by the completed portion of the railway, determined to continue the journey to the shores of the Pacific, with the aid of pack-horses.

After separating from the excursion party on Hector pass, they experienced very considerable difficulties. The temporary track for construction trains was available only as far as the Ottertail bridge on the western slope of the Rockies. From this point they had to depend entirely on their horses. Having been ferried across the Columbia river, they followed a most imperfect trail, up the valley of Beaver Creek, into the Selkirks and so reached Rogers pass. Often missing the trail, they were compelled to make the best of their way along the precipitous mountain side, through tangled forest, until descending by the side of the Illecellewaet river they rejoined the Columbia in the more westerly portion of its course. They ferried once more across its waters and on its further shore met the trail in the Gold Mountains, which they followed to the shores of the Shushwap lake. Here taking the steamer to Kamloops, they finally reached the railway at Spence's bridge in the valley of the Thompson, and so completed their journey to the Pacific.

The pedestrian portion of their journey was about 170 miles, and as there was always an uncertainty as to what difficulties might lie ahead, they wasted no time en route; but even so, owing to the imperfection of the trail, it took them seventeen days from the time

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THE IDEA SUGGESTED.

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they left the railway at Hector pass to reach the steamer on the Shushwap lake. Of the three pack-horses, two only survived the journey. The other poor beast, after numerous falls, became so disabled that it had to be abandoned seven days before the lake was reached.

Their return journey was made across the continent by the Northern Pacific Railway, and soon after their arrival at home, H., my cousin, related to me a full account of their adventures; his description of the great beauty of the mountain scenery of the Selkirk range awakened my interest and caused visionary desires to rise in my mind that some day or other, I too might have a chance of seeing those vast pine forests, with their grand background of glacier-clad peaks.

In 1886 the first through train of the Canadian Pacific Railway ran from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and since then, travellers have many times written accounts of that journey, the grandeur of the Selkirks invariably proving the climax of their wonder and admiration. I took for granted that the Selkirks were pretty well done," now that a railway ran through the midst of them, and they faded by degrees from their place in my imagination. However, in the autumn of 1887 I chanced to meet a gentleman who had gone as special artist to the Graphic on the British Association excursion. He had lately met Professor Macoun, of the Canadian Geological Survey, and gathered that not only were the Selkirks as yet almost entirely unexplored, but

that it was much to be desired that some one who had had experience of glacier-clad ranges should explore them. A very brief correspondence with Professor Macoun settled the question, and I determined to go. Then came the most serious question of all, in an undertaking like that before me, Whom should I ask to join me? Many a man whose acquaintance is most valuable, whose help from a scientific point of view would be great, and whose company on a short excursion might prove delightful, would perhaps not be the one to work with, when not only the body is worn out with fatigue, but when the mind is too tired to preserve its usual "civility" to outward circumstances.

Those who have had experience of prolonged expeditions, where men are inseparably thrown together, and have to endure hunger and thirst, fatigue and sleepless nights in company, will understand what this means. Those who do not understand it had better think twice on the subject before starting on such an expedition. Men must know each other most intimately in order to combine with success, or else one must be " boss" and the others subservient to orders. H. and I knew one another sufficiently well to promise a successful combination of this nature. We had travelled together in Switzerland, and had attained to the great stage of perfection-that of being able to squabble with impunity. He had been in the Selkirks before, and had recently been practising photography. I knew

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OUR EQUIPMENT.

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him to be capable of enduring any amount of fatigue, so I was fortunate in inducing him to become my companion. We began by trying to find out what prospects of help we could count on in the way of porters to carry our goods in the mountains, and after some correspondence on the subject, I abandoned the idea of bringing men with me from Europe.

Some fine photographs taken from the railway track enabled me to form some idea of the nature of the mountains. Mountain camps should evidently be provided for, so I selected a small Alpine tent, made on Mr. Whymper's plan, which I had used in the New Zealand Alps; also a larger duck tent which had been our permanent camp on that expedition. I now got made a larger Alpine tent to hold four. This was formed on the same plan as the smaller one; the floor, sides, and one end being sewn permanently together. The material was unbleached calico, stitched by a friend in a sewing-machine, soaked with linseed oil and hung up for a month to dry. The test of two long expeditions have now proved to me that this is the lightest and most serviceable kind of tent. A curtain of mosquito net attached to the door makes it perfect. It is impervious to wind, insects and rain, and small objects are not in any danger of being lost, when laid carelessly on the tent floor. Felt sleeping bags, blankets, and a canteen, which had been with me in New Zealand made up our camp outfit.

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The next part of our equipment to be thought of was fire-arms. What should we need? We heard of bears, bighorn, and grouse, but the chances of sport, when we were not going definitely for it, were not very great. Our armament finally consisted of a Henri Martini rifle, taking the ordinary army ammunition; a very light little Snider carbine, an Express, a twelve bore double-barrelled gun, and a light walking-stick gun which fired either shot or ball. This latter was thought to be handy for providing animals for the pot, but we afterwards found out, that it was rather more dangerous to the person who fired it than to anything else. We did not imagine there would be need for such a startling armament as this, but not knowing which weapon would be most useful we took all.

Coming nearer to the special work of our undertaking, we had to plan our photographic arrangements. My cousin undertook chief charge of this department, and he brought two cameras, one for quarter-plates and one for half-plates, and I packed up another half-plate instrument and a small Stirn's detective camera, which latter was a most useful adjunct, and did most satisfactory work.

Sketch-books and water colours were added, and then came some apparatus lent by the Royal Geographical Society, which may be considered as "the chief cause of our existence"-the surveying instruments.