TRAVEL IN THE NORTHWEST 



southern British Cohimbia. We had no sooner unpacked for 

 the night at the Indian village, twelve miles on the trail, than, 

 my saddle-horse, which was the only new animal in the outfit, 

 started back to Telegraph Creek with Mac following hotly on 

 foot. Hungerford and I spent an uncomfortable night in the 

 rain, as we were obliged to guard the provisions from the nu- 

 merous prowling, half-starved dogs from the Indian village on 

 the bluff above camp. 



These Taltan Indians breed a race of small dogs peculiar to 

 the tribe, using them in bear-hunting to harass and delay the 

 retreat of the game until the hunters can overtake it. The 

 dogs are of the size and have the appearance and disposition 

 of a fox, but are glossy black in color, with a white patch on 

 the chest. They are very bright and interesting little beasts, 

 but being mostly fox have a great deal of the sneaking mis- 

 chievousness and cunning of that animal in their disposition. 



Mac rode the tired horse into camp about ten o'clock the next 

 morning, having caught it in the corral at Telegraph Creek. 

 We made fifteen miles on the trail that day, crossing the Taltan 

 and Tuya Rivers by bridges, and camping with the Hudson 

 Bay pack-train on a branch of the Tanzilla. For the next two 

 days we followed the Tanzilla northward thirty-two miles to 

 the Arctic watershed, which is quite low at this point. From 

 morning to night, as we followed the trail, we saw nothing but 

 a monotonous succession of poplar-covered benches, terminat- 

 ing in rolling, moss -covered mountains at timber-line. The 

 wind blew continuously, filling the air with yellow leaves from 

 the poplars, which were beginning to have quite a bare, wintry 

 appearance. Late in the afternoon of September 25th we 

 camped in a grove of pines within a mile of Dease Lake. 



While the men were pitching camp I walked down the trail 

 to watch a cold-looking sun set over this beautiful piece of 

 water, which is several miles in length. The waters of the 

 small stream by which we were camped, as well as of all the 



373 



