AMONGST THE WILD GOATS OF THE CASCADES. 285 



observation in detail, by experiencing how long one 

 takes to 'kill distance,' and how much more than the 

 estimated time is sometimes required to reach points 

 which have long been in sight. The effect of the 

 forests is thus to lessen the apparent height of the 

 peaks on which they grow. In front of us lay Bear 

 Bay, in which neither of the Indians had been before. 

 It was necessary for me to find a spot where the canoe 

 might be safely beached, and to select it long before it 

 was reached, as the gale was blowing strongly down 

 the inlet, and our only course was to run before it, 

 which we were doing at a speed of about ten knots. 

 It would have been quite impossible to revert to any 

 sheltered cove after we had been once swept beyond 

 it. To paddle such a large canoe in the face of a gale 

 was beyond the power of three men. Gravel beaches 

 even a few yards in width are exceedingly scanty in 

 number, and frequently disappeared altogether at 

 high water. The steep sides of the surrounding 

 mountains, becoming steeper as they approach the 

 water, descend in sheer precipitous walls into Bute 

 Inlet, except where the action of the waves have worn 

 a ledge-like belt. 



To combine a landing place with some locality in 

 the neighbourhood where the timbered heights look 

 ascendable, not to speak of pleasant or easy, was 

 another necessity, and, moreover, the discovery of 

 such a place had to be made before it was passed. To 

 pass it was to lose it. I had anticipated heavy gusts 

 round some of the capes, and, much against their wild 



