36 



Hudson Bay Company, carried out an intelligent and valuable examina- 

 tion of part of the region north of Great Bear Lake, some results of 

 which have lately been published,* and in both of these areas, between 

 18G4 and 1871, the indefatiguable missionary, Abbe Petitot, made 

 numerous journeys, of which he subsequently published an account, f 

 As Petitots's instruments consisted merely of a compass, and a 

 watch which he rated by the meridian passage of the sun, it must be 

 assumed that his mapping of the country does not possess any great 

 accuracy. His work, however, considering the difficulties under which 

 it was performed, is deserving of all praise, and his several descriptions 

 of the character of the country traversed are most valuable. It does 

 not appear from his account of these regions that they are likely to 

 prove of great utility to civilized man, except as fur preserves, or possi- 

 bly from the minerals which they may contain. He writes : " Ce pays 

 est compose de contrees silencieuses comme le tombeau, des plaines vastes 

 comme des departements, des steppes glaces plus affreux que ceux de la. 

 Siberie, de forets chetives, rabougries comme on n'en voit que dans le 

 voisinage des glaciers du Nord." 



7. Area between Stikine and Liard rivers to the north and Skeena 

 and Peace rivers to the south, 81,000 square miles, or more than twice 

 as large as Newfoundland. This includes a portion of the western 

 Cordillera, and, between the Liard and Peace river s,a large tract of the 

 interior plateau region of the continent, parts of which, there is reason 

 to believe, consist of good agricultural land. Its western extremity 

 was crossed in 1866 and 1867 by the exploratory survey of the 

 Western Union or Collins' Telegraph Company, then engaged in an 

 attempt to connect the North American and European telegraph sys- 

 tems through Asia. No details of this part of their exploration have, 

 however, been published, and if we may judge from other parts of 

 their line, since checked, the survey made was of too rough a character 

 to possess much geographical value. 



8. Area between Peace, Athabasca and Loon rivers, 7,500 square 

 miles, or about half as large as Switzerland. 



•Canadian Kecord of Science, Jan., 1890. 



tBulletin de la Societe de Geographie, Tom X, 1875. 



