s for salt, and pay
regular visits to the numerous caverns of these mountains, which are
encrusted with a saline substance.

Walter Cameron now changed his intention of proceeding to the eastward,
as he found the country not so full of beaver at that particular spot as
he had anticipated. He therefore turned towards the west, penetrated
into the interior of the mountains, and took a considerable sweep
through the lovely valleys on their western slopes.

The expedition which this enterprising fur-trader was conducting was one
of the first that ever penetrated these wild regions in search of furs.
The ground over which they travelled was quite new to them, and having
no guide they just moved about at haphazard, encamping on the margin of
every stream or river on which signs of the presence of beaver were
discovered, and setting their traps.

Beaver-skins at this time were worth 25 shillings a piece in the markets
of civilised lands, and in the Snake country, through which our friends
were travelling, thousands of them were to be had from the Indians for
trinkets and baubles that were scarce worth a farthing. A beaver-skin
could be procured from the Indians for a brass finger ring or a penny
looking-glass. Horses were also so numerous that one could be procured
for an axe or a knife.

Let not the reader, however, hastily conclude that the traders cheated
the Indians in this traffic, though the profits were so enormous. The
ring or the axe was indeed a trifle to the trader, but the beaver-skin
and the horse were equally trifles to the savage, who could procure as
many of them as he chose with very little trouble, while the ring and
the axe were in his estimation of priceless value. Besides, be it
remembered, to carry that ring and that axe to the far distant haunts of
the Red-man cost the trader weeks and months of constant toil, trouble,
anxiety, and, alas! too frequently cost him his life! The state of
trade is considerably modified in these regions at the present day. It
is not more _justly_ conducted, for, in respect of the value of goods
given for furs, it was justly conducted _then_, but time and
circumstances have tended more to equalise the relative values of
articles of trade.

The snow which had prematurely fallen had passed away, and the trappers
now found themselves wandering about in a country so beautiful and a
season so delightful, that it would have seemed to them a perfect
paradise, but for the