1892-'J3.] A MEMORABLE EPOCH IN CANADIAN HISTORY. 315 



design of penetrating the Rocky Mountains and pursuing his journey in 

 a westerly direction until he found the Pacific. By the discoveries which 

 Mackenzie effected on these expeditions new realms were brought 

 within the influence of the Empire, and the great fact became established 

 that the shores of the vast territory, now the Canadian Dominion, are 

 buffeted by the billows of three oceans — the Atlantic, the Pacific and the 

 Arctic. 



The world is familiar with the story of the persevering and heroic 

 efforts to find a north-west passage. We all know that many lives and 

 an enormous amount of treasure have been sacrificed in fruitless attempts 

 to discover a navigable channel in the northern hemisphere, from 

 Europe to Asia. It is not so well remembered, however, that three 

 centuries back the " North-West Passage " was alleged to have been 

 found. I allude to the claim advanced by Juan de Fuca, that he had 

 discovered open water through the continent and that a ship could pass 

 in a given number of days from one ocean to the other. He set forth 

 the character of the discovery claimed by him and described it as extend- 

 ing from the Pacific coast in the latitude of British Columbia on the west 

 to Hudson Strait on the east, and that it was an open waterway generally 

 direct in its course, with a width ranging from 30 to 40 leagues and 

 upwards. 



Belief in the alleged discovery among cartographers appears to have 

 been universally entertained. De Fuca promulgated the statement in 

 1 592, and maps published by the French and English Royal geographers 

 in 1752 and 1768 show the defined passage I have described. The whole 

 turned out to be a pure fiction. The first consequence of Mackenzie's 

 travels was to prove irrefragably the non-existence of De Fuca's channel 

 and to sweep away all belief concerning it. The only trace left of the 

 geographical fraud is the name which is still retained by the inlet 

 extending between Vancouver Island and Washington Territory, leading 

 from the Pacific to the Gulf of Georgia. We are unable 9.t the present 

 day to estimate the great influence exercised on geographical science by 

 this disclosure. The facts brought to light by the discoveries of 

 Mackenzie distinctly established beyond all question that the shores of 

 the continent on the Pacific side continue northA\ard until they terminate 

 within the Arctic circle. 



An account of Mackenzie's travels was published in 1801. We possess 

 in this volume a detailed narrative of his v^oyage from Montreal through 

 the continent in 1789, 1793 and intervening years. The maps which 

 accompany the volume present the true position of the lakes and rivers 

 which he discovered ; they likewise show the route he followed through 



