156 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



to an inch, from the observations and surveys that he liad made during 

 the previous twenty years. This map, whicli is in possession of the 

 Crown Lands Department of the Province of Ontario is entitled " Map 

 of the North West Territory of tlie Province of Canada, 17i)2-18l2, 

 embracing region between Latitudes 4.'')'^' and 56^, and Longitudes 8\° 

 and 124^ ;" " Map made for the North West Company in 1 813-1814." 



A.nd now our notice must be drawn to a close as quickly as possible, 

 as the object of this paper is to trace Mr. Thompson in his travels 

 thro'i^h the North-west rather than to write a .sketch of his life, 

 thou'^h such a sketch would undoul)tedly be of absorbing interest. 



From IS16 to 1826 he was engaged in surveying and defining the 

 Boundary Line, on the part of Great Britian, between Canada and 

 the United States, being employed in 1817 in the St. Lawrence, and 

 having proceeded westward around the shores of the great lakes, he 

 reached the Lake of the Woods in 1825. In 1834 he surveyed Lake 

 Francis. In 1837 he made a survey of the canoe I'oute f';om Lake 

 Huron to the Ottawa River and a few yeai-s later he made a survey 

 of Lake St. Peter. 



His last years were spent either in Glengarry County, Ontario, or 

 in Longueil, o|>posite Montreal, where he died on the 10th of Feb- 

 ruary, 1857, at the ripe old age of nearly 87 j^ears. His wife survived 

 him by only about three months, dying on the 7th of May of the same 

 year, and tliey are both buried iu the Mount Koyal Cemetery in 

 Montreal. 



He died in extreme poverty, and it was due to the kindness of 

 some of his old friends that he received a Christian buiial. 



H. H. Bancroft, who has collected very many interesting details 

 about the old travelers and traders in the west, but to whom the lab- 

 oi'S of this remarkable man have, up to the present, remained almost 

 entirely a mystery, gives the following account of his personal appear- 

 ance ; " David Thompson was an entirely different order of man from 

 the orthodox fur-trader. Tall and fine looking, of sandy complexion, 

 with large features, deep-set, studious eyes, high forehead and broad 



