From the Pacific to Hudson's Bay. 



287 



I have selected as the "basis of information for an account of this 

 journey and a description of the country traversed, the records of 

 the expedition commanded by Dr. Selwyn, Director of the Geo- 

 logical Survey in 1875 ; those of the expedition commanded by Dr. 

 Dawson, of the Geological Survey, and the reports of other explora- 

 tion and surveying parties that have traversed those regions. 



The coast of Northern British Columbia, from which we are to 

 select our starting point for this journey, dissected as it is with 

 inlets, has by no means an abundance of good harbours. The inlets, 

 are, however, for the most part, 

 deep, with bold rocky shores, 

 and traversed with strong tidal 

 currents. The heads almost 

 always receive rivers, each of 

 which has formed a shoal bank 

 about its mouth owing to which 

 shallowness of the water they 

 are unsafe anchorages. Take, 

 for instance, the mouth and 

 estuary of the Skeena. It is 

 shallow and encumbered with 

 bars and banks, and is unsuited 

 for a harbour. 



Not far, however, to the 

 north, and easily accessible 

 from the valley of the Skeena, 

 lies Port Simpson, one of the 



safest anchorages on the Pacific coast, and one of the finest harbours 

 in the world. It is over three miles in length, with an average 

 breadth of over pne mile, is well sheltered and very easy of access. 

 Moreover, it lies at the eastern end of Dixon's Entrance, through 

 which vessels lying in that port have direct connection with the 

 Pacific Ocean between Cape Knox, the northern extremity of the 

 Queen Charlotte Islands, and Cape Muzon, the south-western 

 extremity of Prince of Wales Island. Passing out of Port Simpson, 

 through Chatham Sound, the Dundas Islands are on the left, and 



ALFRED R. C. SELWYNN, LL.D., F.R.S., 



Director Geological and Natural History Survey. 



