388 PINUS CONTOETA. 



admirably accords with the light and dark 

 markings peculiar to the slaty rocks amidst 

 which I saw it; when the animal is perfectly 

 still, it is quite impossible to make it out to be 

 other than a portion of the rock, until by moving 

 it betrays itself. 



The most conspicuous pine in these elevated 

 districts is the Pinus contorta. It thrives at 

 an altitude of 7,000 feet above the sea-level. 

 Where there are Indians the young trees of this 

 species are invariably stripped of their bark to a 

 height of seven feet from the around, or as high 



o o o 



up the trunk as an ordinary person can reach. 

 This is done in order to procure the inner bark, 

 which the savages use as food ; they eat it in the 

 fresh state as peeled from the tree, and com- 

 pressed into cakes, in which state it can be pre- 

 served for a long time, and is easily carried. 



The Summit Camp is placed in a snug nook 

 under a massive slaty kind of mountain; there is 

 little to be seen from it save rugged hilltops and 

 snow. Near the terminal point of the Boundary- 

 line is the watershed, and it is hardly an exag- 

 geration to say one may sit and smoke his pipe 

 with one foot in the water that finds its way into 

 the Atlantic, whilst the other is bathed in that 

 flowing into the Pacific. 



