320 Canadian Record of Science 



and her family in the great sorrow which has befallen 

 them." 



As this minute briefly indicates, the much lamented 

 late Honorary President of the Natural History Society 

 of Montreal was possessed of a large and accurate know- 

 ledge of the facts of Biology. The thirteen years he 

 spent in the bleak territories of Labrador made him very 

 familiar with the Arctic fauna and flora of those north- 

 ern regions. So few were the living forms to be seen in 

 and among the barren rocks of the inhospitable table- 

 land that a very intimate acquaintance with the species 

 that came under notice was easily acquired. 



Donald Alexander Smith had the mental equipment 

 which enabled him to make the most of the situation in 

 which he found himself. Born at Forres, Morayshire, 

 Scotland, on August 6th, 1820, of a good Highland stock, 

 Grant and Stewart blood intermingling with that of the 

 Smiths in his veins, he inherited a fine constitution, 

 which stood him in good stead up to his 94th year. He 

 received a sound elementary education in his native 

 town at a school on the Cowlair's foundation. What 

 was of no less consequence, he had inculcated upon him 

 in his father's house not only habits of frugality, but 

 principles of truth, honour and integrity which laid the 

 foundation for the illustrious career which followed. In 

 his 18th year he set out for Canada, having received the 

 appointment of a junior clerkship in the Hudson Bay 

 Company's employ, several of his relatives having 

 previously served the company. It took 50 days to make 

 the voyage in a sailing ship. When he reached Mont- 

 real, in 1838, he was sent by Sir George Simpson, then 

 governor of the company, to the recently-established 

 Labrador Department, in the bleakest corner of the 

 earth, from which the Moravian missionaries among the 

 Eskimos had reported that foxes, minks and martens 

 were plentiful. It was the month of September before 

 he reached his destination, which was at Hamilton Inlet, 

 the company having two trading posts in that district. 



