182 PERMANENTLY APPOINTED TO GOVERNMENT 



almost under the platform from which I lectured and he, apparent- 

 ly, was engaged in writing during the early part of the lecture and 

 I thought that he was not interested in what I was saying. In- 

 stead of that, he was taking notes and I was greatly cheered when 

 I discovered that this was so. I had been asked to give my 

 lecture on the North West. I never gave the same lecture twice 

 because I was so full of the question that I could talk for a week 

 without stopping, so that my discourse was along the lines that 

 the Aide-de-Camp told me that His Excellency would like to get 

 information on. At the close of the lecture, I always gave an 

 opportunity to anyone interested to ask questions and one pro- 

 minent civil servant asked how I knew certain statements I had 

 made to be facts. I immediately unbuttoned my coat and pro- 

 duced my note-book and opened it and read out the remarks from 

 it and told my interlocutor that my statements were convincing 

 to an intelligent man and that, if they did not convince him, I 

 was sorry for his intelligence. I may say that this remark brought 

 down the house and the Marquis of Lome clapped his hands and 

 cheered with the rest. I was worried no more and my friend was 

 silent. 



Besides lecturing and writing, I was now interested in birds 

 as, during the preceding summer, when we shot a bird on the 

 prairie, I described it in a note book and, in the case of the Mallard, 

 I made out no less than three species as the young bird, the male 

 and the female were all so different. At any rate, I took an 

 interest in birds after that and this winter I commenced their 

 study. 



There were great changes going on in Ottawa at this time, and 

 the publicity given to my lectures caused much excitement 

 amongst the adventurous people throughout the country and 

 largely increased the immigration from Ontario to Manitoba. 



While I was in the west in the summer (of 1880), Sir John A. 

 Macdonald went to the Old Country and opened up negotiations 

 for the purpose of forming a company. The following extract is 

 taken from my work on the "Great North West." 



"In the meantime, negotiations had been opened with the 

 'Syndicate' for the construction of the road, and the parties 



