PREFACE letters, journals, account books, and memoranda in his keeping, we beg to return our sincerest thanks. The same is also due to such gentlemen as the Hon. Senator R. W. Scott, Secretary of State for Canada, who kindly put at our disposal a photograph of the first British Columbian, Simon Fraser, whose portrait has hitherto never appeared in print; to Messrs. R. E. Gosnell and E. Scholefield, of Vic- toria, for the loan, by the former, of a volume of unpublished letters by the pioneer traders and the blocks of some illustrations, and for the readiness with which the latter laid open for our benefit the well-guarded riches of the Legislative Library at the provincial capital. Finally, the services of Archbishop Orth, of Victoria, call likewise for public acknowledgment, as do also those of Messrs. Nels McInnes, of Alexandria; G. Hamilton, an old Hudson’s Bay Company officer; James Bain, D.C.L., the obliging Librarian of Toronto, and last, though not least, Bernard McEvoy, the well-known poet and journalist, who so kindly lent us his valued aid in seeing the work through the press. VANCOUVER, B.C., February 12th, 1904. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. In deference to the wishes of not a few readers, the portrait of the author accompanies this new edition. The very few important misprints in the book have also been corrected and some slight additions made, and it is hoped that these little improvements will merit therefor a con- tinuation, if not an increase, of the marked favor with which it has been received by the reading public. November, 1904.