off when a bullet from the captain's Winchester whizzed past him. pre All day long we steamed up stream, and admired the reflections and the mountains which, though much obscured by smoke, formed the great feature of the view. A great deal of the smoke, the Captain told us, was owing to a fire set going by prospectors. Some men discovered a mine a few weeks viously in one of the Selkirk glens and came down to Golden to lodge their claim. Two other parties hearing of their find, determined to "jump the claim," and set off up the river. One set came up in the Duchess on her last trip, others went by land. The first party on reaching the valley set the forest on fire behind them, so as to keep the others out, hence the volumes of smoke now filling the air and obscuring the whole panorama. When night closed in we had to tie up to the trees on the river-bank, and we resumed our voyage at daybreak. The river got shallower as we advanced, and some of its curves proved most difficult to turn: one of these we only got round by the help of a rope and our capstan. At another place we touched at, there was an encampment of Shushwap Indians; they had come down the river to pick and dry berries for their winter use. They had ponies with them, and one little cedar-bark canoe of the most picturesque model, bow and stern being closed in like the toe of a sharp-pointed slipper. The XVI.] AN INDIAN ENCAMPMENT 231 berries were sewn up into packs covered with birch bark, and were all ready to ship on board the steamer. While these were being loaded we strolled on shore. One girl had a little papoose slung on her back in a wooden case, its little black eyes sparkling brightly inside a cage of mosquito netting, which covered its face. The cartridge cases round the men's shoulders were gaily adorned with pieces of brass and coloured cloth, and altogether the group was extremely picturesque. Further up we came on an encampment of Kootenay Indians, but they were nearly quite naked, and looked more wretched than the Shushwaps. A few years since, the Indians made these excursions for berries to the same grounds, when they little knew what steamboats were like; now they had so accommodated themselves to the advance of civilization that instead of driving horses laden with packs of berries, to their homes, they placed the packs in the steamer, and when they reached their destination other Indian women produced their invoices and took charge of the goods. The last tributary coming from the Selkirks, Toby's creek, was a turbid mountain stream. Beyond this the Columbia was crystal clear and very shallow. The gravel was pushed into heaps by the salmon that used to spawn here in myriads; but we were informed that they never come there now, and over-fishing at the mouth of the great river is the reason assigned as the cause of their disappearance. Whether salmon come there or not, I never before saw such multitudes. of trout. They shot out from beneath the steamer in dense shoals, and varied in size from about half a pound to three pounds. We touched the bottom and almost stuck fast several times, but owing to the captain's great skill in selecting the deepest water by zigzaging about amidst the gravel heaps, we got through all right and entered upon the broad expanse of Lake Windermere. On a headland jutting into the lake were the remains of an old fort of the Hudson's Bay Company, and all along its shores, benches and terraces of gravel and white silt, dotted with fine groups of Douglas firs, illustrated the high levels once occupied by its waters. At 6 P.M. we reached the head of the lake, the present termination of navigation, and tied up to a little wharf called "Sam's landing" until morning. After a delightful bath in the clear water we strolled up to some bluffs and sketched the landscape. The wide levels of the lake stretching away for miles; the reeds growing out of the water and giving shelter to thousands of wild ducks and geese whose quackings and cacklings filled the air; the white benches of silt bounding the lake in all directions, and the lofty peaks of the Selkirks, showing as a serrated line of purple against a crimson sky, combined to make a most impressive scene. If our steamer |