Travel

Why Not Canada ?

[We publish on this page articles and notes which may help our readers in their plans for travel at hoMe and abroad. They are written by correspondents who have visited the places described. We shall be glad to answer questions arising out of the Travel articles published in our columns. Inquiries should be addressed to the Travel Manager, The SPECTATOR, 99 Gower Street, W.C.1.1 - TRAVEL. in Europe, educative and amusing as it generally is, is too often accompanied by a memory of the predatory habits of waiters, guides, chauffeurs, and the like. Along the great tourist-routes of Europe and Asia this natural but irritating conspiracy of tip-eitraction exists. You can hardly move in the fashionable Riviera without putting your hand in your pocket, and you certainly cannot admire the beauty of the Bay of Naples without a group of minstrels demanding pay- Ment from you for singing " Santa Lucia:' Canada is different. So different that as I-sit thinking of her seas of wheat and her great waters and mountains, I have resolved that very soon I must see her shores again. My destination Shall be British Columbia. I shall pass Quebec, with regret, for it is a fascinating place, and I shall want to remain in Montreal (one of the most charming cities in the world, with its two languages and its position at the ramparts of the St. Lawrence) but I shall not be able to tarry long, my time being limited, until I reach Kenora, where there is a bungalow hotel on the edge of the virgin forest, close to an Indian encampment. (Devil's Gap Hotel, Lake of the Woods : tariff en pension, £1 a day.) Then Banff, beatific amongst its pines and snows and waters, with its looking-glass lake—Minnewaulca—now perfect pearl, now hammered gold, now barred with lissom silver beeches. Or perhaps I should stop at Lake Louise (where the hotel, being smaller, will contain fewer American millionaires). Yes, I should choose Lake Louise, and go into the woodlands round Lake Agnes to watch the marmots there. I should listen to the avalanches, booming like a rumour of the Last Trump. I should hear the red deer rise, and crash leisurely into their thickets. As night fell, I should see wild geese, travelling fast and high ; and I should turn back to a world of glass and granite and central heating. (Lake Louise Hotel : tariff en pension about £1 10i. a day.)

From Lake Louise onwards the train journey is all various and delightful. Personally, I enjoy crossing the prairies also, and do not tire of them any more than I do of the sea ; but no traveller, however sophisticated (and I hope I shall never be that) can fail to be thrilled at the panorama of the Rocky Mountains as they unroll themselves before the window of the observation car.

On the western side of the Rockies I think I should leave the train at Kamloops, a place I have never stopped at except to change trains, but which I know as the producer of super- lative trout, amongst other things. There is plenty of shooting and fishing here, a polo ground, and a remount depot owned by Senator Bostock. Kamloops, at the junction, is also a coming industrial district, with big opportunities awaiting the investor.

From here I might go south to the Okanagan Valley (I have been there twice and it draws me again) or west to Vancouver, which has grown up almost overnight into one of the great ports of the world. When I was last there, seven years ago, it was already a prosperous place, but it has taken another leap forward of late, both in population and in tonnage cleared. '

And so to Victoria, which Bliss Carmen has called a "girlish Imperial city," with her-

" Robe of golden English. broom

Spreading about her knees . . ." Tales of the East and news of the North, Her sheltered sea-lanes bring.

And all her beauteous days go by, Soft as a grey gull's wing. - Child of the strong adventure.

_ Bred to the clean and fine, With touch of the velvet tropics, And eyes of the Northern shine."

It would be- August by the time I reached Victoria, and the Americans know that August and September are the best salmon months on Vancouver Island. So I should take counsel with the Game Wardens as to how to avoid crowds, always remembering that everyone in Canada owns a car, and plays as hard as he works. Therefore I should go out with a pack pony, and live in a shack, far from the haunts of men, but close to the best fishing in the world. Then when the time came to leave our " last vedette on the Pacific," I should go by steamer northwards, by the inland waterway to Prince Rupert. If Prince Rupert ever looked down, or up, from where he is, he would certainly be proud of

the adventurous fishermen who have named their town after him. They are mostly Englishmen, Norwegians, or Nova Scotians : six-foot Apollos in oilskins who brave the storms and fogs of the North Pacific for their haul of halibut. And a very good living they make ; as much as £600 a year without any investment, and more if they are part owners of a boat.

From Prince Rupert I should return via the Canadian National Railway, stopping perhaps at Terrace, or at Van der Hoof, or Telkwa. Near the latter township there is a region of great mineral wealth, as yet only partially explored. I have always thought that prospecting, even as the hobby of an amateur, would be an entertaining and even, conceivably, •

a profitable pursuit. - _ _

At Edmonton the C.N.R. haVe a magnificent hotel, and further east a " bungalow camp " of the luxurious kind at Jasper Park. Here there is a golf course iet in extraordinarily beautiful surroundings, and every kind of bird and beast to watch and study, but not to shoot, for it is a sanctuary. Nearby, however, in the Rockies, there are moose, caribou, deer, sheep, and goats for the sportsman's gun. The season opens on September 1st, and closes on December 15th. The cost of an expedition, including guides, cook, pack-horses and camp equipment would be about £180.

Personally, I should stop at Wainwright Park, and see the

extraordinary migration of the wild buffalo But my space has run out, and I have only returned halfway across Canada. On my homeward journey I should certainly stop at Quebec and see the Heights of Abraham. By that time, maybe, winter sports would be in full swing. The whole journey would not have cost more than travel over a similar distance elsewhere. I should have learned something of the problems of Empire, and have lived in the best climate in the world. I should have met men and women whose hearts were big as their big West, and seen a country in the glory of its youth.

F. Y.-B.