Peeps at Many Lands: Canada 2

Peeps at Many Lands: Canada 2

Take, for instance, the Grand Cañon of the Fraser River. This is "a

narrow gorge, where the river winds its tortuous way between great

broken walls of cliffs, dashing against the huge black boulders which

lie in its path, covering them with white foam and spray. As the cañon

expands, the scene is varied by glimpses of Chinese gold-washers on the

gravel-bars, or Siwash Indians fishing with dip-nets from the rocks for

salmon; while here and there are scattered drying-frames festooned with

red flesh of the salmon, and fantastically decorated Indian graves give

a weird touch to the scene. Here the mountains of the coast range,

which the river passes, rise to heights varying from 6,000 to 9,000

feet above the level of the sea. They are extremely rugged and densely

wooded, the south and western slopes especially, luxuriantly covered

with the characteristic growth peculiar to the humid climate."

 

Although the interior of British Columbia is a sea of mountains, like

an ocean suddenly turned into stone when in the grip of a mighty

tempest, the hollows between the broken mountain-crests consist of a

number of long narrow valleys, many of them filled wholly or in part

with lakes. On a still, peaceful day in summer or early autumn nothing

in the world can be lovelier than one of these lakes--Kootenay, Slocan,

Arrow, Okanagan. The face of the water is like a sheet of highly

polished steel, of a pure greenish-black colour, and every tree and

stone, and every hut, on the mountain-sides around, and even every

cloud in the sky above, is reflected on it with marvellous

distinctness. The hollows of the mountains are filled with a soft but

rich purple haze, or it may be a scarf of white, fleecy cloud hangs

across the shoulders of the mountains, while another veil of delicate

lace-work drapes their crests. As you gaze at the witching beauty of

the scene, you feel your heart soften towards the great mountains. You

imagine they do not know how to frown or be angry. You think it would

be impossible for storm or tempest ever to rage or ravage against them.

Mountains, forests, green pasture-lands, blossoming orchards, the lake

itself--the whole scene is so wonderfully peaceful, so gloriously

lovely.

 

The bare walls of rock, sprinkled with forest trees, the jagged,

pinnacled outlines of the mountain-tops, the cappings of perpetual snow

which frame in some of these lakes, recall to the observer the stern

grandeur of the Norwegian fjords; while the little towns and orchards

which cling to the foot of the mountains conjure up unforgotten visions

of Lucerne and Thun and similar beauty spots of Switzerland.

 

Apostrophizing any one of the little towns on the shore of any one of

these beautiful sheets of water, you might say:

 

"The pearly lustre of thy sky

Will vie with that of fabled Greece.

Thy air--a buoyant purity!

Thou fold'st thy hands in perfect peace--

The innocent peace of the newly-born,

The stillness that heralds th' awakening morn.

 

"Sweet crystal waters bathe thy knees,

And hold a steel-bright mirror out,

Reflecting mountains, sky, and trees

Till dimpled by the leaping trout.

Thy lake--it is playful and wayward of mood,

Like maiden coquettish who's over-woo'd."

 

 

Among the most striking features of the interior of British Columbia

are the Selkirk and Purcell ranges, which wheel round the northern end

of Lake Kootenay, and stretch some distance down its eastern side. The

lofty, rugged, sharp-cut peaks of these ranges "receive and break most

of the heavy rain-clouds which blow in from the Pacific. There is

therefore more rain and more snow, and consequently the soil receives

more moisture, and the growth of forest and farm is more dense. The

lower slopes, beneath the snow-line, except where the bare rock refuses

to sustain life, are clothed with impenetrable forests of spruce,

cedar, and hemlock, of which the underbrush is the most difficult

barrier to exploration."

 

"These characteristics give more richness and contrast in the colour.

On a clear day the snow-capped summits and crested peaks, tinged,

perhaps, with the crimson glow of the setting sun, glisten and sparkle

with dazzling brilliancy. Great luminous spears of transparent blue

ice cut down into the dark rich green of the forest, which is blended

into the warmer tints of shrubbery and foliage in the foreground.

Great castellated crags of white and green rock break through the

velvet mantle of forest. Blueberry bushes and alders, with

white-flowered rhododendrons, adorn with delicate tracery the trailing

skirts of the forest, and rich-tinted red, purple, and yellow

wild-flowers nestle in the fringe. All this, rising against the clear

blue of the sky, while soft veils of mist rise from the valleys,

floating across the face of the mountains, or break and hang in fleecy

tassels upon the edges of cliffs and crags, makes a study in colour and

grandeur beyond the power of human artist to depict or poet to

describe."

 

This description applies almost equally to the Rocky Mountains, the

backbone that stretches from north to south of the continent, the

gigantic barrier which separates the flat prairies from the broken

coast districts.

 

In Canada they all wear glistening snow-caps, while glaciers of

enormous extent rest in their awful cañons, and their hoary sides are

laced with the most beautiful green-blue mountain torrents which leap

from dizzy heights in cascades of dazzling beauty. Some of the most

imposing scenery of the Rockies is enclosed within the great National

Park at Banff, an area of 5,732 square miles of mountains, and here is

a great game preserve, where are found bear, moose, elk, deer, mountain

sheep and goats, and many smaller animals. No one may shoot or trap

here, and it is expected that the number of wild animals will greatly

increase. There is, too, a large herd of buffalo maintained in the

park.

 

In the forests, on the slopes, grows the famous Douglas fir, which

reaches a great size and height; trees 30 feet across the trunk are not

uncommon, and there is one in Stanley Park, Vancouver, which your

cabman is sure to show you should you visit that city, which has a hole

in the trunk so large that parties of tourists stand in it to be

photographed. The climate is so mild that winter is replaced by a

rainy season, and roses bloom outside all the year round. This makes

the famous Okanagan and Kootenay valleys so suitable for fruit-culture.

 

Victoria is the capital of British Columbia. It is situated on

Vancouver Island, on the Pacific, and its climate and natural beauty

have made it the home of choice for many English families retiring from

service in the Orient, and so it is the most English of Canadian

cities. Vancouver is the commercial capital, it is the terminus of the

Canadian Pacific Railway, and from its fine harbour steamship lines run

to China, Japan, and Australia. Prince Rupert is a new port farther

north, and is the western terminus of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway

now being built across the continent.

 

[Illustration: MOUNTAIN SCENERY NEAR HOWE SOUND, BRITISH COLUMBIA.

PAGE 4. _T. Mower Martin, R.C.A._]

 

British Columbia has been called a "little paradise on earth," and if

beauty of scenery, and the poetry of Nature, and the contentment,

prosperity, and happiness of man can anywhere combine to make a spot on

this earth anything approaching to a paradise, assuredly that spot is

to be found in the fairest province of the Dominion of Canada. And how

many of the names of the little towns which cling to the feet of the

mountains mirrored in these lakes have not only musical, but richly

poetic names! Who can listen to such words as Kelowna, Summerland,

Nelson, Vernon, Castlegar, Halcyon, Mara, Kootenay, Slocan, Okanagan,

without feeling a thrill of poetic delight? Were these names as

familiar to the mind as are Lomond, Katrine, Leven, Blair Athole,

Glencoe, Inveraray, Oban, they would not fail to conjure up as many

pictures of surpassing scenic beauty as do those pearls of the Scottish

Highlands, especially as in many respects the physical features of the

two regions are somewhat alike.

 

And the coast districts of British Columbia are every bit as remarkable

as the mountainous lake districts of the interior. They, too, bear

more than a superficial resemblance to the west coast of Scotland.

Like the latter, the western shore of British Columbia is cut into

deeply by the ocean. Like the west of Scotland, again, the numerous

bays and fjords are rock-bound, and long and winding. And, once more,

like that same Scottish ocean marge, the Pacific coast of this Canadian

province is thickly studded with islands, varying in size from a tiny

dot of rock to Vancouver Island, which is about half as big as Ireland,

and studded with mountains which rise up to from 6,000 to 7,500 feet.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER III

 

HOME-LIFE IN CANADA

 

The English visitor to a Canadian city finds things much as they are at

home: there are different names for articles in common use; the hotel

elevator goes faster than the lift at home; the trams are street-cars,

the streets are not so clean; the traffic is not so well managed; and

the public buildings and parks are newer, and lack the grace and beauty

of the old land architecture. The houses all have verandas, on which,

in summer, the people spend a great part of their time, even eating and

sleeping there; and most of the houses have lawns unprotected from the

street by walls or fences. The houses are kept much warmer in winter

than is the English custom, and ice is everywhere used in the summer.

All well-to-do people in the towns, and many in the country, have

telephones. Other minor differences there are, but you would soon feel

quite at home in a Canadian house.

 

The stranger visiting a Canadian town is at once struck by the keenness

of the local enthusiasm. That is to say, the people who live in that

town are immensely proud of it, and consider it the finest and best

place to live in in all the world. They are very fond of pointing out

the advantages which it enjoys, and never neglect the smallest

opportunity of boasting of its beauty or wealth or public spirit, or

whatever it may be that it excels in. The governing authorities of the

town, as the Mayor and Town Council, vote money from time to time

expressly to advertise their town, in the hope of attracting strangers

to come and live there. Then the citizens form themselves into clubs

for the purpose of helping the population to reach as soon as possible