CHAPTER VIII. 



HUNTING IN THE SELKIRKS ; THE CARIBOU. 



IN September, 1888, I was camped on the shores of 

 Kootenai Lake, having with me as companions, 

 John Willis and an impassive-looking Indian named 

 Ammal. Coming across through the dense coniferous for- 

 ests of northern Idaho we had struck the Kootenai River. 

 Then we went down with the current as it wound in half 

 circles through a long alluvial valley of mixed marsh and 

 woodland, hemmed in by lofty mountains. The lake it- 

 self, when we reached it, stretched straight away like a 

 great fiord, a hundred miles long and about three in 

 breadth. The frowning and rugged Selkirks came down 

 sheer to the water's edge. So straight were the rock 

 walls that it was difficult for us to land with our batteau, 

 save at the places where the rapid mountain torrents 

 entered the lake. As these streams of swift water broke 

 from their narrow gorges they made little deltas of level 

 ground, with beaches of fine white sand ; and the stream- 

 banks were edged with cottonwood and poplar, their 

 shimmering foliage relieving the sombre coloring of the 



evergreen forest. 



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