344 Sir R. I. Murchison on the Palliser Expedition. 
Whether one of the heights called Mounts Brown* and Hook- 
er by Mr. Douglas, in honour of our eminent botanical contem- 
poraries, be still higher than the Mount Murchison of Palliser 
and Hector, it is certain that the chain diminishes rapidly in its 
trend from this yey cluster to the north. We know, indeed, 
that Mackenzie, the first great explorer of those regions, passed 
through the ee in north latitude 56°, at a comparatively low- 
er level. Again, we further know that in proceeding northwards 
these mountains dwindle into insignificance before they reach the 
Arctic Ocean. 
It wall be recollected es seven years ago Captain M. H. 
Synge of the Royal Engineers, who had been quartered in the 
Canadas and had made scaamione into the adjacent western | 
territories, being deeply imbued with the importance of the orig- 
inal observations of Mackenzie, and attracted by his glowing 
description, made a warm appeal in favor of the establishment of a 
line of communication between the Atlantic and Pacific, by pass- 
ing from Lake Athabasca and the Peace River, thence traversing 
the Rocky Mountains on the parallel followed by Mackenzie. 
But that scheme must now, I apprehend, give way before the 
(RE TR Ee ape aN tenes a ee oe Ree ee oe 
Colonies that it was not i. to be looked upon as an official communication until sanc- 
tioned by. a tain Pallise: These last-mentioned documents, Be seem to me 
gripes) have not yet been laid before the Socie The public will 
soon ss “a excellent map by Arrowsmith, in which all ea new discoveries are 
ntitled ‘The Provinces of British Columbia, Vancouver 
Tsland, bi potion of the United States and Hudson Bay Territories. 
ecently informed by my friend the Right Hon. Edward Ellice that the geo- 
between Hudson Bay and Lake Suprior on the east, and the ific on the west ! 
It appears that the last six years of his labors were spent on the west side of the 
Mountains ; it being pole to note that his MS. maps were all made from 
survey, corrected by numerous astronomical o ions. affiu- 
ent of the Frazer , Rivers in British Columbia, “the Thompson,” justly bears the name 
of this great but little-known geographical explorer; Pee pcabenide trast that there 
is no eeriation, for a report which has been spread, that to ane 
r appe cage Pee deeoerarte us ous man. 
‘wits seagetd : 
North American Boun antianee, and was sate of eighty 
ears of age when he died in Canada. In the words of Mr. Arrowsmith, “he has 
ind him who i is ten et uain 
‘P! ot snow 
its dealing w: a a a eye | — set ag mpent try 
to have maintained the attachment of these poor people, who under such into 
, instead of falling before the white man as in other 
jm. ee » & 2 ARAN £...4 Lewk 
+ ‘Thin is.the preceding Repott. 
