THE PAINT BOX Page Twenty-three

with glimpses of the snow-capped Olympics and ships coming in from the
straits of Juan de Fuca.

Esquimalt is worth seeing and sketching, and the Malahat Drive takes
you across the island through some of the finest standing timber still left
to us. At Port Alberni you get some good material around the Canal. There
are some picturesque Indians, too, and you can catch the full force of the
Pacific as it thunders in on the rocky coast and tramps the sandy beaches.

From Vancouver you can take a steamer up the inside passage. The
coast is rugged and wild, and there are many long arms of the sea reaching
back for miles to high mountains that rise straight out of the water, on
whose flat, mirror-like surface they cast their beautiful reflections. Water-
falls and rushing streams greet the eye, while an occasional logging camp
may be seen working away like a fussy and destructive insect at the edge
of the vast green forest.

There are many islands in the inside passage. Some are rocky and
barren; others are tree-covered, with here and there a sandy beach. Savary
Island is one of the most beautiful. It is only five miles long and a half
mile broad, but its variety seems almost inexhaustible to one who sketches.
It is crescent-shaped and has a beach of white sand right around, except
for one rocky point where it drops off into the channel. On the inside of
the crescent the trees come down to the water in a series of bays, on one of
which is a row of pretty summer cottages. The south shore has high white
sand cliffs, where yellow broom and gumweed grow, and at the top of these
cliffs the trees are blown to strange shapes by the wind. The beaches of
Savary are interesting to anyone wanting material for design. There are
reefs and sand-bars, with rock-pools where you may gather beautiful sea-
weeds, shells and queer sea creatures. The rocks at the point are covered
below high-tide mark with starfish in all shades of purple and rose; while on
the sand-bar close by are millions of sea-biscuits with a beautiful design on
their backs.

At Hope, only a few hours distant from Vancouver, the sketching is
good. The little town itself is very pretty. It is old, and there are plenty
of open spaces and large trees. There is a quaint church back in a dark
grove, like a church in a fairy-tale forest. An old Indian orchard stands
by the river. Near by is another quaint church with tall Lombardy poplars
beside its gate, and lilacs and rosemary beside its door. The Fraser rushes
by in a great yellow curve, and the high mountains hem it in, though not
too close for sketching. The mountain of the Holy Cross is particularly
fine.

Harrison Lake is very beautiful, shut in by mountains, and the lake
takes on a most wonderful jade green colour when the wind strikes it, —
and there is usually a wind. On your way there it is well worth while
spending a day at Agassiz to sketch Mount Cheam.

Many beautiful spots are to be found in the Fraser Valley: Hatzic
Slough, for instance; and nearer Vancouver, Pitt Meadows and Pitt Lake.
The flat, rich valley lands with their winding sloughs, bordered with willows
and cottonwoods, contrast with the grandeur of the mountains in the
background.

Another beautiful place is D’Arcy, on Anderson Lake. It is just on the
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