September, 1920] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



III 



the 'illimitable possibilities' of the country. When 

 summing up the various areas I reached the enor- 

 mous figures 200,000,000 acres. I recoiled from 

 their publication on the ground that their very im- 

 mensity would deny me that amount of credence I 

 desired, so as a salve to my conscience I kept to 

 the large number of 200,000,000 acres, but said 

 that there were 79,920,000 acres of arable land and 

 100,000,000 acres of pastures, swamps and lakes. 

 My statements were looked upon as those of an 

 honest, but crack-brained enthusiast and little at- 



cultural Committee to give a description of the 

 country, and after his address the following resolu- 

 tion was passed: 



House of Commons, 



Ottawa, 23rd Jan., 1906. 



"Moved by Mr. Derbyshire, 

 Seconded by Mr. Wright, (Renfrew) 



"That the thanks of this Committee be now 

 tendered to Mr. John Macoun, Naturalist to 

 the Geological Survey Department of Canada, 



tention was paid to them." The sequel, however, 

 has shown that he was a true prophet. 



Prof. Macoun was asked to appear before the 

 Agricultural Committee of the House of Commons 

 and other Government bodies a number of limes 

 to give information about parts of Canada he had 

 visited which were not well known. After a 

 journey which he made in 1905 along the route of 

 the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway from Portage 

 la Prairie to Edmonton, he was asked by the Agri- 



.M.\C< >l".\. 



for the valuable information laid by him before 

 the Committee, on the natural capabilities of 

 that large section of Western Canada extend- 

 ing from Edmonton to Portage la Prairie, on 

 the occasion of his appearance before us, on 

 this subject. 



"The Committee desire also to record their 

 appreciation of the valuable services Mr. 

 Macoun has rendered to Canada in the past 

 thirty years of his arduous official services as a 



