s
about where the Salmon River comes in, down which Sir Alexander
Mackenzie came--and where you went in last year on your trip over the
Peace River Pass."

"Oh, don't we remember that, though!" said John. "And now that you
mention it, I recall that at that time we were speaking of this big
bend in the Fraser."

"Yes, and the Canoe River rises in these hills, and it runs north
quite a way before it bends down and comes into the Columbia,
although it runs to the southeast ultimately, and not to the
southwest.

"You see, these mountains are all laid out along great parallels, and
the rivers have to do just as we did, hunt a way through if they want
to get west. This is the pass of the Columbia where we are now, the
way it has found downhill between the Selkirks and the Rockies. Always
in getting through from east to west, as I have told you, men have
followed the rivers up on one side and down on the other. So you can
see, right on this ground, the way in which much of our history has
been made."

"One thing about this sort of geography is that when you see it this
way you don't forget it. And I rather like those old books which tell
about the trips across the country," said John.

"Yes," said his uncle, "they are interesting, and useful as well, and
it is interesting to follow their story, as we have done. If you would
read _The Northwest Passage_--Rob's book which he has just
mentioned--you will see that they had even worse troubles than we, I
should say, for, although they had one good guide, most of them were
rank tenderfeet. They were five days getting from Jasper House up to
the Yellowhead Pass, and they were a month and a half in getting from
Edmonton to the Tete Jaune Cache--very much longer than we were, as
you will remember.

"And worst of all--and here's what I want you to remember--they
delayed so much from time to time that when they got out of this
country they met all the rivers at their swollen stages. They reached
the Cache in the middle of July, and that was why they found the Canoe
River so swollen and dangerous near its sources. We are about a month
ahead of them. And now you will see why I have been crowding so hard
all along this trip--I don't want to repeat the mistakes of the
earliest explorers who crossed this country, not knowing what they
were to find in it. But I give them all honor, these two Englishmen,
Milton and Cheadle, for making one of the best trips ever made over
the Rockies,