The Antelope-Goat of the Pacific Slope. 109 



where the 4Qth Par. divides by an imaginary line the United States 

 from Canada. This point we reached the following afternoon after 

 a memorably uncomfortable night on the banks of the river, where, 

 in spite of " smudges " and netting, one was simply eaten up by 

 mosquitoes, which filled the air in masses the like of which I have 

 never seen in any part of the world. Another night, if possible 

 worse, had to be spent on the banks of the overflowing river, and 

 then, by taking a short cut in the canoe across a sort of inland lake, 

 which at other seasons is a swamp, we reached the lake, and with 

 it comparative immunity from the curse of summer travel in 

 that country. 



It was a glorious June afternoon when we glided out of the tree- 

 bowered mouth of the river, and saw before us the lake. One 

 could see almost to the end of the mirror-like sheet, in which the 

 row of peaks on both sides, still capped with snow, were reflected 

 most effectively. Over the whole scene lay the charm of absolute 

 wildness and solitude, for not a single white dweller and only a few 

 roaming Indians lived on its shores. To-day, alas ! that charm has 

 long vanished ; prosperous though dishevelled looking mining 

 settlements line the shores, the forests have suffered by great fires 

 which, for several summers, enveloped the whole country for five 

 or six months in dense smoke. Steamers filled with miners and 

 land speculators awaken the echoes by their shrill whistles, which 

 are answered by the yet more discordant locomotive bell of several 

 railway lines, and at night electric light shows up the nakedness of 

 the numerous "towns " that have sprung up on its shore, while the 

 surrounding mountains are over-run by indefatigable prospectors 

 in quest of silver-bearing galena veins, with which these mountains 

 are scored. 



After a night in a quiet cove on the rockbound shore we reached 

 the northern end of the lake the following evening, having laid in 

 a goodly stock of fish splendid land-locked salmon which 

 I caught trolling as we paddled along. Long before we reached 

 our goal, a bit of a sandy beach a few miles from the extreme end 

 of the lake, shock-headed Darby had pointed out to me a prominent 



