DOWN THE ATHABASCA 



The weather now being fair and cool, and the great pest 

 of camp life, the mosquito, not having yet arrived, our ex- 

 perience at this time was most enjoyable. It was the season 

 of spring, and the sweet perfume of the Balm of Gilead, so 

 abundant in the valley of the Athabasca, permeated the air. 

 The leaves on many of the trees were just opening, so that 

 everywhere the woods presented a remarkable freshness and 

 brilliancy of foliage. These were our environments at the 

 commencement of the canoe voyage and at our first camp on 



TRANQUIL WATERS. 



the banks of the Athabasca. How different were they to be 

 at the other end of the journey! 



On the morning of the 1st of June camp was called early, 

 and we continued on our way. As we glided down stream a 

 succession of grand views passed, panorama-like, before us. 

 The banks were high, towering in some places three, four or 

 five hundred feet above the river ; here abrupt and precipitous, 

 consisting of cut banks of stratified clay; in other places 



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