NORTHERN GAME TRAILS 279 



us five days to ascend the river and only one to 

 return. 



Proceeding up the river one sees a cyclorama 

 of such ruggedly wild and beautiful mountain 

 scenery that it would hold in awe and silent ad- 

 miration the most ardent lover of nature. At 

 first one feels lost in the immensity of its great 

 silence. Uprising in lavish and gigantic display, 

 each crest and crag hung by bridal veils of the 

 softest milk-white, show clear against the un- 

 clouded blue. On the flats grow the gigantic 

 cotton-wood trees, much more massive than I had 

 seen in other countries, while on the slopes almost 

 invariably stand the big spruces so typical of the 

 north. Nearing timber line the trees give place 

 to a luxuriant growth of grass that supplies the 

 sheep and goats of that country with an abun- 

 dance of food. Finally, the tops are capped with 

 the eternal snows. 



The second day we passed through Kloochman 

 Canon. Here the water hurls itself through this 

 narrow precipitous pass with terrific force, and 

 the little boat sputtered and struggled while the 

 exhaust every now and again would go under 

 water, and it sounded like a thing alive, smoth- 

 ered, beaten, but still fighting for life. Then 

 the exhaust coming up, it seemed to renew its 



