The expeditions came to the conclusion that what would become western Canada was divided into three regions: a northern cold zone that was inhospitable to agriculture, Palliser's Triangle towards the south which Palliser characterized as an extension of the American Great Plains which he described as being "a more or less arid" desert and thus unsuitable for crops albeit acceptable for livestock given the “dry climate, sandy soil, and extensive grass cover," and a rich fertile belt in the middle that was ideally suited to agriculture and settlement, the existence of which was confirmed by both Palliser, and Henry Youle Hind, of Hind Expedition fame. They both argued against settling within the arid body of the Triangle. This changed perceptions of the region: previously seen as untamed wilderness, the British Canadian public began to see potential farmland in the Triangle. The prospect of an ample supply of fertile land lit a fire under Canadian expansionists, and the Canadian government started to buy up HBC land in the region as they were under pressure to ensure that it would be Canadians who settled the North West, not Americans. This began with the purchase of Rupert's Land for £300,000. This wellspring of expansionism came with the idea of a "Canadian Empire" of which the North West was a part of, in defiance of the idea that these lands were those of the First Nations and Métis who inhabited them at the time.