148 THROUGH CANADA 



discharged itself in thundering avalanche as its fellows 

 do to-day. 



Geological action can be clearly traced out in 

 stratified rocks, some crushed beneath heavy burdens, 

 others leaning as if a touch would topple them over 

 into the abyss. In places deep ravines, in which 

 mysterious shadows lurk, penetrate their sides ; 

 jagged crags, clean-cut and resplendent, crown their 

 summits. The Three Sisters between Bankhead and 

 Canmore are a conspicuous feature of rock formation. 

 They stand equidistant, and rise to an altitude of 

 nearly 1 0,000 feet. The valley was putting on its 

 autumn tints when I saw them, and the young 

 silver birch and poplar made a golden pathway up 

 to the skirts of the White Maidens, which looked as 

 if they had been just startled out of sleep. Hog's- 

 back ridges rose between them, and a glacier river 

 flowed at their feet. Between Canmore and Bank- 

 head there is a National Park, where surviving 

 specimens of the buffalo, once ubiquitous in the 

 North-West, are to be found penned in, and, like their 

 original masters the North American Indians, shorn 

 of their wild romance. Bankhead is a favourite place 

 to break the journey, and exploration may be carried 

 on amongst the Cascade and Rundle Mountains, 

 and Vermillion and Minnewauka Lakes. There is a 

 comfortable hotel there, equipped with all modern 

 conveniences, where efficient guides may be obtained. 



Laggan is romantically situated near the Lakes 



