lossom will all be over, of course; in spring
it is as great a sight as it is in Japan, with the flowers springing out
all along the trunk and branches like the hackles of a cock! Cherries
are one of the chief exports, and then there are peaches, pears, apples,
and plums, with other things such as strawberries and potatoes to fill
in. But many a man's heart must sink when he comes out first from the
old country and sees the wilderness he has to start on, for even if it
is "cleared" there may be stumps of huge trees sticking up all over, and
stones everywhere; it is all much rougher than our neat, tidied-up
country. But then, on the other hand, the land is far cheaper, the soil
is much more fruitful, and consequently the yield greater. After
Revelstoke we pass Glacier, where the line runs round in a kind of
amphitheatre, showing a magnificent range of peaks in solemn grandeur
rising above the fringe of fir trees.

We have come down from the Selkirk range and now rise to the Rockies,
where the track is even steeper and more twisted; here the snowy peaks
lifted into the region of eternal snow are higher, but the scenery is
not so easily seen, as we are more hemmed in by even narrower canyons.
The main interest is in going through Kicking Horse Pass; but here even
the negro attendant fails--he cannot tell us how the name arose! His
spirits droop, but rise again when he comes eagerly to tell us we are
approaching the "Great Divide." We have been running through many
tunnels in and out of the "Cathedral Rocks," and now we reach the
water-shed of the country, where sparkling streams fall away in opposite
directions, one running down to the Pacific, and the other to Hudson's
Bay in the north-west. At last we reach Banff, a well-known place, with
a huge hotel of the most luxurious kind, belonging to the Canadian
Pacific Company. Near Banff is the Canadian National Park, a park
indeed, of 5732 square miles, including mountains and forests! You
simply can't imagine it; it is a great tract of country, preserved in
its natural state, and the haunt of wild things. Here are herds of the
buffalo of the West, the bison, a very different fellow from the
domesticated Eastern buffalo who so rudely chased you and Joyce. The
bison are fine to look at, with their extraordinarily large chests and
heads, out of all proportion to the rest of their bodies. Their great
shaggy fronts and humped shoulders make a peculiar outline. In years
past they