Vm VUKFATK. 



is;;) aiul tlu> two followint; yours I inn<U' oxtonsivo journeys tlirounh 

 lK>th tlu> ]>i*!iirit> ivi^ion ami llu' wooded eoniitr}' to the north, as far as 

 Lat. r>;»\ im-liKlini; the whole leui^'th of tlic .u:rcat Peace lliver. M. 

 liouri;eau. wliile hotanisl to ('aptain I'alliser's expedition in 1857-58, 

 made niunerous ti-averses of the eountry hordering on the Saskatch- 

 ewan and southwaiil. I)oiii:;his an<l Driunniond explored the whole 

 country from <he Red and Assinihoine Rivers, hy the North Saskatch- 

 ewan and Athaltasea to the IJocky Mountains. The former passed 

 across the Hocky Moiiiitaiiis l»y the Athahasca Pass, and examined the 

 entire len>,'tli of tin- valley of the Ctdumhia. Avhile the latter collected 

 in the main rani^e of the IJocky Mountains, between Lat. 52°-5G°, and 

 jmrtieularly in that part altout the head of Smoky Kiver, a tributar}^ of 

 the Peace. Sir Joim Kidiardson and other Arctic explorers noted and 

 collected the jjlants of the wooded country from Hudson's Bay to the 

 Arctic Sea, its coasts and islands, including the country north of the 

 Saskatchewan and the whole valley of the Mackenzie. 



Our knowleilge of the Itock}- Mountain region proper is still, how- 

 ever, very imjierfeet. Dr. G. M. Dawson has examined the region in 

 the vicinity of the South Kootanic Pass, near the 40th parallel, and 

 travei-sed the mountains by the Pine Pass, in Lat. 55°. In September, 

 187!', I ascended the l^ow JRiver Pass for a few miles, and obtained 

 some knowledge of its alpine flora. Bourgeau also spent some time, 

 in August, 1858, in the Bow River Pass and on the adjacent mountains, 

 and made extensive collections. Douglas" and Drummond's explora- 

 tions have ah-eady been referred to, but the latter may be said to have 

 given us the most valuable information, as he spent a whole summer 

 in the mountains. T examined the Peace River Pass and ascended 

 Mount Selwyn at its western end, in 1875, but owing to the loss of the 

 collections the results obtained were not satisfactory. 



British C'^luijibia, also, still requires much attention. Besides the 

 eai'l}- explorers mentioned by Hooker, the following are our sources of 

 infoi-mation : During the early part of 1875 I made very extensive 

 collections on Vancouver Island near Victoria, and all the way, by the 

 valley of the Fraser, from the coast to Fort MacLeod at the western 

 base of the Rocky Mountains, in Lat. 55°. Dj-. G. M. Dawson has 

 collected on Vancouver Island, in the valley of the Fraser, and in 

 the country lying west of it to the Coast Ranges, in 1875-76. In 

 the summer of 1877 in southern British Columbia on the Cascades and 

 dry valleys lying to the east. The summer of 1878 was spent by him 

 in the Queen Charlotte Islands, and in 1879 a traverse was made to the 

 Rocky Mountains by way of the Skeena. A. J. Hill, C.E., has added 

 considerably- to our knowledge of the flora of the Fraser and Thompson 

 Rivei-s, during the summers of 1880-81-82. 



