NORTH FORK TO THE SELWYN ROCKIES 101 



four feet of water, surrounded by high poplars and wil- 

 lows. Selous and I waded to it and after examining it 

 with interest I took some photographs of it. 



We made camp late in the afternoon near a flat swamp 

 covered with willows, alders, dwarf birch, and strewn 

 with burnt timber. After tramping about in it, Selous 

 returned and reported more fresh moose signs than we 

 had seen at any point along the river. Here we first 

 had a glimpse of the Selwyn range of mountains, rising 

 ahead in majestic peaks and offering encouragement 

 for a better game country. 



As we were sitting about the fire fifty feet away from 

 the bank, in a dense thicket of woods, Louis suddenly 

 heard a bull moose walking on a bar on the opposite 

 side of the river. It was several degrees below frost and 

 Selous, though without trousers or shoes, took his rifle 

 and followed by Louis and myself picked his way in 

 the dark through the thick, tangled woods to the bank 

 of the river. But the moose had entered the poplars 

 and Louis in vain tried to entice it out by calling with a 

 birch-bark horn. 



September 4. In the morning a cold, stiff head-wind 

 chilled us and continued all day, as we plodded on under 

 conditions constantly becoming more difficult; and we 

 were disappointed not to see the mountains ahead, which 

 were covered with clouds. We finally arrived at Barr 

 Creek, where two trappers, Jack Barr and Crosby, had 

 been trapping the previous winter. We had seen a flock 

 of mergansers that day the first ducks observed on the 

 North branch. Few birds of any kind had been noticed, 



