CANADIAN CONDITIONS.

2
=

but the east, which is the great wheat belt of
Canada, is now the centre of the greatest activity,
development, and rush of immigration. The prairie
country is separated from the prairie of the United
States simply by a geographical line, and is cut
off from Eastern Canada by several hundred miles
of barren and unproductive country on the north
shore of Lake Superior. The third and last division
is Eastern Canada, stretching from Ontario, the
Province of endless forest, of rich mixed farming
and growing manufactures, through Quebec to the
maritime provinces of the Atlantic seaboard. It
has the oldest civilisation, is the most densely populated,
 and though the majority of the population
is still employed in agriculture, it is here that the
manufacturing industry has taken root and is
growing rapidly. This part of Canada again
should, if geographical conditions alone had play,
be more closely allied with the Eastern States of
the Union than with Western Canada, It is
political confederation and the work of the engineer
with his railroads and canals that have welded
together the widely scattered portions and made
them into a homogeneous nation, but it was only
made possible under the gis of British rule, which
gave their inhabitants protection during their early
struggles, and autonomy, wise codes of laws, and
high ideals of justice later on,
Considerable variation in population is found
in the different parts of the country. British
Columbia has up to the present received the
B 2