624 



"It was sought to afford an agreeable medium of intercom- 

 munication to those whose tastes led them in pursuit of similar 

 studies"; and (2) to "present a means of illustrating and 

 recording the many interesting phenomena, which are alto- 

 gether peculiar to this country, and which it is feared will 

 otherwise be lost in a very few years' time, to the records of 

 science." In the papers contributed during that year, the 

 second of these objects had not been overlooked, and at least 

 two of them dealt exclusively with matters of local interest, 

 that by Mr. M. Moorhouse on "The Structure of the Abor- 

 iginal Dialects" being of outstanding importance. 



The activities of the Society were not confined to the 

 reading of papers, but extended to other matters affecting 

 the public weal. 



With such members as B. H. Babbage, Charles Bonney, 

 and A. H. Freeling in their ranks, it is not surprising that 

 a spirited interest should be aroused in exploration of the 

 Province, important to them not only from an economic 

 but also from a philosophic point of view. This was particu- 

 larly the case in regard to the North-west Interior, which, 

 like so many other parts of the continent, was then a terra 

 incognita. Rumours of various kinds had filtered through 

 to them from native and other sources, which led them to 

 believe that this vast tract of country contained not only 

 areas of pastoral importance, but also material of a scientific 

 nature which intimately concerned them as a Society. In 

 1854 a sum of £3,000 was passed by the Legislature for the 

 purpose of exploring this portion of the colony, but owing 

 to the difficulty of securing the services of a suitable leader, 

 the sum still remained as an unexpended balance at the end 

 of the financial year. • 



In 1855 the Society appointed a Special Committee to 

 memoralize the Governor upon the urgency and importance 

 of this enterprise, and also to collect such information as 

 might tend to facilitate the organization and assist the oper- 

 ations of an exploring party. 



In addressing His Excellency Sir R. G. MacDonnell, the 

 memoralists pointed out, that "there exists at present a large 

 and increasing demand for additional accommodation for the 

 flocks and herds of the stockholders, occasioned partly by the 

 rapid increase in the numbers of sheep and cattle themselves, 

 and partly by the amount of land which has recently been 

 taken up for agricultural purposes. That the very limited 

 extent of the known and settled districts of the colony, coupled 

 with the fact that the North-west Interior comprises an area 

 of at least 150,000 square miles, offers reasonable ground for 

 hoping that a knowledge of the character of this vast and 



