the Canadian Pacific Railway over the Rockies, breaking our
journey and holding sittings at Vernon, in the Okanagan Valley, at
Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec, devoting
several days each to many of these places. Whilst in British Columbia we
also visited the lower part of the Okanagan Valley, and whilst in the
prairie provinces stopped at Medicine Hat (where the gas lamps burn day
and night because it would cost more in wages than the cost of the gas to
employ a man to turn them out). In Ontario we visited North Bay, Fort
William, Port Arthur, Guelph and Niagara Falls. In addition some of us
travelled through the mining districts of British Columbia, and also
inspected the asbestos mines at Thetford, in the Province of Quebec.

This is the bald outline of our long and interesting journeys, which by
land and sea comprehended some 70,000 miles. How bald it is I keenly
feel, and it would afford me more pleasure than I can tell to give some
account of our wonderful experiences--of the delight of sailing in
southern seas; of the vast regions of the mainland of Australia; of the
marvels of its tropical parts; of the entrancing beauty of New Zealand
and Tasmania; of the wonders of Canada, the variety of its natural
productions, its magnificent wheat-growing areas; of the charm of South
Africa with its glorious climate and its beautiful rolling veldt. What a
memory it all is! Tranquil seas, starlit nights, the Southern Cross,
noble forests, glorious mountains, mighty rivers, boundless plains; young
vigorous communities under sunny skies, with limitless space in which to
expand. I should love to enlarge on these things, but a sense of
proportion and propriety restrains my pen.

In all the Dominions we were received with the warmest of welcomes and
most generous hospitality--governments, municipalities and corporations
vieing with each other in doing us honor, whilst private individuals
loaded us with kindness. It was clear that our mission was popular, and
clear too that affection for the old country was warm and lively. I
cannot attempt to narrate all that was done for us--banquets, receptions,
excursions, garden parties, concerts--time and space will not allow. But
I cannot be altogether silent about the splendid special train which the
South African Government placed at our disposal from the time we left
Capetown until we reached Johannesburg, which (taking evidence at the
various pl