TESTIMONY OF DR. RAE. 333 



the easiest, lying only 3,760 feet above tlie sea, Q) 

 with a gradual slope on either side; and lastly, 

 it lies four degrees north of the American frontier. 

 These considerations will, we imagine, cause it to 

 be eventually selected as the British highway to the 

 Pacific ; and it is satisfactory to be able to state 

 that Dr. Rae, who went out in the spring of 1864 to 

 discover the most suitable route for the telegraph 

 line which the Hudson's Bay Company propose to 

 carry across the continent, decided upon taking it by 

 the Yellow Head Pass, which he surveyed as far as 

 Tete Jaune Cache. We are permitted to remark 

 that his observations fully bear out the conclusion 

 that there are no serious obstacles to the formation 

 of a road by this route from the fertile belt of the 

 Saskatchewan to British Columbia, as far as he in- 

 vestigated it, viz., from Red River to The Cache. 



After a day or two, Mr. McKay returned, and 

 very kindly engaged to find us horses and accom- 

 pany us as far as Yale, the head of navigation on 

 the Eraser, if we would remain at Kamloops a few 

 days longer. Mr. O'B., however, started at once 

 for Yictoria, eager to enjoy the pleasures of a higher 

 civilisation there. We must confess to a certain 

 feeling of regret at this, the first breaking up of 

 the strange company who had shared so many 

 adventures together ; and Mr. O'B. told us he bore 

 no ill-will, and would forgive and forget all his 

 sufferings on the journey. There were houses every 

 six or seven miles along the road from this point, 



(}) From the observations of Dr. Eae. 



