Calgary were largely caused by the fact that the daily mail trains bound east and west both arrived in the night, and as their hours were very un¬ certain a number of people were in the habit of sitting up half and some¬ times all the night to meet or see friends off. To this and to the fact that many people came into Calgary from their ranches oftener than was necessary, and in consequence neglected their work, he attributed the failure of so many settlers. Johnny Hamilton had driven the Cariboo coach in British Columbia during the days when gold-mining was on the boom, and told me some good Western stories in the flowery language for which Western coach-drivers are often distinguished. For five dollars a day he lent me a buggy with a pair of capital horses, and found me a driver who knew the country; and with this outfit I covered a distance of 270 miles in five days, halting two full days on the journey. Considering that this was all over prairie trails with many coulees to cross, that one of the horses was a cast troop-horse and the other only just caught up from the prairie, I thought this was very good travelling. We used to start as soon as we could in the morning, between six and seven, drive at a trot till about eleven or twelve, halt for two hours at some ranch, feed the horses and then drive another three or four hours. The country was all undulating grassy prairie with scrub-covered hills towards the mountains; in a few places land was being ploughed and sown with oats, but it seemed to be generally admitted that irrigation was necessary to ensure a good crop, and that even then the grain was liable to be spoiled by early autumn frosts except in favoured spots. The most successful and best-managed ranch that I visited was the Pekisko ranch of which Mr. Stimson had for many years been in charge. I spent two very enjoy¬ able days under his hospitable roof and came away with the impression that he was the most capable and energetic ranchman in the district. The struggle between the great ranches which own cattle by the thousand, and the small men who have only a few which take their chance on the free range in company with those of others, seemed to be assuming a more strained character as the number of cattle increased; and the necessity of giving the calves food and shelter during their first winter was now becoming recognised. Older cattle when not too thick on the ground get through the winter with little or no loss, especially in the foothills of the mountains, but it is found that calves must have some shelter and food; wolves and coyotes were troublesome, but Mr. Stimson employed Indians to trap and poison them, and he gave a very favourable character to the Indians in this district, if you knew how to treat them. An Indian and his squaw walked into his sitting-room and squatted on the floor whilst Mrs. Stimson was giving me tea, and made themselves quite at home; and as far as I know there has never been any serious trouble with them in this district, though they no doubt occasionally steal cattle when hungry.
Up to this I had had but little opportunity of collecting, but now as a few warm days had brought some butterflies out, I began to catch a few- The butterflies of the country round Calgary are not numerous in species, but some of them are very interesting, especially the Colias or Clouded Yellows, Fritillaries, and most of all some Satyridæ which I was very
