DOMINION OF CANADA. 



ONTARIO. 



Ontario, the Upper, or Western Province of Canada, has an 

 area of 107,780 square miles, and a population of 1,620,851, which 

 is confined mostly to the Southern and South-western sections ; the 

 region north of Lake Huron and Lake Superior is inhabited only 

 by a few Indians and the Hudson's Bay Company's employees. 

 The surface of the province is gently undulating with extensive 

 prairie lands. A ridge of elevated land stretches from Niagara 

 Falls north-west to Hamilton, thence along the peninsula between 

 Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, and through to the Manitoulin 

 Islands. These hills, in some places wild and rugged, are, as a rule, 

 rounded with gentle slopes and wide fertile valleys. The country 

 is remarkable for the great number of the lakes which everywhere 

 stud its surface. The region from Lake Ontario, north between 

 Georgian and Ottawa Bays, and thence around Lake Superior, is 

 covered by a perfect net-work of lakes and rivers. These waters 

 are stocked with the finest of salmon and trout, and offer to the 

 piscatorially inclined abundant opportunity for weeks of enjoyment 

 and pleasure. The Southern part of the province has been nearly 

 depleted of the larger animals, but in the North and West are vast 

 tracts of unbroken wilderness where game is still found in almost 

 primitive abundance. From the railroad and steamboat lines of 

 travel, excursions may be made into the wilderness country, and 

 for this purpose, the visitors will always find trustworthy guides, 

 usually Indians, and at any of the larger towns or at the Hudson's 

 Bay Company's Posts, full outfits are to be secured at prices much 

 more moderate than in the States. The salmon-fishing of the 

 Dominion of Canada is under Government control. " The govern- 

 ment leases the rivers for a term of nine years, and rivers unlet on 

 the first day of each year are advertised by the government to be 

 let to the highest bidder. The places of residence of those tender- 

 ing for fishings are not considered in letting a river ; and if a gen- 

 tleman from the States outbids a Canadian, the river will be declared 

 as his. Rivers are therefore hired by Europeans as well as by 

 Canadians and citizens of the States. . . . Rivers are let in whole 



