PLATEAU MOUNTAIN 149 



near Kalzas Creek. As I was ahead and rounding a 

 curve, I saw a lynx sitting on the bank of the river. My 

 bullet struck it in the centre of the back and it ran into 

 the woods, where I found it a few yards from the bank, 

 lying down. It died in a few moments, and we took 

 its skin and skull and proceeded until it was time to camp. 



October 4. In the morning there was a great deal of 

 hard ice in the river and it impeded our progress. When 

 the cold season approaches, ice formed on the bottom 

 floats to the surface in the morning, and this, together 

 with that discharged by creeks, almost fills the river 

 during the night, and runs very thickly in the morning. 

 During the day much of it packs in the sloughs, lodges 

 on the bars, remains in the still water in favorable places 

 along the bank, and much of it wears out through fric- 

 tion. In the afternoon, therefore, the river does not 

 contain so much ice and navigation is freer. Continued 

 cold causes the floating pieces to freeze together during 

 the night, and sooner or later large fields of it coming 

 down the river, jam in the canons or on the sharp curves, 

 all freezing together. Unless a thaw comes soon after, 

 the whole river may thus freeze and navigation is closed 

 until the following summer. 



The ice continued to increase, and in some places we 

 had difficulty in pushing the canoes through without 

 breaking them. As it was, Selous's canoe received a large 

 hole which could be only temporarily patched, and it 

 leaked badly all the rest of the day until we reached the 

 cabin at Kalzas Creek, where we found a trapper, named 

 Lebell, who had arrived shortly before, intending to pass 



