BRITISH COLUMBIA 51 



reserve, wherein every animal, with the exception 

 of the more dangerous carnivora, dwells absolutely 

 protected and unmolested, the wapiti would have 

 been, practically speaking, extinct, at any rate in 

 that part of the country. 



Not content, indeed, with the Park as a reserve, 

 the Federal Government, with creditable foresight, 

 have lately enclosed as a timber reservation a 

 further tract of country immediately south of the 

 Park, comprising an area of some hundred square 

 miles. But game reserves of so huge a nature as 

 this require a very large annual expenditure to 

 render them efficient, and in many cases smaller re- 

 serves would prove quite as efficient and a good deal 

 cheaper. They would, in fact, answer exactly the 

 same purposes as do sanctuaries in the deer forests 

 of Scotland. Take any ordinarily situated forest in 

 the north of Scotland, abolish its sanctuary, and in a 

 few years what do you find ? Smaller heads, poorer 

 beasts, and a general falling off all round. The effect, 

 if you go on long enough, is precisely the same in any 

 big game district. The results at first are not so 

 apparent, for the animals are living under more 

 natural conditions and have a wider range, but in 

 the long run they are identical. In British Columbia 

 only about one-tenth of the country is properly 

 settled, leaving an area of something like 280,000 

 square miles in which hunting can be obtained. 



The importance of the proper establishment of 

 game reserves in this magnificent territory cannot 



