THE MOOSE. 179 
canoe I] was ever in, but with skilled hands 
carry a fair-sized load, and pass rapidly over 
rather than through the water. 
The altitude of the Kootanie pass above the 
sea-level is about 2,100 feet. Crossing the 
lower corner of this immense valley, our trail 
led up to the Galton Mountains, a massive 
range dividing the Kootanie and Flat-head rivers, 
and attaining an altitude of quite 8,000 feet 
above the sea-level. These mountains afford on 
their slopes admirable pasturage for horses and 
ruminants, being the favourite hunting-grounds 
of the Kootanies west of the Rocky Mountains. 
I may mention, incidentally, that buffalos 
never pass from the east to the west side of the 
Rocky Mountains; hence the Kootanies cross 
the Kootanie pass every summer to hunt on the 
plains east of the mountains, for buffalo-meat, 
and their skins called robes. This will be the 
best place to briefly describe the different 
species of deer I saw in British Columbia, or 
in Washington Territory, immediately adjoining 
it; most of them, if not all, are to be found in 
the Kootanie country. 
Tue Moose (Alce americanus, Jardine).—I 
never obtained a specimen, neither did I ever 
see the moose-deer on the west side of the 
Nn 2 
