CATASTROPHE ON THE ERASER. 3S1 



between this place and Yale with letters and gold ; 

 but, as the express-man had not yet returned from 

 Cariboo, we walked on fourteen miles to Davidson's, 

 near William's Lake. The farm here is, perhaps, 

 the finest in British Columbia, comprising several 

 hundred acres of low land on the borders of the 

 lake, the delta of a small stream which enters at 

 this point. Potatoes and other vegetables, barley 

 and oats, flourish wonderfully. Wheat had been 

 sown for the first time that year, and was already 

 above ground, but looked rather starved and yellow. 

 The scenery of William's Lake is very beautiful ; 

 bold, rugged hills rising up grandly on the west. 



The day after our arrival at Davidson's a large 

 party of miners came in with the intelligence that a 

 boat which left the Mouth of Quesnelle the day after 

 we did had been swamped in the rapids below. Seven 

 or eight persons were drowned, and one of the lucky 

 survivors was a man who carried several pounds' 

 weight of gold in a belt round his waist. The 

 force of the current literally threw him ashore, and 

 he managed to scramble out. 



In two or three days the express arrived, and we 

 started for Yale once more. When we reached the 

 bottom of the ascent to the high table-land, we found 

 the road covered with a thick sheet of ice, and all 

 hands had to get out and push behind the wagon. 

 The horses fell frequently, and had to be unharnessed 

 and put on their legs again ; but, after many delays, 

 we got to the top, where the snow was deeper, and 

 the horses travelled better. 



