6 Introduction. 



the Peak of Cap Tourmente, or the Cave of the Winds under 

 Niagara Falls. We imagine the atmosphere of those airy- 

 positions is as brisk, to say nothing of the diverse incidents 

 of travel and of sport combined, as that in the fiords of 

 Norway, or as the heath-clad peaks of the Dovre-feld afford 

 to so many an English Tourist and Sportsman. 



Volumes have been written to make known the inexhaust- 

 ible mineral, agricultural, industrial, and commercial wealth 

 of this Colony, but few efforts have yet been made to lay 

 before the public, or rather the travelling portion of the 

 public, the natural beauties of its scenery, — its streams, 

 rivers, lakes and forests, — lakes that in beauty, number, 

 and variety of size, no other country in the world can vie 

 with, — replete with fish of every description, within access 

 alike of the million and the millionaire. To the Botanist, 

 during the summer months, perhaps no country offers such 

 varied inducements, — plants flourishing here of almost every 

 class, from the Lichens and Mosses of the Arctic Zone, to 

 the Azalia, Kalmia, and Lady's Slipper of the Sunny South. 

 The very woods are sacred to Flora, and here may be culled 

 specimens of plants within a day's journey of civilization, 

 that 'erst have led the adventurous seeker after Nature's 

 gems to wander for days away from the beaten track, in the 

 far-off prairies of the West, or the tangled swamps and 

 thickets of the South. To the Ornithologist, the Geologist, 

 or the Student of any branch of Natural History, we would 

 say, take a run through the Canadas to increase your 

 collection. Does not almost every British Mail bring out 

 enquiries and orders for the finest specimens of our Fauna 

 and Flora ? If weary of naturalizing during the July and 



