A railway ride through nine hundred miles of prairie enables the tourist to see towns like Brandon, Regina, and Calgary, and many smaller ones, which have rapidly become important as centres of commerce, and the growth of which indicates the steady development of the surrounding country. Calgary is the centre of vast "ranching" enterprises, the place of the vanished buffalo being taken by immense herds of cattle intended for far-distant markets. The westward horizon seems closed against further advance, guarded by the snow-crested bastions of the Rocky Mountains. But the swift-flowing BowRiver furnishes a key to the very heart of the mountains. The railway track keeps close to the river, which in fact digged out for it this "gap" and the whole pass long ages ago.③ We glance at the Kananaskis Falls, which are a prelude of wonders to come. Banff National Park has numerous attractions to induce the tourist to take a few days for the study of these majestic mountains at close quarters. As you fill eye, mind, heart, and imagination with these mountain forms and mountain masses, you feel overwhelmed with their grandeur. The six hundred miles from Calgary to Vancouver form beyond comparison the most striking and wonderful railway ride that can be enjoyed in going round the world-rushing torrents, silvery cascades falling thousands of feet down steep mountain sides; mighty rivers hurrying to the sea; slumbering lakes reflecting snowy summits; deep and dark gorges torn by raving waterfalls; beetling precipices; forests of stately pines in quiet valleys; mountain sides ploughed and scarred by avalanches; leagues of slumbering glaciers slowly grinding their way down the rocky slopes; four vast ranges to be crossed-the Rockies, the Selkirks, the Gold and the Coast ranges, each with peculiar features of grandeur and beauty, of loveliness and terror. The road follows the Fraser River along its wild ca?on for several hours. Nowhere else is such a sight or such a series of sights to be witnessed-the mighty river rushing with headlong haste, and bearing on its seething bosom all the wreckage borne by the swollen torrents from the impending cliffs overhead; the train winding its way into tunnels, out of tunnels, along the face of the solid rock, over bridges that span nameless cataracts. Even in midsummer the Fraser is full-flooded, angry, furious; and it seems a wonderful achievement of human science to wrest from its banks a safe highway for the "iron horse."The terminus on the Pacific Coast is Vancouver City, which sprang into existence in consequence of the building of the railway. Its population is now nearly 120, 000, and is growingrapidly. Here the tourist embarks on one of the splendid steamers provided by the Canadian Pacific Railway for travel and trade across the Pacific Ocean. The steamers call at Victoria, the handsome capital of British Columbia. This city, of over 80, 000 inhabitants, is on Vancouver Island, and is sixty miles distant from Vancouver City. Near Victoria is the town of Esquimalt, where there is a large dry dock, and where the British Pacific squadron usually makes its headquarters. From Vancouver to Yokohama, the chief commercial city of Japan, it is now a sail of ten days. From Japan to Shanghai, in China, a distance of 1,047 miles, is the next stage of the journey. From this port the steamer proceeds to Hong-Kong, where the Canadian Pacific Company hand over their tourists to the Peninsular and Oriental Company. The next stage in the voyage is Singapore, about five days from Hong-Kong. Then come Penang and Ceylon, Calcutta and Bombay. The Arabian Sea is crossed to Aden, through the Red Sea, through the Suez Canal, across the Mediterranean to Brindisi or Trieste, overland through Italy and France, and across the Strait of Dover to England; or by water through the Strait of Gibraltar, and up through the Atlantic to some British port. The tour may, of course, be prolonged indefinitely for rest, for pleasure, for business, or for study. Attractions abound on every hand. Happily, the modern "grand tour" is becoming more popular and more practicable every passing year.
