NORTH FORK TO THE SELWYN ROCKIES 105 



high on the ranges to the south. It was so misty that we 

 could not see the mountains, and soon snow began to 

 fall and continued more or less all night. It was dark 

 at 7.30. 



September 7. In the morning three or four inches of 

 snow covered the ground, and snow continued to fall at 

 intervals all day. Selous soon started to investigate 

 moose signs on the flats, while I directed my course 

 toward the mountains, hoping to find a good place near 

 timber-line to make a camp, and also a good route up 

 the slopes, since we were obliged to carry our equipment 

 and provisions on our backs. 



South of the river, a hundred feet from the bank, is a 

 terrace thirty or forty feet high which extends north, 

 parallel with the river for many miles. The country 

 behind it, both flat and rolling, extends two miles to the 

 foot of the mountains. This broad, level country, all 

 burnt over, was covered with moss, brush, huckleberry 

 bushes, and cranberries, and strewn with tangled logs. 

 Swampy in places, it is dotted with small lakes, and the 

 standing burnt trees scattered through it give an aspect 

 of grim desolation. Old moose tracks were everywhere, 

 and well-cut trails parallel with the river were frequent. 

 While passing through it I saw several flocks of migrating 

 robins, a grouse, some hawk owls, and many Alaska jays 

 and red squirrels. But no other animals were observed 

 during the rest of the day, and the fresh snow disclosed 

 no tracks of any kind, except those of red squirrels. 



I climbed the lower ridges, ascended the mountains to 

 timber-line, and followed along the side of a deep ravine, 



