Columbia, BRITISH

Province of Canada bordering on the Pacific; organized 1871. It includes Vancouver's Island, and embraces an area of 382,300 sq. m. It owes its importance to gold mines, which began to be opened 1856. These regions prove to be widely extended, covering an area of not le than 200 sq. m. The influx of lawle adventurers made nece ary some regularly organized government, and since its organization the territory has begun to receive a permanent population, a portion of which is engaged in agriculture and fisheries. Capital, Victoria. Pop., 1891, 98,173.