Certainly, to the old people, there was a feeling of
freedom from care, as of its being a lotus-eater's land--an Utopia; an
Eden, before sin entered, and before "man's disobedience brought death
into the world and all our woe."
We are not disposed to press Milton's metaphor any further in regard to
the disturbers who came in upon Frank Larned's peaceful scene.
The time for opening up Rupert's Land was approaching. The agitation of
the people themselves, the constant petitions to Great Britain and
Canada called for it. The set time had come; 1857 was a red letter year
in this advance. In that year the British Parliament appointed a large
and powerful committee to investigate all phases of Rupert's Land, its
history; government; geological, climatic, physical, agricultural,
social, and religious conditions. The blue book of that year is a marvel
of intelligent work. In this same year the British Government sent out
the Palliser-Hector Expedition to Rupert's Land to obtain expert
evidence in regard to all these points being considered by the
Parliamentary Committee. Also in this year the Canadian Government
dispatched the Dawson-Hind Expedition to obtain detailed information as
to the physical and soil conditions of the prairie region, and it is
said that the report of this party of explorers is one of the most
accurate, sane, and useful accounts ever given of this prairie country.
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