Cook are of the highest order. He made many discoveries in the South 

 Sea, and added greatly to Britain's possessions. In 1778, after leaving 

 the Sandwich Islands, which he discovered, he reached the west coast 

 of the continent, which he followed northward in the hope of finding 

 a passage to the Atlantic. He penetrated as far as the bay now known 

 as Cook's Inlet in Alaska, but of course failed in the object of his 

 search. At Bering Strait he was repelled by the impenetrable wall of 

 ice. Returning to the Sandwich Islands to winter there, he met a sad 

 death at the hands of the natives. 



We now come to the last and most important explorer, from a 

 geographical point of view, that laboured along the north-west coast of the 

 continent, George Vancouver. 



As an accurate geographer I place Vancouver above anyone pre- 

 vious or subsequent to his time, considering the extent of coast and 

 shore-line covered* and the time taken for executing the same. It is now 

 a hundred years since Vancouver made his survey ; look at the most 

 recent charts extending from California to Cook's Inlet 1,500 miles in 

 latitude and thousands of miles of coast-line, and what do we find new 

 minor details the groundwork is as prominent to-day as a century ago. 

 To one familiar with Vancouver's work and the intricate British 

 Columbian and Alaskan coast, the former must ever be an object of the 

 highest admiration. 



Vancouver was with Captain Cook when the latter visited the 

 American continent. After Cooks death Vancouver was given the 

 command of an expedition to the north-west coast of America, the 

 object being to take over from the Spaniards their territory in that 

 region, and to explore the coast from 30 north latitude to Cook's Inlet 

 with a view to the discovery of an eastward passage to the Great Lakes 

 in the British dominions. 



Vancouver was then only 33 years of age. He spent the seasons 

 of 1792, 1793 and 1794 in surveying the coast, wintering in the Sand- 

 wich Islands. He died when he was but forty, and before he had quite 

 finished the narrative of his work. His zeal led him to take an active 

 share in all operations, and the hardships he thus suffered tended, no 

 doubt, to shorten his life. He was a man of great tact, humanity, 

 generosity, and uprightness of character. 



