6 PROVINCIAL MUSEUM, 



visit a not-to-be-forgotten pleasure. Do you care for the glories of 

 the chase? Go into the great hallway devoted to British Columbia's 

 big game, and learn from the Curator the history of the Giant- 

 Moose, the Caribou and the Bear. Are you a lover of the weird 

 and mysterious? The Indian legends told on the many totems here 

 brought together would, if written down, fill a series of large volumes 

 by themselves. Would you read from the fossils the history of 

 successive periods since the world w r as young? The page is open 

 to your gaze. Are you expert with the rod? If so, you will be 

 glad to hear the truly " big fish " stories the Curator can tell you. 

 Care you to know the extent of British Columbia's mineral, or 

 fishery or forest wealth? Ask questions and examine specimens. 



It was on the 2nd of December, 188(5, that the Museum was form 

 ally opened up in a room 20x12, with no workshop attached. The 

 Curator, Mr. John Fannin, was simply told that he must make the 

 most of it until better quarters were provided, and for the first three 

 years of the Museum's life nearly all the work was done at Mr. 

 Fannin's private rooms after the Museum closed for the day. On 

 the 24th of May, 1889, the Museum was removed to the Old Supreme 

 Court Building, and the work of bui'ding up the institution com 

 menced in real earnest. Gradually, but surely, the development of 

 the Museum advanced until again the accommodation was totally 

 inadequate. Then, in 1898, it was moved to its present quarters in 

 the eastern section of the Parliament Buildings; but it has out- 

 grown these premises, and there should be erected now a building, 

 twice as large and specially designed for Museum purposes; and 

 until such a house is secured, the perfection of the collection must 

 naturally be retarded. 



The Provincial Museum (being essentially a British Columbia 

 Museum) necessarily contains only those specimens obtained within 

 its borders, hence none of them were procured by exchange with 

 other parts of the Continent, so that the value of a collection so 

 truly local in its formation is incalculable. 



The collection is worthy of a large building, and is a credit not 

 only to the Government under whose direction it is managed, but 

 to the people of the Province, whose individual efforts have done so 

 much to assist its growth in the way of contributions, as very many 

 specimens now in the Museum have been presented by friends to 

 the institution from every portion of the Province. 



