106 MOUNTAINS

From the heart of the Cassiar came the tortuous
Klappan, drawing into its northward course small
struggling streams from lofty pass and valley to-
ward the darkly canyoned Stikine. But its way was
deep and narrow through the serried peaks, and be-
yond its western mountain-wall the lakes of Ealue
and Eddontenas and long Kinaskan felt the south-
westward pull of the rapid Iskut River. From the
heart of the Cassiar came also the headwaters of
the Nass and Skeena to flow far southward into the
Pacific, and the Spatsizi to flow northward to the
upper Stikine, and the branched headwaters of
the Stikine itself to turn north and west and south
through the sweeping curve of the river. The Finlay
flowed to the eastward Peace from the rising-point
of its three long lakes. And countless streams carved
crooked paths to the rivers that drew them strongly
forth from the heart of the Cassiar.

But the great mountains stood untouched above
the streams and uplands and the grey-green mas-
siveness of hills. They glistened in the sunlight, and
stood dark and terrible in shadow. They crowded
in upon the passes, filling them with the cold breath
of glaciers and snows. And like a sea they rolled,
crest after towering white crest, toward the dark
circle of the horizon.