Greater Canada. By E. B. Osborn. (Chatto and Windas. 93.
6d.)—By "Greater Canada" Mr. Osborn means the North- west, which includes the prairie and the Yukon country, and, as it is bard to separate from the Yukon what is really part of the same geological formation, much of British Columbia. The histories and essays that the stimulus of the Imperial movement has recently given birth to, devote perhaps a few pages to the North-West and many chapters to the Eastern provinces. The East has a longer history, but its history will not expand much more; the size and the riches of the North-West are unknown, for the gold, the coal, and other minerals are of enormous extent. Ur. Osborn does not state these things, he only refers to them, and really concerns himself with the past history as represented by the Hudson's Bay Company, the romance of the old days, the present condition of the Yukon mines and placer diggings, and the prospects of irrigation in the arid belt of the prairie country. Of the irrigation schemes accomplished and in view Mr. Osborn seems hopeful, though we know how difficult it is to get farmers to combine, and so reduce the cost and secure the success of these undertakings. As to the Yukon miners' grievances he waxes righteously indignant, for the Government literally put a pro- hibitive royalty on the produce of the diggings, which has seriously thrown back the prosperity of the miner. Of these and kindred questions Mr. Osborn has a strong grasp. Few writers we have met lately seem to put the true aspect of things quite so clearly before their readers as he does, and we advise emigrants to read him. His feeling for historical events is very evident, and his chapters on the "Romance of the Fur Trade" and " The Barren Grounds" will appeal to a great many. His remarks on
second rebellion throw much light on that movement. The appendices, the Hudson's Bay Company's Charter, Indian treaties, &c., are not the least interesting part of his volume.
Previous page
