PEEFACE. 



Vll 



vered in until the route is well established. The Governor 

 of British Columbia sees in " means of communication " 

 the most expeditious way of calling the inert gold wealth 

 of that distant colony into activity, and it remains for the 

 Imperial Government to determine how soon a postal 

 communication shall be established across the Basin of 

 Lake Winnipeg, and the first step taken in establishing a 

 permanent route through British Territory, between the 

 Atlantic and the Pacific. 



London, October 1860. 



