on the lower four miles of the creek the higher four or five dollars a day were considered very poor on account of the high price of provisions and of the season after crossing many smaller streams with their of trees and meadows and bright wild gardens we arrived at the le cabin about the middle of the afternoon before entering it he threw down his burden and made haste to show me his favorite flower a blue not a specimen of which he found within a few rods of the cabin and proudly handed it to me with the finest respect and telling its many charms and associations showed in every look and touch and gesture that the tender little plant of the mountain wilderness was truly his best loved darling travels in after luncheon we set out for the highest point on the dividing ridge about a mile above the cabin and sauntered and gazed until admiring the vast expanse of open rolling like dotted with groves and lakes the fountain heads of countless cool glad streams le s simple love of nature preserved through a hard wilderness life was delightful to see the grand with their lakes and streams plants and animals all were dear to him in particular he was fond of the birds that near his cabin watched the young and in stormy weather helped their parents to feed and shelter them some species were so confiding they learned to perch on his shoulders and take from his hand a little before sunset snow began to fly driven by a cold wind and by the time we reached the cabin though we had not far to go everything looked wintry at half past nine we ate supper while a good fire cheerily in the and a wintry wind blew hard the little log cabin was only ten feet long eight wide and just high enough under the roof peak to allow one to stand upright the was not wide enough for two so le spread the blankets on the floor and we gladly lay down after our long happy walk our heads under the our feet against the opposite wall and though comfortably tired it was long ere we fell asleep for le finding me a good listener told many stories of his adventurous life with indians bears and wolves snow and hunger the trail and of his many in the woods hidden like the nests and of wild animals stories that have a singular interest to everybody for they awaken inherited memories of the when we were all wild he had nine children he told me the youngest eight years of age and several of his daughters were married his home was in victoria next morning was cloudy and windy snowy and cold dreary december weather in august and i y gladly ran out to see what i might learn a gray ragged edged cloud the top of the divide its snowy drawn out by the wind the flowers though most of them were buried or partly so were to some extent the bent over shining like eyes through the snow and the too with their twisted shut i could recognize under any disguise and two species of dwarf willow with their seeds already ripe one with comparatively small leaves were growing in mere cracks and of rock where the dry snow could not lie and were flying briskly in the cold wind and on the edge of a grove i saw a from which a bear had stripped large sections of bark for food about nine o clock the clouds lifted and i enjoyed another wide view from the summit of the ridge of the vast grassy fountain region with smooth rolling features a few patches of forest broke the monotony of color and the many lakes one of them about five miles long were glowing like windows only the highest were with snow while in travels in the clouds showed beautiful bits of yellow green sky the limit of tree growth is about five thousand feet throughout all this region from to the grow in in the woods and on dry where the trees seem to have been destroyed by fire and over all the broad above the timber line a kind of bunch grass in particular is often four or five feet high and close enough to be for hay i never anywhere saw finer or more wild pasture here the feed and grow fat the intense winter cold often forty to sixty degrees below winter and summer seem to be the only seasons here what may fairly be called summer lasts only two or three months winter nine or ten for of pure well defined spring or autumn there is scarcely a trace were it not for the long severe this would be a capital stock country and the of the old west from my outlook on the ridge i saw thousands of square miles of this like region drained by of the and rivers le told me that the or were very abundant on this high ground a flock of fifty or more was seen a short time before at the head of creek � fine hardy able animals like their near relatives the of the the indians he said hunted them with dogs mostly in the fall and winter on my return trip i met several bands of these indians on the march going north to hunt some of the men and women were the tar trail carrying on top of their heavy loads of dried salmon while the grown dogs had saddle bags filled with odds and ends on their backs small unable to carry more than five or six pounds were thus made useful i overtook another band going south heavy laden with and skins to trade an old woman with short dress and was carrying a big load of and skins on top of which 