ls. 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 oaeses 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 climate, the true _felidae_--the
long-tailed cats--here wander much farther north than upon the eastern
side of the continent. Even so far north as the forests of Oregon these
appear in the forms of the cougar and the ounce.

But it is not our intention at present to cross the Rocky Mountains. Our
journey will lie altogether on the eastern side of that great chain. It
will extend from the frontiers of civilization to the shores of the
Arctic Sea. It is a long and perilous journey, boy reader; but as we
have made up our m