CANADA 312 CANADA longr-time predecessors were giants. These were considered aborigines, and appear to be of several races, as Ana- kim, Rephaim, Emim, Suzites, Zamsum- mim, Avim, and Horim. From earliest historical times, however, the inhabit- ants were of some incoming Semitic stock, variously named, and only hazily distinguishable now. At first they were sometimes all grouped as Amorites, but at a later date seven tribes were listed: Hittites, Canaanites, Amorites, Gergaz- ites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Hivites. When the Israelites displaced them these peoples were at an advanced stage of civilization. The Hittites founded an empire to the N., and much is now known about them. See Hittites. Still later there were Canaanites alongside of or intermingled with the Hebrews. The Phoenicians were of Canaanitish origin, and occupied the coast plain to the N.; the PTiilistines, of the same general or- igin, on the coast to the S. CANADA, DOMINION OF, a Federal Union of Provinces and Territories, comprising all the British possessions in North America, excepting Newfound- land; bounded by the Arctic, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans, and the United States, including Alaska. The area in square miles of individual Provinces and Territories, since the reallotment in 1912, is as follows: Prince Edward Island, 2,184; Nova Scotia, 21,428; New Brunswick, 27,895; Quebec, 706,834; Ontario, 407,262; Manitoba, 251,832; Saskatchewan, 251,700; Alberta, 255,- 285; British Columbia, 355,855; Yukon District, 207,076; Northwest Territori s, 1,242,224; total, 3,729,665. Pop. (1911) 7,206,643; (1919, est.) 8,835,602; capital, Ottawa. Topography. — Extending over so large a territory, Canada presents a great variety of surface. Along the Atlantic coast is a range of hills extending in- land from 15 to 20 miles. About 60 miles inland, the Cobequid mountains, some reaching an altitude of 1,100 feet, extend in a line parallel to the coast from the Bay of Fundy, through Nova Scotia to the Strait of Canso. Nova < Scotia is a long fertile plain. A third mountain range crosses New Brunswick from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the State of Maine. An extensive plateau intervenes between these mountains and the Cobequids. The central part of the Dominion consists of a vast undulating plain, extending W. to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. This section includes the W. half of Assiniboia and the whole of Alberta, and consists of three prairie plateaus. The E., 800 feet high, known as the Red River Valley and Lake Win- nipeg region, contains about 7,000 square miles of valuable wheat land. The middle plateau has an area of 105,- 000 square miles, altitude, 1,600 feet, and includes the Qu'Appelle and Assini- boia river valleys. The third plateau extends 450 miles E. from the Rocky Mountains, and has an average altitude of 3,000 feet. The Rocky Mountains are the most prominent physical features of the Dominion, and stretch from Alaska to California, some of the peaks attain- ing a height of 16,000 feet. Among the highest are Mt. Hooker, 16,760 feet; Mt. Brown, 16,000 feet, and Mt. Murchi- son, 15,700 feet. The Canadian Pacific railroad crosses the Rockies through the Kicking Horse Pass, just S. of Mt. Mur- chison, at an altitude of 5,300 feet. Be- tween these mountains and the Pacific coast are the Selkirk Mountains, the Gold Range, a central plateau, and the Cascade or Coast Range. The Cascade or Coast Range is a continuation of the Sierra Nevada of California, reaches an altitude of 7,000 feet, and contains many extinct volcanoes. The Selkirk range has a glacier region of greater extent than that of Switzerland. The coasts of the Dominion have numerous indenta- tions, the largest of which are the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Gulf of Georgia, the Bay of Fundy, and the Bay of Cha- leurs. In the N. are many large bays or inland seas, of which Baffin Bay on the N. E., and Hudson Bay, near the center of the Dominion, are the largest. The lakes of Canada are the most extensive in the world; besides the Great Lakes, Superior, Huron, Michigan, St. Clair, Erie, and Ontario, there are many large lakes in the Northwest Teiritories and Manitoba. Among these are the Great Slave, 12,000 square miles; Great Bear, 10,000 square miles; Winnipeg, 8,500 square miles; Athabasca, 2,000 square miles; and Manitoba, 1,900 square miles. The principal rivers are the Mackenzie, Copper Mine, Great Fish, Slave, Eraser, St. Lawrence, Saskatchewan, and a part of the Yukon. Mineralogy. — Canada is very rich in its mineral deposits. The most impor- tant minerals found are gold, silver, iron, copper, nickel, lead, and coal; be- sides manganese, cobalt, asbestos, py- rites, phosphates, building stones, mar- bles, petroleum, and salt. Gold is prin- cipally mined in British Columbia, Yukon Territory, and Nova Scotia. In British Columbia and Yukon Territory the deposits of the Klondike region and the Yukon and Eraser rivers are among the richest in the world. The Nova Scotia gold district extends over an area of 6,000 square miles, and the metal is extracted from the quartz in a very fine
