140 RECENT HUNTING TRIPS. 



the discover}' of gold in that region, but that a 

 cousideral^le number of the many thousands of 

 people who flocked from all parts of the world 

 to the new goldfield in the first mad rush for 

 wealth suffered terribly from every kind of 

 hardship and privation, is a fact which cannot 

 be disputed. 



Many a poor gold-seeker fell by the way 

 before ever the Chilcot pass was crossed. The 

 surging waters of the Whitehorse and Five 

 Finger rapids claimed many another victim from 

 amongst the crowds of adventurers, who, lured 

 on by the hope of riches to be easily and quickly 

 won from the golden gravel of Bonanza creek, 

 were w^ont to navigate the treacherous waters 

 of the upper Yukon in boats and rafts of all 

 sorts of shapes and sizes, many of which were 

 entirely unfitted for such an enterprise. 



The romance of the Klondyke Avas, however, 

 but short-lived, and to-day the difficulties, the 

 dangers and the privations often encountered 

 in getting there, and the strange humours of 

 the social life in the newly-formed township of 

 Dawson, are alike things of the past. 



