AND OTHER HUNTING ADVENTURES. 47 



cheery mood. Deep shadows fell athwart dark 

 canons, in whose gloomy depths we felt sure herds, 

 of elk and deer were nipping the tender herbage, 

 and along whose raging rivers sundry bears were 

 doubtless breakfasting on salmon straight. Old 

 Mount Baker' s majestic head, rising 10,800 feet above 

 us and only fifty miles away, was the most prom- 

 inent object in the gorgeous landscape, and one on 

 which we never tired of gazing. We had only to 

 cast our eyes from the grand scene ashore to that 

 at our feet, and vice versa, to 



" See the mountains kiss high heaven, 

 And the waves clasp one another." 



A large colony of gulls followed the steamer, with 

 ceaseless beat of downy wings, from daylight till dark, 

 and after the first hour they seemed to regard us as. 

 old friends. They hovered about the deck like 

 winged spirits around a lost child. Strange bird 

 thus to poise with tireless wing over this watery 

 waste day after day! Near the route of the vessel 

 one of the poor creatures lay dead, drifting sadly 

 and alone on the cold waves. Mysterious creature^ 

 with 



" Lack lustre eye, and idle wing, 



And smirched breast that skims no more, 



Hast thou not even a grave 

 Upon the dreary shoi e, 



Forlorn, forsaken thing?" 



Our feathered fellow-passengers greeted us with, 

 plaintive cries whenever we stepped out of the cabin, 

 dropping into the water in pursuit of every stray 

 bit of food that was thrown overboard from the cook- 

 room. My wife begged several plates of stale bread. 



