GEMS AMIDST THE SNOW. 329 



colours, and in exquisitely mingling every ima- 

 ginable tint and shade, to adorn these diminutive 

 creatures, in a livery more lustrously brilliant 

 than was ever fabricated by the loom, or metal- 

 worker's handicraft. 



But away from the tropics and its feathered 

 wonders, to the wild solitudes of the Rocky 

 Mountains, it is there I want you in imagina- 

 tion to wander with me, and to picture to your- 

 self, which you can easily do if you possess a 

 naturalist's love of. discovery, the delight I expe- 

 rienced when, for the first time, I saw humming- 

 birds up in the very regions of the 'Ice King.' 



Early in the month of May, when the sun 

 melts down the doors of snow and ice, and sets 

 free imprisoned nature, I was sent ahead of the 

 astronomical party employed in making the 

 Boundary-line to cut out a trail, and bridge any 

 streams too deep to ford. The first impediment 

 met with was at the Little Spokan river, little 

 only as compared with the Great Spokan, into 

 which it flows. The larger stream leads from 

 the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, and 

 flows on to join the Columbia. 



It was far too deep to be crossed by any 

 expedient short of bridging; so a bridge had to 

 be built, an operation involving quite a week's 



