There are no poisonous insects or reptiles in the mountains, 

 and any mosquitoes or flies there may be in the valleys do not 

 last long, and are always gone by the hunting season. Good water 

 can always be obtained in the dryest parts, even in the height of 

 summer. Ladies can, and frequently do, go into the wilds, and 

 are absolutely sure of being treated with the greatest respect by 

 the roughest of backwoodsmen or most uncivilized Indian. What 

 is more, they frequently return with a number of fine trophies. 



Vancouver Island and all the country to the west of the Coast 

 Range is more or less densely timbered, and the mountains are 

 steep and arduous to climb. In the dry belt on the east side of the 

 Coast Range the mountains run up as high as ii,ooo feet, bvit they 

 are nothing like so rough, and horses can generally be taken up a 

 great part of the way — in fact, often right up to the summits — 

 and this section is generally sparsely timbered. When the Sel- 

 kirks are reached the mountains rise to even a greater altitude, 

 become more rugged, the timber becomes thicker, and there is 

 also a greater rainfall. There are, however, plenty of hunting- 

 trails, so that horses can be used. 



The Rockies, the summit of which forms the eastern boundary 

 of the Province, are truly well named ; their lower parts are pretty 

 densely covered with a growth of " jack-pine," which makes travel- 

 ling hard, but, owing to a less rainfall, not as bad as in the Selkirks. 

 After the timber-line, at an altitude of 7,000 to 8,000 feet they 

 consist of more or less bare rock, where the glaciers and permanent 

 snow are of smaller extent than the Selkirks. Horses can only be 

 used on the trails and can seldom be taken high into the hunting 

 country, so that the man who wishes to get a big-horn, for which 

 the mountains are especially famous, must be strong in wind and 

 limb. 



The greater portion of this vast Province is still unsettled, 

 some of it even unexplored, and owing to its mountainous character 

 will remain so for years to come. The consequence is that, while 

 some species of game in certain districts may have become scarce, 

 in others they are as plentiful as ever, while moose have been 

 steadily increasing for some years past. Even in the most settled 

 districts careful preservation has had a wonderful effect, so that 

 close to Vancouver, a city of 165,000 people, deer and bear are 

 commonly killed ; pheasants actually frequent some of the gardens, 

 and mountain - goats still remain on some of the neighbouring 

 mountains. There is absolutely no part of the Province where 

 good sport of some kind cannot be obtained ; in fact, it is one great 

 game preserve. 



