Section II, 1880. [ 89 ] Trans. Eoy. Soc. Canada. 



IV. — Exijcdlt'wns to llic Pacific. Wl/h a brief reference to the Vuyayes of Discovery in 

 seas contiguous to Canada, in connection with a Western Passaye from 

 Europe to Asia. By Sandford Fleming. 



(Read May 8, 18S9.) 



Introductory. 



The establisliineut of railway comiiiunicatiou from the Athiutic to the Pacific 

 across the territory of Canada, suggests an enquiry into the several maritime and overland 

 expeditions, undertaken I'rom time to time, between the two oceans. It is accordingly 

 proposed briefly to review (1) the maritime expeditions undertaken with the desire of 

 obtaining a western passage from Europe to Asia, in seas conterminous to the Dominion, 

 and (2) the several overland expeditions from the eastern parts of Canada to the shores of 

 the Pacific, from the earliest date. 



Six centuries have elapsed, since the most illustrious traveller of the Middle Ages 

 found his way from Europe across the whole extent of Asia, to the limits of the then 

 known habitable world. After an absence of twenty years, Marco Polo returned to his 

 home on the shores of the Adriatic, to bewilder the Venetians with wondrous accounts of 

 the magnificence of Cathay, the splendours of Zipangu, and the vastness of the Orient. 

 He was the first European who looked upon the hitherto unknown Pacific Ocean, which 

 he had reached after tedious journeys through many strange lands, and after traversing 

 the spacious empire of Kublai the G-reat Kaau. 



Polo and his companions were the pioneers of commercial intercourse between 

 Europe and Cathay. Other European travellers followed the Venetian noble, who with 

 him bore testimony to the extent, power and wealth of the marvellous old civilizations of 

 Asia ; and as a consequence, the enterprise and commerce of the Middle Ages became 

 directed towards the East. 



The populous and wealthy kingdoms of Asia could only be approached by long and 

 perilous overland journeys, through countries inhabited by warlike races, given to hostility 

 and plunder. The route lay by Turcomania, Armenia, Persia, Upper India, Cashmere 

 and across the mountains and deserts of Tibet. Notwithstanding the immense dis- 

 tance to be passed over by caravans, and the dangers and difficulties of the journey, 

 European traders flocked to the remote East. So far as it was possible under the 

 conditions which existed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, commerce flourished 

 over an extended overland route stretching from Grenoa, Florence and Venice, to the 

 great marts of eastern Asia. 



It was the possibility of facilitating and increasing the interchange of trade between 

 Europe and Asia which powerfully attracted the imagination of men like Columbus and 

 Cabot. It is not therefore surprising, that an ardent desire was awakened for the dis- 

 covery of a new and safer route to the East, than the one then followed. 



Sec. II, 1889. 12. 



