_The Mountains of Western Canada._--Reference has already been made to the differences in the nomenclature applied to the portions of the Pacific mountains on opposite sides of the United States-Canadian boundary, and at present this lack of harmony cannot be adjusted. As is well known, the great Pacific cordillera crosses the boundary nearly at right angles, and there is no abrupt change in the topography of the land. From the western border of the Great plateaus to the Pacific, between the forty-fifth and fifty-sixth parallels, as stated by the Geological Survey of Canada, the cordillera has an average breadth of about 400 miles, and is composed of four great mountain chains, named in their order from east to west, the Rocky, Gold, Coast, and Vancouver Mountains. These four great chains are nearly parallel and have irregular northwest and southeast trends. The Canadian Rockies rise abruptly from Great plateaus in which the rocks are nearly horizontal, and have a complex structure, due to the folding and other disturbances that have affected the strata. Deep dissection by stream erosion has occurred, as is the case generally throughout the Pacific cordillera, and the peaks and ridges remaining are remarkable for their grandeur. Although less elevated than the higher portions of the same great belt in the United States, many of the summits are from 8,000 to 10,000, and, as reported, in a few instances reach 13,000 feet in height, while the passes range is elevated from about 4,000 to 7,000 feet. The western border of the Rocky Mountain range is well defined for a distance of some 700 miles to the northward of the international boundary by a remarkably straight, wide valley, which is occupied by the head waters of several large rivers, namely, the Kootenay, Columbia, Fraser, Parsnip, and Findley. To the west of the great valley just referred to rises the Gold system, composed principally of the Selkirk, Purcell, Columbia, and Caribou Ranges. It is in this rugged region that some of the most remarkable of the splendid scenery of western Canada occurs. To the west of the Gold system is a broad region of valleys and lesser mountains, known as the interior plateau of British Columbia, which is a northward extension of the Great Basin region of the United States. The breadth of this belt of comparatively low country is about 100 miles. Like the similar region in Washington and Oregon, it is without forests, but favourable as a grazing country. In part it is occupied by extensive lava-flows, similar to the Columbia River lava of the northwestern part of the United States.