XXx1i INTRODUCTION. 
The following brief description of New Caledonia, another district 
on the west of the Rocky Mountains, is extracted from Mr. Harmon’s 
journal :— 7 
«¢ New Caledonia was first settled by the North-West Fur Com- 
pany in 1806, and may extend from north to south about five hundred 
miles, and from east to west, three hundred and fifty or four hundred. 
The post at Stuart’s Lake is nearly in the centre of it, and lies in 
54> north latitude, and 125° west longitude, In this large extent of 
country, there are not more than five thousand Indians, including 
men, women, and children. It is mountainous, but between its 
elevated parts there are pretty extensive valleys, along which pass 
innumerable small rivers and brooks. It contains a great number of 
lakes, one of which, Stuart’s Lake, is about four hundred miles in 
circumference ; and another, Nateotain Lake, is nearly twice as large. 
I am of opinion that about one-sixth part of New Caledonia is covered 
with water. There are but two large rivers. One of these, Frazer's 
River, is sixty or seventy rods wide, rises in the Rocky Mountains 
within a short distance of the source of the Peace River, and is the 
river which Sir Alexander Mackenzie followed for a considerable 
distance when he went to the Pacific Ocean in 1793, and which he 
took to be the Columbia. The other large river of New Caledonia is 
Simpson’s River, which takes its origin in Webster’s or Bear Lake, 
and, after passing through several considerable lakes, falls into 
Observatory Inlet. The mountains of New Caledonia are not to be 
compared, in point of elevation, with those that skirt the Peace River 
between Vinlay’s Branch and the Rocky Mountain portage, though 
there are some which are pretty lofty, and on the summits of one in 
particular, which is visible from Stuart’s Lake, the snow lies during the 
whole year. me 
“The weather is not severely cold, except for a few days in the 
winter, when the mercury is sometimes as low as 32° below zero of 
Fahrenheit’s thermometer. The remainder of the season is much 
milder than it is on the other side of the mountains in the same 
