338 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



*' Aiwarkaken ! mina quatuck !" (By Jove ! there's 

 another fellow 1) But when we encountered a real 

 swell of the neighbourhood, driving a "buggy'* 

 and pair, he was delighted beyond expression. We 

 now followed the valley of the Bonaparte until it 

 joins that of the Thompson, viewing with wonder 

 the curious terraces which strike the eye of a 

 stranger so oddly, and give such a peculiar charac- 

 ter to the scenery of the Thompson and the Fraser. 

 We first observed them on the North Thompson, 

 some thirty or forty miles above Kamloops, and they 

 are invariably present all along the main river until its 

 junction with the Eraser at Lytton. On the Fraser 

 they stretch from a little north of Alexandria to 

 the Canons above Yale, a distance of above 300 miles. 

 These terraces — or benches, as they are called in this 

 district — are perfectly level, and of exactly the same 

 height on each side of the river. They differ from 

 the so-called "parallel roads" of Glenroy in their 

 enormous extent, being vast plains as compared 

 with the mere ledges of the Scottish terraces, and 

 are also free from the erratic boulders which mark 

 the latter. In most places there are three tiers, 

 each tier corresponding with a similar one on 

 the opposite side of the valley. The lowest of 

 the three, where the valley expands, presents a 

 perfectly flat surface of often many miles in 

 extent, raised some forty or fifty feet above 

 the level of the river bank, with a sloping front, 

 resembling the face of a railway embankment. 

 Higher still, the second tier is generally cut out of 



