260 APPOINTED ASSISTANT DIRECTOR 



nay River. After dark, the gearing got too hot and we had to 

 stop the engine and cool it off, and, later, the canvas cover got 

 on fire and my son put it out by throwing water on the roof; 

 later, again, we got lost amongst the piles of a wharf and finally 

 reached the wharf at Nelson and lay down on the beaten road 

 and slept in our blankets. Thus ended our trip on Kootenay Lake. 



For a week after this, my son and William S. climbed the 

 hills round Nelson and obtained many fine specimens. We then 

 returned to Revelstoke and camped there for a couple of weeks. 

 While there, there were two fires at which we did good service. 

 The first fire took place in the woods close to a saw mill in charge 

 of a young man who was left to look after it by his father. He 

 came crying to our camp and said that the whole place would be 

 destroyed and begged of us to come down and help him. We 

 went down and I found a lot of Chinamen who were almost crazy 

 but seemed to be able to do nothing. I took charge at once and, 

 under my direction, we were able to make the fire take a direction 

 opposite to the mill and, eventually, extinquished it. After that, 

 there was a serious fire in Revelstoke itself, caused by a woman 

 who hurried home to make her husband's supper and then poured 

 some coal oil into the stove and the whole exploded and the blaze 

 soon had the house and others near it on fire. 



Later, we left Revelstoke and moved to the Glacier Hotel, 

 where we collected for a week and then moved to Hector and 

 collected there for some time. From there, we left for home and, 

 as usual, I was busy all winter arranging our collections, which 

 were immense, and I had much difficulty getting them all in order, 

 and had my collections placed under my own control. 



In 1891, my son, James M., went to Alaska as secretary to 

 Dr. George Dawson, who was commissioned by the British Gov- 

 ernment to investigate the fur seal fisheries. I sent Mr. Spread- 

 borough to Banff early, while I came later. Very extensive col- 

 lections were made there of all classes and we made an excursion 

 to Devil's Lake and, while there, climbed Mount Aylmer and 

 had various adventures. We left Banff for a two weeks' trip to 

 Devil's Lake and took a power boat to the head of the lake and a 

 canoe for the purpose of moving around. The evening we arrived, 



