out," and we were wet and
covered with mud all day. It was a new sort of trail and a terror.
The mountains on each side were very stately and impressive, but we
could pay little attention to views when our horses were miring down
at every step.

We could not agree about the river. Some were inclined to the belief
that it was a branch of the Stikeen, the old man was sure it was
"Skeeny." We were troubled by a new sort of fly, a little
orange-colored fellow whose habits were similar to those of the
little black fiends of the Bulkley Valley. They were very poisonous
indeed, and made our ears swell up enormously--the itching and
burning was well-nigh intolerable. We saw no life at all save one
grouse hen guarding her young. A paradise for game it seemed, but no
game. A beautiful grassy, marshy, and empty land. We passed over one
low divide after another with immense snowy peaks thickening all
around us. For the first time in over two hundred miles we were all
able to ride. Whistling marmots and grouse again abounded. We had a
bird at every meal. The wind was cool and the sky was magnificent,
and for the first time in many days we were able to take off our hats
and face the wind in exultation.

Toward night, however, mosquitoes became troublesome in their
assaults, covering the horses in solid masses. Strange to say, none
of them, not even Ladrone, seemed to mind them in the least. We felt
sure now of having left the Skeena forever. One day we passed over a
beautiful little spot of dry ground, which filled us with delight; it
seemed as though we had reached the prairies of the pamphlets. We
camped there for noon, and though the mosquitoes were terrific we
were all chortling with joy. The horses found grass in plenty and
plucked up spirits amazingly. We were deceived. In half an hour we
were in the mud again.

The whole country for miles and miles in every direction was a series
of high open valleys almost entirely above timber line. These
valleys formed the starting-points of innumerable small streams which
fell away into the Iskoot on the left, the Stikeen on the north, the
Skeena on the east and south. These valleys were covered with grass
and moss intermingled, and vast tracts were flooded with water from
four to eight inches deep, through which we were forced to slop hour
after hour, and riding was practically impossible.

As we were plodding along silently one day a dainty white gull came
lilting through the air a