In the midst of a vast snowfield, the dark speck of a man, squat, fur-muffled, motionless. Lilliaxi, the Eskimo hunter, crouches beside a seal's breathing-hole. Around him lies an endless empty land, harsh but beautiful. This is the old picture of the Canadian North. But now ice-breaker and oil rig, prospector and aeroplane have shattered the old, cold dream, and igloos are things of the past.

Cowboys and Indians, gold-miners and pioneers, skyscraper cities and ghost towns, snow-capped mountains and rich valleys: this is 'the last frontier.' In May the Royal Family joined British Columbia's celebrations commemorating the country's first hundred years as the sixth province of Canada.

But despite progress and modern cities, today much of the country is still as the pioneers found it. One can fly from Vancouver's whirling social life and join a packhorse trip through the mountains and valleys where wild life still roams free and where each season brings a new blaze of colour.