106 EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER 



multitudes of flowers. Five hundred feet below the summit, 

 Mt. Selwyn stands first, in my imagination, as the highest type 

 of nature's flower garden. None of the plants, except the pedun- 

 cularias, rose above the general level, which was about two inches 

 or possibly less, and all was a flat surface of expanded purple, 

 yellow, white and pinkish flowers. The peduncularias were 

 about four inches high and stood singly amongst the others and 

 each was nearly two inches broad with expanded blossoms. 



The summit was quite level, with a little parapet in front, 

 upon which we stood overlooking the river as we gazed upon a 

 wondrous scene. Leaving others to take in the picture in detail, 

 after a few minutes of close scrutiny, I turned away from the 

 entrancing sight and busied myself with what more concerned me; 

 the flora of the peak. With sad and reluctant steps, I turned from 

 the summit and commenced to descend, intending to examine 

 the different points more fully than I had done in the ascent. 

 About 1,000 feet from the summit, I was overtaken by the others 

 and, after a slight halt at the last patch of snow, where we had 

 left Mclennan, we hurried on, reaching camp in a more or less 

 exhausted state about 7 p.m., after nearly thirteen hours of in- 

 cessant and continuous labour. 



When we left the river in the morning, the thermometer 

 stood at 84° Fahr. ; on the top of the mountain in latitude 56 north, 

 over 6,000 feet above the sea it stood at 82°. I had supposed 

 that we would find it cold on the mountain top but the very op- 

 posite was the case — I had actually to take off my coat and hat 

 and bathe my head in the snow to cool myself. Looking east 

 from where we stood, a blue, sultry haze hung over the mountains 

 and the river, while to the west the atmosphere seemed clearer 

 and colder. The mountain, upon which we were, seemed to close 

 in on the river valley and shut out the vapour of the western 

 plateau in exactly the same way as the Cascade range below Bos- 

 ton Bar does that of the Pacific. We had this amply verified the 

 next day for we had scarcely gone six miles — the distance along 

 the base of the mountain — before we all noticed the change to a 

 drier and warmer climate. Mt. Selwyn thus closes the Peace 

 River Pass and stands as a portal barring the way against the 



