Sbpt. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 
BRITISH COLUMBIA. 51 
little likely to encourage its speedy development ; and, coupling, with 
these drawbacks, the circumstance that settlement is but slowly creeping 
northward from the southern bounds of the colony, it may fairly be 
inferred that the region north of the 54th parallel presents a very slight 
prospect of early occupation. On this account, and in the absence of 
fuller and more perfect information than is at present to be had, the 
whole country north of this line will be purposely omitted from con- 
sideration in the following remarks upon the interior. 
Looking inland, then, from the sea, the southern and explored part 
of the colony is found to be natural!} 7 divided into three great zones, or 
belts, of nearly equal areas, differing in their physical features, as well 
as in soil, climate, and vegetation ; and bounded by lines generally 
parallel in direction to the coast on the one hand, and the great back- 
bone of the continent on the other. The first great belt may be defined 
as extending north-westerly from the international boundary line to the 
54th parallel, and inland to a distance of 120 miles from the coast. The 
area comprised within these limits is almost wholly occupied by a com- 
bination of the great Cascade range of Oregon and Washington Territories. 
Indeed, the estuary of the Fraser in the extreme south, where the hills 
recede to a distance of forty miles from the coast, is the only patch of 
any size that can fairly claim the character of lowland and level country. 
Elsewhere, the Cascade range, with its countless spurs and outlying 
ridges, occupies the whole of this broad strip of territory, and forms 
a massive sea-wall of pine-clad mountains, descending, as has been de- 
scribed, almost perpendicularly to the very shores of the inlets. The 
principal crest of this chain attains to an elevation of from 5,000 to 
6,000 feet above the sea, at a mean distance of seventy miles from the 
coast. It is faintly marked by peaks rising but little above the neigh- 
bouring ranges. The magnificent isolated peaks, which, to the south of 
the boundary line, tower up to altitudes of 15,000 and even 20,000 feet, 
and serve to indicate distinctly the general bearing of the range, are 
wholly wanting in British territory. The western slope, open to mild 
winds and genial showers from the Pacific, is everywhere clothed with 
pine forests of remarkable grandeur, stretching from the valleys to 
almost the highest hill-tops, and concealing at the lower elevations a 
massive, impenetrable undergrowth of deciduous bushes. On the oppo- 
site slope the climate is drier, the forests are less dense, and the pines 
of smaller proportions ; and, as we approach the eastern limits of the 
range, underwood becomes more rare, the general profile less rugged and 
abrupt, and the country begins to assume a more attractive aspect. 
But it is to be feared that, throughout the coast-range, no portion of 
the soil holds out any hope of extensive agricultural improvement ; 
with few exceptions, the rivers which drain the hill-system are short 
and impetuous, and, pouring down the western slopes, find their way 
through inconsiderable valleys to the coast, and discharge themselves at 
the heads of the inlets. Even the larger streams, which, rising in the 
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