1865.] BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 69 



twenty miles north of the Clearwater, or about eighty north of 

 Kamloops. This stream, the Indians informed us, came from the 

 Cariboo Lake, and passes through a totally open region. The 

 most serious difficulty to the adoption of a route by Jasper House 

 would be the want of pasturage for cattle. The patches of open coun- 

 try are few on the eastern side, rather larger and more numerous 

 within the mountains ; but after leaving the Cache, on the western 

 side, the forest is unbroken for above a hundred miles, and in no 

 portion of the whole six hundred or seven hundred miles from 

 Edmonton to the Clearwater, except at Jasper House, is there 

 sufficient food for any large number of animals. The advantages 

 of this route would be — 1st. That it lies far removed from the 

 boundary-line, well within British territory. 2nd. That it passes 

 entirely through a country inhabited only by friendly and peaceable 

 Indians. 3rd. That it offers the most direct communication from 

 Canada to the gold-regions of British Columbia ; and from it the 

 Sewshwap and Okanagan districts, as well as the road on the Fraser, 

 are easily accessible. These considerations are, I think, of 

 sufficient importance to require that the question whether this 

 more northern pass does not, from its directness and the security 

 which it offers, possess more solid advantages than those lying 

 further south, should be carefully and fairly weighed. The more 

 southern passes lying within the British line are far more steep 

 and difficult than the one by Jasper House, and are in unsafe 

 proximity to the United States territories. The only advantages to 

 be claimed for them appear to be that they communicate with more 

 open country on either side, that pasturage is plentiful along the 

 road, and that, from their more southerly latitude, they are likely 

 to be blocked with snow for a shorter period. But whichever be 

 the one selected, I would urge most strongly the necessity for 

 immediate action in the matter, and hope, though not with con- 

 fidence, that the New Hudson Bay Company will cast off the 

 prejudices and lay aside the obstructiveness which degraded the 

 policy of the old one, and promote, to the utmost of their power, 

 that scheme, which is of such vital importance to the advancement 

 of all the British possessions in North America. 



The President spoke highly of the value and interest of the 

 paper, and eulogised the conduct of Viscount Milton in leaving 

 the ease and luxury of a home like his for the true advancement 

 of science. He had more successfully than any other traveller, 

 faced the dangers and difficulties of a most difficult and inacce- 

 sible country. 



