or by opening doors or windows, should the player get one of these openings in line with his shot. The furniture on the whole is of home make, crude, but comfortable. A hammock swings from the posts of the piazza.

On retiring the first night I saw two moving coals of fire glaring at

forts when the year's supplies arrive or are shipped en route to other posts farther north. Everything has to be brought from the coast, first by steamer up the Skeena, then by pack train to Babine Lake, thence by schooner to a ten-mile portage, at the farther end of which another schooner brings the cargo across Stuart's Lake to the fort. But part of these supplies go on over the trail to Fort McLeod, and are there put into scows, which go down the Parsnip River and up the Findlay to Fort Graham. No wonder the greater part of a season is required to get food to some of these parts. The half-breed packers know well their business of handling these Hudson Bay pack trains. This is the way they do it. Some ten thousand pounds of supplies are brought out

YOUNG WOLF, FORT ST. JAMES.

me through the window.

I got up and locked that window as well as the others. The next morning 1 saw a timber wolf running about the yard, cutting antics with a big Indian pack dog. Just before rising from the breakfast table, I felt something pressed against my arm, and turning I looked down into the begging eyes of a young doe. A long array of cats, dogs and retired pack horses completed the list of these pets, which lived together in perfect harmony as one large family. The wolf, although tame enough, still clung to his natural instincts, and during the walks we took at dark preferred to slink along behind us, disappearing from time to time into the bush and coming out to the trail again at unlooked for places.

A busy scene is enacted at these

A YOUNG DEER.

of the warehouse and arranged along the planks in piles of two hundred and fifty pounds each. Forty horses, not cayuses, are driven into the enclosure, blinders are fastened over the horses' eyes, and they are saddled. The saddle, composed of two leather pads, is thrown over the horse's back. A strap is passed under his body to two men, who brace themselves

obtained from nets in the lake. The nets and traps are tended by the natives in their dugouts. The fish are brought to the land, split and cleaned, and hung up to dry. A fiery spectacle this makes, blotches of crimson along the shore, up out of reach of the half starved dogs. For the salmon is also the dog's food. When working, he gets one fish a day; when idle, he is lucky if he gets one a week. The last stage of this industry is the storing away of the catch in peculiar houses of small logs set up on posts where the wind freely circulates. In these the fish are stored, several thousand fish to each family. When all else fails the salmon lasts.

against the animal's side and pull the thing taut. The horse draws a deep breath and braces his fore feet. The strap gradually tightens until it seems that something has got to break, either the saddle or the horse. This operation finished, the packs are put on and are securely fastened to the saddle. By means of a cinch rope passed several times around the packs under the horse and drawn tight, the famous "diamond hitch" is formed, which makes it almost impossible for a horse to buck off his load.* Then the whole train files slowly out on to the long trail, and disappears into the bush, the bell horse leading, the halfbreeds shouting.

At the time I was at Stuart's Lake the Indians were busily engaged in catching and drying salmon for the year's supply. Man, woman and child, all enter into this work with a will; for salmon is their bread and butter. This fish never takes a bait; hence the natives use ingenious devices to lure them into wicker traps sunk to the bottoms of the rivers. The bulk of the catch, however, is

It is all important that any one travelling with a pack train in this country should be well acquainted with the mysteries of this peculiar hitch. At one point on my way north, I saw the following inscription cut into a tree by the trail, only a few miles from Ashcroft: "Stalled. Haven't found the diamond hitch."

of any material value. Fusion of blood from the old French voyageurs, contact with the fort and mission and frequent visits to the coast and other points of civilization have all tended to transform the Carrier Indian. He can tell you first all about the Pope (so he thinks), then a good deal about the Queen, and lastly, a very little. about the President of the United States. He cuts his hair short, wears textile clothing, the only remnant of his native dress being the moccasin. He speaks English; but if he is driving a bargain, about all one can get out of him is, "Me no savey." Consumption, that dread disease which, strange to say, is so prevalent among the most northerly tribes, claims its full share of victims. As regards their virtues, for veracity and reliance, Indians are pretty much the same everywhere. For willingness to work, I am told they compare fa

vorably with their brothers in the western states. Like the Eskimos, they adore tobacco and coffee, and will give fresh meat and fish the cold shoulder when they can get bacon and beans. They have their chief, although this personage is hardly more than chief in name. As regards their religious tendencies, the population is about evenly divided at Fort St. James, one half clustering about the church at the mission a mile above

the fort, the other living at the post itself. Those who attend church are, I think, faithful in their worship. The two Indians whom I took with me down the rivers, on my way out, lulled me to sleep every night, as we iay

about the camp fire,

with their

prayers, translated, of course, into their own tongue. These incantations lasted fully half an hour, more for aught I know, as

was always

asleep by

that time.

With all the benefits that are supposed to come with civilization, a half civilized nature is always to me a pitiable object. He stands like the wayfarer with his journey only partly finished, thinking of what he has left behind and wondering, or supposed by you to be wondering,

these fiery colors stood