Wild
parsnips grew here in abundance, and were a grateful addition to the
diet of the travellers. As to birds, they not only saw blue jays and
yellow birds, but the first humming bird which Mackenzie had ever
beheld in the north-west.[8]
[Footnote 7: Mr. Burpee points out that this was really the
southernmost source of the mighty congeries of streams which flowed
northwards to form the Mackenzie River system. Having traced the
Mackenzie to the sea, its discoverer now stood four years afterwards
at its most remote source, 2420 miles from its mouth at which he had
seen the ice floes and the whales.]
[Footnote 8: Humming birds arrive annually in British Columbia between
April and May, and stay there till the autumn. They winter in the
warmer parts of California.]
From this tiny lake he made his way over lofty mountains to another
lake at no great distance, and from this a small stream called the Bad
River flowed southwards to join a still bigger stream, which Mackenzie
thought might prove to be one of the branches of the mighty Columbia
River that flows out into the Pacific through the State of Oregon. It
really was the Fraser River, and of the upper waters of the Fraser
Mackenzie was the discoverer.[9]
[Footnote 9: The great surveyor and map maker, David Thompson, was the
first white man to reach the upper waters of the _Columbia_ River.
Pages:
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391