360 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



unrolls liis blankets, and chooses his bed for the 

 night. Some elect to sleep on the counter, and 

 some on the flour sacks piled at one end of the 

 room, whilst the rest stretch themselves on the 

 floor, with their feet to the fire. Occasionally 

 a few commence gambling, which, with an accom- 

 paniment of drinking and blasphemy, goes on for 

 the greater part of the night. 



Descending from the high land, we came to the 

 '' Hundred Mile House," at Bridge Creek. This is 

 the commencement of a tract of country more fertile 

 than any we met with, except that of the Delta of 

 the Eraser ; and yet the amount of good land is of 

 but small extent. Here and there a rich bottom, 

 a consolidated marsh, or the lowland on the banks 

 of some stream, had been converted into a pro- 

 ductive farm, and the low hills afford plenty of 

 pasturage ; but the whole of the rising ground is 

 merely sand and shingle, and nothing but bunch- 

 grass flourishes there. On the road we met a small 

 bullock-wagon, escorted by about twenty armed 

 miners on foot. This proved to contain 630 pounds 

 weight of gold, the profits of a Mr. Cameron, the 

 principal shareholder in the noted Cameron claim. 

 This gold, worth about £30,000, had been amassed 

 in the short space of three months, and represented 

 probably less than one-half the actual produce of 

 the mine during that time. 



At Soda Creek we took the steamer for Ques- 

 nelle. Captain Done, the commander, was a jolly, 

 red-faced, portly fellow, of exceeding hospitality. 



