PREFACE. Xvii 



discovery of a North- West Passage by sea, as the 

 shortest route to the rich countries of the East. 

 The discovery has been made, but in a commercial 

 point of view it has proved valueless. We have 

 attempted to show that the original idea of the 

 French Canadians was the right one, and that the 

 true JN'orth-West Passage is by land, along the 

 fertile belt of the Saskatchewan, leading through 

 British Columbia to the splendid harbour of Esqui- 

 malt, and the great coal-fields of Vancouver Island, 

 which ofier every advantage for the protection and 

 supply of a merchant fleet trading thence to India, 

 China, and Japan. 



The Illustrations of this Work are taken almost 

 entirely from photographs and sketches taken on the 

 spot, and will, it is hoped, possess a certain value 

 and interest, as depicting scenes never before drawn 

 by any pencil, and many of which had never pre- 

 viously been visited by any white man, some of them 

 not even by an Indian. Our most cordial thanks are 

 due to Mr. E. P. Leitch, and Messrs. Cooper and 

 Linton, for the admirable manner in which they 

 have been executed ; and to Mr. Arrowsmith, for the 

 great care and labour he has bestowed on working 

 out the geography of a district heretofore so imper- 

 fectly known. We also beg to acknowledge the 



