Notes on the Frazer River [pp. 128-131]

128 Noles on lAc Frazer 1?ive~~. [Feb.
NOTES ON THE FRAZER RIVER.
IT was a clear, warm day early in June yellow, which becomes more and more sorthat I boarded the steamer for Frazer Riv- did as we approach the cause-the muddied
er. Leaving the pleasantly suggestive little discharge of the great river, for miles and
town of Victoria, and passing through a nar- miles apparent.
row channel, we enter the broader and no- ~Ve enter the mouth; on either hand lie
bler strait of Juan de Fuca. The course lies the shores, very low, flat, and far-spreading;
among low, rocky islets, occasionally wooded a thin film of green shows beyond the water,
but never deeply 50; open glades predomi- for the meadows are all but drowned in the
nate; the shor~ of Vancouver itself are overflow; and behind, bushes and small
also low and covered with a thin growth of trees. A thunder-storm is brooding over the
trees. Room here is given for the fancy to mountains toward the north; you may see
swell, which takes more delight in such where the rain is pouring down; a faint rainwarm, generous spaces, resting places for bow is visible, three-fourths blotted out, for
the sun, and in woods where the trees stand the sun still shines upon us also and upon
well apart, admitting light and air with no this bronze flood. Half submerged lands
tangled undergrowth, than in dense, impen- stretch away in every direction. The apetrable forests. proach is not to be compared with the Co Sailing is perfect. ~Ve wind busily among lumbia, a contrast that the traveler fresh from
islands of all shapes and sizes; they come that noble stream is constantly and involunand go in all their green array, with their tarily making. Yet the Frazer possesses
lovely bits of scenery, always different, never even here a certain majesty; the width is
tiresome. ~fost are now heavily wooded considerable-two or three miles-yet the
and drowsy with the weight. One we are termination strikes one as unworthy of so
at present passing is like a huge monster great a river.
asleep. At the feet of all, gray rocks de- The clouds have closed in upon us, and
scend, gently enough at first, but~f a sudden are sending down a shower that well-nigh
plunge into the sea. It is a pretty combin- conceals all defects; but this rapidly moves
at ion, where the green of the silent woods away as we draw near fairer scenes. Low,
on the ridges meets the blue of the sky. bushy islands, green as emeralds, resorts no
The strait has narrowed to a ribbon-shores doubt of many birds, prime places for the
slowly sloping on one side, abrupt on the naturalist, come in sight; to the north the
other: looking ahead no opening is to be Cascade range of mountains-a grand backseen: we seem to be entering a harbor, ground, touched with snows and with long
when the steamer turns, a rift appears, and veils of clouds, half concealing, half revealwe glide out, pursuing an irregular track, ing their huge forms; eastward a few glorified
pass within easy stone's throw of a rock- peaks soaring upwards from the sunset; rank
bound but pleasing coast, with little beach- vegetation on both sides, dense as in South
es clinging to it here and there, sway round America. Igaripes, as they might be termed,
a point, the land falls lower and lower, drifts cut through, intersecting and fertilizing the
away from us, and we are looking towards great broad forests. Sometimes when the
wide waters. Glancing back, one fails to land sinks, you get a view over miles upon
see where we came from, unless out of the miles of heavily timbered country, looking as
forest itself; the door has been closed be- to the general effect, where all things are
hind. The color of the sea has changed: be- combined in mass, not unlike the eastern
fore it was a deep azure, now it is ~ dirty prairies, in their great flatness.