Hunting in the Selkirks 167 



The view from the summits was magnificent, and 

 I never tired of gazing at it. Sometimes the sky 

 was a dome of blue crystal, and mountain, lake, 

 and valley lay spread in startling clearness at our 

 very feet; and again snow-peak and rock-peak were 

 thrust up like islands through a sea of billowy clouds. 

 At the feet of the topmost peaks, just above the 

 edge of the forest, were marshy alpine valleys, the 

 boggy ground soaked with water, and small bushes 

 or stunted trees fringing the icy lakes. In the stony 

 mountain sides surrounding these lakes there were 

 hoary woodchucks and conies. The former resem 

 bled in their habits the alpine marmot, rather than 

 our own common Eastern woodchuck. They lived 

 alone or in couples among the rocks, their gray 

 color often making them difficult to see as they 

 crouched at the mouths of their burrows, or sat 

 bolt upright; and as an alarm note they uttered a 

 loud piercing whistle, a strong contrast to the quer 

 ulous, plaintive &quot;p-a-a-y&quot; of the timid conies. These 

 likewise loved to dwell where the stones and slabs 

 of rock were heaped on one another; though so 

 timid, they were not nearly as wary as the wood- 

 chucks. If we stood quite still the little brown 

 creatures would venture away from their holes and 

 hop softly over the rocks as if we were not present. 



The white goats were too musky to eat, and we 

 saw nothing else to shoot; so we speedily became 

 reduced to tea, and to bread baked in the frying-pan, 



