68 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb. 



safely state, that, with the exception of one or two rocky and 

 precipitous bluffs, — few and trifling obstructions, compared with 

 those which have been already so successfully overcome in making 

 the road along the Fraser River, — there are no engineering difficul- 

 ties of any importance. On the other hand, however, for almost 

 the whole distance, the road would require to be made, there being 

 no open country until reaching the lower portion of the valley of 

 the North Thompson. From Edmonton to Jasper House the sur- 

 face is slightly undulating; and the lower ground universally swampy, 

 even where covered with thick forest. From Jasper House to 

 Tete Jaune Cache, the pass through the main ridge of the Rocky 

 Mountains, the valley is, for the most part, wide and unobstructed, 

 except by timber, which is generally of large size ; the rivers small 

 and mostly fordable, even at their highest. The ascent to the 

 height of land is very gradual, and, indeed, almost imperceptible ; 

 and the descent, although much more rapid, neither steep nor 

 difficult. From the Cache to the first opening out of the valley 

 of the Thompson, about eighty miles north of Kamloops, the only 

 route lies along that river, running through a succession of narrow 

 gorges shut in on each side by lofty and inaccessible mountains. 

 The whole of this portion is obstructed by growing and fallen 

 timber of the largest size ; but the fact of our being able to bring 

 horses through without any previous track being cut open, proves 

 sufficiently that there are no serious obstacles in the way of an 

 engineer. No sreat ascents or descents occur, the bottom of the 

 ravine being generally level, except where the transverse ranges of 

 hills come down close to the water's edge. Many of these are, 

 indeed, rocky, but consist generally of broken fragments of no 

 great size. No bluffs of solid rock appear until the last forty 

 miles, where the country is generally open, and otherwise little 

 obstructed. The flooding of the river by the melted snows of the 

 mountains does not interfere with the passage along the valley, we 

 having traversed it in the middle of 'the summer when the waters 

 were at the highest. A road might possibly be made more direct 

 to Cariboo than by continuing on to Kamloops, by following the 

 north-west branch of the North River, which comes in about sixty 

 miles south of Tete Jaune Cache, or the Canoe River, some fifteen 

 miles below that place ; but, from the rugged nature of the coun- 

 try to the west, such a road could only be made by great labor 

 and outlay. The easiest line would, I apprehend, be from the 

 junction of a small river which flows into the Thompson, about 



