VIII PREFACE. 



1879 and the two following years, I made extensive joui-neys through 

 both the pi'airie region and the wooded country to the north, as far as 

 Lat. 59°, including the whole length of the great Peace Eiver. M. 

 Bourgeau, while botanist to Captain Palliser's expedition in 1857-58, 

 made numerous traverses of the country boi-dering on the Saskatch- 

 ewan and southward. Douglas and Drummond explored the whole 

 country from the Eed and Assinlboine Eivers, by the North Saskatch- 

 ewan and Athabasca to the Eocky Mountains. The former passed 

 across the Eocky Mountains by the Athabasca Pass, and examined the 

 entire length of the valley of the Columbia, while the latter collected 

 in the main range of the Eocky Mountains, between Lat. 52°-56°, and 

 particularly in that part about the head of Smoky Eiver, a tributary of 

 the Peace. Sir John Eichardson and other Arctic explorers noted^and 

 collected the plants of the wooded country from Hudson's Bay to the 

 Arctic Sea, its coasts and islands, including the country north of the 

 Saskatchewan and the whole valley of the Mackenzie. 



Our knowledge of the Eocky Mountain region proper is still, how- 

 ever, very imperfect. Dr. G. M. Dawson has examined the region in 

 the vicinity of the South Kootanie Pass, near the 49th parallel, and 

 traversed the mountains by the Pine Pass, in Lat. 55°. In September, 

 1879, I ascended the Bow Eiver Pass for a few miles, and obtained 

 some knowledge of its alpine flora. Bourgeau also spent some time, 

 in August, 1858, in the Bow Eiver Pass and on the adjacent mountains, 

 and made extensive collections. Douglas' and Drummond's explora- 

 tions have already been referred to, but the latter may be said to have 

 given us the most valuable information, as he spent a whole summer 

 in the mountains. I examined the Peace Eiver Pass and ascended 

 Mount Selwyn at its western end, in 1875, but owing to the loss of the 

 collections the i-esults obtained were not satisfactory. 



British Columbia, also, still requires much attention. Besides the 

 eai-ly explorers mentioned by Hooker, the following are our sources of 

 information : During the early part of 1875 I made very extensive 

 collections on Vancouver Island near Victoria, and all the way, by the 

 valley of the Pi-aser, from the coast to Fort MacLeod at the western 

 base of the Eocky Mountains, in Lat, 55°. Dr. G. M. Dawson has 

 collected on Vancouver Island, in the valley of the Fraser, and in 

 the country lying west of it to the Coast Eanges, in 1875-76. In 

 the summer of 1877 in southern British Columbia on the Cascades and 

 dry valleys lying to.the east. The summer of 1878' was spent by him 

 in the Queen Charlotte Islands, and in 1879 a traverse was made to the 

 Eocky Mountains by way of the Skeena. A. J. Hill, C.B., has added 

 considerably to our knowledge of the flora of the Fraser and Thompson 

 Eivers, during the summers of 1880-81-82. 



