HOW THE EARTH WAS EXPLORED IN 1876. 559 



ing trees, nor any trace of vegetation, in the vicinity, except a growth 

 of stunted sage-brush. 



" The largest tree yet found in California was discovered during 

 the year in King's River Valley, Fresno County. Measured from the 

 highest point to which a man could reach, it was found to be 150 feet 

 in circumference, within a few inches, and its height was estimated 

 at 160 feet. It is probably the largest tree in the world." 



A report of the international commission for the survey of the 

 boundary-line between the United States and British North America, 

 from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains, has been pub- 

 lished. The region was one hitherto unexplored by whites, and was 

 found, as represented by the Indians, to consist mainly of swamps, 

 making the survey a difficult one. To this were added the rigors of 

 the climate, as the work had to be conducted chiefly in the winter, 

 when the swamps were frozen and with the mercury at 45 below zero. 

 The country west of the Red River would be a fine grazing-ground 

 but for the myriad mosquitoes which drive domestic cattle almost wild 

 and keep them from gaining flesh. In one direction the boundary-line, 

 in the course of thirty-five miles, crossed sixty-five pieces of water, 

 twenty-five of which were lakes, requiring a survey by triangulation. 

 Beyond Turtle Mountain the survey was extended over the Great 

 Plains, the Great Coteau of the Missouri, and the Salt Lakes, and the 

 arid, desolate country known as Les Mauvaises Terres. Beginning in 

 1872, the survey was completed in 1874 to the base of the Rocky 

 Mountains, where they rise from the plain in precipitous peaks 10,000 

 feet high. The whole boundary from the Lake of the Woods to 

 this point is now marked by stone cairns or earthen mounds, and 

 by iron pillars at intervals of a mile for 135 miles along the boundary 

 of Manitoba in British America, which, it is said, "is destined to 

 become the great granary of the Dominion." There are, however, 

 the drawbacks of the want of markets, the ravages of grasshoppers, 

 and the scarcity of fuel. The latter difficulty may be obviated by 

 developing the great bituminous coal-fields of the Saskatchewan. 

 Immigration in this direction is going on ; 4,000 Mennonites from 

 Odessa, in Russia, have settled there, and also a colony of 300 Ice- 

 landers on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg. 



The arctic event of the year has been the return of the English 

 expedition of the Alert and Discovery, under Sir George Nares, from 

 an attempt to reach the pole by way of Smith's Sound. The vessels 

 had great difficulty in forcing their way through Smith's Sound and 

 Kennedy's and Robeson's Channels. They were twenty-five days mak- 

 ing their way from Cape Sabine to Discovery Bay, a distance of only 

 250 miles, beset with all the perils of arctic navigation. 



" Regarded from a geographical and scientific point of view, the 

 expedition was a success. I said in my annual address, several years 

 ago, that to reach the pole was not the main object in an arctic ex- 



