152 A SPORTSMAN'S EDEN. 



LETTEK XIV. 



MY DEAR PATRICK, 



It seems somewhat irreverent to de- 

 scribe the men who people a country last in order 

 except for the local spirits and devils whom they 

 fear if they do not still worship them. That, 

 however, is what I propose to do, and I apologize 

 for it by confessing that to me the wild beasts 

 are more interesting than the wild men, and cer- 

 tainly more numerous. The Indians in the nar- 

 row valley to which my wanderings were confined 

 are not of the same race, I believe, as the 

 Thompson River Indians ; but are the represen- 

 tatives of a tribe of redskins from the Pacific 

 Coast, who, having forced their way in to the 

 hunting-fields beyond the Hope ridge, during the 

 summer months, got snowed in, and, retreat 

 having been cut off, managed to hold their own 

 against their neighbours. Such particulars as 

 I have managed to glean concerning them and 

 their superstitions I owe to Mrs. Alison of Pen- 



