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at their own quarters, and imagining themselves in safety, they soon 

 recovered from their surprise and fright, and as we climbed the hill we 

 saw here and there above a rock a head apparently watching us. Soon 

 the animals themselves appeared, and by degrees returned to the agree- 

 able occupation of fattening themselves for the long hibernation of 

 the coming winter. The whistling went on at intervals, but the note 

 of fear was changed to one that savored ever so slightly of impudence. 

 Our minds were now at rest. Here was food in plenty, and although 

 we discovei'ed afterwards that the flesh of the whistler is neither very 

 tender nor very palatable, it was easily procured and furnished us 

 with several good meals when nothing better had been shot ; but at no 

 other time did we attempt to take them. Only a few days before, the 

 surrounding hills had been entirely covered with snow, but on many 

 exposed places it had melted away and we ran up a gi'assy slope dotted 

 with spring flowers. There was the beautiful Erythonium giganteum, 

 a larger and much more handsome species than its brother the 

 familiar Adder's Tongue or Dog-toothed Violet of our Ottawa 

 woods , beside it grew Anemone occidentalis, the western mountain 

 Anemone, a far larger and more attractive flower than any of our east- 

 ern forms of this genus. The little arctic buttercup Ranunculus Esch- 

 scholtzii was everywhere in profusion, and in the little rivulets run" 

 ning from the snow Epilobium alpinum grew in dense clumps, 

 its delicate pink flowers massed together to attract attention. Clay- 

 tonia Caroliniana. var. sessilifolia, was abundant too, but is not nearly 

 so pretty as our Spring Beauty, of which it is a variety. Merely 

 glancing at these as a foretaste of what was in store for us, we lost no 

 time in climbing to the summit of the hill, which we soon reached, and 

 from which we had a magnificent view of the surrounding country, 

 Due north of us lay Shuswap Lake, and it was not difficult to trace with 

 the eye the course of the creek from our feet to where it entered it. Far 

 to the north and northeast were snow-capped mountains, and one glacier 

 could be seen glittering in the sun. Towards the south the prospect 

 was brighter. A mountain prairie, about three miles across, stretched 

 from where we stood to a higher mountain. Further inland, a few 

 groves of trees and frequent dashes of brilliant color, where the flowers 

 of one species predominated, gave the whole an appearance of an im_ 



