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blem of peace,-to reassure them; but at first they would hardly remove their hands from their bows to receive it. We ascended the bank to them, and had a most friendly interview, carried on by words and signs. It required, however, some finesse and adroitness to get away from them. Once in the canoe we quickly pushed out and struck down stream and obliquely for the opposite bank, so as to be beyond arrow-flight, and I faced about gun in hand to watch their actions. The river was there too broad for either ball or arrow. We worked hard during the rest of the day and till late. The men were tired out, and I made them all sleep in my tent that night while I kept watch. At that season the night is so clear that one can read, write, or work throughout. Our camp lay on the bank of the river at the base of a steep bank which had large trees here and there up its grassy slope. In the forks of one of these trees I passed the greater part of this anxious night, reading Hervey's Meditations and keeping a vigilant look-out. Occasionally I descended and walked to the river-bank, but all was still. Two years

afterwards, when friendly relations had been established with the Indians in this district, I learned to my no small astonishment that the hostile tribe encountered down the river had dogged us all day, and when we encamped for the night had encamped behind the crest of the hill; and that from this lair they had watched my every movement. With such exact detail as only Indians can observe, they described me seated in the tree, holding "something white" (the book) in my hands, and often raising my eyes to make a survey of the neighborhood; then, descending to the river-bank, taking my horn-cup from my belt, and even while I drank glancing up and down the river and towards the hill. They confessed that, had I knelt down to drink, they would have rushed upon me and drowned me in the swift current; after thus noiselessly despatching me, they would have massacred the sleeping inmates of my tent. How often, without knowing it, are we protected from danger by the merciful hand of our God! Next morning we were early in motion, and were glad to observe that we had outwitted the Indians and outstripped their signal-fires. After this we travelled more at leisure; we hunted along our advance, and in due time reached Frances Lake.

For a few years after this we confined our operations to trading, etc., between Frances Lake and Pelly Banks; but during the summer we sent hunting-parties down the Pelly to collect

we

provisions for our establishments; and by this means obtained accurate information respecting the Pelly River, its resources, Indian tribes, etc.

In the winter of 1847-8, we built boats at Pelly Banks, and, sending off our returns to Fort Simpson, we left Pelly Banks early in June 1848, to establish a post at the forks of Pelly and Lewis Rivers which was named Fort Selkirk. Ever since the discovery of the Pelly River in 1840, various conjectures were hazarded as to what river the Pelly was, and where it entered the sea.

Fort Yukon was, I think, established in 1846 or 1847* from Peel River near the mouth of the Mackenzie. From the first I expressed my belief, in which hardly any one concurred, that the Pelly and the Yukon were identical. In 1850, having obtained Sir George Simpson's permission, I explored the lower river, and by reaching Fort Yukon I proved the correctness of my conjectures. †

From Fort Yukon I directed my boat and party upwards into the Porcupine River. I was accompanied by Mr. Murray, who was coming out with the returns, and whose duty it was to bear back with him the Yukon outfit from La Pierre's House at the head of the Porcupine River, to which point supplies were transported over the mountains in winter by dog-sleighs from Peel River. La Pierre's House duly reached, we left our boat there and walked over the mountains to Peel River, about ninety miles; thence by boat we ascended the Mackenzie River to Fort Simpson. I thus performed a circuit of several thousand miles from my point of departure on the Liard River. Great astonishment was felt by all my friends and acquaintances when they saw me reach Fort Simpson by coming up the Mackenzie River instead of descending the Liard, for no one entertained a suspicion that the Pelly River had any connection with the Yukon, or that the Pelly was linked with the Porcupine, Peel, and Mackenzie Rivers. Thenceforward this new route, so unexpectedly found out, was made the highway for the transport of outfits, and result of trade to the Pelly and all intermediate posts.

When I visited England in 1853, this vast stretch of country,

* The original fort was built in 1847. This having been undermined by the river, was replaced in 1867 by a new fort a mile farther down.-Editor. + In this exploration Mr. Campbell must have descended the river twelve hundred miles.-Editor.

—until then a blank on the map, and untrodden and unknown of white men,—was, under my direction, correctly delineated on his map of North America by the late J. Arrowsmith, the Hudson Bay Company's hydrographer; and hence it happens that many of these rivers and places of note are named after my friends or after the rivers in my native glens.

The Pelly [Yukon] is a magnificent river, increasing in size by the many affluents that swell its tide. It sweeps in a gentle, serpentine course, round the spurs of the double mountain range that generally skirts each side of the valley.

At a distance of some forty-five miles from Fort Yukon, the mountains recede, the river widens and for miles wanders among countless islands. Of these twin ranges the more distant is much the loftier. Many of its summits are dotted with wreaths of snow, while others wear a perpetual mantle of white. Many of the Pelly's affluents are large streams—especially the M'Millan, Lewis, White, and Stewart Rivers. Four kinds of salmon ascend the river in great numbers in their season; and then comes a busy harvest-time for the Indians, who assemble in large camps along the river, and are most expert in the use of the spear. Large numbers of salmon are killed, some for present use, and some for winter use. Salmon have been seen and killed above Pelly Banks, which is more than two thousand miles from the sea. Steamers from the Pacific have already ascended to Fort Yukon (twelve hundred miles); and during the freshet they can ascend more than twelve hundred miles further (to Hoole's Rapid). The lakes all over the country

abound in excellent white fish.

It

The fauna of the country is rather abundant and varied. includes moose and reindeer; bears, black and grizzly; wolves, wolverines; rats, hares; the fox, lynx, beaver, mink, and marten. I saw the bones, head, and horns of buffaloes; but this animal had become extinct before our visit, as had also some species of elephants, whose remains were seen in various swamps. I forwarded an elephant's thigh-bone to the British Museum, where it may still be seen.

The vegetation of the country is rich and varied. I forwarded several examples of the flora to the late Sir William J. Hooker, Director of the Kew Gardens. I also sent him specimens of all the rocks from Yukon to Pelly Banks. The climate is more pleasant and genial than in the same latitude on the east side of the mountains.

THE TURNING-POINT AT THE ALMA.
(September 20, 1854.)

ALEXANDER WILLIAM KINGLAKE (b. 1811).

[England and France became the allies of Turkey against Russia in the beginning of 1854, and the Crimean War began. The object of the expedi tion was to reduce Sebastopol, the great Russian stronghold. The allies landed at Eupatoria, on the west coast of the Crimea, on September 14th. A week later they reached the river Alma, and found fifty thousand Russians under Prince Menschikoff posted on the rocky heights of its south bank, and prepared to dispute their passage. The battle was hotly con tested. Not till after three hours' hard fighting did the allies succeed in forcing the passage of the river. Then the scaling of the southern heights was commenced. After giving orders for the general advance, Lord Raglan, accompanied only by his staff, rode across the Alma at a point between the English and the French armies, mounted the opposite slope, and took up his position on a knoll far in advance of either of the allied armies, and in the very heart of the enemy's position. From this spot he commanded a view of nearly the whole ground destined to be the scene of the English attack. The historian Kinglake was beside Lord Raglan on the knoll.]

*

Lord Raglan looked upon that part of the Russian army which confronted ours; he saw it in profile; he saw down into the flank of the Causeway batteries, which barred the mouth of the pass; and, beyond, he saw into the shoulder of the Great Redoubt, then about to be stormed by Codrington's brigade. Above all, he saw, drawn up with splendid precision, the bodies

[blocks in formation]

of infantry which the enemy held in reserve. They were massed in two columns. The formation of each mass looked close and perfect, as though it had been made of marble and cut by rule and plumb-line.

James Fitzroy Somerset, Lord Raglan, was aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War. He lost his right arm at Waterloo. He was commander-in-chief of the English at the beginning of the Crimean War, but was cut off by disease at Balaklava. Marshal St. Arnaud, the French commander, fell an early victim to fatigue and anxiety.

These troops, being in reserve, were of course some way in rear of the enemy's batteries and his foremost battalions, but they were only nine hundred yards from the eye of the English general; for it was Lord Raglan's strange and happy destiny to have ridden almost into the rear of the positions, and to be almost as near to the enemy's reserves as he was to the front of their array.

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All this now told with labor of words-Lord Raglan saw at a glance; and at the same moment he divined the fatal perturbation which would be inflicted upon the enemy by the mere appearance of our headquarter staff in this part of the field. The knoll, though much lower than the summit of the telegraph height, stood out bold and plain above the pass. It was clear that even from afar the enemy would make out that it was crowned by a group of plumed officers. It would not, Lord Raglan thought, occur to any Russian general that fifteen or twenty staff officers, whether French or English, could have reached the knoll without having thousands of troops close at hand. The enemy's generals would therefore infer that a large proportion of the allied force had won its way into the heart of the Russian position.

[graphic]

This was the view which Lord Raglan's mind had seized when, at the very moment of crowning the knoll, he looked round, and said, "Our presence here will have the best effect." Then, glancing down as he spoke into the flank of the Causeway batteries, and carrying his eye round to the enemy's

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