Path Finding in the Kootenay Country, &c. 301 



of Kootenay. The Indians do often great execution among " goat " 

 at the licks, and I know an old Kootenay hunter who killed eleven 

 without taking his Winchester repeater from his shoulder ; while 

 others in my day still used the old Hudson Bay Company musket, or 

 "firesquirt" a very antiquated percussion smoothbore, with which 

 they, nevertheless, managed to do some very creditable shooting at 

 close quarters, and often succeed in bringing down two or three 

 before they get out of range. It is surprising to see how close these 

 stealthy moccasin-shod, almost naked stalkers, will manage to get 

 to their quarry, the dusky hue of their skin assisting them in this. 

 This I had once occasion to find out in a rather startling manner, 

 when, after a painful half an hour's wriggle, venire a terre, up a 

 jaggy slope, I suddenly found myself looking into the glittering 

 eyes of a Kootenay, literally not more than I2in. from mine. He 

 was lying on a slab of rock, his body being invisible to me from 

 below. When I did see the latter, flesh and stone were almost 

 undistinguishable from each other. 



Mr. Green's explorations covered but a small area, for he 

 tackled his mountains from the wrong (northern) side, starting 

 from the Canadian Pacific Railway station (Glacier) at the base 

 of Mount Sir Donald. Had I met Mr. Green before instead of after 

 his trip, I think I might have saved him a considerable amount 

 of hard work, and assisted him in the defining of the more 

 prominent, though nameless, landmarks he saw from the elevated 

 points he reached. One great advantage he would have gained 

 had he directed his attack from the southward, would have been 

 the presence of the Lower Kootenay Indians living near the 

 Kootenay Lake. Picked men from this tribe could have been used 

 with much advantage as porters. 



These Indians do all their hunting on foot, using the larger 

 streams (such as the Lardo) as far as they can take their canoes. 

 In most cases the squaw, who, as is so common among the 

 American aborigines, is used more as a pack animal than as a 

 human being, and even the half-grown children " pack " up the 

 mountains till a suitable camping place near timber line is found. 



