366 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



probably continues up to tbe Cascade, or coast range, 

 to tlie westward ; while to the south-east it stretches 

 across the valleys of the Fraser and Thompson to 

 that of the Columbia. The Cascade Range consists 

 of granitic and plutonic rocks, and in places clay- 

 slate and semi- crystalline limestones occur. 



The district of Cariboo is the richest portion of 

 the British Columbian gold field, and here the 

 geologic disturbance has been the greatest. Cari- 

 boo is a sea of mountains and pine-clad hills, the 

 former rising to a height of 7,000 or 8,000 feet, 

 surrounded by a confused congeries of the latter. 

 Everywhere the surface has been disturbed, so that 

 hardly a foot of level ground can be found, except 

 at the bottom of the narrow gullies running between 

 these hills. Strata are tilted on end, and beds of 

 streams heaved up to the tops of hills. Round 

 this centre of wealth poured up from the depths 

 below, the main branch of the Fraser wraps itself 

 in its semi-circular course, and has received from 

 thence, by numerous tributaries, the gold found in 

 its sands. . 



Gold was first discovered on the sand-bars of the 

 Lower Fraser, in the state of the finest dust. The 

 old miners of California traced it up the river, and 

 followed it as it became of coarser and coarser grain 

 400 miles along the Fraser, and then up the small 

 affluents from Cariboo. Here were found nuggets, 

 and lumps of auriferous quartz. The hunted metal 

 was almost run to earth. But the exciting pursuit 

 is not yet quite over. The veins of auriferous 



