B17 



GAME OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



SINCE the year 1778, when Captain Cook made a voyage 

 to the coast of British Columbia, the country has been 

 famous for its game and fish. Owing to the quantity of 

 sea-otter obtainable on the west coast of Vancouver Island, a 

 trading-post was established at Nootka in the year 1778; sub- 

 sequently the abundance of beaver, bear, and other fur-bearing 

 animals attracted the attention of the North-west Company and 

 its successor, the Hudson's Bay Company. It was entirely due 

 to the value of the fur trade that British supremacy became estab- 

 lished and the country's vast resources in timber, minerals, etc., 

 were discovered. 



During all these years millions of dollars' worth of furs have 

 been taken away and yet the stock is not exhausted, while game 

 of all kinds is still here in quantity. Owing to its topography 

 no other part of the Continent is so favoured in this respect. 



The area of the Province is, roughly speaking, 700 miles long 

 by 400 miles wide, and throughout this enormous territory there 

 is not a square mile that does not contain game of some kind ; 

 moreover, there are miles and miles of mountains that will not 

 be settled for years to come, and where there will always be game. 

 There are three principal ranges of mountains — the Coast, the 

 Selkirks, and the Rockies — and they form the watershed of a large 

 number of lakes and rivers, the largest of which are the Columbia, 

 Fraser, Skeena, and Stikine Rivers. 



The climate varies considerably, the coast being more humid, 

 with little frost and, except in the north, a very light snowfall ; 

 to the east of the Coast range of mountains there is a dry belt, 

 the rain and snow fall being light, the summers hotter, and the 

 winters, while colder, are never severe or of lengthy duration. 

 Farther to the east, where the Selkirks are entered, the snowfall 

 gets heavier and the cold increases during the winter. The climate 

 is healthy everywhere; in fact, British Columbia is one vast health 

 resort, and in the interior the fall months are especially delightful. 

 Apart from its sporting attractions, a few weeks in the invigorating 

 air of our mountains, or on the waters of our coast among the 

 islands, will prove one of the best tonics in the world to the tired 

 and weary business-man or to the invalid in search of health. For 

 mountain-climbers or those interested in botany, geology, etc., 

 there are unlimited resources. 



