242 EXPEDITION TO TUi; 



sidcr it in connexion with the boundary which nature 

 seems to have fixed as the western limit of our population, 

 viz. the Great American Desert. From what has been 

 stated in relation to the country surrounding Lake Supe- 

 rior and extending north-westwardly to Lake Winnepeek, 

 it may be inferred that we shall always remain secure from 

 the inroads of any regular hostile force in that direction. 

 Indeed the nature of tlie country is such as affords a 

 more formidable barrier to the invasions of an enemy than 

 any cordon of posts that art could devise. This barrier is 

 intercepted by a space of considerable extent, including 

 the valley of Red river, and extending westward to the 

 Great Desert, through which there are two considerable 

 passes, the one by way of the Red and St. Peter rivers, and 

 the other by that of the Assiniboin and Missouri, through 

 which an enemy from the north might gain access to the 

 heart of the western country. But when we consider that 

 the policy of the Hudson's Bay Company, in whom is 

 ■vested the right of soil to all that part of the British pos- 

 sessions drained by the tributaries of Hudson's Bay, is op- 

 posed to the colonization of their territory, their interest 

 prompting them to foster the fur trade, the products of 

 which must diminish in proportion to the increase of po- 

 pulation, we have very little to apprehend from the attack 

 of a powerful enemy in that quarter. Added to this the 

 utter impracticability of transpoiling by ordinary means 

 heavy ordnance, and other munitions of war, up Nelson's 

 river, or by any other route, to the valley of Red river, must 

 for a long time to come place an enterprize of this nature 

 beyond the reach of any hostile power. Accordingly, un- 

 der present prospects, no hostilities are to be apprehended 

 in that part of our frontier, except such as may be inflict- 

 ed through the medium of the savages. A large portion 



