150 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



HUNTING IN THE SELKIRKS ; THE CARIBOU. 



IN September, 1888, I was camped on the 

 shores of Kootenai Lake, having with me 

 as companions, John Willis and an impassive- 

 looking Indian named Animal. Coming 

 across through the dense coniferous forests of 

 northern Idaho we had struck the Kootenai 

 River. Then we went down with the current 

 as it wound in half circles through a long 

 alluvial valley of mixed marsh and woodland, 

 hemmed in by lofty mountains. The lake 

 itself, when we reached it, stretched straight 

 away like a great fiord, a hundred miles long 

 and about three in breadth. The frowning 

 and rugged Selkirks came down sheer to the 

 water's edge. So straight were the rock walls 

 that it was difficult for us to land with our 

 batteau, save at the places where the rapid 

 mountain torrents entered the lake. As these 

 streams of swift water broke from their narrow 

 gorges they made little deltas of level ground, 

 with beaches of fine white sand ; and the 

 stream-banks were edged with cottonwood 

 and poplar, their shimmering foliage relieving 

 the sombre coloring of the evergreen forest. 



Close to such a brook, from which we drew 

 strings of large silver trout, our tent was 

 pitched, just within the forest. From be- 



