ENROUTE TO THE HUNTING GROUNDS 



ferent" sign that we noted was the presence of 

 the fireweed, a flower that grows a foot or two 

 high, of pinkish color, which is seen at this season 

 in such bounteous profusion that it actually 

 paints the meadows and hillsides. Single gardens 

 of this flower covered spaces dozens of acres in 

 extent, causing the terrene at a distance to 

 appear as a solid mass of pink. 



The timber of the country visited by us in- 

 cludes Sitka spruce (a tree that I mistook for fir, 

 owing to the needles being soft-pointed), balm of 

 gilead (found in abundance), birch, alder, willow 

 and quaking aspen (the latter very rarely seen). 

 Among the wild berries found thereabouts were: 

 High-bush cranberries, low bush cranberries, 

 black and red currants, blueberries (very plen- 

 tiful), salmon berries (in abundance along the 

 coast), raspberries, wolf berries and, of course, 

 roseberries. 



We awoke the following morning to find our 

 horses missing. Billy and Jimmie went in search 

 of them, finding that they had traveled ten miles 

 up the Nizina, attracted by the pea-vine, a low- 

 growing, palatable and very fattening plant that 

 grows over most of the river bars of that section. 

 It was therefore 2:30 that afternoon before we 

 got started. 



As Shorty is known there as the wizard of the 

 Nizina River, he led the way across it, a treacher- 

 ous quicksand stream flowing at this time in 

 some twelve or more channels. (When we re- 



37 



