Hunting in Many Lands 



Fresno, and which we had left without the 

 slightest expectation, on the part of either, of 

 ever seeing again. 



Little of the journey to the mountains re- 

 mains in my memory. We passed a great 

 timber chute of astonishing length — twenty or 

 forty miles, or something of the sort — down 

 which timber is floated from the great pine 

 and spruce forests to the railroad, with little 

 trouble and at slight expense ; the water being 

 of commercial value for purposes of irrigation 

 during the summer, and bringing a good price 

 after it has fulfilled its special function as car- 

 rier. The drinking water for my friend's ranch 

 was taken from this, a supply being drawn in 

 the cool of the morning sufficient to last 

 throughout the day, and most grateful we 

 found it during sultry August days in a part 

 of the country where ice is not to be procured. 



Each of the four days of our journey we 

 were climbing higher* among the mountains, 

 into a thinner and more invigorating atmos- 

 phere. The days were hot so long as one re- 

 mained exposed to the sun, but the shadows 

 were cool and the nights most refreshing. 

 Upon the last morning of our journey, cross- 

 ing a mountain creek, my attention was called 



190 



