n
greatest plenty, and many others whose skins are valuable in commerce,
as the moose, the wapiti, and the wood-bison.

But there is also a "prairie" district in the fur countries. The great
table prairies of North America, that slope eastward from the Rocky
Mountains, also extend northward into the Hudson's Bay territory. They
gradually grow narrower, however, as you proceed farther north, until,
on reaching the latitude of the Great Slave Lake, they end altogether.
This "prairie land" has its peculiar animals. Upon it roams the
buffalo, the prong-horned antelope, and the mule-deer. There, too, may
be seen the "barking-wolf" and the "swift fox." It is the favourite
home of the marmots, and the gauffres or sand-rats; and there, too, the
noblest of animals, the horse, runs wild. West of this prairie tract is
a region of far different aspect,--the region of the Rocky Mountains.
This stupendous chain, sometimes called the Andes of North America,
continues throughout the fur countries from their southern limits to the
shores of the Arctic Sea. Some of its peaks overlook the waters of that
sea itself, towering up near the coast. Many of these, even in southern
latitudes, carry the "eternal snow." This "mountain-chain" is, in
places, of great breadth. Deep valleys lie in its embrace, many of
which have never been visited by man. Some are desolate and dreary;
others are oases of vegetation, which fascinate the traveller whose
fortune it has been, after toiling among naked rocks, to gaze upon their
smiling fertility. These lovely wilds are the favourite home of many
strange animals. The argali, or mountain-sheep, with his huge curving
horns, is seen there; and the shaggy wild goat bounds along the steepest
cliffs. The black bear wanders through the wooded ravines; and his
fiercer congener, the "grizzly"--the most dreaded of all American
animals--drags his huge body along the rocky declivities.

Having crossed the mountains, the fur countries extend westward to the
Pacific. There you encounter barren plains, treeless and waterless;
rapid rivers, that foam through deep, rock-bound channels; and a country
altogether rougher in aspect, and more mountainous, than that lying to
the east of the great chain. A warmer atmosphere prevails as you
approach the Pacific, and in some places forests of tall trees cover the
earth. In these are found most of the fur-bearing animals; and, on
account of the greater warmth of the