CHAPTER LI. 



Commercial Importance of Hudson's Bay. 



the Hudson's bay basin — the principal rivers — lumber, 

 minerals, oil-bearing animals, and other productions — 

 practicability of the hudson's bay route — commercial 

 advantages of the route. 



, *|OBERT BELL, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., Assistant Director of the 



jt/ Geological Survey of Canada, who has attained a more 

 extensive knowledge of the character and resources of the 

 country around Hudson's Bay than any other resident of 

 Canada, and who has taken a deep interest in promoting the 

 Hudson's Bay route scheme, is justly entitled to the thanks of the 

 people of the Canadian North-West for disseminating throughout 

 England and America a knowledge of the practicability of that 

 route, and its commercial advantages. I have quoted at length from 

 his writings already, and give in this chapter an address delivered 

 by him a few years ago before the Royal Geographical Society of 

 London, England, on the commercial importance of Hudson's Bay. 

 It is as follows : — 



" In the course of my geological investigations I have made 

 surveys of most of the principal rivers, together with their large 

 branches, which flow from the west and south into Hudson's Bay, 

 including the Great and Little Churchill, the Nelson, Hayes, Hill, 

 Severn, Albany, Kenogami, Moose, Missinabe, Mattagami, and 

 Abittibi. On account of its great geological interest, I made a 

 topographical survey in 1877 of about three hundred miles of the 

 Eastmain coast, from Cape Jones northward. 



" During the past autumn, in coming to England in one of the 

 ships from the Bay, I happened to enjoy unusually good opportuni- 



