Norfolk. For its size it is the most populous, but at the same time not the most prosperous of the Canadian provinces. "One bar to progress, no doubt, is its isolation. During the winter the island is often more or less shut off from the mainland by ice. This ice, however, owing to the strong current, does not form a solid bridge, but is continually moving and shaping itself into walls and barriers, which greatly impede navigation. The soil of the island is fertile, and the people are mostly employed in farming. Next to farming, shipbuilding and the fisheries are the chief industries. The popu

lation is about 95,000. The chief town and market is Charlotte Town.

2. Manitoba is the "prairie province" of Canada. It was formerly a part of the old Hudson's Bay Territory known as the Red River Country. It is probably the most valuable agricultural portion of the Dominion, but from its present isolation it is not so well appreciated as it will be, in time, when a railway joins it to the other portions of Canada. The province covers an area of about 14,000 square miles. The Red River flows northward through the middle to Lake Winnipeg. It is mostly prairie, consisting of rich alluvial soil, "so clear that a 'buggy' can be driven for 1,000 miles over fertile lands capable of growing wheat and other vegetable products, in perhaps as great perfection as any other portion of temperate north America." Along the banks of the streams wood abounds, and the natural prairie is covered with rich nutritious grasses. The summers are hot, and the winters colder even than in other parts of Canada, but both seasons are very healthy. Coal is found, and most of the rivers have gold in their sands. Winnipeg, on the Red River, forty miles from the lake, is the capital of the province. The total population in 1871 was only 12,000.

3. Westward from Manitoba the country changes. We enter a mountainous district, the eastern boundary of which is the Rocky Mountains. This is British Columbia, the Highlands of the Dominion. It embraces an area nearly as large as all the other provinces of Canada

combined, except the North-west Territories. In 1858 this district formed part of the Hudson's Bay Territory, but in that year gold was discovered, and such crowds of miners were attracted, that it was found necessary to make the district into a separate colony. At the same time the colony of Vancouver's Island was formed. In 1867 the Governments of these two colonies combined so as to form one colony, and in 1871 they joined the Canadian Confederation.

4. Vancouver's Island, and the other islands on the coast, may be looked upon simply as portions of land cut off from the mainland, for they all have similar physical features. Most of the province consists of a high broken plateau that stretches between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade and Coast ranges. This hilly plateau is dotted with numerous large lakes, and channeled by many rivers, and many of the hill sides are covered with scattered pines, but in places, especially towards the south, there are wide grassy prairies. The coast country and the western slopes of the Cascade and Coast ranges are covered with magnificent forests of the Douglas pine.

5. Most of the rivers flow westward, and are short and only navigable to where they pierce the Cascade Mountains, owing to the formation of rapids, or the swift rush of the waters through "cañons." The Fraser is the only important river. It runs north and south through the plateau between the Rocky and Cascade Mountains, and, piercing the latter, pours its waters into the lovely island-dotted archipelago the Gulf of Georgia. It was in different parts of the valley of this river that gold was first discovered.

6. Very little gold is now obtained, but coal is abundant in Vancouver's Island. The forests are the greatest source of wealth, and "lumbering" is the chief industry. The fisheries also, especially for salmon, are very valuable, but not very extensively worked.

7. The inhabitants are principally Indians, English, and Chinese; but the Indians are twice as numerous as the other two races. In 1871 the total was about 33,500. Victoria, on Vancouver's Island, is the capital

and chief sea-port. It has a population of about 4,000. New Westminster, on the Fraser river, is the chief town on the mainland.

LESSON LV.

THE DOMINION OF CANADA.-THE TERRITORIES.

1. In the year 1669 a joint-stock company of noblemen and gentlemen was formed under the influence of Prince Rupert, cousin of the king (Charles II.), for the purpose of carrying on a fur trade. The king granted to this company of "merchant adventurers trading unto Hudson's Bay" a charter, investing them with a monopoly of the furs and lands of the borders of all the streams flowing into Hudson's Bay not occupied by the subjects of any Christian Prince, and, furthermore, to make 66 war and peace with the people not subjects of any Christian Prince." The Adventurers gradually extended their enterprise until 190 years later they possessed 155 establishments, and had about 1,400 servants, besides a large number of natives, in their service. Their trading districts (thirty-eight in number) were divided into five departments, and extended over a country nearly as big as Europe, though but thinly populated by about 160,000 natives-Eskimo, Indians, and half-breeds.

2. Of course such a successful Company as this was not long in being opposed, and the story of the rival traders is not the least interesting or smallest item in the history of the Company. Chief among the great rivals of the Merchant Adventurers were the French fur-traders from Canada-Canada at this time being a settlement of French colonists-and the North-west Fur Company of Montreal. After a bitter rivalry and some bloodshed, the Merchant Adventurers joined hands with the latter Company, and Parliament granted them additional privileges.

3. The new organisation retained the name of the Hudson's Bay Company, and continued to prosper until its trading posts, called "forts," extended right across

British America, and even within the limits of the United States. In 1863 the old Company sold its right to a "New" Company of Proprietors, and this New Company in its turn (in 1869) sold their rights to the Dominion for the substantial sum of £300,000. The Company still exists as a trading Company, but except for a mile or so of land around each of their forts, they have ceased to be lords of the soil.

4. The North-west Territory now embraces all that vast region which extends from the western water-slope of Labrador on the east to the chain of Rocky Mountains on the west, and from the Arctic Ocean on the north to the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and the United States on the south. Its area is about 356,000 square miles, or about thirty times the size of Great Britain.

5. The district is eminently characterised by great rivers, lakes, and swamps. The Mackenzie, with its numerous tributaries and system of great lakes, drains the central and north-west part of the country. It is closed by ice for more than half of the year. The Great Fish River drains the north-east, but almost the whole of the southern region-that formerly known as Rupert's Land-is drained into Hudson's Bay. The Nelson and Churchill are the largest rivers of the Hudson's Bay drainage.

6. In 1876 the North-west Territory was again divided into two districts. Continue the western boundary of Manitoba northwards to the Arctic Ocean. The land on

the east is the North-west Territory proper, that on the east as far as Hudson's Bay is the new territory of Keewatin. The North-east Territory lies between Hudson's Bay and Labrador, and is chiefly valuable for the timber of its forests.

7. There are no towns in the Territories, and the seat of Government is a mere village. The chief trade is in furs, and the Company have upwards of a hundred stations, or forts, scattered over the country and used as depots for collecting the furs from the "trappers." Fort York, on Hudson's Bay, is the chief fort.

8. To enumerate the chief animals the skins of which have been employed either as articles of dress, or as materials to decorate the garments of civilised races, is not a very easy task. Now one fashion is in, now

another. In one year some particular animal is prized for its hide, and unless the fashion declines, there is every prospect of the extinction of its tribe. In a short time, however, caprice will reject it for another, and then the discarded favourite will have space to increase and multiply in the wilds which are invariably its home.