You can see them as you look towards the north and the west, where the
dream hills swim into the sky amid their ever-drifting clouds of pearl
and grey. They catch the earliest hint of sunrise, they hold the last
color of sunset. Twin mountains they are, lifting their twin peaks
above the fairest city in all Canada, and known throughout the British
Empire as "The Lions of Vancouver." Sometimes the smoke of forest
fires blurs them until they gleam like opals in a purple atmosphere,
too beautiful for words to paint. Sometimes the slanting rains festoon
scarfs of mist about their crests, and the peaks fade into shadowy
outlines, melting, melting, forever melting into the distances. But
for most days in the year the sun circles the twin glories with a sweep
of gold. The moon washes them with a torrent of silver. Often-times,
when the city is shrouded in rain, the sun yellows their snows to a
deep orange, but through sun and shadow they stand immovable, smiling
westward above the waters of the restless Pacific, eastward above the
superb beauty of the Capilano Canyon. But the Indian tribes do not
know these peaks as "The Lions." Even the Chief, whose feet have so
recently wandered to the Happy Hunting Grounds, never heard the name
given them until I mentioned it to him one dreamy August day, as
together we followed the trail leading to the canyon. He seemed so
surprised at the name that I mentioned the reason it had been applied
to them, asking him if he recalled the Landseer Lions in Trafalgar
Square. Yes, he remembered those splendid sculptures, and his quick
eye saw the resemblance instantly. It appeared to please him, and his
fine face expressed the haunting memories of the far-away roar of Old
London. But the "call of the blood" was stronger, and presently he
referred to the Indian legend of those peaks--a legend that I have
reason to believe is absolutely unknown to thousands of Palefaces who
look upon "The Lions" daily, without the love for them that is in the
Indian heart; without knowledge of the secret of "The Two Sisters."
The legend was intensely fascinating as it left his lips in the quaint
broken English that is never so dulcet as when it slips from an Indian
tongue. His inimitable gestures, strong, graceful, comprehensive, were
like a perfectly chosen frame embracing a delicate painting, and his
brooding eyes were as the light in which the picture hung. "Many
thousands of years ago," he began, "there were no twin peaks like
sentinels guarding the outposts of this sunset coast. They were placed
there long after the first creation, when the Sagalie Tyee moulded the
mountains, and patterned the mighty rivers where the salmon run,
because of His love for His Indian children, and His Wisdom for their
necessities. In those times there were many and mighty Indian tribes
along the Pacific--in the mountain ranges, at the shores and sources of
the great Fraser River. Indian law ruled the land. Indian customs
prevailed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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