76 WATER BIRDS’ EDEN. 
indescribable torture; the prickles are so sharp 
and hard, that they slip through ordinary leather 
like cobblers’ awls. We had to tie up our dogs 
and horses, for the latter, getting the prickly 
knobs into their heels, kicked and plunged 
viciously until exhausted. The dogs got them 
fast to their feet, and, impatiently seizing the 
vegetable pests, only aggravated the mischief by 
transferring them to the tongue and cheeks. I 
have no hesitation in saying, a dog must inevi- 
tably die from starvation if he ventured to cross 
this waste alone; the cacti once in his mouth, un- 
aided he could never free himself. A low ‘di- 
vide’ separates this valley from the Similkameen, 
the water from the lakes eventually finding its 
way into the Columbia river. If there is an Eden 
for water-birds, the Osoyoos lakes must surely 
be that favoured spot. At the upper end, a per- 
fect forest of tall rushes, six feet in height, 
afford the ducks, grebes, bitterns, and a variety 
of waders, admirable breeding haunts—safe alike 
from the prying eyes of birds that prey on their 
kindred, and savages that indiscriminately eat 
anything. 
The water, alive with fish at all times, is in 
the summer crowded with salmon. In the pools 
on one side of the lake, I obtained a new 
