SCIENCE IN Rupert's land. 337 



his Lordship referred to the striking contrast presented to the natives 

 and colonists of the Red River Settlement in their field of labour. 

 But, while, as he remarked, all might feel inclined to acknowledge 

 the Universities and Colleges of Britain, and of Europe at large, as the 

 nurseries of science, where its fitting guardians were to be looked for ; 

 and to recognise that its progress was to be anticipated under their fos- 

 tering care : " Have we," asked the learned prelate, speaking in the 

 name of his Red River auditors, " Have we any field for such pursuits ? 

 Does our land, in its present state, offer scope and opportunity for 

 anything of the kind proposed ? To this our reply is, others think so. 

 Only the summer before last, a party of travellers passed through the 

 Settlement and proceeded northward, — not lured by the prospect of 

 gain ; not attracted by any dazzling commercial speculation ; yet fired, 

 as was obvious to all who met them, with no less ardent enthusiasm, 

 and eager to overcome every obstacle with this one object at heart. 

 They wished, as you will recollect, to gain a spot from which, as 

 they had calculated, they might obtain the best view of a marvellous 

 phenomenon in the heavens.* Theirs was surely a praiseworthy ambi- 

 tion ; and you saw in them, that science has her devoted tbllowers, 

 ready to encounter on her behalf any difficulties. The very same 

 summer, I found on my arrival at Moose, that a traveller had pre- 

 ceded me,t and gone along the shores of the East Main, sent under 

 the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution chiefly as an Oologist or 

 collector of the eggs of wild birds, x\nd we have yet another^ in our 

 territory on the Mackenzie River, the Youcon, or the shores of the 

 Arctic Sea, who has spent two or three winters in those solitary 

 regions, gathering specimens of the insects of the land for the same 

 scientific body. Besides those, there have been two or three fully 

 organized exploratory expeditions : that of the British Government 

 under Capts. Pallisser and Blakiston, with its Naturalist, Geologist 

 and Astronomer ; and that of the Canadian Government under Mr, 

 Dawson and Professor Hind, with its reports carefully drawn up and 

 digested, and the detailed results submitted to the observation of the 

 public. Such is apparently the judgment of others : they survey the 

 land and look into its treasures and find something to reward their 

 labors. Shall we, however, think only of strangers ; have we no 



* The Astronomical Expedition to take observations of the Solar Eclipse of July ISth, 1860. 

 t Mr. Dressier. 

 t Mr. R. Kennicott. 



