CHAPTER VIII. 



EASY PROGRESS FRAGRANCE OF THE WOODS PIERRE'S LOVE OF NATURE- 

 WILDERNESS JOYS PIERRE AND OAULTIER'S EARLY BRINGING-UP THE 

 ROCKY MOUNTAIN TRAPPER ROMANCE OF THE PRAIRIES DYING OUT A 

 CARIBOO BUCK JAKE AND COCKNEY SPORTSMEN PIERRE'S ACCOUNT OF 

 THE CARIBOO JAKE AND THE BUG-GATHERER PIERRE'S NOTES CONTINUED 

 JAKE'S TUTORS THE WOODLAND CARIBOO. 



FOR some days the hunters descended the placid river, 

 with no further trouble than was involved in steering 

 their raft, or occasionally poling where the current, 

 aided by their own negligence, sent them against the 

 banks. Reclining comfortably upon the fragrant boughs 

 of the pines, they dreamily drifted along, basking in the 

 warm sunlight, and noting with languid interest the 

 many kinds of birds which peopled the water, and 

 streamed off its surface in alarm as the raft and its 

 occupants became visible. 



High above, the sun shot fervid rays upon the quiet 

 bosom of the stream; and whenever a puff of air 

 blew from the forest, it was laden with the aromatic 

 fragrance of the pines, which exhaled their perfume 

 under the influence of his beams. 



Pierre, who had often been to the great centres of 

 civilization, where man strives with man in ceaseless 



