zines received or exahanged, which 

 shows that these men, isolated as they 

 were, took an interest in current 

 events and were on the outlook for the 

 best literature of the time. 



Scientific Work. 



The duty laid upon them of keeping 

 for the benefit of their employers a 

 diary recording' everything at their 

 posts that might make one 'day differ 

 from another, or indeed that often 

 made every day alike, cultivated 

 among the officers of the fur trade the 

 powers of observation that were fre- 

 quently turned to seientfic account, 

 and we find .some of them acting as 

 corresponding members of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution in Washington. 

 Valuable collections in natural history 

 have been forwarded to the institution 

 by such observers as the late Hon. 

 Donald Gunn, tlhe late Mr. Joseph For- 

 tescue and Mr. Roderick Ross Mac- 

 farlane. 



Mr. Wm. Barnston, a son of the Mr. 

 Barnston, already mentioned, and a 

 chief factor at Norway House about 

 1854, was very fond of the cultivation 

 of flowers and the study of botany 

 and some very valuable specimens of 

 natural history in the British museum 

 are sard to have been of his procuring. 



libraries. 



Collections of books were a great 

 means of 'providing knowledge and 

 contributing to amusement in the iso- 

 lated northern trading posts. "We 

 have already spoken of the Athabasca 

 library, founded by Mr. Roderick Mac- 

 kenzie. Harmon speaks in his jour- 

 nal of spending many pleasant hours 

 in a library at the far distant Fort 

 Dunvegan, on Peace River. Mr. Ber- 

 nard Ross, a chief trader, after the 

 union of the companies, and stationed 

 for some time in the Mackenzie River 

 district, left his library of 500 books 

 behind him on leaving that region to 

 be used for a circulating library. 



Peter Fidler, a trusted officer of 

 the Hudson's Bay Company, — called a 

 surveyor and trader — who died the 

 year after the union, bequeathed his 

 library of 500 books in his otherwise 

 eccentric will to be used as a circulat- 

 ing library in Red River. This be- 

 quest of books was afterwards merged 

 in what was called the Red River lib- 

 rary. 



The Hudson's Bay Co. officers were 

 allowed just so much space in the 

 packets that came out from England 



by way of Hudson Bay' and it was no 

 uncommon thing for them to have that 

 space packed with literature instead of 

 the luxuries they might have fancied. 



The Red River 'library had its head- 

 quarters in St. Andrew's parish, and 

 was for circulation in the Red River 

 settlement. It seems to have been 

 Chiefly maintained by donations of 

 books by retired Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany officers and other settlers. The 

 council of Assiniboia once gave a 

 donation of £50 sterling for the pur- 

 chase of books to be added to the lib- 

 rary. There was one characteristic of 

 this library that it contained in 'ts 

 catalogue very few works of fiction. 



A short time ago two books were 

 handed by a friend to Dr. Bryoe, for 

 presentation to the Historical society, 

 One contains the list of donors and 

 subscribers to the Red River library, 

 the other is the issue book. This lib- 

 rary seems almost to have disappeared 

 during the troubles of the transfer of 

 Rupert's Land to the British govern- 

 ment. About half of it was added to 

 the provincial library, which was be- 

 ing purchased at that time, and was 

 destroyed in 1875 by a fire that con- 

 sumed the old parliament buildings 

 which used to stand near the site of 

 the present post office. A few of the 

 books that had been stored elsewhere 

 are now in the library of the Histori- 

 cal society. 



Literary Clubs. 



In addition to libraries we find that 

 at a later date in the history of the 

 settlement literary clubs were formed. 

 Bishop Anderson and his sister, who 

 arrived in Red River in 1849, were in- 

 strumental in forming a Reading club 

 for mutual improvement, for which 

 the leading magazines were ordered. 

 The Rev. John Black, the Presbyterian 

 pastor, of Kildonan, who arrived in 

 1851, belonged to this club. Later 

 still there was a Literary club at St. 

 Andrews, for which modern books 

 were imported. This latter club had 

 about three lectures during the win- 

 ter season, given by leading men of 

 the settlement. The titles of a few 

 of these lectures are still remembered. 

 Bishop Machray gave one lecture on 

 "David Livingstone," and another on 

 "History as gathered from the words 

 we use." Mr. Bernard Ross also gave 

 a lecture, the subject of which has 

 been forgotten. At the close of each 

 season an entertainment was given to 



