Some distance from the city, on the south shore of Lake Winnipeg, is a colony of Icelanders. These people were among the first of the immigrants to western Canada. They were brought in by commissioners of the Dominion government when it was thought that none but those accustomed to the cold of the arctic region could withstand the climate. A colony of several thousand was settled along the shores of the lake. For a time they made their living by fishing, much of their catch in the winter being taken through holes in the ice. The Icelanders intermarried with the Canadians, and they are now well scattered over the province. Some of them are lawyers, others are teachers, and many of the girls have gone into domestic service. The largest Icelandic church in the world is in Winnipeg, and periodicals are published here in the Icelandic language. Winnipeg has many Mennonites and Russians. I saw a Russian church in my drive about the city. The Catholic population is large, the French Canadians belonging to that denomination. Outside the city are a Trappist monastery and a Trappist nunnery. Almost every denomination of Protestants has its meeting house, and the Jews have a synagogue. I like the Winnipeggers. They are strenuous, enthusiastic, and happy. They are “boosters,” claiming that their city has the best climate on earth, and that they would not exchange the biting winter winds of the prairie for the gentle zephyrs of Florida or California. Just now every one who can afford it wears a fur overcoat, many of which are made of coon skins. The fur of the coon is long and thick and the coat almost doubles the size of the wearer. It makes him look at least a foot broader. Some of the fur caps add six inches in height. Indeed, the town seems peopled with furry giants, who just now are breathing out steam, for the frost congeals the air from their nostrils so that it rises like the vapour of an incipient volcano. The women here also dress in furs. Their cheeks are red from Jack Frost’s nipping cold, and the ozone in the air paints their eyes bright. When they begin to talk one knows at once that they are the wives and the daughters of the giants beside them, for they sing the praises of Winnipeg as loud as the men. Until 1912 Manitoba contained only half as much land as it does to-day. It was almost a perfect square and was known as the “Postage Stamp” province. Then a section of the Northwest Territories was added to it, and now it is as large as North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, and Indiana combined. From the Lake of the Woods and the Ontario boundary it extends westward to Saskatchewan, while from the boundary of North Dakota and Minnesota it stretches northward for a distance almost as long as from New York to Chicago.