PREFACE, 



The objects for which the Explorations described in these 

 volumes were undertaken, necessarily involved a more 

 minute topographical examination than would be thought- 

 necessary in a general survey of a comparatively un- 

 known country. 



It was desirable to ascertain the practicability of esta- 

 blishing an emigrant route between Lake Superior and 

 Selkirk Settlement, and to acquire some knowledge of 

 the natural capabilities and resources of the Valley of 

 Eed Eiver and the Saskatchewan. * 



.. * 



The country betweeiL^a||e,. Superior and Eed Eiver 

 is therefore minutely delineated with reference to the 

 object of the exploration of 1857, and the first four chap- 

 ters are mainly devoted to topographical details of less 

 interest to the general reader than the subsequent narra- 

 tive. The same remark applies, though in a less degree, 

 to the description of the country west of Eed Eiver, the 

 object being to show its fitness, or the contrary, for set- 

 tlement. 



The establishment of a new Colony in the Basin of 

 Lake Winnipeg, and the discovery of a Fertile Belt of 



A 3 



