ing British Columbia into direct communication with Eastern Canada, thus consolidating the Dominion into a whole, one and indivisible, the distance from Liverpool to Japan and China has been shortened by about 1,000 miles, and it is thus of immense strategic importance, as it furnishes an alternative route to the East for troops and munitions of war, which could be conveyed from Great Britain to China and Japan quicker than by any other route, to Brisbane and Sydney as quickly as by the Suez Canal, and to India in a very few days more. There are large coalfields near, and graving docks both at Halifax and at Esquimalt available for British fleets.

The main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway starts from QUEBEC and runs through Montreal, Ottawa, Fort William (on Lake Superior), to WINNIPEG, the half-way house of the Dominion; thence through the Fertile Belt, vià Regina and Calgary, and across the Rocky Mountains by the Kicking Horse Pass, to its terminal port of VANCOUVER. An important line runs from Halifax to Montreal, and from Montreal to Detroit, and thence to Chicago. Other important branches are from Sudbury to Sault Sainte Marie, and from Winnipeg to Emerson for St. Paul and Chicago. In Manitoba, several lines radiate from Winnipeg. The railway from Regina on the main line to Prince Albert on the Saskatchewan, 234 miles in length, is open, and will have a branch to Battleford. An important branch connects Pasqua, near Regina, with St. Paul and Minneapolis. Railways from Calgary to Edmonton, in the north, and to Macleod in the south, are also open. Several short lines in British Columbia serve the various mining districts. The North-Western Coal Company's railway from Dunmore on the main line to Lethbridge has been extended to the frontier of Montana, thus making the coalfields of Alberta the nearest source of supply for the mining industries of Helena, Butte City, &c. Two new Trans Canadian lines are now being constructed, the Canadian-Northern, and the Grand Trunk Pacific. The Canadian-Northern is already open between Port Arthur and Edmonton; but the Grand Trunk Pacific, which will run between Moncton, N.B., and Port Rupert on the Pacific Coast, is only started.

In Vancouver Island, a short line-the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railwayconnects the naval station of Esquimalt with VICTORIA, the capital of British Columbia, and with the Nanaimo and Wellington coalfields.

... Canada is said to have been discovered in 1497 by Sebastian Cabot, but its history dates only from 1534, when the French took possession of the country. The first settlement- -Quebec-was founded by them in 1608. A series of wars, between the English settlers in the New England States and the French Canadians, culminated in 1759 in the capture of Quebec by Wolfe, and the whole territory became, subsequently, a British possession by the Treaty of Paris (1763). Nova Scotia was ceded in 1713 by the Treaty of Utrecht-the Provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island being afterwards formed out of it. British Columbia was formed into a Crown Colony in 1858, having previously been a part of the Hudson Bay Territory, and was united with Vancouver Island in 1866. By the British North America Act, passed by the British Parlia ment in 1867, the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united under the title of the DOMINION OF CANADA, and provision was made in the Act for the admission, at any subsequent period, of the other Provinces and Territories of British North America. The Province of Manitoba was formed in 1870, and, with the remainder of the Hudson Bay Territory (now called the North-West Territory), was admitted into the Dominion. British Columbia joined the Confederation in 1871, and Prince Edward Island in 1873, thus uniting, under one Federal Government and Parliament, the whole of the British Possessions in North America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, with the single exception of the island of Newfoundland, which still remains a separate colony.

1. A new railway route has been opened up, vid the Crow's Nest Pass and the Kootenay region, to Vancouver.

GOVERNMENT: The Government of Canada is Federal. The executive authority of and over the Dominion is vested in the King, in whose name the Governor-General, aided by a Privy Council, carries on the government. The legislative power is vested in a Parliament, consisting of an Upper House, called the Senate, and a House of Commons. The political capital and seat of the Federal Government is OTTAWA.1

The ordinary public revenue amounts to over 16 millions, and the ordinary public expenditure to 13 millions. The public debt, which amounts to nearly 76 millions sterling, has been chiefly incurred in the construction of railways, canals, and other public works.

The garrison at Halifax and Esquimault now consists of Canadian troops, and there are now no Imperial troops in the Dominion. The colonial forces comprise a permanent and volunteer militia of about 46,000 men. The total number of men liable to be called on for active service exceeds a million.

The members of the Senate of the Dominion Parliament are nominated for life by the Governor-General. There are 87 Senators, namely, 24 from the Province of Ontario, 24 from Quebec, 10 from Nova Scotia, 10 from New Brunswick, 4 from Manitoba, 3 from British Columbia, 4 from Prince Edward Island, 4 from Saskatchewan, and 4 from Alberta.

The Canadian House of Commons consists of 214 members-one for every 22,683 of the population-elected every 5 years at longest: Ontario has 86 members, Quebec 65, Nova Scotia 18, New Brunswick 13, British Columbia 7, Prince Edward Island 4, Manitoba 10, Saskatchewan 4, and Aibe, ta 4.2

Each of the Provinces forming the Dominion has a separate Parliament, with a Lieutenant-Governor, appointed by the Governor-General, at the head of the Executive.

The Provincial Parliaments of Quebec and Nova Scotia consist of two Chambers-a Legislative Council and a Legislative Assembly; but Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Manitoba, and British Columbia have each only one Chamber-a Legislative Assembly. The Provincial Governments have full powers to regulate their own local affairs, but all matters affecting the Dominion as a whole are dealt with by the Central Govern. ment at Ottawa, which is supreme. Unlike the States in the Union to the south, the Provinces have no power to organize or maintain any military force, nor have they final legislation, as the Dominion Government can veto their

acts.

... We now proceed to describe separately the various Provinces and Territories included in the Dominion of Canada, and these will be dealt with very briefly in the following order :-(1) The Maritime Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island; (2) Quebec and Ontario; (3) Manitoba and the North-West; and (4) British Columbia.

1. Professor Selwyn points out that "under the United States' system the Central Government is the delegate of the sovereign States, whilst under the Canadian Confederation the Imperial Government is supreme, and has delegated to the Dominion

and Provincial Parliaments a limited sovereignty, with control in the departments entrusted to them respectively."

2. These numbers indicate the relative import ance of the several Provinces.

THE MARITIME PROVINCES.

The MARITIME PROVINCES of Canada include Nova Scotia, the most easterly Province of the Dominion, and the adjoining Provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

NOVA SCOTIA.

The Province of NOVA SCOTIA1 includes the peninsula of Nova Scotia and the island of Cape Breton, which together have an area of over 21,068 square miles-one-fifth of which is covered with lakes and small rivers—and a population of 460,000.

Nova Scotia is united to New Brunswick by the narrow and fertile Isthmus of Chignecto, and is divided from Prince Edward Island by Northumberland Strait, and from Cape Breton Island by the Gut of Canso. Cape Breton Island' is nearly bisected by a remarkable fiord, the Bras d'Or. The coasts of both divisions are indented by numerous inlets, some of which form magnificent harbours.

Both Nova Scotia and Cape Breton contain an abundance of valuable timber, but the Province is chiefly famous for its coal mines. Iron ore and gypsum are plentiful, and some gold is produced. About 5 million acres (out of a total acreage of 13 millions) are fit for tillage, and the soil in the western portion of the Province, "especially in the Annapolis Valley and in the famous Basin of Minas, is unsurpassed for fertility, owing to the rich marine deposits left on the shoreland by the tides of the Bay of Fundy." Fruit-growing, dairy-farming, and stock-breeding are gradually progressing, but the chief industries at present are mining, lumbering, and fishing. The climate is not so rigorous as that of Canada Proper, and is remarkably healthy. Halifax and the other ports on the eastern coast are open all the year round, while the St. Lawrence to the north is annually frozen over. The people are mainly of British or French descent, but there are a few thousand coloured people and some two thousand Indians.

The Provincial Government is administered by a Lieutenant-Governor, aided by an Executive and a Legislative Council and a Legislative Assembly. The principal towns are Halifax and Sydney. HALIFAX (42), the capital of the Province, is distinguished chiefly for its fine harbour and as the principal winter port of Canada, with all parts of which it is connected by rail. It is also the chief British naval station, and is garrisoned by Canadian troops. Sydney (10), the chief town of Cape Breton Island, has a considerable trade and extensive manufactures of iron and steel.5

Nova Scotia was the first settlement in America, and, with the neighbouring islands and New Brunswick, formed the famous colony of Acadia or Acadie, immortalised by Longfellow in his exquisite poem-"Evangeline." "He touched the Grand Pré and made every meadow and dyke beautiful with a new beauty.

1. Nova Scotia was discovered by Cabot in 1497. and was colonised by the French. It was taken or retaken four times by the English, and was finally ceded to England by the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713, 2. Across the Isthmus of Chignecto (17 miles in width), the Marine Transport Railway--and the first railway of the kind in the world-connects the Bay of Fundy with Northumberland Strait and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Vessels up to 2,000 tons are raised 40 feet by hydraulic lifts to the level of the railway, carried along on trucks, and let down again by the same means into the water at the other end.

3. Cape Breton Island was also discovered by Cabot in 1497. The fortress of Louisburg, on the south-east coast, was taken by the English in 1758, and the island was finally ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris, 1763.

4. Halifax is 2,463 miles from Liverpool, and letters are 8 to 10 days in transit.

5. The fisheries of Nova Scotia employ 27,000 hands, and the value of the catch is double that of New Brunswick or of British Columbia, and three or four times as large as that of any other of the Provinces in the Dominion.

Every year tourists flock to visit Evangeline's country, and to see the descendants of the grand old settlers who raise their crops round the basin of Minas, and build ships from the forest primeval' on Cape Blomidon, and not only build them, but own and sail them on every sea.' In shipbuilding, indeed, Nova Scotia has, in times past, eclipsed all other countries in proportion to population, and the Province has immense facilities for becoming a great manufacturing country, especially in the abundance of coal and iron and boundless water-power.

NEW BRUNSWICK.

NEW BRUNSWICK1 borders on the south-western side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and is bounded on the south by the Bay of Fundy, on the east by the State of Maine, and on the north by the extreme south-eastern portion of the Province of Quebec. The Province has an area of 27,910 square miles, and a population of about 332,000.

The boundary between New Brunswick and Quebec is formed by the River Restigouche, which flows into Chaleur Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. On the west, the River St. John, a straight line from the Grand Falls of the St. John to the Chiputneticook Lakes, and thence the River St. Croix, which flows into Passamaquoddy Bay (an inlet of the Bay of Fundy), divide this Province from the State of Maine. On the south, the boundary is formed by the Bay of Fundy and Chignecto Bay, and a line drawn across the Isthmus of Chignecto, which unites New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

The chief physical feature of New Brunswick is the River St. John (400 miles long), which is navigable for small vessels to FREDERICTON (85 miles inland), and for boats to the Grand Falls, 200 miles from the sea. The valley of the St. John forms a narrow and, on the whole, level plain, rising in the east into a plateau of considerable height, which extends to the level belt along the east North of the uplands, the country is drained by the Miramichi (which enters Miramichi Bay) and the Restigouche.

coast.

Both the uplands and valleys are covered with magnificent forests of pine and other woods, and the produce of the forest forms the chief export. Agriculture is also much attended to in the lower districts-the intervale lands along the rivers are extraordinarily fertile-but, next to the forests, the chief wealth of the Province lies in its valuable fisheries, in which over 10,000 men are employed. Shipbuilding is also an important industry.

The people are mainly of British descent, but there are many descendants of the old French settlers and a few Indians. The Government is administered by a Lieutenant-Governor, aided by an Executive Council, and a Legislative Council and Assembly.

FREDERICTON3 (8), the

The chief towns are Fredericton and St. John. capital of New Brunswick, stands on the River St. John, 80 miles above its mouth; but the town of St. John (50, including Portland), at the outlet of the river into the Bay of Fundy, is much more populous and commands the chief share in the maritime trade of the Province. Both St. John and Fredericton are connected by rail with all parts of Canada and the New England States.

1. New Brunswick was colonised by the French quently from forest fires. The great fire, in 1825, In 1672, and formed part of the French colony of devastated a district 100 miles in length and de Acaia until 1713, when it was ceded to England.stroyed many towns. One large fire at Miramichi 2. Only about one-sixth part of the cultivable extended over an area 140 miles in length by 70 portion of New Brunswick is cleared, and the whole miles in brea:lth. country north and east of Aroostook, with the exception of a few small settlements, is one huge fore, stretching right up into Quebec. Like the adjoining provinces, New Brunswick suffers fre

3. Fredericton is 2,748 miles from Liverpool via Cape Race, or 2.535 via the Strait of Belle Isle and Chatham, N.B.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND1 is within the southern portion of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and lies opposite the shores of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, from which it is divided by Northumberland Strait. The island, which is 130 miles long and 34 miles broad, is the smallest of the Canadian Provinces, being a little over 2,000 square miles in area with a population of 103,000.

The coasts of Prince Edward Island are so deeply indented that no part of it is more than 8 miles from the sea. The interior is, on the whole, level and is still largely covered with forests. The soil of the cleared districts is very fertile, and agriculture is the chief industry. Unlike the adjoining Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, its mineral productions are unimportant. The fisheries, however, are valuable, and large numbers of horses and cattle are reared. The climate is extremely healthy, and it is no unusual thing on this favoured island to find people who have reached the age of a hundred years, without having known a day's illness.

The Provincial Government is similar to that of the other Provinces of Canada. A railway runs right through the island connecting all the chief places with Charlottetown (13), the capital and chief port.

QUEBEC.

The Province of QUEBEC includes that portion of the St. Lawrence valley which is towards the mouth of the river and below the junction of the Ottawa. On the north, this Province is bounded by James Bay, the East Main River, and the Esquimaux River; and on the west by the Ottawa River, which divides it from the Province of Ontario. South of the St. Lawrence, the boundary between Quebec and the United States is marked partly by the 45th parallel, the Green Mountains, and the rivers St. John and St. Croix. In the extreme east, the River Restigouche and Chaleur Bay divide it from New Brunswick,

The arca is over 341,756 square miles, and the perimeter of the whole Province is about 3,000 miles, 740 miles of which are sea-coast and 2,260 miles land irontier. The island of Anticosti-a large uncultivated island 145 miles long and 30 miles broad, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with the Magdalen Islands, a barren group also in the Gulf, 50 miles north of Prince Edward Island, the Isle of Orleans and Montreal Island in the St. Lawrence, Allumette and Calumet in the Ottawa, &c., belong to Quebec. The population of this vast Province is only about 1 millions, an average of only 5 persons per square mile. The great natural features of Quebec are the St. Lawrence and its tributaries, of which the principal are the Ottawa, St. Maurice, and Saguenay on the left bank, and the Richelieu, St. Francis, and Chaudière on the right. The northern affluents either rise in, or are connected with, a labyrinth of lakes, of which the most extensive is Lake St. John, drained by the Saguenay. Of the southern tributaries, the Richelieu rises in Lake Champlain, which is within 1. Prince Edward Island was discovered by Cabot | the Dominion, 1873. in 1497; taken by the English, 1758; tually ceded 2. The Province of Quebec was formerly caled to Great Britain at the peace of 1763; admitted into Canada East or Lower Canada