls are . Salmon - D common, i are occa- heso huge wi ma i m < im» i ^H t J 9 jsi^ wiy &:iixi^amAsti^iAii^&& ;^i-' NEWFOUNDLAND. 898 cetaceans, 'they observe a strict fust for four-and-twenty Lours, in order to do homage to their victim, and to avoid the maladies which his offended spirit might bring down upon the tribe.* VJII.~NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS BANKS. The island of Newfoundland is a British colony distinct from the Dominion of Canada ; when consulted by the confederate states, it declined to join the union as an integral part of the Domiuion, and consequently continues to depend directly on the British Government. Nevertheless, annexation to Canada still remains an open question, which is the subject of continual discussion, in one form or another, in the periodical press and the deliberative assemblies. Account must also be taken of the common interests and close relations existing between the Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland. In fact, all these lands, apart from conventional divisions, are members of the same body politic, just as they belong to the same geographical region, despite the narrow passage by which they are separated. Hence it is convenient, after describing the provinces bordering on the St. Lawrence, to study the large island which stands out as a seaward bulwark of the vast estuary. Historical Retrospect. Of all American lands, Newfoundland has the least right to the name which it bears. It had already been discovered in the year lUOO, or a few years later, either by Erik the Red, or by one of his sons, and from the Norse navigators it had received the name of Hellu-Land, or Mark-I^and. Later, the memory of this discovery was preserved in tradition, and according to t]ie Portuguese and Basque writers, there can be no doubt that the inariners of their nations had visited the banks and the islands of Newfoundland long before the first voyage of Columbus to the West Indies. But however this be, the fifteenth century had not drawn to a close before Newfoundland was re-discovered by John Cabot, or Gaboto, possibly in the year 1494, when he sighted Prima Vista, but more probably in 1497, when he coasted the great island and the neighbouring continent. The rich fishing-grounds of these waters almost immediately attracted whole fleets in search of the fish required for the days of fasting and abstinence ordained by the Church. About the year 1580, there were annually assembled in this region from 350 to 400 vessels, of which 150 flew the French flag, 100 were Spanish, 60 Portuguese, 30 to 40 English, and 20 to 30 Basque. Although relatively few in numbers, the English ships were the best equipped, and by the general accord of the fishers, the English captains were chosen as judges and arbitrators in the disputes that arose amongst the various members of * J. Maclean, Sud»on Bay Territory. »mf'sm!)m$:!m- 81)1 NOBTH AMEEICA. ■■■'' tlie floating commonweulth.* Such, at least, is the stuleiHent of the English writers. Anyhow, if this function of arbitrators was at first exercised by them by mutual consent, they soon claimed it as a right, and in the year 158^ Humphrey Gilbert took possession of the island iu the name of the Queen of England. Thus Newfoundland, which at that time was supposed to form part of the maiuland, is the oldest British colonj'. The first essay at colonisation, however, was unsuccessful. Gilbert was accom- panied by a party of 250 immigrants ; but the new arrivals were soon discou- raged by the lack of all resources except those derived from the fisheries. They refused obedience to the authorities, and despite the relentless severity of the governor, who cropped the ears of the malcontents, the colonists had all to be re-embarked and brought back to the mother coiintry. Gilbert's project was not resumed till the year 1608, when John Guyas, a Bristol navigator, established himself at Conception Bay, an inlet on the west side of the St. John's peninsula, but he soon removed the settlement to St. John's itself, the site of Gilbert's old colony. The rising town became the capital of the English possessions in Newfoundland, which in a. few years embraced all the south- east coast of the island. The numerous French names dotted over the mop of Newfoundland attest the great influence exercised in the country by the rival nation, which long contested with England the possession of the Canadian lands. On various occasions they openly challenged the claims of the first occupants to the exclusive possession of the country. In 1635 they had secured the right of curing their fish on the coasis of Newfoundland on payment of a tax of 6 per cent., and in 1660 they even founded on a well-sheltered inlet of the south-eust coast the village of Flaisance (Placentia), which became the headquarters of their fisheries. The settlement rapidly increased in importance especially after the year 1675, when the tax paid to England in recognition of her sovereign rights was finally abolished. In 1694 a French expedition captured St. John's, but failed to drive the English out of the island. Fourteen years later a portion of the island fell again into the power of the French. But their rule was of short duration. In 1713 the treaty of Utrecht restored the whole of Newfoundland to the English, includ- ing even the town of Placentia, but at the same time leaving to their rivals the right of fishing in certain Newfoundland waters and of drying their captures on the west or " French " shore. ■ Physical Features. Although known for nine centuries, Newfoundland has remained till compara- tively recent times completely unexplored in the interior. Nearly on all sides it presents to the sea a precipitous and forbidding seaboard. Few other coasts ofFer a more surprising succession of wild and romantic scenery — overhanging cliffs or terminating in sharp peaks, caverns and cavities where the noisy waters are * Hakluyt; John Parkhunt. English by them lumphrey id. ThuH liuland, is as accom- >n discou- They ty of the all to be Guyas, a west side 3t. John's tal of the be south- attest the contested lions they session of the coasis ;hey even Plaisance ettlement i tax paid drive the fell again In 1713 b, includ- rivals the ptures on compara- II sides it lasts offer g clifFs or 'aters are 800 NORTH AMERICA. fev- i h. !:■■ In winter and spring the entrance of the harbours is blocked by ice, and they are often wrapped in dense fog. Even on land travelling is rendered almost impossible, except along the tracks made by the caribou, although in the interior there are no mountains of any great elevation ; but the wayfarer is everywhere arrested by fjords penetrating far inland, by lakes and innumerable ponds and meres filling all the depressions. The tangled thickets of scrub present as great obstacles to progress as do the quagmires of saturated peat and mosses. In summer, the season of excursions, the air swarms with mosquitoes which settle in clouds on the wretched pedestiiun and bathe his face in blood. Owing to all these obstacles and the genet ally rugged character of the surface, the interior long remained unexplored, and Newfoundland was for the first time crossed from shore to shore in the year 1822. The Exploits Valley, which intersects it obliquely from north-enst to south-west, was also for the first time surveyed by the geologist, Murray, in 1861. Thanks to the new line of railway this valley will now afford more easy and rapid communication from one side to the other. It is evident from its general outlines that Newfoundland consists of several ridges all disposed in the same direction, from south-south-west to north north-east parallel with the mountain system of Gasp^ Land. The western ridge, which skirts the east side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, begins with the headland of Cape Riiy at the south-west extremity of the island, and runs at a short distance from the coast, interrupted here and there by the bays and inlets which extend from the gulf some distance inland. Thus this main range, whose crests are of Lauren- tian formation while carboniferous rocks stretch along the seaward slope, is pierced by the deep fissures through which ramify the secondary fjords of St. George Bay. Farther on the range merges in a plateau ravined by long parallel faidts, and again reappears with its carboniferous formation near White Bay on the north coast. West of this range, main axis of the island, a ridge beginning at the escarp- ments of Cape Anguille, and rising at one point to a height of 1,900 feet, joins the main chain east of St. George Bay. Farther north another ridge, starting from Cape St. George, is interrupted by the Bay of Islands, beyond which it continues under the name of the Long Range to traverse the northern peninsula along the east side of Belle-Isle Strait. It has a total length of no less than 25U miles without counting the windings of its crest, and some of the peaks rise to a height of over 2,000 feet. East of the main range other chains follow the same direction, terminating at both ends in promontories or peninsulas which in some places project far seawards. The Middle Range, above which rise a few serpentine masses, traverses the island obliquely south of the Exploits River and culminates in Mount Peyton (1,670 feet) near the north side. Another shorter and less elevated chain is developed between Flacentia and Bonavista Bays, while the Avelon Peninsula in the extreme south-east consists of two parallel ridges nearly separated by the deep inlets of St. Mary's and Conception Bays. Viewed as a whole, Newfoundland presents the form of an irregular triangular EIVERS OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 897 B, and they ;rcd almost the interior everywhere ponds and . tnt as great nosses. In !ch settle in to all these iterior long from shore it obliquely geologist, now afford s of several 1- north-east idge, which md of Cape stance from )xtend from 1 of Lauren- le, is pierced St. George rallel faiilts, m the north the escarp- ) feet, joins Ige, starting nd which it 'n peninsula >S8 than 250 aks rise to a minating at Etr seawards. )s the island yton (1,670 .3 developed the extreme ep inlets of r triungular plane inclined from south-west to north-east, the most elevated lund occurring in the west and south, and thence sloping towards the Atlantic. Nevertheless the uniformity of this slope is broken by isolated eminences known by the name of foltn. The fluvial valleys occupy tho depressions between the parallel ridges, which consist mainly of granitic masses, Laurentian or silurian rocks. Owing to the foldings and dislocations of these formations the island- and reef-sludded marine inlets also penetrate far into the interior. Belle-I»le Strait itself is nothing more Fig. tC9.— The Oavdbb Fjobds. BoiUe 1 : 4.600,000. 55*40 Wast of Gretnvvich 55' .^C OtoW Fathoma, Depths. vw BO to 100 Fatbomii. 100 Fathoms ■nd upwaida. . ti Mile*. than one of these valleys separating two parallel chains, those of Labrador on the north and of the Long Range on the south side. V. *>..■». . Hivers and Lakes. - ^^-^ ■ ; • r The Exploits River, largest fluvial basin in the island, with a total length of 200 miles, traverses the country diagonally from south-west to north-east, and the diagonal line is compl< ted on the south side by the precipitous La Poile river, with its estuary of like name. A winding pond, flooding a granite basin at a height of 1,240 feet, is the source of the Exploits, which develops a series of similar basins in its descent from terrace to terrace of the plateau. After emerging from the long crescent-shaped Red Indian Lake, which about occupies the geographical centre of the island, and whose bed falls 500 feet below the marine surface, the Exploits enters the region of forests, chiefly pines, birches 803 NORTU AMERICA. wm poplars and aspens. Beyond this zone it descends seawards through a succes- sion of rapids and cascades, one of which, the Grand Fulls, has a drop of 145 feet. Further down, the course of the river is again interrupted by another large cataract near the head of the rocky and islund-studded inlet where it mingles its waters with those of the Atlantic. All the other Newfoundland rivers resemble the Exploits in their salient features, lakes, caszudes, and marine estuaries. The Gander, which flows in a valley parallel with the Exploits, and which fulls into a bay not far to the east, is remarkable for the profound crevasses which form its bed, and which might be equally well described as lukes, rivers or fjords ; at the narrowest point the chief fluvial gorge has a depth of over 330 feet. The Humber, which traverses the western part of the island, discharging into the Bay of Islands, receives the overflow of the largest lake in Newfoundland, the Grand Pond, as it is called, which, like all the other lacustrine basins, is disposed in the direction from south-west to ncrth-east. It covers an area of about 200 square miles, rather less than that of Lake Geneva ; but, standing at an altitude of only 50 feet, its remarkably deep bad falls no less than 1,000 feet below the level of the sea.* It has been estimated that the surface covered by the innumerable lukes, ponds and basins of all sorts dotted over the plateaux or disposed longitudinally with the river valleys, is equal to about one-third of the whole island. If to these be added the spongy expanse of the great bogs, more than half of Newfoundland may be said to be under water. In many places over a hundred flooded depre^sion8 may be counted by the observer standing on the summit of a single eminence. A lacustrine period has followed the glacial age, traces of which are observed on all the rocks. But at present no glaciers exist in Newfoundland. The hills arc not sufficiently elevated for the snows to remain permanently on their summits and develop n^v^s in their cirques. The winter snows everywhere disappear during the summer months. ''' '' '/■■'"'.■'"■?'■■''"'-"■ ';''V /.:'.l^:» -.^ ■ v' '■•>,\•■^:,,;;■^.;"^; The part of the coast most indented by fjords and inlets is the seaboard fucing the Atlantic, and it was in this direction that flowed the old glacier which must have been several hundred yards thick. Through these inlets also penetrate the waters of the polur current setting from Baffin Bay and the northern straits ; consequently here also is accumulated most of the drift-ice till the general break up in spring. Arrested by the headlands and broken into fragments, the icebergs continue to drift along the coasts in the direction of the south, and thus pass over the submarine bank^ which form a south-easterly and a southerly extension of Newfoundland. .V The Bank of Newfoundland. These banks, fur more extensive than Newfoundland itself, do not present any indented contour lines like the shores of that island. On the contrary the Great Bank of Newfoundland, disposed in the form of a curvilinear triangle, everywhere * Proeetdings and Traniaetioiii of the R. Sotiiely of Canada, 1882-3. ««i|W?P' l «L|jy»l < HKil.li » 4 > !» ii j^u i L |i i i ,% i j ii iiW P t,pwiy< i>? ,g, ww i» i J.«^);J B t«^^ "^jlfW, THE BANK OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 800 gb a succes- of 145 feet. nother large t mingles its tbeir salient I flows in a o the east, is sh might be int the chief pre8<;nts rounded outlines with long curved inflexions. Were thu whole marine bed upheaved it would attach itself as a heavy peninsular mass to North America. Taken in its widest sense, the Bank of Newfoundland, that is, the submarine space covered by water less thnn 50 futhoms deep, occupies off the island a superficial area of about 48,000 or 60,000 square mili'S. Its bed presents but slight undulations, and those engaged in probing its depths may in many places traverse vast distances without detecting a difference of more than three or four feet in the liquid layers. Nevertheless, a few cavities occur in the sands of its bed. Such is the " Whale Hole," caused perhop? by the eddies of the conflicting barging into undhmd, the 8, is disposed if about 200 in altitude of ow the level lakes, ponds ally with the ese be added L may be said lions may be ninence. A served on all hills arc not summits and )pear during board facing ■ which must lenetrate the [lem straits ; eneral break the icebergs lus pass over extension of present any y the Great , everywhere Fig. 170.— Bank or NxwroumtLAim. Soato 1 : 10/)00,000. r ureenwich Dcplbi. OtoSO FaUmiiu. 60 to 100 Fathom*. 100 to 1.000 fatboms. 1,000 Fathoma ■udupwaida. . SfiOMUca. currents in the western part of the bank south of Cape Race, and sinking to a depth of nearly 4D0 feet. An equally profound chasm limits the bank on the north-west, separating it from the Avalon Peninsula and from the less extensive and shallower submarine islets called the Banc A Vert, and the Banc de Sainte Pierre from the French island of that name. In the extreme east, and at a distance of about 125 miles, another bank, the so-called Bonnet- Flamand, rises in an oval mass above the surrounding abysses which have an average depth of about 500 fathoms. It is precisely in the vicinity of these elevated plateaux that the ocean bed itself plunges into the deepest chupm yet revealed in the whole of the Atlantic. 403 NORTH AMERICA. Tho Heu8 breuk over tho Newfoundland banka although thoy arc covered by !i5 or 40 fathoms of water. Hence their approach is usually revealed to mariners by the heavy cliopping waves fringing their border.i. But within this fringe of agitated wuters the sea i* generally Oilin, so that the bank itself might be regarded as forming a veritable harbour of refuge but for the risk of collision with the Hnhing smacks, steamers, or icebergs, a risk which is never absent from these waters during the tishing season. The large Atlantic liners, the most dreaded in cuse of collision, owing to their speed and enormous size, pass regularly over the southern " tail ** of the bank, thereby prolonging ihtir passage by three or four hours, but at the same time avoiding numerous disasters. No inter- national convention, however, has yet been signed, by which the highway of ocean trafBc might be deflected altogether from these bunks, at least during the fishing season. The long convoys of icebergs drifting with the polar current would still remain a constant source of danger, to be guarded against by the experience, skill, and presence of mind of the mariners navigating these waters. The skipper has to study from a distance the aspect of the surface, the glint of the crystal musses reflected from the clouds, the dense fogs and clear skies. He rauot take note in the waters themselves of the changes of temperature, of colour, und of animal life caused by the proximity or remoteness of the floating masses. And when the seus are wrapped in impenetrable mist, deadening the senses and concealing all objects however near, he must be ready for every contingency, unhesitatingly cutting moorings and fishing gear alike adrift, should the roar of the breakers, at times even the crackling and shrinking of the huge ice-hills, or else the sudden lowering of the temperature warn him of the imminent peril. These convoys, drifting down from the higher latitudes, puss for the most part along the eastern section of the bank, a few straggling blocks alone being attracted to the neighbourhood of the Newfoundland coasts. Their route is, in fact, largely determined by the action of the Gulf Stream, which sets in the direction from south-west to north-east, thus deflecting the convoys from their normal course and driving them more to the east. But independently of this cause, their line of march is constantly modified by the bulk of the muKses themselves, as well as by the conflict of the marine currents which collide in these waters, and become divided into secondary streams either flowing side by side or superimposed one above the other and moving in opposite directions. AVherever the iceberg is entirely confined to the polar current, it progresses with the same velocity as the current itself; but when brought within the influence of the wanner stream from the tropical eeas, it is not only turned eastwards but also begins to crack and thaw, rapidly shifting its centre of gravity and now and then toppling over with a great crash. Usually, however, it is impelled succes- sively or even simultaneously by opposing forces; the under current contends with the upper, and the block, penetrating through both layers, hesitates, oscillates, swingj round or moves backwards and forwards without any apparent reason. Between 46*^ and 44° north latitude the convoys usually begin to break up, before finnlly disappearing altogether in the tepid waters of the Gulf Stream. Their TUE BANK OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 401 iovered by o murinors B fringe of might be >f collision bsent from the most B regulurly fe by three No inter- bighway of during the lur current inst by the jeso waters, he glint of skies. He I, of colour, ing masses. ) senses and ontingency, the roar of ice- hills, or peril. e most par'b ig attracted 'act, largely ection from rmal course their line of 8 well as by and become mposed one t progresses he influence stwards but ,nd now and (lied succes- nt contends !s, oscillates, rent reason, k up, before mm. Their presence, size, numbers and general bearing arc signalled by passing vchsoIs and semaphores to Washington and thence communicated to all the ports along the eastern seaboard. 'J'he hypothesis has long been advanced that the Newfoundland and neigh- bouring banks have been formed by the debris of all kinds deposited by the melting icebergs in the region where converge the two opposing currents from Baffin Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Nevcrthelest; the careful observations taken in this very region have shown that in the North Atlantic the polar drift-ice contains but u very small quantity of the rocks and stony fragments and glacial clays either brought down with the glaciers from the rocky slopes of Greenland, Tlgr. 171.— ICKBEHOS OFF NEWFOUNDtAND. Scale 1 : 91,000,000. ^;il/. . SIS AHm. t . or else carried away from the bed of the lower gorges. All the blocks that get stranded on the Newfoundland coast are found to be pure as crystal, and singularly free from sedimentary matter. Hence they can have contributed tO a scarcely appreciable extent to the gradual building up of the submarine beds stretching south-eastwards from the great island.* Moreover, the marine regions where the convoys are concentrated in the largest number by no means correspond in their general contours with those of the sub- merged plateaux, while the banks stretching due south from Newfoundland lie altogether beyond, that is, considerably to the west, of the route followed by the * Thofolet, Bulletin de Qiographi* hiitoriqu* »t deteriptivt, Nanoy, 1887, No. 1. K. A.— a? 402 NORTH AMERICA. convoy". Tho now flooded Imnks mimt thercforo be n^gnrdod u» iMdoiiging to tho primitivo fcatiiron of tho tcrroHfriul crust. Thi-y form part of tlio jMideiitul on which tlio Aniuriciin continent itnolf reimaofi. At tho unmo time it ia roniarkublo that tho plunimot never Htrikcs a hard rocky bud, and that all the dt^bris finhud up during tbo soundings contain nothing but sands and gravels intermingled with shells. t Climate. But if the clash of the conflicting currents has played but an in«ignificant part in modifying tho. marine bed, it is certainly the chief cause of the vapours which are so characteristic of the eastern waters of Newfoundland. During the spring, summer and autumn months, when tho Gulf Stream prevails in this region, the mists roll up in abundance from the surface of the suddenly-chilled waters, and the surrounding seas become enveloped in fogs covering a space as large as France or even as half the European continent. The reports of seafarers, for the most part familiar only with the soutb-oastem ports and approaches of Newfoundland, tend to confuse the island itself rrith its banks ; hence dense fogs are commonly regarded as a normal if not permanent feature of its climate. Doubtless during the prevalence of the south and south-east winds the vapours are rolled up from the banks by the atmospheric currents, and at such times they are spread in thick masses over the creeks and inlets along the south coast. But as a rule they seldom penetrate far into the interior, and, according to the local saying, " The land eats the fog." The coasts most frequently wrapped in mist are precisely the most densely peopled, lying as they do over against the banks and their fisheries, that is, the chief resource of tbo islanders. On the west side turned towards the Gulf of St. Lawrence, fogs are rarely seen. Even in the north-east as far as Bonavista Bay thick vapours are scarcely developed, for the tepid waters of the Gulf Stream are prevented by the long south-eastern peninsula from penetrating into these inlets. During the greater part of the year the dominant winds are those from the west and south-west, which blow parallel with the oceanic currents, and these winds, instead of driving tho vapours towards Newfoundland, waft them across the Atlantic in the direction of West Europe. The fogs generated in the New- foundland seas are thus largely absorbed, especially by the British Isles. . ' The climate of Newfoundland, which on the whole is much colder than that of "West Europe, occupies a somewhat intermediate position between a strictly continental and a marine climate.* Newfoundland is, no doubt, an inaular region, but the prevailing winds are those which blow from the neighbouring continent. The aspect of its seaboard forms one of the chief elements in determining its normal temperature. Thus St. George Bay, broadening out in the direction of the south-west, is exposed to the full force of the aerial currents blowing across the Gulf of St. Lawrence from that quarter, while it is protected from the northern gales by the barrier of the highest eminences in the island. Hence St. George * Mean temperature of St. Juhn*!*, 41° F. ; of Brest (Brittany), 64" F. ; differmoe, 13° F. igiiiff to tlio ]>u(lui)tal on miiurkiiblo t^bria tiHliud liugled with nificant part pours which the spring, I region, the waters, and ^e as France for the most wfoundland, e oommonly tless during [led up from 'ead io thick they seldom he land eats nost densely I, that is, the the Oulf of as Bonavista Oulf Stream ig into these e those from its, and these r them across in the New- es. .•- *' ■•'_ er than that ien a strictly laular region, ig continent, termining its ) direction of [owing across the northern e St, George oe, 13° F. I s o iumtu. i -ii.tgw ^msiti^^ v.M®es«i4ft«p^^* .■ ■ , i BW | )yj»i. l M|!ti^l » iH|i|i FAUNA or NEWFOUNDLAND. 408 Bay enjoys a Ligher mean temperature and a more equable succession of seasons than the inlet of St. John's, which, although lying more to the south and fre- quently enveloped in the marine vapours, is exposed to the cold northern winds and washed by waters chilled by the melting of the icebergs.* ' In the southern parts of the island the rainfall is abundant, the yearly average exceeding 60 inches, or nearly double the quantity precipitated in France. During the winter months, this moisture nearly always assumes the form of snow, either soft and flaky or sharp as needles, and at times, especially during the prevalence of the north-westerly gales, the squalls sweep down with such violence that the boldest pedestrians scarcely venture to leave the shelter of their homes. But storms, properly so called, are rare, and whole years sometimes pass without a single peal of thunder being heard. As in Canada, but much more generally, the branches of the trees, the shrubs and hedges, are covered in winter with a " silvery dew " formed by the cold rains suddenly freezing at contact with solid bodies. Flora. In its flora Newfoundland also resembles Canada, except that it lacks numerous species, such as the cedar, beech, elm and oak, while others, stunted by the winds, are of much smaller size. On the east side of the island the prevalence of fogs prevents such European fruits as the apple, pear and plum from ripening, and the inland districts are still two thinly peopled to introduce horticulture. But there is a great abundance of berry-bearing plants, Newfoundland in this respect resem- bling the north-western regions of the Dominion. For thousands of square miles the rocks and swamps are overgrown with low bushes which yield large quantities of berries, chiefly used in the preparation of jams and preserves. From a variety of thorn is extracted a kind of beer, the common beverage of the Newfound- landers. - ,-:r i-',. 'i, .;j \, ,;'■•■ -''.,■ / .,- Fauna, --.-y^- Like if the forms ' in a pre- ment which er's mouth, body, 7 feet suckers, and Since then t up on the 3d; nothing St. John's, implements. 1 numerous, bited. The eir hunting instincts repaid them by regarding the natives as only another species of game. The Mic-Macs of the mainland, hereditary foes of the Beothuks, also profited by the relative superiority which they derived from the firearms introduced by the Europeans. Armed with these weapons they often crossed the strait to destroy the camping-grounds in the vicinity of the south coast. At the beginning of the present century there survived only a small number of these Indians, who had taken refuge in the more inaccessible regions of the interior, where they were surrounded by swamps and lakes. In its essays at " civilisation " the Government offered rewards for the capture of the natives, and thus were secured a few women, who, however, failed to appreciate the benevolent motives of their captors. The last of such captures were made in the year 1823, after which time no one pretends to have seen a Beothuk in any part of the island. Pos- sibly a small band of fugitives may have succeeded in crossing Belle-Isle Strait to the mainland, though it is difficult to believe that such an event could have taken place without coming to the knowledge of any of the white, Indian, or Eskimo inhabitants of Labrador. The race had already been destroyed by the gun of the trappers, by famine, disease, and misery, when in 1828 there was founded at St. John's a " Beothuk Society," whose professed object was to come to the aid of the ill-fated fugitives. But they found none to succour, and the few Indian families now met in Newfoundland are Mic-Mac immigrants from the mainland. The "Whites. > j ; ' Tbe white population is of mixed origin. To judge from the names of localities one might suppose that French was the language of the majority ; but such is far from being the case, these names being given by the people engaged in the cod- fisheries, who do not remain in the country or form any permanent settlements. Hence the geographical nomenclature gives no certain indications, although the French element must ent^r largely into the constitution of the people. They are in exclusive possession of the two islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, which belong jwlitically to France ; they are also numerous on the neighbouring coast, as well as in the Avelon Peninsula, the part of the island which is most densely peopled ; on St. George Bay, where some Acadians are intermingled with the British popu- lations ; lastly, on the " French " or west shore, where they reside temporarily during the fishing and curing season. But their actual numbers are not even approximately given by any statistical returns. Towards the middle of the present century M. Bameau estimated them at from 15,000 to 20,000 in a total population of 130,000. In the official documents all the inhabitants of the island pass for English whatever be their mother country. The Irish are very numerous, so that tlie Roman Catholic Church has more adherents than any single Protestant sect, although all the Protestants taken collectively exceed the Romanists by nearly 60,000, the respective numbers being 122,000 and 74,000 in the year 1886. '-^■' 400 NOBTH AMEEICA. Colonisation. To the coramcrolal monnpolics must be laid the blame of the slow progress made in the colonisation of Newfoundland. Every year the " admirals " of the fisheries assumed the command of the island which was governed as if it were a man-of-war. The first care of the admirals was to destroy all the houses, huts, or sheds which hud been erected near the coast, for the beach was regarded in its entire length as a sort of military zone, like the land in the vicinity of citadels or fortresses. On their return from the fisheries the captains had to bring back all the men embarked in England, or else account for their death ; they were strictly charged not to leave behind them a single emigrant. No stranger could settle in the country, acquire any land in freehold, or build the smallest house without the express permission oi the governor ; such permis- sion was seldom granted, because the fishing and agricultural interests were supposed to be antagonistic, and the latter had to be sacrificed to the former. The colonists in fact appeared in the light of mere intruders, marauders prowling about the fisheries, watching for an opportunity of snapping up a few yards of the beach or some vantage-ground about the landing-places. So late as the year 1797 a governor gave one of the magistrates a tremendous wigging for having allowed somebody to enclose a bit of land. Moreover, the rampant intolerance forbade the exercise of the Roman Catholic religion, and the " Irishry " were often re-shipped by whole cargoes for their distressful country. The celebration of Mass was regarded as a felony, and to secure a passage across the Atlantic the priests had to disguise themselves us common sailors. When thinking people ponder over these things they are set a-wondering how the Anglo-Saxon race ever struggled to the front at all. They forget that all things are relative in this world, and that if the British colonial policy was bad, the French and the Spanish were also bad, in some respects ten times worse. Despite all the measures taken to prevent the colony from flourishing, its population at the beginning of the present century had already risen to some 20,000 permanent settlers. At that time all Europe was at war; the foreign fishing-fleets were blockaded by British cruisers in their ports, and the New- foundland fisheries acquired quite an exceptional importance. The population of the island increased rapidly, rising to 70,000 at the conclusion of the Napo- leonic wars in 1815. ' But then came a general commercial smash, and the people who had depended exclusively on the fisheries suddenly found themselves without work and exposed to the danger of perishing of hunger. The situation became so critical that it was proposed to remove most of the inhabitants elsewhere, and steps were even taken to carry out the project. A few hundred of the more indigent Irish were sent back to increase the misery of their native land, and over a thousand persons emigrated to Nova Scotia. ft^ :.?.- ^ Nevertheless, the economic situation gradually returned to the normal condi- tions, and the population continued to increase chiefly by the excess of births over ^^ ^ ^^wy f yyy ' ^^ ' ■« ^^ ^^!»^y;\«r^y ' yllMi^^'i; l ■ ' ^y| ' ^^^ ^ ^^^ AGEICULTUBE OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 407 low progress rals " of the J if it were a uses, huts, or rarded in its )f citadels or ring back all were strictly lold, or biiild such permis- iterests were onner. The ers prowling few yards of te as the year g for having it intolerance ' " were often ielebration of Atlantic the nking people kxon race ever ilative in this id the Spanish lourishing, its isen to some ; the foreign ind tne New- he population of the Napo- • had depended I and exposed ritical that it jps were even ent Irish were usand persons normal oondi- of births over the mortality. At present it exceeds 200,000, and the equilibrium already about restored between the sexes shows that immigration has contributed but a small share to the growth of the jMpulation. Newfoundland is on the whole an extremely healthy region, and its most dreaded ailments are all forms of rheuma- tism and chest diseaaes, such us might be e.Npected to prevail in n damp, foggy climate. Agricultural Prospects. Agriculture still remains in a rudimentary state, and the whole extent of land under tillage is only about 65,000 acres, or, say, one- seventieth part of the surface. Recently the agricultural prospects of the island have been the subject of some warm discussion in connection with certain railway projects to be carried out by Fig. 172.— Chief Centbes of Fbenor Population in the DoioNioir. Feale 1 : 46,000,000. 50°*:' 50 West oF Greenwich ~t^',i^^: .eaoHiiM. the aid of British cipitul. On this point Major-General Dashwood, speaking from a knowledge of the island extending over nineteen years, remarks that districts described on railway maps as rich soil, are nothing but " bogs, rocks, and ecrabe." He observes generally that the {greater part of the land is of a poor Bt(diy nature, needing much manure, for which fish and seaweed are used on the coastlands. Some isolated bottom lands may be described as fairly good, but the summer heat, combined with late springs and early autumns, is so uncertain that cereals cannot be grown to advantage, though good root crops may be raised. Hay is seldom a good crop, unless in a very wet summer. This makes it all the more di£Scult to rear any number of stock, when it must be remembered that they must be kept up about half the year. There is very little natural herbage iu this island on which stock can feed, though cattle will browse in the woods in summer ; and there is hardly any " interval " land, that is, meadows flooded by rivers ; add to which there is no market except St. John's for farming produce, that is to say, the dealers in the out harbours will pay in cash for hardly anything except fur, 406 NORTH AMERICA. P. m. the truck system being in force everywhere, except for articles sold in the town of St. John's.* The Fisheries. On the other hand the industries, properly so called, are acquiring more impor- tance in the general economy of the island. Nevertheless the fisheries still remain its chief resource. Cod continues to be " the eoul of the colony." The annual exportation consists almost exclusively of the various products of the fishing- grounds — cod and cod-liver oil, herrings, sulmon, trout, seal-skins, and blubber. To these Newfoundland exports must be added those of the two French islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, derived eiitirtily from the vast vivarium of the banks and representing a yearly value of about £600,000. Account should also be taken of the enormous local consumption and of the manufacture of manures, in which are chiefly used the heads of the cod-fish rejected by the curers. Despite the annual catch, which rises at times to 150 and even 175 millions, there does not appear to be any appreciable diminution of the shoals,! although some of the inlets, amongst others that of Conception Bay west of St. John's, have become compara- tively deserted. These treasures are shared by three nations, the English, the French, and the Americans. Although the political rulers of the island, the English fishers are not in a majority, while the Newfoundlanders themselves confine their attention almost entirely to the coasts of the island and of Labrador. The Americans, to whom the treaties give the right of fishing to within three geographical miles of the shore, fish on the banks ; but the distance thence to the Maine and Massachu- setts curing-grounds is still considerable. The French, who have for four hundred years supplied the markets of West Europe and tho Mediterranean, enjoy still more extensive privileges in virtue of the treaty of Utrecht, concluded in 1713, and frequently confirmed since that time. They have the special advantage of a solid base of operations secured by the abso- lute possession of the two islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, besides the right of using the " French Shore," that is, the west coast of Newfoundland, for curing purposes. . They have the right of fishing in these waters, and of erecting sheds und platforms on the beach, but not of building permanent structures or passing the winter on the mainland. ,., ^J'... <^V /:j ' - International Conflicts. , I. 1.v^ It is easy to understand how the clash of interests gives rise to frequent conflicts on this territory belonging as it were to two rival masters. Hence the incessant diplomatic wranglings, which have at times assumed a threatening aspect. The bounties of from ten to sixteen shillings for ii^or^ hundredweight of fish, and of twenty shillings for every roan employed, which the French Govern- ment grants to the owners of the fishing-smacks with a view " to protect acquired ■. ' \ • Procfedinfft of the Royal Oeogiaphical Society, 1888, p. 652. ._. -, , ; t £. B. Biggfar, op. «i<. ^ FISIIEEIES OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 409 n the town of r more impor- ts still remain The annual the fishing- and blubber, ich islands of of the banks also be taken res, in which Despite the there does not ) of the inlets, )me compara- »ncb, and the ih fishers are leir attention Americans, to bical miles of nd Massachu- rkets of West >s in virtue of nee that time. I by the abso- ides the right td, for curing recting sheds es or passing 9 to frequent Hence the I threatening [redweight of inch Govern- )tect acquired interests," and to form recruits for the navy, are regarded by the Newfoundland and Canadian legislatures as an infringement of the conditions, preventing their own fishers from competing on equal tenns with the French. In order to neutralise the effect of the French bountit-s the Newfoundland legislature passed a law in 1886, sanctioned by the British Government in 1888, which prohibits the export to Saint-Pierre and Miquelou of tho bait required by the French fishers. At the beginning of the season capelan is the best for this purpose, followed during the months of August and September by a small species of octopus, and towards the close of the season by the herring. At the risk of completely ruining the populations of Fortune and Pluoentia Buys, who formerly supplied these different kinds of bait to the French, the St. John's legislature has interdicted their capture. According to the new regulations for the sale of bait (April, 1890) it is pro- vided that all French, American, and Canadian fishing vessels shall pay the ordinary light dues, and four shillings per ton as licence fee for every time she enters port for the purchase of bait. The purchase itself is limited to one barrel per ton register, and a second licence will not be granted within three weeks of the date of the first. The French were little troubled by the embargo laid upon the capelan, because from the 12th till the 15th of June this species swarms in the inlets of Suint- Pierre and Miquelon in such prodigious quantities that it imparts a milky colour to the surrounding waters, and the capelans are sometimes heaped 12 or 16 inches thick along the beach. Some of the other bait was also procured by smuggling, though of course at increased expense for the fishers. Recourse has also been had to other expedients to keep up the supply, and improved kinds of fishing-gear have even been introduced wherewith to capture the cod by new processes. Lastly, a large number of fishers have abandoned the banks, and have begun to work the lobster-grounds on the French Shore, or applied themselves to the preparation of preserved food. The rival parties indulge in mutual recrimina- tion, and accuse each other of laying snares at the entrance of the inlets to capture whole shoals, and thus depopulate the grounds. The Canadian Govern- ment, on its part, which bad hitherto observed a certain neutrality in the conflict, has now taken sides with' Newfoundland against France by prohibiting the French fishers from passing their cargoes of fish free of charge through the port of Halifax. Lately this state of suppressed warfare brought about the temporary overthrow of the Newfoundland ministry, which had prohibited the sale of bait, and the negotiations carried on between the British and French Governments resulted in a sort of modus viveiidi, which might afford time for a permanent settlement of the dispute. It was hoped that this temporary arrangpement would give general satisfaction, especially as it has been proposed to repeal the Bait Act, replacing it by a provision for the purchase of bait by fishermen of all nationalities upon payment of licence and tonnage fees. But the modus rivendi is now generally condemned by public opinion in Newfoundland, and a demand has been made for 410 NORTH AMERICA. the total ubolilion of the old treaties, and for the extiiic(ion of all French maritime and territorial rights in the colony. This result has already been virtually brought about on the French Shore, where the very force of circumstances has rendered impracticable the old treaty, which, in fact, has been officially violated since the year 1881. Numerous groups of British colonists have settled on this interdicted coast, and to them the French fishermen usually entrust the care of their establishments during the winter months. The legal existence of these colonies, which already comprise over 12,000 residents, has been recognised by the British Government, and the " French Shore," hitherto a sort of neutral ground where no one had the right to settle, has become an •' English Shore." The French fishers, injured by these inevitable changes, have preserved their fishing rights alone. Other Fisheries — Navigation. Next to cod, the herring has the greatest economic value on these fishing- grounds. It is taken especially in the bay of Islands and in the Ilumber arm, that is, that branch of the bay where the Humber reaches the coast. Even in winter the herring is pursued in the Eskimo fashion by piercing the ice, and casting the nets into the hidden waters. On the other hand, both the salmon and seal fisheries have gradually fallen o£F, and no longer possess any importance in the general trade of the colony. The number of seals taken on the Newfoundland coasts fell from nearly 687,000 in 1831 to a little over 200,000 in 1882. The oyster-beds have also been almost completely exhausted. But on various points on the coast, and especially at Dildo Island in Trinity Bay, piscicultural establishments have been founded with such results that some hope is now entertained of the waters being re-stocked which had been depopulated by the reckless improvidence of the former fishers. Hundreds of millions of cod {^nd lobster fry are periodically distributed by these breedin g- stations. General navigation, apart from the fisheries, is in a fairly flourishing state, but in the statistical returns account is taken only of those vessels which regularly visit the Newfoundland seaports to land or ship freight. The local mercantile fleet, consisting almost exclusively of fishing craft, comprises over 2,000 vessels of all sorts, of about 100,000 tons burden. Thus the smacks do not average more than 50 tons, and are mainly confined to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the banks, and the Labrador coasts. At first sight, Newfoundland would seetn to be admirably situated for developing a great shipping movement, projecting, as it does, far seawards in the direction of Europe. The transatlantic passage would even be reduced by two days were St. John's selected as the terminus on the American side. But the railway intended for the transport of passengers and merchandise across the island is not yet terminated, and most travellers who brave the seas will probably prefer the longer voyage to the inconvenience of two embarkations -nm 'twy;g, ^ffT^ I |ii.ijii»ii«<^>w"'»y*n(i7»i«r^ TOrOORAPIIY OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 411 inch maritime rcnch Shore, le old treaty, nerouB groups n the French g the winter ioraprise over I the " French i to settle, has ese inevitable these litihiiig- Ilumber ami, )a8t. Even in ig the ice, and ually fallen off, B colony. The arly 687,000 in [so been almost d especially at 1 founded with eing re-stocked former fishers, ■ibuted by these [ourishing state, which regularly local mercantile fer 2,000 vessels »t average more , the banks, and to be admirably ', as it does, far ( would even be m the American md merchandise I brave the seas wo embarkations followed by a con iderablo railway journey to reach such centres as Now York and Montreal. However Newfoundland must always remain the most advanced terminus of the iuternatioiml telegraph service on the American side. Of the ten North Atlantic submarine cables five are landed at Heart's Content on the east side of Trinity Bay, while other cables radiate from t^ 'sliind in the direction of Canada, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and the United Stateo. MlNEIlAL RksoURCES. Newfoundland is known to possess a considerable reserve of mineral wealth, which however must remain to a large extent undeveloped until the country is opened up by a more extended system of railway communication. The copper mines, which have been partly worked, are noted for the excellent quality of their ores. Several thousand tons of these ores are now annually exported, and recent surveys show that the country abounds in other minerals, such as iron, magnetic iron, sulphur, coal, graphite, nickel, lead and sulphur. Extensive deposits of magnetic iron ore, from which the finest steel can be made, were discovered in the year 1888 in the neighbourhood of the St. George Bay coal fields, a district which also presents the advantage of much wooded and fertile land. The Newfoundland sulphur deposits yield considerably over fifty-one per cent, of pure sulphur, which is two per cent, more than the richest beds in Sicily and other parts of Europe. At the Little Bay copper mines smelting furnaces were erected in the year 1889, for the purpose of smelting the ore on the spot, and ex- porting the copper in its pure state. Extensive mining operations have also been recently undertaken by a Scotch company, which has purchased several lead and silver mines in the Flacentia Bay district. ■ . Topography OF Newfoundland. 8L John's, not St. John, which is the name of the New Brunswick seaport, is the capital and largest town in Newfoundland, one^sixth part of the whole population being centred in the place. It dates from the earliest times of the discovery by Basques, Bretons, and Portuguese, and was already much frequented by fishing craft so early as the beginning of the sixteenth century. Hence the possession of this port was hotly contested by the Engl'sh and French, but it has belonged to England for nearly two hundred years. The town is invisible from the sea, and the entrance to the harbour is indicated by beacons erected on the summits of the headlands. On rounding one of these promontories, navigators enter the Narrows, a marine channel about 'a third of a mile loi)g, which is dominated by bluffs 500 or 600 feet high, and which was formerly closed against hostile vessels by an iron chain 220 yards long. On one occasion the passage was 412 NOllTII AMEUIOA. '1>' #■ HO CDtnpU-tely blocked by mussen of ice driving before thoBtorm thattho obBtruclion had tu bo roinoved by blasting with gunpowder. Tho Narrows suddenly expand into a spacious basin of smooth water, on the north Hidu of which the city is seen rising in amphitheatrioal form on tho terraced slopns of tho hilU. But despite its picturesque position, St. Jolin's cannot be culli'd a fine town. It was mainly built by traders and shippers, few of whom had tho intetition of pormaiiontly settling in the place; hence they were satisfied with temporary residences and with tastele>8 warehouses solid enough to shelter their stores. The poorer classes, mostly of Irish descent, live in grimy woodeu housei affording fuel to tho flames of the frequent winter fires. All quarters are pervaded by the penetrating smell of fish, which is quite Pig. 173.— CniEF Atlantic Gabum TKajBVxnva at Nbwfoundlahd. Hoale 1 : lA 000,000 .SO" 4cr SIS HUei. intolerable on the beach where the curing-sheds are erected. A town whose atmosphere is permanently charged with such odours scarcely lends itself to architectural display ; fortunately, however, it is abundantly supplied with pure water derived from a lake in the neighbouring hills. A few gardeners have also succeeded in raising a scanty crop of vegetables from the poor soil covering the surrounding rocks. A railway which rounds Conception Bay, so named by Cortereul, connect* St. John's with Harbour- O race (originally Harre-de-GrAce), the second largest place in the island. Its houses are grouped together on the shores of a creek which is sheltered from the surf by a tongue of sand, and which, in the 8i.xteenth century, was often crowded with as many as four hundred English, French, and Portuguese fishing-smacks. Although the waters of Conception Bay no longer teem to the n ^ iVW • TOl'OOEAniY OF N • •IWPT^ND. «lt 10 obatriiction water, on (he 1 the terraced I's cannot be of whom hud satisfied with shelter their oodeu houses lich is quite ^O" lia 40- 53» town whose nds itself to d with pure 3rs have also covering the eal, connects largest place ■ek which is nth century, I Portuguese teem to the 'ill much frequent same extent as formerly in animal life, Karl ur-Os-ace i« during the fishing season. On an inlet of the same bay about eight 111 -< further i rth sUin<' iho Engli^ i town of 6Vir/>o»(?ar, on the site of the old French setlletnent of ' '•< niire, u a busy seuport during the season. On the east side of Trim iJiy, no j- west from Curbonoar, lies the pleasant little fishing village of ' irf'i» ChH' ;/, memorable as the ppot wtere was landed the electric cable of --tH by which submarine communication was first established between the Old and New World. From tho '• words of good will " on that occasion flashed across the ocean and transmitted to the ends of the earth, one might have supposed that the era of universal brotherhood had at last begun. Other fishing stations follow north of Conception and Trinity Buys, and hero the towns of Catalina and Bonamta, dating from the first years of the discovery, still receive hundreds of fishing croft. The harbour of Oreeiis/xtiid is also much frequented, and beyond the neighbouring headland of Cape Freels (Frehel) are nituated two other ports, those of Fogo and the old French town of Toulingttet, which the English have transformed to TwilHugate. This place stands on two rocky islets connected by a picturesque viaduct. From this district were, till recently, procured tho finest Newfoundland dogs, perfectly black with a white cross on tho breast. These ports on the north coast equip a considerable number of smacks fur the Labrador fisheries. Here also some agriculture is carried on, especially in the vicinity of Twillingate. But in the neighbouring Notre-Dame Bay, the chief industr}' is the working of the deposits of copper which is found in pockets or nodules disseminated through tlu> roiks. Deep galleries have already pene- iruted fnr into the hills in the district of Tilt Cove, a little haven, where newly all the inhabitants are engaged in the mines. An English company exports the ores and builds roads, railways, and telegraphs in this region, which had hitherto been destitute of all land communication with the rest of the island. ~ . The south coast, especially that of the Avalon peninsulas, south of St. John's, is much more densely peopled than the north. The inhabitants, attracted by the neighbourhood of tho banks, are concentrated along the shores, though the poor iind rocky soil prevents them from settling in the interior. ITero the largest place, formerly a rival of St. John's, is the old French colony of Plaiiance, which was changed by the English to PUicentia in the year 1713, when the French soldiers and residents had to evacuate Newfoundland and remove to Cape Breton. Facing it, on the north side of a creek, stands the village of Little Placcntia, near which are some lead mines. In Placentia Bay the best port is Burin, on the west side, where it is sheltered from all winds by a group of islets. The Burin ship-owners equip a large number of smacks for the banks and keep up a brisk trade with the French port of Saint-Pierre. Farther on there are no large places on the south coast ; not one of the villages, such as Fortune, Burgee, La Poile, and Port Basque, has a population of a thou- sand souls. Near Port Basque, called also Channel by the English, are situate ■:t\ _^:- 4U NORTH AMERICA. tho (lungorouB roofN, leu Inkn niir Morit (Duud Miii'm iHlen), tlio acciio of constant Hhipwrocks. At titncii, uftor stormy wouthor, batches of gravediggcrs havo been occupied for Bovurul days iu burying the dead. Administration. The Newfouiidlund Government, modelled on that of Qreut Britain, is based on the one hand on the popular will represented by manhood suffrage ; on the other, on the royal pleasure directly interpreted by the Governor. All citizens, twenty-one yearH old, occupying a domicile for two years before the day of the elections, either as owners or tenants^ and all men over twenty-five years of age, whatever their residence, have a vote. The island is divided into districts, collec- tively returning thirty-three deputies to the House of Assembly. These repre- sentatives are chosen every four years amongst proprietors with an income of not less than £100, or property valued at £500, and free of mortgages ; they receive a subsidy of £40 if residents of St. John's, and £60 if they have their domicile elsewhere. The Legislative Council consists of fifteen members nominated by the Govern- ment for life, and receiving a subsidy of £25 for each cession. The Executive Council of seven members is also chosen by the Government, '')ut is responsible to the majority of the Legislature. Lastly, the Governor is appointed by the Crown, usually for a period of six years. The Constitution, which dates from the year 1855, was modified in 1885. The colonial revenue is derived almost exclusively from the customs, which vary from 10 to 25 per cent., according to the different articles. Coal, fishing- gear, printing-pnper, and vegetables are exempt from import dues. IX.-SAINT-PIERRE AND MIQUELON. The two islands in the Newfoundland waters left to France by the treaties were well known to the navigators of the sixteenth century, and are specially mentioned by Cartier in 1535. But the little archipelago received no residents properly so called before the year 1604, when some Basque and other seafarers from the west of Europe settled here and occupied themselves with the curing of codfish. But they were expelled by the English, and no fresh settlements were made till the year 1763, when some Acadians, driven from Nova Scotia, sought a refuge in Saint-Pierre ; but these also were compelled to emigrate, and in 1778 the whole population of the islands, at that time variously estimated at from 1,200 to 1,932, was expelled and had to take refuge in France. In 1783 the islands were again thrown open to settlers, and ten years later they contained 1,500 inhabitants, when the English again swooped down, and the French were again banished. No attempt was made tit a fresh settlement till the year of constant 8 have been nin, is based 'ago ; on the All citizens, e day of the oara of age, tricts, coUec- These repre* Qcome of not they receive leir domicile the Govern- le Executive 'csponsible to y the Crown, om the year iBtoms, which Ooal, fishing- the treaties are specially '. no residents her seafarers the curing of iements were >tia, sought a and in 1778 it from 1,200 irs later they id the French till the year ^ samaasmsmmss^ -u-jMu-jsm tt^^V'-fJM .-BllW»l(«iH*".'«li' •n ST. PIEREE AND MIQUELON. 41S 1816, when the islands were restored to Franco. Amongst the new immigrants were some families belonging to the former exiles. The treaties are variously interpreted. According to the French the archi- pelago belongs to France in full and absolute sovereignty, with the right of erecting military works, while the English hold that all fortiKed works are forbidden. Anyhow none exist, and it would be useless to erect them. Saint-Pierre is nothing Fig. 174. — Flioehtia Isthxus. SoalA 1 ! 800,000. We«t or Green wieh 53»20' DepUw. OtOlOO Fathoma. ■*;■;■ 100 Fathoms andnpwarda. .I6MUM. more than a French fishing-station in Canadian and British waters, but from the ethnical point of view it is the first or easternmost station of numerous French populatiops, which stretch thence, either in colonies or isolated groups, westwards to Canada and the United States as fur as the Rocky Mountains. The archipelago, a mere geographical dependency of Newfoundland, with which it is attached by submarine beds less than 50 fathoms deep, forms a group of three 416 NOETH AMERICA. rugged islets, Siiint-Pierre in the south, and the much larger Miquelun iii the north, which compri>-o.s two insular masses, Great Miquclon and Little Miquelon, called also Langlade or Langley. The former has a few summits, 700 or 800 feet high. The latter is lower, though one of its peaks rises to an elevation of 530 feet. Both p. Fig. 176.— HioCTELOiT Abchipelaoo. PKdIe 1 : W.ncn. Deptlia. 0to6 Fatbomi. 6to8B Fathonu. SS to 1(M) Fathoms. 100 Fathomii andupwarda. , 19 Miles. are connected hy a sundy isthmus, in some places scarcely 1,000 fe^t wide, huilt up by conflicting currents, but now and then pierced by :: channel large enough to give access to vessels of average tonnage. Thus in 1767 the fwo islets wei-e separated, and again united in 1781, when several skippers, cleseived by the marine charts on tSiiitoiJwiMii ' ' 'iAi ' -!$fi^'^*f : ^ ' ^^4m^^^ ' f>1f^* - i>^'y^;^ ^ ^ '•-" ' 'mj;\ ' >* ' i ^ v^wmti ij ii-n jm - n' '-^ '-!^t » !; ' ;. ■ ; y i. tM^ y<' '' 4 ' *< " »f *^M |J ^ ' "^ » &i i j^ ST. PIERRE AND MIQUELON. 417 in the north, uelon, called )0 feet high, i feet. Both tride, built up lough to give ive separated, 'ine charts on which the channel still figured, were wrecked on the sandbank. Ships were also f i-equently dri n by storms on these dungorous shoals, and along the whole length of the isthmus may be seen the ribs of vessels projecting above the sands like the skeletons of cetaceans. From 1816 to 1881 as many as 263 wrecks were recorded on these shores, over four a year. ., A strait, misnamed a " bay," although it offers no anchorage and is often very dangerous to shipping, separates the twin islets of Miquelon from Saint-Pierre, which, though of smaller size, is even of more desolate aspect, except in the immediate vicinity of the port. Like Miquelon, Saint-Pierre consists of porphyries interspersed with trappean rocks, and on the slopes underlying sandstones and conglomerates. The highest summit of the so-called " mountain " attains an eleva- tion of 650 feet. Vegetable soil is almost completely absent, the rocks being for the most part covered with lichens. The " forests," as they are called, are a mere tangle of junipers with almost trailing branches, growing five or six feet high. Nevertheless these thickets yield a large quantity of edible berries, which are gathered in the autumn. The rocky depressions are flooded with ponds, and the slopes are strewn with erratic boulders. Hence tillage is impossible except with imported soil, and in this way the residents of Saint-Pierre have succeeded in cultivating a few garden plots round about their houses. Langlade is more fertile, and here the people have formed 'loiisiderable farm- steads for the cultivation of cereals and stockbreeding. In 1881 a species of hare iitproperly called a " rabbit," was introduced from Nova Scotia, and has rapidlj' multiplied in Miquelon, as it has already done in Newfoundland. Topography. The archipelago is completed by a few uninhabited islets, rocks, and shoals. Notwithstanding its larger size and greater fertility, Miquelon has fewer inhabitants than Saint- Pierre, which has the advantage of possessing a well-sheltered roadstead, and the town has naturally been established at the point where the fishers are able to land. The permanent population comprises about 2,500 souls ; but at the height of the season the streets of Saint-Pierre are crowded b)' as many as 15,000 persons connected with the fisheries. Normans and Bretons form the chief French element, and there is also a little Basque colony In the place. A somewhat shallow lagoon at the neck of the sandy isthmus, on the north side of Great Miquelon, might be converted into a harbour ; but this coast is rarely accessible to vessels, and it has remained almost uninhabited. Around Saint-Pierre and on the neighbouring Dog Island are concentrated most of the habitations, and near them stretch the grounds for curing the codfish. A numerous floating popu- lation, consisting almost exclusively of j'oung Bretons of both sexes, are employed in these curing establishments, which belong to the shippers of Granville, St. Male, Dieppe, and Fecamp. Bordeaux is the chief French port to which the pro- duce is forwarded. N. A.— 28 ■ ij ii i .| y i iBi m j ) inj i w,mta iiJ M'< » m . ■' •!>s' ^ ':! f i • 418 NOETII AMERICA. The industries connected with the fisheries-drying, salting, cooperage, boat- building, storage of the salt imported chiefly from Cadiz-make Suint-Pierre one of the busiest places in these waters. During the season it maintains frequent communication with the surrounding ports of riacontia, St. John's, Sydney, and Halifax. Several of the Atlantic cables touch at Saint-Pierre, thus constituting it one of the chief ganglions in the electric system of the world. France is represented in Saint-l'ierre by a resident governor, and the inhabitants on their part send a delegate to Paris. Each island of the archipelago constitutes a commune, with municipal councillors and a council general elected by the ncrutiii (le lisle, and meeting twice a year. Pi S m '■~~^;;^^ISi^Kmims«smmmerr: <■ » !. . ^•,to i )yi| jj i , j i , i .ay l< | ^ ^ ; ^j ^^ . ^^.j l ^^,y. . ^,.jjJ ,, ^^^^^ l| ill.g i i,y g^ jp> ij „ 'vi «.' i, i . ' ' r < f ,|Mp ,t^ ^l^^ l u^m^glKf l ^ww ^ ^^ ' \!mM^•tmll!V9* ''l ^ T ** ' ,"' ff < 01fff^ ' fJ ~ CHAPTER Vr. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF THE DOMINION. Populations. HE population of the various confederate states or " provinces " and territories constituting the Dominion of Canada certainly exceeded 5,000,000 in 1890, but this population is distributed very unequally throughout this vast domain. Nearly all the inhabitants are con- centrated on the shores of the three lower lakes, in the valley c>f the St. Lawrence, and along the coasts of the Maritirjie Provinces. A few com- munities are grouped here and there along the routes leading to the Pacific ; but the boundless northern regions are almost uninhabited except by some scattered Indian and Eskimo tribes, and even these appear to be decreasing in numbers. These bleak boreal lands lie still beyond the stream of immigration ; but without taking them into account, the habitable parts of the Dominion, that is to say, in a general way, all the territory situated to the south of the isothermal line of freezing-point, are still extensive enough to receive and support with ease at least 100,000,000 human beings. The rapid progress made during the last century is sufficient proof of the great resources possessed by the Dominion. Thus the population rose from less than half a million at the beginning of the century to over two million and a half in 1850, and since then it has about doubled itself. 1\, Immigration. The stream of European immigration setting towards Canada has never been as regular in its movement as that which flows to the American republic. It is even difficult accurately to estimate it, for every year a large number of the new arrivals, often estimated at thousands and tens of thousands, merely pass through the Luurentian basin, and continue their route to the United States. On the other hand many Americans or colonists of European origin, domiciled south of the Canadian frontier, again break up their homes, and pass northwards, attracted by the thousand shifting interests of trade or the industries. A continuous reciprocal movement has thus been already developed between the conterminous 420 NOETIl AMEBICA. fa? I?'''".' m states, and although returns have been made of these incei^sant displacements, the tables have net yet been made with sufficient care to determine for each year the loss or gum resulting from the interchange between the two regions. In any case a large portion of the direct European immigration to Canada settles permanently iu the country. Illven if it be estimated at no race than one- third of the whnlo, it would contribute much to the peopling of the land. This is evident from the fact that during the last twenty years the official returns have never shown lofs than 18,000 persons in any single year (1860), whereas they rose to over 133,000 in 1883. On an average the arrivals have steadily risen from 20,000 to about 70,000 annually. The slightly higher proportion presented by the male over the female sex in the whole of the population (100 to y7'5) iu explained by the very large number of bachelors included amongst the immigrants. Of the native-born inhabitants the women are in the majority. The ethnical elements annually added to the Canadian population by immigra- tion are drawn chiefly from Great Britain. Ireland formerly sent multitudes of colonists, but this source is nearly exhausted, and at present most of the arrivals are from England. Some thousands of Scandinavians also cross the Atlantic, but they rapidly became Anglicised, and the same fate overtakes the few hundred Germans, who distribute themselves in small groups in various parts of the territory, but especially in Ontario and Manitoba. The French arrive in still fewer numbers, and it is almost exclusively through their own resources, that is, through their surprising fecundity, that the Franco-Canadians are able to hold their ground in the midst of the surrounding populations of English speech, and to continue that peaceful rivalry to which tue part played by language and the national temperaments lend such special interest. The Aborigines. As regards the Indians, original owners of the land, these international struggles are absolutely unaffected by their presence. Of so little account have they already become that more frequently than not the statistical returns neglect to enumerate them in their periodical summaries. A few half-famished tribes still wander in the solitudes, feebly protected by the missionaries from the con- tinual encroachments of the whites. But most of the natives, surrounded by the rising tide, half-bastardised and debased, are being slowly but surely absorbed in the general population of the country. The 80,000 Indians who live in the so-called " reserves," that is, lands set apart for them, constitute communities of European aspect, where annual returns are made of the houses, the schools and churches, the arable lands, agricultural implements, livestock and produce, in order, as it were, to record the gradual progress they are making in the process of assimilation to the colonists of white race. Conforming even in their political and municipal institutions to the practices of their Canadian neighbours, they will soon have retained no distinctive characters, except perhaps the vague memories of their forefathers. mmammmamm ilWt.JIJ i HH,..J.Hl l" ' 'SU< i y;*!|ji i ffl ' » i S ' ! ' '' » jy^ WMffW i iu ' W yiM' I' 'III I' I ,» ' .'■ i .MH l i "». ' ,l(, '' [I II ii M i(IW| THE CANADUN AB0E1OINE8. 421 cements, the uch year the d to Cunada ^re than one- ind. This is returns have 'eas thev rose y risen from presented by lO to 97-5) is i itniuigrauts. by imniigra- inultitudes of i the arrivals Atlantic, but few hundred parts of the irrive in still mrces, that is, able to hold h speech, and a;uuge and the internutional i account have ■eturns neglect unished tribes from the cou- 'ounded by the ly absorbed in lo live in the lommunities of he schools and id produce, in I the process of !ir political and jours, they will ;ue memories of All the Indian populations are now under the direct control of the Canadian Government. " Like an army they have been, and still are, in large numbers, fed and clothed by the Government. With their consent their lands have, in many instances, been sold, until an Indian fund has accumulated, amounting now to over $•3,000,000 (£600,000). Schools have been established for them, and about 140 teachers, many of whom are Indians, ore engaged in teaching. In these schools are over 4,000 pupils, and the annual inspection shows good results. " Many of these Indians have aided, by their labour, in constructing the Cana- dian Pacific Railway. In some- instances they have become contractors and employers of labour. In one or two instances the tribes have shown themselves so well able to manage their own affi'irs, that the Government has released them from their position as wards of the country, and has given into their own keeping the moneys r>btained from the sale of their lands. Under an Act of Parliament passed in 1884, privileges have been conferred on the more advanced bands with a view of training them for the exercise of municipal powers. Under another act, passed in 1885, Indians, whether on the Indian reserves, or mingling with the general community, have conferred on them the right to vote for members of Parliament on the same conditions as other inhabitants of Canada. The Indians, thus placed on a perfect equality with the whites, demonstrate the success which has attended the efforts of Canada to raise them from their state of savagery to a civilised condition. " The same effort, possibly with less promise of ultimate success, especially in the North-West, is being made with all the Indian tribes. Schools and farm instructors are provided by the State. Agents and inspectors have been appointed, whose duty it is to look after the bands committed to their charge ; to see that the rations provided are kept up to a uniform standard of excellence ; to prevent the Indians being imposed on by worthless and greedy whites ; to guard them against the evils resulting from the introduction of spirituous liquors, heavy penalties for which offence are imposed by the State ; and generally to aid them in every way to prepare to gain their livelihood as farmers, labourers, and operatives, instead of by the chase. •' The task undertaken by the people of Canada is a difficul* one — no less than the reclamation of over a hundred thousand savages, and the development within them of the essentials of civilisation. It is rendered more difficult by the presence of whites, who bring v,-ith them the evils of civilised society. As a compensatory advantage, the Government has the aid of the various Christian denominations, who have established missions in many places, and have won the regard and confi- dence of the Indians. " The difficulties of the task may be understood from the fact that, although on the reserves in the North-West Territories the agents only distribute food twice u week, warning each recipient, at each distribution, that the rations are intended to last for three days, or four, as the case may be, yet so like children are these Red-men that they eat up the whole supply at one meal. They have not yet learned 422 NORTH AMERICA. tlie wisdom of bL'ing provided for three days uheud. So greut is the difficulty of teach* iiig thorn the initial stop toward a higher plane of existence. " The total expenditure, on nccuuiit of the Indian population, beyond that pro- vided by the Indian fund, was, in 1885, ^1,109,604 (£221,900), of which amount the sum of ^478,000 (£95,600) was expended in the purchase of provisions for the destitute Indians."* Agriculture. As must long be the case, the great bulk of the Canadian population, nearly 60 per cent, altogether, belongs to the agricultural class. Although the relative importance of the towns is rapidly increasing, as in all civilised lands, it is still far from being as great as in the other Anglo-Saxon countries, England, the United States, or even Australia. In this southern continent the two cities of Sydney and Melbourne alone contain one-third of the whole population, whereas in the Dominion the ten largest towns contain only one-seventh of all the inhabitants of British North America. Since 1854 the old feudal division of the land in seigniories, or territorial lord- ships, has ceased to exist in the province of Quebec, where the " lods " and other burdens have been redeemed by a sum of £'100,000 paid to the ground landlords ; at the same time the slight remaining ground-rent has been declared purchasable at a reasonable valuation at the option of the tenants in possession. Nearly all have availed themselves of this privilege, and the charge is henceforth optional. But the arable lands which the Canadian Government has already caused to he surveyed by hundreds of millions of acrrs, are far from being occupied even as pasturage for livestock. So great is their extent, that the farmer is able to exploit them without any forethought for the future. He usually tills only the naturally fertile ground, and does not even take the trouble to increase tba produc- tive power of the soil by manures. Most of the lands are occupied only for the sake of the timber growing on them. The trees are felled, and then the land is abandoned for some future settler to again clear and cultivate it. The giants of the forest are growing rare, for the northern limits to which the woodman has already penetrated enjoy a less favourable climate than the already wasted southern regions, and consequently do not yield such fine timbar. . ► But the resources of the woodlands still amply suffice for all the requirements of Canada, and in no other country is the lumber used up more extravagantly for the construction of dwellings, outhouses, cattle-sheds, bridges, roads, viaducts, as well as in the manufacture of furniture and implements of all kinds. Moreover, the forests support an export trade which represents about one-fourth of the whole commerce of the Dominion. The average yearly value of the timber at present exported is estimated at nearly ■'jve millions sterling. Wheat is the staple agricultural product, and the crop usually exceeds the local consumption. Thus the commercial scales incline almost every year in favour of Canada. According to the years the yield oscillates between twenty and * £. B. Biggar, op eiC. ' • ■ *- • ' j If 'ii i W .IWWB'. ' I'M. ' "* I y W^ 'i W" !^ > )Mf i » ' iyny i . 11 11 AOMCULTUEE. 428 Ity of teach- nd that pro- bich amount sions for the )n, nearly 60 the relative it is still far 1, the United 18 of Sydney hereas in the nhabitants of rritorial lord- Is" and other nd landlords ; d purchasable Nearly all th optional, y caused to be upied even us (ler is able to tills only the ise tbo produc- h1 only for the en the land is The giants of I woodman has 'asted southern B requirements travagantly for 3 8, viaducts, as ds. Moreover, th of the whole nber at present lly exceeds the every year in een twenty and thirty million bushels, or rather less than one-tenth of the Freiicli htirvest. Hut in the near future, when the rich wheat-growing lands of the " fertile belt " of Manitoba are brought more under cultivation, the Dominion will probably take a foremost position amongst the grain-producing regions of the globe. Nor are any of the other European alimentary plants neglected by the Canadian farmers. In some districts, especially in the southern purt of (he province of Ontario, they have developed magnificent orchards, whose apples and other fruits are of excellent quality. They have even made essays at vine-growing, not, however, with much succeits, although the summers are amply hot enough to ripen the grape. A large portion of the agricultural regions is occupied by pastures, and for some years livestock have been bred for the European market. As many as 20,000 horses have also been exported in a single year, and Canada posscbses, relatively speaking, more of these animals than any other country. Dairy farming has been rapidly developed, and the Dominion already exports large quantities of cheese to England, but the production of butter for the foreign market has suffered a corresponding decrease. Thus while the export of cheese rose from over 10,000 tons in 1874 to nearly 36,000 in 1885, that of butter fell from over 5,000 to about 3,000 tons in the same period. The export of wool has also fallen off, though the decline may perhops be only temporary, and caused by the increasing demand of the local spinning factories for the raw article. In 1885 less than 5,000 tons of wool were yielded by the flocks for exportation. On the other hand, the products of the poultry-yard, thanks to the thrift of the farmers' wives, have acquired increasing economic importance since the middle of the century. Nearly 139 millions of eggs were forwarded in 1885, and in this respect Canada follows at some distance in the footsteps of France, which supplies such enormous quantities to England. These minor articles have at present a greater annual value in the general trade of the country than the dressed or undressed skins which formerly constituted its chief resource, and which, next to the fisheries, contributed most to its settlement. The total value of the peltries exported in 1888 was estimated at little over £360,000. Homesteads and Pre-emptions. On these important points much trustworthy information, of great value to intending settlers in the Far West, is supplied by Mr. E. B. Biggar, speaking on be- half of the Dominion Government. It appears that any person, male or female, who is the sole head of a family, or any male who has attained the age of eighteen yeiirs, is entitled, on making application to the local agent of the district in which tlie land he desires to be entered for is situated, and paying an office fee of ^10 (£2), to obtain homestead entry for any quantity of land not exceeding one quarter-section, or 160 acres, of the class of land open to such entry. This entry entitles the holder to occupy and cultivate the land to the exclusion of any other person, the title remaining in the Crown until the issue of patent for the land. W^' q.iiif'.'illMi 4M NOBTU AMERICA. It'-' Any pcrmin obtaining homoHtoud ontry is entitled to obt lin, lit (ho same time on piiynient of a further office fee of ^10, a pre-emption entry for an adjoining quurter-Bcction, and to use and cultivate the same in connection with his home- Btoud. The settler is ullo-.ved six months f»0!n the date of obtaining homcAtcid entry within which to complete and p('rf«'ct such entry, by t iking, in his own person, possoHMion of the land, and beginning residence and cultivation, and if the entry be not perfected within such time, it becomes void ; except where entry is obtained on or after the Ist of September in any year, and the six months would expire before the 1st of June following, in which case an extension of time to the latter date is granted. In the case of immigrants or other persons intending to settle, the Minister of the Interior, on requisition signed by them, may authorise any person they may name to obtain homestead and pre-emption entries for them before their arrival in the territory in which the land they desire to occupy is situated, and in such case the time for perfecting entry may be extended to twelve months. The settler, on proving that he has resided on and cultivated the land for which he has homestead entry, during three years from the date of perfecting his entry, is entitled to a patent from the Crown for the same, provided that he is a British subject by birth or naturalisation ; in case of his deaih his legal repre- sentatives succeed to the homestead right ; but they, or some of them, must complete the necessary duties. In cases where it i» not convenient for the settler to reside upon his homestead for the three years from the date of perfecting entry, the conditions necessary to obtain patent can be fulfilled by his erecting a habitable house on his homestead, and residing therein for the three months next prior to the date of his application for patent ; and from the date of perfecting his entry to the beginning of the three months' residence aforesaid, by his residing, for at least six months in each year, within a radius of two miles from his homestead quarter- section. He must also, in such case, break and prepare for crop, within the first year, at Icijst ten acres of his homestead ; within the second year he must crop the said ten acres and prepare iir crop fifteen acres additional ; and during the third year he must crop the twenty-five acres already broken, and prepare for crop fifteen acres more. A homesteader has also the privilege of obtaining a patent for his homestead before the end of three years, by paying the Government price at the time for the land, and proving that he has resided thereon for twelve months from the date of perfecting entry, and that he has brought thirty acres thereof under cultivation. In case a certain number of homestead settlers, embracing not less than twenty families, with a view to greater convenience in the establishment of schools and churches, and for advantages of a similar nature, ask to be allowed to settle together in a hamlet or village, the Minister of the Interior may dispense with the conditions of residence on the homestead; but the condition of cultivation must be complied with in all cases. AORTCULTURE.-CUOWN LANDS. 425 o Rnine time m adjoining (h \m hoino- jesto id entry own person, if the entry ry is obtuiuecl would expire to the lutter le Minister of son they may their arrival and in such the land for of perfecting Ided that he is is legal repro- of them, must his homestead s necessary to lis homestead, his application ginning of the aonths in each tn. he flrsi year, at >op the said ten r third year he crop fifteen i)r his homestead he time for the rem the date of >r cultivation, ess than twenty of schools and lowed to settle spense with the ivation must be A homestead entry is liublo to bo cnncollrd at any tinio that it is proved that the settlor has not roMidod upon and cultivated his honii-Nteud for ut least six months in any one year from the date of perfecting entry; but in vuno of illncNH, properly vouched for, or in the coso of immigrants returning to their native land to bring out their families to their hornesteadH, or in other »>peeiul ciiNes, the Minister of the Interior may grant an extension of time during which the sottlor may be absent from his homestead ; but such leave of absence will not count in the term of residence. A settler, having u pre-emption entry in connection with his homestead, on becoming entitled to a patent for his pre-emption, is entitled to obtain u patent for his pre-emption by paying the Government price for the land ; but such payment must he made within six months after ho has l)ecome entitled to a patent for his homestead ; otherwise his pre-emption right is forfeited. The right of pre-emption connected with homestead entry was discontinued from the 1st of January, 1890. The privilege of homestead and pre-emption are also understood to apply only to agricultural lands. Provinciai, Lands. In Ontario, public lands, already surveyed and considered suitable for settle- ment, may be appropriated as free grants ; but such grunts are limited in each case to 200 acres. A single man over eighteen years of age, or a married man without children under eighteen residing with him, isentilled to a grant of 100 acres. The male head of the family, or the widow, having a child or children under eighteen residing with him or her, may obtain a grant of 200 acres, and may also purchase an additional 100 acres at the rate of 50 cents (28.) per acre. Outside of the free grant townships, uncleared land varies in price from 28. to 408. per acre, according to situation and soil. Cleared and improved farms can be bought at prices ranging from £4 to £10 per acre. The money can nearly always be paid in instalments spread over several years. In the province of Quebec, over 6,000,000 acres of Crown lands have been sur- veyed. These may be bought by paying one-fifth of the purchase- money on the day of sale, and the remainder in four yeaiiy instalments, bearing interest ot 6 per cent. They are sold at such low prices — from Is. 5d. to 28. 5d. per acre — that these conditions are not very burdensome. But the purchaser is required to take pos- session within six months of the date of sale and to occupy it within two years. He must clear, in the course of ten years, ten acres for every hundred held by him, and erect a habitable house of the dimensions of at least sixteen by twenty feet. In the province of New Brunswick, the purchaser is required to begin clearing and improving his ollotment within one month ofter approval, and within three months he must improve to the value of ^20 (£4) ; within one year build a resi- dence and cidtivate at least two acres ; within three years not less than ten acres. In this province, besides the Crown lands, there is a domain of 1,650,000 acres belonging to the New Brunswick Land Company, which may also be obtained on 4M NOUril AMKUICA. i&- fiivouniblc tt'rni«. Tlic hoiI «f Now liruiiNwick is wild by ProfunNor Joluinfon to bo cupublo of prixluciii^ fiHxl for ii |),()()0 to 10,000 ucren of reully vuluublo land, quite acc<>8HibIe and very nour pronoiit BettlemontH. The price is ^41 (£8 10».) iH>r 100 ucrc«, and BinuUer lotn may be had iit the Mimo low rate. Lastly, in llritish Cohunbia. every head of a family, widower, or single mon eighteen years of age, being a British subject, bos the right to pre-empt a tract not exceeding ;{20 acres in extent, north and east of the Cascade Range, and 1(50 acres in other piirts of the province. IVrsonal residence for a peritKl of two years with reasontiblo intervals of absence, and iniprovenients to the average of lOs. per acre, are nocesHary to complete the pre-emption right, and entitle the settler to cluim his Crown grant in freehold, the price being 4s. per acre, payable in four annuul instalments. Unsurveyed or unreserved Crown lands may be purchased in tracts of not less than IGO ucro'i for one dollar per acre, payable at time of purchase. The Fisheries. On the other hand, the Canadian fisheries still remain what they have ever baen, if not an inexhaustible, at least a chief source of wealth. The innumerable lakes, rivorn, and maritime coasts, which have a total length of nearly 6,000 miles, yield an enormous quantity of wholesome and palatable food, the yearly value of which approaches i!7,000,000. The annual local consumption per head of the population exceeds 12-3 pounds including shellfish. Nevertheless, a surplus valued at nearly £2,000,000 is still available for exportation. Altogether the Canadian fisheries, not counting those of Newfoundland, a natural dependency of North America, yield a yearly revenue double those of France, which yet sends to the Canadian waters u considerable number of her fishing-craft. The fihh of Luke Huron and of soma of the smaller basins, such as those of Nipigon and St. John, are considered the best of those captured in the inland waters. The maritime provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick naturally take the largest part in this industry, although British Columbia also finds a con- siderable source of wealth in its well-stocked salmon rivers and in its tinned salmon establishments. Cod alone represents more than one- fourth of the whole value, and next to it in order of importance are the herring, lobster, salmon, mackerel, and others. The produce is exported chiefly to the United States and the West Indies, but England, Portugal, and South America olso derive much of their supplies from the Canadian fishing-grounds. It is easy to understand how important it would be for the Dominion to get rid of all her rivals in the productive field of the Laurentian waters, the monopoly of which she would be willing to share with Newfoundland. Hence those frequent contests between the Canadian fishers and their French and American competitors. Z-iiiWiAfSi^0^'iiiati<- (liHcusMJoiis lu'twcon the intorcfltofl stateH. Hut the ('aiiudian HolilliiH have otliur iind m<)u> legitiiniitu means of securing their BUi>uriority. ThitnkH to the coast Hignul.s and the Nub- mariiK* cablen connecting all the chief HtatiouN, thoy no longer require to lose time in searching for the shoalH, of whose arrival and general movementH tlioy receive inHtantano«)UH notice. The vicinity of the coaMts al^o onubles them to cslabliHli drying and curing grounds at the m-wt convcniient pointn on their own seaboard. They aluo poBHCMJi magniKcont rewrvoirs for the live fish, while the progrcsi« of marine zoology cnubloH them to found piscicultural eHtablishmenti, which already yield an income and which will perhaps one day relievo the fichers from the nccoHsity of facing the dangers of the high seas. " Very few," remarks ErastuH Winian, " realise the vast stretclieH of coast-lino along which Canada controls the greatest fislieries in the world. Hounded, as the Dominion is, by three oceans, it has, besides its numerous inland soas, over 5,000 miles of sea-coast, washed by waters abounding in the most valuable tishes of all kinds. The older provinces of the Confederation have 2,000 miles of sea-coast and inlmd seas, while the sea-coast of British Columbia alone is over 3,000 miles in extent. It is impossible to tahe these figures in, and all that they imply, with- out realising at once the enormous magnitude of this interest. " Hut it is not alone in the extent of sea-coast lino that Canada has a surplus in fish wealth. In the extreme northern position which she occupies, she possesses an advantage which is of immense value, and this is that the supply of fish food, owing to the extreme northern position, is inexhaustible. As has been truly said by Mr. Harvey, the Arctic currents which wash the coast of Labrador, Newfound- land, and Canada, chilling the atmosphere and bearing on its bosom huge ice argosies, is the source of the vast fish wealth which has been drawn on for ages, and which promises to continue for ages to come. But for the cold river of the ocean, the fish which now crowd the northern seas would be entirely absent. "The Arctic seas, and the great rivers which they send forth, swarm with minute forms of life, constituting, in many places, a living mass, a vast ocean of living slime. The all-pervading life which exists here affords the true solution of the problem which has so often presented itself to those investigating deep-sea fisheries, the source of food which gives sustenance to the countless millions of fish. "The harvest of the sea has not yet been gleaned to the same extent as the harvest of the land ; but this fact may be taken for granted, that of all the countries in the world, and of all the riches in these countries, nothing can be made more useful, in a higher form, toward sustaining life, or to a greater extent, than the vast wealth of the fisheries of Canada. They are practically inexhaustible, because the cold current of the north brings with it the food on which these fish thrive, and the supply is one that can never fail. The sea-coasts of the Atlantic and the St. Law- rence on the east, the long stretches of the Hudson Bay coast in the centre, and the 3,000 miles of coast-line of British Columbia on the west, are in themselves ■'jju^ !*i iaf ! M i ^, ' | (>| ,ftj^',' 428 NORTH AMERICA. a groat possession, while the fresh-water fish of the great lakes of the north-west, especially in the supply of the prairie states, should be relatively as great a contri- bution to the sustentation of human life as are the supplies of cattle on the plains."* M' Minerals. The Dominion possesses an abundant store of mineral wealth, and the mining indusir , has already been considerably developed, especially in the Maritime Provinces, Ontario, and British Columbia. The Nova Scotia gold-mines, which have long been open, still annually yield from £40,000 to £80,000 of pure metal. From the much more productive gold-fields of British Columbia about four times as much is obtained, although the quantity mined has been greatly reduced since more attention has been paid to agriculture. Of other metals the copper of West Ontario and the shores of Lake Superior appears to have acquired the greatest economic importance. Canada, however, possesses vast reserves of iron, and the ores of the finest quality are usually found in the immediate vicinity of the coal measures. Nevertheless, the extraction and manufacture of this metal is still in a backward state, the importation of English hardware and machinery still amply sufficing for all the requirements of the local consumption. On the other hand, the annual output of the numerous coal-mines in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and New Brunswick, as well as in British Columbia, is steadily augmenting, and the coal is of such quality that it already competes with that of England in the markets of the New World. The deposits of the interior distributed along the eastern foot of the Rocky Mountains, and in the districts traversed by the Pacific Railway, will soon be needed for the local wants, all the more that these regions have been almost completely disafforested. Phosphates, salt, gypsum, petroleum, naphtha, and natural gases are the chief mineral resources of the Ottawa Valley and the Ontario peninsula, while excel- lent building materials occur almost everywhere. But pending the develop- ment of these shores the two essentially mining regions continue to be the regions situated at the eastern and western extremities of the Dominion, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia. The shores of the great lakes constitute an independent centre of mining operations. Speaking of the vast mineral resources of the Dominion, E. Wiman remarks : "Perhaps of all the surprises which the average American encounters in discussing the wealth of Canada, nothing will startle him to a greater degree than this statement, that no country in the world possesses so much iron as Canada, in no land is it so easily mined, and nowhere is it quite so accessible to manufacturing centres. This is a statement wliich, no doubt, will challenge contradiction, and it is to be regretted that the space is too small to describe at length the location and precise advantage which the iron supply of this greater half of the continent would afford to the United States. Take the instance at New Glasgow in Nova Scotia, where, within a radius of six miles, there are found deposits of iron ore of ♦ I^orth American Eevieiv, January, 1889. . '* ' i%^l*l.\ ' * ' » « ) i 'ji< i'J Si i " 'i !< ' 1' i iii ' , i ifi i M i wy 1 1 ■ yj » f i jnjj i _ i yt j . | i^ i j i ymig i | |ij »^ ( t ;i ! ''i i f ! !j' i n;.aj | >;jMW| ywt' !i »^'; ■l y* ' " l y ^ i u; tijf I" ■ i « li «i | [i<|| WM i i i) MINERALS OF CANADA. 429 he north-west, great a contri- n the plains."* ttd the mining the Maritime d-raines, which of pure metal. )out four times ■f reduced since jopper of West ;d the greatest ■ E iron, and the vicinity of the of this metal and machinery on. mines in Nova h Columbia, is competes with of the interior in the districts 1 wants, all the • ses are the chief ila, while excel- •g the develop- ;o be the regions ^ova Scotia, and lependent centre Viman remarks : ers in discussing egree than this as Canada, in no o manufacturing tradiction, and it the location and of the continent Gllasgow in Nova iits of iron ore of the highest quality, equal to that of any other portion of the world, side by side with limestone, chemically pure, in the immediate vicinity of coal in abundant quantities, from seams thirty feet thick, lying directly on a railway, and within six miles of the Atlantic Ocean ! Could there by any possibility be a combination more fortunate than this ? " Throughout Nova Scotia there are deposits of ore of the greatest possible value ; but in Quebec, and especially in Ontario, the value of the iron deposits is almost incalculable. Near the city of Ottawa there is a hill of iron called the Haycock mine, which would yield an output of 100 tons per day for one hundred and fifty years without being exhausted. On the line of the Ottawa, on the St. Lawrence, in the eastern townships, on the Kingston and Pembroke railway, on the Central Ontario railway, through Lake Nipissing, in Lake Winnipeg on Big Island, and on Vancouver Island, there are enormous deposits of ore, all possessing the singular advantage of almost complete freedom from phosphorus. " The peculiar advantage of the Canadian ore in this respect is sufficiently demonstrated by the fact that in the face of a duty of 75 cents (38.) per ton, this iron is being steadily introduced into the States for the purpose of mixing with other ores, at Joilet, Illinois, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and at other points. A market, such as the United States would afford, if it were free, and the introduction of enterprise and capital, would create for these deposits the same development and the same value that have followed the activity in the Vermillion, Menomenee, and Gogebic regions. These latter deposits are almost within sight of Canada, and are but the edge of the great Laurentian range or belt of minerals, which, starting from the Labrador coast, covers the vast area of Canada, parallelling the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, till they find an ending in the Algoma district, a locality that has been aptly described as a great treasure-house of minerals, wanting only the touch of American enterprise, and stimulated by an American market, to yield results far exceeding those of any mineral development on the continent. i ' " Coincident with the presence of these great deposits of iron ore are discoveries of even greater importance in copper and nickel, and in other metals hitherto nameless but of surpassing value. The copper development at Bruce Mines, and especially and recently at Sudbury Junction, on the north shore of Lake Superior, is likely to be even more profitable than that of the famous Calumet and Hector Mines on the south shore of the same lake, whose payments of thirty millions of dividends, on a capitalisation of two and a half millions of dollars, is a realisation beyond the dreams of avarice. " Already Ohio capitalists have invested a million of dollars on the line of the Canadian Pacific railway in these deposits. " The development of nickel, of which there are only two or three known deposits in the world, is of great significance ; while in gold and in silver, especially the latter, very excellent success has rewarded the efforts of the prospectors. Perhaps the most marvellous yield of silver that the world has ever seen was Silver Islet, within the Canadian border on the Ijake Superior 430 NORTH AMERICA. shore, where for a space of two or three j'ears an output was realised that enriched the owners with a rapidity equalled only by the dreams of the Arabian Nights. " In British Columbia immense quantities of gold are known to exist, and the fact that over fifty million dollars' worth has been mined from only a dozen localities hardly yet developed is full of the deepest significance, as indicating what yet remains in that distant region to reward the adventurous efforts of the inhabitants of this continent. " But it is not alone in these prominent metals that Canada is rich in natural resources. In phosphates she possesses enormous quantities of the purest character. No country in the world needs fertilisers more than large portions of the United States, and no country is better able to supply them than Canada. Analysis shows that Canadian phosphates contain phosphoric acid up to 47 and 49 per cent., equivalent to from 80 to 88 par cent, of phosphate of lime. No contribution to the wealth of the continent is of greater value than the develop- ment of the Canadian phosphates. " In asbestos, in mica, antimony, arsenic, pyrites, oxides of iron, marble, graphites, plumbago, gypsum, white quartz for potters' use, siliceous sandstones for glass, emery, and numerous other products, Canada possesses enormous quantities awaiting the touch of man. Lead is found in almost every province, especially in British Columbia, the lead ore there containing as much as fifteen and a half ounces of silver to the ton. " The deposits of salt are the largest and purest on the continent. Agjin, another surprise awaits the observer in respect of coal. Canada possesses the only source of supply on the Atlantic and on the Pacific, and between these two there are stretches of coal deposits amounting to 97,000 square miles ! The magnitude of the interests involved in this question of the supply of coal, its contiguity, and economy of handling, are of vast importance to the United States. " It is significant testimony to the important position which Canada holds on the question of coal supply, when it is recalled that away down on the Atlantic the manufacturing coal of Nova Scotia should without doubt supply the manu- facturing centres of New England at a minimum of cost ; while midway across the continent, in wide stretches of territory of the lowest temperature, supplies should be drawn from the sources which Providence has placed within the Canadian border, and still further that, on the distant shores of the Pacific, San Francisco and contiguous cities should at this time be drawing their supply from the mines of British Columbia, and paying a tax to the overburdened treasury of the United States of 75 cents a ton." * ^' ■/ 'i^:-'':---:i:-:-}4i-^;^'-V-'i. >* • %k V Petroleum. The presence of oil reservoirs of enormous extent in the North- West Territories has oidy quite recently been scientifically established. Hitherto, the older and much * E. Wimaa, loe. eit. ;6j ' j * ys i y-"y ■ ■ ■^fflj>ff^;j, ! ^ « iji»] i . ) lt^gii» i i iB 'ji^^ ^ ^ ^tf ■' J,i ' ".;; ! , »l PETROLEUM DEPOSITS. 488 londed to be I, wbicb one Igary, a well- t a couple of hundred miles due north to Edmonton (which is connected with the station by a coach road) he will reach the fringe of this great oil region. From the Edmonton district, the oil belt stretches the whole distance in a north-westerly direction to the mouth of the Mackenzie River, a length of quite 2,000 miles as the crow flies. The Athabasua River runs through the mid'Ue of the oil district, which includes the whole of the Lesser Slave Lake on the one hand, and touches the shores of the Beaver Lake on the other. The Peace River is entirely included in the district, from the moment it quits the Rocky Mountains, until with the Athabasca it flows into the Great Slave Lake, a course of over 1,000 miles ; and from Fort Smith, close to where they jointly flow into the lake, to the mouth of the Mackenzie River, a navigable run of 1,360 miles, there is oil the whole way. The general area is larger than that of all the petroleum districts of the present oil-producing countries put together. " These boundless treasures have hitherto been entirely neglected, simply because the completion of the Pacific Railway has only quite recently brought the country within reach of the world's steam communicaticns. At no distant date Edmonton will bo connected with Culgary by railway, as well as the Athabasca Landing, 90 mile^i farther north. This has been recommended as a good point for commencing operations, on account of its connection with the water communications of the Mackenzie River and Hudson Bay. Another outlet is available by means of the Saskatchewan. Thirty miles from the Grand Rapids, according to Professor Bell, there is a visible petroleum field stretching ten miles along the river. Wells would easily strike oil at 400 feet or so at this spot. From here there is a steamboat run of 125 miles to Athabasca Landing, and, pending the railway, a pipe line 90 miles long (a mere trifle as pipe lines go) would bring it to the Saskatchewan River, where it would touch the water com- munications running to the Canadian Lakes, meeting on its way down the river the railway system at Battleford or Prince Albert when complete. « We may therefore say that this great oil region has two sea outlets rid the Mackenzie River and Hudson Bay, a lake outlet by means of the Saskatchewan, and, in embryo, two railway outlets by way of Edmonton and Calgary on the west, and Battleford or Prince Albert on the east. Climatically, it may be said that although a deal lies in northern latitudes, yet, owing to the warm ciirrents of air from the Pacific — a well-known peculiarity of the region-t-the whole of the 40,000 miles of the proposed oil domain compares favourably with Middle and even Southern Russia. The Mackenzie River is a far better sea outlet than the Northern Dwiua, on which Archangel is situated, and on which Russia solely depended for maritime intercourse with the world until Peter the Greut provided another at St, Petersbr.rg ; while at Fort Simpson, on the Mackenzie River, nearly 1,000 miles north of the oil fields nearest the Pacific Railway, the winter is not so long as the winter of St. Petersburg. The southern oil fielda experience warmer winters than many of the American states, and the climate is not so cold as in Manitoba. We may consequently strike the generalisation that while Russia's petroleum fields lie in the hot region of the Caspian (Old Persia), and the H. A.— a ™'^ J " *9* tl\ . UHJ. ■ > w i^i f tfii j < ii»i ,1,- V I TEADE. 486 Pennsylvania old petroleum Western Canada ire tban one to uture seems to roleum and the intially oils for temperate and great oil Belds irith the Penn- the Dominion, the American an Government the Athabasca ■oposed railway order of the oil Britain and the developed, must the agricultural ;b, homed cattle, nd peltries, cod, the export trade, ed skins, wooden tn. Canada also ipply of the local n the Dominion, ipted the principle id. goods imported Fnited States, and time the number the various manu- rar refineries and he manufacturing egions. Factories i in the southern ming an industrial The most flourishing industries are the flour and saw mills, the tanneries, wool- spinning, and the boot and shoe business. Canada is also becoming independent of England in the clothing and furnishing departments. Thus an increasing pro{)or- tion of the raw materials, all of which were formerly ex{)ortcd, is now needed to meet the demands of the local factories. Including both imports and exports, the general movement of the exchanges already exceeds £40,000,000, which is at the rate of £8 per head of the population, a proportion little inferior to that of France. This traffic is ninde almost exclu- sively with Great Britain, the suzerain country, and with the United States, the conterminous region whose provinces overlap those of the Dominion about the central districts of the great lakes and along the right bank of the St. Lawrence. Till recently England held the first position in the international trade of Canada. But despite the old relations and the greater facilities afforded for trade with the mother country by the increasing number and speed of the transatlantic liners, the balance is steadily inclining in favour of the great republic, whose imports actually exceeded those of Great Britain by nearly £700,000 in the year 1889.* The States, with a population rapidly approaching 70,000,000, necessarily exer- cises an increasing attractive influence on the neighbouring confederacy, which, though about equal in extent, is relatively far inferior in power, population, and general development. The movement of the exchanges between the two countries is even greater than is indicated by the oflicial returns, for the contraband trade is easily carried on at a thousand points along a common frontier stretching from ocean to ocean. In many places produce forwarded to Europe passes either through Canadian or United States territory. Thus the commodities sent from Minneapolis and the Upper Mississippi basin to the destination of Great Britain are conveyed, as a rule, by the so-called " Soo " railway, that is, the line which follows the route of the Sault Sainte-Marie. Even Chicago and Detroit find it convenient to send their more bulky and relatively less valuable wares to Europe by the line of the great lakes and the St. Lawrence. On the other hand the direct routes from Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec to that part of the Atlantic seaboard which lies south of the Chignecto isthmus necessarily pass through New York and New England territory. The collective trade of Canada with countries other than Great Britain and the United States represents only about one-eighth of the exchanges. Amongst these secondary clients the foremost place is taken by the " "West Indies," that is, tho English, French, and other Antilles, and the traffic with these islai.ds is rapidly increasing, thanks to the increasing facilities of intercommunication created by the new lines of deep-sea steamers. The relations with France, abruptly inter- rupted by the British conquest, remained in abeyance for about a hundred years, and even now are very slight. In fact the trade of France with Canada is less even than that of Germany, being mainly limited to fancy wares and " articles de Paris " taken in exchange for Canadian raw materials. ♦ See Appendix I. „i> •-■ fe:' 486 NORTH AMERICA. Next to Germany and France the most important place in the intornutional oxchauges is taken by the neighbouring colony of Newfoundland, whoso annual trade with tho Dominion is only about £150,000 loss than that of France. At present the Canadian men of business are making the most strenuous efforts to place their commercial relations with the Australasian colonies on tho solid foun- dation of nmtual interests. Their analogous political conditions of common allegiance to the Crown of England Herve aa an argument for obtaining subsidies to support independent lines of steam navigation across the Pacific. Routes — "The Queen's Highway." Since the completion of the Pacific Railway Canada offers the most direct route between England and the extreme East, constituting what has been called the " Queen's Highway," by which troops could be despatched to Hong-Eong if not to Singapore more rapidly than by tho Mediterranean and Red Sea. When the question of subsidising a lino of first-class royal mail steamers between Vancouver, the Pacific terminus of the trans-continental railway, ond China, was recently discussed in the House of Lords, it was pointed out that the journey from England by the Peninsular and Oriental route rid Suez to Hong-Eong took from 33 to 37 days, and by the Canadian-Pacific from 32 to 35 days ; to Shanghai 37 and 32, to Yokohama 41 and 27 days respectively. It was shown generally that the Vancouver route was in many cases better than the existing lines, and in any case it was an excellent altcrnotive in case of difficulty and danger in time of war. The subsidy would give England five distinct imperial and commercial advantages — first, a rapid through postal and passenger route to the East ; second, the means of establishing an independent telegraphic line to tho East ; third, the means of rapid and cheap transport of troops and stores across the American continent to British India ; fourth, a third and possibly the most important route to the East ; and fifth, the provision of ships which would form part of the service at the Pacific end of the route, and which would be constructed as cruisers in accordance with the requirements of the British Admiralty. Thus through Canadian territory passes the highway to Cathay, and the name of China (Lachine), given by antici- pation to the outpost of Montreal by the first French, settlers, has already been iustified. "■ - . .■.■■• i't Shipping. The Dominion takes a high place amongst those states which possess a large mercantile navy. Although officially a single dependency of Great Britain, it exceeds most other nations in the importance of its registered tonnage, being surpassed in this respect only by Great Britain, Germany, and Norway. In 1889 it com- prised over 7,000 sailing-vessels, and nearly 1,400 steamers of about 1,180,000 tons burden, including the flotillas of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes. Notwith- standing its position in the centre of the continent, Manitoba possesses its com- ^-^ iaBiwmi "mT ' ^W" »> i > l«iii'J.^W ' . W V;i ' M ll ( i '^ ' ' * (j« > yyqji|l<3J|lty«.«^l|IB»y u'ni n ij J» i i i i> i i i ; .h 'i > i ih i .j « i» iii -.. y ||> ji, i ij j ; » yjtul i i I , "N,.ii ii « >| iii wu ii ii i i l M iiii j i nju^y i ii m » n illij I |; . ii)li l > j, M l l i il ii M iil CANADIAN CANALS. 487 I iuternutional whoso annual f France. At uous efforts tu the solid foun- ts of common ining subsidies 38l direct route een called the ■Eong if not to la. "When the een Vancouver, I, was recently ' from England t from 33 to 37 jhai 37 and 32, erally that the and in any case II time of war. cial advantages cond, the means •d, the means of an continent to jte to the East ; service at the rs in accordance nadian territory jiven by antici- las already been L possess a large ritain, it exceeds being surpassed In 1889 it com- it 1,180,000 tons akes. Notwith- )0S8esses its com- mercial marine like the other states of the Dominion. Hut most of the Mhipping naturally belongs to the Maritimo Trovincos — Nova Scotia, New IJrunswick, and Prince Edward Island, over 4,200 vessels of about 800,000 tons altogether. IJut Quebec and Ontario own the largest number of steamers, most of which, however, are of small size. At present scarcely any sailing-vessels are built, and (ho yearly increase is almost entirely in ^ ' tamers. Canals. The marine highways and navigable routes presented by the rivers and lakes of the interior are supplemented by numerous artificial canals. At first all the rapids of the St. Lawrence had to be turned in order to open an uninterrupted Pig. 177.— Direct Route from Enolanb to China. Seal* 1 : {60,000,000. vieridian oF Uraenwich ISO* .6,800 highway from the sea to Lake Ontario. Then this basin had to be connected with Lake Erie by the Welland Canal, and another is now in course of construction north of the Sault Sainte-Marie, which will dispense the Canadian shipping from passing through United States territory. The only point at which Canada is for the moment dependent upon the United States is in the matter of the Sault Sainte- Marie Canal, connecting Lake Superior with Lake Huron, which canal is on United States territory ; and under the terms of the Non-Intercourse Act, it would, of course, be closed against Canadian traffic. But the Dominion Government las proved itself equal to the occasion by voting a large sum of money for the construction of a new canal on Canadian territory connecting the two lakes ; so that when this is finished Canada will have an independent waterway from east to west as well as an inde- P!li I I I IB V" ■ >if U i !. _ij» s 'UM 't WJ i'li' J I B»J .iu i ii i ni i !.; H, | 48B NOBTU AMERICA. m. I*'' pondont throu^^h ruilwiiy system.* In ordinury tiiiiot., however, till these connecting linkH bctwoiMi the St. Luwrt>nci) and Luke Superior arc open to the shipping of both stutiM without any prof(>rontiul churgcs. Comnnuiication has ulso been efTucted by canulisution butwoen the nuvigable part of the Ritrhcliou River and Lake (.'hunipluin and tho network of tlic Ann'rican canaln. liastly, tho <)tt4iwu and Lake Ontario have been similarly connected through thr chain of hikes traversed by the Rideau Canal. A direct route from Ontario to Georgian Ray, north of the peninsular rvgiou of Upper Canada, is urgently needed ; but the works of cnualisution, long commenced, still remain ia an unBnished state. The canals of the Dominion, formerly exeovoted to a depth of nine feet, have Fig. 178. — NbTWOBK of tot EaOT CAlfiUKAW ^. .(LWATB. Soala 1 : 20,000,000. . 815 MUm. now a depth of fourteen feet, and, in some places, even more. Although their collective length is not great, they serve the purpose of completing the natural system of navigable lakes and rivers, and, thanks to them, the shipping with the United States has acquired an enormous development. Relatively to its population the Dominion of Canada possesses a larger movement of navigation than any other country in the world. ^ ; • (. • . ■■ * ■ Railways. -^ - Such a vast extent of inland navigation naturally stimulated the development of a widely ramifying railway system. In 1835 the first Canadian line was • Stuart Cumberland, "The Qneen's Highway," p. 418. "When completed, this Canadian Sault Saintc-Morie Canal will overcome a difference of 18 feet in the levela of Lakes Huron and Superior, and this will be eifooted by a single lock 600 feet long and 85 feet wide. The gates of this look will be worked by hydraulic power, and the canal in already crossed by a railway bridge which effects a junction between the Canadian and American railway dystems on that frontier. , \ -> 'M:[ -&i^: .'iSSwiSSaiiiSSisK-:,- r'iii.i,, "jt; l ' -' He connecting shipping of be niivi gable the Amcricun ly connected it route from vr Cunuda, ia ill rcmuin in ine feet, have W [tbougb their J the na'nral ling with the its population lian any other development lian line was Canadian Sault mi Superior, and this look will be effects a junction « II IP mri iMi^ if o < < < b W B t- o CO o a M O w mimmmmmm i, Wf^ i tjl, I I I . I ' n«f H *»* H ' "T^ CANADIAN RAILWAYS. 4liO opened between Tiaprairi ond St. Jean on the liioheliou. In IH44 the country Ktill iwssoHMod only thirteen uiHeB of railwuy, but about the 'iiiddle of the century two nwiin Hues were taken in hund, the Iiiter-C'oloniul, to connect the Maritinio Provinces of Nova Hcotiu and Now Uniiiswick with the great, ciiies on the 8t. Tittwrenco, ond the Urund Trunk, which unites thoin with the AtlanliojiortH of the United Htutes. ThoCunudian Pacific, the great art«ry of the Dominion, and of all the American trans-continental lines the most direct route for the trade of the world, was only l)egun in 1880 ; but within five years of that date this stuiwndous work was already completed throughout its entire length from ocean to ocean. It is now being Mg. 170. -TBANSCONTIirBNTiLL IUILWAT8 OF NoBTH AmKBICA. Soal* 1 : 58,000,000. 1,500 MUenk supplemented by feeders and lateral branches of all kinds, which are ramifying north and south, and will, doubtless, ultimately reach the Yukon basin in the extreme north-west, and IT (^pon Bay in the north-east. Although little more than a wilderness in propc.; .a to its whole extent, the Dominion already occu- pies the eighth place amongst the nations of the world in respect of its railway commrnications, which nro increasing at the rate of about 600 miles a year. Most of the lines are ownr d by private companies, not more than 1,150 miles, with an invested capital of over £10,000,000, belonging to the State. The great Pacific Company, highly favoured with grants of money and public lands fiom the Federal Government, is almost as rich as the State itself. The main line from Quebec to Vancouver has alone a length of 3,100 miles, and it is now more than doubled by several lateral lines, all laid down on the same condi- tions as the first, that is to soy, by means of liberal concessions of lands bordering k'K Ifcv m-' m 440 NORTH AMEEICA. ■t.i ''.'I both sidos of the rails and naturally chosen in the most fertile districts. A society of capitalists has thus become the owner in fee simple of a vast territorial domain, the sale of which can be so controlled as to keep the purchasers more or less dependent on the association. The possession of the most favourable sites for the foundation of the new towns which the Company helps to create, adds other privileges to those secured by a complete monopoly of the transit trade. Many towns are already excluded from access to the very lakes on whose shores they have been founded. Certainly, this work of immense public utility could never have been undertaken without the inducement of substantial concessions in lands and privileges. At the same time it cannot be denied that a certain danger attaches to the creation of such a powerful corporation, a Si;ate within the State, which will scarcely fail to use its enormous rosources and political influence in promoting its private interests at the expense of the general welfare. The same company is, directly or indirectly, controller of the ocean steamers by which the " Queen's Highway " is continued in one direction towards England, in the other towards ' China and Australasia. The superiority of this route, even over that of San Francisco, for the communi- cations between Great Britain and Japan, is shown by the subjoined comparative tables of time and distances between Liverpool and Yokohama. Distance. Paottic Ocean. Railway. A-TULsna. TOTAl. MUes. MUea. MUes. MUes. By San Francisco > and New York. ) 4,470 3,271 3,130 10,871 By Vancouver i and Quebec. ) 4,232 3,053 2,661 9,946 Saving in miles 238 218 469 926 TlHB. THy*. Days. Days. Day* By San Franoisoo ) and New York, f 1210 617 816 26-19 By Vancouver J and Quebec / 11-18 3-15 2-2 709 107 22-18 Saving in time . . 016 4-1 Telegraphs — Post — Education. Like the railways, the telegraphs are mainly owned, not by the State but by private companies. The Federal Government has established the network of lines between the fishing stations round thp Gulf of St. Lawrence, as well as the shore line along the coast of Canadian Labrador, which reports all accidents that are of such frequent occurrence in the Strait of Belle-Isle and the neighbourhood of the banks. The State has also undertaken the construction of the lines, unprofit- able in a commercial sense, which connect the various military or police stations of the North-West Territories, the Indian Reserves, and the factories of the Hudson Bay Company, and it has, moreover, laid a submarine cable between Vancouver and the coast of Oregon. On the other hand, the wires stretching from town to town in the more settled districts, as well as those connected with the Atlantic cables between the Old and Mi »'; i )>V. iS> N i j i fl i ' Tiii ift^ ii ^ i ^l i '#yiy - n ' ;!i '»« ^'i j iiyiy'f . I nn i wra i -j. - EDUCATION IN CANADA. 441 ts. A society X)rial domain, more or less able sites for ,te, adds other trade. Many 86 shores they lid never have ; in lands and inger attaches ) State, which sin promoting le company is, the " Queen's other towards • the communi- d comparative OTAL. Uiles. 0,871 926 Bays 26-19 22-18 41 New "Worlds, have been constructed at the risk of private speculators, though not always without public aid. The transcontinental system will soon be supplemented westwards by cables running in the direction of Australia and China through the Sandwich Islands. Thus will be completed the magnetic girdle round the globe. In 1890 a cable 874 miles long was laid between Halifax and the Bermudas, and the Imperial Government contemplates extending the system thence to the British West Indies. The telephone system is also extensively used in all the more populous parts of the Dominion. It is already at work in about 200 towns, 175 of which are con- Fig. 180. — Domain of the Pacific Railway Compant. Scale 1 : 18,000,000. lioadi granted in alternate lote with Oovemment Free Orant Lands. II 815MUe«. ^^5: i t- ' \-- • ■■'-,- he State but by the network of i, as well as the 1 accidents that J neighbourhood ) lines, unprofit- )olice stations of s of the Hudson ireen Vancouver the more settled reen the Old and nected by telegraph. As many as 10,000 sets of instruments are stated to be in use at the various exchanges and agencies throiighout Canada. The postal movement is about doubled once every ten years. The increase )8 naturally more rapid than that of the railway, or even of the population itself, because it represents two distinct lines of progress mutually reacting on one another — the development of trade and of public instruction. ' f"'. ; . - ' Relatively to the population the progress of education is very remarkable, for no less than one-fifth of all the inhabitants of the Dominion are receiving instruction, and of these about two-thirds are regular attendants at the public schools. In this respect Canada is in advance of the neighbouring republic, though inferior to it in the development of the periodical press. This, however, is a factor which has less to do with the real state of instruction than with the keen rivalries of hostile parties contending for political power. The first newspaper published in the territory of the NORTH AMERICA. Botninion appeared at Halifax in 1752, and the first printed entirely in French was issued at Quebec in 1806. At present there are about 800 journals altogether, and of these the immense majority are English, not more than 10 per cent, being French. It is often asserted that crime is much more rife amongst the English- than amongst the French-speaking section of the inhabitants. Thus drunkenness, which, however, seems to be diminishing in all the provinces of the Dominion, is said to prevail especially in Manitoba, the North-West, and British Columbia, almost exclusively Anglo-Saxon territories. But such is not the case, although it is quite true that the consumption of beer increases according as that of wine and spirits decreases. Pauperism, which was supposed not to exist in Canada, is already making its appearance amongst the proletariate classes of the manufacturing towns. ^ k I V "I" Administration and Government of the Dominion. • The Canadian commune is autonomous, except in Prince Edward Island, where, in virtue of the Royal Charter, the municipal power is still centred in the hands of the landowners. Although the Canadian Confederation has a monarchical organisation in its central government, nevertheless its primitive elements, its townships or rural districts, all form so many little republics, regulating their local affairs according to the pleasure of the majority. " In Canada," it has been playfully remarked, " politics are distributed by the square mile more than in any other country in the world." At the same time the Canadians are far more free in their local administration than, for instance, the inhabitants of the French Commune, which is nearly entirely dependent on the central power, despite the republican form of the State. The council of each municipal group, •annually elected by the ratepayers, votes the acquisition and administration of the communal property, the appointment of the local officials, the grants to agricultural and manufacturing bodies, the amount and appropriation of fines. The Municipal Council also controls the sale of alcoholic drinks, authorising or interdicting the trade within the communal limits. Provincial and Federal Representation. - " ' Each of the provinces constitutes a distinct state, controlling its own revenues and framing its own laws in a parliament, whether of one house as in Ontario, or of two as in the province of Quebec. It appoints its own officers and secondary magis- trates, and has the entire control over the internal administration and local legislation. Nevertheless, the provinces lack all sovereign rights as regards the organisation of the military forces, the national defence, the levying of customs and excise dues, the direction of the postal service, the dispensation of justice in criminal matters and divorce. Moreover, the laws enacted by the provincial parliaments may be set m ' :-*!^''j'S^yyy ' !^m^j ! ^?( i ^,^'^,wj ' ^.s yi. iii uyi i . . > » L i, i » )i i| ^^ i yji( i » ly j ii V( i : ADMINISTRATION OF CANADA. 443 . French was ogether, and cent, being Inglish- than drunkenness, le Dominion, sh Columbia, ase, although ig as that of to exist in classes of the Island, where, I in the hands a monarchical } elements, its ting their local i" it has been ore than in any I administration 3 nearly entirely he State. The ayers, votes the ointment of the lies, the amount •ols the sale of iommunal limits. its own revenues 9 in Ontario, or of secondary magis- i local legislation, •rganisation of the d excise dues, the linal matters and lents may be set aside by a veto of the central power as opposed to the general constitution or interests of the Confederacy. The North- West Territories, which are not yet constituted in provinces properly so called, have a mixed administration consisting of deputies elected by the people, '*nd of functionaries nominated by the Canadian ministry. Each province receives au tnnual subsidy from the Confederacy. For Government elections the franchise is extended to all British subjects by birth or naturalisation over twenty-one years of age in the enjoyment of a certain income or holding property varying in value according to the circumstances of tenure. Thus an estate owned or occupied worth £60 in an urban, or £40 in a rural district, or of the yearly value of £4, or else an income of £60 from earnings or investments entitle to a vote. Yoting is by ballot, and the franchise is uniform throughout the Dominion except in the North-West Territories, where every male resident for a twelvemonth, twenty-one years of age and not an alien or an Indian, enjoys the franchise. Women are excluded, as are also the Chinese. The latter are even required to pay an entrance tax of £10 for permission to reside in the country, where they are treated as so much merchandise by the railway officials, being transported in closed cars from one end of the territory to the other. The Indians, who have given up the tribal organisation and settled in the reserves, are assimilated politically to the whites. All strangers may become citizens after a residence of three years ; by simply taking au oath of allegiance before a magistrate they can demand a certificate of naturalisation, entitling them to all the rights and privileges of a British subject. The Canadian Parliament comprises two Chambers, the House of Commons and the Senate. The first, or Lower House, is elected for five years, unless sooner dis- solved, on the present proportion of one member for every 20,000, but so that the province of Quebec shall always have 65 representatives. Those of the other provinces vary according to each decennial census according to the relative importance of their population. At present the preponderance of Ontario is so great that it commands nearly half the votes of the House of Commons, 92 in a total of 214 deputies. Having, moreover, the advantage of possessing the capital of the Confederacy within its limits, this province really disposes of the numerical majority at divisions. - ■ - The 78 members of the Senate, or Upper House, are appc'ated for life by summons of the Governor-General under the Great Seal of Canada. All born or naturalised subjects are eligible who are thirty years old and possessed of real or personal estate valued at £800 in the province for which they are appointed, and in which they are officially required to be domiciled. The Governor, representing the Queen, but paid by the Dominion, is President of the Ministry, which consists exclusively of members of the Canadian Parliament chosen by the majority, and responsible to the Chambers. He resides at Ottawa, seat of the Parliament and capital of the Confederacy. It has often been proposed to withdraw the capital from the jurisdiction of Ontario, and constitute it a federal city, as are Washington and Buenos Ayres in other American states. V ... -.-. ^ ...... ,. ■- ■ \ -JriMM^^^ I .S: ' K .■*r-,i?r^T\'??rr;; ADMINISTBATION OF CANADA. 445 guarding the shores of British Columbia. But this provisional ariangcmcnt has not been finally settled. Legal provision has been made for the levying of regular troops, though there has hitherto been no occasion to apply the law, the number of volunteers having always exceeded the number of men required for the service. The nominal strength of the active militia stands at 43,000 men for the whole of Canada, but the effective strength of the thorough-trained volunteers scarcely exceeds 30,000. Those drawn from the towns serve under arms twelve days every year, but those enlisted in the rural district are called out only every second year. While under arms for the regular exercises, the men draw a small pay, and are also armed and equipped at the cost of the Government. Government also maintains the " Royal Military College " of Kingston, besides eight smaller military establishments, where men are thoroughly trained for a special corps destined to form the nucleus of a permanent army. In the north- western regions about 1,000 men constitute a body of " Mounted Police," who scour the plains in various directions, the chief duty being to control the Indian tribes and keep them in their camping grounds. This is the most active corps in the Canadian militia. In proportion to their numbers the French Canadians are far less numerous in th6 volunteer service than the English. Whatever be said to the contrary, the Anglo-Saxons take more pleasure than other races in " playing at soldiers." Besides the regulars there is a reserve including all able-bodied men between 18 and 60 years of age, and comprising altogether about a million of soldiers disposed in four classes, according to age and family circumstances. But no division of this vast force has ever been exercised or even armed. It has merely a contingent existence, ready, however, to be called into being, in case the national independence were menaced. The largest demand for troops occurred in 1870, when the Irish Fenians threatened to invade the country from the United States. On that occasion the Canadian forces, comprising nearly 20,000 men and 20 guns, were massed at all the vulnerable points of the frontier. On two other occasions, the volunteers were also summoned to enter the field against the French half breeds of the north-west, and they responded in both instances with alacrity to the call. The military expenditure is so slight as scarcely to be felt as a burden. In 1888 it was little more than a quarter of a million sterling. A Minister of War, a member of the Ottawa Government, takes charge of all military matters, but the Commander-in-Chief is an English Major-General, " lent " by the Crown, but paid by the Dominion. ;; v ^ Administration of Justice, In the same way the judicial hierarchy is linked with the Home Government, the Queen's Privy Council being the supreme tribunal or last court of appeal. In civil cases there is a continual stream and counter- stream of pleaders and barristers between the Canadian and London courts of justice, much to the riirr 440 NORTH AMERICA. benoiit of the lawyers, but involvinj^ considerublo expense und endless judicial complications. Yet Canada might seem amply provided with judges and tribunals without having recourse to the British courts. The various municipalities, if petitioned by a Imndred owners of property, can call upon the provincial Lieutenant-Governor in council to appoint a court of commissioners analogous to the English Small Debts' Courts, sitting without stipend, and deciding without appal all matters of debt not exceeding the sum of £5. The mayors of the municipalities are also magistrates, Fig. 182.— Ottawa, Capital of thh Dojonion. ^*: 1; ' . J • It ■ M, ■ with functions similar to those of the justices of peace, appointed by the Lieutenant- Governor from persons possessing property of the minimum value of £240. They have both civil and criminal jurisdiction, may arrest people charged with the commission of a crime, examine witnesses in the preliminary proceedings, and prepare the indictments to be tried by the qualified tribunals. Then follow in regular order the judji-es of the sessions of peace, the police magistrates and the recorders, also nominated by the Lieutenant-Governor. Circuit courts, presided over by one of the judges of the higher court, are held in each judiciary district, comprising a certain number of counties. They have civil jurisdiction, limited, however, to cases of slight importance, whereas the IIS| il is-VV •■, - rr,^"-- mSi mtmm ■' rifflff^ '' vf^i ' "'»j ' ." ' V4;yw»t'' ' V'vy'}^°' ' '*'y?^A '^ ' "«jyjj^ ' ;^ot" ' ^' i*wi' r'" •m m ' ' ' w " ii ^ i ADMINISTRATION OF CANADA. 447 nJleas judicial bunnls without if petitioned by nt-Govemor in ih Small Debts' ters of debt not Iso magistrates, )y the Lieutenant- i value of £240. )ple charged with r proceedings, and peace, the police utenant-Governor. • court, are held in ities. They have ance, whereas the higher courts take cognizance of any case, whatever bo tlie value of the property or sums in dispute. According to ci re uni stances those higher tribunals are sub- divided into courts of revision and courts of bankruptcy. The Court of Queen's Bench, the highest court of appeal in each province, has jurisdiction both in civil and «riminal matters. It consists of six judges, of whom one alone presides at the criminal assizes, where cases are heard before a jury of twelve, while the other five constitute a court of appeal. The judges of the higher courts and of Queen's Bench are nominated by the federal government, but the organisation of the tribunals, the constitution of the courts, and method of procedure depend on the provincial government. Above all these provincial tribunals stands the Supreme Court of Ottawa, composed of a chief justice and of five puisne judges appointed by the Sovereign. Tt exercises jurisdiction in appeal cases for the whole of Canada in all criminal matters, but only in civil suits where the sum in litigation exceeds £400. The Supreme Court acts at the same time as a political council, and may take cognizance of all questions submitted to it by the Governor-General in Council.* Lastly, when the sums in dispute exceed the value of £50,000, appeal may be interposed to the Privy Council. The Canadian law is the common law of England, that is to say, essentially monarchical. Nevertheless, some of the enactments of the English code have been modified by the federal parliament. In the province of Quebec, where the population is in great part French, the English criminal code has been introduced, but the civil law is almost entirely the same as prevailed in France before the Revolution. Thus the right of bequeathing property is unlimited, and fortunes are disposed of at the testator's pleasure without regard to the natural rights of his children. i * Religion. — Education. t According to the Canadian constitution the separation of Church and State should be absolute in the Dominion. Thus neither the Catholic nor any of the Protestant cults derive any direct aid from the public revenues, receiving no grants of money except those that in certain cases are made to their schools. In Lower Canada, where the French and Irish Roman Catholics combined have an enormous preponderance, Protestants enjoy the free exercise of their religion. In the same way Catholics are treated with absolute tolerance hy the Protestants of the other provinces, where Anglo-Saxons of diverse denominations are in the majority. The State recognises the right of all religious communities to con- stitute themselves in a distinct body for purposes of worship and instruction. , Even the Jesuits have not only a legal status, but a portion of the property of which they were deprived in the last century has been restored to them. The religious organisation of the province of Quebec has been preserved such as it existed under the French rule, and the cur^s, or pari-^h priests, still receive the * N. Legendre, Mtre Contlilution tt no* InitUutiont; HonorS Meroier, E»qu%»^e ginirale de laprovint* de Queb*c. *>sr-* ' ^^^%!y^ mi^'s^l!^'^i'^A:*:r^Mii.ii'if^ViiiI' nf^Ti^"'^1lf^^^*-^^^ rS^ *!' IVI liiRIi ^ III NORTH AMERICA. M ■ jt ''I i'M eo-callcd " dime," or (ithes, which, however, instead of boing a tenth are scarcely a twcnty-8ixth purt of i;he impost. Thanks to this tax they to a certain extent shuro in the administration of tlio province. The surplus of the ecclesiastical rovenuen passes in great measure to the convents and schools. Priinury instruction, obligatory in all the Canadian provinces, has not been uniformly regulated throughout the Dominion. Hence the questions associated with this subject are warmly discussed by the different sections of the community, because, in the provinces of mixed populations, they affect the interests of race, language, and religion. In Quebec, the oldest colonised province, the schools, with the exception of a few private establishments, are denominational, that is, some Catholic, some Protestant, not secular, neutral, or " godless." Catholicism being the religion of the great majority, more than six-sevenths of the children receive an education controlled or directed by the Catholic clergy. The Council that presides over the organisation of the schools comprises all the Catholic bishops of the province, ex-officio members, besides an equal number of laymen nominated by the Government. As a section of the lay members always sides with the bishops, the Roman Church completely controls all educational matters. Its influence is strengthened from the fact that the secondary schools are also, for the most part. Catholic colleges or "convents," where instruction is given directly and almost exclusively by members of the clergy and of the sisterhoods. Lastly, the chief university, the oldest high school in the Dominion, is also a purely Catholic institution, and it is signiBcant that divinity is its most numerously attended faculty. But the Protestants on their part also enjoy the full right of organising their denominational schools after their own fashion. A Protestant committee, whose members are chosen by the Government, directs the schools and distributes the grants in aid. Moreover, the religious minority in each municipality has the power, whenever dissatisfied with the conduct of educational affairs, to appoint special syndics to watch over its interests. The inspectors of the schools of both denominations are themselves Roman Catholics and Protestants respectively. On an average the grants made by Government to the non-Catholic schools somewhat exceed those received by their rivals ; but both confessions enjoy complete equality before tlie law. The same remark applies also to the two languages, for instruc- tion is given in French where the children are of French origin or speech, and in English whers the Anglo-Saxon and Irish elements prevail. In the province of Ontario, where the Protestants have the numerical superiority, but where the Catholics form an important minority, the people have also their denominational schools. Nevertheless, most of the communes being controlled by the Protestants, many Canadian Catholics, instead of exercising their right' to organise their own schools where both French and English would be taught, send their children to the establishments where instruction is imparted exclusively in English. In the eastern counties, however, near the St. Lawrence and Ottawa confluence, the French Canadians have the majority in certain municipalities, and are thus enabled to support schools where their language is predominant. i H i m i yiT FINANCE.— CONFEDERATION. 440 h are scarcely a certain extent tio ecclesiastical 8, has not been jtions associated the community, nterests of race, ace, the schools, aational, that is, 8." Catholicism B of the children ;y. The Council B Catholic bishops aymen nominated ITS sides with the latters. Y schools are also, itruction is given of the sisterhoods, on, is also a purely most numerously E organising their committee, whose and distributes the nicipality has the affairs, to appoint the schools of both respectively. On B schools somewhat y complete equality uages, for instruc- or speech, and in merical superiority, pie have also their being controlled by sing their right to uld be taught, send rted exclusively in wrence and Ottawa municipalities, and dominant. . Hence arise frequent political conflicts, one party complutuing that tlio teachers neglect the study of the language which is dominant in the province, the other claiming the constitutional right of conducting their wchools in tht'ir own way. The opinion which Hcriiis to be gradually prevailing in Ontario is to give a purely secular character to the schools, and to make the study of the English language obligatory. This would be in accordance with the precedent already furnished by the provinc*o of Manitoba, where the same cause of dissension had arisen between th'^ English Protestant and the French Catholic schools ; and where the question was settled by making English the exclusive language of instruction. In 1890, the Manitoba parliament also decided, by a large majority, that the deliberations should henceforth be carried on in English alone. In British Columbia and the Maritime Provinces education has long been secularised, and here religious instruction is now given only in the family circle and in the private establishments. The use of the French decimal system has been legalised and rendered optional in Canada ; but it is little practised, although the American monetary system has been adopted. Finance. The public revenue required by Government for the general cost of the administration, civil service, army, law courts, and public instruction fs f'erivcd mainly from the customs dues, which average 'Sout 15 per cent, on the value of all imported goods. The Dominion also possesses large domains, the annual sale of which, however, add but a very small sum to the national budget. Most of the lands now bought by intending settlers are obtained, not from the State, but from the powerful railway corporations. As is the case with most other civilised governments, the expenditure gene- rally exceeds the income, and the public debt, although trifling compared with that of England or France, already represents more than six years of revenue. The Canadian Budget increases far more rapidly than the population, having nearly doubled within a single decade, rising from £4,600,000 in 1878 to about £8,000,000 in 1888. Besides the national budget each province has its special revenue, expenditure and debt. Thus the indebtedness of the pj vince of Quebec already approaches two millions sterling. • CONFEDR RATION. Since the recognition of the principle of colonial autonomy by Great Britain, the political condition of the Dominion has been diversely modified. The creation of the Confederacy may be said really to date from the year 1841, when Upper and Lower Canada were fused in a single state. But the other provinces still continued to hold aloof, and during this transitional period their only political connection with the two provinces of the Laurentian basin was that derived from their common dependence on England. The movement towards general amalga- N. A.— 30 ■m ''^yf fe B f1ilTi rti"'"^ir ' "•' ' '" ■ ' ''"''•''^'^^ ' ''" -TT-i' ' i-^^i»«»i alfWi'ril^ ' '■^^"'^''^ ^ 480 NORTir AMKUrCA. mntion wiis not revived till the your 1H07, und then four years wore oocupiod with proliininary diiiiuHsion uixl (liplunmtio nogotintionn boforo tliu various colon io8 wore at lust united in the " Dominion of Cantidn." \* Krat tho two Canudua, properly mo oallod, toj^other with Nova Hcotiu, C..^'," . reton, uud Nov lirunnwick, formed u federution. In IH{\0 tho IIudHon Hay C( > r ioid its rIghtH ovor tho North-W'oMt TorritorioH; in 1871 tho Columbian region of th'> I'uoihc Houboard beoamo u member of tlio (^unudian " Oroutor llritain ; " lastly, in 1M7H, the little Prince Kdwurd Island, Hmuliost of uU the colonies, throw in its destinies with those of its powerful neighbours. Newfoundland alone bus hitherto declined to join the Conf. deracy. Neverthe- less tho negotiations connected with this subject have never Im'Oii eompletoly inter- rupted, while the economic ulliance becomes more and more intimate. Meanwhile the Dominion prudently awaits the deHuite settlement of the thorny question* connected with tho fisheries bi'fore taking further action. ' In virtue of the constitution as set forth in the Hn'tiah North America Act, 1807 (;}0 Victoria, cap. -i), tho executive government and supreme authority is vested in the Crown, the Queen being represented by a Governor-General appointed by her, but paid by the Dominion. The " Queen's Privy Council for Canada," for which members of the Dominion Parliament are alone eligible, forms a ministry whicli must possess tho confidence of the majority of tho Lower House. But the power of dismissing the Privy Council is vested in tho Governor-General. An officer of the British Army, of rank not inferior to a major-general, appointed by the Crown and paid by Canada, has the supreme command of all the military forces both active and reserve. Under the Act of Union the confederate government practically enjoys absolute control over all matters which by that Act are not specially delegated to the provincial parliaments. Thus it is empowered to make laws affecting the peace and general prosperity of the whole Dominion, and it reserves to itself the privilege of legislating on such questions as trade and commerce ; indirect taxa- tion ; borrowing on the public credit ; public debt and property ; the postal service ; the census and vital statistics of all kinds ; lighthouse and coast service ; militia and defence of the Dominion ; navigation and shipping ; fisheries ; quaran- tine ; currency and banking ; weights and measures ; bankruptcy and insolvency ; the naturalisation of aliens ; m:irriage and divorce ; criminal law and procedure in criminal cases ; penitentiaries. On the other hand each member of the confederation has its own provincial assembly and administration, regulating its local affairs as specified in the Act of Union. Thus the provinces dispose of their own revenues, and legislate for their own welfare ; but no laws can be enacted by them which might tend to interfere or clash with the legislation of the confederate parliament. They take cognisance of such questions as education ; esyluras, hospitals, charities and eleemosynary institutions ; trading licences ; prisons and reformatories; municipal affairs; local works ; property and civil rights ; administration of justice so far as "te* "'?!a'rt"5S?l^ . ^wi m fy i ya iq I were oceupl<'d various colonifn u two Cimadus, lev UruiiBwick, ilghfH ovor tho P(iciti(! HC'ubourd lH7;i, tho little tinioH with thoBo ncy. Neverthe- MHupletely inter- uto. Meanwhile thorny questions •th America Act, ome authority is jovernor-General B of the Dominion ess tho confidence lissing the Privy a mujor-general, oinmand of all the practically enjoys specially delegated laws affecting the serves to itself the rce ; indirect taxa- •perty ; the postal and coast service ; fisheries; quaran- cy and insolvency ; law and procedure its own provincial )ecified in the Act es, and legislate for ich might tend to lament. They take itals, charities and tnatories; municipal of justice so far as rOLITK'AL FOBECA8T8. 4S1 regardfi tho appnintraoit of maj^ist rates or juntircs of tho pi'uco, iiiul tho constitu- tion, niainteniuicu, and organiHation of proviuciul courts of civil iiud criminal jurisdiction. I Jut tho provinccN have not, liko tho Status of tlio Anioricini fi-doral union, tlio power to orgaiiino and niaiutain a provincial military forco. Nor are tho ciiact- inents of tho provincial asNomblioH abMoluto, inasmuch as tho Duniiuiou Govern- ment roHorvoH to itself tho power of veto. In general the Canadian constitution may be doscribod as consisting of o representative goveriitnont of niiniHters directly roNpousible to tho people ; a fodcral government having charge of the general weal, and provincial govern- ments outrustod with the locid and provincial interests. Tho enonnous advantage of complete autonomy in all matters peculiar to each province explains the political tranquillity of the confederation, imd tho good understanding which UHually prevails between tho various elements of the popula- tion. Doubtless the Dominion has also its causes of disseu^ion and trouble. The native tribes in British Columbia and the North- West Territories have not yet been entirely assimilated, that is, brought into rosorvea, while tho two successive rebellions of the Bois-Hruliis (French-Canadian half-breeds) in Manitoba and Saskatchewan have shown how little tho interests of this class have been reconciled with those of the new settlers. The heated debates on tho subject of public instruction and the rival languages keep alive a strong party feeling in the several provinces. The lack of fertile lands and of convenient access to the markets of the world is severely felt in some districts, where emigration is beginning to assume the form of an exodus. Lastly, a still more ominous clement of future danger lurks in the monopoly of the highways of traffic granted with perhaps too free a hand to the great railway companies and to the syndicates of speculators in various industries. Such a policy tends to revive the evils of the old Hudson Bay and other trading companies, threatening to stifle the spirit of individual enterprise and to reduce whole populations to a state of helpless servitude. Political Forecasts. But, however grave may be the political and social problems which Canada will be called upon to deal with in the near future, they do not assume the same urgent and even threatening aspect as in the neighbouring republic. The formidable antagonism of races, which so largely contributed to bring about the War of Secession, and which stili exists pregnant with tremendous issues for tho Southern States, if not for the whole union, has no direct interest for Canada, which had already abolished slave labour at the beginning of the present century. Other ethnical and economic conflicts, growirg out of the prodigious movement of immigration setting towards the United States, will have to be fought out in the Alleghany uplands and the valleys of the Mississippi ; such conflicts can affect the Canadian provinces only in a secondary degree, at least until the wheat-growing regions of the Far West also begin to attract great streams of immigrants. ■M - ' '■ii^* k -! f W'afa'Ti^itf?sMVff 452 NOETH AMEEICA. m 1 i Lastly, the commerciul monopoly of the land, the mines and industries, which threatens to render the justly- prized liberties of the American citizen a mockeiy and a delusion, is progressing at a far more rapid rate in the United States than iu the confederate provinces of British North America. Hence it is natural that most Canadians energetically resist the attraction of their powerful neighbour, towards which they might be supposed to bo drawn by the ties of so many common interests, and even by the very geographical position of the conterminous states. During the War of American Independence bands of Franco-Canadian rebels, instigated by Lafayette, crossed the frontier to join the New England insurgents ; but their action was not supported by the public opinion of their fellow countrymen, and the ministers of religion refused them burial in consecrated ground.* Since that time American parties have been formed in Canada during all the great political crises, but their influence has always diminished, and the cry for annexation is now seldom heard. On the other hand many American statesmen, fearing that the annexation of the Canadian provinces might disturb the equi- librium of parties to their disadvantage, are equally opposed to union with the northern populations of the continent. Nevertheless, the general opinion in the States themselves appears to be that the Dominion will at last gravitate towards the great Anglo-Sfixon republic, and orators at the Washington Congress are often heard dilating on the '• manifest destiny," by which one day all the inhabitants of North America will be grouped in a single political state. This question has been recently discussed by Mr. Charles Dudley Warner,t a thoughtful American writer, who generally concludes that in Canada there is at present " a growing feeling for independence, very little, taking the whole mass, for annexation." One reason for this he finds in the prevailing belief of Canadians that the Dominion is better governed than the republic. There is also a strong dislike felt for too frequent elections, for sensational and irresponsible journalism, and for the want of system and prevailing corruption in the civil service depart- ment. He considers that there are " great commercial fprces at work, which seem strong enough to keep Canada for a long time in her present line of develop- ment in a British connection." In order to strengthen this tendency and neutralise the attractive forces working in the opposite direction, some English statesmen have proposed the formation of an " Imperial Britain," to comprise in a single confederation of equal and autonomous states all the rilnglish colonies — the Canadian Dominion, Australasia, South Africa, perhaps India itself. But this political and commercial league, a sort of British Zollcereiu, would necessarily sacrifice the interests of the less powerful states. Canada especially might suffer from such a union, and might on that very account be drawn more irresistibly than ever towards the powerful conterminous republic. Many Canadians already ask, as they are not directly represented abroad by their own envoys, why they should continue to • Philippe Aubert de Gaspe, /.'•» Aneitnt Cana/fienn. t Stiidka in tht Honth and IFnt, tcith Comments on Canada, 1890. ii^==^ POLITICAL FOEECASTS. 458 dustries, which izen a mockery I States than iu le attraction of to be drawn by iphical position idence bands of tier to join the B public opinion I them burial in. 1 during all the and the cry for rican statesmen, isturb the equi- union with the I opinion in the jravitate towards mgress are often be inbabitantB of .dley Warner,t a nada there is at the whole mass, ilief of Canadians e is also a strong isible journalism, II service depart- at work, which t line of develop- attractive forces ive proposed the confederation of ladian Dominion, il and commercial e interests of the ich a union, and ever towards the ;, as they are not bould continue to depend on Great Britain in the conduct of their foreig; interests. They may possibly feel the irksomeness of the situation all the more that, since the overthrow of the Brazilian Empire, they will find themselves henceforth isolated in the New World by their semi -monarchical institutions. But, however this be, no party or political group seems disposed to anticipate the natural course of events. Those even who believe the union to be inevitable still rely on destiny for its peaceful accomplishment. On neither side is there any standing army charged with the maintenance of peace by preparing for war. It is merely felt that in case of conflict the American republic; will be able to appeal to the " last reason " summed up in the words " might is right." Her will must needs be accomplished, as it was accomplished when the questions of frontiers were decided in her favour all along the borders from Maine and Lake Champlain to Oregon and the Juan de Fuca Strait. The most zealous of American " annexationists " will confine their efforts to preparing the way by a custom-house alliance, which they hope may gradually merge in political assimilation; nor can it be denied that there are many Canadians who might readily allow themselves to be seduced by the apparent com- mercial advantages of such a union. In any case there is no perceptible difference of race, language, or literature between the Anglo-Saxon populations on either side of the political frontiers, while the differences in customs or institutions are either slight in themselves, or carry little weight in the presence of such momentous issues. For Americans and British Canadians alike the amalgamation would involve social and political changes of comparatively little importance. With the French Canadians it is otherwise, differing as they do in religion, language, and aspirations from the surrounding Anglo-Saxon populations. For them annexation would necessarily be a serious event, and many of them naturally fear that it might ultimately lead to their total exiinption as a separate people, just as most of their fellow-countrymen have already been absorbed in Louisiana. But they have already resisted so many assaults, they have thriven so vigorously under the most adverse circumstances and sa'eguarded their nationality in the midst of seemingly overwhelming difficulties and dangers, that they may perhaps contemplate the course ■»£ events with composure. Whatever political groups mav in future be formed by the North American peoples, the French Canadians may still hope to enter the body politic as a free and distinct ethnical factor. The Franco-Canadians themselves are, as a rule, loyal to the Crown of England, while maintaining the national spirit and hopeful of the future destinies of their race. The Hon. Honor^ Mercier, a competent interpreter of Canadian feeling, remarks on this subject : " The liberties which we have conquered with the blood of some of our members enable us to retain under the British flag the customs, language, and civil laws of the France of Louis the Great, to openly proclaim ourselves French, without hindrance or molesiation, to take a prominent part in the politics and destinies of the Canadian Confederation, and our fellow-citizens of English origin benefit too much by these liberties to think badly of us for •J i^^itsa^ .V >,} i. NOBTH AMERICA. having introduced them into the country — we, the descendants of the autocratic France of Richelieu and Louis XIV. The extent and richness of our territory ; its natural resources, as inexhaustible as they are A'aried ; its iuconaparable geographical position, which enables it to command the trade of the richest por- tions of Canada and the Western States of the American Republic ; its great waterway of the St. Ijawrence, the most important channel of inland and oceanic navigation which exists in the world ; its magnificent system of railways, which is rapidly extending ; its universities, colleges, convents, and its thousands of public schools, which furnish the people with education and instruction in all branches and degrees ; its numerous benevolent institutions for the relief of distress and infir- mity ; its political institutions, which guarantee freedom to all citizens and the most absolute protection to all races and religious interests ; the perfect harmony which reigns among the different groups of its population — in fine, the result of all these benefits and advantages will ba that, in the near future, our provii^, r;e will offer the sptctacle of a great people rich, happy, and prosperous ; and as all these things will be achieved in a large measure by that French-Canadian population whom Providence seems to have selected as the special instrument of its inscrutable designs, the future writer of the history of this beautiful country may, with reason, take for the epigraph of his book, Gcsttt Dei per Francos."* * General Sketch of the J'rovinee of Quebec, 1889. liJ] ^:-",v'A., ^■^~' ."' ' ■i ' ,'j ' «; ir j 'i ^jJM«i ' ?t^ ' g»^ ' ^i | ^■^^|^^' '' Ml^^.^'l^A '| j 'B 'i l ^ | 'lfy ' i»^l^.!.M l ^ | |«^ l l l nl '' ;^ w■ 'il^l^' | » i n ' the autocratic our territory ; 8 incomparable the richest por- iiblic ; its great and and oceanic ilwaj 8, which is isands of public in all branches iistress and infir- 3n8 and the most , harmony which esult of all these ovir.';e will offer md as all these adian population of its inscrutable mtry may, with APPENDIX I STATISTICAL TABLES. GENERAL. Area of Nortb America without „ Sonth America „ „ Central America . „ Islands and OreenlaiCi the Islands . « • a • Total . . Square mile^ - 7,927,000 7,093,000 219,000 1.490.000 16,729,000 Coastline of North America, without the Islands ,. South „ »» »» • . Miles. 27,500 21,250 Area of America and adja43ent Islands noi „ „ „ son th of the equator th „ Total Miles. 10,890,000 6,839,000 16,729,000 Anglo-Saxon America . Latin America Ana in siiu.ie mileH. 7,193,000 9,536,000 ropuUtion ts.ooo.ooo • 48,000,000 Whites and Half- Breeds. Anglo-Saxon America . . 60,000,000 Latin America. . . . 31,000,000 7,600,000 16,000,000 Aborigines. Total. 600,000 68,000,000 2,000,000 48,000,000 Totals . 91,000,000 22,500,000 2,600,000 116,000,000 V i^ ■'1 i APPENDIX I. GREENLAND. Probable area (Behm and Wagner) Population of the explored ooastlands :— Inspectorate of North Greenland (1886) South Greenland (1882) Eastern Territory (1884) Total 868,000 square miles. 4,414 6,484 548 10,446 total, 67. TRADE (1886). T^, 1 . £27,600 Imports from Denmark 33.26O Exports to ,, ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS. South Gbeenland. Julianahaab. Frederickshaab. Godthaab. Sukkertoppen. Holstenborg. East Gbeenlani). (No Divisions.) NOBTH GkEENLAND. Egedesminde. Kristianshaab. Jacobehavn. Godhavn. Ritenbenk. Umanak. TJpemivik. POLAB AECHIPELAGO. Approximate area Total population 720,000 square miles. 2,000 to 3,000 Eskimo. GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS. Main Qronpa. Snb-Oronps. / Grinnell Land (Grant Land, &c.). Nobth-Eaot Abohipelaoo I EUesmere Land (North Lincoln, &o.). lNoithDevon(Tujan). Grinnell Island, i North Cornwall Comwallis Island. j Bathurst Island. ^. Finlay Island. I Byam Martin Island. ! p^rry Group. Melville Island. I Prince Patrick Island. Egliuton Island. Noetheen Aechipelaqo tA j j^iiifeLaji i i i i- j:i . nnre miles. Main Oronps. Sonrn-EAST Abchipelaqo. WeSTEBN AbOUIFBIiAQO. APPENDIX I. Bub-Oroupi. {Baffin Land with Colbum and Penny Landa. Fox Land, Meta Incognita (Kingnait), &o. Bylot Island (Possession Inland, Uivang). Resolution Island (Tujakjuak). Melville Peninsula. North Somerset Island. Boothia Felix Peninsula. King William's Land. \ Prince of Wales. Prince Albert Land (Wollaston and Victoria Lands). ^ Banks Land, including Baring Land. 467 i , seals {phoeafatida), )0. oks, 16 ; literary, 16 ; ,600 .260 SNLAKS. ide. taab. n. ALASKA. Area : 531,410 square miles. Population (1870) : 70,640 ; (1880) 33,620. Coast-line, without the islands and small inlets : 7,900 miles. Area of the Aleutian Islands : 5,830 square miles. Area of the Alaskan Islands north of the Aleutians : 4, 120 square miles. POPtTLATJON OF AxABKA ACCOBBINO TO RaCES (1880) : — Eskimo 17,617 Aleutians . , 2,146 Tinneh Indians . . . . . 3,927 Thlinkits . . . 6,763 Whites 430 Creoles (HaU-Breeds) .... 1,766 Total . . 32,638 (Ivan PetrofE's estimate). Annual Slaitghteb op Fub-beaeino Seals : Pribilov Islands, 100,000 ; Bering and Copper Islands, 26,000 ; Crozet Islands; (Indian Ocean), 1,600 ; New Shetland and Falkland Islands, 5,000. ][naTe miles. ,000 Eskimo. i Fui'-bearing seals iu the Pribilov Islands : — Family groups Bachelors St. Paul. . 3,030,260 . 1,400,000 Totals . 4,430,260 Akntjal Revenie of the Fxm (J<>hpany : — 8t. George. 163,420 100,000 263,420 Total. 3,193,000 1,500,000 4,693,000 Otter skins .. Other poltiios Total . 106,600 . 56,500 . 163,000 value £100,000 „ 29,000 £129,000 Cod exported to California from the Alaskan and Okhotsk seas (1887) : 1,129,000. A^inual value of the Alaskan whale fisheries : £237,000, or about £6,900 per vessel. Annuiil valuti of the Alaskan gold-mines : a882) £30,000 , (1886) £93,000. ■t-iu^.fMfcih.-fJtanli 453 APPENDIX I. DOMINION OF CANADA* AEEA AND POPULATION FROM LAST OFFICIAL RETURN (1881). "ili North-West Tebbitoby and Abctic Islands. Peovinces. AssiDiboia Ai-oa In ■quare niilei 95,000 \ Male*. Femolei. Total Population. SaHkatohewan . 114,000 Alberta . Athabasca 100,000 1 122,000 I 28,113 28,333 66,446 (1881) Koewatin 335,000 ' Great North . 2,060,000 J British Columbia 341,305 29,603 19,956 49,459 Manitoba 60,520 37,207 28,747 65,954 Ontario . 181,800 976,461 946,767 1,923,224 Quebec . 188,688 678,109 680,918 1,359,027 New Brunswick 27,174 164.119 167,114 321,233 Nova Scotia . 20,907 220,538 220,034 440,572 Prince Edward Islai id 2,133 3,648,527 61,729 64,162 108,891 2.188,779 2,136,031 4,324,810 Newfoundland *n,200 — — 197,335 (1884) Total Br. N. Amer^-a 3,688,727 Probable population, 1890 (with Newfoundland) : 6,500,000 Population accobdino to Cueeds : — Roman Catholics . Methodists Presbyteiijus Anglioar. 3 Baptic! A Lutherans Conjjregationalists Miscellaneous Of "no religion" No creed stated Total Adults classed accobdino to Occupations : — Agriculturists 662,630- Artisans, laboui'ers 287,295 Trades . 107,649 Servants 74,830 Professions 62,974 Population accobdino to Races and Nationalities Franco-Canadians (French descent) / Irish Britirh ("anadians | English ' Scotch British-bom . i^ritish Americans Gterman descent . German-bom Dutch descent French-bom Russians or Pusso-Germans Indians Coloured (African descent) Chinese S'.andinavians, Italians, and others 4,622,145 1,791,982 742,981 676,165 674,818 296,525 46,350 26,900 79,686 2,634 86,769 4,324,810 about 66 per cent. „ 24 „ M ^ >» »» ' »» >» 4 ,, 4,299,161 957,403 881,301 669,863 470,092 77,753 264,319 25,328 30,412 4,389 6,376 132,000 21,394 4,383 66,000 • The Statistics in these Tables are the latest available to date. ''' . ff i ' ''4ffl f ;j'^yyi ' ';'''W' '■' ' •? ' ■'-- »■■'»*' ' ^^ 'T " APPENDIX I. 489 I IN (1881). es. Total Fopulutiun. 33 56,446 (1881) )56 r47 '07 )18 14 334 162 49,459 65,954 1,923,224 1,H59,027 321,233 440,672 108,891 031 4,324,810 197,335 (1884) 4,622,145 91,982 42,981 78,165 74,818 96,525 46,350 26,900 79,686 2,634 86,769 324,810 66 per cent. 24 9 7 „ 4 ^1,299,161 957,403 881,301 669,863 470,092 77,753 254,319 25,328 30,412 4,389 6,376 132,000 21,394 4,383 60,000 o date. Immiorants : — 1878 .... 40,000 i 1884 . 166,000 1879 .... 61,000 1885 . 106,000 1880 .... 86,000 1886 . 122,000 1881 .... 117,000 iHH7 . 176,000 1882 .... 193,000 1888 . 174,000 1883 .... 207,000 Jbowth op Population during the present Centuh? : — 1806 .... 456,000 Ihu. . . 3,323,000 1834 .... 1,303,000 1871 . . 3,002,000 1844 .... 1,803,000 1881 . . 4,325,000 1851 .... 2,647,000 1890 . . 5,600,000 (P) GBOWTH OF FOREIGN TRADE FROM 1880 TO 1889. Year. Total Export*. Total Imports. 1880 .... £17,000,000 . £17,000,000 1881 19,000,000 21,000,000 1882 . 18,000,000 16.000,000 1883 . 39,000,000 26,000,000 1884 18,000,000 23,000,000 1885 . 18,000,000 22,000,000 1886 . 17,000,000 21,000,000 1887 18,000,000 22,000,000 1889 . 18,000,000 • 24,000,000 CHIEF EXPORTS ANE > IliPORTS (1887). Exports. Value. Imports. Value. Lumber aud other forest products £4, 100,000 Iron, steel, and hardware . £2,740,000 Wheat and wheat flour . . 1,400,000 Coal and coke . 1,380,000 Cheese 1,420,000 Bread stuffs 1,420,000 Barley 1,050,000 Cotton and cotton -stuffs 1,100,000 Homed cattle .... 1,300,000 Tea and coffee 743,000 Horses 454,000 Sugars . 1,127,000 Sheep 320,000 Cotton wool and waste 016,000 Eggs 361,000 Drugs and chemicals . 280,000 Other agrioidtural produce . 1,300,000 Silk and silken stuffs . 540,000 Codfish 510,000 Provisions . . 354,000 Other kinds of fish 870,000 Wool, raw . . 375,000 Coal 304,000 Hides, raw . . 392,000 Grold-bearing quartz and nuggets 204,000 Leather and leather ware 337,000 Other mineral articles . 2.53,000 Tobacco, unmanufactured 265,000 Wood and wooden wares 115,000 Wood and wooden wares 285,000 Iron, steel, and hardware . 70,000 Live-stock . 336,000 Leather and leather ware . 116,000 Flax, hemp . 305,000 Coin and bullion 1,100 Wines and spirits 286,000 Sundries 1,040,000 Coin and bullion . 106,000 Foreign produce . 1,710,000 Sundries 530 000 Wool and woollen stuffs . . 2,580,000 GROWTH OF TRADE WITH GREAT BRITAIN. "" Ttvtt. Exports to Imports flrom. 1878 . . . ■ . £8,874,000 . . £7,000,000 1880 12,930,000 0,040,000 1882 . . 9,871,000 . 7,953,000 1884 10,388,(100 . 8,592,000 1886 . • . 10,061,000 7,547,000 1887 10,267,000 ;,746,<00 1889 9,270,000 10,850,000 Grain and flour exported to Great Britain (1887) 2,582,000 Wood and timber ,, ., }t 2,727,000 Cheese „ „ M 1,555,000 Live-stock „ ,, ,, 1,221,000 Fish „ r ) 278,000 Butter >i i> r . 140,0 30 ■!J I 1.3 "S ' j»^W«&&fefS«fefelter&»iiiiiiliMtii^iiitfctii(^i)^ 460 APPENDIX I. Gbowtii of Tbade with Gheat Ti&tTAiN—eontiitned. Woollen gtuff» imported from Great Britain (1887) Iron WTouglit and un wrought ,, ,, Cotton goodH „ ,, Clothes, haberdaithory, &o. ,,, ,, Total imports from the United States (1889) . ,, exports to „ „ ,, Ui"'l'- lih :t ■ : T I '"•': I . Vent. l>SGti 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 BUDGET FOR THE Revenue. £2,700,000 2,800,000 3,100,000 3,800,000 4,100.000 4,200,000 4,800,000 4,900,000 4,500,000 4,400,000 4,400,000 4,500,000 4,fi0i>,000 5,900,000 0,600,000 7,100,000 6,300,000 6,500,000 6,000,000 7,100,000 7,200,000 TWENTY YEARS ENDING Eziienditure. £2,700,000 2,800,000 2,800,000 3,100,000 3,500,000 3,800,000 4,600,000 4,700,000 4,900,000 4,700,000 4,700,000 4,900,000 4,900,000 6,100,000 6,400,000 5,7u(\j000 6,200,000 7,100,000 7,800,000 7,100,000 7,300,000 £1,700,000 1,488,000 1,018,000 600,000 £11,647,000 8,866,000 1888. Public Dobt £19,000,000 22,000,000 23,000,000 23,000,000 24,000,000 26,000,000 28,000,1 00 30,000,000 32,000,000 36,000,000 36,000,000 36,000,000 39,000,000 40,000,001) 41,000,000 40,000,000 48,000,000 53,000,000 64,000,000 64,000,000 67,000,000 Year. 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1886 1886 1887 1888 Wheat. bush. 8,509,000 9,767,000 12,170,000 9,092,000 6,433,000 10,733,000 3,021,000 5,424,000 6,706,000 9,127,000 7,300,000 EXPORT Flour, barrel!. 479,000 580,000 661,000 601,000 608,000 626,000 684,000 161,000 415,000 631,000 365,000 OF BREAD Barley, bush 7,643,000 6,393,000 7,241,000 8,800,000 11,588,000 8,817,000 7,780,000 9,067,000 8,66t,000 9,466,000 9,370,000 STUFFS, 1878 Maize. bush. 3,987,000 6,429,000 4,547,000 6,257,000 2,230,000 819,009 3,806,090 2,007,000 2,667,000 3,373,000 1,203,000 -1888. Other vrains. buHh 6,380,000 5,936,000 9,622,000 8,154,000 9,235,000 4,704,000 4,736,000 6,619,000 7,851,000 6,416,000 2,816,000 Other Bread ituflk. lb*. 38,200,000 25,774,000 32,458,000 20,893,000 17,096,000 17,661,000 20,354,000 22,127,000 29,624,000 23,289,000 12,386,000 DOMINION LANDS. Area 'old. Year. acres. 1873 .... 155,600 1874 .... 334,700 1876 .... 166,700 1876 .... 133,000 1877 .... 429,000 1878 709,000 1879 .... 1,096,000 ■ 1880 , . . . 682,000 1881 .... 1,067,000 1882 .... 2,700,000 1883 .... 1,832,000 1884 .... 1,110,000 1886 . . . . 482,000 1880 .... 675,000 1887 .... 521,700 1888 .... 679,000 Land under cultivation (1871) : 17,336,000 acres Amount realioed. £6,700 6,000 6,000 1,700 28,700 27,600 61,000 32,000 33,000 366,000 186,000 167,000 57,000 64,000 82,000 81,000 (1881) 21,900,000 acres. CI, 706,000 1,488,000 1,018,000 600,000 11,547,000 8,855,000 )8. Publio Dobt ;19,000,000 22,000,000 23,000,000 23,000,000 24,000,000 26,000,000 28,000,1 00 30,000,000 32,000,000 36,000,000 35,000,000 36,000,000 39,000,000 40,000,000 41,000,000 40,000,000 48,000,000 53,000,000 64,000,000 64,000,000 57,000,000 ' '' i W ' ^ » '^ ng. Other Bread itufb. lbs. 38,200,000 25,774,000 32,458,000 20,893,000 17,096,000 17,661,000 20,354,000 22,127,000 29,624,000 23,289,000 12,386,000 Amount renliped. £5,700 6,000 6,000 1,700 28,700 27,600 61,000 32,000 33,000 366,000 185,000 157,000 67,000 64,000 82,000 81,000 100,000 acres. APPENDIX 4G1 PROGRESS OF SOME OF THE CHIEF TOWNS BETWEEN THE YEARS 1881 AND 1888. Populatii n. Aueument. Miinioipnl Towno. 18S1. IHHi. 18HH. Montroal .... 140,000 200,000 £21,800,000 £2,100,000 Toronto 77,000 16(1,000 20,000,000 1,900,000 Hamilton . 35,000 43,000 4,000,000 600,000 London 19,000 27,000 2,400,000 430,000 Ottawa Halifax 25,000 30,000 40,000 40,000 2,800,000 4,300,000 490,000 Winnipeg . 6,000 22,000 3,900,000 68,000 St. Thomas . 9,000 10,000 770,000 47,000 Charlottetown 11,000 — 737,000 62,000 8herbrot)ke 7,000 9,000 680,000 32,000 Ouelph 10,000 10,000 636,000 89,000 Brantford 10,000 13,000 1,010,000 62,000 St. Catherine's 9,000 10,000 940,000 30,000 Poterboro' . 6,000 8,000 758,000 37,000 Windsor 6,000, 8,000 537,000 61,000 Cornwall 4,000 6,000 270,000 16,000 Collingwood 4,000 6,000 207,000 16,000 Cobourg 6,000 4,000 312,000 48,00:< Lindsay 5,000 6,000 345,000 33,000 Gait . 6,000 7,000 360,000 21,000 Barrie . 4,000 6,000 263,000 16,000 Brookville . 7,000 8,000 681,000 16,000 Woodstock . 6,000 8,000 457,000 28,000 Port Hope . 6,000 5,000 300,000 38,000 St. John, N. B. 26,000 — 3,805,000 669,000 Quebec. No retu ims. RAILWAY TRAFFIC, 1876-89. Mile* Frfight. Tear. open. Paaspnpera toua. Eaminff. 1875 4,820 5,190,000 5,670,000 £3,900,000 1876 6,167 5,544,000 6,331,000 3,800,000 1877 6,674 6,073,000 6,859,000 3,700,000 1878 6,143 6,444,000 7,883,000 4,100,000 1879 6,484 6,623,000 8,348,000 3,900,000 1880 6,891 6,462,000 9,938,000 4,700,000 1881 7,260 6,943,000 12,065,000 6,600,000 1882 7,630 9,352,000 13,676,000 6,600,000 188;< 8,726 9,580,000 13,266,000 6,700,000 1884 9,575 9,982,000 13,712,000 6,400,000 1885 10,150 9,672,000 14,659,000 6,600,000 1886 10,697 9,861,000 15,670,000 6,600,000 1887 11,691 10,698,000 16,356,000 7,700,000 1888 12,163 11,416,000 17,173,000 8,400,000 1889 13,000 12, 00,000 17,400,000 8,900,000 Cost of constmction of the Canadian Railways : Pacific Railway. 1889: 6,400 miles open. Capital invested : £39,600,000. £152,000,000 or about £7,400 per mile. MINERAL PRODUCTIONS OF CANADA, 1887. Antimony Ore . , , . 685 tons Arsenic . . . . . 30 ,, Asbestos 4,019 ,, Baryta 400 , Volne. £2,200 240 4,600 500 m ' I iwkt n Um I II. IIK .t*.**^ "I ' JffMA. ' ." r 4G2 APPENDIX I. *Mi a iinr^M JUj X ni/uui/itu;^a \jw v .^^AUl, ir.-«| - — c««f iriHri* Vnln*. Building Htono . . . '202,000 oubio yd*. . £110,000 Chromio Iron Ore W t4nm 110 Colli and Cuko 2,419,000 tuna 079,000 C/*.^??Sfe?43*S»fl'S mmrp> \. . I f/ APPENDIX I. 408 GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE FOR THE TWENTY-ONE YEAIW ENDING 1888. Vitlu*. £110,000 no 070,000 70,000 233,000 28,000 31,000 217,000 29,000 2.000 79,000 8,7llO 5,900 119,000 04,000 73,000 1,120 32,000 33,000 68,000 18,000 66,200 14,000 400,000 kIBIA IN TONS. TotaL 1,058,000 985,000 934,000 1,002,000 1,034,000 1,124,000 1,424,000 1,487,000 1,812,000 1,806,000 1,950,000 1,879,000 2,009,000 2,284,000 VINCES. Prince Edwai'd laland. £99,000 132,000 170,000 380,000 335,000 391,000 371,000 264,000 217,000 258,000 228,000 207,000 176,000 Yenr. Riillwayi, Oanal*. Public Woiki 1S((8 i;yi(,uoo ^20,000 £40,000 1HU9 6«,000 25,000 35,(100 1H70 340,000 21,000 62,000 1871 600,000 27,000 112,000 1872 1,120,000 60,000 240,0()() 1873 1,162,000 70,000 260,000 1874 800,000 250,000 334,000 1875 1,003,000 343,000 34 ;t, 0(10 1876 900,000 478,000 400,000 1877 642,000 826,000 255,000 1878 630,000 770,000 176,000 ls79 600,000 610,000 150,000 1880 1,220,000 424,000 148,000 1881 1,100,000 420,000 214,000 1882 1,0.30,000 334,000 217,000 1883 2,340.000 370,000 310,000 1884 2,820;000 373,000 633,000 1835 2,260,000 312,000 448,000 1886 900,000 265,000 114,000 1887 6.54,000 372,000 510,000 1888 ,000 237,000 776,000 SAVINGS BANKS RETURNS PER PROVINCE FOR 1888. Amonnt deposited. £3,257,000 767,000 36,000 40,000 300 46,000 Province. Dtporitorg Ontario . 83,063 Quebec . 16,316 Nova Scotia . 1,402 New Brunswick 1,062 Manitoba and N.W. ) Territories . . ) 16 British Columbia . •836 Average Amoant of eich Uepoitor. £39 4 49 8 25 9 38 4 18 6 65 Total 101,693 £4,136,300 Average £41 12 Total. £2,200,000 2,400,000 2,600,000 2,700,000 2,900,000 3,100,000 3,300,000 3,400,000 3,600,000 3,600,000 3,700,000 3,600,000 3,600,000 Newspapebs piBUBHED IN Canapa AND NEWTorNDiAND (1886):- 788, of wWch 77 French, nearly all the rest English. Finance :— Revenue (1889) £7,940,000 Expenditure (1889) 7,636,000 Surplus £304,000 Public debt of Canada, July 31, 1889 . Customs receipts (1888) Military expenditure (1888) NEWSPAPERS 1887. DaUy ., . . 87 Tri-weekly 10 Semi-weekly . 17 Weekly . 610 Bi-weekly 4 Semi-monthly 14 Monthly 74 Quarterly 1 £49,320,000 4,600,000 265,000 1888. 89 9 20 642 2 11 82 :i Total of all issues 723 756 d«^.I#aiilar*&av«ij- iU Al'PENDIX I. PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENT . liON UNTIL l«OJ. PjnvinOOT. Ontario Nova H<> 1. RcnaU. Meiiiberi ■ii 24 10 4 3 78 SS. Am In tq. mllM. 31,500 3'2,400 21,000 9,000 fi,400 8,600 1,000 312 170 1,930 10,000 14,000 3,eoo le, £500,000. 38,000 37,000 75,000 IN 1887. Average Attendance. 1,322 1,494 106 2,921 Tom. 640,000 409,254 10,687 ,069,841 /' ■:m^. > ^ i^!*^v^( w vr 1^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ■>*»;^'.vi. ', ■i£ i&i 12.2 S Hi ■" MUu |U 11.6 «' '^^ ?y:AS Photographic -Sciences Corporation 23 WfST MAIN STRICT WEtSTIR,N.Y. 145S0 (716)872-4503 • CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Hi -:« f'*T' Victoria (3,270 in 1881) . . .16,000 Vancouver 12,000 New Westminster .... 6,000 Nitnaimo 3,000 APPENDIX I. CHIEF TOWNS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (1889). Fopnlation. Wellingfton Yale Kamloops 465 PopnlBtlon. 2,500 2,000 1,500 TERRITOEIES OF THE GREAT NORTH. Area: 2,060,000 square miles ; population: 16,000. Peltries supplied to the London market (1887) :— Musquash (Musk Bats) 2,485,368 Skunks '682J94 Foxes, &o 813,291 Hares 114,824 Beavers 104,279 Martens 98,342 ^«" 15,942 Wolverines 15^535 ^ya'tes 14,520 Otters 14,439 Fur- bearing Seals 13,478 Sundries 26,266 U Total . . 4,099,067 WINNIPEG REGIONS. AREAS AND POPULATIONS. FroTinces. Manitoba . Saskatchewan . Athabasca and Alberta Assiniboia Keewatin Total Area in Bq. milea. 60,520 114,000, 222,000 I 95,000 I 335,000 / Pop., lesi. 65,964 42,000 Pop., 1889. 130,000 i 15,000 20,000 30,000 8,000 107,964 203,000 826,620 Indians of the Hudson Bay slope (1884) : 24,984. /,oo,^^"f,;?' *^® ^^°'^ "'^•'^ between the Rocky Mountains, Hudson Bay, and the United States (lool}: 49,472. IMMIGRANTS INTO THE WINNIPEG REGIONS (1881). From the Eastern Provinoes of the Dominion 2I 614 From Europe . . . . . . . . . , '. 4,'321 : From the United States . .7 758 Total Mean annual Immigration : 10,000 to 25,000. POPULATION OF MANITOBA ACCORDING TO RACES. 28,593 English 1881. 11,503 1886. 25,949 1S80. Scotch and half-breeds . 16,606 26,676 86,000 Irish 10,176 21,180/ French Canadians . } 9,949 (6,311 > \ 4,869 / French half-breeds . 16,000 Germans and Mennohites 8,662 11,082 13,000 Icelanders .... — 2,468 8,000 Norwegians, Dutch, and Russians 2,412 1,189 2,000 Indiana 6,767 6,678 5,000 Sundriea. ., . . . . 2,422 711 1,000 Total ». A.— 81 66,964 108,640 130,000 v fm'>?^i^-(m !! -'fm^;U:,"^^fZ^^ '" --'.i^^^ 466 APPENDIX I. GRAIN CROPS IN MANITOBA. Total land under cereals in Manitoba (1889) Wheat crop >i " Other grains >> >• Total value of grain crop 840,000 acres. U.OUO.OUO bushels. 8,600,000 ,, £2,000,000. GROWTH OF AGRICULTURE IN ASSINIBOIA, SASKATCHEWAN AND ALBERTA Horses and mules Working oxen Milch cows . Other homed cattle Sheep . Pigs . Home-made butter, lbs ,, cheese Wheat, acres Barley „ Oats ,, Potatoes ,, Hay ,1 Chief Towns of the Winnipeo Reoionb:— Yeir 1881. 10,870 3,334 3,848 5,690 346 2,776 70,717 1,060 6,678 811 Winnipeg . Brar^'on . La Prairie.Portage Selkirk Year 1885. 24,466 6,949 11,030 69,567 19,398 22,542 510,191 10,270 67,255 11,606 35,343 3,676 428 Icoreau. 13,686 2,615 7,182 63,867 19,052 19,767 439,474 9,210 61,677 11,605 86,343 2,865 428 Pop., 1889. 25,000 '. . 4,800 3,000 2,600 Calgary (Alberta) ^,600 Regina ' Emerson Medicine-Hat (Assiniboia) . . . • Edmonton -„» Prince Albert (Saskatchewan) . . . • ^i""" 1,500 1,500 1,200 THE LAUKENTIAN BASIN: CANADA PEOPEE. PEOVINCES OF ONTAEIO AND QUEBEC. , . AREAS AND POPULATIONS. Ontario Quebec Area in tq. miles. 181,800 188,688 Totals 370,488 Population, 1881. 1,923,224 1,369,027 3,282,261 1,940 440 Hydhoobaphy of the Laueentian Basin: — Length of the St. Lawrence from tho sources of the St. Louis River to Gaspe ' n ' . \ Length of St. Law^ncefrom^ake Ontario to Quebec. ^ ^^^^ Area of the basin above Quebec ^^ r-io,ir» Approximate discharge of the St. Lawrence, according to Oarike ^^^^^^^ Approximate discharge of the St. tawrence, according to the Gedogjcal ^^^^^^^^ Commission . . • •,'*," tnilna 1.150 Navigable highway from Belle-Isle to Montreal . . • niues , ToSavlgaSonoftheriverandlakesfromBelle-IsletoDuluth „ 2,380 t^T^lrW APPENDIX I. 467 Oeigin op the Fbencii and otheb Settlers in Canada in the ITnc Cbntuhy: res. bushels. LBERTA.. Paris 368 Cborente 348 Normandy 341 Poitou 239 Flanders and Picardy .... 96 Brittany Other parts of North and Central France South France Foreigners Qeowth op the Fbench-Canaoian Population under British Rule : — 1774 98,000 1881 1871 1,006,200 1889 Growth op Population in the two Peovikoes : — 1842. ' 1861. 1871. Ontario . . ' 487,000 1,396,000 1,621,000 Quebec . . 607,000 1,111,000 1,192,000 - Yearly births in the Franco-Canadian population . „ deaths „ „ „ Increase of natural growth French-speaking population of Canada (1 889) . French Canadians in the United States 1881. 1,923,000 1,3.59,000 Total 87 474 34 26 2,002 1,293,929 1,490,000 Total French Canadians in N. America UeO (eat.). 2,250,000 1,680,000 80,000 37,000 43,000 1,490,000 600,000 2,090,000 ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS OF QUEBEC. EE. 1,940 440 60,000 90,000 30,000 1,150 2,380 Counties. Area in Fopulation, Conntiei. Areain Population, \^\f *■** vmv^r* aquare milea. 1881. \^\f%Jtmm%mv^* square milea. 1881. Argenteuil 970 . 16,060 Megantio 770 . . 19,000 Athabasca 512 . 20,120 Missisquoi . 370 . . 17,780 Assumption 267 . 16,280 Montcalm 6,000 . 12,960 Bagot . 350 . 21,200 Montmagny . 640 . . 15,260 Beauoe . . . 1,900 . 32,000 Montmorency . 2,220 . . 12,320 Beauchamois . 140 . 16,000 Montreal (City) 6 . . 140,700 Belleohasse 696 . 18,000 Napierville 158 . . 10,600 Berthier . 2,610 . 21,840 Nicolet . 610 . . 26,600 Bonaventure . . 3,600 . 18,900 Ottawa . 6,900 . . ,49,430 Brome 480 . 16,830 Pontiao . . 21,800 , . 20,000 Chambly 140 . 10,860 Portneuf . 1,730 . . 26,170 Champlain . 9,480 . 26,820 . Quebec (City) . 12 . . 62,440 Charlevoix . 2,000 . 17,900 Quebec (County) 2,760 . 20,280 Ch&teauguay . 260 . 14,400 Bichelieu . 200 . . 20,220 Ghicoutimi 17,000 (P) . 26,000 Richmond . 660 . 13,190 Compton . . 1,430 . 19,860 Rimouski 6,100 . 36,790 ' Deux Montagues 266 . 16,850 RouviUe . , 265 . 18,660 Dorchester 940 . 18,710 Saguenay 80,000 (f) 7,460 Drummond 646 . 17,240 St. Hyacinth . 280 . 20,630 Ga8p6^ . . . 4,700 . 25,000 St. John . 180 . . 12,260 Hochelaga 86 . 40,000 St. Maurice 2,600 . 12,980 Huntingdon . 410 . 16,600 Shefford , 670 . 23,230 Iberville . 196 . 14,460 Sherbrooke 230 . 12,220 ; Islet (L') . . 800 . 14,920 Soulanges 140 . 10,200 Jacques Cartder 110 . 12,340 Stanstead ' , 400 . 16,560 Joliette . . 3,770 . 22,000 Temiscouata . 1,900 26,480 Kamouraska '. 1,000 . 22,180 Terrebonne 560 . 21,890 Laprairie 180 . 11,430 Three Rivers (Town) 18 . 9,300 Laval 90 . 9,460 Vaudreuil 190 . 11,480 lAvia 266 . 27,980 Verchferes 200 . 12,450 Lotbinidre 746 . . 20,800 Wolfe . 680 (P) 13,160 Maskinong^ 3,360 . 17,600 Yamaska . - . 270 . 17,000 fioMAN Catholi Fi It cs in the ] ■ench . sh . 'bovinob op Quebe ■ • • • • • c (1881):- 1,076,130 123,749 y .-v :;:,.:,„ Total 1,198,879 ■-fr^tfi^'ai^'. 408 ArrENDix I. PUBUC INSTBUCTIOX IN THE PhOVINCE OF QUEBEO (1887) :- CathoUo. Proteitwjt. Elementary SchooU . • 3.686 9^8 Hitfher . . . • • ^"^^ ^" ll^Lce .... 221,811 33.648 Total. 4,684 650 266,269 ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS OF ONTARIO. Countiei. Glengarry Cornwall Storniont Dundas Presoott . Russell . Ottawa (capital) Orenville, South Grenville, North Carleton Brookvillo Leeds, North Lanark, South Lanark, North Renfrew, South Renfrew, North Frontenao Lennox . Addington Prince Edward Hastings, East Hastings, West Hastings, North Northumberland, East Area in ■qunre mile*. 480 lOJ 317 395 607 710 3 237 370 670 126 070 627 632 4,230 12,809 330 325 2,130 400 410 120 2,250 490 Northumberland, West Peterborough, East Peterborough, West Durham, East Durham, West Victoria, South Victoria, North Mu»koka . Ontario, South Ontario, North York, East York, West York, North Simooe, South Simcoe, North Peel . 276 2,960 191) 377 330 430 925 5,220 240 650 232 223 480 693 1,130 280 Population, 18HI. . 22,220 , 9,900 . 13,290 . 20,000 . 22,800 . 25,080 . 27,410 . 13,526 . 12,930 . 24,690 . 12,514 . 22.206 . 20,030 . 13,945 . 19,160 . 20,960 . 14,990 . 16,314 . 23,470 . 21,044 . 17,313 . 17,400 . 20,480 . 22,300 , 16,984 . 23,956 . 13,310 . 18,710 . 17,555 , 20,813 . 13,800 . 27,200 '. 20,378 . 28,434 . 23,312 . 19,884 . 24,600 . 26,890 . 49,238 . 16,337 Coaotiei. Cardwoll . Welland . Niagara . Monck Lincoln Haldimand Wentworth, South Wentworth, North Halton Wellington, South Wellington, Central Wellington, North Grey, South Grey, East Grey, North Norfolk, South Norfolk, North Brant, South . Brant, North . Waterloo, South Waterloo, North Elgin, East Elgin, West Oxford, South . Oxford, North . Middlesex, East Middlesex, West Middlesex, North Perth, South Perth, North Huron, South Huron, Central Huron, North Bruce, South Bruce, North Bothwell . Lombton . Kent Essex Algoma Area in gquaro miles. . 393 . . 266 . 40 . 386 . 174 . 370 . . 230 . 296 . 364 . 370 373 680 464 800 695 363 296 270 170 273 280 380 375 370 416 440 400 446 344 630 412 410 610 690 1,000 610 830 667 730 44,700 Public iNSTBUcnoN in the Pbovinob of Ontawo, 1887. Attendanoe. Elementary Schools . . . 6,396 (224 Catholic) 472,458 Higher 42 l^ Total 42 6,437 487,771 Roman Catholic Sepab-vte Schools, Ontaeio, 1886. Fopnl^tlon, 1H81. 16,770 26,162 3,446 . 17,146 , 22,966 . 18,620 . 14,995 . 10,000 . 21,920 . 26,400 . 22,266 . 25,870 . 21,130 . 29,668 . 23,334 , 16,374 . 17,220 . 21,975 . 11,894 . 21,754 . 20,986 . 28,150 . 14,214 . 24,732 . 25,360 . 3u,600 . 21,600 . 21,240 . 20,780 . 23,210 . 23,390 . 26,474 . 27,100 . 39,800 . 24,970 . 27,105 . 42,616 . 3(?,626 . 46,960 . 20,320 BchooU open. 224 Bohoola open. 6,437 Pupils. 29,199 Pupils. 487,496 UnTg. 14,800 Oirls. 15,939 Public Schools of Ontaeio, 1886. Boys. Qh's. 267,030 230,460 Avemge Attendance. I6,0U0 Average AttendxDce. 240,000 m i 'i j ' ' ' 1 ;. Popnl^tlon, 1H81. 16,770 26,15-2 3,445 . 17,145 , 22,965 . 18,620 . 14,995 . 10,000 . 21,920 . 25,400 . 22,206 . 25,870 . 21,130 . 29,668 . 23,334 . 16,374 . 17,220 . 21,975 . 11,894 .: 21,754 . 20,986 . 28,150 . 14,214 . 24,732 . 25,360 . 3u,600 . 21,600 . 21,240 . 20,780 . 23,210 . 23,390 . 26,474 . 27,100 . 39,800 . 24,970 . 27,105 . 42,616 . 3(?,626 . 46,960 . 20,320 Avemge Utendnnce. 16,0U0 Average Attendxnce. 240,000 Pchoola open. 109 APPENDIX I. Hion Schools of Ontamo, 1886. P"pil«. Boy.. Gl-Ii. lo,Ui . . 7,907 . . 7.437 400 Shipping of Port Arthur with the United States (1888) : 804 vosnels, of 538,174 tons. Canadian traffic on the Saiilt Cinal (1888) : 526 vessels, of 303,384 tons. Avemire Atteiiiliince. 8,800 Capital invented. £905,000 HAMILTON— TRADE RETURNS, 1881. Hands employed. 0,500 Yearly wngei, £460,000 Total value of prndnoti, £1,042,000 Growth of the Population 1813 1834 1850 1881 1889 TORONTO. Imports and Exports (1888) : £4,900,000. Shipping with the United Statoa (18881 With other ports in Canada , , Totals 900 9,254 25,000 86,415 178,000 (with suburbs) 4,793 Tom. 277,441 720,525 997,966 ^ _ , , OTTAWA Lnmher sawn (1888) : 3,102,789 logs. Total value of the planks, boards, &c. : £440,000. Shipping (1888) : 4,018 vessels of 793,536 tons. Water supply : 400 gaUons daily per head of the population. MONTREAL. Gbowth of the Population hncb its Foundation :— . 1872 . . 1,509 1831 1722 . .^ 3,000 1851 ^' • 1766 . . 5,733 1881 ^ - 1806 , . 12,000 1887 1821 . . 18,767 I 1889 . Foftlation of Montbbal AoooBDiNa to Nationalities (1887) :- Prauco-Canadians /Irish . . ^ British J English t Scotch . 31,516 57,715 140,747 180,000 220,000 (with suburbs). 39,710 23,028 17,565 Total 118,819 80,293 199,112 Birth-rate of the Franco- Canadians of Montreal (1888) n „ Irish and other Catholics II >, Protestants Mortality of the Franoo-CanadiaJis of Montreal (1887) >> >> Irish . „ . . . II >, English >> >> Scotch ...... Peopoetion of Fbench to otheb Races in Montbeal-— 1851 1861 1871 1881 1887 Shipmno of Monteeal (1888) :— Sea-going vessels . Lake and river croft Per cent. per thousand. 64-68 30-48 2516 36- 14 20-89 22-40 15-72 Totals to I per uiouE • 482 lana. . 630 . 669 . 611 Vessels. Tons. 655 782,472 6,500 861,014 6,165 1,643,486 Imports (1888) £8,300,000; Exports (1888) £,'5,000,000; Total (1888) £13,300,000. 470 APPENDIX I. Growth op the Population :— QUEBEC. ';,'»„ i' !^ 1881. 1880. Quelx!0 . , 62,446 76,000 LuviM, St. JuHuph, Lauz an, &o. 12,878 15,000 90,000 Totals 76,324 Shipping of Quebec (1870) . 711,386 tons. ,f ' »» (1885) . 662,064 „ CRIMINAL STATISTICS FOR 1886 .^ Oaol or ProTlnce, PenitentUrjr. flned. Heformatorjr. Dealt 1. Sundiiei. Total. Ontario . . 227 18,339 79 2 627 19,174 Quebec ... 135 7,190 72 — 467 7,864 Nova Scotia 24 1,402 2 — 114 1,642 New BninHwick 22 2,143 — — 11 2,178 Manitoba . 16 1,330 — — 66 1,411 Britiiih Columbia 32 935 — 4 28 999 Prince Edward Island — 654—1 3 668 The Territories . 10 40—7 3 eo RELIGIONS OF PERSONS CONVICTED. B. Catholios. Aniclioans. Methodis'B. Preibyrerlans. " Protenlanta." Bp'ist*. 1,650 655 347 281 250 88 BIRTH-PLACES OF PERSONS CONVICTED. Eofflaad. Ireland. Scotl'tnd. Canada. U. State*. SandriM. 335 299 96 2,294 232 254 OCCUPATIONS OF PERSONS CONVICTED. Affrionl'TU^. Commeroial. Domeatio. Indnstrinl. FrofeMionol. Labonren. 158 283 195 642 41 1,550 TOWNS OF THE LAURENTIAN BASIN WITH OVER FIVE THOUSAND mHABITANlW t Ontabio. Eet. Pop., Est. Pop. Pop., 1881. 1890. Pop., 1881. 1890. Toronto . . 86,415 180,000 Chatham . 7,873 9,000 Hamilton . . 35,961 46,800 Brockville. 7,609 10,000 Ottawa 27,412 44,000 Peterborough 6,812 9,000 Ottawa with Hull 34,302 67,000 Windsor . 6,561 8,000 London . . 19,746 27,000 Port Hope 6,685 9,000 Kingston . . 14,091 18,000 Woodstock 6,373 8,000 Guelph . . 9,890 11,000 Gait . 6,187 7,000 St. Catherine's . 9,631 12,000 Lindsay . 6,080 7,000 ' Brentford . . 9,616 14,000 Owen Sound 4,406 7,000 Belleville . . 9,616 12,000 Port Arthur 4,000 8,000 St. Thomas . 8,367 11,000 CoUingwood 4,445 6,000 Strafford . 8,239 11,000 Qtti Est. Pop., SBEO. ' *■" ' ' -' ■' ' .--. '.. _ ■: "- - - £at. Pop., Pop., 1881. J890. Pop., 1881. 1600. Montreal . . . 140,477 . 226,000 Hull 0,890 , '" ■* 13,600 Quebec . . 62,446 . 66,000 Sorel 6,791 . . 8,300 „ with Levis 75,264 , 90,000 St. Hyacinth 6,321 7,800 Three Rivers . 8,670 10,600 St. John . 3,861 6,200 Sherbrooke . 7,227 9,600 STRENGTH OF 1 CHE ACTIVE ; MILITLA OF Ci ^ADA, 1888. <■' '■' ".. \ Provinoe. ' ^ Dtatriot. Cavalry. ArtlUery. Infantry. Total. l^ 187 240 4,140 4,667 Ontario 2 418 3i'7 6,771 6,496 • • }» m 2o« It 160 2,973 3,607 u 2,176 2,418 irtMUpfM^MM APPENDIX I. 471 MiUTiA OF CANASiL (eotttinued)- tal. 174 ,854 ,642 ,17» ,411 099 658 60 sU. ies. ren. 1 1 [HABITANTS. 1 E«t. Fop. 1 1890. ■ 9,000 1 10,000 9,000 : i : 8,000 , 9,000 , t 8,000 7,000 . 7,000 • . 7,000 • 'i . 8,000 f-. • ■! . 6,000 ■ "i:.-v Eat. Pop., 1880. . 13,600 . 8,300 . 7,800 . 6,200 Diitriet. Cikvalry. AtUllery. Infantry. Totdl. (S 417 5o2 4,070 5,118 Quebec ! — — 2,430 2,430 I7 96 350 3,606 4,052 Now BruHHwick ... — 324 420 1,672 2.4<11 NovB 8ootitt .... — 46 610 2,952 3,040 Manitoba — 45 80 688 HI3 British Columbia ... — — 180 90 270 Prince Edwurd Island . • — — 275 342 617 B. Military College and Schools — ii - 439 697 1,0-9 Totals 1,987 3,208 31,500 37,474 1888. Total. 4,567 6,496 3,507 2,418 Salaries, distiict staff . Brigmlo- majors . . . , Royal Military College, Kingston Ainmunition,olothing,and military stores Public armouries . Drill pay and camp purposes Drill instruction . Dominion Rifle Association . Drill sheds and rifle ranges MILITARY EXPENDITURE, Construction and repairs . . £17,000 Barracks in British Columbia , . 1,800 Care of military properties . . . 2,600 Orant to Dominion Artillery Assoelution 400 Batteries, cavalry and infantry schooU . 8U,300 Contingencies 9,300 North- West service . . 8,100 £4,200 2,400 11,100 38,000 10,600 66,300 T,400 2,000 2,800 Total STATISTICS OF THE INDIAN RESERVES IN THE DOMINION. 16S4. 1885. Number of Indians on the reserves . . . 88,897 86,329 Extent of land under culti- vation, acres . . 80,725 85,911 Newland mode each year, acres 3,861 3,242 Dwellings . . . 10,712 11,609 Bams, stables, outhouses, &o. 3,563 3,992 Ploughs, harrows, waggons 6,749 6,307 Other agricultural implements 20,000 18,000 Horses .... 7,300 19,600 Homed cattle . Sheep Pigs . . . Hay crop, tons Orain crops, bushels Potato crop „ Fish caught, value Furs „ Other industries ,, TOTAL INDIAN POPULATION, 1888. . ProTincea. Ontario . ; ,' Quebec . . New Brunswick . Nova Scotia . Prince Edward Island Manitoba and North-West Territory Unsettled Northern Territories British Columbia . . ' . Totals . . B«ildent. 16,903 6,731 1,594 2,145 319 23,940 17,922 69,654 Nomadic. 797 6,734 10. ;28 i,, ^:51 2)6,0 ■■'i 1884. ' 6,700 1,800 7,300 18,550 212,000 240,000 £199,000 £66,000 £65,000 Total. 17,700 12,465 1,694 2,145 319 34,368 18,064 37,944 £260,200 1885. 7,000 2,000 8,5(10 18,600 320,000 280,000 £140,000 £142,000 £36,000 55,035 124,589 THE MARITIME PEOVINCES. (NEW BKUNSWICK, NOVA SCOTIA, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.) ProvlnoM. New Brunswick Nova Scotia Prince Edward Island AREAS AND POPULATIONS. Area in ' square mflea. Totals 27,174 20,207 2,133 49,614 Fopulition, 18dl. 321,233 440,572 108,891 870,696 •m^wm^f "T^ 479 ArrENDix I. Growth of thk PoputATioH fbom 1871 to 1881 : — Total population (1871): 770,415; (IHHl) : 870,606; Inoroww, 13-20 per cent. Feisncu Ei.kmknt(1881): 108,006; (1890): 130,000 (?) Dritihii Elkhknt (18H1) :— Ndw Bninnwiok Nova Sdotia Priiioo FMwanl iHland TotwlH Engliih 83,508 113,520 21,404 218,522 Poo'ch. 40,858 130,741 48,933 220,532 IrUh. 100,015 62,851 26,413 188,870 CoLOUBKD Element (1881): 0,212; (1800): 7,000 (P) Total. 321,233 440,572 108,801 870,606 BohonU open. 2,123 NOVA SCOTIA EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS FOR 1887. PUBUO SOKOOLS. PnpiU. Boyi (Hrl». 86,731 . . 43,346 . . 43,386 COUNTT AOADElUEa. Pupil'. 1,4U4 MrIm. 723 FeinnlM. 6J1 Arengt Attandance. 62,000 Average AttendmiM. 764 Schools oppD. 1,522 Pnpils. 697 NEW BRUNSWICK EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS FOR 1887. PuBUa SVHOOLB. PnpUa. 60,7.8 Graioiab Schools. Bojm. 32,180 Average Attendance. 480 Fopili. 366 qirU. 27,307 NoBKAL Schools. Malei. 70 Av«ra8« Attendance. 34,000 Females. 206 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS FOR PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, 1887. Average SohooU. Pnpils. Boys. Gii-U Attendance. Queen's: 174 . 0,722 . . 6,385 . . 4,337 . . 6,160 Prince: 142 . 7,220 . . 4,035 . . 3,186 . . 8,060 King's: 121 . . 5,618 . . 3,026 . . 2,402 . . 3,000 Total 437 22,460 12,446 10,014 12,100 1824 1834 1840 1851 GROWTH OF POPULATION, NEW BRUNSWICK. 74,000 110,000 156,000 104,000 18^1 1871 1881 262,000 286,000 321,01/0 AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS OF NEW BRUNSWICK. County. Albert . St. John Charlotte King's . Queen's Sunbury York . Carleton Hay, tons Oats, bushels Acres. 435,000 386,400 822,500 877,200 024,700 666,000 2,278,000 788,200 Acre* oleared, 18S1. 32,210 46,666 120,923 63,710 16,587 60,017 56,537 Acres cleared, 1481. 61,798 26,168 07,953 189,531 100,319 36,902 132,753 160,771 County. Victoria and Madawaska Westmoreland Kent . Northumberland Gloucester Restigouohe . Acre*. 2,134,700 887,300 1,149,000 2,766,000 1,105,000 2,072,710 Acree oleai-ed, lt»l. 26,834 02,822 35,496 30,221 10,812 8,896 Acres oleattendiiDoe. 5,151) 3,950 3,000 12,100 252,000 285,000 321,000 «» AOTCB «<1, olea-ert. 1. 1801. )34 79,175 »22 171,090 196 83,642 m 63,416 B12 43,639 B95 21,813 720 1,263,299 18B1. 621,956 k 6,961,016 • AiTENDIX I. 47t GROWTH OF POPULATION IN NOVA SCOTIA. Vmr. YMr. ltiH7 Return madn by M. Mrule . 900 1807 C«nHU» of Nova 8uutiii (EiiKl ) 65,000 1703 CciiMUH of Aoaditt (F'ri'iioh) . 1,300 1817 I, ft 8(1,610 1707 M tl 1,4H4 1827 ,, It 121, 130 1737 », t, . 7,698 IH.'IH ,, »t 202,575 1749 ,f 11 12,500 18.)1 Olfloial Cfnuus 276,854 1755 ,, ,» 9,'215 IHrtl • I t, • 330, H57 1764 CenNUM of Nova Sootia (Engl.) i;i,ooo 1871 t, ,, • 387,800 1772 ,> If 19,000 1881 t, ,, • 440,570 1790 », »» 30,000 1890 Estimated . 620,000 (P) Shipfimo of Halifax (1887): — Entered . , 4,163 vcNuel* of S43, 125 tons. Cleared . • 4,2H4 „ „ 871,987 „ Total 8,437 veiwelHof 1,715,112 tonii. TOTTNAOE OF THE CHIEF SEAPORTS OF NOVA SCOTIA AND CAPE BRETON (1888^. Halifax Sydney and North Sydney Piotou .... Yarmouth Lunenburg . Ariohat .... Digby .... 1,71.5,112 1,095,218 617,979 300,068 261,3.52 254,044 225,204 Port HawkeHbury Parrtiborough WindHor Amherst Baddeck Annapolis Shelbume 217,4.15 189,098 146,b28 124,269 120,526 116,738 107,364 Output of coal in Nova Sootia from 1870 to 1875 : 19,153,000 tons. „ „ in 1886: 1,682,924 tons. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND - GROWTH OF AGRICULTURE. Year 187J. Year 1881. Tear 1871. Year 1881. "Wheat . bushels 269,000 647,000 Butter . . lbs. 982,000 1,689,000 Oats It 3,120,000 3,538,000 Cheese . . „ 156,000 196,000 Barley ti 176,000 119,000 Maple sugar . „ — 25,000 Buckwheat >, 76,000 90,000 Wool . . „ — 662,000 Potatoes . ,, 3,376,000 3,042,000 Apples, grapes, &o. bushels — 86,000 Hay tons 68,000 144,000 y:'. ;■;, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND -FISHING RETURNS, 1886. Value. Value. Cod. owts. 12,850 £10,000 Halibut . lbs. 9,680 £116 Cod, boneless . lbs. 36,790 4,300 Trout . . „ 76,000 900 Herring . barrels 43,200 26,000 Smelts . » , „ 74,100 880 Mackerel . ,, 27,500 55,000 Eols . . „ 160,650 1,800 Mackerel, preserved cans 679,580 13,000 Oysters . . barrels 33,000 19,800 Haddock lbs. 71,5.50 800 Lobsters, canned lbs. 3,617,000 87,000 Hake . cwts. 9,53J 6,700 Salmon, fresh lbs. 2,440 . 73 Total value, including sundries £228,000 Alfiwives barrels 700 420 SHIPPING OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, 1888 Cbarlotte-town : Deep sea vessels . „ Coasting „ . . Total vessels Summerside : 1,426 vessels, of 639,160 tons. 1,189 of 166,035 tons. 6,020 „ 811,665 „ 7,209 of 976,690 tons. CHIEF TOWNS OF THE MARITIME PROVINCES. New Bbunswicx. Saint John and Portland (1889) . Monokton (1889) population. 60,000 9,000 Fredericton (1886) Chatham (1886) . Population. 6,218 6,000 474 ArrKNDix I. Hallf»« (1W««> .... Hyilney and North Sydney (188H) Yunnouth (IHB6) Nova Sootu rnpiil'illiin. :iU,u()o u.ooo 8,uuo Clmrlotto-town (1886) ropiiUIInn, Tmni (IHBfl) •'.""'» I'll toil (1888) 6-""" VVindHor *.'>'"* PBiNne Rdwaed Ihlamd. Popnlalinn. Vi.iOO LAIJRADOK. Area; 480,000 nqusre mlleii; Population (1881) : 4.200. POPULATION OF THE SIX MORAVIAN STATIONS. Hebron Hoffonthal . Nain . Okak . 214 '283 270 349 llama . /oar 28 128 Total 1,272 (Bohm and Wagner). Annual Yield of thi Labbadoh Fi»hbbie8:-£U00,000. NEWFOUNDLAND. AREA AND POPULATION. Area In square miles : 40,200 ; Population (1881) : 197,335. Obowth of tmk Poptjlation: — 1874. 161,499 Population acxwbdino to CBKKDfl: — Anglicans and Wosleyans . Roman Catholics Sundries . . . • 1884. 107,336 Total 188D. 205,000 120,411 74,661 2,290 197,362 Adult Population clabbed aocobdino to Pumuitb :~ Fishcrs SO-S"" 1 ^'"«" Meohanics 3-028 I Farmers Annual yield of the cod-ftsheries : 185,000 tons, or about 150,000,000 cod ; value, £3,000,000. Seals captured in the Newfoundland waters (1831) : 680,836. .. (1882) : 200,600. . l 3,600 1,036 SiiiPPiNO OF THE Newfoundland Poets (1886) : — Vaneli. Entered 1>286 Cleared 1'013 Total Exports Imports 2,298 1688. £1,470,000 1,900,000 1885. £950,000 1,800,000 Tons. 149,338 128,088 277,420 1887. £1,080,000 1,035,000 Cod and other fish Cod and seal oU .... 91,000 Total Exports to Great Britain (1887) • ,, Imports from ,, »> >i CHIEF EXPORTS, 1887. £840,000 I Sealskins Copper ore £46,000 34,000 £216,000 . 318,000 Al'l'KNDIX I. 470 PopiiUttna. 0,1101) 0,(M)O 4,000 id Wagner). 3,600 l.OSo 100,000. £46,000 34,000 216,000 318,000 REVFNTTK nKTlTKNS, iw«. Innoine . Kx|Hmilitum Piiblio l)«bt (IHHO): £734,00. Lttiiil iind.ir imttivatiun (l8dU| 4B,0U0 •oroa, chluHjr poUtu- '• '; ' .' " 1634. — July 14. Jacques Cartier lands at Gaspe, and explores the Bay of Chaleurs, so named by him from the oppressive heat prevailing at the time. 1635.— July. C.artier's second voyage. — August 10. Cartier anchors in a small inlet at the mouth of the St. John rirer on the feast of St. Lawrence, hence the name of St. Lawrence, which was after- wards extended to the whole gulf, and to the estuary and river as far as Lake Ontario. — September 7. Reaches the Isle of Bacchus (Orleans) and the present site of Quebec. — October 2. Arrives at the Iroquois village of Hochelaga on an eminence which he names Mont-Boyal (Montreal). 1640. — Cartier returns with the Sieur de Boberval, appointed Lieutenant-General and Viceroy of New France. 1642-3. — De Boberval and his followers winter.** Cape Bouge. 1644. — De Boberval recalled and the colony dispersed. 1698. — The Marquis de la Boohe lands forty convicts on Sable Island, where they are abandoned to their fate for five years. 1603. — The twelve survivors of the Sable Island settlers are rescued. ,, Samuel de Champlain's first visit to Canada. 1606. — Fort Royal (afterwards Annapoli.s) founded in Acadie (Nova Scotia) by the Baron de Foutrincourt. 1608. — Champlain's second voyage ; first permanent settlement of Canada ; foundation of Quebec, so named from an Algonquin word meaning "village." 1608-9. — Champlain winters at Quebec with twenty-eight colonists. reton. {oundlaud. named by him the mouth of the which was after- Lake Ontario. — 3bec.— October 2. mea Mont-Royal . Viceroy of New btmdoned to their a de Poutrincourt. ion of Quebec, so APPENDIX II. 477 1611. — Establishment of a trading station at or near the site of Hochelaga, which had meantimo been destroyed by the Algonquins after defeating' and drivin^j^ out the Iroquois, original masters of that part of the St. Lawrence valley. 1613. — Foundation of St. John's, present capital of Newfoundland. 1616. — Champlain ascends the Ottawa J^iver, crosses Luke Nipissing and descends the French River to Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, returning to the St. Lawrence by Lake Ontario. 1620. — Permanent French population of Quebec, sixty persons. 1629. — July. Quebec captured by the English ander Sir David Kirk, who wintered here. 1632. — Quebec restored to France by the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye. 1635. — Death of Champlain at Quebec on Christmas Day. 1642. — Ville Mario on Mont-Royal (now Montreal) founded May 18. 1642-1667. — A ohro. "o state of warfare, accompanied by great cruelties, between the French and their Algonquin allies on the one hand, and the Iroquois Indians on the other. 1667.— Populatioii of " New France" (Canada), 3,918. 1672. — The Count de Frontenao appointed Governor of the Colony ; population, 6,706. 1689. — ^August. Capture of Lachiue by the Iroquois and maseaore of the defenders, followed by the surrender of the Fort at Montreal which they held till October. 1692.— Population of New France, 12,431 . 1698. — Death of Frontenao ; population, 13, ;}.)o. 1701. — ^August 4. Treaty of peace with the Iroquois ratified at Montreal. 1713. — ^Treaty of Utrecht, by which France surrenders to the English the Hudson Bay territory, Acadia (thereafter named Nova Sootia), and Newfoundland. 1720. — ^Population of New France, 24, 134, and of St. John Island (Prince Edward Island), about 100. 1739. — Populationof New France, 42,701. 1746. — ^Louisbourg, the stronghold of Cape Breton and key to the St. Lawrence basin, captured by the English. 1748. — ^Peaoe of Aix-la-Chapelle, by which Louisbourg is restored to France in exchange for Madras in the East Indies. 1749. — Lord Halifax founds the city of Halifax. A party of 2,544 British emigrants brought out by the Hon. Edward Comwallis, first English Governor of Nova Sootia. 1752. — ^The Halifax Gazette, the first paper published in Canada, issued on March 23. 1756. — The Aoadians, original French settlers of Nova Scotia, accused of treason and expelled. They nimibered at that time about 6,000. 1768.-7July 26. Louisbourg again captured by the English, and henceforth held by them. 1769. — July 26. Capture of Fort Niagara by the English under General Prideaux, who was killed during the storming of the citadel. — June 25. Commencement of the British operations against Quebeo, at first unsuccessful — September 12. Battle of the Plains of Abraham and defeat of the French by General Wolfe, who is killed in the engagement. English loss, 700, French, 1,500. — September 13. Death of General Montcalm, Commander of the F«snch forces, who had been wounded in the battle of the Plains of Abraham. — September 18. Capitulation of Quebec to the British G^eral Townshend. By this event the struggle for the possession of the North American continent between the two rival nations was finaUy decided in favour of the English. The subsequent events of the war were foreseen as inevitable. 1760. — ^April. Quebec attacked by the French General de Levis ; siege raised by the arrival of a British fleet. — September 8. Capitulation of Montreal, and completion of the British conquest of Canada, though a few Canadians still held out at the Sault Ste. Marie, between Lakes Superior and Huron. Population of Canada at the time, 70,000. 1762. — British population of Nova Scotia, 8,104. 1763. — ^February 10. Treaty of Paris ratified, by which France cedes and guarantees to the King of England in full right " Canada with aU its dependencies." No further attempt was ever made by France after this date to recover any of her North American possessions. General Murray first British Grovemor-General of the Province of Quebeo. 1764. — June 21. Fi -st issue of the Quebeo Gazette, which is usually regarded as the first periodical ever published in any part of the Briii^ American possessions north of New England. But it was certainly p -ec^ded by the Halifax Gazette (1762), which, however, only lasted about two years. i: >■ l- ■-: ;'W\-rf -■" ■■■■■ ' ? «: 478 APPENDIX II. -y <\ I fc ft 1:^ 1764.— The Pontiao Conspiracy. Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawa tribe, and a person of considerable ability, organised a Hoheme for a simultaneous rising among the Canadian Indian tribes and a general massacre of the English. The conspiracy was completely successful in several places, where not a single white escaped ; but the timely arrival of feinforoemonts prevented the revolt from spreading, and it was eventually suppressed. Since that time the Indians of pure blood have mostly been peaceful, giving very little trouble to the authorities. 1766. — General Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester, succeeds General Murray as Governor- General. 1770. — St. John's Island (Prince Edward Island) constituted a separate Province with Walter Paterson as its first Governor. The first meeting of the House of Assembly occurred in July, 1773. 1 774.— Passing of the ' ' Quebec Act, " which was the Magna Ckarta of the French Canadians, giving them the free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion over half a century before the x>as8ing of the Emancipation Act (1829) in Great Britain. It also secured to them the enjoyment of their civil rights, and the protection of their own civil laws and customs. By the same measure large territories were annexed to the Province of Quebec, whereby these privileges were ex- tended over a very wide area, anticipating, as it were, the expansion of the French-Canadian race. Lastly, it provided for the appointment by the Crown of a Leg^lative Council, and for the administration of the criminal law as in force in England. In a word, civil law aooord- ing to the old French regime, criminal according to the common law of England. 1775. — Outbreak of the American Revolution, inunediately followed by the invasion of Canada by the American " rebels." At first they carried everything befoi« them, and captured all places of importance. But the invasion was wrecked under the walls of Quebec, where General Montgomery's forces were routed and himself killed on the last day of the year. 1776. — Reinforcements arriving from England, the Americans were finally driven across the frontier, and the British supremacy never again seriously menaced. ■ ,' ^^ • '.; ,^ - "V , 1778. — First issue of the Montreal Gazette, still in existence; one of the oldest papers in the world. 1783. — Ratification of the Treaty of Paris (September 3). luid definition of the boundary line between Canada and the United States ; the Great Lakes, the River St. Lawrence, the 46th parallel of north latitude, the highlands dividing the waters flowing to the AUantio from those draining to the St. Lawrence and the St. Croix rivers This treaty subsequently gave rise to much discussion, owing partly to the prevailing ignorance reg^arding the region of the water«parting between the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic, and partly to the uncertainty as to the River St. Clair, which the Americans claimed to be the St. John. In 1798 the Comnrission appointed to decide the matter reported that the source of the northern branch of the Scoodic was the source of the St. Croix designated in the treaty. The frontier claimed by the Americans not only included a disputed tract of 10,000 square miles but would also entirely out off the communications between Lower Canada and New Brunswick. From the source of the Scoodic they drew the line northwards to a ridge witliin 30 miles of the St. Lawrence, which they held to be the highlands specified in the 1783 treaty. But the British maintained that the north-west comer of Nova Scotia was at Mars Hill, about 40 miles from the source of the Scoodic, and that the north frontier of Maine should pass thenoe westwards over a range of hills about the sources of the Penobscot, Kennebec and Androscoggin rivers. In 1827 the question was by mutual agreement referred to the arbitration of the King of the Netherlands, whose decision (January 10, 1831) awarded most of the disputed territory to the States, but left direct communication between Canada and New Brunswick. The British Government acquiesced in this decision, but the States rejected it on the g^und that the umpire had exceeded his powers. The frontier question thus remained open till the year 1842, when it was finally settled by the Ashburton treaty. 17^4. — Population of Canada, 113,000, exclusive of the " Loyalist " immigrants to Upper Canada from the States. British population of Nova Scotia, 32,000, besides 11,000 Acadians. New Brunswick detached from Nova Sootia and erected into a separate Province with population, 11,600. Now began the immigration into Canada and Nova Sootia of the so^oaUed " United ' Empire Loyalists," that is to say, those Englitsh settlers in the United States who had never joined the revolt and had remained faithful to the Grown of England. The stream of immigration continued for several years, but no accurate returns were ever made of their APPENDIX n. 479 le ability, a genera] seB, where jvolt from )lood have general. : Fateraon , 1773. ving them ung of the nt of their le measure ) were ex- fOanadian al, and for iw accord- '„ ladaby the 11 places of re Oeneral x>ntier, and )era in the ne between 3. parallel of >8e draining ise to much fiter-parting he Hiver St. (1 appointed odic was the nericans not ' cat off the Miroe of the . Lawrence, 1 maintained m the source raids over a 1 rivers. In King of the rritory to the The British lund that the ho year 1812, Canada from idians. New h population, lied " United ho had never be strvam of made of their numbers, which, however, are believed not to have fallen short of 40,000. The LoyaIi»t8 were well received and highly favoured by the British Government, receiving large grants of land in various parts of the country. In this way extensive tracts on the banks of the St. Lawrence and round about Lake Ontario were first settled by some 10,000 Americans on lands allotted to them by the Canadian Gk)vemment. 1785. — Re-establishment of the right of Habeas Corput throughout British territory. 1791. — Division of the P.-c-Tnce of Quebec into two Provinces, that is, Upper and Lower Canada, corres- ponding to the present Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Each Province was to be administered separately by a Lieutenant- Ghivemor and a Legislature comprising a House of Assembly and a Legislative Council. The members of the Council were to be appointed by the Lieutenapt- Governor for life, while those of the Assembly were to be elected by the people for four years. Population of the two Provinces, 101,300 altogether. 1792. — September 17. First meeting of the Parliament of Upper Canada at Newark (Niagara) under Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe, the House of Assembly consisting at that time of sixteen members. — December 17. Meeting of the Parliament of Lower Canada at Quebec under General Clarke, the House of Assembly consisting of fifty members. 1793. — Abolition of slavery in Upper Canada. 1796. — rhe seat of government of Upper Canada removed from Newark to York (" Little York," now Toronto). 1798. — The najae of St. John's Island changed to that of Prince Edward Island, in honour of the Duke of Kent, the change taking effect in the year 1800. Population of the Island, 4,500. 1806. — November. Issue of le Canadien, first newspaper printed entirely in the French language. Population of Upper Canada, 70,700, and of Lower Canada, 250,000. 1812. — ^Declaration of war between Great Britain and the United States. — Aug^t 11. Detroit surrendered by the Americans undtr General Hull to tho British under General Brock. — October 13. Battle of Queenstown Heights, below Niagara Falls, and ultimate defeat of the Americans under Colonel Van Rensselaer. Det^th of General Brock, shot while rallying the British. — November. Battle of Laoolle River ; the American General Deerbom defeated by Colonel de Salabeny. 18L3. — April 25. Capture of York (Toronto) by the Americans. — June 5. Rout of the Americans at the Battle of Stony Greek on Lake Ontario, six miles south-east of Hamilton. — September. Battle of Moraviantown. Retreat of the British forces and death of the Indian Chief Tecumseth. — Battle of Chateang^y ; three thousand Americans under G^erol Hampton out-manoeuvred and defeated by Colonel de Solabetry and four hundred IVench Canadians. — September 25. Battle of Chrysler's Farm ; defeat and. complete overthrow of the Americans under General Wilkinson by the Canadian Militia under Colonel Morrison. — Battle of Limdy's Lane near Drummondville. 1814. — Ontario hotly contested, both sides claiming the advantage. — December 24, This useless blood- shed stopped by the termination of the war and the Treaty of Ghent. Since then Canada has been at peace with all her neighbours, and subject only to some intemal'troubles. 1818. — October 20. Convention of London regulating the rights of Americans in the British North American waters. 1821. — Commencement of the Lachine Canal to turn the rapids near Montreal and make the St. Lawrence navigable for sea-going vessels from the estuary to Montreal. 1831.— Population of Upper Canada, 236,700 ; of Lower Canada, 553,000. 1836. — Opening of the first railway in Canada, running from Laprairie on the St. Lawrence seven miles, south of Montreal to St. John's. This line was afterwards discontinued. 1837-38. — Outbreak of rebellion in both provinces ; suppressed in Upper Canada by the local Militia, in Lower Canada by British troops. 1840. — Death of Lord Durham, who was mainly instrumental in preparing the way for the subsequent union of the provinces in a common confederacy. 1841. — Union of Upper and Lower Canada under the name of the Province of Canada, and establishment of responsible government. The Legislature was to consist of a Legislative Council and a Legislative Assembly, each province to be represented by sixty-two members, of whom forty-two were to be elected by the people and twenty nominated by the Crown. Population i. i ^.. V s 480 APPENDIX II. of Upper Canada, 435,680. — June 13. Opening of the first united Parliament at Kingston b^ Lord Sydenham. 1842. — The Aahburton Treaty, by which the bonndary line was settled between Canada and the United States. 1844.— Population of Ijower Canada, 697,000. 1846. — Disastrous conflagrations in the city of Quebec ; about 2,500 people rendered homeless. 1848. — The St. Lawrence canals opened for navigation. 1849. — Riots in Toronto and Montreal on the question of the Bebellion Losses Bill; burning of the Parliament Library at Montreal. , ,. ..<>,; v . . 1850. — The first sod of the Northern Railway turned by Lady Elgin. 1851. — Control of the Postal Administration transferred from the British to the Provincial Governments, and adoption of a uniform rate of postage, viz., 3d. per half ounce, afterwards reduced to 2Jd. The Census taken this year returned population of Upper Canada, 952,000 ; of Lower Canada, 890,260 ; of New Brunswick, 193,800 ; of Nova Sootia, 276,850. 1852. — Commencement of the Grand Trunk Railway, 905 miles long, completed in six years at a total cost of £17,000,000. This great artery, the "backbone of Canada," and the great inter- national route between the eastern and western states of the Union, now represents with the affiliated lines an aggregate of over 4,200 miles, with an invested capital of nearly £57,000,000 and about 20,000 employ6s. I8£3. — The number of members of the Legislative Assembly increased from 84 to 130, being 65 for each province. 1854. — Main line of the Great Western Railway opened for traffic, 363 miles long, cost £5,000,000. Abolition of seignorial tenure in Lower Canada, and settlement of the Clergy Reserve question. — June 6. Reciprocity Treaty with the United States, signed at Washington, making provision for mutual rights of fishing in certain Canadian and American waters ; for the free interchange of the products cf the sea, the soil, the forest, and the mine. It allowed the Americans the use of tlie St. Lawrence river and Canadian canals on the same terms as British subjects, and gave to Canadians the right to navigate Lake Michigan. This treaty was to last ten years. ' v 1856. — ^The Legislative Council made an elective chamber. 1858. — Adoption of the decimal system of currency with the dollar as unit. The city of Ottawa selected by the Queen as the capital of the Dominion and permanent seat of government. 1860. — The Prince of Wales visits Canada and the States, and everywhere receives an enthnsiastio welcome. On August 25 he opens the Victoria tubular bridge which crosses the St. Lawrence ' just above Montreal on the line of the Orand Trunk Railway. This is the largest iron tubular bridge in the world, is 60 feet high in the centre and with the approaches nearly two miles in length. — September 1. Laying of the comer stone of the Parliament Buildings at Ottawa by the Prince of Wales. These buildingps, tog^ether with departmental buildings, were erected at a total cost of £922,000 up to June, 1888. Population of Upper Canada, 1,396,000 ; of Lower Canada, 1,111,500 ; of New Brunswick, 252,000 ; of Nova Scotia, 331,000 ; of Prince Edward Island, 81,000 ; of Vancouver's Island, 3,000, exclusive of Indiana, 'Maioh 17. Termination of the Redprooity Treaty in consequence of notice given by the United States. — June 1. Invasion of Canada by the Irish- American Fenians; Battle of Ridgeway and retreat of the Volunteers.— June 3. Withdrawal of the Fenians into the United ' " ' States. — June 8. First meeting of Parliament in the new buildings at Ottawa. At this session the first resolutions necessary to effect the confederation of the Provinces were passed. 1867. — ^Febmary 10. The British North American Act passed by the Imperial Legislature. — July 1. Union of the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick under the name of the -''? "^ '- -' ^ Dominion of Canada. The Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada now took the names of Ontario and Quebec respectively. Lord Monok first Governor-General of the Dominion. > - — November 6. First meeting of the Dominion Parliament, Sir John A. Maedonald being Premier^ 1868.— April 7. Murder of the Hon. T. D'Arcy HcOee at Ottawa.— July 31. The Rupert's Land Act passed by the Imperial Government providing for the acquisition by tiie Dominion of the 1861.- 1866.- Ingston by the United ja > i i m i !'U>im ' liWP' « t' ' 'Hif WW witx q' n>' > itiun i i"" ii; i i - Hm^ ' m -j ru - 'M •-m- II I' t ' t"^* ^>y '»' ■■ "^ i ji tiwn ' ^u i njf » " ■ ji i ; m i ny i' L ii' j.w P^[wy)(pBymiM king of the jvernments, Aoed to 2jd. trer Canada, m at a total great inter- nts with the £67,000,000 I 65 for each £5,000,000. rgy Eeaerve j^n, making ; for the free allowed the ins as British treaty was to tawa selected I enthusiastio St. Lawrence it iron tubular rly two miles igs at Ottawa I, were erected V Brunswick, luver's Island, given by the as; Battle of nto the United kwa. At this s were passed, ture.— July 1. le name of the !k the names of the Dominion, uidonald being ort's Land Act ominion of the APPENDIX II. 481 North-West Territories.— October 29. Hon. Wm. Maodougall appointed LlentenantOovemor. The Red River Rebellion of the Canadian half-breeds.-November 19. Deed of surrender rigned by the Hudson Bay Company to Her Majesty. 1870.— March 4. Thomas Scot shot at Fort Garry.— August. Arrival at Fort Garry of the expedition under Colonel (now Lord) Wolseley, when the rebels were found to have dispersed.— May 25. Fenians again cross the frontier^t Trout river in the Province of Quebec, but driven back by the Volunteers.— July 16. Annexation of the North- West Territories to the Dominion, and admission of the Province of Manitoba into the Confederation. This province was formed by detaching a portion of the newly-acquired North- West Territory. 1871.— May 8. Ratification of the Treaty of Washington.— July 20. Admission of British Columbia into the Confederation. Population of the Dominion, 3,486,760; of Manitoba, 19,000; of British Columbia, 36,240 ; of Prince Edward Island, 94,000 ; total, 3,636,000. 1872.— Abolition of dual repMsentation. 1873.— May 2. Death of ^^rge E. Cartier in London.— July 1. Admission of Prince Edward Island into the ConfeSraation. 1876.-Commenoement of the enlarged Laohine Ship Canal, of all waterways constnwJted by Canada the most important for the development oi Montreal. " This splendid work has a length of 8^ miles. From Lachine to Cdte St. Paul (6} miles long) its mean width is 160 feet ; the remain- ing distance has a mean width of 200 feet, and the greatest depth is 15 feet. The old barge canal, commenced in 1821 and completed in 1826 at a cost of £89,000, was 8i mUes long, its bottom width was 28 feet, at water surface, 48 feet. The depth of water on the sills was 4^ feet. The first ship canal, commenced in 1843 and completed in 1849, cost £4;i0, 000 ; it was 8J nuleslong, bottom width, 80 feet, at water surface, 120 feet, with 9 feet of water on sills." — (Stuart Cumberland . ) 1876.-Opening of the Intercolonial Railway from Quebec to Halifax, distance 678 miles. This line is Government property and is worked by officiaU appointed by the Government. StrategioaUy it is of vital importance to the Dominion, but as a passenger line it is too roundabout, being 80 constructed in order to take in the settlements and centres of rural population stretching along the right bank of the Lower St. Lawrence. 1877.-Jnne 20. Great fire in St. John, New Brunswick.— November 23. Award of Halifax Fisheries Commission of the sum of £1,100,000 to be paid by the United States to the Imperial Govern- ment. 1879.— Adoption of a Protective Tariff in accordance with the so-called "National Policy." 1880.— Death of theHon. George Brown.— October 21 . Contract signedforthe construction of the Canadian Pacific RaUway, subsequently ratified by 44 Vic. o. I (1881). The Dominion had ab«ady arranged to build and work a transcontinental Kne, such an undertaking being considered too gigantic for private enterprise. PteUminaiy steps were actuaUy taken in 1871 when surveying parties wei» sent to explore the almost unknown regions through which the line would have to pass. Over £700,000 were spent in this way, and between the Rocky Mountains and tiie Pa..aio Coast, where most of the engmeering difftoulties would occur, as many as eleven different routes with an aggregate lengtii of over 10,000 miles were examined before a feaable ^tem could be decided upon. "By tiie terms of tiie agreement witii tiie Canadian Government tiie 'Syndicate,' or incorporated Company, undertook to lay out, construe*, and equip in rmlning order tiie eastern and central sections of the line by May 1, 1891 ; and tiie Government agreed to complete tiie unfinished portion of the western section between Kamloope and Tale by Juno 30, 1885, and aUo between Yale and Port Moody on or before May 1. 1891, and the Lake Superior section aooording to contract. In chartering tiie Canadian Pacific RaUway Company tiie Dominion Government adopted a policy precisely similar to tiie one carried into effect by tiie United States Congress with regard to the earUer transcontinental roads, by giving botii a money and land subsidy. The subsidy in money was J25,000,000 (£6,000,000), and in land 26,000,000 acres, such knd to be chosen by tiie Company along tiie route between Winnipeg and tiie Rockies. The Company, under the terms of tiieagreement, also received autiiorisationto mortage its land grant for $25,000,000 at 6 per cent., and in addition to issue a mortgage on the line on completion at the rate of $10,000 (£2,000) per mile. The Charter also gave the Company very large additional powers, embrao- ». A.— 89 482 APPENDIX 11. I ing the right to build branvhes, open telegraph lines, and establifih steamer linM from {to torminalH. The lands required fur the road-bed of the railway, and for its stations, station grounds, workshops, dookground, water frontage, buildings, yards, &o., were also granted free. Whilst granting tlie Company the right to construct branch lines from any point within the territory of the Dominion, the Dominion Parliament agrreed that for twenty years no railway should be ooastructed south of the Canadian Pociflo Railway, except such line n^ shall run south-west or to tho westward of south-west, nor to within fifteen miles of latitude 40 degrees (United States frontier). The properties of the Company were also made freo for ever from taxation, and all material necessary for the construction and equipment of the line was to be admitted duty free ; even the lands of the Company in the North- West Territories, until either sold or occupied, were also made free from taxation for twenty years after the grant thereof from the Grown. By 1882 the Company hod issued |'20,000,000 (£4,000,000) land grant bonds, depositing the proceeds with the Government, which allowed 4 per cent, interest thereon, and paid the principal back to the Company as the railway con- struction proceeded. The remaining (5,000,000 (£1,000,000) land grant bonds were held by the Government as security that the Company would fulfil its agreements. In 1884 the Government lent the Company $22,600,000 (£4,600,000) for the purpoiie of aiding the construc- tion of the line, which was being pushed throughout with marvellous rapidity, the Company undertaking to complete the main line by May 31, 1886. The tracks were finally joined in tho £!agle Pass on November 7, 188.5, and the g^at highway, which had cost the enormous sum of (140,000,000 (£>8, 000,000), was an accomplished fact. In the spring of this year the line was being equipped, and on the evening of June 28 the first through train left Montreal, arriving at Port Moody on July 4. the journey occupying exactly 136 hours. It will thus be seen that the Syndicate, by dint of almost superhuman efl(»i;8, managed to complete this magnificent undertaking — by far the greatest feat in railway construction that the wM-ld has ever seen — in half the stipulated time, having accomplished what was generally considered at first to be not only impossible but altogether mad. By finishing the railway in 1886 the Canadian Pacific Company has given Canada five years advantage, and with the running of the first through train the benefit of the country, arising out of this new ' Queen's Highway,' commenced. It »thould be added that not only did the Syndicate complete the railway in half the time agreed upon, but it has honourably discharged all its obligations to the Dominion Government five years before the debt was due. Part of this Government indebtedness was paid in cash and part in land, the Gk>vemment having ag^reed to take back portions of the land granted in the original instance at (1.50 (Os.) per acre." — (Stuart Cumberland.) 1881. — April 4. Population of the Dominion, 4,324,810. — May 2. First sod turned by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. 1882. — June 22. Legality of the Canada Temperance Act confirmed by the Privy Council. — August 23. The new seat of Government for the North- West Territories receives the name of Regina ; it lies on a tributary of the Qu'Appelle river, and is a station on the Canadian Pacific line. 1885. — Outbreak of the rebellion in the North- West ; commencement of hostilities at Duck Lake. — April 2. Massacre at Frog Lake. — April 14. Fort Pitt abandoned. — April 24. Engagement at Fish Creek — May 12. Battle of Batoohe and defeat of the rebels. — May 26. Surrender of Poundmaker. — July 1. Termination of the fishery clauses of the Washington Treaty by the United States. — July 2. Capture of Big Bear and final suppression of the rebellion. Total loss of Militia and Volunteers : killed, 38 ; wounded, 116. The rebel loss could not be ascer- tained, but estimated at about 30 killed and 12 wounded. — ^November 7. Driving of the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway. 1886. — May 4. Opening of the Indian and Colonial Exhibition in London. — June 28. First through train from Montreal to Vanoouver, journey completed in five days and sixteen hours. 1887. — April 4. Important Conference at London between representatives of the principal colonies and the Imperial Gk>vemment on the question of Imperial Federation. At this Conference the Dominion was represented by Sir Alexander Campbell and Mr. Sanfoitl Fleming. — November 15. Meeting of the Fisheries Commission at Washing^n. 1888. — March 16. Signing of the Fishery Treaty at Washington. — August. Rejection of the Fishery Treaty by the United States Senate. ine8 from its tions, station also granted im any point twenty years t such line h'* en of latitude ,80 made free pment of the 1 North-West twenty years i $20,000,000 irhioh allowed ) railway con- were held by In 1SS4 the f the oonatruc- the Company tally joined in the enormous i this year the left Montreal, It will thus be complete this the world has ally considered ray in 1886 the the running of m's Highway,' railway in half ) the Dominion idebtednees was portions of the rland.) ly the Canadian a.— August 23. le of Begina ; it 'aoiiic line. t Buck Lake. — >4. Engagement >6. Surrender of a. Treaty by the rebellion. Total uld not be asoer- iving of the last ). First through [t hours. npal colonies and is Conference the ling. — November 1 of the Fishery ' ly gw !'''^y«»|ii|f iM»i!.i, j ..Hi» | ,»j i ;M i Wf ii i | < ji il l lw I ;. |*| . " " ' » • ;••! n APPENDIX II. 483 1890. — Canada supports the views of the Newfoundland Government in connection with the French fishery question, holding that the erection of lobster faotories by the French on the treaty / shore (the "French Shore") is incontestnbly in contravention of the treaties ; further, that the legal advisers of the Crown have declared such pretensions on the part of the French to bo utterly groundless, and that to allow such factories to remain during the season, while at ';'. the same time preventing the erection of any fresh ones by the British unless an equal numlier is permitted to the French, is a concession most prejudiciol to any future settlement, as far os the interests of the Colony are concerned ; lastly, that the inodit$ vivendi, having been arranged without the consent of the St. John's Legislative House of Assembly, is a violation of the rights granted by the British Oovemment to the people of Newfoundland in the year 1857. J APPENDIX nX THE CANADIAN NOETH-AVEST TEERIT0EIE8. (Communicated by Mr. J. G. Calmer.) Only a fow years ago that part of Canaila now called Manitoba and the North-West Territories — the latter with its divisions of Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Athabasca — was known as the Hudson Bay Territory, or Rupert's Land, and to the world, outside the officers of the Hudson Bay Company, it was little more than a geographical expresnon, so me.igre was the knowledge that existed of the fertility of its soil, and of its mineral and other diversified resources. It is true that much of the country had bean partially explored by Palliser and Hinde, and that a Select Committee of the House of Commons had been engaged in collecting evidence regarding it ; but the subject was not one that created any great enthusiasm at the time, and the question of its being opened up for settlement, and for the use of mankind, remained in abeyance until the formation of the Dominion came about in 1867, when tlie young and vigorous confederation very soon initiated the negotiations which finally led to the transfer of nearly three millions of square miles, and hundreds of millions of acres of fertile land, to the united provinces of British North America. Rate of Development of the Country. The object of this short paper will be to endeavour to show with what energy and enterprise this country has been, and is being, developed, and the advantages that are likely to follow its rapid settlement by the overcrowded populations of Etirope. To make such a territory accessible is after all the most practical way of utilising for the public good the geographical knowledge placed at our disposal by the intrepid explorers who invariably precede the march of civilisation. The knowledge that now prevails upon the subject, and the rapidity with which the population has augmented by the aid of immigration, are in themselves no mean evidences of the capacity of Western Canada to sustain a large number of inhabitants. ^ p j ' iiwt i "I II " ■i" i B ug""!'.i ' n . 1 .1 ■ i m;.".nuiiiiL i »mi' .\»ij HfL-OJ!*!" forth-West , berta, and ind to the )re than a bility of its luch of the Committee it ; but the question of n abeyance nd vigorous transfer of •tile land, to b energy and [^es that are Europe. To ising for the pid explorers noAV prevails ed by the aid istern Canada ■■ .*. ■ ■ v^- :i ■. i( r^ wqt T T '. ' \. — nr — 33 — TT^ — 7^ TT~77~~^ — >ft> T ■ -g " I T — /"- '^ ,-^>J. /, I iiifHipipi-i jptiiy wpiiitiiiap^ I ■ ^' ^ ^' AITKNDIX III, IM . . Thi Canadian pAcirir Railway. Tlie «tc>ry of tho iticuption of tliu Cuiiudiitii I'ucilic Railway, of the liitru'iihiea that wore ox|M}i'ionuv followed by a more general examination of tho land available for settlemenl, north and south of the lino, on u HyHtom laid down by legislation. The uountrt was majipud (/lit in towntthi|)8 of six miles stpiare, contain- ing thirty-six sections of 640 nc\m each, and a laij^e area has been actually ins|)ected. Copies of tho sectional and township diagrams are now dep '^ited in tho offices of tho High Commissioner for Canada in London, which show tliu general character of tho land in (piestion, and contain tho surveyors' notes of their examination. So complittc are these maps that it is a question whether such a mass of information, about so large an area of land, is accessible in so small a compass for any other country. These surveys will be contiinied from year to year, as the nocosaity for opening up more country for settlement arises. It is estimated that the Canadian Pacific Railway has cost Canada about XI 4,000,000, exclusivo of the land grant of about 18,000,000 acres. To this may bo added tho cost of the Intercolonial Railway, a {lart of the through system from tho Atlantic to the Pacific, sty nearly £7,000,000, and there has also been spent upon the development of the Nnrth-West, and upon tho land in that part of Canada, another XI, 250,000. Thero- fora the acquisition and development of tho country, for national and imperial purposes, has at a moderate computation required over £22,000,000, representing on annual outlay, for interest, of nearly a million sterling. No financial aid was given by the Imperial Government. Canada and Australia. A regular line of fast vessels will soon be steaming between British Columbia and Asia, and, it is believed, before long between British Columbia and Australia. It is also reganlod as being only a question of a few years when Canada and Australia will have direct telegraphic communication. All these thing.* are the direct outcome of the development that has been taking place in Manitoba and the North- West, and add considerably to the significance of that great woik. ^'4i Manitoba and the North- West. Manitoba and the North- West are estimated to contain an area of about 2,700,000 squaire miles. The character of the country is that of a plain, rising in three steppes of different altitudes, from the 95th degree of west longitude to the Rocky Mountains. It is well watered by large rivers, the principal streams in tho district inhabited at present being the Assiniboine, North and South Saskatchewan, Red, Bow and Polly Rivers, with their many tributaries, while lakes, large and small, are to be found scattered everywhere. In the more northern districts, there are the Peace and tho Mackenzie Rivers, both of them of great volume. A good deal of misapprehension, arising from misunderstanding, 486 APPENDIX III. Biv- ->■• exists about the climate. The winters are severe, but are not in any way injurious to health. Very much the same tales were told years ago about . the climate of Eastern Canada, that are now related about that of the West. The former is now regarded as one of the best parts of the Contineut for all general agricultural purposes, and time is daily showing up the climatic libels that have been perpetrated about the latter, and demonstrating its healthiness and suitability for all the needs of human existence. Not so much is now said against Canada as formerly, and this is largely attributed, in the Dominion, to the visit of the British Association five years ago, when the members were able to see it for themselves, and to form their own opinions as to the varied nature of its productions. The settlement of Manitoba and the North- West Territories has been much facilitated by the discovery of the immense beds of lignite, bituminous, and anthracite coal, that are now known to underlie an immense district stretching from the Pacific coast to from 150 to 200 miles east of the Rocky Mountains. Coal is being raised at Lethbridge near Fort McLeod, and at Banff in the miast of the mountains, and a good supply of tiiis article — indispensable where the winter is severe — is now assured at reasonable prices. As alreatly stated, the country is very well watered, and irrigation, which is a drawback in many parts of the world where there are any large areas of vacant land, is not necessary. Not only are there plenty of rivers and lakes, but in most parts of the country good water is found at a reasonable depth from the surface. It is not intended to assert that North- West Canada is without any disadvantages, but the worst character it can be given is that it is subject to some of the vicissitudes of temperate climates, and the best proof of its suitability is found in the increase in the settlement that has taken place. A Home for Agriculturists. As a result of the enterprise to which reference has been made, it is not surprising to learn that the population of Manitoba, the North- West Territories, and British Columbia, has, within the last twelve or fourteen years, risen from a few thousands to probably over 300,000. The new arrivals have come partly from the eastern provinces of Canada, and from the United States, but a very considerable number consists of emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, and from the Continent, several flourishing settlements of foreigners having been formed along the line of the railway. At present, the principal industry in which the people are engaged is'agriculture, the climate and soil having proved to be exceptionally favourable for both arable and pastoral farming. In this connection, a reference may be made to a recent speech of General Butler, a well-known American Senator, in which he said that Canada has twice the extent of available wheat land possessed by the United States, and that it will produce twice the number of bushels of wheat per acre, on an average, compared with the yield in the great republic. The country is, however, known to be rich in minerals of various kinds, and it also possci^ses, in parts, great wealth in timber. These resources, in the near future, are likely to receive the attention of capitalists, and to provide employment for the labourer. The effect of the development of the country has been to largely augment the trade of the Dominion, supplies having had to be brought in for the railways, and for the settlers, and as it becomes more thickly populated, the effect upon the quantity of the goods exported from Great Britain to the Dominion is sure to be considerable. Then again, the area under cultiva- tion and occupation, owing to the liberal land regulations that have been inaugurated by the Canadian Government, is increasing year by year, and there can be little doubt that '«; ■w *gi |i %w iii LW j H |i n ^jp- w-n f i y* ip i ..I w iw wf i nj i f w i MJ i m ,^ 1 1 ■ ' l'J.\"i'pj(;ypWf-nw"' . j|w. t| i i ^ i s i i^iijtiyj. jij i i i j i ty y^i^iiwigpipyiijy APPENDIX III. m iirious to [ Eastern jarded as 1 time is atter, and ice. Not 3d, in the ibers were nature of I has been nous, and 5 from the I is being itains, and w assured irrigation, 8 of vacant most parts It is not the worst temperate settlement irprising to I Columbia, lO probably of Canada, grants from :,tlements of le principal soil having g. In this well-known liable wheat sr of bushels ublic. The BO posse^^ses, ily to receive rhe effect of e Dominion, s it becomes from Great nder cultiva- lugurated by ie doubt that the surplus of its bountiful products avaUable for export, after supplying the home consumption, will rapidly increase, so that the country will soon become an important factor in the food supplies of Eastern Canada, and of Great Britain. Land, no matter how fertile it may bo, is not of much value unless it is accessible to settlers, and unless its products can be marketed with facility and cheapness. ^ Advantagbs Offered TO Settlers. :.rt Now that this condition of things may be said to exist in the country in question, it '. may not be out of place to explain briefly the renditions under which the land may be obtained. The terms are probably more liberal m Canada than in almost any other country in the world. Free grants of 160 acres may bo obtained by any settler the head of a family, or by any male over the age of eighteen years, on the sole conditions of residence for three years, the cultivation of a reasonable portion within that time, and the erection of a suitable house. A modification of these regulations is also in force under which a settler need not reside continuously upon the homestead for the first two years ; and, in these circumstances, a title may be obtained in five years. These free grant lands are equal in quality and in position to any of the other lands that will subsequently be mentioned. As already explained, the country is surveyed into townships of six miles sqjiare, each containing thirty-six sections of one niile square. The alternate sections are available for free grants. Most of the land in the other sections belongs to various railway companies, to the Hudson Bay Company, or to Land Corporations, and may be obtained at prices ranging from 8s. to £2 per acre, according to contiguity to railway communication and settlement. * Several experiments, both on the part of companies and individuals, and indeed of the Imperial Government, in conne(jfcion with the croftei-s, are now on trial in Manitoba and the North- West Territories, and their progress will be watched with interest. In this connection it may he^ mentioned that the president of the section is au authority on colonisation, having been connected with the experiments commenced on his return from occupying a high official position in Canada. If it can be shown, and it is believed to bo possible, that persons, properly selected, and started in this way, can succeed in making a living and in repaying the capital advanced to them with interest, a great and perplex- ing social question will have been satisfactorily solved. It is early yet to speak positively, for hardly any of the settlements, although progressing favourably, can be said to be in the position of having succeeded, so far as returning the money advanced is concerned, except in the case of the Mennonites who went to Canada some years ago, and who have entirely repaid the money lent to them. The experience that has so far been obtained makes it very doubtful, however, whether the money that may be advanced upon the security afforded by Canadian legislation is sufficient to enable a family to start successfully upon 160 acres of land. It hac been suggested by Sir Charles Tupper that the sum should be increased to £180, which it is claimed would not only put any possibility of failure, in the majority of cases, out of the question, but would improve the security— .£180 being secured upon the homestead of the head of the family and uijon that taken up by an individual member thereof. In other words 320 acres would be given as security for £180, as against 160 acres for the £120. In addition, what is even more important, it would enable the advances to be repaid more quickly than at present, and thus make the money available for the assistance of further families. In 488 APPENDIX III. such a short paper it is only possible to touch the fringe nf so extensive and so important a geographical matter as the opening up and development of a new country extending from the 49th parallel to the far north. Nothing has been said as to the recent discus- sions upon t)ie Mackenzie River district, and its reported immense and varied resources, or about the country that would be aflected by the opening up of the Hudson Bay route, when that comes to pass ; but it is hoped that enough has been said to show that a fertile counti-y of great extent, practically unknown some twenty years ago, has, in that period, been opened up for habitation, and that the foundation has been laid for bringing the vacant lands now awaiting cultivation and occupation into the use for which Providence destined them, and, at the same time, providing homos and sustenance for the congested populations of the Old World. ,ii:-'^: INDEX Abenaki, 276 Abitibbi Lake, 217, 260 Abraham, Flaina of, 322 Acadia, 339 Aoadians, 282, 353 Adelaide Land, 101 Feninsnla, 112 Admiralty Island, 114 Afognak Island, 120 Agasaiz Olaoier, 120 Lake, 210 Town, 179 Aggo, 99 Aggo-minta, 107 Agoomska Island, 219 Ahto, 171 AitkoT BiTer, 207, 212 Akudnim, 99 Akadnir-mints, 107 Alaska, 113 Horn of, 122, 143 Alaskan Penintnla, 121 Alay Mountain, 123 Albany Hirer, 217, 242 Fort, 241 Alberta, 153, 202, 207 Alberton, 376 Aldrich, 97 Aleutian Islands, 113, 131, 143 Aleutians, 136 Alexander, Port, 141 Islands, 117, 132 Alfred Ernest Gape, 97 Algoma, 292 Mills, 292 AJgonquins, 195, 225, 276 Allen, 116 Almagro, 19 Alonzo de Camargo, 19 Alvarado, 19 Alvarez, 22 Oabral, 11, 14 AlrarNuiiez, 18 Amakjuak Lake, 100 Amaknak, 132 Amasons Bivor, 14, 34 Ameralik Fjord, 63 America, 1 O^tral, 5, 36 North, 36 South, 36 Amerige, 1 Ameriqne Mountains, 2 Amherst, 367 Island, 337 Biver, 346 Anderson Biver, 190 Andreanov Is ands, 122 Andreievskiy, 141 Anglo-Saxon America, 62, 57 Angk>-Saxons, 283, 284 Anpille Cape, 396 Anian, 20 Annapolis Out, 341 BoyaJ, 280, 368 AnnimibiKon Lake, 247 Anse k la Barque, 331 Antioosti, 268, 333 Antigonish, 371 AntiBa Island, 9 Antilles, 12, 36 Anvik, 140 Aphun Biver, 129 Appalachian Mountains, 37, 209, 338 Archer Fjord, 99 Arctic Highlands, 66 Arohip lago, 83, 93 Ocean, 4, 77 Arichat, 372 Amprior, 302 Aroostook Biver, 343 Arrapahoee, 226 Arrow Lake, 160, 164 Arthur Mountain, 97 Landing, 290 Artillery Lake, 188 Ashnapmndman Biver, 264 Assiniboia, 202 Assiniboine Biver, 211 Indians, 211, 226, 227 Assumption, 318 Atanekerdink Mountain, 79 Athabasca Lake, 186 Pass, 163 Biver, 163, 185 Landing, 201, 236 Athabascans, 137 Atkha, 144 Atlantes, S Atlantis, 2 Atnah Biver, 121, 129 Tribe, 173 Atna-Tana Tribe, 137 Attahwapiskat, 217 Attiakmegs, 276 Attn Island, li4, 144 Atyk Islands, 141 Augpadlartok Glacier, 71 Augustine Mountain, 123 Avelon Peninsula, 396 Avon Biver, 367 Ayhner Lake, 188, 192 Aylmer, 302 Aymaras, 61 Azores, 8 Babine Lake, 160 Babines, 196 Baoalieu Island, 404 Back, 149 Back's Biver, 182, 101 Baddeck, 373 Badger Mine, 291 Baffin, 23, 62 Bay, 77, 93 Land, 99, 106, 220 Bahama Islands, 12 Bald Mountain, 339 Banc h Vert Island, 399 Banff Vallev, 206 Bank, Newfoundland, 398 ' Banks Strait, 93 Island, 102 Baptiste Biver, 185 Baraohois, 360 Baranov Island, 114, 116, 144 Bark Mountains, 184 BatT^ 292 Barrow Strait, 25, 03, 111, 112 Point, 116, 130, 140 Barter Island, 140 Bartholomew Biver, 344 Bathurst Ishmd, 100 Cape, 200 Batiscan, 320 Batoohe, 238 ' Battleford, 236 Battle Biver, 206 Bay of Chaleur, 335 Fnndy, 21, 340, 345 Ishinds, 390 Mines, 345 Bear Biver, 161 Island, 100 Beaufort, 322 Beaver Hills, 205, 206 Indians, 173, 196 Lake, 206 Biver, 217 Becanoourt, 319 Beeohey Island, 26, 111 Beeohy, 26 Belcher, 97 Belkovsky, 144 Bellaooola Tribe, 169 Belle-Isle Strait, 242, 270, 331 Belles- Amours, 332 Belleville, 299 Bellislo Fort, 140 BeUot Strait, 112, 266 BeUy Biver, 207 Bentinok Inlet, 166 Beothuks, 404 Berggren, 63 "nwi i yp-y ' 400 INDEX. Bering 24 Boring Strait, 4, 78, 90 Sea, 100, 104 Berlin, 296 Bcrsumis, 331 Berthier. 319 Betsiamite River, 2 8, 331 Bio, 332 Biohe River, 186 Big Bay, 382 Bear River, 294 River, 379, 383 Bighorn Mountains, 183 Big Salmon River, 127 Sturgeon River, 207 Bigstono Lake, 210 Birch Mountains, 184 Bird Islands, 337 Birtle, 238 Biru, 19 Biam Hetiolfson. 7 Blaokfeet Indiami, 225 " Black Stream, ' 5, 131 Black Sturgeon River, 247 Blaokwater, 161 Blanc-Sahlon Bay, 242, 331 Blood Indians, 226 Bloody Fall, 190 Bridge, 367 Blue Mountain, 339 MountitinH, 246 Boguslov Island, 123 Bou- Braids, 186, 229 Bonavontnre Island, 335 Bona Vista, 15, 413 Bay, 396 , Bonne Oh^ River, 260 Bjnnet Flamaud Bank, 399 Boothia Felix, 25, 04, 101, 112, 192 Bmoherville, 317 Bourbon River, 216 Fort, 241 -Bourgeois, 360 Bow River, 200 Brodor Lake, 346 Bradi>re, 332 Gulf, 270 Brandon, 237 Brantford, 296 Bras d'Or, 872 BnueU, 2, 14, 16 Br^bent, 3i Breokenridge, 210 Brest, 332 Bristol Bay, 114, 122 British Columbia, 84 Guiana, 54 Brookville, 300, 326 Bit>dbeok, 61 Brown Mountain, 153, 186 Buckingham, 306 Buctouohe, 360 Buffalo, 264 Burgeo, 413 Burin Port, 413 Burrard Inlet, 157, 181 Bute Inlet, 167, 161 Byam Martin Idand, 100 Bylot, 23 Byrne, 3 Cabeza de Vaoa, 18 Cabot, J., 14 Head, 251 Sebastian, 16 Strait, 270 Caoouma, 328 Cadia, 339 Cadies, 355 Cain's River, 344 Caledonia Spring, 305 Calgary, 232, 237 California, 20, 40, 43 Callao', 19 Callendar, 302 Calling River, 211 Campbelltown, 336 Campo-Bello, 367 Canada, 241 Canadians, 286 Gananea, 14 Ganmore, 237 Canso Strait, 270, 371 Gap d'Eapoir, 335 Rouge, 320 Gape Breton, 16, 16, 338 d'Or, 345 Florida, 17 daptain's Harbour, 143 Garaquet, 359 Carbonear, 413 Caribou Island, 250 Mountains, 184, 186 Oarillon Rapid, 260, 306 Garieton, 236, 336, 366 Carriers, 173, 196 Carrot River, 207 Gartier, Jacques, 22 Cascade Moiwtains, 156 Gasaiar Mines, 174 (Kaska), 164 Gat Island, 12 Catalina. 413 Gataraqui Fort, 300 River, 300 Gaoghnawaga, 308 Gavelier de U Salle, 33 Gayos, 17 Cedar Lake, 208 Chaco, Gran, 35 Gbaffanjon, 34 Ghalenr, Bay of, 336 Ghambly Fort, 281 Lake, 261, 318 Ghamplain, 3i Lake, 241, 261 Chancellor, 22 <* Channel," 413 Ghaounigan FaUs, 262, 275 Charlotte-Town, 367 Ishutds, 84 Gharlton Island, 219 Chateauguay, 307 Chatham, 294, 360 Ghauditoe, 320 Falls, 303, 326 Ghedabaoto Bay, 371 Chesterfield Inlet, 102, 217 Checsetoook, 371 Chibchas, 61 ChiohaAov Islands, 114 GhiohaUfauk Mountain, 123 Ohioontimi, 330 River, 266 Ohignecto Bay, 346 Isthmus, 361 Ghikohak Moantaina, 243 Chiloo Lake, 160 Ghilcotin Plains, 163 River, 161 Chili, 19 Chilkat, 126 Chilk .t Mountainii, 126 Chilkats, 138 ChUkuta, 138 Chimsyans, 170 Chinooks, 172, 173 Chippewa River, 254 Chippeways, 226. 276 Ohippewayau Fort 191, 201 Chippewayans, 195 Chirikov, 114 Chiriqoi Islands, 14 Chittyuia River, 129 Christie Bay, 188 Chudleigh Cape, 380, 392 Chukches, 47 Churchill River. 183. 207, 217 Clarke's River, 163 Clavering, 03 Clearwater River, 183, 186, 206, 383 Clifton, 296 Clintou-Culden Lake, 188 Cloche Mountain, 243 Coast Range, 166 Cobeqnid Mountains, 340 Buy, 367 Gobourg, 299 Cocagnes, Lee, 360 Cookburn LJaud, 148, 261 Oolbome, 297 Collingwood, 293 Collieon, 26 GolnmbiiA, 61 British. 150 River, 148, 164 Columbus, 1, 2, 10, 11 ColviUe River, 125 Committee's Punuhbowl, 186 Conception Bay, 396 Confidence Fort, i91, 202 Cook. 19 Inlet, 122, 164 Copper River, 120, 129 Coppermine River, 185, 190 Cordoba, 176 GomwiUl,301 Gomwalli* Ishtnd. 102, 106 Coronation Gulf, 191 Cortereal, 16 Cortez, 18 Codtarica, 35 Cot att dn Missouri, 204 dee Prairieo, 204 Landing, 301 Cindres Ldand, 326 Coulonge River, 260 Crane Iskuid 326 Grater Lake, 126 Cree Indians, 196 Crevaux, 34 Grillon Munntoin, 117 GruM Lake, 206 Sound, 117 Cuba, 12, 20 Culiaoan, 18 Camana, 14 Cumberland Bar, 100, 107, 110 Lake, 207 House, 237 Cypress Hiils, 203 Dakota, 202 Indians, 227 Dalhousie, 336, 359 Mountain, 163 Dall, 84 30 91, 201 >, 392 ;. 207, 217 183, 186, 206, e, IBS 13 1,340 18, 2£1 'yy y j W VW***''**!' 11 lx>wl, 185 i 1,202 129 185, 190 102, 105 )1 ,204 >4 » lO 117 100, 107, 110 Darion Iflthmua, 18 i . Dartmouth, 37U U'Avezao, Id Davis, 22 Strait, 23, 77, 82, 93 Dawson, 1 16 Dean Inlet, 156 Dease Lake, 188, 190 De BloesoviUe, 63 De Castelnsu, 34 Deer Lake, 186, 277 DeGonneville, 16 De la Vcrandryi , 33 Delawa^'es, 276 Demarcation Point, 1 1 4 Deo6-Dinjie, lOo Denmark Channel, 74 De Saint-Cricq, 34 Deseronto, 3UU Desolation Cape, 88 Land, 60 De Soto, 18 Despair Cape, 335 Detroit River, 253, 285 Devil's Lake, 206 Thumb, 65 Diamond Cape, 323 Diaz de Soils, 18 Diego Lepe, 14 Digbj, 368 Disoharge, Great, 265 LitUe, 265 Discovery Passage, 168 Disko Bay, 65, 89 Island, 67, 90 Dizon Strait, 117, 156 Dog Island, 417 Bibs, i96 River, 187 Dominion of Canada, 148, 419 Don River, 208 Doobaunt, 217 D'Orbigny, 34 Douglas Channel, 156 IsUnd, 144 Drake, 20 Drum Mountain, 121 Duck Mountains, 205 Duluth, 230 Dundas, 298 Dunvegan Fort, 191, 201 EMtem Townships, 243 East Cape, 140 Oreenland, 84 Main, 220 River, 383 Edgecumbe, 116, 145 Edmonton Fort, 229, 236 Edmunst<>n, 362 Egedesminde, 71, 89 Elbow Lake, 209 Elk River, 186 Lake, 277 Eilesmere Land, 07, 111 Embarras River, 180 Emerson, 240 English River, 183, 216, 217 Eng^neland, 8 Enterprise Fort, 202 Entry Island, 270 Equar River, 217 Erebus Bay. 112 Erie Lake, 250, 263 Erik the Bed, 6 Eskimo, 83, 106, 109, 134, 195, 388 INDEX. Eskimo Lake, 186 Espafiola, 12 Eitpiunsa, 18 Esquimalt, 176 Esquimaux River, 270 E-sex County, 294 Eittevan (iumez, 21 ''- ■ Etah. 8a Ktchemins, 352 ' Eteminquois, 362 Eternity Cape, 266 *' Evangeline, Land of," 367 Everett, 115 Exeter Bay, 99 Exploits River, 39S, 397 Eyinisuks, 196 Fair weather Mountain, 117 I 'ape, 144 Fall Inaians, 225 Famine Bay, 112 Farewell Cape, 66, 77 Famham, 318 "FarWest," the, 6 Felix Cape, 112 de Ajsara, 34 Fendu Lake, 215 Fisher Strait, 220 Fishing Lakes, 212 FUtheads, 225 Flattery Cape, 117 Flores, 9 Island, 43 Florida, 15, 17 Fogo, 413 Fond du Lao, 32 Fort, 201 Forbes Mountain, 163 Fork Lake, 189 Fort Alexander, 240 Chimmo, 391 Conger, 111 Ellice, 238 Erie, 296 Garry, 238 Lawrence. 360 Tungas, 146 William, 290 Yukon, 130, 140 Fortunate Islands, 8 Fortune Bay, 409, 413 Fouike Bay, 77 Port, 83 Fox Channel, 100 Islands, 122 Strait, 100, 220 Franklin, 25 Franz-Joseph Fjord, 63, 67, 79 Eraser River, 152, 165, 160 FraserviUe, 328 Frebel Cape, 413 Fredericton, 347, 3G4 Frederiksdal, 88 Frederikahaab, 88 Isblink Glacier, 70 Freels Cape, 413 French Canadians, 273, 282, 284 River, 251, 276 Shore, 410 " Freshwater Sea," 14 Frobisher, 21 Bay, 110 Frontenao Fort, 300 Frozen Ocean, 22 Fuegian Archipelago, 19 \ Fundy, Bay of, 340, 345 491 Funk Island, 404 FurduHtraiidir, 8 Fury and Hecla Strait, 23, 109, 112 Galops Rapids, 259 Gait, 296 Gttnanooue, 300 Gandei River, 398 '• Gap," the, 207 Gardar, 6 Garde, 70 Gardner Channel, 156 Gaspar Curtereal, 16 Gtasp^, 333 Bay, 334 Indians, 333 PuuiuHuia, 270, 332 GHspereaux River, 367 Gutineau River, 260, 306 Genessee River, 258 George Island, 370 Fort, 296 Georgetown, 376 Georgia Gulf, 155, 157 Georgian Bay, 246, 251 GiesMke, 78 Gimli, 240 Gkcier Bay, 117 Glenora, 177 Goajirod Peninsula, 14 Goat Island, 264, 257 Gk>derich, 293 , . Godhavn, 67, 90 Godthaab, 62, 88 Gold Range, 164 River, 371 Gomera, 12 Gomez de Alvarado, 19 Good Hope Fort, 192, 202 Capu, 3 Graah, ti2 Graham Island, 169 Gran Chaoo, 35 Grand Cuteau, 204, 205 Falls, 362, 379, 398 Island, 254 River, 294, 381 Orandigue, 360 Grandin Lake, 188 Grand-Manan, 367 Orand-Pr6, 367 Urand River, 294 Portage, 214 Grant Land, 97 Great Bear Lake, 183, 180 Dog Lake, 247 Fish River, 182, 191 Lake, 26 Manitoulin Island, 250 Rapids, 186 Slave Lake, 185, 188 Island, 249 River, 182, 186, 188 Turk Island, 12 Whale River, 383 " Greater Britain," 58 Greely, 30 lulet, 97 Green Lake, 264 B»y, 245 Mountains, 243 Greenland, 6, 60 Greunlanders, 68, 84 Greenspond Harbour, 413 Qrenville, 305 Grewingk Mountain, 123 vi,«ini|ii!.iuii«i«jW>iiiV'* ■'f l Wi^iH ' ." « '; i ' m ' {""H'i!. ' Ht'!* ' ' ' y, " '' 492 Oriffln-Town, 313 Orijalva, 20 Grinnell, 23 Land, 28, 05. 97, 104 Gros-Ventrea, 226 Guanahani. 12 i Guarani, 38 ^ ^ Guatemala, 40 Guatemalteo, 36 Guelph, 296 , . ' Guerra, 14 Guevera, 19 Gujana, 36 " ■ GuK Stream, 43, 77 Gunnbjom, 6 ' ' . Reefs, 67 Gustav, Lambert, 31 Guysborough, 371 Qvozd'ev, 24 Ha, 83 Ha-ha Bay, 266. 330 Haidaa, 134, 169 Halifax, 358, 370 HaU, 28 Hamburg, 296 Hamilton, 297 Bay, 298 Inlet, 380 Plains, 371 Hammer, 76 Hand Hills, 203 Hans Egede, 62 Hendrik, 87 Harbour Grace. 412 Hare River, 306 Hareskin River, 190 Hare Strait, 161 Harriabuig, 144 Harrison, 179 Hawkesbury, 371 Hay River, 184, 188 Hayes, 28 River, 215 Sound, 97 Hazleton, 177 Heame, 149 Heart's Content Bay, 4U, 413 Hebertville, 329 Hebron, 390 Hector Mountain, 206 Pass, 163 Helland, 74 Hellu Land, 7, 393 Hernandez de Cordova, 18 Luque, 19 Hoarf.e Hochelaga, 308 HofFenthal, 390 Hoieda, 13 Holstenberg, 89 Hood, 26 Hooker, 67 Mountain, 153 Hope, 179 Hopedale, 390 Horn, Cape, 3 Hotalinqua River, 126 Houn-Kuohin, 137 Howe Inlet, 167 Hudson, 21, 23, 62 Ba V "02, 218 Stmit, 21, 99, 220 Hull, 303. 305 H'lmber River, 293, 39S Humboldt Glacier, 71, 94 INDEX. Huron Lake, 250 < ;> '* Hurons, 275, 277 Hvitramannaland, 8 HylacomyluH, 1 "Hyperboreans," 83 Icelanders, 232 Icy Cape, 24, 114 Igaliko Fjord, 6 Gulf, 61 Ikogmut, 140 Iliamma Lake, 12'2 Mountain, 121 lUgink, 107 Illmois, v86 Indiana, 32 nuiUuk, 143 Incas, 3 Indians, 2 Indies, West, 2 Ingtdit, 137 Ingersoll, 294 Ingleiield, 28, 94 Innuits. 83, 136, 195 " Intervals," S4D Irish, 406 Irlond it Mikla. 8 Irminger's Current, 77 Iroqnois, 226, 276, 277 Isle-anx-Morts, 414 Ivan Lukin, 125 Ivigtut, 81, 88 Jacques Cartier, 22 River, 320 Jaobshavn, 74, 89 Glacier, 71 James Bay, 218, 383 Jan Mayen Island, 77 Japan, 4 Jasper House, 200 Jatapla, 18 Jensen, 68 Jervis Inlet, 167 Jesus Island, 306, 317 Jolo Vaz Cortereal, 16 Johnstone Strait, 159 Jolliet, 32 Jones Biver, 120 Sound, 97 Jonqui^re Fort, 229 Juan de Echaide, 16 Fuca, 22 Strait, 20, 148, 161, 157 Griialva, 18 la Cosa, 13 Perez, 176 Jnigalpa, 3 JulUmahaab, 88 Juneau City, 144 Eablunak. 83 Eadiak Island, 120, 132, 144 Kaigani, 169 EakHbeka Falls, 247, 291 Kamchatka, 40 Eaministiquia, 247, 290 Kamloops, 178 Kamonraska, 326 Eananaskis Pass, 153 River, 154 Kane, 28 Badn, 71 Eangak Eyrdlek, 66 Kangerdlug-Suak, 74 Karalit, 83 Kashumuk, 141 Easka Indians, 200 Keewatin, 183, 202 Town, 290 Keinas, 226 Kokerten, 110 Kellett, 26 Kenai Mountains, 120 Ktnanm River, 391 Kennedy Channel, 28, 66, 77, 93 Lake, 100 Kenogami Lake, 266 Kenogamishish. 264 Kentvillle, 368 Keweenaw Peninsula, 248 Keys, 17 Kioking-horse Pass, 153, 206 KidfUks, 195 Kinagamittt, 140 Kinai Peninsula, 134, 137 Kincardine, 293 Kingegan, 140 Kingiktorsoak Island, 61 Kinging, 140 Kingnait Fjord, no Peninsula, 22 Kingston, 300 Kingua, 110 King William Land, 101, 107 KinTstinok, 226 Kippewa Lake, 260 Kuight Inlet, 157 Kodlunaru Island, 110 Kohl, 7 Koksoak River, 379, 388 Koldewey, 66 Kolmakov, 114 Kohnakovsky, 115, 141 Kolosh, 138 Kongiganagamut, 141 _ Kootenay ludiauH, 173 Lake, 160 Pass, 153 River, 164 Kotzebue Sound, 124 Kovak River, 116 Koyukuk, 116, 128 Krause, 116 Kree Indians, 196, 226, 226 Kristinnshaab, 89 Kuprianov Islands, 114 Kurile Isltods, 4, 40, 121 Kuro-sivo. 43, 96 KusUvak Mountains, 124, 129 Knskokvim River, 115, 129 Kviokpak River, 128, 129 Labrador, 218, 377 Lachine, 307 La Gioche Mountains, 243 La Come Fort, 273 Lady Franklin Bay, 30, 39 Lake La Biche, 200 "Lake of Hills." 186 Laketon, 200 La Loche, 183, 201 Lambert, 3 Lancaster Sound, 23, 94, 96, 106 Langlade Island, 416 Lapcrsuse, 24 M ountaln- '. - ? La Poile Riv, ■ o'J7 Laprairie, 308 i'ortage, 238 Lars Dalagfr. 63 Latin America, 62 La Tuque, 320 ■muh 120 n , 28, 66, 77, 93 !65 04 mis, 248 98, 153, 206 134, 137 land, 61 110 2 ud, 101, 107 60 1 1, 110 m, 383 .5, 141 t, 141 m, 173 • , 124 6 128 »6, 226, 226 19 id8, 114 4, 40, 121 6 tains, 124, 129 er, 116, 129 •, 128, 129 377 atains, 243 273 Bay, 30, 39 200 ," 186 201 d, 23, 94, 96, 106 i,416 :<'i7 )8 >3 62 ^■^l|N().l,H)B(UJ;.j I ■"i^ II "f '*i i | ii u yii ^. yif^'^y t u ijt,ij| ii i i; i iu. r 371 1 53, 368 ,301 24, 141 13 i eninsula, 300 [8 and, 114, 116 land, 100 t, 111, 112 nd, 120, 164 201 I, 157 207, 211 160 ), 320 , Island, 117, 160, 160 188 QuiohuAs, 51 Quiiuay, 10 Quinte PeniuHola, 269 Bay, 29B Quiuze Bivor, 260 Kaoo Cape, 390 Roe iHtlunuN, 1!)2 Fort, ll>2, ViOl Rafn, 7 Bainr Lake, U"), 214 River, 148, 203, 214 Raleigh Peak, 09 Rama, 390 Station, 300 RaHpberry Hilk, 184 Rat River, 127, 190, 211 Island, 122 Raven Cape, 327 Riiy Cape, 396 Rtiyimiiid, 116 Red Deer River, 207 Indian Lake, 307 River of the North, 207, 20J SkinH, 48, 134 Redoute Mount, 121 Regent Inlet, 26 Regina, 238 Remdeer Lake, 217 ReiM, 34 Reliance Fort, 140, 201 Renou8 River, 344 Reniwelaer Port, 104 Repuliie Bar, 112 Resolution Fort, 201 Island, 99, 381 Reotigouche River, 344 Revillagigedo Island, 20, 114 Rhode Island, 7 Richardson, 26, 149 Richelieu River, 244, 261 Richibucto Bay, 360 Richmond Gulf, 383 Rideau River, 30 j Canal, 303 Biding Mountains, 206 Rigolet, 3K1, 391 Rimouski, 332 Rink. 4 Rio de la Plata, 18 Rise Lake, SnO Ritenbenk, 90 Rivi^re-dU'Loup, 317, 328 Rivi6re-0aelle, 326 Roaoh, 100 Roberval, 329 Robeson Channel, 28, 93 Roche Pero6e, 334 Rochesterville, 303 Rooky Mountains, 125 Roger Pass, 154 Roseau River, 211 Rosario Strait, 151 Ross, James Clark, 26 John, 26 Rouge Cape, 281 Fort, 238 Rouille Fort, 298 Roumiantzor Mountains, 124 Royal Island, 249 Rupert.' s Land, 202 Rupert River, 377, 383 Saanak Island, 143 Sabine Cape, 30, 106, 111 INDEX. Sable Capo, 370 • V : Sagiuaw Bay, '?lil SaguonHy Rivir, 38, 265, 328 Huhaptins, 173 St. Albert, 2;io' St. Andrews 344, 366 Rapids, 240 '».t St. Aniie. o( 6 de Br)Hiipr6. 268 St. AntoiDM, ;»I0 St. Auguitino Bay, 17 St. Auguktin River, 332 St. Bazil, 362 St. Boniface, 240 St. Brendau, 6 I>«land. 9 St. Catherino'H, 297 St. Charles River, 320 St. Clair I^ake, 252, 294 River, 262 St. -Claire Deville, 88 St. Croix River, 344 St £lias Mountain, 40, 113, 118 St. Foye, 324 St. Francis Lake, 246, 260 River, 319, 342 St. George Bay, 396, 402 Cape, 39tt Island, 124, 141 St. Helen's Island, 304 St. Hyacinth, 318 St. Ignace Island, 240 St. Jean de Luz, 10 St. Jerome, 300 St. John Lake, 205 City, 362, 36.5 River, 342 St. John's, Canada, 318 Newfoundland, 411 St. Lambert, 316 St. Lawrence Gulf, 269, 341 Estuary, 263 River, 38, 241, 259, 300 St. Leon, 819 St. Louis, 42 Lake, 246, 306, 316 River, 247 St. Marie, 291 St. Margaret River, 266 St. Mary River, 202, 250 St. Mary's Bay, 396 St. Matthew Island, 124 St. Maurice River, 262, 275 St. Michael, 140 St. Paul, 236 Province, 34 St. Paul's Bay, 326 Island, 124, 141 (Kadiak), 144 St. Peter's Lake, 246, 261, 315 St. Peter, 372 St. Pierre Island, 406, 408, 414 St. Prime, 329 St. Regis, 301 St. Roque Cape, 14 St. Sebastian, 16 St. Stephen, 366 St. Thdole, 320 St. Theresa Island, 317 Town, 318 St. Th^rfese River, 215 St. Thomas, 294 Sale, Sal6e, River, 211 Salish Tribe, 173 Salt River, 187 San Bias Cape, 14 iU Sanlwioh Harbour, 380, 392 San Jacinto Mount, 1 10 Hun Juan de Fuca Strait) 161 Hun Juan island, 151 San Miguel, 9 Gulf, 18 San Salvador, 12 Hans-Saut, 188 Santa Catharina, 16 Santa Cruz, I i, 14 • Sarmie. , 19 Samia, 21)4 Sarsi. 22(i Saskatchewan District, 202 River, 183, 203, 206, 206 Satsikas, 220 Sttult St. Marie, 148, 220, 241, 292 Sault aux R^colleto, 318 Sault^ux, 211, 225, 276 Saut du Carillon, 38 Schwatktt, 116 Scoresby, 27, 03 Seal Islands, 113 Sea of Greenland, 6 Sebastian Cabot, 15 MuuHter, 20 Seine River, 2il Selkirk, 240 Fort, 125, 139, 140 Mountains, 154 Sermitsialik Glacier, 70, 74 < Seul Lake, 215 "Soveii Islands," 27 Severn River, 217, 261 Fort, 241 Seymour Narrows, 169, 176 Shebuoto Buy, 370 Shediao, 360 Shelbume, 370 Sherbrooke, 310, 371 Sherman Bay, 101 Shikshak Mountains, 243 Ship Harbour, 371 Shippegan Islands, 369 Shugaoh Alps, 120 Shuswap Lake, 160, 163 Shuswaps, 173 Sierra Amerrique, 3 Nevada de Santa-'Marta, 51 Sikosuilar-miuts, 100 Sillery, 325 Silver Islet, 291 Simcoe Lake, 261 Simpson Strait, 112 * Fort, 177, 202 Port, 177 Sioux, 227, 276 Sir Donald Mount, 164 Sitiji River, 185 Sitka, 144 Bay, 35 SItkas, 138 Siwaohes, 137 Six Nations, 278 Lake, 38 Skagit Tribe, 173 SkiUegate Inlet, 169, 174 Skeeua River, 151, 160 Tribe, 169 Skniilinger, 8, 83, 270, 388 Slave Lake, 18 1 Indians 196 "Sleepers" Reefs, 220 Smith Sound, 23, 28, 62, 77, 94 Fort, 100, 201 I 406 8>.o IUilw»y, :U0 8or.'l, 281. ai» Souria, 370 , ^ , ,,- South AlftHkan MountelM, UO OreHiiliiiKl. 7, 'Jl SoskBtchowan, 200 Southampton, '.iUa Island, 218 Southbrook, 3i)\ Sp-noeCape, 141 "Spirit " Mountain, 121 Split Rock, 247 8tadacoii6, 320 , , Stiitenhuk, 66 # Stollarion, 371 _ Stephen Mountain, 168 Stewart Lake, 100 Uiver. 127,160 Stlokooii Eiv.r, 129, 161, 100 Stone Indians, 226 Stoney, 116 Stonv Lak«» '00 River, 211 Strawburg, 29d Stratford, 204 Sturgeon Bank, 163 Sudbury, 302 •' Sugarloaf," 89 Sukkertoppon, 89 Sullivan's Piak, 163 Summit Lake. 162 Summerside, 370 Superior Lak-, 246 Svartonhuk, 71 Sydenham, 293 Sydney, 373 . S^kolno, John of, 8 Tableau, The, 206 Taola Lake, 160 TadoiiBsac, 280, 331 Tah-HUies, 173 Taklieena River, 126 Taku River. 129, 100 Talirpings, 107 Tamagaming Lake, 2Sl Tanana River, 116, l^o, l^» Station, 140 Tantramar River, 346, 301 Taidusak, 90 Tautlot River, 128 Tobiglit8, 195 . Tchigmit Mo"?t«"'':,flft 101 Temiscanung Lake, 260, 301 Temiseouata Lake, 286, SM Templeton, 305 Terentiev, 116 Terminal City, 371 Terra do Bacalhao, 16 Tex«da Island, 170 Thahk-hiohes, 138 Thames River, lOi, 253_ Thiokvi'ood Indians, 226 Thlinkeets, 134 Thnaiana, 137 Thompson River, 163 Thoasand Islands, 2o9, 300 Three Buttee, 203 • Rivers, 319 . Thunder Bay, 214, 247, 249 Cape, 291 INDEX. 120 TignUh, 375 Tlilmann Mouuti^u, Tilt 'Jove, 413 Tlnlkjuarbing, H" Tlnneh, 173, 196 Tintamare, 361 Tobtt Inlet, 167 Tobique River, 343 Tornarsuk, 86 Toi-nlta, 107 Toronto, 298 „ ,» TofHukaUk Glacier, 71, 70 Toulinguet, 413 To'irmeuto Cape, 24J, ^i* Traoadie, 339 Tranche River, 294 Traverse Lake, 210 Tremblanto Mountain, 24^ Tremblour Lake, 100 Trenton, 300 Trinity Day, 18 Cap, 260 Trols Pistoles, 332 Rivifcres, 261 Truro, 307 Tujakjuak Island, «« Tujau Island, 100 Tunga^ Strait, 117 W, 131, 140 Turtle Mountains, 206 Tuiwarora, 295 Tusoaroras, 278 Two Mountains, 308 Lake of the, 260, 306 TwiUingate, 413 TyndoU Glacier, 119 Uivang Island, 99 Umanarsuak, 06 Umanak, 90 Umingman Nuna, vi UiiaUiUt. 140 Unalashka Island, 123, 14 J Ungava Bay, '^2''> J'^- Unfmak Island, 123 143 United States Mountains, 97 Unshagah River, 187 Unnrlgun, 130 Upemivik, 61, 90 Upper AiTow Lake, 164 Columbia River, 16J Eraser River, 104 Unibil Gulf, 14, 44 Utopia River, 362 ValdesWand, 176 Valley-field, 301 Vancouver Ishind, 24, 160,169 Port, 180 . Veniaminov Mountain, 121 Ventrooze, La, 326 Vermilion Sea, 20 Verstovia Mount, 14o Verte Bay, 347, 360 Vespucci, I. '*• ^3 ^j>. Victoria, Athabaaca,^^ Fort, 176 «» Land, 190 \g. Ontario, 296 V* I Peak, 169 ^ BND OP VOL. I. Victoria, Vancouver, l78 Villu-Marie, 309 Wabanaki, 276 Wiigor Inlet, 102, 217 Walgat Strait, 71 Bay, 76 Wallaceburg, 294 Walrus Island, 143 Warainikapu Lake, m* Washington, 42 Cane, 29 Land, 06 Waterhen River, 209 Watling Island, 12 Weenisk River, 217 Welland Canal, 296 WeUlngton, 170 Canal, 106, 112 Strait, 20 i Wentaron Lake, 262 Westerbygd, 61 Whale Hole, 399 Sound, 77 Whirlpool River, 185 Whitby, 299 White Bay, 306 Fish Bay, 250 Mountains, 2i4 Wlaohwan River, 204 Willoughby, 22 Willow River, 161 Wlnd'or, 294 Winnipeg MouuAln, 216 a, m. •?). 213, 216 WlnS';?S'l'Se, 206, 208. 209 Winter Harbour, 112 Island, 112 Wolastook River, 343 Wollaston Land, 191 Lake, 186 Wolves Reefs, 387 ' Wood Mountains, 204 Wood's CaBon, 129 Woods, Lake of the, 148, 190, i\* Woodstock, 294, 364 WiangeU, Mount, 40, 120, 129 Wyandots, 276, 277 TahtB6 River, 120 YakuUt Bay, 120 YamaskaWver, 3'8,262 Town, 319 Yarmouth, 369 Yellow-hMd Lake, 160 Pass, 163, 185 Yellow Knife River, 100 Indians, 188 Yellowstone River, 33 York, 220 (Ontario), 293 River, 216 Youngtown, 296 Yukon River, lU, 1*» Fort, 180, 140 KnohinB, 137 Zoar Station, 390 "W Iter, l78 2,217 fl H 143 ake, 382 r, 209 I. I'i , 29«. 6 I, lU ;e, 252 II 109 rer, 185 06 , 250 in, 2)4 iver, 204 22 :, 1«1 on'uAin, 216 i, i '8 ,i;, :^fiO, 213, 215 i'hlL, 206, 208, 209 bour, 112 112 Uver, 342 omA, 191 86 {», 367 itains, 204 rA 148, 190, 214 294, 304 Mount, 40, 120, 129 276, 277 er, 120 »y, 120 Uver, 3 '8, 262 319 369 aA Lake, 160 153, »85 ufe RiTer, 100 08, 188 ;'- ae Eiver, 33 irio), 293 f, 216 m, 296 iver, 114, li5 , 180, 140 lins, 137 don, 390 m ■<:::.■" •''!:> ■■'- . ■.■'-■■jj