FREQUENT demands upon my time and patience for information regarding the North-West have compelled me to put in book form the gleanings of the past ten years.
In the volume now offered to the public I have attempted to give a truthful description of the greater part of the country suitable for the habitation of civilized man. Several chapters are devoted to its Natural History and Botany. These may be considered as a compendium of our present knowledge.
In the chapters on the capabilities of the soil, stock-raising, climate, &c., I have spoken from my own knowledge and on my own authority. Where my own knowledge of any matter was considered insufficient, I have quoted from other writers of known ability and truthfulness.
Statements from actual settlers are in their own words, and as their addresses are given these can be verified. Nearly every matter pertaining to the country has been touched upon, and where thought worthy elaborated. To give the work that completeness to which it aspires appendices have been added by other writers on matters for which their knowledge specially fitted them.
As qualifications for writing the work I may mention a twenty years study, theoretical and practical, of Botany, Natural History, and Physical Geography.
After ten years study of these subjects I accompanied, as botanist, Mr. Sandford Fleming, and the author of "Ocean to Ocean," on their celebrated expedition across the continent. In the year 1875 I was appointed botanist to the expedition, which, under the leadership of the Director of the Geological Survey, explored the Peace River and Rocky Mountains Two