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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 262 



present at the execution, and their report in writing, stating the 

 nature of the examination made by them, shall be annexed to the 

 certificate, signed by all the persons witnessing the execution, that 

 the sentence was duly carried into effect in accordance with the 

 requirements of the law. After the post-mortem examination, the 

 body shall be delivered by the warden, for the purposes of dissec- 

 tion, to some public hospitaler incorporated medical college within 

 the State ; or the body may be interred in the graveyard or ceme- 

 tery attached to the prison, with a sufficient quantity of quicklime 

 to promptly consume it. In no case shall the remains be delivered 

 to any relative or friend ; and no account of the details of any such 

 execution, beyond the statement of the fact that the convict was, 

 on the day in question, duly executed according to law at the prison, 

 shall be published in any newspaper. 



EXPLORATIONS IN THE DOMINION OF CANADA, 1886. 



The government of the Dominion of Canada, as well as those of 

 the several provinces, are actively engaged in explorations and surveys, 

 and a large amount of material is continuously being added to our 

 knowledge of British North America. In the year 1886 work was 

 in progress in all parts of the Dominion. 



In British Columbia Mr. A. Bowman continued his explorations 

 in the Cariboo district. He left Victoria on the 23d of June, ac- 

 companied by Mr. James McEvoy as geographical assistant, and 

 on July 3 the party was ready to start into the field. While in 

 1885 the roads and trails were measured, and the centrally situated 

 mountains were occupied as triangulation stations, geological re- 

 searches being subordinate to geography, in 1886 great attention 

 was paid to geology. The Goose Creek Mountains and the Selkirk 

 Range, where there are no trails, were traversed with shoulder- 

 packs, relying on the rifle to a considerable extent for supplies. A 

 micrometer measurement of the great Ouesnel Lake was carried 

 out, with the aid of a large Chinese boat and an Indian canoe. Bear 

 and Swamp River Mountains and the Dragon Creek Mountains were 

 ascended with a single pack-horse, relying on the axe for progress, 

 instead of a trail. The geographical work was completed by occu- 

 pying with the transit all the necessary outlying stations, and by 

 measuring with the steel tape two independent base-lines, which 

 will be used as the foundation of the whole of the work. 



Farther east, in the Rocky Mountains, Mr. R. G. McConnell has 

 continued previous work in the vicinity of the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway. Work was commenced on the 24th of May, at the gap of 

 the Bow River, and during the course of the summer all the sub- 

 ordinate ranges lying between that point and Gold City were 

 ascended and examined. Although the work was principally geo- 

 logical, our knowledge of the topography of the region was consid- 

 erably increased, a number of sketches and cross-bearings having 

 been taken from the summits of most of the mountains ascended. 



In the district between the Bow and the North Saskatchewan 

 Rivers, J. O. Tyrrell and D. B. Dowling were exploring. Here 

 geology was also the prime object of the expedition ; but inciden- 

 tally the limits of prairie and wooded country in that district have 

 been determined, and careful barometric readings have been taken 

 at numerous points throughout the area examined, in order to lay 

 down on the map approximate contour-Unes. 



A. C. Lawson continued his researches on the country east of the 

 Lake of the Woods, principally mapping Rainy Lake and the ad- 

 jacent territory. The main achievement of the season of 1886 was 

 the connection of the township surveys on Rainy River by way of 

 the Manitou canoe route with the Canadian Pacific Railway, and 

 of the canoe route from Lake of the Woods to Rainy Lake. 



Of great importance is A. P. Low's and J. M. Macoun's survey 

 of Berens River and Deer Lake. On the 28th of May the mouth 

 of Berens River, on Lake Winnipeg, was reached. Here, having 

 purchased canoes, the season's work was commenced. From its 

 mouth the Berens River was found to trend for one hundred and 

 two miles south of east to Family Lake. Throughout this distance 

 its course is broken by numerous small falls. At Family Lake the 

 river bends sharply to the north, and the survey line runs in a 

 slightly north-of-east direction to the height of land, passing 

 through several lakes. Here the party reached Severn River by a 

 short portage, and followed the stream in a north-east course. On 



the 19th of June, Deer Lake, which was in part surveyed by Coch- 

 rane in 1882, was reached. Descending its outlet for one hundred 

 and seventy-five miles, another large lake was reached, the shores 

 of which were covered with a fair growth of timber. This is called 

 Favorable Lake. Following the river, running out of it for one 

 hundred miles, a larger lake, called Sandy Lake, was entered. Af- 

 ter one hundred and fifty miles more, Severn Lake was reached, 

 whence the party proceeded to the Hudson Bay post on Trout 

 Lake, and down Fawn and Severn Rivers to Fort Severn on Hud- 

 son Bay. The party then proceeded along the coast to York Fac- 

 tory, and returned, ascending the Hayes River route, to Norway 

 House. 



Another extensive journey was accomplished by Dr. Robert 

 Bell. After a brief visit to Manitoulin Island, he went to Sault Ste. 

 Marie, where he hired six voyageurs for his northern exploration. 

 These, and the outfit of the expedition, were conveyed to Wabi- 

 goon Tank, on the Canadian Pacific Railway, and hence trans- 

 ported over a portage to Sandy Lake, from which the expedition 

 was to start. Leaving the portage on the 6th of July, the general 

 course of the route was north-eastward towards Cape Henrietta 

 Maria, on Hudson Bay. The party first proceeded to Lonely Lake 

 by way of Minnetakie Lake and its outlet. Having descended the 

 upper part. of the Albany River, Bell crossed the country north- 

 ward to the Attawapishkat River, which he descended to the sea. 

 Then he coasted southward on the west side of James Bay until 

 the Albany River was reached. He ascended this river, and its 

 tributary the Kenogamin River, to its source, whence he reached 

 the Canadian Pacific Railway. The whole course from Long Lake 

 to the junction of Albany and Kenogamin Rivers, with the excep- 

 tion of the coast of James Bay, was surveyed. The distances were 

 ascertained by a boat's log, or by the time occupied in traversing 

 them at a known speed, while the bearings were taken by compass. 

 Observations for latitude were made almost every day, and the 

 variation of the compass was also frequently ascertained. 



The following part of Dr. Bell's description of his journey is of 

 general interest, as it contains much new information : — 



" On arriving at the Attawapishkat, I left my stores and large 

 canoe in charge of one man on an island which I called Nolin's Is- 

 land, and proceeded with the other men to examine the upward 

 course of the larger stream for some distance previous to descend- 

 ing it to the sea. At about eleven miles above Nolin's Island we 

 reached the lowermost lake of the Attawapishkat, which, the In- 

 dians informed me, bears the same name as the river itself. It lies 

 diagonally across the course of the river, and has a length of about 

 nine miles from south-west to north-east by four miles from south- 

 east to north-west. Two miles above Attawapishkat Lake we en- 

 tered a beautiful lake of much larger size, which, having as yet no 

 distinctive name, I propose to call Lake Lansdowne, in honor of 

 the governor-general of the Dominion. This lake proved to meas- 

 ure about thirteen miles from south-east to north-west by about 

 ten miles from south-west to north-east, and it is the largest sheet 

 of water connected with the river. It contains many large islands, 

 and is much indented with bays. The surrounding country is more 

 or less undulating and hilly, and thus affords a pleasing contrast to 

 the level and monotonous character of nearly all the rest of the 

 region explored during the season. The commencement of the 

 upward continuation of the Attawapishkat River is found in the 

 south-western bay of Lake Lansdowne. This part of the river is 

 described by the Indians as being broad, having, for the most part, 

 a sluggish current, and expanding occasionally into small lakes. 



" The Attawapishkat River proved to be somewhat smaller than 

 the Albany, which is not far from the size of the Ottawa above the 

 capital. It descends at an almost uniform rate all the way from Lake 

 Lansdowne to the sea, — a distance of several hundreds of miles. 

 In this distance we did not require to make a single portage, and, 

 from the description of the river above the lake, it would appear to 

 be navigable without portages almost to its source, which has prob- 

 ably an elevation of more than one thousand feet above the sea. 

 Where it flows over the limestone country it is broader and shal- 

 lower than in the higher parts of its course. 



" The seacoast between the Attawapishkat and Albany Rivers 

 is very low and uniform in outline, and without indentations. The 

 water is so shallow that we could touch the bottom with our canoe- 



