first time that year, and was already above ground, but looked rather starved and yellow. The scenery of William’s Lake is very beautiful; bold, rugged hills rising up grandly on the west. The day after our arrival at Davidson’s a large party of miners came in with the intelligence that a boat which left the Mouth of Quesnelle the day after we did had been swamped in the rapids below. Seven or eight persons were drowned, and one of the lucky survivors was a man who carried several pounds’ weight of gold in a belt round his waist. The force of the current literally threw him ashore, and he managed to scramble out. In two or three days the express arrived, and we started for Yale once more. When we reached the bottom of the ascent to the high table-land, we found the road covered with a thick sheet of ice, and all hands had to get out and push behind the wagon. The horses fell frequently, and had to be unharnessed and put on their legs again; but, after many delays, we got to the top, where the snow was deeper, and the horses travelled better. We carried 170 pounds’ weight of gold with us in the express wagon, and the fact that this, worth about £8,000, could be thus forwarded without any escort, is the strongest possible testimony to the orderly state of the country. In addition to the driver, there was one other passenger and ourselves, yet the former was the only one armed. He told us that he frequently travelled in charge of the treasure quite alone, and had made up his mind that he should be attacked some time. The temptation would be too great, and the opportunities plentiful enough along the lonely 400 miles, where the houses were ten or twenty miles apart, and passengers rare except at certain seasons. He looked upon “The Chasm” as the most suitable and probable place of attack; its yawning gulf, hidden from the road by bushes, and its bottom covered by _débris_ and underwood, offering every convenience for the disposal of his body. He was by no means nervous, or in any way unhappy, but laughed and talked about his anticipated fate with careless indifference.