(24) "The flight of a quarter of a million of inhabitants of these islands to distant quarters of the globe, in 1847, was one of the most marvellous events in the annals of human migration. It is nevertheless a fact, that the migration of this year is nearly equal to that of the last."--(_The Times, 1848._) "Nor is there any reason to believe that 1849 will witness a diminution in the rate at which this extraordinary process of depletion is going forward; on the contrary, there is every symptom of its probable acceleration."--(_Morning Chronicle, 1849, on Irish Emigration._) (25) A few extracts concerning them will be interesting. "The chain of the Rocky Mountains, after being considerably depressed in latitude 46 deg. and 48 deg., attains a much higher elevation from latitude 48 deg. to 49 deg., and, continuing in a westerly direction, it separates the affluents of the Saskatchewan and M'Kenkie from those of Columbia or Oregon and other rivers which flow into the Pacific. These mountains appear to decrease again from about 58 deg. to 62 deg. northern latitude, where probably they do not exceed 4000 feet in height; and, still further north, are estimated at less than 2000 feet, between the latitudes of 42 deg. and 58 deg. north. Several peaks rise far above the snow line. "Wherever the head waters of the rivers, on the east and west sides of the Rocky Mountains, approach nearest each other, there have been found passes through them. Of these, perhaps the most important is the south pass. Between Mount Brown and Mount Hooker, in latitude 52 1/2, another very important pass, offering great facility of communication between the Oregon and Canada, by the waters of the Columbia and the north branches of the Saskatchewan, which, flowing into Lake Winnipeg, gives easy access to Hudson's Bay and the great lakes. "Among the most awful features of mountain scenery lies the great northern outlet of the territory, resembling the southern in many of its features, with even more sublimity of character, but especially in having the sources of several great rivers within a very short distance of each other. Here are the head waters of the Athabasca and north tributaries of the Saskatchewan, which falls into Lake Winnipeg; and on the east the northern waters of the Columbia, and the eastern branch of Frazer's River, near a deep cliff in the mountains, which has been called by British traders the Committee's Punch Bowl."--_Rev. C. G. Nicolay._