1909II The Selktrks 



and of course full of excellent whitefish and gold eye. 

 Its basin should interest geologists, for the east side 

 is flanked by the ancient Eozoic granites of the 

 Huronian, while on the west lie shaly deposits of Abouni- 

 the plain which extends from the Dakotas to the H",^'"'^'^'' 

 Mackenzie, and forms one of the greatest wheat gran- 

 aries in the world. 



Reaching the Rocky Mountains, we spent a Sunday 

 at Banff, beautifully situated and surrounded by fine 

 forests, and another day at Field at the foot of gigan- 

 tic Mount Sir Stephen, overlooking the vast, bare, 

 impressive Yoho Valley, a huge "yosemite" with 

 rushing waterfalls, at the head of the great Saskatch- 

 ewan. But better than either Banff or Field we liked 

 Glacier in the heart of the Selkirks, so named because 

 of the enormous icefall at its very door. Yet this is Asuikan 

 less impressive than the majestic Asuikan Glacier, '^'''^"" 

 some miles back in the spruce woods on the west flank 

 of the mountains, a great moving mass surrounded 

 by rocks covered with heather and gentians, and 

 dropping down to the head of the Kootenay River. 



At Revelstoke, on the way to Vancouver, I fell in Sehus 

 with Frederick Courtenay Selous, most famous of 

 hunters and one of the noted explorers of the wilder- 

 ness. Selous was a clear-eyed, genial man, rich in 

 physical energy, a commanding figure in South Africa, 

 which he called home. "A restless soul living a life of 

 continuous adventure among savage men and wild 

 beasts where only the fittest could survive," he safely 

 roamed over most of the world's frontiers, to be slain 

 in battle at the age of sixty-six, leading bush fighters 

 against the Germans in East Africa. 



In Puget Sound we encountered our most perplex- 



n 265 -y 



