the undulating plains which diversify the numerous lakes and streams. Chief among these is the great Fraser river, which pursues a rapid course between steep and rocky banks until, approaching the sea, it presents a fertile and finely wooded valley from 50 to 60 miles in length. Such also is the Thomson, which, surpassing the former in the beauty of its scenery, according to the evidence which so lately as 1857 was given before a select committee of the House of Commons, flows through one of the most beautiful countries in the world." Its climate is one of the best, and is eminently calculated to favour the production of all the crops that are produced in England. Towards the north the Columbian coast becomes rocky and precipitous, appearing to be unapproachable; but inside this rugged belt there is " а fine open country."

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Is it too much to hope, that a land which many who have dwelt in it and know it well speak of as "extremely fertile," and which possesses treasures of untold gold that have already attracted the people who hold California and its golden stores, will rejoice ere long in numerous populations, and may even behold the commerce of the world crowding its shores?*

COLONY OF VANCOUVER.

Vancouver Island, so named from its discoverer, Captain Vancouver, lies close to the mainland, extending 270 miles in length, and varying in breadth from forty to fifty miles. The aboriginal population is

*The gold mines of the Fraser River have now become better known and attract a considerable floating population. That they will hasten the colonization of the territory or make it a desirable country to settle in is quite another question. They have been, however, the cause of great improvements which will eventually promote settlement. A waggon road 378 miles in length has been constructed, notwithstanding very serious engineering difficulties, from Yale, the place where the Fraser ceases to be navigable, across the Cascade Mountains to the chief mining districts at Cariboo. In addition to this important highway, there is also a branch waggon road of 107 miles from Clinton to Douglas via Lillooet. By means of these roads, opened in 1864, the expense of living at Cariboo has been diminished by one half. They must also facilitate communication with the rest of British North America; and thus will the whole breadth of the Continent, from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, be thrown open to colonization, civilization and commercial enterprise. This road, surmounting the Cascades, enters the great plateau, which lies between them and the Rocky Mountains. Access could easily be had along this undulating plain to the more practicable pass which Mr. Alfred Waddington has pointed out, towards the north end of the Rocky Mountain chain. A road will no doubt soon be made from this comparatively easy mountain pass to the point where the north fork of the Saskatchewan becomes navigable. Thus will British Columbia be brought within convenient travelling reach of Red river and the Canadian lakes. Allusion is made here only to what may be said to exist already. But there can be no doubt that when the road proposed by Mr. Waddington, and which, I believe, he has in part constructed at his own expense, from Bute's inlet on the Pacific across the Cascade range towards its northern termination, is completed as far as the pass just referred to, at or near the north end of the Rocky Mountains, an over-land route with few inconveniences and no difficulties whatever, will be at once established. A railway will no doubt be undertaken some time, and probably at no distant period. But why wait for a railroad when such lines of communication, as have just been indicated, can be opened up speedily, and at comparatively little cost? This route might be ready for travel and traffic by the time that the Inter-Colonial Railway is open.

supposed to amount to 17,000 souls. This island is in every respect wonderfully adapted for settlement. The climate, moderated by the mild winds of the Pacific Ocean, resembles that of the south of England, with the difference chiefly that there is a greater degree of summer-heat. Its vicinity to the sea renders it more humid than the more inland parts of the neighbouring territory of British Columbia. But this circumstance only confers upon it the privilege and the abiding beauty of perpetual verdure. The trees with which it is adorned, and in many places encumbered, are quite equal to those which are the pride of the royal gardens of Kensington. The cultivable parts of the Island present a very pleasing appearance, the country being divided into wood and prairie land, the prairies stretching extensively in parklike forms into the primeval forests.

The low lands generally are fertile-some of the valleys, such as the Cowichan, which extends along the beautiful bay of the same name. particularly so. The finest wheat is easily raised, and yields from 25 to 40 bushels per acre. Very little of the Island had been explored at the date of the parliamentary report of 1857; but although described in the report as rocky "in places," there can be no doubt, judging from the prairies and fertile spots which are known, that the soil is generally productive. The fish which swarm around its shores, its inexhaustible coal mines, and its safe, natural harbours, unimproved as yet, if indeed they require improvement by the hand of man, admirably adapt Vancouver for being the emporium, as it may yet become one day, of the trade of both hemispheres. In 1843, the work of colonization had been commenced in Vancouver Island: so fertile and so rich in resources of every kind, and was advancing slowly in the face of many obstacles, when it was erected into a British colony in 1858.* This imperial favour was no sooner extended to it, than, as if impelled by the influence of some magic power, it rose with astonishing rapidity to the condition of a province of no ordinary importance. Already it possesses an embryo city on its south coast, with a population of 8,000 souls. Rejoicing in the auspicious name of VICTORIA, this thriving little town bids welcome to its precincts, the Celt as well as the Saxon. Its press, thus early, has begun to speak the language of both races. Victoria is also the chief seat of a bishopric which will no doubt, in the course of some time, be circumscribed, and to its own great satisfaction, by several new sees.

THE WAY TO THE NORTH WEST.

Hitherto it has been too generally believed that access to the

* Vancouver is now (1868) politically united with the neighbouring mainland, and one great colony is constituted which will be known henceforth as BRITISH COLUMBIA. This colony is bounded to the south by the Uuited States of America, to the west by the Pacific Ocean and the frontier of Alaska (until recently the Russian territories in North America); to the north by the 60th parallel of north latitude; and to the east, from the boundary of the United States northwards, by the Rocky Mountains and the 120th meridian of west longitude, including Queen Charlotte's Island, Vancouver Island, the islands adjacent thereto, and all other islands adjacent to the territories which constitute British Columbia.

beautiful countries of the North West is extremely difficult, if not impossible. This idea may have arisen from the circumstance that the Hudson's Bay Company have been in the habit of travelling thither by long, circuitous, difficult and even dangerous routes. It seems extraordinary that they should have preferred to convey their stores and merchandise round by the stormy waters of the north, with their only port at York Factory on Hudson's Bay, which is almost always frozen, when a more direct way was at their command, by the Canadian lakes and the chain of waters which extend from Lake Superior to the vicinity of their settlement on Red river. This may have led to the belief that there existed no better route. Recent explorations have shewn, however, that the journey from Canada to the North West is shorter than has been supposed, and comparatively easy; that indeed, where there are portages or carrying places, a great highway might be established, only a little longer than the most direct or air line from fort William at the head of Lake Superior to fort Garry on the Red river. (Air line with a little road-making 377 miles,-route by land and water 454 miles.)*

ness.

Nor does this route pass through a barren and inhospitable wilderThe height of land separating Lake Superior from the countries to the westward once passed, the rivers and lakes are bordered by prairies and luxuriant woods. Nor are these regions without inhabitants. In addition to the Indian tribes who are by no means hostile, there are numerous settlers of European origin, and several missions have been in existence for many years. The colonists of Red river, who are most anxious to hold relations with Canada, would prefer this route to the more circuitous, difficult and dangerous one by Pembina and through the State of Minnesota. They gave proof of this preference by undertaking themselves to make a road ninety miles in length, from that settlement to the Lake of the Woods which constitutes so large a portion of the chain of navigable waters extending to within thirty miles of Lake Superior. The government of the Dominion of Canada, in consideration of the loss of the crops at Red river this year, 1868, have relieved the settlers from this responsibility and are now actually directing the construction of a road from fort Garry in connection with the navigable waters.

This route will in a short time hence, be available for travel and traffic, part of the land road from Thunder bay, (L. Superior,) towards the lake region, which lies between Lake Superior and the Red river country, being already constructed, and an appropriation having been made by the Canadian Government for the construction of 90

*A route has since been traced, 463 miles in length, from a point near fort William, Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, to fort Garry on Red river; 332 miles of the journey over this route can be accomplished by means of navigable waters, leaving only 131 miles of land travel. The advantages of this route in a commercial point of view are sufficiently apparent from the circumstance that the carriage of goods from St. Paul, Minnesota, where the Red river people chiefly purchase their supplies, costs from four and a half to five dollars per 100 lbs., whereas by the proposed route, it would amount only to one and three quarters or at most three dollars, from Lake Superior to fort Garry.-(See recent report by S. J. Dawson, Esq., C. G., to the Canadian Govt.)

miles of waggon road from the last of the chain of lakes (the Lake of the Woods,) to fort Garry, the chief place in the Red river settlement. It is not unreasonable to suppose that, by opening communications with the north-west territories, an important amount of trading will be at once established between those regions and Canada. At present, the setters at Red river are dependent for their supplies on the state of Minnesota. Goods can only be conveyed from St. Paul, the chief city of that state, with considerable difficulty and at great expense. The north-western people would find a cheaper and equally well supplied market in Canada; and as has just been shewn, the cost of carriage would be materially less. The able men who direct the energies of the Hudson's Bay Company, would be among the first, undoubtedly, to see the advantages of the new route, and to avail themselves of them. Canada cannot fail to recognize her interest in such great public, even national, improvements. Trade, to the value of many millions yearly, would be directed to her borders: wealth would flow to her from the gold mines of the Fraser, the coal fields of Vancouver, the inexhaustible fisheries of British Columbia, and the fertile plains of the Saskatchewan, the Red river and the Assiniboine,-waters which, communicating by means of portages, lead all the way to the immediate neighbourhood of Lake Superior.

And what if the highway to the distant east-to China and Japan; to the lovely Islands of the Pacific-to Borneo, to New Zealand, to golden Australia and our vast Indian Empire-should pass through the beautiful and productive valleys of the north-west?

A railway from Halifax or Quebec to the western coast of the American continent has been spoken of; and, indeed, such a way could be more easily made along the plains of the Saskatchewan and the northern passes, than through the more mountainous country some degrees farther south. Nor would the Rocky Mountains be an insurmountable barrier. They could be pierced without any serious engineering difficulties at the sources of the MacKenzie and Fraser rivers, or at the point where they were traversed by Sir George Simpson, with a long train of horses, waggons and baggage, at the head waters of the Saskatchewan and the Columbia. In the meantime, other kinds of roads and modes of conveyance may be adopted with almost equally great advantage. The more direct way to Red river, by the chain of lakes and rivers which already almost connect the Canadian lakes with the settlement at fort Garry, once established, as it must be in a year or two, the great highway as far as the Rocky Mountains, and within 200 miles of Fraser river, is complete, the rivers and lakes extending westwards from Red river, being navigable even for vessels of large tonnage, eight hundred miles of the way. At present there is no other route to the rich and populous lands of the eastern hemisphere than by the stormy seas of Asia and Africa, across the Isthmus of Panama, round Cape Horn, or through the dangerous strait of Magellan, or by what is called "the overland route," through foreign countries. Whether the nations of Europe will continue to prefer these ways, which, however long and difficult and dangerous, have the sanction of antiquity, it is obvious that Canada, as she in

creases in wealth and population, will find the new way, although all but untrodden as yet, more convenient, perhaps even essential, for the wants of her extended trade. Not only will this highway of the world, with its myriads of leviathan steamboats constantly ploughing the placid waters of the Pacific Ocean, traverse the Canadian provinces, it must also pass through the valley of the River Ottawa. This is an absolute requirement of the geological structure of the globe. British power has at command only two outlets, eastwards, from the beautiful and fertile lands of the north-west: one a land route, and a difficult one, by the north shores of the Canadian lakes; the other, more easy, by Lakes Superior and Huron, thence by French river, Lake Nippissingue, the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence, to the Atlantic sea-board.

Thus it is manifest that the city of Ottawa, which, according to the wise decision of our gracious Queen, has become the capital of the Dominion of Canada, must also be, and that at no distant day, a great commercial emporium, a metropolis of business, the prosperous and crowded centre of the trade of both hemispheres.

J

SPORTING SKETCHES IN MAINE AND NEW BRUNSWICK.

BY AN OLD ANGLER.

LAND-LOCKED SALMON FISHING ON THE ST. CROIX.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY in the month of May, the writer, in ill health from close confinement and over-exertion during the previous winter, felt that a few weeks of life in the open air, and active exercise in the pursuit of his favourite sport, would do more to restore his exhausted energies than all the nostrums of the pharmacopoeia. Accordingly he left St. John in the New England, arrived in Boston, hunted up his old brotherangler, Jim, made the few preparations necessary for a fortnight's "Camping out," got letters to some of the residents of the "Modern Athens," who were encamped on the pleasant banks of Grand Lake Stream, took the cars to Portland, steamers to Eastport and Calais, at which latter place he and his friend arrived on the afternoon of the second day after having left Boston.

The evening was devoted to getting the various stores required for the Commissariat snugly put up, and morning found us at the depot of the Calais and Princton Railway, impatiently waiting for the last bell, and the welcome cry "all aboard." We were soon off, and hailed with delight the beautiful scenery that greets the eye along the banks of the picturesque St. Croix.

Spring had fairly seated herself on the throne which early flowers