Published in 1860, this is a two-volume account of expeditions to investigate underexplored areas of Canada and their agricultural and mineral potential. Illustrated with plates based on photographs, this work by geologist Henry Youle Hind (1823-1908) remains a classic of nineteenth-century exploration literature, intended for a broad readership.

In the middle of the nineteenth century Britain and its Canadian colony were keen to explore and survey the vast and bountiful land between the American border and the Arctic. Thus were instigated these expeditions under the stewardship of Henry Hind, a British-born Toronto teacher and geologist, whose narratives give an invaluable insight into these virgin territories prior to their colonisation; a process prompted by these popular descriptions that fired the imagination of the public.