_Wednesday, September 25th_.--After leaving Calgary, which I forgot to say is near a coal mine (Mr. de Winton, son of Sir Francis, has a ranch near), and is likely to be an important place some day, we went to Laggan, which is well into the mountains, and there we saw Professor George Ramsay, brother of Sir James, and he told us to get hold of the contractor, Mr. Ross, who would help us about going further on. The railway people, &c., all said to our great disgust that ladies would not be allowed to go down the steep incline to British Columbia; upon this we found out Mr. Boss, and he kindly consented to take us down the Pacific slope in his own car. At first the boys said I had better remain behind in our own car, but I felt that if there was a risk I would rather encounter it with them, and I wanted to see more of the country, so we prepared to start on Monday, but it poured, and Mr. Ross would not go till Tuesday. We took a small bag with night-gown, brush and comb, &c., and left the rest of our goods in charge of the odious, but I think honest, David, and started yesterday morning in Mr. Ross's car, in some respects a more convenient one than ours, for it has a writing table and a stove in the sitting room after an early breakfast at half-past seven. It was a glorious sunny day. We had two engines reversed, one before and one behind, and no end of brakes with safety 'switches,' every now and then to be turned on and to send us up hill if the engines ran away with us, and we crept down very slowly. It was very exciting, and the scenery magnificent, vistas of snowy mountains opening continually as we turned the corners, covered with brilliant yellow and red and purple foliage; and when we came to the foot of Mount Stephen (called after Mr. George Stephen, of Montreal), Mr. Ross said, "we ought to call one mountain Rayleigh." I exclaimed, "Oh, yes! There is a beautiful snow one which has been in sight all the way coming down, let that be Raleigh." And so it was agreed, and E--- and I sketched it.--Afterward Mr. Ross, said, "Rayleigh has quite a family after him," a curious succession of gradually decreasing tops, and we agreed that they should be _his five brothers_. At one place we went down to a bridge, very high over a river, and I thought, "it would be unpleasant if the engine runs away here," but curiously enough I was not at all nervous, for I felt so much care was taken, and it was a glorious day, and the scenery lifted one's soul above the small things of life _here_, and made one think of Him who created all these wonders, and yet became our human friend and sympathizer, and now lives to give us bye and bye even "greater things than these!" At last we got to the _Flats_ all safe, and then John and Dick walked to the end of the "construction," about five miles. If one was prepared to ride and rough it exceedingly, one could reach the Pacific in ten days, but ladies could not undergo the hardships, and we would not be left alone. Mr.