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-<¢ TO CARIBOO AND BACK }®-

must get through the barrier of snow-capped
pinnacles. But the difficulties ahead were for
the moment forgotten. It was a great and
wonderful achievement to have come thus far
over a way that had been untravelled in its
continuity by any other human beings but
themselves.

Here they encountered the Athabaska River,
and here they camped for a week and built a
great raft, something strong and sure, to carry
them and all their belongings across the width
of water to the other side. But they felt that
they had entered upon the last lap of their
' journey, for from here they would go through
the Yellow Head Pass, and past that portal,
beyond the surrounding mountains, lay the land
for which they were bound—the golden country
of the Cariboo.

There was a chill in the air here, even when
the sun burned their skin, for the white-capped
mountain tops and green glaciers that towered
above them sent down chilly breezes. Yet even
here when they happened to dip into a valley
they found masses of late summer flowers
blooming, bright cornflowers and bluebells, and
also clouds of mosquitoes and oppressive heat.

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