June 22, 1857.] GRANT'S DESCRIPTION OF VANCOUVER ISLAND. 487 



at Toronto,' 4to. ; Transactions of the German Oriental Society ; the 

 Darmstadt Geological Society ; the Academy of Sciences of Paris ; 

 and the Statistical Society of London. 



Exhibitions. — Three very beautiful sketches of Eastern and 

 Western Siberia, by Mr. T. W. Atkinson, made during his Seven 

 Years' Journey in those regions, were exhibited at the meeting. 



Announcement. — The President announced that through the ac- 

 tivity and zeal of their Corresponding member at Copenhagen, 

 Captain Irminger, of the Royal Danish Navy, the services of 

 the well-known Esquimaux interpreter, Carl Petersen, had been 

 secured for the Arctic Expedition under the command of Captain 

 M'Clintock, r.n., which would sail immediately on the arrival of the 

 interpreter at Aberdeen. 



The Papers read were : — 

 1. Description of Vancouver Island. By Lt.-Col. W. C. Grant, f.r.g.s. 



The position of Vancouver Island is between 48** 20' and 51** N. 

 lat., and between 123^ and 128° 20' W. long. It is situated on the 

 western coast of North America, within a short distance of the 

 mainland, the Straits of Fuca, which separate the island from the 

 mainland on the south, forming the boundary in those parts between 

 the British territories and those of the United States. The extreme 

 length of Vancouver Island from north to south is 270 miles, with a 

 general breadth of from 40 to 50 miles. The general aspect of the 

 island is that of a broken rocky country densely covered with 

 timber. The proportion which the available land bears to that 

 which is totally incapable of cultivation is extremely small. The 

 whole centre of the island as far as it has yet been explored consists 

 of a barren rocky waste, the timber with which it is covered being, 

 as well from its nature as from its position, unavailable for any 

 useful purpose. Along the sea- coast a few patches of level land 

 are to be met with, where the timber is extremely fine, and suit- 

 able either for masts and spars or for being sawn into planks. 

 Small spots of open land, clear of trees, occasionally intervene, but 

 seldom of more than a few hundred acres in extent ; on these spots 

 the soil is almost invariably extremely rich, and will produce 

 abundantly every description of crop grown in Great Britain. The 

 climate is agreeable and healthy, the summer is warm and dry ; no 

 rain falls from March till November ; the remainder of the year is 

 rather a rainy season than a severe winter ; some snow falls, but 

 does not generally lie long on the ground ; and the frosts are neither 

 hard nor of long duration. 



