330 TPIE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



descent on tlie western slope, altliougli more 

 rapid, is neither steep nor difficult. From The Cache 

 the road might be carried in almost a straight line 

 to Richfield, in Cariboo, lying nearly due west ; the 

 western extremity of the pass, Tete Jaune Cache, 

 being in latitude 52 deg. 58 min., (^) and Eichfield 

 in latitude nearly 53 deg. 3 min. 9 sec. (~) The 

 region to be traversed is mountainous and densely 

 wooded, but the distance is not more than ninety 

 miles, according to the recent calculation of Dr. 

 E-ae, which agrees with the six days' journey, the 

 estimate given us by the Shushwaps of The 

 Cache ; and a road has already been made from 

 the Mouth of Quesnelle, on the Eraser, to Rich- 

 iield, through similar country. This would, there- 

 fore, comxplete the line of communication through 

 Cariboo to Victoria. An easier route might, perhaps, 

 be found by following the Canoe Eiver, which is 

 situate about twenty miles south of The Cache, 

 to its source in the Cariboo district, but nothing 

 is known of the country between Tete Jaune Cache 

 and Cariboo, beyond the general view of mountain 

 and forest seen from Eichfield and The Cache. A 

 third line offers itself by following the North Thomp- 

 son to the point where the Wentworth Eiver enters it, 

 about eighty miles north of Kamloops. This stream, 

 the Shushwaps informed us, came from the Cariboo 

 Lake, and passed through a tolerably open region. 



(1) Dr. Eae. 



(2) Lieut. Palmer, R.E» 



