REVIEWS. 481 



compatible with the intelligent liberality, which added to the expedition 

 an astronomer, naturalist, artistic draftsman, &c. Major R. Kennicott, 

 an experienced Arctic explorer and naturalist, undertook the explora- 

 tion of the Yukon region; and on his death, in 1866, in consequence 

 of excessive privations and hardships incident to his labours, the 

 author of the volume now under review assumed the vacant post of 

 director of the scientific corps, and prosecuted the work, so far, to a 

 successful issue. 



Mr. William Ilealey Dall is even now only entering on his eareei. 

 though he has already achieved such substantial results. We remem 

 ber him not many years ago, as an intelligent boy, quiet and thoughtfu 

 in his ways, already manifesting a taste for natural history, and a love 

 for reading of all sorts. He was then resident in Toronto. His edu- 

 c:ition has since been completed at Boston, and the special scientific 

 studies which fitted him for the work he has recently brought to a 

 termination, were carried on chiefly under the direction of Professor 

 Agassiz, at Harvard. The Western Telegraph Company, in the 

 service of which his labours were undertaken, proved a failure, and 

 after expending nearly three millions of dollars, the telegraphic project 

 had to be abandoned. The route for the proposed line was ill chosen, 

 and in spite of remonstrances on the part of Mr. Kennicott, was per- 

 sistently adhered to. Mr. Dall remarks, "■ Had it been over the well 

 trodden paths from St. Paul, Minnesota, through the Hudson Bay 

 Territory, to Fort Yukon, there is reason to believe that the line might 

 have been built at a less cost than the amount wasted on the west 

 coast, in the mountainous regions and dense forests of British Colum- 

 bia." But while as a commercial speculation the enterprise led to 

 total failure, the liberal policy of the Directors in the organization of 

 the expedition has prevented its proving barren of results. Much 

 geographical and scientific information has been procured by its means, 

 and the observations thus made in this novel field of research are 

 accurately recorded in the large and handsome volume now referred to. 



No doubt the project helped, with other causes then in operation, to 

 draw attention to the hitherto unheeded region. In the same year in 

 which Major Kennicott died, negotiations were entered into for the 

 purchase of Russian America. Mr. Dall states, without vouching for 

 the truth of the story, that a company of American citizens applied to 

 Mr. Seward to assist them in. purchasing the country to carry on a 

 fish, fur, and timber trade, and that he, finding Russia willing to sell. 



