harge the bank directly, but swung-to
broadside. In this way they led our horses safely across, and came up
smiling each time.

We found Hazleton to be a small village composed mainly of Indians,
with a big Hudson Bay post at its centre. It was situated on a lovely
green flat, but a few feet above the Skeena, which was a majestic
flood at this point. There were some ten or fifteen outfits camped
in and about the village, resting and getting ready for the last half
of the trail. Some of the would-be miners had come up the river in
the little Hudson Bay steamer, which makes two or three trips a year,
and were waiting for her next trip in order to go down again.

The town was filled with gloomy stories of the trail. No one knew its
condition. In fact, it had not been travelled in seventeen years,
except by the Indians on foot with their packs of furs. The road
party was ahead, but toiling hard and hurrying to open a way for us.

As I now reread all the advance literature of this "prairie route," I
perceived how skilfully every detail with regard to the last half of
the trail had been slurred over. We had been led into a sort of sack,
and the string was tied behind us.

The Hudson Bay agent said to me with perfect frankness, "There's no
one in this village, except one or two Indians, who's ever been over
the trail, or who can give you any information concerning it." He
furthermore said, "A large number of these fellows who are starting
in on this trip with their poor little cayuses will never reach the
Stikeen River, and might better stop right here."

Feed was scarce here as everywhere, and we were forced to camp on the
trail, some two miles above the town. In going to and from our tent
we passed the Indian burial ground, which was very curious and
interesting to me. It was a veritable little city of the dead, with
streets of tiny, gayly painted little houses in which the silent and
motionless ones had been laid in their last sleep. Each tomb was a
shelter, a roof, and a tomb, and upon each the builder had lavished
his highest skill in ornament. They were all vivid with paint and
carving and lattice work. Each builder seemed trying to outdo his
neighbor in making a cheerful habitation for his dead.

More curious still, in each house were the things which the dead had
particularly loved. In one, a trunk contained all of a girl's
much-prized clothing. A complete set of dishes was visible in
another, while in a third I