S^y^.. ■t.^Z^ ^.^% IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) y / {/ <; Q- C?. / ^ ^ (/, 1.0 I.I 1.25 m 11^ |||||2^ 140 |||||2.0 iA III 1.6 V] , Arth at tiiie World's fai^ Soaw a. B-wVobo. Mr. W. T. Stead on Telepathy. Adam Bybnk. An H<^r nt^^ Oliver WebdeU S^tep«. John Bentley'iB Uiatake. Jxsatx A. Fabeukd. The Ships of ^t John. Bi.s^ Carmsk. } A Ohristmaa Tragedy. A> H. Mosmbok. Euaiors o^ "Bkmih anA Bttr, » W- H. Bwkb. "'** «i-:- '*«*=•; •^feSw^' Iiord and T3 Diro., 18!^. ^ao vss imam OntMio pUj jimr-^hl^^i^ it sti: tbitiii and Medal (THE rtlQH6»r AWARD) At the World's Fair, Chicago. mmWQ TO CONTAIN NO maymous CHEMICAI S. Tfau Soap has now tvo World'H M««hb to Its <&tiditi, ono obtained at the Paris Ex^ tion, 18S9, and the othor at Chicago ( Ix^^eii tMtt«att other Oold Medala obt«in« different parts of the world, fiT« being mm Oa^oadaJ " Snnlight '* Boap is uaed in Windsor Oaatle and in the Royal Laundries. Is it in use inj your boose f If not, you are miasu^ a treat. Trusts Corporation OF ONTARIO And Safe Deposit Vaults. Bank of Oommeree Building, King St. TOROMTO. ijsm OapitAl Authorised, 91.000,1 Odpital SubaoHbed. «&00.Oda 0.00^ • >'h' Presidtmt, Vite-Presidtnls^ Hon. J. C. AiKiNs, P.C, HOM. SiK R. J. CAHTWRIOHT, K. C M Hon. S. C. Wood, The Qorpotstion midertAkei all xouwer of TBmm and aoMi as EXliODTOSL ADMIN- iSTBAToii, duABpTAir. w^JSrlSs, TRUSTEE, ASSIONEE, LKI^EDAVOIS. B««.' or as ASXHX for any of the alMnre apiA^t' ments. BstateS naaifed. Moqey ijtvssted. Bonds issued and «>imtersigSi6d. Ftoow^ bnaniesB of iSi kinds transacted. Deposit sa£(B to rent, all siteis. Valuables of all VcaSi reeeived and safe on^tody Gomrimv - t e e* and taann' ii C - - ~ -' I?.B.-%t)ait< » brinjrtiut busliieBS to tl>e CorporstioR are tetaiaed m' the professioiial ~t|»«^uon. idsa MKDAL8* Boston Meohantos* 7alr, 1890. j By Special Appointmeati maken to Hot MajoAj the Qttccn, wbo uses a BaT'Lock perscnaUy, alM her davghter, iMncca Beatrice, U»ed by the Brit, (lib, Colonial sfld Dominiuti Govenunants, etc W RiTiNO VISIBLE OftKtN^ AUTOMATIC ACTION AND DaUSTMCNTS KASY OAPAOltV WONDERFUl ATALCQUE FREE A. m PLUMM3SIB. Manaffer. X> Bit 0Ti.09S| a«nvml CsnodiM A^ent^ a < ia»to Stg ee t, T AOelaWo gt. Bait. Ottawa. Toronto. Wilt tor !u*'!n«i ol osMNMt iftont. DO Theli Lit(e a shroud cold breas To the catarac And the lake sky. PaoBABLY I inercial tra approaches ideal of a than the sal unknown c Russian Gc States in tl the purchas this case, be ance of the unceiemonic and a quart old gunboat of the Unit phic chart eminent in tury was k line with re exploratory ever under has any sue ly contenip tile United of the inter cent counti nieaifre ant has been m pens of the animated bition of th of the old I terniined see," and w to time, to an (wperto frozen, solit The pres only casiia V 'i In it in use in DOWN THE YUKON AND UP THE MACKENZIE. S,SOO Miles by Foot and Paddle. BY WILLIA^I OGILVIE, D.L.S., F.R.Q.S. The land where the clouds love to rest, Like a shroud of the dead on the mountain's cold breast, To the cataract's roar, where the eagles reply, And the lake its lone bosom expands to the skv* — A'o/) Roy. Probably no great international com- iiiercial transaction of modern times approaches more nearly 1o the perfect ideal of a " pig-in-a-poke " bargain than the sale and transfer of the great unknown country of Alaska hy the Russian Government to the United States in the year 1867 ; not merely the purchaser, but the seller also, in this case, being in almost entire ignor- ance of the value of the treasure so unceremoniously exchanged for seven and a quarter million dollars' worth of old gunboats belonging to the people of the United States. The hydrogra- phic chart made by the Russian Gov- einment in the early part of the cen- tury was known to represent the coast lins with reasonable accuiaey ; but no exploratory survey of the interior was ever undertaken by the Russians ; nor has an^' such survey been subsequent- ly contemplated by the Government of tile United States. All that is knov/n of the interior of Alaska and the adja- cent country — and this knowledge is meagre and scanty in the extreme — has been gathered from the lips and pens of the few Arctic travellers who, animated with the commendable am- bition of the noble lord of high degree of the old ballad, have gone abroad de- termined " strange countries for to see," and who have returned, from time to time, to astonish civilization with an experto crcde aceountof itstrackless, frozen, solitary vvad.;es. The present article, however, deiils only casiially and incidentally with Alaska, but mainly with the adjacent British territory, which, aside "rom certain lines of travel, may also be said to be a terra incognita. To within a few years ago a great unexplored soli- tude extended to the eastward between the valleys of the Upper Yukon, or Lewes, and the Mackenzie, and from the GOth parallel of latitude northward to the shores of the " frozen ocean." This extensive region is known as the Yukon country, a name rendered ap- propriate by the fact that it is drained by the Yukon river and its tributaries, which form one of the great river .sys- ten)s of the world. A general account of the exploration of a portion of this great area is the subject of the present article. Walled in by high mountains, and in consequence unapproachable from every side, it is not strange that the Yukon district should so long have re- mained in almost und.'sturbed .seclu- sion. Had it not been for the fact that the rich metalliferous belt of the Coast and Gold Ranges passes through the district from one end to the other, the probability is that it would still have remained unexplored for many years to come. Only four gates of approach to the district exist, and, strangely enough, these are situated at the four corners. From the north-west, access is gained to the country by following the Yukon from its mouth in Behring Sea; from the north-east, b}' crossing from the Mackenzie to the Porcupine, and fol- lowing down the latter stream to its contluence with the Yukon ; from the .south-east, by ascending the Liard from Fort Simpson and crossing the water- shed to the head waters of the Pelly ; and tinally.from the .south-west, by en- I! ■ l 532 THE CANADIAN MAGAZINE. tering where the Coa-stRange is pierced by the Chilkoot and Chiliiat Passes. As a matter of fact, all these routes are beset with difficulties, and when it the source of the Lewes River to Nuklikahyet, continuing,' his journey from this point to the sea by boat. The object of this expedition was to CHILKOOT INLET. is remembered that there are only four roads into a region three times greater in extent than the total area of the New England States, it is not to be wondered at that the total population of the region should consist of a few scattered Indian families and a hun- dred or so of hardy miners. Occasional contributions to our know- ledge of the district have been made from time to time for at least half a century, mainly V)y officers of the Hud- son's Bay Company, miners and em- ploy(5-i of the abandoned Telegraph Expedition ; and skeleton maps of the interior have been constructed in ac- cordance w'^^h the topographical data, so far as known. Among recent expeditions that of Lieut. Schwatka, of the United States Army, in the summer of 18.S3, may be mentioned. Entering the country by the Chilkoot Pass, Lieut. Schwatka floated down the Yukon on a raft from examine the country from a military point of view, and to collect all avail- able information with regard to the Indian tribes. We are indebted to it also for a great deal of general in- formation with regard to the country. Schwatka, Avho seems to have gone through .the country with his eyes open, used the explorer's baptismal privilege freely, and scattered monu- ments of Schwatkaniap nomenclature broadcast throughout the land, re- christening many places that had al- ready been named, ami doing so too in apparent indifference to the fact that many of the names thus set aside had an established priority of many years. Of Schwatka's two suLsequent exjie- ditions to Alaska in the interests of a New York newspaper .syndicate, very little need be said ; little, indeed, .seems to have Vjeen accomplished beyond taking a huge slice of a thousand toet or more off the top of Mount St. Elias, DOWN THE YUKON. 533 without any reason whatever bein^ assigned for this stupendous act of vandalism. This, however, may be said to be aside from our subjecL, as no one seems to know whether the moun- tain thus obtruncated is in Canada or not, and until this point is scttl0ange for ten dollarH per hundred pounds. This is about two-third.s of the whole dis- tance, includes all the climhiny and all th.) woods, and is hy far the most difficult part of the way. My outfit consisted of two canoes, scientific instruments weij^liin^' about .seven hundred pounds, canipin;^ re- quisites, tenis, clothincf, provisions for eight men for two years, carpenters' tools, nails and spikes suitalile for buildin;^ a boat or a houae, nnd, last but not least, miglit be included about six thousand dollars in gold and silver coin for current expenses, as none of the Indians in the interior will take paper money. I hail, in all, exclusive of what was taken over by myself and party, one hundn d and twenty packs, ranging in weight from forty to one hundred and fifty-six pounds ; and on the morning of the (Jth June one hundred and twenty Indians — men, woman and children — started for the summit with them. I sent two of my party on to see the goods delivered at the I'lace agreed upon. Each car- rier, when given a pack, received also a ticket, on which was inscribed the contents of the pack, its weight, and the amount the individual was to get for carrying it. They were made to understand that they had to produce these tickets on delivering their packs, but were not told for what reason. A.s each pack was delivered, one of my men receipted the ticket and returned it. The Indians did not seem to understand the import of this ; a few of them pretended to have lost their tickets, and, as the}' could not get paid without them, my assistant, who had duplicatts of every ticket, furnished them with receipted copies after ex- amining their packs. While they were packing to the summit,! was producingthe survey ,'and I met them on their return about eight miles from the coast, where I pnid them. They came to the camp in the early morning before I was up, and for aliout two hours theie was iiuite a hubbiih. When payiuij them I tried to get their names, but very few of them would give any Indian name, nearly all, after a little rellection, giv- ing some common Englisli name. My list contained little else than Jack, Tom, Joe, Charley and so on, some of w'liich were duplicated there and four times. I then found why some of them had pretended to lose .heir tickets at the summit. SevtiiUi who hail thus acted prese'i'ed themselve-^ twice for payment, proiiueing first the receipted ticket and afterwards the one they claimed to havt* lost, demand- ing |)ay for both. The}' were much surprised when they found that their duplicity had lieen discovered. While paying them I was a little apprehen- sive of trouble, for they insisted on crowding into my tent, and lor myself and the four men who were with me to have attempted to eject them would have been the height of folly. I am strictly of the opinion tliat these Indians would have been much more dithcult to deal with if they had not known that Commander Newell re- mained in the inlet to .see that I got through without accident. These Indians are perfectly heart- less. They will not render even the smallest aid to each other without payment ; and if not to each other, much less to a white man. I called one of them (whom I had previously assisted with his pack) to take me and two of my party over a small creek in his ciuioe. After patting us across he asked for money, and I gave him a half a iloliar. Another man stepped up and demiinded pay, stating that the canoe belonged to him. To see what the result would lie, I gave liim the same amount. Immediately there were three or four moi'e claimantH for the canoe. I dismissed them with my blessing and made up my DOWN r///: YUKON. 537 IS (iiiito !i ail naiiit' mind 1 would wado tlio next creek. Down Taiya Pass Howm a Hinall river, the Dayay of Schwatka, navi- ^fable for canoes to about six inilus aliovo the mouth : aKovo tliis tho cur- ler* w too swift and rou'jfli for hoats, luiu everything intended for the inter- ior has to he carried over the moun- tains on men's backs, a distance of about seventeen and a half miles. - 1^ Pass is heavily wooded to within abo v two miles of the summit ; and gett'n ' through these wood8,especially"''ththe canoes, was a matter of pati ^ e and Chiistian forbearance. There is only one really dangerous spot, however, — where the little ivcr runs between perpendicular, or rather overhanging, rock banks. Ttie path for a little distance runs close to the brink, and a misstep here would precipitate one some three hundred feet to the bed of the stream below. The river has to be crossed three or ing is about thirty yards wide, and the current is so strong that unless one has a load on his back he can hardly stand on his feet. Tiio Indians wht-n crossing carry a stout stick whicli th(!y use as a prop while making a step. The women, while fording the stream, tie their skirts up very high and use their sticks as dexterously as the men. Before my canoes came up to this point r had to cross twice ; the second time while I was very warm froin cianiber- ing down the steep side of a hill thirteen hundred and sixty feet high. Tc people living in ordinary ccmditions, this would seem dangerous, but no ill elRcts resulted to me from my cold bath. From the timber lino to the summit, the slope is ea.sy and uniform, with the exception of one steep bit, in which there is a rise of five hundred feet in about as many yards. When packing over the Pass, the Indians, if m--] ■ A ^^A L. ^^ i ii - ■?.. -J -<■ II j -*;i'-ri- 1 '"-"■V- "■; . ■"■ .-r ■ '*^/*' -i*'-- V m t~k \ 4 '.' • *^» ■ H.VINKS MISSION— THE INDIAN S.IIIPOI.. four times in the Pass, and as the water, flowing from the glaciers above, is ice cold, it will never be resorted to as a bathing place. The lowest cross- they get to the timber limit during the day, remain there until about miu- night, when the snow in the Pass is frozen, and they can travel over it / 538 THE CA NA DM N MA GA ZINE. with comparative ease. On the very steep places they cut holes in the crust with a small hand axe, and help them- selves up with their hands ; otherwisj, with heavy loads on their backs, they flould not get up. When the snow is soft they use a stick which they push vertically into the snow and pull them- selves up by it. I have read somewhere of red snow being seen in this region ; so it is, but it is only snow covered with a vege- table juice. When I tirst saw it I was surprised at the confirmation of the statement I have alluded to ; but soon noticed tliat it was confined entirely to the line of travel. This led me to ex- amine it more closely, when I found that it was caused by the juice of a berry which grows on a ground vine at the head of the timber Jiniit. When pressed, this berry gives out a purple juice, which by dilution sbadesdown in- to a pale pink. This juice is absorbed by the leather of the Indian's moccasins as he tramps on the berries, and after- wards stains the sno* as he travels over it. This, by the at of the sun and the action of gravity on the hill side, is distributed over a wide space, compared with the track, and is visible after all sign of the track is gone. The red snowof the arctic regions is in part due to vegetable coloring matter. Might not some at least of the instan- ces recorded in which the phenomenon has been observed be traceable to a similar source? Before proceeding any further, a word with regard to the party may not be out of place. Morrisori and Glad- man were my lieutenants, -ind I deem myself peculiarly fortunate to have been so ably seconded. Parker and Sparks the basemen, were both expert canoeists and the expeditionowes nmch to their skill with the paddle. These, with myself, made upa peiinanent party of five. Two men were picked up at Victoria for the summer of 1887, and Captain Moore, who was going into the country on his own account, was at- tached to the party for a short time. The captain is an old-timer. Every- body on the coast from Frisco to Un- alaska knows Bill Moore. He is a Hanoverian by birth, but has knocked about the Pacific Coast ever since he can remember. He excels as a story- teller, and many queer stories are also told about him. The captain is one of those easy-going, good-natured but un- fortunate individuals, who have a standing grievance against the law of the land, and on whom its heavy arm seems to be continually beating, in a small way it is true, but with monoto- nous regularity, and apparently with but indifferent beneficial results. Not bold enough to go entirely beyond the charmed circle, and not clever enough to keep just within it, the cap- tain's relations with tne executive authorities of the Dominion and of the republic were so strained at all times as to threaten rupture at any moment An account of the adventures of the little "Western Slope," on board of r.hi^h, as he says, he had to keep a " tam staff" of lawyers " to keep her afloat, and for whom there was "some volverine of a sheriff or customs offi- cer " waiting at every port, would fill a volume in itself. The captain, not- withstanding his little failings, has many excellent qualities and a genuine heartj' humor about him that freshen- ed the i Ired spirits of the j)arty like a spray from a salt sea-breeze blowing inland. His dialect and his peculiar opinions of men and things — always expiessed with the emphatic di^gma- tism of matured consideration — clia.sed dull melancholy from many a wet day's camp. The captain had a couple of boy mining in the interior at Ca.ssiar Bar, whom he had believed to have "struck it rich," and his object in going down the river was to visit them and help to take care of their goou fortune. His paternal solicitmle for those boys was highly commendable, and bright vis- ions of prospective wealth made the old man doubly an:;ious to hurry on and impatient of the least delay. I I DOWN THE YUKON. 539 But to return to our mutton. After completing the survey down to the lake, I set about getting my baggage down. This proved no easy task. Of all the Indians who came to the summit with packs, only tour or five could be induced to remain and pack down the lake, although I was paying them at the rate of four dollars per hundred pounds. After one tri p down, only two men remained, and they only in the hope of stealing something. One of them appropriated a pair of on snow blindness, the intolerable pain of which only those who have suffered from this complaint can real- ize. I had two sleds with me which were made at Juneau city specially for the work of getting over the moun- tains and down the lakes on the ice. With these I succeeded in bringing about a ton and a half to the lakes, but I. found that the time it would take to get all down this way would sej'iously interfere with the pro- gramme arranged with Dr. Dawson, to I.DOKIMi DOWN TAIVA INLET. boots and was much surprised to find that he had to pay for them on being settled with. I could not blame the Indians much for not caring to work, as the weather was stormy and disa- greeable — raining or snowing almost continuously. After they had left, I tried to portage the stuff with the aid of my own men, but found it slavish labor, and after the first trip one of them was laid up with what appeared to be inflammatory rheumatism. The first time the party crossed, the sun was shining brightly, and this brought say nothing of the suffering of the men and myself from snow-blindness, and the liability to sickness to which we were exposed by protracted physical exertion under such unfavorable con- ditions. 1 had with me a white man who lived at the head of the inlet with a Tagish Indian woman. This man had considerable influence with the Tagish tribe, the greater number of whom were then in the neighborhood where he resided, trying to get some odd jobs of work, and I sent him to r.he head of the inlet to endeavor to I i- 540 THE CANADIAN MAGAZINE. induce tha Tagish Indians to under- take the transportation, offering them five dollars per hundred pounds. In the meantime, Captain Moore and the Indian "Jim," who had been, b^' my direction, exploring a low-level pass to the south, which I have named White Pass, had rejoined me. I had their assistance for a day or two, trid " Jim's " presence aided indirectly in inducing the Indians to come tc my relief. The Tagish are little more than slaves tc the more powerful coast tribes, and are in constant dread of offending theui in any way. One of the privileges which the coast tribes claim is the exclusive right to all work on the coast or in its vicinity, and the Tagish are afraid to dispute this claim. When ray white man asked the Tagish to come over and pack, they objected on the grounds mentioned. After con- siderable ridicule of their cowardice, and explanation of the fact that they had the exclusive right to all work in their own country — the country on the north side of the coast range be- ing admitted by the coast Indians to belong to the Tagish tribe — just as the coast tribes had the privilege of doing all the work on the coast side of the mountains, and that one of their num- ber was already working with me un- molested, and likely to continue so, nine of them came over, and in fear and trembling began to pack down to the lake. A few days later some of the Chilkoots came out and also start- ed to work. I was now getting my stuff down quite fast ; but this good fortune was not to continue. Owing to the pre- vailing wet, cold weather on the moun- tains, and the difficulty of getting through the soft snow and slush, the Indians soon began to quit work for a i ten miles per day on the lakes — li'.tle more than half of what could be done on the . iver. Navigation on the Lewes Ri^er be- gins at the head of Lake Bennett Above that point and between it ainl Lake Lyndetnan there is only about three-quarters of a mile of river, ami that is narrow, shallow, swift iiml rough. Many small streams issuiiis,' directly from the numerous glacieis at the heads of the tributaries of Lake Lyndeman feed this lake and make it the head fountain of the Lewes, It is a pretty little strip of watifi, about five miles in length, nestling [f iit the e humor, n as tile ■ as the buildinr; ve ledge of which, ineil only sixty to be easily 18 or four li rough it id in this e evening the l:ith id with it m. They the Can- a part of se enough the coast, such pro- le party I he lakes ; )n account e summer lys a wind ; it blows ;es quite a ot prevent decks on, ny mile or the genor- y trouljle- could not es per day lan half of iver. ! Riter lie- e Bennett. ^een it and inly about river, and swift and ms issuiiii^ 1 glaciers at !S of Lake and make ,he Lewes. I of wattir, li, nestling DOWN THE YUKON. 543 among grey-green granite hills, which fire here and there clothed, down to the gravell}' beach, with dwarf spruce and pine. Lake Bennett is about five times as lon,e to be a poor copy of the houses which the Hudson's Bay Company's .servants build around their trading posts. These houses do not a,ppear to have been u.sed for some time past, and are almost in ruins. The Tagish I idians are now generally on the coast,a8 they find it much easier to live there than in their own country. As a matter of fact, what they make in their own country is taken from them by the coast Indians, so that there is little inducement for them to remain. Marsh Lake is a little over nineteen miles long, and would average about two miles in width. The miners call it " Mud Lake," but on this name they do not a|)pear to be agreed, many of them calling the lower part of Tagish or Bone Lake by this name on account of its shallowness and flat muddy shores, as seen along the west side, which, being more sheltered from the prevailing southerly winds, is the one generally travelled. The name, " Mud Lake," however, is not applicable to Tagish Lake, as only a comparatively small part of it is shallow or muddy ; and it is nearly as inapplicable to Marsh Lake. At the lower end of Marsh Lake, on a jutting point of land, are situate! several Indian graves, each with its small enclosure (in which, with the dead man's bones, are deposited tht few trinkets he may have possessed), ninety- navigal or moi arm of or Wir about Tako knowi than stretch lumdre easily Taiya OhilkoJ f' DOWN THE YUKON. S45 and its long pole aiinnounted by flut- tering many colored rags which appear to serve the double purpose of monu- nientandscarecrow.attractingthe reve- rent attention of human passersby, and at the same time frightening stray birds and prowling animals from the locality. The Lewes River, where it leaves Marsh Lake, is about two hundred yards wide and averages this width as far as the Canon. From the head of Bennett Lake to the Canon the corrected distance is No streams of importance enter any of these lakes. A river, called by Schwatka McClintock River, enters Mar.sh Lake at the lower end from the east ; it occupies a large \alley, as seen from the westerly aide of the lake, but the stream is apparently unimpor- tant. It is not probable that any stream coming from the east side, of the lake is of importance, as the strip of country between the Lewes and the Tes-lin-too is not more than thirty or forty miles in width at this point. LAKE LYNDEMAN. ninety-live miles, all of which is navigable for boats drawing five feet or more. Add to this the westerly arm of Bennett Lake and the Takone or Windy arm of Tagish Lake, each about fifteen miles in length, and the Tako arm of the latter lake, of v'.- known length, but probably not .ess than thirty miles, and we have a stretch of water of upwards of one hundred and fifty miles in length, all easily navigable, and connected with Taiya Jnlet and the sea through the (.Jhilkoot and White passes. On the 20th of July we reached the Canon and camped at its yawning mouth. I found that the party with the "Hoodalinka" had arrived there two days before, and, having carried a part of the supplies past it, were await- ing my arrival to run through with the rest in the boat. Betore doinir so, how- ever, I nade an examination of the Caiion and the rapids below it, inci- dentally keeping a sharp lookout for hostile Indians, as th" was the place where they were said to be lying in wait. 1 was greatly relieved to find j'i! ^1' ^|i 546 THE CANADIAN MAGAZINE. that there were no Indians about, and no indication of a war party having recently camped in the vicinity. While we were exanjining theCiinon, an enormous brown bear put in an ap- pearance upon a rocky ledge above us about a (juarter ofa mile distant. His inspection ot" the party, thougii an ex- ceedingly brief one, must have been entirely .satisfactory to himself, for I never .saw an animal turn and disap- pear more quickly than this particular bear did. The singing of a couple of bullets in close proximity to his awk- ward person no doubt helped him to a prompt realization of the decidedly bad character of the intruders. Parker and S{)arks were anxious to run the Canon in their canoe. They both thought they had been through as rough water on the Saskatchewan, so, directing them to take a hundred ON I>AKE LYNDEMAN. pounds of bacon for ballast, I sent them down with the Mackenzie to await the arrival of the boat and to be reaily in case of an accident to pick us up. The Mackenzie went through all right, but her occupants would not have liked to repeat the trip. They say the canoe jumped about a great deal more than they anticipated, and I had the .same experience in going through in the boat. The Gallon and rapids have been described in several articles by several l)arties, all agreeing in giving a more or less thrilling and dangerous charac- ter to them. That they are dangerous for small boats no one would deny, but that there is such terrible risk and such narrow escapes as have been reported is a delusion. I do not wish to dei-y any man any credit he may be entitleil to for running through them on a raft or in a boat, but what I wish to decry is that any individual should consider and report himself a hero for having done scmething never befoi'e attempt- ed, anci in comparison with which a descent of Niagara would pale, if we were to estimate the daring of the feat by the amount of bosh used in describ- ing it. The only danger in the Canon is in striking the sides ; if one will keep in the channel he is safe, unless his boat is very small. I admit that the run through is exciting, and a person who had had his fears aroused by reading some of the highly-colored descriptions of it, more especially if he had no pre- vious experience of the kind, might lose his head and run into danger, in- stead of out of it. The walls are per- pendicular and high, and they seem to tly past, in the ntirrow channel, with a frightful roar, involuntarily recalling the sinister " Facilis est descensus Averni " of the Roman poet. Seated