REPORT OF DELEGATE TO ROYAL SOCIETY. Vv 
Scotia. Certainly the season here is at least a full fortnight in 
advance of all the country between Montreal and the Lower 
Provinces. The villages from St. Polycarp onward, were quite a 
contrast in beneficence of their saints, to those on the Gulf shore 
below Quebec, more picturesque and prosperous, especially in the 
vicinity of streams, the characteristics of each decidedly Cana- 
dian, but becoming more and more of a British type, the nigher 
we approached the metropolis—the land low and the soil rich. 
Lumber was apparently the prevailing mercantile commodity, 
and numerous piles attested its value. An hour improved 
appearances in every respect. We came in view of the noble 
Ottawa, much pleased with the morning’s ride, and prepared for 
a closer acqaaintance with the Metropolis. 
Ottawa is a city of magnificent distances, a fact easily realized 
in passing from the railway terminus to the hotel. Many of the 
streets seemed to be more than a mile in length, crossing at right 
angles, wide and spacious. It is to be hoped they are all suffi- 
ciently high above the river to prevent danger from floods. The 
Parliament Buildings, erected on a gentle elevation, imposing in 
the style of their architecture, are conspicuous objects, in every 
way creditable to the youthful energy and ambition of the 
Dominion, and crown the city with an air of regal splendor. 
Ottawa is a Capital of large pretensions, the site and plan being 
chosen and approved by Her Majesty Queen Victoria, as a 
central position in a beautiful country, removed from the 
American frontier, and easily defended in the event of war. 
Rideau Hall, at the distance of a mile from the Parliament Build- 
ings, the palace of the Governor-General, is quite insignificant in 
its contrast with the Parliament Buildings, and ought ere long 
to give place to a structure more in keeping with the Viceroyalty 
of a Dominion which spans the British American Continent, and 
east and west is bounded by the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 
No one ean be mistaken who visits Ottawa and its environs, 
as to its principal industrial staple. The immense piles of sawn 
timber, here, there and everywhere, strike the beholder with 
amazement. It was remarked by several, as by the writer, that 
they never saw anything like it. Yet this was not the busy 
