U)4 



Thus, instead of a thickly settlel country, opened up in all directions, 

 and easy of access by railways or by orJiDary roads, millions of s(]uare 

 mi'es ot our Doninion are at th^ present t\mt inicc ■ssibL% except by 

 means of canoes or boits and by the help of the hardy voyaueur or 

 hunter ; and not only must the m_-ans of transport be provide 1 for, but 

 the means of obtaining subsistence, either from the woods or waters, by 

 hunting and fishing, must also be taken into the account ; and, in 

 point of fact, with the exception of the more thickly settled portions of 

 the older jirovinces, this mode of exploration must of necessity be con- 

 stantly employed. To most people unacquainted widi our country, and 

 to many even in our midst, it will perhaps be news that even here in the 

 Ottawa district, in the exploration ot the area to the north of the rivers 

 Ottawa and St. Lawrence, beyond a distance of twenty to twenty-five miles, 

 where occasional settlement roads penetrate, the only means of carry- 

 ing on the work to day is by the aid of the canoe and the Indian guide, 

 by traversing the several rivers and the many lakes which lie so thickly 

 scattered over the surface of the mountainous Laurentian country, com- 

 munication between which is made by numerous and often exceedingly 

 difficult portages, over which canoes and supplies must be carried upon 

 men's backs wherever the route of the survey m ly lead ; and all this in 

 the very heart of the oldest province of our Dominion. 



If nov/ we compare the personnel and the fmancial outlay of the 

 world's two greatest surveys in point of extent of area to be surveyed, 

 wc can see more clearly under what additional disadvantages the Cana- 

 dian brethren of the hammer labour. Thus the expenditure for the year 

 1887-8S of the American Geological Stirvey, exclusive of i)ublication, 

 was about half a million do'lars ; that of the Canadian Survey for the 

 same year about one-fifth of that amount, including publication and all 

 expenses of managetnent. A portion of this sum, amounting to about 

 $20,000 only, was divided among sixteen parties, whose operations ex- 

 timded from eastern Nova Scotia to Alaska, and included surveys in 

 all the provinces, with special examination of the country east of Alaska 

 and the Mackenzie River Basin, Hudson and James Bays and Lake 

 Winnipeg and vicinity. In numbers the staff of exploration comprised 

 in all, including assistants, thirty-five persons. In addition, work was 

 carried on in the branches of Paleontology, Botany, Chemistry and 



