320 R. Brown on the supposed absence of the 
Between 1863 and 1866—nearly four years—I traveled on 
foot and in canoes, through the forests, over the mountains, on 
the rivers, the lakes and the prairies of the whole of the region 
indicated, as Commander and Government Agent of the First 
Vancouver Exploring Expedition, and as Botanist of the Brit- 
ish Columbia Expedition. Again I have three times visited 
the Arctic Regions, passing a whole summer in Greenland, 
mission, made many observations on this subject; and subse- 
_ quently, in 1862, ina Prize Essay on Vancouver Island, its resour- 
ces and capabilities as a Colony (Victoria, 1862), Dr. Charles 
Forbes, R.N., published similar facts, which my own researches 
have only tended to confirm and enlarge, over a greater area. 
Dr. Forbes showed, what is familiar to every one visiting that 
section, that in the whole southern portion of the Island, though 
from the open prairie-like character of some portions of the 
