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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6818.txt b/6818.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8606dc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/6818.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7772 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Arctic Prairies, by Ernest Thompson Seton +(#4 in our series by Ernest Thompson Seton) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Arctic Prairies + +Author: Ernest Thompson Seton + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6818] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 27, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE ARCTIC PRAIRIES *** + + + + +Produced by Bruce Miller; Courtesy of Kevin McCarthy Director of Perrot +Memorial Library. + + + +The Arctic Prairies + +A Canoe-Journey + +OF 2,000 MILES IN SEARCH OF THE CARIBOU + +BEING THE ACCOUNT OF A VOYAGE TO THE REGION NORTH OF AYLMER LAKE + + +By Ernest Thompson Seton + +Author of "Wild Animals I Have Known", "Life Histories", Etc. + + + +DEDICATED + +TO + +THE RIGHT HONOURABLE +SIR WILFRID LAURIER, G. C. M. G. +PREMIER OF CANADA + + +PREFACE + + +What young man of our race would not gladly give a year of his life +to roll backward the scroll of time for five decades and live that +year in the romantic bygone-days of the Wild West; to see the great +Missouri while the Buffalo pastured on its banks, while big game +teemed in sight and the red man roamed and hunted, unchecked by +fence or hint of white man's rule; or, when that rule was represented +only by scattered trading-posts, hundreds of miles apart, and +at best the traders could exchange the news by horse or canoe and +months of lonely travel? + +I for one, would have rejoiced in tenfold payment for the privilege +of this backward look in our age, and had reached the middle life +before I realised that, at a much less heavy cost, the miracle was +possible today. + +For the uncivilised Indian still roams the far reaches of absolutely +unchanged, unbroken forest and prairie leagues, and has knowledge +of white men only in bartering furs at the scattered trading-posts, +where locomotive and telegraph are unknown; still the wild Buffalo +elude the hunters, fight the Wolves, wallow, wander, and breed; +and still there is hoofed game by the million to be found where the +Saxon is as seldom seen as on the Missouri in the times of Lewis +and Clarke. Only we must seek it all, not in the West, but in the +far North-west; and for "Missouri and Mississippi" read "Peace and +Mackenzie Rivers," those noble streams that northward roll their +mile-wide turbid floods a thousand leagues to the silent Arctic +Sea. + +This was the thought which spurred me to a six months' journey +by canoe. And I found what I went in search of, but found, also, +abundant and better rewards that were not in mind, even as Saul, +the son of Kish, went seeking asses and found for himself a crown +and a great kingdom. + +Four years have gone by since I lived through these experiences. +Such a lapse of time may have made my news grow stale, but it has +also given the opportunity for the working up of specimens and +scientific records. The results, for the most part, will be found +in the Appendices, and three of these, as indicated--namely, the +sections on Plants, Mammals, and Birds--are the joint work of my +assistant, Mr. Edward A. Preble, and myself. + +My thanks are due here to the Right Honourable Lord Strathcona, G. +C. M. G., Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, for giving me access +to the records of the Company whenever I needed them for historical +purposes; to the Honourable Frank Oliver, Minister of the Interior, +Canada, for the necessary papers and permits to facilitate scientific +collection, and also to Clarence C. Chipman, Esq., of Winnipeg, +the Hudson's Bay Company's Commissioner, for practical help in +preparing my outfit, and for letters of introduction to the many +officers of the Company, whose kind help was so often a Godsend. + +ERNEST THOMPSON SETON. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +DEPARTURE FOR THE NORTH + + + +In 1907 I set out to journey by canoe down the Athabaska and adjoining +waters to the sole remaining forest wilds--the far north-west of +Canada--and the yet more desert Arctic Plains, where still, it was +said, were to be seen the Caribou in their primitive condition. + +My only companion was Edward A. Preble, of Washington, D. C., a +trained naturalist,--an expert canoeist and traveller, and a man +of three seasons' experience in the Hudson's Bay Territory and the +Mackenzie Valley. While my chief object was to see the Caribou, +and prove their continued abundance, I was prepared incidentally +to gather natural-history material of all kinds, and to complete +the shore line of the ambiguous lake called "Aylmer," as well as +explore its sister, the better-known Clinton-Colden. + +I went for my own pleasure at my own expense, and yet I could not +persuade my Hudson's Bay Company friends that I was not sent by +some government, museum or society for some secret purpose. + +On the night of May 5 we left Winnipeg, and our observations began +with the day at Brandon. + +From that point westward to Regina we saw abundant evidence that +last year had been a "rabbit year," that is, a year in which the +ever-fluctuating population of Northern Hares (Snowshoe-rabbits +or White-rabbits) had reached its maximum, for nine-tenths of the +bushes in sight from the train had been barked at the snow level. +But the fact that we saw not one Rabbit shows that "the plague" had +appeared, had run its usual drastic course, and nearly exterminated +the species in this particular region. + +Early next morning at Kininvie (40 miles west of Medicine Hat, +Alberta) we saw a band of 4 Antelope south of the track; later +we saw others all along as far as Gleichen. All were south of the +track. The bands contained as follows: 4, 14, 18, 8, 12, 8, 4, 1, +4, 5, 4, 6, 4, 18, 2, 6, 34, 6, 3, 1, 10, 25, 16, 3, 7, 9 (almost +never 2, probably because this species does not pair), or 232 +Antelope in 26 bands along 70 miles of track; but all were on the +south side; not one was noted on the north. + +The case is simple. During the past winter, while the Antelope were +gone southward, the Canadian Pacific Railway Company had fenced its +track. In spring the migrants, returning, found themselves cut off +from their summer feeding-grounds by those impassable barb-wires, and +so were gathered against the barrier. One band of 8, at a stopping +place, ran off when they saw passengers alighting, but at half a +mile they turned, and again came up against the fence, showing how +strong is the northward impulse. + +Unless they learn some way of mastering the difficulty, it means +extermination for the Antelope of the north Saskatchewan. + +From Calgary we went by train to Edmonton. This is the point +of leaving the railway, the beginning of hard travel, and here we +waited a few days to gather together our various shipments of food +and equipment, and to await notice that the river was open. + +In the north the grand event of the year is the opening of the +rivers. The day when the ice goes out is the official first day +of spring, the beginning of the season; and is eagerly looked for, +as every day's delay means serious loss to the traders, whose men +are idle, but drawing pay as though at work. + +On May 11, having learned that the Athabaska was open, we left +Edmonton in a livery rig, and drove 94 miles northward though a most +promising, half-settled country, and late the next day arrived at +Athabaska Landing, on the great east tributary of the Mackenzie, +whose waters were to bear us onward for so many weeks. + +Athabaska Landing is a typical frontier town. These are hard words, +but justified. We put up at the principal hotel; the other lodgers +told me it was considered the worst hotel in the world. I thought +I knew of two worse, but next morning accepted the prevailing view. + +Our canoe and provisions arrived, but the great convoy of scows +that were to take the annual supplies of trade stuff for the far +north was not ready, and we needed the help and guidance of its +men, so must needs wait for four days. + +This gave us the opportunity to study the local natural history +and do a little collecting, the results of which appear later. + +The great size of the timber here impressed me. I measured a typical +black poplar (P. balsamifera), 100 feet to the top, 8 feet 2 inches +in circumference, at 18 inches from the ground, and I saw many +thicker, but none taller. + +At the hotel, also awaiting the scows, was a body of four +(dis-)Mounted Police, bound like ourselves for the far north. The +officer in charge turned out to be an old friend from Toronto, Major +A. M. Jarvis. I also met John Schott, the gigantic half-breed, who +went to the Barren Grounds with Caspar Whitney in 1895. He seemed +to have great respect for Whitney as a tramper, and talked much of +the trip, evidently having forgotten his own shortcomings of the +time. While I sketched his portrait, he regaled me with memories +of his early days on Red River, where he was born in 1841. 1 did +not fail to make what notes I could of those now historic times. +His accounts of the Antelope on White Horse Plain, in 1855, and +Buffalo about the site of Carberry, Manitoba, in 1852, were new +and valuable light on the ancient ranges of these passing creatures. + +All travellers who had preceded me into the Barren Grounds had +relied on the abundant game, and in consequence suffered dreadful +hardships; in some cases even starved to death. I proposed to rely +on no game, but to take plenty of groceries, the best I could buy +in Winnipeg, which means the best in the world; and, as will be +seen later, the game, because I was not relying on it, walked into +camp every day. + +But one canoe could not carry all these provisions, so most of it +I shipped on the Hudson's Bay Company scows, taking with us, in +the canoe, food for not more than a week, which with camp outfit +was just enough for ballast. + +Of course I was in close touch with the Hudson's Bay people. Although +nominally that great trading company parted with its autocratic +power and exclusive franchise in 1870, it is still the sovereign +of the north. And here let me correct an error that is sometimes +found even in respectable print--the Company has at all times been +ready to assist scientists to the utmost of its very ample power. +Although jealous of its trading rights, every one is free to enter +the territory without taking count of the Company, but there has +not yet been a successful scientific expedition into the region +without its active co-operation. + +The Hudson's Bay Company has always been the guardian angel of the +north. + +I suppose that there never yet was another purely commercial concern +that so fully realized the moral obligations of its great power, +or that has so uniformly done its best for the people it ruled. + +At all times it has stood for peace, and one hears over and over +again that such and such tribes were deadly enemies, but the Company +insisted on their smoking the peace pipe. The Sioux and Ojibway, +Black-Foot and Assiniboine., Dog-Rib and Copper-Knife, Beaver and +Chipewyan, all offer historic illustrations in point, and many +others could be found for the list. + +The name Peace River itself is the monument of a successful effort +on the part of the Company to bring about a better understanding +between the Crees and the Beavers. + +Besides human foes, the Company has saved the Indian from famine and +plague. Many a hunger-stricken tribe owes its continued existence +to the fatherly care of the Company, not simply general and +indiscriminate, but minute and personal, carried into the details +of their lives. For instance, when bots so pestered the Caribou of +one region as to render their hides useless to the natives, the +Company brought in hides from a district where they still were +good. + +The Chipewyans were each spring the victims of snow-blindness until +the Company brought and succeeded in popularizing their present +ugly but effectual and universal peaked hats. When their train-dogs +were running down in physique, the Company brought in a strain of +pure Huskies or Eskimo. When the Albany River Indians were starving +and unable to hunt, the Company gave the order for 5,000 lodge poles. +Then, not knowing how else to turn them to account, commissioned +the Indians to work them into a picket garden-fence. At all times +the native found a father in the Company, and it was the worst thing +that ever happened the region when the irresponsible free-traders +with their demoralizing methods were allowed to enter and traffic +where or how they pleased. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +DOWN THE NOISY RIVER WITH THE VOYAGEURS + + + +At Athabaska Landing, on May 18, 1907, 10.15 A. M., we boarded the +superb Peterborough canoe that I had christened the Ann Seton. The +Athabaska River was a-flood and clear of ice; 13 scows of freight, +with 60 half-breeds and Indians to man them, left at the same time, +and in spite of a strong headwind we drifted northward fully 31 +miles an hour. + +The leading scow, where I spent some time, was in charge of John +MacDonald himself, and his passengers comprised the Hudson's Bay +Company officials, going to their posts or on tours of inspection. +They were a jolly crowd, like a lot of rollicking schoolboys, +full of fun and good-humour, chaffing and joking all day; but when +a question of business came up, the serious businessman appeared +in each, and the Company's interest was cared for with their best +powers. The bottle was not entirely absent in these scow fraternities, +but I saw no one the worse for liquor on the trip. + +The men of mixed blood jabbered in French, Cree, and Chipewyan +chiefly, but when they wanted to swear, they felt the inadequacy +of these mellifluous or lisping tongues, and fell back on virile +Saxon, whose tang, projectivity, and wealth of vile epithet +evidently supplied a long-felt want in the Great Lone Land of the +Dog and Canoe. + +In the afternoon Preble and I pushed on in our boat, far in advance +of the brigade. As we made early supper I received for the twentieth +time a lesson in photography. A cock Partridge or Ruffed Grouse +came and drummed on a log in open view, full sunlight, fifty feet +away. I went quietly to the place. He walked off, but little alarmed. +I set the camera eight feet from the log, with twenty-five feet of +tubing, and retired to a good hiding-place. But alas! I put the +tube on the left-hand pump, not knowing that that was a dummy. +The Grouse came back in three minutes, drumming in a superb pose +squarely in front of the camera. I used the pump, but saw that it +failed to operate; on going forward the Grouse skimmed away and +returned no more. Preble said, "Never mind; there will be another +every hundred yards all the way down the river, later on." I could +only reply, "The chance never comes but once," and so it proved. +We heard Grouse drumming many times afterward, but the sun was low, +or the places densely shaded, or the mosquitoes made conditions +impossible for silent watching; the perfect chance came but once, +as it always does, and I lost it. + +About twenty miles below the Landing we found the abandoned winter +hut of a trapper; on the roof were the dried up bodies of 1 Skunk, +2 Foxes, and 30 Lynxes, besides the bones of 2 Moose, showing the +nature of the wild life about. + +That night, as the river was brimming and safe, we tied up to the +scows and drifted, making 30 more miles, or 60 since embarking. + +In the early morning, I was much struck by the lifelessness of the +scene. The great river stretched away northward, the hills rose +abruptly from the water's edge, everywhere extended the superb +spruce forest, here fortunately unburnt; but there seemed no sign of +living creature outside of our own numerous, noisy, and picturesque +party. River, hills, and woods were calm and silent. It was +impressive, if disappointing; and, when at last the fir stillness +was broken by a succession of trumpet notes from the Great Pileated +Woodpecker, the sound went rolling on and on, in reverberating +echoes that might well have alarmed the bird himself. + +The white spruce forest along the banks is most inspiring, magnificent +here. Down the terraced slopes and right to the water's edge on the +alluvial soil it stands in ranks. Each year, of course, the floods +undercut the banks, and more trees fall, to become at last the +flotsam of the shore a thousand miles away. + +There is something sad about these stately trees, densely packed, +all a-row, unflinching, hopelessly awaiting the onset of the +inexorable, invincible river. One group, somewhat isolated and +formal, was a forest life parallel to Lady Butler's famous "Roll +Call of the Grenadiers." + +At night we reached the Indian village of Pelican Portage, and +landed by climbing over huge blocks of ice that were piled along +the shore. The adult male inhabitants came down to our camp, so +that the village was deserted, except for the children and a few +women. + +As I walked down the crooked trail along which straggle the cabins, +I saw something white in a tree at the far end. Supposing it to be +a White-rabbit in a snare, I went near and found, to my surprise, +first that it was a dead house-cat, a rare species here; second, +under it, eyeing it and me alternately, was a hungry-looking Lynx. +I had a camera, for it was near sundown, and in the woods, so I +went back to the boat and returned with a gun. There was the Lynx +still prowling, but now farther from the village. I do not believe +he would have harmed the children, but a Lynx is game. I fired, +and he fell without a quiver or a sound. This was the first time +I had used a gun in many years, and was the only time on the trip. +I felt rather guilty, but the carcass was a godsend to two old +Indians who were sickening on a long diet of salt pork, and that +Lynx furnished them tender meat for three days afterward; while +its skin and skull went to the American Museum. + +On the night of May 20, we camped just above Grand Rapids--Preble +and I alone, for the first time, under canvas, and glad indeed +to get away from the noisy rabble of the boatmen, though now they +were but a quarter mile off. At first I had found them amusing +and picturesque, but their many unpleasant habits, their distinct +aversion to strangers, their greediness to get all they could out +of one, and do nothing in return, combined finally with their habit +of gambling all night to the loud beating of a tin pan, made me +thankful to quit their company for a time. + +At Grand Rapids the scows were unloaded, the goods shipped over +a quarter-mile hand tramway, on an island, the scows taken down a +side channel, one by one, and reloaded. This meant a delay of three +or four days, during which we camped on the island and gathered +specimens. + +Being the organizer, equipper, geographer, artist, head, and tail of +the expedition, I was, perforce, also its doctor. Equipped with a +"pill-kit," an abundance of blisters and bandages and some "potent +purgatives," I had prepared myself to render first and last aid to +the hurt in my own party. In taking instructions from our family +physician, I had learned the value of a profound air of great +gravity, a noble reticence, and a total absence of doubt, when I +did speak. I compressed his creed into a single phrase: "In case of +doubt, look wise and work on his 'bowels.'" This simple equipment +soon gave me a surprisingly high standing among the men. I was +a medicine man of repute, and soon had a larger practice than I +desired, as it was entirely gratuitous. + +The various boatmen, Indians and half-breeds, came with their +troubles, and, thanks chiefly to their faith, were cured. But one +day John MacDonald, the chief pilot and a mighty man on the river, +came to my tent on Grand Island. John complained that he couldn't +hold anything on his stomach; he was a total peristaltic wreck indeed +(my words; his were more simple and more vivid, but less sonorous +and professional). He said he had been going down hill for two +weeks, and was so bad now that he was "no better than a couple of +ordinary men." + +"Exactly so," I said. "Now you take these pills and you'll be all +right in the morning." Next morning John was back, and complained +that my pills had no effect; he wanted to feel something take hold +of him. Hadn't 1 any pepper-juice or brandy? + +I do not take liquor on an expedition, but at the last moment +a Winnipeg friend had given me a pint flask of pure brandy--"for +emergencies." An emergency had come. + +"John! you shall have some extra fine brandy, nicely thinned with +pepper-juice." I poured half an inch of brandy into a tin cup, then +added half an inch of "pain-killer." + +"Here, take this, and if you don't feel it, it means your insides +are dead, and you may as well order your coffin." + +John took it at a gulp. His insides were not dead; but I might have +been, had I been one of his boatmen. + +He doubled up, rolled around, and danced for five minutes. He did +not squeal--John never squeals--but he suffered some, and an hour +later announced that he was about cured. + +Next day he came to say he was all right, and would soon again be +as good as half a dozen men. + +At this same camp in Grand Rapids another cure on a much larger +scale was added to my list. An Indian had "the bones of his foot +broken," crushed by a heavy weight, and was badly crippled. He +came leaning on a friend's shoulder. His foot was blackened and much +swollen, but I soon satisfied myself that no bones were broken, +because he could wriggle all the toes and move the foot in any +direction. + +"You'll be better in three days and all right in a week," I said, +with calm assurance. Then I began with massage. It seemed necessary +in the Indian environment to hum some tune, and I found that the +"Koochy-Koochy" lent itself best to the motion, so it became my +medicine song. + +With many "Koochy-Koochy"-ings and much ice-cold water he was +nearly cured in three days, and sound again in a week. But in the +north folk have a habit (not known elsewhere) of improving the +incident. Very soon it was known all along the river that the Indian's +leg was broken, and I had set and healed it in three days. In a +year or two, I doubt not, it will be his neck that was broken, not +once, but in several places. + +Grand Island yielded a great many Deermice of the arctic form, a +few Red-backed Voles, and any number of small birds migrant. + +As we floated down the river the eye was continually held by tall +and prominent spruce trees that had been cut into peculiar forms +as below. These were known as "lob-sticks," or "lop-sticks," and +are usually the monuments of some distinguished visitor in the +country or records of some heroic achievement. Thus, one would be +pointed out as Commissioner Wrigley's lob-stick, another as John +MacDonald's the time he saved the scow. + +The inauguration of a lob-stick is quite a ceremony. Some person +in camp has impressed all with his importance or other claim to +notice. The men, having talked it over, announce that they have +decided on giving him a lob-stick. "Will he make choice of some +prominent tree in view?" The visitor usually selects one back from +the water's edge, often on some far hilltop, the more prominent the +better; then an active young fellow is sent up with an axe to trim +the tree. The more embellishment the higher the honor. On the trunk +they then inscribe the name of the stranger, and he is supposed +to give each of the men a plug of tobacco and a drink of whiskey. +Thus they celebrate the man and his monument, and ever afterwards +it is pointed out as "So-and-so's lob-stick." + +It was two months before my men judged that I was entitled to a +lob-stick. We were then on Great Slave Lake where the timber was +small, but the best they could get on a small island was chosen +and trimmed into a monument. They were disappointed however, to +find that I would by no means give whiskey to natives, and my treat +had to take a wholly different form. + +Grand Rapids, with its multiplicity of perfectly round pot-hole +boulders, was passed in four days, and then, again in company with +the boats, we entered the real canyon of the river. + +Down Athabaska's boiling flood +Of seething, leaping, coiling mud. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HUMAN NATURE ON THE RIVER + + + +Sunday morning, 26th of May, there was something like a strike +among the sixty half-breeds and Indians that composed the crews. +They were strict Sabbatarians (when it suited them); they believed +that they should do no work, but give up the day to gambling and +drinking. Old John, the chief pilot, wished to take advantage of the +fine flood on the changing river, and drift down at least to the +head of the Boiler Rapids, twenty miles away, The breeds maintained, +with many white swear words, for lack of strong talk in Indian, that +they never yet knew Sunday work to end in anything but disaster, +and they sullenly scattered among the trees, produced their cards, +and proceeded to gamble away their property, next year's pay, +clothes, families, anything, and otherwise show their respect for +the Lord's Day and defiance of old John MacDonald. John made no +reply to their arguments; he merely boarded the cook's boat, and +pushed off into the swift stream with the cooks and all the grub. +In five minutes the strikers were on the twelve big boats doing +their best to live up to orders. John said nothing, and grinned at +me only with his eyes. + +The breeds took their defeat in good part after the first minute, +and their commander rose higher in their respect. + +At noon we camped above the Boiler Rapids. In the evening I climbed +the 400- or 500-foot hill behind camp and sketched the canyon +looking northward. The spring birds were now beginning to arrive, +but were said to be a month late this year. The ground was everywhere +marked with moose sign; prospects, were brightening. + +The mania for killing that is seen in many white men is evidently +a relic of savagery, for all of these Indians and half-breeds +are full of it. Each carries a rifle, and every living thing that +appears on the banks or on the water is fusilladed with Winchesters +until it is dead or out of sight. This explains why we see so +little from the scows. One should be at least a day ahead of them +to meet with wild life on the river. + +This morning two Bears appeared on the high bank--and there was the +usual uproar and fusillading; so far as could be learned without +any effect, except the expenditure of thirty or forty cartridges +at five cents each. + +On the 27th we came to the Cascade Rapids. The first or Little +Cascade has about two feet fall, the second or Grand Cascade, a +mile farther, is about a six foot sheer drop. These are considered +very difficult to run, and the manner of doing it changes with +every change in season or water level. + +We therefore went through an important ceremony, always carried +out in the same way. All 13 boats were beached, the 13 pilots went +ahead on the bank to study the problem, they decided on the one +safe place and manner, then returned, and each of the 13 boats was +run over in 13 different places and manners. They always do this. +You are supposed to have run the Cascades successfully if you cross +them alive, but to have failed if you drown.. In this case all were +successful. + +Below the Cascades I had a sample of Indian gratitude that set me +thinking. My success with John MacDonald and others had added the +whole community to my medical practice, for those who were not +sick thought they were. I cheerfully did my best for all, and was +supposed to be persona grata. Just below the Cascade Rapids was +a famous sucker pool, and after we had camped three Indians came, +saying that the pool was full of suckers--would I lend them my +canoe to get some? + +Away they went, and from afar I was horrified to see them clubbing +the fish with my beautiful thin-bladed maple paddles. They returned +with a boat load of 3- and 4-pound Suckers (Catostomus) and 2 +paddles broken. Each of their friends came and received one or two +fine fish, for there were plenty. I, presumably part owner of the +catch, since I owned the boat, selected one small one for myself, +whereupon the Indian insolently demanded 25 cents for it; and +these were the men I had been freely doctoring for two weeks! Not +to speak of the loaned canoe and broken paddles! Then did I say a +few things to all and sundry--stinging, biting things, ungainsayable +and forcible things--and took possession of all the fish that were +left, so the Indians slunk off in sullen silence. + +Gratitude seems an unknown feeling among these folk; you may give +presents and help and feed them all you like, the moment you want +a slight favour of them they demand the uttermost cent. In attempting +to analyse this I was confronted by the fact that among themselves +they are kind and hospitable, and at length discovered that their +attitude toward us is founded on the ideas that all white men are +very rich, that the Indian has made them so by allowing them to +come into this country, that the Indian is very poor because he +never was properly compensated, and that therefore all he can get +out of said white man is much less than the white man owes him. + +As we rounded a point one day a Lynx appeared statuesque on a stranded +cake of ice, a hundred yards off, and gazed at the approaching +boats. True to their religion, the half-breeds seized their rifles, +the bullets whistled harmlessly about the "Peeshoo"--whereupon he +turned and walked calmly up the slope, stopping to look at each +fresh volley, but finally waved his stumpy tail and walked unharmed +over the ridge. Distance fifty yards. + +On May 28 we reached Fort MacMurray. + +Here I saw several interesting persons: Miss Christine Gordon, the +postmaster; Joe Bird, a half-breed with all the advanced ideas of +a progressive white man; and an American ex-patriot, G------, a +tall, raw-boned Yank from Illinois. He was a typical American of +the kind, that knows little of America and nothing of Europe; but +shrewd and successful in spite of these limitations. In appearance +he was not unlike Abraham Lincoln. He was a rabid American, and +why he stayed here was a question. + +He had had no detailed tidings from home for years, and I never saw +a man more keen for the news. On the banks of the river we sat for +an hour while he plied me with questions, which I answered so far +as I could. He hung on my lips; he interrupted only when there seemed +a halt in the stream; he revelled in, all the details of wrecks +by rail and sea. Roosevelt and the trusts--insurance scandals--the +South the burnings in the West--massacres--murders--horrors--risings--these +were his special gloats, and yet he kept me going with "Yes--yes--and +then?" or "Yes, by golly--that's the way we're a-doing it. Go on." + +Then, after I had robbed New York of $100,000,000 a year, burnt 10 +large towns and 45 small ones, wrecked 200 express trains, lynched +96 negroes in the South and murdered many men every night for 7 +years in Chicago--he broke out: + +"By golly, we are a-doing it. We are the people. We are a-moving +things now; and I tell you I give the worst of them there European +countries, the very worst of 'em, just 100 years to become +Americanised." + +Think of that, ye polished Frenchmen; ye refined, courteous Swedes; +ye civilised Danes; you have 100 years to become truly Americanised! + +All down the river route we came on relics of another class of +wanderers--the Klondikers of 1898. Sometimes these were empty winter +cabins; sometimes curious tools left at Hudson's Bay Posts, and in +some cases expensive provisions; in all cases we heard weird tales +of their madness. + +There is, I am told, a shanty on the Mackenzie above Simpson, where +four of them made a strange record. Cooped up for months in tight +winter quarters, they soon quarrelled, and at length their partnership +was dissolved. Each took the articles he had contributed, and those +of common purchase they divided in four equal parts. The stove, the +canoe, the lamp, the spade, were broken relentlessly and savagely +into four parts--four piles of useless rubbish. The shanty was +divided in four. One man had some candles of his own bringing. +These he kept and carefully screened off his corner of the room so +no chance rays might reach the others to comfort them; they spent +the winter in darkness. None spoke to the other, and they parted, +singly and silently, hatefully as ever, as soon as the springtime +opened the way. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DOWN THE SILENT RIVER WITH THE MOUNTED POLICE + + + +At Fort MacMurray we learned that there was no telling when the +steamer might arrive; Major Jarvis was under orders to proceed +without delay to Smith Landing; so to solve all our difficulties +I bought a 30-foot boat (sturgeon-head) of Joe Bird, and arranged +to join forces with the police for the next part of the journey. + +I had made several unsuccessful attempts to get an experienced native +boatman to go northward with me. All seemed to fear the intending +plunge into the unknown; so was agreeably surprised when a sturdy +young fellow of Scottish and Cree parentage came and volunteered +for the trip. A few inquiries proved him to bear a good reputation +as a river-man and worker, so William C. Loutit was added to my +expedition and served me faithfully throughout. + +In time I learned that Billy was a famous traveller. Some years +ago, when the flood had severed all communication between Athabaska +Landing and Edmonton, Billy volunteered to carry some important +despatches, and covered the 96 miles on foot in one and a half days, +although much of the road was under water. On another occasion he +went alone and afoot from House River up the Athabaska to Calling +River, and across the Point to the Athabaska again, then up to the +Landing-150 rough miles in four days. These exploits I had to find +out for myself later on, but much more important to me at the time +was the fact that he was a first-class cook, a steady, cheerful +worker, and a capable guide as far as Great Slave Lake. + +The Athabaska below Fort MacMurray is a noble stream, one-third +of a mile wide, deep, steady, unmarred; the banks are covered with +unbroken virginal forests of tall white poplar, balsam poplar, +spruce, and birch. The fire has done no damage here as yet, the +axe has left no trace, there are no houses, no sign of man except +occasional teepee poles. I could fancy myself floating down the +Ohio two hundred years ago. + +These were bright days to be remembered, as we drifted down +its placid tide in our ample and comfortable boat, with abundance +of good things. Calm, lovely, spring weather; ducks all along the +river; plenty of food, which is the northerner's idea of bliss; +plenty of water, which is the river-man's notion of joy; plenty +of leisure, which is an element in most men's heaven, for we had +merely to float with the stream, three miles an hour, except when +we landed to eat or sleep. + +The woods were donning their vernal green and resounded with the +calls of birds now. The mosquito plague of the region had not yet +appeared, and there was little lacking to crown with a halo the +memory of those days on the Missouri of the North. + +Native quadrupeds seemed scarce, and we were all agog when one of +the men saw a black fox trotting along the opposite bank. However, +it turned out to be one of the many stray dogs of the country. He +followed us a mile or more, stopping at times to leap at fish that +showed near the shore. When we landed for lunch he swam the broad +stream and hung about at a distance. As this was twenty miles from +any settlement, he was doubtless hungry, so I left a bountiful +lunch for him, and when we moved away, he claimed his own. + +At Fort McKay I saw a little half-breed boy shooting with a bow +and displaying extraordinary marksmanship. At sixty feet he could +hit the bottom of a tomato tin nearly every time; and even more +surprising was the fact that he held the arrow with what is known +as the Mediterranean hold. When, months later, I again stopped at +this place, I saw another boy doing the very same. Some residents +assured me that this was the style of all the Chipewyans as well +as the Crees. + +That night we camped far down the river and on the side opposite +the Fort, for experience soon teaches one to give the dogs no +chance of entering camp on marauding expeditions while you rest. +About ten, as I was going to sleep, Preble put his head in and +said: "Come out here if you want a new sensation." + +In a moment I was standing with him under the tall spruce trees, +looking over the river to the dark forest, a quarter mile away, +and listening intently to a new and wonderful sound. Like the +slow tolling of a soft but high-pitched bell, it came. Ting, ting, +ting, ting, and on, rising and falling with the breeze, but still +keeping on about two "tings" to the second; and on, dulling as +with distance, but rising again and again. + +It was unlike anything I had ever heard, but Preble knew it of old. +"That", says he, "is the love-song of the Richardson Owl. She is +sitting demurely in some spruce top while he sails around, singing +on the wing, and when the sound seems distant, he is on the far +side of the tree." + +Ting, ting, ting, ting, it went on and on, this soft belling +of his love, this amorous music of our northern bell-bird. . + +Ting, TING, ting, ting, ting, TING, ting, ting, ting, ting, TING, +ting--oh, how could any lady owl resist such strains?--and on, with +its ting, ting, ting, TING, ting, ting, ting, TING, the whole night +air was vibrant. Then, as though by plan, a different note--the +deep booming "Oho-oh-who-oh who hoo" of the Great Homed Owl--was +heard singing a most appropriate bass. + +But the little Owl went on and on; 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes +at last had elapsed before I turned in again and left him. More +than once that night I awoke to hear his "tinging" serenade upon +the consecrated air of the piney woods. + +Yet Preble said this one was an indifferent performer. On the +Mackenzie he had heard far better singers of the kind; some that +introduce many variations of the pitch and modulation. I thought +it one of the most charming bird voices I had ever listened to--and +felt that this was one of the things that make the journey worth +while. + +On June 1 the weather was so blustering and wet that we did not +break camp. I put in the day examining the superb timber of this +bottom-land. White spruce is the prevailing conifer and is here +seen in perfection. A representative specimen was 118 feet high, 11 +feet 2 inches in circumference, or 3 feet 6 1/2 inches in diameter +1 foot from the ground, i.e., above any root spread. There was +plenty of timber of similar height. Black spruce, a smaller kind, +and tamarack are found farther up and back in the bog country. +jackpine of fair size abounds on the sandy and gravelly parts. +Balsam poplar is the largest deciduous tree; its superb legions +in upright ranks are crowded along all the river banks and on the +islands not occupied by the spruce. The large trees of this kind +often have deep holes; these are the nesting sites of the Whistler +Duck, which is found in numbers here and as far north as this tree, +but not farther. White poplar is plentiful also; the hillsides are +beautifully clad with its purplish masses of twigs, through which +its white stem gleam like marble columns. White birch is common +and large enough for canoes. Two or three species of willow in +impenetrable thickets make up the rest of the forest stretches. + +At this camp I had the unique experience of showing all these seasoned +Westerners that it was possible to make a fire by the friction of +two sticks. This has long been a specialty of mine; I use a thong +and a bow as the simplest way. Ordinarily I prefer balsam-fir or +tamarack; in this case I used a balsam block and a spruce drill, +and, although each kind failed when used with drill and block the +same, I got the fire in half a minute. + +On June 3 we left this camp of tall timber. As we floated down we +sighted a Lynx on the bank looking contemplatively into the flood. One +of the police boys seized a gun and with a charge of No. 6 killed +the Lynx. Poor thing, it was in a starving condition, as indeed +are most meat-eaters this year in the north. Though it was fully +grown, it weighed but 15 pounds. + +In its stomach was part of a sparrow (white-throat?) and a piece +of rawhide an inch wide and 4 feet long, evidently a portion of a +dog-harness picked up somewhere along the river. I wonder what he +did with the bells. + +That night we decided to drift, leaving one man on guard. Next day, +as we neared Lake Athabaska, the shores got lower, and the spruce +disappeared, giving way to dense thickets of low willow. Here +the long expected steamer, Graham, passed, going upstream. We now +began to get occasional glimpses of Lake Athabaska across uncertain +marshes and sand bars. It was very necessary to make Fort Chipewyan +while there was a calm, so we pushed on. After four hours' groping +among blind channels and mud banks, we reached the lake at +midnight--though of course there was no night, but a sort of gloaming +even at the darkest--and it took us four hours' hard rowing to +cover the ten miles that separated us from Chipewyan. + +It sounds very easy and commonplace when one says "hard rowing," +but it takes on more significance when one is reminded that those +oars were 18 feet long, 5 inches through, and weighed about 20 pounds +each; the boat was 30 feet long, a demasted schooner indeed, and +rowing her through shallow muddy water, where the ground suction +was excessive, made labour so heavy that 15 minute spells were all +any one could do. We formed four relays, and all worked in turn +all night through, arriving at Chipewyan. 4 A.M., blistered, sore, +and completely tired out. + +Fort Chipewyan (pronounced Chip-we-yan') was Billy Loutit's home, +and here we met his father, mother, and numerous as well as interesting +sisters. Meanwhile I called at the Roman Catholic Mission, under +Bishop Gruard, and the rival establishment, under Reverend Roberts, +good men all, and devoted to the cause, but loving not each other. +The Hudson's Bay Company, however, was here, as everywhere in the +north, the really important thing. + +There was a long stretch of dead water before we could resume our +downward drift, and, worse than that, there was such a flood on the +Peace River that it was backing the Athabaska, that is, the tide +of the latter was reversed on the Rocher River, which extends +twenty-five miles between here and Peace mouth. To meet this, I +hired Colin Fraser's steamer. We left Chipewyan at 6.15; at 11.15 +camped below the Peace on Great Slave River, and bade farewell to +the steamer. + +The reader may well be puzzled by these numerous names; the fact +is the Mackenzie, the Slave, the Peace, the Rocher, and the Unchaga +are all one and the same river, but, unfortunately, the early +explorers thought proper to give it a new name each time it did +something, such as expand into a lake. By rights it should be the +Unchaga or Unjiza, from the Rockies to the Arctic, with the Athabaska +as its principal southern tributary. + +The next day another Lynx was collected. In its stomach were +remains of a Redsquirrel, a Chipmunk, and a Bog-lemming. The last +was important as it made a new record. + +The Athabaska is a great river, the Peace is a greater, and the +Slave, formed by their union, is worthy of its parents. Its placid +flood is here nearly a mile wide, and its banks are covered with +a great continuous forest of spruce trees of the largest size. How +far back this extends I do not know, but the natives say the best +timber is along the river. + +More than once a Lynx was seen trotting by or staring at us from +the bank, but no other large animal. + +On the night of June 7 we reached Smith Landing. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A CONFERENCE WITH THE CHIEFS + + + +A few bands of Buffalo are said to exist in the country east of +Great Slave River. Among other matters, Major Jarvis had to report +on these, find out how many were left, and exactly where they were. +When he invited me to join his expedition, with these questions in +view, I needed no pressing. + +Our first business was to get guides, and now our troubles began. + +Through the traders we found four natives who knew the Buffalo +range--they were Kiya, Sousi, Kirma, and Peter Squirrel. However, +they seemed in no way desirous of guiding any one into that +country. They dodged and delayed and secured many postponements, +but the Royal Mounted Police and the Hudson's Bay Company are the +two mighty powers of the land, so, urged by an officer of each, +these worthies sullenly assembled to meet us in Sousi's cabin. + +Sousi, by the way, is Chipewyan for Joseph, and this man's name +was Joseph Beaulieu. Other northern travellers have warned all that +came after them to beware of the tribe of Beaulieu, so we were on +guard. + +Sullen silence greeted us as we entered; we could feel their +covert antagonism. Jarvis is one of those affable, good-tempered +individuals that most persons take for "easy." In some ways he may +be so, but I soon realised that he was a keen judge of men and their +ways, and he whispered to me: "They mean to block us if possible." +Sousi understood French and had some English, but the others professed +ignorance of everything but Chipewyan. So it was necessary to call +in an interpreter. How admirably he served us may be judged from +the following sample secured later. + +Q. Are the Buffalo near? + +A. Wah-hay-was-ki busquow Kai-ah taw nip-ee-wat-chow-es-kee +nee-moy-ah. Kee-as-o-win sugee-meesh i-mush-wa mus-tat-e-muck +ne-mow-ah pe-muk-te-ok nemoy-ah dane-tay-tay-ah. + +Interpreter. He say "no." + +Q. How long would it take to get them? + +A. Ne-moy-ah mis-chay-to-ok Way-hay-o ay-ow-ok-iman-kah-mus-to-ok. +Mis-ta-hay cha-gowos-ki wah-hay-o musk-ee-see-seepi. Mas-kootch +e-goot-ah-i-ow mas-kootch ne-moy-ah muk-eboy sak-te-muk mas-kootch +gahk-sin-now ne-moy-ah gehk-kee-win-tay dam-foole-Inglis. + +Interpreter. He say "don't know." + +Q. Can you go with us as guide? + +A. Kee-ya-wah-lee nas-bah a-lash-tay wah-lee-lee lan-day. (Answer +literally) "Yes, I could go if I could leave the transport." + +Interpreter's answer, "Mebby." + +After a couple of hours of this bootless sort of thing we had +made no headway toward getting a guide, nor could we get definite +information about the Buffaloes or the Wolves. Finally the meeting +suffered a sort of natural disintegration. + +Next day we tried again, but again there were technical difficulties, +grown up like mushrooms over night. + +Kiya could not go or lend his horses, because it was mostly +Squirrel's country, and he was afraid Squirrel would not like it. +Squirrel could not go because it would be indelicate of him to +butt in after negotiations had been opened with Kiya. Kirma was not +well. Sousi could not go because his wife was sick, and it preyed +on his mind so that he dare not trust himself away from the +settlement; at least, not without much medicine to fortify him +against rheumatism, home-sickness, and sadness. + +Next day Kiya sent word that he had business of great moment, and +could not meet us, but would see that early in the morning Squirrel +was notified to come and do whatever we wished. In the morning Squirrel +also had disappeared, leaving word that he had quite overlooked a +most important engagement to "portage some flour across the rapids," +not that he loved the tump line, but he had "promised," and to keep +his word was very precious to him. + +Jarvis and I talked it over and reviewed the information we had. +At Ottawa it was reported that the Wolves were killing the calves, +so the Buffalo did not increase. At Winnipeg the Wolves were so +bad that they killed yearlings; at Edmonton the cows were not safe. + +At Chipewyan the Wolves, reinforced by large bands from the Barren +Grounds, were killing the young Buffalo, and later the cows and +young bulls. At Smith's Landing the Wolves had even tackled an old +bull whose head was found with the large bones. Horses and dogs +were now being devoured. Terrible battles were taking place between +the dark Wolves of Peace River and the White Wolves of the Barrens +for possession of the Buffalo grounds. Of course the Buffalo were +disappearing; about a hundred were all that were left. + +But no one ever sees any of these terrible Wolves, the few men who +know that country have plenty of pemmican, that is neither Moose +nor Caribou, and the Major briefly summed up the situation: "The +Wolves are indeed playing havoc with the Buffalo, and the ravenous +leaders of the pack are called Sousi, Kiya, Kirma, and Squirrel." + +Now of all the four, Sousi, being a Beaulieu and a half-breed, had +the worst reputation, but of all the four he was the only one that +had admitted a possibility of guiding us, and was to be found on the +fifth morning. So his views were met, a substitute found to watch +his fishing nets, groceries to keep his wife from pining during his +absence, a present for himself, the regular rate of wages doubled, +his horses hired, his rheumatism, home-sickness, and sadness provided +against, a present of tobacco, some more presents, a promise of +reward for every Buffalo shown, then another present, and we set +out. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +OUT WITH SOUSI BEAULIEU + + + +It's a, fine thing to get started, however late in the day, and +though it was 3.20 P. M. before everything was ready, we gladly +set out--Sousi, Major Jarvis, and myself--all mounted, the native +leading a packhorse with provisions. + +And now we had a chance to study our guide. A man's real history +begins, of course, about twenty years before he is born. In +the middle of the last century was a notorious old ruffian named +Beaulieu. Montreal was too slow for him, so he invaded the north-west +with a chosen crew of congenial spirits. His history can be got from +any old resident of the north-west. I should not like to write it +as it was told to me. + +His alleged offspring are everywhere in the country, and most +travellers on their return from this region, sound a note of warning: +"Look out for every one of the name of Beaulieu. They are a queer +lot." And now we had committed ourselves and our fortunes into the +hands of Beaulieu's second or twenty-second son--I could not make +sure which. He is a typical half-breed, of medium height, thin, +swarthy, and very active, although he must be far past 60. Just how +far is not known, whether 59 69 or 79, he himself seemed uncertain, +but he knows there is a 9 in it. The women of Smith's Landing say +59, the men say 79 or 89. + +He is clad in what might be the cast-off garments of a white tramp, +except for his beaded moccasins. However sordid these people may be +in other parts of their attire, I note that they always have some +redeeming touch of color and beauty about the moccasins which +cover their truly shapely feet. Sousi's rifle, a Winchester, also +was clad in a native mode. An embroidered cover of moose leather +protected it night and day, except when actually in use; of +his weapons he took most scrupulous care. Unlike the founder of +the family, Sousi has no children of his own. But he has reared a +dozen waifs under prompting of his own kind heart. He is quite a +character--does not drink or smoke, and I never heard him swear. +This is not because he does not know how, for he is conversant with +the vigor of all the five languages of the country, and the garment +of his thought is like Joseph's coat--Ethnologically speaking, its +breadth and substance are French, but it bears patches of English, +with flowers and frills, strophes, and classical allusions of Cree +and Chipewyan--the last being the language of his present "home +circle." + +There was one more peculiarity of our guide that struck me forcibly. +He was forever considering his horse. Whenever the trail was very +bad, and half of it was, Sousi dismounted and walked--the horse +usually following freely, for the pair were close friends. + +This, then, was the dark villain against whom we had been warned. +How he lived up to his reputation will be seen later. + +After four hours' march through a level, swampy country, forested +with black and white spruce, black and white poplar, birch, willow, +and tamarack, we came to Salt River, a clear, beautiful stream, +but of weak, salty brine. + +Not far away in the woods was a sweet spring, and here we camped +for the night. Close by, on a place recently burnt over, I found +the nest of a Green-winged Teal. All cover was gone and the nest +much singed, but the down had protected the 10 eggs. The old one +fluttered off, played lame, and tried to lead me away. I covered +up the eggs and an hour later found she had returned and resumed +her post. + +That night, as I sat by the fire musing, I went over my life when +I was a boy in Manitoba, just too late to see the Buffalo, recalling +how I used to lie in some old Buffalo wallow and peer out over the +prairie through the fringe of spring anemones and long to see the +big brown forms on the plains. Once in those days I got a sensation, +for I did see them. They turned out to be a herd of common cattle, +but still I got the thrill. + +Now I was on a real Buffalo hunt, some twenty-five years too late. +Will it come? Am I really to see the Wild Buffalo on its native +plains? It is too good to be true; too much like tipping back the +sands of time. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BUFFALO HUNT + + + +We left camp on Salt River at 7.45 in the morning and travelled +till 11 o'clock, covering six miles. It was all through the same +level country, in which willow swamps alternated with poplar and +spruce ridges. At 11 it began to rain, so we camped on a slope under +some fine, big white spruces till it cleared, and then continued +westward. The country now undulated somewhat and was varied with +openings. + +Sousi says that when first he saw this region, 30 years ago, it +was all open prairie, with timber only in hollows and about water. +This is borne out by the facts that all the large trees are in such +places, and that all the level open stretches are covered with +sapling growths of aspen and fir. This will make a glorious settlement +some day. In plants, trees, birds, soil, climate, and apparently +all conditions, it is like Manitoba. + +We found the skeleton of a cow Buffalo, apparently devoured +by Wolves years ago, because all the big bones were there and the +skull unbroken. + +About two in the afternoon we came up a 200-foot rise to a beautiful +upland country, in which the forests were diversified with open +glades, and which everywhere showed a most singular feature. The +ground is pitted all over with funnel-shaped holes, from 6 to 40 +feet deep, and of equal width across the rim; none of them contained +water. I saw one 100 feet across and about 50 feet deep; some expose +limestone; in one place we saw granite. + +At first I took these for extinct geysers, but later I learned that +the whole plateau called Salt Mountain is pitted over with them. +Brine is running out of the mountain in great quantities, which +means that the upper strata are being undermined as the salt washes +out, and, as these crack, the funnels are formed no doubt by the +loose deposits settling. + +In the dry woods Bear tracks became extremely numerous; the whole +country, indeed, was marked with the various signs. Practically +every big tree has bearclaw markings on it, and every few yards +there is evidence that the diet of the bears just now is chiefly +berries of Uva ursi. + +As we rode along Sousi prattled cheerfully in his various tongues; +but his steady flow of conversation abruptly ended when, about 2 +P. M., we came suddenly on some Buffalo tracks, days old, but still +Buffalo tracks. All at once and completely he was the hunter. He +leaped from his horse and led away like a hound. + +Ere long, of course, the trail was crossed by two fresher ones; +then we found some dry wallows and several very fresh tracks. We +tied up the horses in an old funnel pit and set about an elaborate +hunt. Jarvis minded the stock, I set out with Sousi, after he had +tried the wind by tossing up some grass. But he stopped, drew a +finger-nail sharply across my canvas coat, so that it gave a little +shriek, and said "Va pa," which is "Cela ne va pas" reduced to its +bony framework. I doffed the offending coat and we went forward as +shown on the map. The horses were left at A; the wind was east. First +we circled a little to eastward, tossing grass at intervals, but, +finding plenty of new sign, went northerly and westward till most +of the new sign was east of us. Sousi then led for C, telling me to +step in his tracks and make no noise. I did so for long, but at +length a stick cracked under my foot; he turned and looked reproachfully +at me. Then a stick cracked under his foot; I gave him a poke in the +ribs. When we got to the land between the lake at D, Sousi pointed +and said, "They are here." We sneaked with the utmost caution that +way--it was impossible to follow any one trail--and in 200 yards Sousi +sank to the ground gasping out, "La! la! maintenon faites son portrait +au taut que vous voudrez." I crawled forward and saw, not one, but +half a dozen Buffalo. "I must be nearer," I said, and, lying flat +on my breast, crawled, toes and elbows, up to a bush within 75 +yards, where I made shot No. 1, and saw here that there were 8 or +9 Buffalo, one an immense bull. + +Sousi now cocked his rifle-I said emphatically: "Stop! you must not +fire." "No?" he said in astonished tones that were full of story +and comment. "What did we come for?" Now I saw that by backing +out and crawling to another bunch of herbage I could get within 50 +yards. + +"It is not possible," he gasped. + +"Watch me and see," I replied. Gathering all the near vines +and twisting them around my neck, I covered my head with leaves +and creeping plants, then proceeded to show that it was possible, +while Sousi followed. I reached the cover and found it was a bed +of spring anemones on the far side of an old Buffalo wallow, and +there in that wallow I lay for a moment revelling in the sight. All +at once it came to me: Now, indeed, was fulfilled the long-deferred +dream of my youth, for in shelter of those flowers of my youth, I +was gazing on a herd of wild Buffalo. Then slowly I rose above the +cover and took my second picture. + +But the watchful creatures, more shy than Moose here, saw the +rising mass of herbage, or may have caught the wind, rose lightly +and went off. I noticed now, for the first time, a little red calf; +ten Buffalo in all I counted. Sousi, standing up, counted 13. At +the edge of the woods they stopped and looked around, but gave no +third shot for the camera. + +I shook Sousi's hand with all my heart, and he, good old fellow, +said: "Ah! it was for this I prayed last night; without doubt it +was in answer to my prayer that the Good God has sent me this great +happiness." + +Then back at camp, 200 yards away, the old man's tongue was loosed, +and he told me how the chiefs in conference, and every one at the +Fort, had ridiculed him and his Englishmen--"who thought they +could walk up to Buffalo and take their pictures." + +We had not been long in camp when Sousi went off to get some water, +but at once came running back, shouting excitedly, "My rifle, +my rifle!" Jarvis handed it to him; he rushed off to the woods. I +followed in time to see him shoot an old Bear and two cubs out of +a tree. She fell, sobbing like a human being, "Oh! Oh! Oh-h-h-h!" +It was too late to stop him, and he finished her as she lay helpless. +The little ones were too small to live alone, so shared her fate. + +It seems, as Sousi went to the water hole, he came on an old Bear +and her two cubs. She gave a warning "koff, koff." The only enemies +they knew about and feared, were Buffalo, Moose, and Wolves; from +these a tree was a safe haven. The cubs scrambled up a tall poplar, +then the mother followed. Sousi came shouting in apparent fear; I +rushed to the place, thinking he was attacked by something, perhaps +a Buffalo bull, but too late to stop the tragedy that followed. + +That night he roasted one of the cubs, and as I watched the old +cannibal chewing the hands off that little baby Bear it gave me a +feeling of disgust for all flesh-eating that lasted for days. Major +Jarvis felt much as I did, and old Sousi had exclusive joy in all +his bear meat. + + + +Next morning I was left at camp while Jarvis and Sousi went off to +seek for more Buffalo. I had a presentiment that they would find +none, so kept the camera and went off to the Lake a mile west, and +there made drawings of some tracks, took photos, etc., and on the +lake saw about twenty-five pairs of ducks, identified Whitewinged +Scoter, Pintail, Green-winged Teal, and Loon. I also watched the +manoeuvres of a courting Peetweet. He approached the only lady with +his feathers up and his wings raised; she paid no heed (apparently), +but I noticed that when he flew away she followed. I saw a large +garter snake striped black and green, and with 2 rows of red +spots, one on each side. It was very fat and sluggish. I took it +for a female about to lay. Later I learned from Sousi and others +that this snake is quite common here, and the only kind found, +but in the mountains that lie not far away in the west is another +kind, much thicker, fatter, and more sluggish. Its bite is fearfully +poisonous, often fatal; "but the Good God has marked the beast by +putting a cloche (bell) in its tail." + +About 10 I turned campward, but after tramping for nearly an +hour I was not only not at home, I was in a totally strange kind +of country, covered with a continuous poplar woods. I changed my +course and tried a different direction, but soon was forced to the +conclusion that (for the sixth or seventh time in my life) I was +lost. + +"Dear me," I said, "this is an interesting opportunity. It comes +to me now that I once wrote an essay on 'What To Do and What Not +To Do When Lost In the Woods.' Now what in the world did I say in +it, and which were the things not to do. Yes, I remember now, these +were the pieces of advice: + +"1st. 'Don't get frightened.' Well, I'm not; I am simply amused. + +"2d. 'Wait for your friends to come.' Can't do that; I'm too busy; +they wouldn't appear till night. + +"3d. 'If you must travel, go back to a place where you were sure +of the way.' That means back to the lake, which I know is due west +of the camp and must be west of me now." + +So back I went, carefully watching the sun for guidance, and soon +realised that whenever I did not, I swung to the left. After nearly +an hour's diligent travel I did get back to the lake, and followed +my own track in the margin to the point of leaving it; then, with +a careful corrected bearing, made for camp and arrived in 40 minutes, +there to learn that on the first attempt I had swung so far to the +left that I had missed camp by half a mile, and was half a mile +beyond it before I knew I was wrong. (See map on p. 46.) + +At noon Jarvis and Sousi came back jubilant; they had seen countless +Buffalo trails, had followed a large bull and cow, but had left +them to take the trail of a considerable Band; these they discovered +in a lake. There were 4 big bulls, 4 little calves, 1 yearling, 3 +2-year-olds, 8 cows. These allowed them to come openly within 60 +yards. Then took alarm and galloped off. They also saw a Moose and +a Marten--and 2 Buffalo skeletons. How I did curse my presentiment +that prevented them having the camera and securing a really fine +photograph! + +At 2 P. M. Sousi prepared to break camp. He thought that by going +back on our trail he might strike the trail of another herd off +to the south-east of the mountain. Jarvis shrewdly suspected that +our guide wanted to go home, having kept his promise, won the +reward, and got a load of Bear meat. However, the native was the +guide, we set out in a shower which continued more or less all day +and into the night, so we camped in the rain. + +Next day it was obvious, and Sousi no longer concealed the fact, +that he was making for home as fast as he could go. + +At Salt River I found the little Teal back on her eggs in the +burnt ground. At 3.30 we reached Smith Landing, having been absent +exactly 3 days, and having seen in that time 33 Buffalo, 4 of them +calves of this year, 3 old Buffalo skeletons of ancient date, but +not a track or sign of a Wolf, not a howl by night, or any evidence +of their recent presence, for the buffalo skeletons found were +obviously very old. + +And our guide--the wicked one of evil ancestry and fame--he was +kind, cheerful, and courteous through out; he did exactly as he +promised, did it on time, and was well pleased with the pay we gave +him. Speak as you find. If ever I revisit that country I shall be +glad indeed to secure the services of good old Sousi, even if he +is a Beaulieu. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THOMAS ANDERSON + + + +We were now back at Smith Landing, and fired with a desire to make +another Buffalo expedition on which we should have ampler time and +cover more than a mere corner of the range. We aimed, indeed, to +strike straight into the heart of the Buffalo country. The same +trouble about guides arose. In this case it was less acute, because +Sousi's account had inspired considerably more respect. Still it +meant days of delay which, however, I aimed to make profitable by +investigations near at hand. + +After all, the most interesting of creatures is the two-legged one +with the loose and changeable skin, and there was a goodly colony +of the kind to choose from. Most prominent of them all was Thomas +Anderson, the genial Hudson's Bay Company officer in charge of +the Mackenzie River District. His headquarters are at Fort Smith, +16 miles down the river, but his present abode was Smith Landing, +where all goods are landed for overland transport to avoid the long +and dangerous navigation on the next 16 miles of the broad stream. +Like most of his official brethren, he is a Scotchman; he was born +in Nairn, Scotland, in 1848. At 19 he came to the north-west in +service of the company, and his long and adventurous life, as he +climbed to his present responsible position, may be thus skeletonised: + + +He spent six months at Fort Temiscamingue, +1 year at Grand Lac, +3 years at Kakabonga, +5 years at Hunter's Lodge, Chippeway, +10 years at Abitibi, +3 years at Dunvegan, Peace River, +1 year at Lesser Slave Lake, +2 months at Savanne, Fort William, +10 years at Nipigon House, +3 years at Isle a la Crosse, +4 years on the Mackenzie River, chiefly at Fort Simpson, +6 months at Fort Smith. + + +Which tells little to the ears of the big world, but if we say that +he spent 5 years in Berlin, then was moved for 3 years to Gibraltar, +2 years to various posts on the Rhine, whence he went for 4 years +to St. Petersburg; thence to relieve the officer in charge of +Constantinople, and made several flying visits to Bombay and Pekin, +we shall have some idea of his travels, for all were afoot, on +dogsled, or by canoe. + +What wonderful opportunities he had to learn new facts about the +wood folk--man and beast--and how little he knew the value of the +glimpses that he got! I made it my business to gather all I could +of his memories, so far as they dwelt with the things of my world, +and offer now a resume of his more interesting observations on +hunter and hunted of the North. [Since these notes were made, Thomas +Anderson has "crossed the long portage."] + +The following are among the interesting animal notes: + +Cougar. Ogushen, the Indian trapper at Lac des Quinze, found tracks +of a large cat at that place in the fall of 1879 (?). He saw them +all winter on South Bay of that Lake. One day he came on the place +where it had killed a Caribou. When he came back about March he saw +it. It came toward him. It was evidently a cat longer than a Lynx +and it had a very long tail, which swayed from side to side as +it walked. He shot it dead, but feared to go near it believing it +to be a Wendigo. It had a very bad smell. Anderson took it to be +a Puma. It was unknown to the Indian. Ogushen was a first-class +hunter and Anderson firmly believes he was telling the truth. Lac +des Quinze is 15 miles north of Lake Temiscamingue. + +Seals. In old days, he says, small seals were found in Lake Ashkeek. +This is 50 miles north-east from Temiscamingue. It empties into +Kippewa River, which empties into Temiscamingue. He never saw one, +but the Indians of the vicinity told of it as a thing which commonly +happened 50 or 60 years ago. Ashkeek is Ojibwa for seal. It is +supposed that they wintered in the open water about the Rapids. + +White Foxes, he says, were often taken at Cree Lake. Indeed one or +two were captured each year. Cree Lake is 190 miles south-east of +Fort Chipewyan. They are also taken at Fort Chipewyan from time to +time. One was taken at Fondulac, east end of Lake Athabaska, and +was traded at Smith Landing in 1906. They are found regularly at +Fondulac, the east end of Great Slave Lake, each year. + +In the winter of 1885-6 he was to be in charge of Nipigon House, +but got orders beforehand to visit the posts on Albany River. He +set out from Fort William on Lake Superior on his 1,200-mile trip +through the snow with an Indian whose name was Joe Eskimo, from +Manitoulin Island, 400 miles away. At Nipigon House he got another +guide, but this one was in bad shape, spitting blood. After three +days' travel the guide said: "I will go to the end if it kills me, +because I have promised, unless I can get you a better guide. At +Wayabimika (Lake Savanne) is an old man named Omeegi; he knows the +road better than I do." When they got there, Omeegi, although very +old and half-blind, was willing to go on condition that they should +not walk too fast. Then they started for Osnaburgh House on Lake +St. Joseph, 150 miles away. The old man led off well, evidently knew +the way, but sometimes would stop, cover his eyes with his hands, +look at the ground and then at the sky, and turn on a sharp angle. +He proved a fine guide and brought the expedition there in good +time. + +Next winter at Wayabimika (where Charley de la Ronde [Count de la +Ronde.] was in charge, but was leaving on a trip of 10 days) Omeegi +came in and asked for a present--"a new shirt and a pair of pants." +This is the usual outfit for a corpse. He explained that he was to +die before Charley came back; that he would die "when the sun rose +at that island" (a week ahead). He got the clothes, though every +one laughed at him. A week later he put on the new garments and +said: "To-day I die when the sun is over that island!" He went +out, looking at the sun from time to time, placidly smoking. When +the sun got to the right place he came in, lay down by the fire, +and in a few minutes was dead. + +We buried him in the ground, to his brother's great indignation +when he heard of it. He said: "You white men live on things that +come out of the ground, and are buried in the ground, and properly, +but we Indians live on things that run above ground, and want to +take our last sleep in the trees." + +Another case of Indian clairvoyance ran thus: About 1879, when +Anderson was at Abitibi, the winter packet used to leave Montreal, +January 2, each year, and arrive at Abitibi January 19. This year +it did not come. The men were much bothered as all plans were upset. +After waiting about two weeks, some of the Indians and half-breeds +advised Anderson to consult the conjuring woman, Mash-kou-tay +Ish-quay (Prairie woman) a Flathead from Stuart Lake, B. C. He +went and paid her some tobacco. She drummed and conjured all night. +She came in the morning and told him: "The packet is at the foot +of a rapid now, where there is open water; the snow is deep and +the travelling heavy, but it will be here to-morrow when the sun +is at that point." + +Sure enough, it all fell out as she had told. This woman married +a Hudson's Bay man named MacDonald, and he brought her to Lachine, +where she bore him 3 sons; then he died of small-pox, and Sir +George Simpson gave orders that she should be sent up to Abitibi +and there pensioned for as long as she lived. She was about 75 at +the time of the incident. She many times gave evidence of clairvoyant +power. The priest said he "knew about it, and that she was helped +by the devil." + +A gruesome picture of Indian life is given in the following incident. + +One winter, 40 or 50 years ago, a band of Algonquin Indians at +Wayabimika all starved to death except one squaw and her baby; she +fled from the camp, carrying the child, thinking to find friends +and help at Nipigon House. She got as far as a small lake near +Deer Lake, and there discovered a cache, probably in a tree. This +contained one small bone fish-hook. She rigged up a line, but had +no bait. The wailing of the baby spurred her to action. No bait, +but she had a knife; a strip of flesh was quickly cut from her +own leg, a hole made through the ice, and a fine jack-fish was the +food that was sent to this devoted mother. She divided it with the +child, saving only enough for bait. She stayed there living on fish +until spring, then safely rejoined her people. + +The boy grew up to be a strong man, but was cruel to his mother, +leaving her finally to die of starvation. Anderson knew the woman; +she showed him the sear where she cut the bait. + +A piece of yet, more ancient history was supplied him in Northern +Ontario, and related to me thus: + +Anderson was going to Kakabonga in June, 1879, and camped one +night on the east side of Birch Lake on the Ottawa, about 50 miles +north-east of Grand Lake Post. + +He and his outfit of two canoes met Pah-pah-tay, chief of the Grand +Lake Indians, travelling with his family. He called Anderson's +attention to the shape of the point which had one good landing-place, +a little sandy bay, and told him the story he heard from his people +of a battle that was fought there with the Iroquois long, long ago. + +Four or five Iroquois war-canoes, filled with warriors, came to +this place on a foray for scalps. Their canoes were drawn up on +the beach at night. They lighted fires and had a war-dance. Three +Grand Lake Algonquins, forefathers of Pah-pah-tay, saw the dance +from, hiding. They cached their canoe, one of them took a sharp +flint--"we had no knives or axes then"--swam across to the canoes, +and cut a great hole in the bottom of each. + +The three then posted themselves at three different points in the +bushes, and began whooping in as many different ways as possible. +The Iroquois, thinking it a great war-party, rushed to their canoes +and pushed off quickly. When they were in deep water the canoes +sank and, as the warriors swam back ashore, the Algonquins killed +them one by one, saving alive only one, whom they maltreated, and +then let go with a supply of food, as a messenger to his people, and +to carry the warning that this would be the fate of every Iroquois +that entered the Algonquin country. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MOSQUITOES + + + +Reference to my Smith Landing Journal for June 17 shows the following: + +"The Spring is now on in full flood, the grass is high, the trees +are fully leaved, flowers are blooming, birds are nesting, and the +mosquitoes are a terror to man and beast." + +If I were to repeat all the entries in that last key, it would make +dreary and painful reading; I shall rather say the worst right now, +and henceforth avoid the subject. + +Every traveller in the country agrees that the mosquitoes are +a frightful curse. Captain Back, in 1833 (Journal, p. 117), said +that the sand-flies and mosquitoes are the worst of the hardships +to which the northern traveller is exposed. + +T. Hutchins, over a hundred years ago, said that no one enters the +Barren Grounds in the summer, because no man can stand the stinging +insects. I had read these various statements, but did not grasp the +idea until I was among them. At Smith Landing, June 7, mosquitoes +began to be troublesome, quite as numerous as in the worst part of +the New Jersey marshes. An estimate of those on the mosquito bar +over my bed, showed 900 to 1,000 trying to get at me; day and night, +without change, the air was ringing with their hum. + +This was early in the season. On July 9, on Nyarling River, they +were much worse, and my entry was as follows: + +"'On the back of Billy's coat, as he sat paddling before me, I +counted a round 400 mosquitoes boring away; about as many were on +the garments of his head and neck, a much less number on his arms +and legs. The air about was thick with them; at least as many +more, fully 1,000, singing and stinging and filling the air with +a droning hum. The rest of us were equally pestered. + +"'The Major, fresh, ruddy, full-blooded, far over 200 pounds in +plumpness, is the best feeding ground for mosquitoes I (or they, +probably) ever saw; he must be a great improvement on the smoke-dried +Indians. No matter where they land on him they strike it rich, +and at all times a dozen or more bloated bloodsuckers may be seen +hanging like red currants on his face and neck. He maintains that +they do not bother him, and scoffs at me for wearing a net. They +certainly do not impair his health, good looks, or his perennial good +humour, and I, for one, am thankful that his superior food-quality +gives us a corresponding measure of immunity." + +At Salt River one could kill 100 with a stroke of the palm and +at times they obscured the colour of the horses. A little later +they were much worse. On 6 square inches of my tent I counted 30 +mosquitoes, and the whole surface was similarly supplied; that is, +there were 24,000 on the tent and apparently as many more flying +about the door. Most of those that bite us are killed but that +makes not the slightest perceptible difference in their manners +or numbers. They reminded me of the Klondike gold-seekers. Thousands +go; great numbers must die a miserable death; not more than one in +10,000 can get away with a load of the coveted stuff, and yet each +believes that he is to be that one, and pushes on. + +Dr. L. 0. Howard tells us that the mosquito rarely goes far from +its birthplace. That must refer to the miserable degenerates they +have in New Jersey, for these of the north offer endless evidence +of power to travel, as well as to resist cold and wind. + +On July 21, 1907, we camped on a small island on Great Slave Lake. +It was about one-quarter mile long, several miles from mainland, +at least half a mile from any other island, apparently all rock, +and yet it was swarming with mosquitoes. Here, as elsewhere, they +were mad for our blood; those we knocked off and maimed, would +crawl up with sprained wings and twisted legs to sting as fiercely +as ever, as long as the beak would work. + +We thought the stinging pests of the Buffalo country as bad as +possible, but they proved mild and scarce compared with those we +yet had to meet on the Arctic Barrens of our ultimate goal. + +Each day they got worse; soon it became clear that mere adjectives +could not convey any idea of their terrors. Therefore I devised a +mosquito gauge. I held up a bare hand for 5 seconds by the watch, +then counted the number of borers on the back; there were 5 to 10. +Each day added to the number, and when we got out to the Buffalo +country, there were 15 to 25 on the one side of the hand and +elsewhere in proportion. On the Nyarling, in early July, the number +was increased, being now 20 to 40. On Great Slave Lake, later that +month, there were 50 to 60. But when we reached the Barren Grounds, +the land of open breezy plains and cold water lakes, the pests +were so bad that the hand held up for 5 seconds often showed from +100 to 125 long-billed mosquitoes boring away into the flesh. It +was possible to number them only by killing them and counting the +corpses. What wonder that all men should avoid the open plains, +that are the kingdom of such a scourge. + +Yet it must not be thought that the whole country is similarly and +evenly filled. There can be no doubt that they flock and fly to +the big moving creatures they see or smell. Maybe we had gathered +the whole mosquito product of many acres. This is shown by the +facts that if one rushes through thick bushes for a distance, into +a clear space, the mosquitoes seem absent at first. One must wait +a minute or so to gather up another legion. When landing from a +boat on the Northern Lakes there are comparatively few, but even +in a high wind, a walk to the nearest hilltop results in one again +moving in a cloud of tormentors. Does not this readiness to assemble +at a bait suggest a possible means of destroying them? + +Every one, even the seasoned natives, agree that they are a terror +to man and beast; but, thanks to our flyproof tents, we sleep immune. +During the day I wear my net and gloves, uncomfortably hot, but a +blessed relief from the torment. It is easy to get used to those +coverings; it is impossible to get used to the mosquitoes. + +For July 10 I find this note: "The Mosquitoes are worse now than +ever before; even Jarvis, Preble, and the Indians are wearing face +protectors of some kind. The Major has borrowed Preble's closed net, +much to the latter's discomfiture, as he himself would be glad to +wear it." + +This country has, for 6 months, the finest climate in the world, +but 2 1/2 of these are ruined by the malignancy of the fly plague. +Yet it is certain that knowledge will confer on man the power to +wipe them out. + +No doubt the first step in this direction is a thorough understanding +of the creature's life-history. This understanding many able mien +are working for. But there is another line of thought that should +not be forgotten, though it is negative--many animals are immune. +Which are they? Our first business is to list them if we would +learn the why of immunity. + +Frogs are among the happy ones. One day early in June I took a +wood-frog in my hand. The mosquitoes swarmed about. In a few seconds +30 were on my hand digging away; 10 were on my forefinger, 8 on my +thumb; between these was the frog, a creature with many resemblances +to man--red blood, a smooth, naked, soft skin, etc.--and yet not a +mosquito attacked it. Scores had bled my hand before one alighted +on the frog, and it leaped off again as though the creature were +red hot. The experiment repeated with another frog gave the same +result. Why? It can hardly be because the frog is cold-blooded, +for many birds also seem, to be immune, and their blood is warmer +than man's. + +Next, I took a live frog and rubbed it on my hand over an area +marked out with lead pencil; at first the place was wet, but in a +few seconds dry and rather shiny. I held up my hand till 50 mosquitoes +had alighted on it and begun to bore; of these, 4 alighted on the +froggy place, 3 at once tumbled off in haste, but one, No. 32, did +sting me there. I put my tongue to the frog's back; it was slightly +bitter. + +I took a black-gilled fungus from a manure pile to-day, rubbed a +small area, and held my hand bare till 50 mosquitoes had settled +and begun to sting; 7 of these alighted on the fungus juice, but +moved off at once, except the last; it stung, but at that time the +juice was dry. + +Many other creatures, including some birds, enjoy immunity, but +I note that mosquitoes did attack a dead crane; also they swarmed +onto a widgeon plucked while yet warm, and bored in deep; but I +did not see any filling with blood. + +There is another kind of immunity that is equally important and +obscure. In the summer of 1904, Dr. Clinton L. Bagg, of New York, +went to Newfoundland for a fishing trip. The Codroy country was, +as usual, plagued with mosquitoes, but as soon as the party crossed +into the Garnish River Valley, a land of woods and swamps like the +other, the mosquitoes had disappeared. Dr. Bagg spent the month of +August there, and found no use for nets, dopes, or other means of +fighting winged pests; there were none. What the secret was no one +at present knows, but it would be a priceless thing to find. + +Now, lest I should do injustice to the Northland that will some +day be an empire peopled with white men, let me say that there are +three belts of mosquito country the Barren Grounds, where they are +worst and endure for 2 1/2 months; the spruce forest, where they +are bad and continue for 2 months, and the great arable region of +wheat, that takes in Athabaska and Saskatchewan, where the flies +are a nuisance for 6 or 7 weeks, but no more so than they were in +Ontario, Michigan, Manitoba, and formerly England; and where the +cultivation of the land will soon reduce them to insignificance, +as it has invariably done in other similar regions. It is quite +remarkable in the north-west that such plagues are most numerous +in the more remote regions, and they disappear in proportion as +the country is opened up and settled. + +Finally, it is a relief to know that these mosquitoes convey no +disease--even the far-spread malaria is unknown in the region. + +Why did I not take a "dope" or "fly repellent," ask many of my +friends. + +In answer I can only say I have never before been where mosquitoes +were bad enough to need one. I had had no experience with fly-dope. +I had heard that they are not very effectual, and so did not add +one to the outfit. I can say now it was a mistake to leave any means +untried. Next time I carry "dope." The following recipe is highly +recommended: + + +Pennyroyal, one part, +Oil of Tar, " " +Spirits of Camphor, " " +Sweet Oil, or else vaseline, three parts. + + +Their natural enemies are numerous; most small birds prey on them; +dragon-flies also, and the latter alone inspire fear in the pests. +When a dragon-fly comes buzzing about one's head the mosquitoes +move away to the other side, but it makes no considerable difference. + +On Buffalo River I saw a boatman or water-spider seize, and devour +a mosquito that fell within reach; which is encouraging, because, +as a rule, the smaller the foe, the deadlier, and the only creature +that really affects the whole mosquito nation is apparently a small +red parasite that became more and more numerous as the season wore +on. It appeared in red lumps on the bill and various parts of the +stinger's body, and the victim became very sluggish. Specimens +sent to Dr. L. 0. Howard, the authority on mosquitoes, elicited +the information that it was a fungus, probably new to science. +But evidently it is deadly to the Culex. More power to it, and the +cause it represents; we cannot pray too much for its increase. + +Now to sum up: after considering the vastness of the region +affected--three-quarters of the globe--and the number of diseases +these insects communicate, one is inclined to say that it might be +a greater boon to mankind to extirpate the mosquito than to stamp +out tuberculosis. The latter means death to a considerable proportion +of our race, the former means hopeless suffering to all mankind; +one takes off each year its toll of the weaklings the other spares +none, and in the far north at least has made a hell on earth of +the land that for six months of each year might be a human Paradise. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A BAD CASE + + + +My unsought fame as a medicine man continued to grow. One morning +I heard a white voice outside asking, "Is the doctor in?" Billy +replied: "Mr. Seton is inside." On going forth I met a young American +who thus introduced himself: "My name is Y------, from Michigan. +I was a student at Ann Arbor when you lectured there in 1903. 1 +don't suppose you remember me; I was one of the reception committee; +but I'm mighty glad to meet you out here." + +After cordial greetings he held up his arm to explain the call and +said: "I'm in a pretty bad way." + +"Let's see." + +He unwound the bandage and showed a hand and arm swollen out of all +shape, twice the natural size, and of a singular dropsical pallor. + +"Have you any pain?" + +"I can't sleep from the torture of it." + +"Where does it hurt now?" + +"In the hand." + +"How did you get it?" + +"It seemed to come on after a hard crossing of Lake Athabaska. We +had to row all night." + +I asked one or two more questions, really to hide my puzzlement. +"What in the world is it?" I said to myself; "all so fat and puffy." +I cudgelled my brain for a clue. As I examined the hand in silence +to play for time and conceal my ignorance, he went on: + +"What I'm afraid of is blood-poisoning. I couldn't get out to a +doctor before a month, and by that time I'll be one-armed or dead. +I know which I'd prefer." + +Knowing, at all events, that nothing but evil could come of fear, +I said: "Now see here. You can put that clean out of your mind. +You never saw blood-poisoning that colour, did you?" + +"That's so," and he seemed intensely relieved. + +While I was thus keeping up an air of omniscience by saying nothing, +Major Jarvis came up. + +"Look at this, Jarvis," said I; "isn't it a bad one? + +"Phew," said the Major, "that's the worst felon I ever saw." + +Like a gleam from heaven came the word felon. That's what it was, +a felon or whitlow, and again I breathed freely. Turning to the +patient with my most cock-sure professional air, I said: + +"Now see, Y., you needn't worry; you've hurt your finger in +rowing, and the injury was deep and has set up a felon. It is not +yet headed up enough; as soon as it is I'll lance it, unless it +bursts of itself (and inwardly I prayed it might burst). Can you +get any linseed meal or bran?" + +"Afraid not." + +"Well, then, get some clean rags and keep the place covered with +them dipped in water as hot as you can stand it, and we'll head +it up in twenty-four hours; then in three days I'll have you in +good shape to travel." The last sentence, delivered with the calm +certainty of a man who knows all about it and never made a mistake, +did so much good to the patient that I caught a reflex of it myself. + +He gave me his good hand and said with emotion: "You don't know +how much good you have done me. I don't mind being killed, but I +don't want to go through life a cripple." + +"You say you haven't slept?" I asked. + +"Not for three nights; I've suffered too much." + +"Then take these pills. Go to bed at ten o'clock and take a pill; +if this does not put you to sleep, take another at 10.30. If you are +still awake at 11, take the third; then you will certainly sleep." + +He went off almost cheerfully. + +Next morning he was back, looking brighter. "Well," I said, "you +slept last night, all right." + +"No," he replied, "I didn't; there's opium in those pills, isn't +there?" + +"Yes." + +"I thought so. Here they are. I made up my mind I'd see this out +in my sober senses, without any drugs." + +"Good for you," I exclaimed in admiration. "They talk about Indian +fortitude. If I had given one of those Indians some sleeping pills, +he'd have taken them all and asked for more. But you are the real +American stuff, the pluck that can't be licked, and I'll soon have +you sound as a dollar." + +Then he showed his immense bladder-like hand. "I'll have to make +some preparation, and will operate in your shanty at 1 o'clock," +I said, thinking how very professional it sounded. + +The preparation consisted of whetting my penknife and, much more +important, screwing up my nerves. And now I remembered my friend's +brandy, put the flask in my pocket, and went to the execution. + +He was ready. "Here," I said; "take a good pull at this brandy." + +"I will not," was the reply. "I'm man enough to go through on my +mettle." + +"'Oh! confound your mettle," I thought, for I wanted an excuse to +take some myself, but could not for shame under the circumstances. + +"Are you ready?" + +He laid his pudding-y hand on the table. + +"You better have your Indian friend hold that hand." + +"I'll never budge," he replied, with set teeth, and motioned the +Indian away. And I knew he would not flinch. He will never know +(till he reads this, perhaps) what an effort it cost me. I knew only +I must cut deep enough to reach the pus, not so deep as to touch +the artery, and not across the tendons, and must do it firmly, at +one clean stroke. I did. + +It was a horrid success. He never quivered, but said: "Is that all? +That's a pin-prick to what I've been through every minute for the +last week." + +I felt faint, went out behind the cabin, and--shall I confess +it?--took a long swig of brandy. But I was as good as my promise: +in three days he was well enough to travel, and soon as strong as +ever. + +I wonder if real doctors ever conceal, under an air of professional +calm, just such doubts and fears as worried me. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SECOND BUFFALO HUNT + + + +Though so trifling, the success of our first Buffalo hunt gave us +quite a social lift. The chiefs were equally surprised with the +whites, and when we prepared for a second expedition, Kiya sent +word that though he could not act as guide, I should ride his own +trained hunter, a horse that could run a trail like a hound, and +was without guile. + +I am, always suspicious of a horse (or man) without guile. +I wondered what was the particular weakness of this exceptionally +trained, noble, and guileless creature. I have only one prejudice +in horseflesh--I do not like a white one. So, of course, when +the hunter arrived he was, white as marble, from mane to tail and +hoofs; his very eyes were of a cheap china colour, suggestive of +cataractine blindness. The only relief was a morbid tinge of faded +shrimp pink in his nostrils and ears. But he proved better than he +looked. He certainly did run tracks by nose like a hound, provided I +let him choose the track. He was a lively walker and easy trotter, +and would stay where the bridle was dropped, So I came to the +conclusion that Kiya was not playing a joke on me, but really had +lent me his best hunter, whose sepulchral whiteness I could see would +be of great advantage in snow time when chiefly one is supposed to +hunt. + +Not only Kiya, but Pierre Squirrel, the head chief, seemed to harbour +a more kindly spirit. He now suddenly acquired a smattering of +English and a fair knowledge of French. He even agreed to lead us +through his own hunting grounds to the big Buffalo range, stipulating +that we be back by July 1, as that was Treaty Day, when all the +tribe assembled to receive their treaty money, and his presence as +head chief was absolutely necessary. + +We were advised to start from Fort Smith, as the trail thence was +through a dryer country; so on the morning of June 24, at 6.50, we +left the Fort on our second Buffalo hunt. + +Major A. M. Jarvis, Mr. E. A. Preble, Corporal Selig, Chief Pierre +Squirrel, and myself, all mounted, plus two pack-horses, prepared +for a week's campaign. Riding ahead in his yellow caftan and black +burnoose was Pierre Squirrel on his spirited charger, looking most +picturesque. But remembering that his yellow caftan was a mosquito +net, his black burnoose a Hudson's Bay coat, and his charger an +ornery Indian Cayuse, robbed the picture of most of its poetry. + +We marched westerly 7 miles through fine, dry, jack-pine wood, +then, 3 miles through mixed poplar, pine, and spruce, And came to +the Slave River opposite Point Gravois. Thence we went a mile or +so into similar woods, and after another stretch of muskegs. We +camped for lunch at 11.45, having covered 12 miles. + +At two we set out, and reached Salt River at three, but did not +cross there. It is a magnificent stream, 200 feet wide, with hard +banks and fine timber on each side; but its waters are brackish. + +We travelled north-westerly, or northerly, along the east banks +for an hour, but at length away from it on a wide prairie, a mile +or more across here, but evidently extending much farther behind +interruptions of willow clumps. Probably these prairies join, with +those we saw on the Beaulieu trip. They are wet now, though a horse +can go anywhere, and the grass is good. We camped about six on a dry +place back from the river. At night I was much interested to hear +at intervals the familiar Kick-kick-kick-kick of the Yellow Rail +in the adjoining swamps. This must be its northmost range; we did +not actually see it. + +Here I caught a garter-snake. Preble says it is the same form as +that at Edmonton. Our guide was as much surprised to see me take +it in my hands, as he was to see me let it go unharmed. + +Next morning, after a short hour's travel, we came again to Salt +River and proceeded to cross. Evidently Squirrel had selected the +wrong place, for the sticky mud seemed bottomless, and we came near +losing two of the horses. + +After two hours we all got across and went on, but most of the horses +had shown up poorly, as spiritless creatures, not yet recovered +from the effects of a hard winter. + +Our road now lay over the high upland of the Salt Mountain, among +its dry and beautiful woods. The trip would have been glorious but +for the awful things that I am not allowed to mention outside of +Chapter IX. + +Pierre proved a pleasant and intelligent companion; he did his +best, but more than once shook his head and said: "Chevaux no good." + +We covered 15 miles before night, and all day we got glimpses of +some animal on our track, 300 yards behind in the woods. It might +easily have been a Wolf, but at night he sneaked into camp a forlorn +and starving Indian dog. Next day we reached the long looked-for +Little Buffalo River. Several times of late Pierre had commented on +the slowness of our horses and enlarged on the awful Muskega that +covered the country west of the Little Buffalo. Now he spoke out +frankly and said we had been 21 days coming 40 miles when the road +was good; we were now coming to very bad roads and had to go as +far again. These horses could not do it, and get him back to Fort +Smith for July 1--and back at any price he must be. + +He was willing to take the whole outfit half a day farther westward, +or, if we preferred it, he would go afoot or on horseback with the +pick of the men and horses for a hasty dash forward; but to take +the whole outfit on to the Buffalo country and get back on time +was not possible. + +This was a bad shake. We held a council of war, and the things that +were said of that Indian should have riled him if he understood. +He preserved his calm demeanour; probably this was one of the +convenient times when all his English forsook him. We were simply +raging: to be half-way to our goal, with abundance of provisions, +fine weather, good health and everything promising well, and then +to be balked because our guide wanted to go back. I felt as savage +as the others, but on calmer reflection pointed out that Pierre +told us before starting that he must be back for Treaty Day, and +even now he was ready to do his best. + +Then in a calm of the storm (which he continued to ignore) Pierre +turned to me and said: "Why don't you go back and try the canoe +route? You can go down the Great River to Grand Detour, then portage +8 miles over to the Buffalo, go down this to the Nyarling, then up +the Nyarling into the heart of the Buffalo country; 21 days will +do it, and it will be easy, for there is plenty of water and no +rapids," and he drew a fairly exact map which showed that he knew +the country thoroughly. + +There was nothing to be gained by going half a day farther. + +To break up our party did not fit in at all with our plans, so, after +another brief stormy debate in which the guide took no part, we +turned without crossing the Little Buffalo, and silently, savagely, +began the homeward journey; as also did the little Indian dog. + +Next morning we crossed the Salt River at a lower place where was +a fine, hard bottom. That afternoon we travelled for 6 miles through +a beautiful and level country, covered with a forest of large poplars, +not very thick; it will some day be an ideal cattle-range, for it +had rank grass everywhere, and was varied by occasional belts of +jack-pine. In one of these Preble found a nest with six eggs that +proved to be those of the Bohemian Chatterer. These he secured, +with photograph of the nest and old bird. It was the best find of +the journey. + +The eggs proved of different incubation--at least a week's +difference--showing that the cool nights necessitated immediate +setting. + +We camped at Salt River mouth, and next afternoon were back at Fort +Smith, having been out five days and seen nothing, though there +were tracks of Moose and Bear in abundance. + +Here our guide said good-bye to us, and so did the Indian dog. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BEZKYA AND THE PILLS + + + +During this journey I had successfully treated two of the men for +slight ailments, and Squirrel had made mental note of the fact. +A result of it was that in the morning an old, old, black-looking +Indian came hobbling on a stick to my tent and, in husky Chipewyan, +roughly translated by Billy, told me that he had pains in his head +and his shoulder and his body, and his arms and his legs and his +feet, and he couldn't hunt, couldn't fish, couldn't walk, couldn't +eat, couldn't lie, couldn't sleep, and he wanted me to tackle +the case. I hadn't the least idea of what ailed the old chap, but +conveyed no hint of my darkness. I put on my very medical look +and said: "Exactly so. Now you take these pills and you will find +a wonderful difference in the morning." I had some rather fierce +rhubarb pills; one was a dose but, recognising the necessity for +eclat, I gave him two. + +He gladly gulped them down in water. The Indian takes kindly to +pills, it's so easy to swallow them, so obviously productive of +results, and otherwise satisfactory. Then, the old man hobbled off +to his lodge. + +A few hours later he was back again, looking older and shakier +than ever, his wet red eyes looking like plague spots in his ashy +brown visage or like volcanic eruptions in a desert of dead lava, +and in husky, clicking accents he told Billy to tell the Okimow +that the pills were no good--not strong enough for him. + +"Well," I said, "he shall surely have results this time." I gave +him three big ones in a cup of hot tea. All the Indians love tea, +and it seems to help them. Under its cheering power the old man's +tongue was loosened. He talked more clearly, and Billy, whose +knowledge of Chipewyan is fragmentary at best, suddenly said: "I'm +afraid I made, a mistake. Bezkya says the pills are too strong. +Can't you give him something to stop them? + +"Goodness," I thought; "here's a predicament," but I didn't know +what to do. I remembered a western adage, "When you don't know a +thing to do, don't do a thing." I only said: "Tell Bezkya to go home, +go to bed, and stay there till to-morrow, then come here again." + +Away went the Indian to his lodge. I felt rather uneasy that day +and night, and the next morning looked with some eagerness for the +return of Bezkya. But he did not come and I began to grow unhappy. +I wanted some evidence that I had not done him an injury. I wished +to see him, but professional etiquette forbade me betraying myself +by calling on him. Noon came and no Bezkya; late afternoon, and +then I sallied forth, not to seek him, but to pass near his lodge, +as though I were going to the Hudson's Bay store. And there, to my +horror, about the lodge I saw a group of squaws, with shawls over +their heads, whispering, together. As I went by, all turned as one +of them pointed at me, and again they whispered. + +"Oh, heavens!" I thought; "I've killed the old man." But still +I would not go in. That night I did not sleep for worrying about +it. Next morning I was on the point of sending Billy to learn the +state of affairs, when who should come staggering up but old Bezkya. +He was on two crutches now, his complexion was a dirty gray, and +his feeble knees were shaking, but he told Billy--yes, unmistakably +this time--to tell the Okimow that that was great medicine I had +given him, and he wanted a dose just like it for his wife. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FORT SMITH AND THE SOCIAL QUEEN + + + +Several times during our river journey I heard reference to +an extraordinary woman in the lower country, one who gave herself +great airs, put on style, who was so stuck up, indeed, that she had +"two pots, one for tea, one for coffee." Such incredible pomposity +and arrogance naturally invited sarcastic comment from all the +world, and I was told I should doubtless see this remarkable person +at Fort Smith. + +After the return from Buffalo hunt No. 2, and pending arrangements +for hunt No. 3, 1 saw more of Fort Smith than I wished for, but +endeavoured to turn the time to account by copying out interesting +chapters from the rough semi-illegible, perishable manuscript +accounts of northern life called "old-timers." The results of this +library research work appear under the chapter heads to which they +belong. + +At each of these northern posts there were interesting experiences +in store for me, as one who had read all the books of northern travel +and dreamed for half a lifetime of the north; and that was--almost +daily meeting with famous men. I suppose it would be similar if +one of these men were to go to London or Washington and have some +one tell him: that gentle old man there is Lord Roberts, or that +meek, shy, retiring person is Speaker Cannon; this on the first +bench is Lloyd-George, or that with the piercing eyes is Aldrich, +the uncrowned King of America. So it was a frequent and delightful +experience to meet with men whose names have figured in books of +travel for a generation. This was Roderick MacFarlane, who founded +Fort Anderson, discovered the MacFarlane Rabbit, etc.; here was +John Schott, who guided Caspar Whitney; that was Hanbury's head +man; here was Murdo McKay, who travelled with Warburton Pike in +the Barrens and starved with him on Peace River; and so with many +more. + +Very few of these men had any idea of the interest attaching +to their observations. Their notion of values centres chiefly on +things remote from their daily life. It was very surprising to see +how completely one may be outside of the country he lives in. Thus +I once met a man who had lived sixteen years in northern Ontario, +had had his chickens stolen every year by Foxes, and never in his +life had seen a Fox. I know many men who live in Wolf country, and +hear them at least every week, but have never seen one in twenty +years' experience. Quite recently I saw a score of folk who had +lived in the porcupiniest part of the Adirondacks for many summers +and yet never saw a Porcupine, and did not know what it was when +I brought one into their camp. So it was not surprising to me to +find that although living in a country that swarmed with Moose, in +a village which consumes at least a hundred Moose per annum, there +were at Fort Smith several of the Hudson's Bay men that had lived +on Moose meat all their lives and yet had never seen a live Moose. +It sounds like a New Yorker saying he had never seen a stray cat. +But I was simply dumfounded by a final development in the same line. + +Quite the most abundant carpet in the forest here is the uva-ursi +or bear-berry. Its beautiful evergreen leaves and bright red berries +cover a quarter of the ground in dry woods and are found in great +acre beds. It furnishes a staple of food to all wild things, birds +and beasts, including Foxes, Martens, and Coyotes; it is one of the +most abundant of the forest products, and not one hundred yards from +the fort are solid patches as big as farms, and yet when I brought +in a spray to sketch it one day several of the Hudson's Bay officers +said: "Where in the world did you get that? It must be very rare, +for I never yet saw it in this country." A similar remark was made +about a phoebe-bird. "It was never before seen in the country"; and +yet there is a pair nesting every quarter of a mile from Athabaska +Landing to Great Slave Lake. + +Fort Smith, being the place of my longest stay, was the scene of +my largest medical practice. + +One of my distinguished patients here was Jacob McKay, a half-breed +born on Red River in 1840. He left there in 1859 to live 3 years +at Rat Portage. Then he went to Norway House, and after 3 years +moved to Athabaska in 1865. In 1887 he headed a special government +expedition into the Barren Grounds to get some baby Musk-ox skins. +He left Fort Rae, April 25, 1887, and, travelling due north with +Dogrib Indians some 65 miles, found Musk-ox on May 10, and later +saw many hundreds. They killed 16 calves for their pelts, but no +old ones. McKay had to use all his influence to keep the Indians +from slaughtering wholesale; indeed, it was to restrain them that +he was sent. + +He now lives at Fort Resolution. + +One morning the chief came and said he wanted me to doctor a sick +woman in his lodge. I thought sick women a good place for an amateur +to draw the line, but Squirrel did not. "Il faut venir; elle est +bien malade." + +At length I took my pill-kit and followed him. Around his lodge +were a score of the huge sled dogs, valuable animals in winter, +but useless, sullen, starving, noisy nuisances all summer. If you +kick them out of your way, they respect you; if you pity them, they +bite you. They respected us. + +We entered the lodge, and there sitting by the fire were two squaws +making moccasins. One was old and ugly as sin; the second, young +and pretty as a brown fawn. I looked from one to the other in doubt, +and said: + +"Laquelle est la malade?" + +Then the pretty one replied in perfect English: "You needn't talk +French here; I speak English,' which she certainly did. French is +mostly used, but the few that speak English are very proud of it +and are careful to let you know. + +"Are you ill?" I asked. + +"The chief thinks I am," was the somewhat impatient reply, and she +broke down in a coughing fit. + +"How long have you had that?" I said gravely. + +"What?" + +I tapped my chest for reply. + +"Oh! since last spring." + +"And you had it the spring before, too, didn't you?" + +"Why, yes! (a pause). But that isn't what bothers me." + +"Isn't your husband kind to you?" + +"Yes--sometimes." + +"Is this your husband?" + +"No! F----- B----- is; I am K-----." + +Again she was interrupted by coughing. + +"Would you like something to ease that cough?" I asked. + +"No! It isn't the body that's sick; it's the heart." + +"Do you wish to tell me about it?" + +"I lost my babies." + +"'When?" + +"Two years ago. I had two little ones, and both died in one month. +I am left much alone; my husband is away on the transport; our +lodge is nearby. The chief has all these dogs; they bark at every +little thing and disturb me, so I lie awake all night and think +about my babies. But that isn't the hardest thing." + +"What is it?" + +She hesitated, then burst out: "The tongues of the women. You don't +know what a hell of a place this is to live in. The women here don't +mind their work; they sit all day watching for a chance to lie about +their neighbours. If I am seen talking to you now, a story will be +made of it. If I walk to the store for a pound of tea, a story is +made of that. If I turn my head, another story; and everything is +carried to my husband to make mischief. It is nothing but lies, +lies, lies, all day, all night, all year. Women don't do that way +in your country, do they?" + +"No," I replied emphatically. "If any woman in my country were +to tell a lie to make another woman unhappy, she would be thought +very, very wicked." + +"I am sure of it," she said. "I wish I could go to your country +and be at rest." She turned to her work and began talking to the +others in Chipewyan. + +Now another woman entered. She was dressed in semi-white style, +and looked, not on the ground, as does an Indian woman, on seeing +a strange man, but straight at me. + +"Bon jour, madame," I said. + +"I speak Ingliss," she replied with emphasis. + +"Indeed! And what is your name?" + +"I am Madame X-------." + +And now I knew I was in the presence of the stuckup social queen. + +After some conversation she said: "I have some things at home you +like to see." + +"Where is your lodge?" I asked. + +"Lodge," she replied indignantly; "I have no lodge. I know ze Indian +way. I know ze half-breed way. I know ze white man's way. I go ze +white man's way. I live in a house--and my door is painted blue." + +I went to her house, a 10 by 12 log cabin; but the door certainly +was painted blue, a gorgeous sky blue, the only touch of paint in +sight. Inside was all one room, with a mud fireplace at one end +and some piles of rags in the corners for beds, a table, a chair, +and some pots. On the walls snow-shoes, fishing-lines, dried fish +in smellable bunches, a portrait of the Okapi from Outing, and a +musical clock that played with painful persistence the first three +bars of "God Save the King." Everywhere else were rags, mud, and +dirt. "You see, I am joost like a white woman," said the swarthy +queen. "I wear boots (she drew her bare brown feet and legs under +her) and corsets. Zey are la," and she pointed to the wall, where, +in very truth, tied up with a bundle of dried fish, were the articles +in question. Not simply boots and corsets, but high-heeled Louis +Quinze slippers and French corsets. I learned afterward how they +were worn. When she went shopping to the H. B. Co. store she had +to cross the "parade" ground, the great open space; she crowded her +brown broad feet into the slippers, then taking a final good long +breath she strapped on the fearfully tight corsets outside of all. +Now she hobbled painfully across the open, proudly conscious that +the eyes of the world were upon her. Once in the store she would +unhook the corsets and breathe comfortably till the agonized +triumphant return parade was in order. + +This, however, is aside; we are still in the home of the queen. She +continued to adduce new evidences. "I am just like a white woman. +I call my daughter darrr-leeng." Then turning to a fat, black-looking +squaw by the fire, she said: "Darrr-leeng, go fetch a pail of +vaw-taire." + +But darling, if familiar with that form of address, must have been +slumbering, for she never turned or moved a hair's-breadth or gave +a symptom of intelligence. Now, at length it transpired that the +social leader wished to see me professionally. + +"It is ze nairves," she explained. "Zere is too much going on in +this village. I am fatigue, very tired. I wish I could go away to +some quiet place for a long rest." + +It was difficult to think of a place, short of the silent tomb, +that would be obviously quieter than Fort Smith. So I looked wise, +worked on her faith with a pill, assured her that she would soon +feel much better, and closed the blue door behind me. + +With Chief Squirrel, who had been close by in most of this, I now +walked back to my tent. He told me of many sick folk and sad lodges +that needed me. + +It seems that very few of these people are well. In spite of their +healthy forest lives they are far less sound than an average white +community. They have their own troubles, with the white man's maladies +thrown in. I saw numberless other cases of dreadful, hopeless, +devastating diseases, mostly of the white man's importation. It is +heart-rending to see so much human misery and be able to do nothing +at all for it, not even bring a gleam of hope. It made me feel like +a murderer to tell one after another, who came to me covered with +cankerous bone-eating sores, "I can do nothing"; and I was deeply +touched by the simple statement of the Chief Pierre Squirrel, after +a round of visits: "You see how unhappy we are, how miserable and +sick. When I made this treaty with your government, I stipulated +that we should have here a policeman and a doctor; instead of that +you have sent nothing but missionaries." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +RABBITS AND LYNXES IN THE NORTH-WEST + + + +There are no Rabbits in the north-west. This statement, far from +final, is practically true to-day, but I saw plenty of Lynxes, and +one cannot write of ducks without mentioning water. + +All wild animals fluctuate greatly in their population, none +more so than the Snowshoe or white-rabbit of the north-west. This +is Rabbit history as far back as known: They are spread over some +great area; conditions are favourable; some unknown influence endows +the females with unusual fecundity; they bear not one, but two or +three broods in a season, and these number not 2 or 3, but 8 or 10 +each brood. The species increases far beyond the powers of predaceous +birds or beasts to check, and the Rabbits after 7 or 8 years of +this are multiplied into untold millions. On such occasions every +little thicket has a Rabbit in it; they jump out at every 8 or 10 +feet; they number not less than 100 to the acre on desirable ground, +which means over 6,000 to the square mile, and a region as large as +Alberta would contain not less than 100,000,000 fat white bunnies. +At this time one man can readily kill 100 or 200 Rabbits in a day, +and every bird and beast of prey is slaughtering Rabbits without +restraint. Still they increase. Finally, they are so extraordinarily +superabundant that they threaten their own food supply as well as +poison all the ground. A new influence appears on the scene; it is +commonly called the plague, though it is not one disease but many +run epidemic riot, and, in a few weeks usually, the Rabbits are +wiped out. + +This is an outline of the established routine in Rabbit vital +statistics. It, of course, varies greatly in every detail, including +time and extent of territory involved, and when the destruction is +complete it is an awful thing for the carnivores that have lived +on the bunny millions and multiplied in ratio with their abundance. +Of all the northern creatures none are more dependent on the Rabbits +than is the Canada Lynx. It lives on Rabbits, follows the Rabbits, +thinks Rabbits, tastes like Rabbits, increases with them, and on +their failure dies of starvation in the unrabbited woods. + +It must have been a Hibernian familiar with the north that said: +"A Lynx is nothing but an animated Rabbit anyway." + +The Rabbits of the Mackenzie River Valley reached their flood +height in the winter of 1903-4. That season, it seems, they actually +reached billions. + +Late the same winter the plague appeared, but did not take them at +one final swoop. Next winter they were still numerous, but in 1907 +there seemed not one Rabbit left alive in the country. All that +summer we sought for them and inquired for them. We saw signs of +millions in the season gone by; everywhere were acres of saplings +barked at the snow-line; the floor of the woods, in all parts visited, +was pebbled over with pellets; but we saw not one Woodrabbit and +heard only a vague report of 3 that an Indian claimed he had seen +in a remote part of the region late in the fall. + +Then, since the Lynx is the logical apex of a pyramid of Rabbits, +it naturally goes down when the Rabbits are removed. + +These bobtailed cats are actually starving and ready to enter +any kind of a trap or snare that carries a bait. The slaughter of +Lynxes in its relation to the Rabbit supply is shown by the H. B. +Company fur returns as follows: + + +In 1900, number of skins taken 4,473 + " 1901 " 5,781 + " 1902 " 9,117 + " 1903 " 19,267 + " 1904 " 36,116 + " 1905 " 58,850 + " 1906 " 61,388 + " 1907 " 36,201 + " 1908 " 9,664 + + +Remembering, then, that the last of the Rabbits were wiped out in +the winter of 1906-7, it will be understood that there were thousands +of starving Lynxes roaming about the country. The number that we +saw, and their conditions, all helped to emphasise the dire story +of plague and famine. + +Some of my notes are as follows: + +May 18th, Athabaska River, on roof of a trapper's hut found the +bodies of 30 Lynxes. + +May 19th, young Lynx shot to-day, female, very thin, weighed only +12 1/2 lbs., should have weighed 25. In its stomach nothing but +the tail of a white-footed mouse. Liver somewhat diseased. In its +bowels at least one tapeworm. + +June 3d, a young male Lynx shot to-day by one of the police boys, +as previously recorded. Starving; it weighed only 15 lbs. + +June 6th, adult female Lynx killed, weighed 15 lbs.; stomach contained +a Redsquirrel, a Chipmunk, and a Bog-lemming. (Synaptomys borealis.) + +June 18th, young male Lynx, weight 13 lbs., shot by Preble on Smith +Landing; had in its stomach a Chipmunk (borealis) and 4 small young +of the same, apparently a week old; also a score of pinworms. How +did it get the Chipmunk family without digging them out? + +June 26th, on Salt Mt. found the dried-up body of a Lynx firmly +held in a Bear trap. + +June 29th, one of the Jarvis bear-cub skins was destroyed by the +dogs, except a dried-up paw, which he threw out yesterday. This +morning one of the men shot a starving Lynx in camp. Its stomach +contained nothing but the bear paw thrown out last night. + +These are a few of my observations; they reflect the general +condition--all were starving. Not one of them had any Rabbit in its +stomach; not one had a bellyful; none of the females were bearing +young this year. + +To embellish these severe and skeletal notes, I add some incidents +supplied by various hunters of the north. + +Let us remember that the Lynx is a huge cat weighing 25 to 35 or +even 40 lbs., that it is an ordinary cat multiplied by some 4 or +5 diameters, and we shall have a good foundation for comprehension. + +Murdo McKay has often seen 2 or 3 Lynxes together in March, the +mating season. They fight, and caterwaul like a lot of tomcats. + +The uncatlike readiness of the Lynx to take to water is well known; +that it is not wholly at home there is shown by the fact that if +one awaits a Lynx at the landing he is making for, he will not turn +aside in the least, but come right on to land, fight, and usually +perish. + +The ancient feud between cat and dog is not forgotten in the north, +for the Lynx is the deadly foe of the Fox and habitually kills it +when there is soft snow and scarcity of easier prey. Its broad feet +are snowshoes enabling it to trot over the surface on Reynard's +trail. The latter easily runs away at first, but sinking deeply +at each bound, his great speed is done in 15 or 6 miles; the Lynx +keeps on the same steady trot and finally claims its victim. + +John Bellecourt related that in the January of 1907, at a place 40 +miles south of Smith Landing, he saw in the snow where a Lynx bad +run down and devoured a Fox. + +A contribution by T. Anderson runs thus: + +In late March, 1907, an Indian named Amil killed a Caribou near +Fort Rae. During his absence a Lynx came along and gorged itself +with the meat, then lay down alongside to sleep. A Silver Fox came +next; but the Lynx sprang on him and killed him. When Amil came +back he found the Fox and got a large sum for the skin; one shoulder +was torn. He did not see the Lynx but saw the tracks. + +The same old-timer is authority for a case in which the tables were +turned. + +A Desert Indian on the headwaters of the Gatineau went out in the +early spring looking for Beaver. At a well-known pond he saw a +Lynx crouching on a log, watching the Beaver hole in the ice. The +Indian waited. At length a Beaver came up cautiously and crawled +out to a near bunch of willows; the Lynx sprang, but the Beaver +was well under way and dived into the hole with the Lynx hanging +to him. After a time the Indian took a crotched pole and fished +about under the ice; at last he found something soft and got it +out; it was the Lynx drowned. + +Belalise ascribes another notable achievement to this animal. + +One winter when hunting Caribou near Fond du Lac with an Indian +named Tenahoo (human tooth), they saw a Lynx sneaking along after +some Caribou; they saw it coming but had not sense enough to run +away. It sprang on the neck of a young buck; the buck bounded away +with the Lynx riding, but soon fell dead. The hunters came up; +the Lynx ran off. There was little blood and no large wound on the +buck; probably its neck was broken. The Indian said the Lynx always +kills with its paw, and commonly kills Deer. David MacPherson +corroborates this and maintains that on occasion it will even kill +Moose. + +In southern settlements, where the Lynx is little known, it is +painted as a fearsome beast of limitless ferocity, strength, and +activity. In the north, where it abounds and furnishes staple furs +and meat, it is held in no such awe. It is never known to attack +man. It often follows his trail out of curiosity, and often the +trapper who is so followed gets the Lynx by waiting in ambush; then +it is easily killed with a charge of duck-shot. When caught in a +snare a very small club is used to "add it to the list." It seems +tremendously active among logs and brush piles, but on the level +ground its speed is poor, and a good runner can overtake one in a +few hundred yards. + +David MacPherson says that last summer he ran down a Lynx on a +prairie of Willow River (Mackenzie), near Providence. It had some +90 yards start; he ran it down in about a mile, then it turned to +fight and he shot it. + +Other instances have been recorded, and finally, as noted later, +I was eye-witness of one of these exploits. Since the creature can +be run down on hard ground, it is not surprising to learn that men +on snow-shoes commonly pursue it successfully. As long as it trots +it is safe, but when it gets alarmed and bounds it sinks and becomes +exhausted. It runs in a circle of about a mile, and at last takes +to a tree where it is easily killed. At least one-third are taken +in this way; it requires half an hour to an hour, there must be +soft snow, and the Lynx must be scared so he leaps; then he sinks; +if not scared he glides along on his hairy snow-shoes, refuses +to tree, and escapes in thick woods, where the men cannot follow +quickly. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +EBB AND FLOW OF ANIMAL LIFE + + + +Throughout this voyage we were struck by the rarity of some sorts +of animals and the continual remarks that three, five, or six years +ago these same sorts were extremely abundant; and in some few cases +the conditions were reversed. + +For example, during a week spent at Fort Smith, Preble had out a +line of 50 mouse-traps every night and caught only one Shrew and +one Meadowmouse in the week. Four years before he had trapped on +exactly the same ground, catching 30 or 40 Meadowmice every night. + +Again, in 1904 it was possible to see 100 Muskrats any fine evening. +In 1907, though continually on the lookout, I saw less than a score +in six months. Redsquirrels varied in the same way. + +Of course, the Rabbits themselves were the extreme case, millions +in 1904, none at all in 1907. The present, then, was a year of low +ebb. The first task was to determine whether this related to all +mammalian life. Apparently not, because Deermice, Lynxes, Beaver, +and Caribou were abundant. Yet these are not their maximum years; +the accounts show them to have been so much more numerous last +year. + +There is only one continuous statistical record of the abundance +of animals, that is the returns of the fur trade. These have been +kept for over 200 years, and if we begin after the whole continent +was covered by fur-traders, they are an accurate gauge of the +abundance of each species. Obviously, this must be so, for the whole +country is trapped over every year, all the furs are marketed, most +of them through the Hudson's Bay Company, and whatever falls into +other hands is about the same percentage each year, therefore the +H. B. Co. returns are an accurate gauge of the relative rise and +fall of the population. + +Through the courtesy of its officials I have secured the Company's +returns for the 85 years--1821-1905 inclusive. I take 1821 as the +starting-point, as that was the first year when the whole region +was covered by the Hudson's Bay Company to the exclusion of all +important rivals. + +First, I have given these accounts graphic tabulation, and at once +many interesting facts are presented to the eye. The Rabbit line +prior to 1845 is not reliable. Its subsequent close coincidence +with that of Lynx, Marten, Skunk, and Fox is evidently cause and +effect. + +The Mink coincides fairly well with Skunk and Marten. + +The Muskrat's variation probably has relation chiefly to the amount +of water, which, as is well known, is cyclic in the north-West. + +The general resemblance of Beaver and Otter lines may not mean +anything. If, as said, the Otter occasionally preys on the Beaver, +these lines should in some degree correspond. + +The Wolf line does not manifest any special relationship and seems +to be in a class by itself. The great destruction from 1840 to 1870 +was probably due to strychnine, newly introduced about then. + +The Bear, Badger, and Wolverine go along with little variation. +Probably the Coon does the same; the enormous rise in 1867 from +an average of 3,500 per annum. to 24,000 was most likely a result +of accidental accumulation and not representative of any special +abundance. Finally, each and every line manifests extraordinary +variability in the '30's. It is not to be supposed that the +population fluctuated so enormously from one year to another, but +rather that the facilities for export were irregular. + +The case is further complicated by the fact that some of the totals +represent part of this year and part of last; nevertheless, upon +the whole, the following general principles are deducible: + +(a) The high points for each species are with fair regularity 10 +years apart. + +(b) In the different species these are not exactly coincident. + +(c) To explain the variations we must seek not the reason for the +increase--that is normal--but for the destructive agency that ended +the increase. + +This is different in three different groups. + +First. The group whose food and enemies fluctuate but little. The +only examples of this on our list are the Muskrat and Beaver, more +especially the Muskrat. Its destruction seems to be due to a sudden +great rise of the water after the ice has formed, so that the Rats +are drowned; or to a dry season followed by severe frost, freezing +most ponds to the bottom, so that the Rats are imprisoned and starve +to death, or are forced out to cross the country in winter, and so +are brought within the power of innumerable enemies. + +How tremendously this operates may be judged by these facts. In +1900 along the Mackenzie I was assured one could shoot 20 Muskrats +in an hour after sundown. Next winter the flood followed the +frost and the Rats seemed to have been wiped out. In 1907 1 spent +6 months outdoors in the region and saw only 17 Muskrats the whole +time; in 1901 the H. B. Co. exported over 11 millions; in 1907, +407,472. The fact that they totalled as high was due, no doubt, to +their abundance in eastern regions not affected by the disaster. + +Second. The group that increases till epidemic disease attacks +their excessively multiplied hordes. The Snowshoe-Rabbit is the +only well-known case today, but there is reason for the belief that +once the Beaver were subjected to a similar process. Concerning the +Mice and Lemmings, I have not complete data, but they are believed +to multiply and suffer in the same, way. + +Third. The purely carnivorous, whose existence is dependent on the +Rabbits. This includes chiefly the Lynx and Fox, but in less degree +all the small carnivores. + +In some cases such as the Marten, over-feeding seems as inimical +to multiplication as under-feeding, and it will be seen that each +year of great increase for this species coincided with a medium +year for Rabbits. + +But the fundamental and phenomenal case is that of the Rabbits +themselves. And in solving this we are confronted by the generally +attested facts that when on the increase they have two or three +broods each season and 8 to 10 in a brood; when they are decreasing +they have but one brood and only 2 or 3 in that. This points to some +obscure agency at work; whether it refers simply to the physical +vigour of the fact, or to some uncomprehended magnetic or heliological +cycle, is utterly unknown. + +The practical consideration for the collecting naturalist is this: +Beaver, Muskrat, Otter, Fisher, Raccoon, Badger, Wolverine, Wolf, +Marten, Fox reached the low ebb in 1904-5. All are on the upgrade; +presumably the same applies to the small rodents. Their decacycle +will be complete in 1914-15, so that 1910-11 should be the years +selected by the next collecting naturalist who would visit the +north. + +For those who will enter before that there is a reasonable prospect +of all these species in fair numbers, except perhaps the Lynx and +the Caribou. Evidently the former must be near minimum now (1909) +and the latter would be scarce, if it is subject to the rule of the +decacycle, though it is not at all proven that such is the case. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE PELICAN TRIP + + + +We were still held back by the dilatory ways of our Indian friends, +so to lose no time Preble and I determined to investigate a Pelican +rookery. + +Most persons associate the name Pelican with tropic lands and +fish, but ornithologists have long known that in the interior of +the continent the great white Pelican ranges nearly or quite to +the Arctic circle. The northmost colony on record was found on an +island of Great Slave Lake (see Preble, "N.A. Fauna," 27), but this +is a very small one. The northmost large colony, and the one made +famous by travellers from Alexander Mackenzie downward, is on the +great island that splits the Smith Rapids above Fort Smith. Here, +with a raging flood about their rocky citadel, they are safe from +all spoilers that travel on the earth; only a few birds of the air +need they fear, and these they have strength to repel. + +On June 22 we set out to explore this. Preble, Billy, and myself, +with our canoe on a wagon, drove 6 miles back on the landing trail +and launched the canoe on the still water above Mountain Portage. +Pelican Island must be approached exactly right, in the comparatively +slow water above the rocky island, for 20 feet away on each side +is an irresistible current leading into a sure-death cataract. But +Billy was a river pilot and we made the point in safety. + +Drifted like snow through the distant woods were the brooding birds, +but they arose before we were near and sailed splendidly overhead +in a sweeping, wide-fronted rank. As nearly as I could number them, +there were 120, but evidently some were elsewhere, as this would +not allow a pair to each nest. + +We landed safely and found the nests scattered among the trees and +fallen timbers. One or two mother birds ran off on foot, but took +wing as soon as clear of the woods--none remained. + +The nests numbered 77, and there was evidence of others long +abandoned. There were 163 eggs, not counting 5 rotten ones, lying +outside; nearly all had 2 eggs in the nest; 3 had 4; 5 had 3; 4 had +1. One or two shells were found in the woods, evidently sucked by +Gulls or Ravens. + +All in the nests were near hatching. One little one had his beak +out and was uttering a hoarse chirping; a dozen blue-bottle flies +around the hole in the shell were laying their eggs in it and +on his beak., This led us to examine all the nests that the flies +were buzzing around, and in each case (six) we found the same state +of affairs, a young one with his beak out and the flies "blowing" +around it. All of these were together in one corner, where were a +dozen nests, probably another colony of earlier arrival. + +We took about a dozen photos of the place (large and small). Then +I set my camera with the long tube to get the old ones, and we went +to lunch at the other end of the island. It was densely wooded and +about an acre in extent, so we thought we should be forgotten. The +old ones circled high overhead but at last dropped, I thought, back +to the nests. After an hour and a half I returned to the ambush; +not a Pelican was there. Two Ravens flew high over, but the Pelicans +were far away, and all as when we went away, leaving the young to +struggle or get a death-chill as they might. So much for the pious +Pelican, the emblem of reckless devotion--a common, dirty little +cock Sparrow would put them all to shame. + +We brought away only the 5 rotten eggs. About half of the old +Pelicans had horns on the bill. + +On the island we saw a flock of White-winged Crossbills and heard +a Song-sparrow. Gulls were seen about. The white spruce cones littered +the ground and were full of seed, showing that no Redsquirrel was +on the island. + +We left successfully by dashing out exactly as we came, between +the two dangerous currents, and got well away. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE THIRD BUFFALO HUNT + + + +The Indians are simply large children, and further, no matter how +reasonable your proposition, they take a long time to consider it +and are subject to all kinds of mental revulsion. So we were lucky +to get away from Fort Smith on July 4 with young Francois Bezkya +as guide. He was a full-blooded Chipewyan Indian, so full that he +had knowledge of no other tongue, and Billy had to be go-between. + +Bezkya, the son of my old patient, came well recommended as a good +man and a moose-hunter. A "good man" means a strong, steady worker, +as canoeman or portager. He may be morally the vilest outcast unhung; +that in no wise modifies the phrase "he is a good man." But more: +the present was a moosehunter; this is a wonderfully pregnant phrase. +Moose-hunting by fair stalking is the pinnacle of woodcraft. The +Crees alone, as a tribe, are supposed to be masters of the art; +but many of the Chipewyans are highly successful. One must be a +consummate trailer, a good shot, have tireless limbs and wind and +a complete knowledge of the animal's habits and ways of moving and +thinking. One must watch the wind, without ceasing, for no hunter +has the slightest chance of success if once the Moose should scent +him. This last is fundamental, a three-times sacred principle. Not +long ago one of these Chipewyans went to confessional. Although a +year had passed since last he got cleaned up, he could think of +nothing to confess. Oh! spotless soul! However, under pressure of +the priest, he at length remembered a black transgression. The fall +before, while hunting, he went to the windward of a thicket that seemed +likely to hold his Moose, because on the lee, the proper side, the +footing happened to be very bad, and so he lost his Moose. Yes! +there was indeed a dark shadow on his recent past. + +A man may be a good hunter, i.e., an all-round trapper and woodman, +but not a moose-hunter. At Fort Smith are two or three scores of +hunters, and yet I am told there are only three moose-hunters. The +phrase is not usually qualified; he is, or is not, a moose-hunter. +Just as a man is, or is not, an Oxford M.A. The force, then, of +the phrase appears, and we were content to learn that young Bezkya, +besides knowing the Buffalo country, was also a good man and a +moose-hunter. + +We set out in two canoes, Bezkya and Jarvis in the small one, Billy, +Selig, Preble, and I in the large one, leaving the other police +boys to make Fort Resolution in the H. B. steamer. + +Being the 4th of July, the usual torrential rains set in. During +the worst of it we put in at Salt River village. It was amusing +to see the rubbish about the doors of these temporarily deserted +cabins. The midden-heaps of the Cave-men are our principal sources +of information about those by-gone races; the future ethnologist who +discovers Salt River midden-heaps will find all the usual skulls, +bones, jaws, teeth, flints, etc., mixed with moccasin beads from +Venice, brass cartridges from New England, broken mirrors from +France, Eley cap-boxes from London, copper rings, silver pins, +lead bullets, and pewter spoons, and interpersed with them bits of +telephone wires and the fragments of gramophone discs. I wonder +what they will make of the last! + +Eight miles farther we camped in the rain, reaching the Buffalo +Portage next morning at 10, and had everything over its 5 miles by +7 o'clock at night. + +It is easily set down on paper, but the uninitiated can scarcely +realise the fearful toil of portaging. If you are an office man, +suppose you take an angular box weighing 20 or 30 pounds; if a +farmer, double the weight, poise it on your shoulders or otherwise, +as you please, and carry it half a mile on a level pavement in +cool, bright weather, and I am mistaken if you do not find yourself +suffering horribly before the end of a quarter-mile; the last part +of the trip will have been made in something like mortal agony. +Remember, then, that each of these portagers was carrying 150 to +250 pounds of broken stuff, not half a mile, but several miles, +not on level pavement, but over broken rocks, up banks, through +quagmires and brush--in short, across ground that would be difficult +walking without any burden, and not in cool, clear weather, but through +stifling swamps with no free hand to ease the myriad punctures of +his body, face, and limbs whenever unsufficiently protected from +the stingers that roam in clouds. It is the hardest work I ever +saw performed by human beings; the burdens are heavier than some +men will allow their horses to carry. + +Yet all this frightful labour was cheerfully gone through by white +men, half-breeds, and Indians alike. They accept it as a part of +their daily routine. This fact alone is enough to guarantee the +industrial future of the red-man when the hunter life is no longer +possible. + +Next day we embarked on the Little Buffalo River, beginning what +should have been and would have been a trip of memorable joys but +for the awful, awful, awful--see Chapter IX. + +The Little Buffalo is the most beautiful river in the whole world +except, perhaps, its affluent, the Nyarling. + +This statement sounds like the exaggeration of mere impulsive +utterance. Perhaps it is; but I am writing now after thinking the +matter over for two and a half years, during, which time I have +seen a thousand others, including the upper Thames, the Afton, the +Seine, the Arno, the Tiber, the Iser, the Spree, and the Rhine. + +A hundred miles long is this uncharted stream; fifty feet its breadth +of limpid tide; eight feet deep, crystal clear, calm, slow, and +deep to the margin. A steamer could ply on its placid, unobstructed +flood, a child could navigate it anywhere. The heavenly beauty of +the shores, with virgin forest of fresh, green spruces towering a +hundred feet on every side, or varied in open places with long rows +and thick-set hedges of the gorgeous, wild, red, Athabaska rose, +made a stream that most canoemen, woodmen, and naturalists would +think without a fault or flaw, and with every river beauty in its +highest possible degree. Not trees and flood alone had strenuous +power to win our souls; at every point and bank, in every bend, +were living creatures of the north, Beaver and Bear, not often seen +but abundant; Moose tracks showed from time to time and birds were +here in thousands. Rare winter birds, as we had long been taught +to think them in our southern homes; here we found them in their +native land and heard not a few sweet melodies, of which in faraway +Ontario, New Jersey, and Maryland we had been favoured only with +promising scraps when wintry clouds were broken by the sun. Nor were +the old familiar ones away--Flicker, Sapsucker, Hairy Woodpecker, +Kingfisher, Least Flycatcher, Alder Flycatcher, Robin, Crow, and +Horned Owl were here to mingle their noises with the stranger melodies +and calls of Lincoln Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Olive-sided Flycatcher, +Snipe, Rusty Blackbird, and Bohemian Waxwing. + +Never elsewhere have I seen Horned Owls so plentiful. I did not know +that there were so many Bear and Beaver left; I never was so much +impressed by the inspiring raucous clamour of the Cranes, the +continual spatter of Ducks, the cries of Gulls and Yellowlegs. +Hour after hour we paddled down that stately river adding our 3 +1/2 miles to its 1 mile speed; each turn brought to view some new +and lovelier aspect of bird and forest life. I never knew a land +of balmier air; I never felt the piney breeze more sweet; nowhere +but in the higher mountains is there such a tonic sense abroad; +the bright woods and river reaches were eloquent of a clime whose +maladies are mostly foreign-born. But alas! I had to view it all +swaddled, body, hands, and head, like a bee-man handling his swarms. +Songs were muffled, scenes were dimmed by the thick, protecting, +suffocating veil without which men can scarcely live. + +Ten billion dollars would be all too small reward, a trifle totally +inadequate to compensate, mere nominal recognition of the man who +shall invent and realise a scheme to save this earthly paradise +from this its damning pest and malediction. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +DOWN TO FUNDAMENTALS + + + +At 8.30 A. M., 10 miles from the portage, we came to the Clew-ee, +or White Fish River; at 6.30 P. M. made the Sass Tessi, or Bear +River, and here camped, having covered fully 40 miles. + +Now for the first time we were all together, with leisure to +question our guide and plan in detail. But all our mirth and hopes +were rudely checked by Corporal Selig, who had entire charge of +the commissary, announcing that there were only two days' rations +left. + +In the dead calm that followed this bomb-shell we all did some +thinking; then a rapid fire of questions demonstrated the danger +of having a guide who does not speak our language. + +It seems that when asked how many days' rations we should take on +this Buffalo hunt he got the idea how many days to the Buffalo. He +said five, meaning five days each way and as much time as we wished +there. We were still two days from our goal. Now what should we +do? Scurry back to the fort or go ahead and trust to luck? Every +man present voted "go ahead on half rations." + +We had good, healthy appetites; half rations was veritable hardship; +but our hollow insides made hearty laughing. Preble disappeared +as soon as we camped, and now at the right time he returned and +silently threw at the cook's feet a big 6-pound Pike. It was just +right, exactly as it happens in the most satisfactory books and plays. +It seems that he always carried a spoon-hook, and went at once to +what he rightly judged the best place, a pool at the junction of +the two rivers. The first time he threw he captured the big fellow. +Later he captured three smaller ones in the same place, but evidently +there were no more. + +That night we had a glorious feast; every one had as much as he +could eat, chiefly fish. Next morning we went on 4 1/2 miles farther, +then came to the mouth of the Nyarling Tessi, or Underground River, +that joins the Buffalo from the west. This was our stream; this +was the highway to the Buffalo country. It was a miniature of the +river we were leaving, but a little quicker in current. In about +2 miles we came to a rapid, but were able to paddle up. About 6 +miles farther was an immense and ancient log-jamb that filled the +stream from bank to bank for 190 yards. What will be the ultimate +history of this jamb? It is added to each year, the floods have no +power to move it, logs in water practically never rot, there is no +prospect of it being removed by natural agencies. I suspect that +at its head the river comes out of a succession of such things, +whence its name Underground River., + +Around this jamb is an easy portage. We were far now from the haunts +of any but Indians on the winter hunt, so were surprised to see on +this portage trail the deep imprints of a white man's boot. These +were made apparently within a week, by whom I never learned. On the +bank not far away we saw a Lynx pursued overhead by two scolding +Redsquirrels. + +Lunch consisted of what remained of the Pike, but that afternoon +Bezkya saw two Brown Cranes on a meadow, and manoeuvring till they +were in line killed both with one shot of his rifle at over 100 +yards, the best shot I ever knew an Indian to make. Still, two +Cranes totalling 16 pounds gross is not enough meat to last five +men a week, so we turned to our Moosehunter. + +"Yes, he could get a Moose." He went on in the small canoe with +Billy; we were to follow, and if we passed his canoe leave a note. +Seven miles above the log-jamb, the river forked south and west; +here a note from the guide sent us up the South Fork; later we +passed his canoe on the bank and knew that he had landed and was +surely on his way "to market." What a comfortable feeling it was to +remember that Bezkya was a moose-hunter! We left word and travelled +till 7, having come 11 miles up from the river's mouth. Our supper +that night was Crane, a little piece of bread each, some soup, and +some tea. + +At 10 the hunters came back empty-handed. Yes, they found a fresh +Moose track, but the creature was so pestered by clouds of -------- +that he travelled continually as fast as he could against the wind. +They followed all day but could not overtake him. They saw a Beaver +but failed to get it. No other game was found. + +Things were getting serious now, since all our food consisted of +1 Crane, 1 tin of brawn, 1 pound of bread, 2 pounds of pork, with +some tea, coffee, and sugar, not more than one square meal for +the crowd, and we were 5 men far from supplies, unless our hunting +proved successful, and going farther every day. + +Next morning (July 9) each man had coffee, one lady's finger +of bread, and a single small slice of bacon. Hitherto from choice +I had not eaten bacon in this country, although it was a regular +staple served at each meal. But now, with proper human perversity, +I developed an extraordinary appetite for bacon. It seemed quite +the most delicious gift of God to man. Given bacon, and I was ready +to forgo all other foods. Nevertheless, we had divided the last of +it. I cut my slice in two, revelled in half, then secretly wrapped +the other piece in paper and hid it in the watch-pocket of my +vest, thinking "the time is in sight when the whole crowd will be +thankful to have that scrap of bacon among them." (As a matter of +fact, they never got it, for five days later we found a starving +dog and he was so utterly miserable that he conjured that scrap +from the pocket next my heart.) + +We were face to face with something like starvation now; the game +seemed to shun us and our store of victuals was done. Yet no one +talked of giving up or going back. We set out to reach the Buffalo +country, and reach it we would. + +That morning we got 7 little Teal, so our lunch was sure, but +straight Teal without accompaniments is not very satisfying; we +all went very hungry. And with one mind we all thought and talked +about the good dinners or specially fine food we once had had. +Selig's dream of bliss was a porterhouse steak with a glass of foaming +beer; Jarvis thought champagne and roast turkey spelt heaven just +then; I thought of my home breakfasts and the Beaux-Arts at New +York; but Billy said he would he perfectly happy if he could have +one whole bannock all to himself. Preble said nothing. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +WHITE MAN AND RED. MEAT, BUT NOTHING MORE + + + +There was plenty of hollow hilarity but no word of turning back. +But hold! yes, there was. There was one visage that darkened more +each day, and finally the gloomy thoughts broke forth in words +from the lips of--our Indian guide. His recent sullen silence was +now changed to open and rebellious upbraiding. + +He didn't come here to starve. He could do that at home. He was +induced to come by a promise of plenty of flour. "All of which was +perfectly true. But," he went on, "We were still 11 days from the +Buffalo and we were near the head of navigation; it was a case +of tramp through the swamp with our beds and guns, living on the +country as we went, and if we didn't have luck the Coyotes and +Ravens would." + +Before we had time to discuss this prospect, a deciding step was +announced, by Jarvis, He was under positive orders to catch the +steamer Wrigley at Fort Resolution on the evening of July 10. It was +now mid-day of July 9, and only by leaving at once and travelling +all night could he cover the intervening 60 miles. + +So then and there we divided the remnants of food evenly, for +"Bezkya was a moose-hunter." + +Then Major Jarvis and Corporal Selig boarded the smaller canoe. +We shook hands warmly, and I at least had a lump in my throat; +they were such good fellows in camp, and to part this way when +we especially felt bound to stick together, going each of us on a +journey of privation and peril, seemed especially hard; and we were +so hungry. But we were living our lives. They rounded the bend, we +waved goodbye, and I have never seen them since. + +Hitherto I was a guest; now I was in sole command, and called a +council of war. Billy was stanch and ready to go anywhere at any +cost. So was Preble. Bezkya was sulky and rebellious. Physically, +I had been at the point of a total breakdown when I left home; the +outdoor life had been slowly restoring me, but the last few days +had weakened me sadly and I was not fit for a long expedition on +foot. But of one thing I was sure, we must halt till we got food. +A high wind was blowing and promised some respite to the Moose from +the little enemy that sings except when he stings, so I invited +Bezkya to gird up his loins and make another try for Moose. + +Nothing loath, he set off with Billy. I marked them well as they +went, one lithe, sinewy, active, animal-eyed; the other solid and +sturdy, following doggedly, keeping up by sheer blundering strength. +I could not but admire them, each in his kind. + +Two hours later I heard two shots, and toward evening the boys came +back slowly, tired but happy, burdened with the meat, for Bezkya +was a moosehunter. + +Many shekels and gladly would I have given to have been on that +moose hunt. Had I seen it I could have told it. These men, that +do it so well, never can tell it. Yet in the days that followed +I picked up a few significant phrases that gave glimpses of its +action. + +Through the crooked land of endless swamp this son of the woods +had set out "straightaway west." A big track appeared crossing a +pool, seeming fresh. "No! he go by yesterday; water in track not +muddy." Another track was found. "Yes, pretty good; see bite alder. +Alder turn red in two hours; only half red." Follow long. "Look +out, Billy; no go there; wrong wind. Yes, he pass one hour; see +bit willow still white. Stop; he pass half-hour; see grass still +bend. He lie down soon. How know? Oh, me know. Stand here, Billy. +He sleep in thick willow there." + +Then the slow crawl in absolute stillness, the long wait, the +betrayal of the huge beast by the ear that wagged furiously to +shake off the winged bloodsuckers. The shot, the rush, the bloody +trail, the pause in the opening to sense the foe, the shots from +both hunters, and the death. + +Next day we set out in the canoe for the Moose, which lay conveniently +on the river bank. After pushing through the alders and poling up +the dwindling stream for a couple of hours we reached the place +two miles up, by the stream. It was a big bull with no bell, horns +only two-thirds grown but 46 inches across, the tips soft and +springy; one could stick a knife through them anywhere outside of +the basal half. + +Bezkya says they are good to eat in this stage; but we had about +700 pounds of good meat so did not try. The velvet on the horns is +marked by a series of concentric curved lines of white hair, across +the lines of growth; these, I take it, correspond with times of +check by chill or hardship. + +We loaded our canoe with meat and pushed on toward the Buffalo +country for two miles more up the river. Navigation now became very +difficult on account of alders in the stream. Bezkya says that only +a few hundred yards farther and the river comes from underground. +This did not prove quite correct, for I went half a mile farther +by land and found no change. + +Here, however, we did find some Buffalo tracks; one went through +our camp, and farther on were many, but all dated from the spring +and were evidently six weeks old. + +There were no recent tracks, which was discouraging, and the air +of gloom over our camp grew heavier. The weather had been bad ever +since we left Fort Smith, cloudy or showery. This morning for the +first time the day dawned with a clear sky, but by noon it was +cloudy and soon again raining. Our diet consisted of nothing but +Moose meat and tea; we had neither sugar nor salt, and the craving +for farinaceous food was strong and growing. We were what the. +natives call "flour hungry"; our three-times-a-day prospect of Moose, +Moose, Moose was becoming loathsome. Bezkya was openly rebellious +once more, and even my two trusties were very, very glum. Still, +the thought of giving up was horrible, so I made a proposition: +"Bezkya, you go out scouting on, foot and see if you can locate a +band. I'll give you five dollars extra if you show me one Buffalo." + +At length he agreed to go provided I would set out for Fort +Resolution at once unless he found Buffalo near. This was leaving +it all in his hands. While I was considering, Preble said: "I tell +you this delay is playing the mischief with our Barren-Ground trip; +we should have started for the north ten days ago," which was in +truth enough to settle the matter. + +I knew perfectly well beforehand what Bezkya's report would be. + +At 6.30 he returned to say he found nothing but old tracks. There +were no Buffalo nearer than two days' travel on foot, and he should +like to return at once to Fort Resolution. + +There was no further ground for debate; every one and everything +now was against me. Again I had to swallow the nauseating draught +of defeat and retreat. + +"We start northward first thing in the morning," I said briefly, +and our third Buffalo hunt was over. + +These, then, were the results so far as Buffalo were concerned: +Old tracks as far down as last camp, plenty of old tracks here and +westward, but the Buffalo, as before on so many occasions, were +two days' travel to the westward. + +During all this time I had lost no good opportunity of impressing +on the men the sinfulness of leaving a camp-fire burning and of +taking life unnecessarily; and now, I learned of fruit from this +seeding. That night Bezkya was in a better humour, for obvious +reasons; he talked freely and told me how that day he came on a +large Blackbear which at once took to a tree. The Indian had his +rifle, but thought, "I can kill him, yet I can't stop to skin him +or use his meat," so left him in peace. + +This is really a remarkable incident, almost unique. I am glad +to believe that I had something to do with causing such unusual +forbearance. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ON THE NYARLING + + + +All night it rained; in the morning it was dull, foggy, and showery. +Everything was very depressing, especially in view of this second +defeat. The steady diet of Moose and tea was debilitating; my legs +trembled under me. I fear I should be a poor one to stand starvation, +if so slight a brunt should play such havoc with my strength. + +We set out early to retrace the course of the Nyarling, which in +spite of associated annoyances and disappointments will ever shine +forth in my memory as the "Beautiful River." + +It is hard, indeed, for words to do it justice. The charm of a +stream is always within three feet of the surface and ten feet of +the bank. The broad Slave, then, by its size wins in majesty but +must lose most all its charm; the Buffalo, being fifty feet wide, +has some waste water; but the Nyarling, half the size, has its +birthright compounded and intensified in manifold degree. The water +is clear, two or three feet deep at the edge of the grassy banks, +seven to ten feet in mid-channel, without bars or obstructions +except the two log-jambs noted, and these might easily be removed. +The current is about one mile and a half an hour, so that canoes +can readily pass up or down; the scenery varies continually and is +always beautiful. Everything that I have said of the Little Buffalo +applies to the Nyarling with fourfold force, because of its more +varied scenery and greater range of bird and other life. Sometimes, +like the larger stream, it presents a long, straight vista of a +quarter-mile through a solemn aisle in the forest of mighty spruce +trees that tower a hundred feet in height, all black with gloom, +green with health, and gray with moss. + +Sometimes its channel winds in and out of open grassy meadows that +are dotted with clumps of rounded trees, as in an English park. +Now it narrows to a deep and sinuous bed, through alders so rank +and reaching that they meet overhead and form a shade of golden +green; and again it widens out into reedy lakes, the summer home +of countless Ducks, Geese, Tattlers Terns, Peetweets, Gulls, Rails, +Blackbirds, and half a hundred of the lesser tribes. Sometimes the +foreground is rounded masses of kinnikinnik in snowy flower, or +again a far-strung growth of the needle bloom, richest and reddest +of its tribe--the Athabaska rose. At times it is skirted by tall +poplar woods where the claw-marks on the trunks are witness of the +many Blackbears, or some tamarack swamp showing signs and proofs +that hereabouts a family of Moose had fed to-day, or by a broad +and broken trail that told of a Buffalo band passing weeks ago. +And while we gazed at scribbled records, blots, and marks, the loud +"slap plong" of a Beaver showed from time to time that the thrifty +ones had dived at our approach. + +On the way up Jarvis had gone first in the small canoe; he saw 2 +Bears, 3 Beaver, and 1 Lynx; I saw nothing but birds. On the way +down, being alone, the luck came my way. + +At the first camp, after he left, we heard a loud "plong" in the +water near the boat. Bezkya glided to the spot; I followed--here +was a large Beaver swimming. The Indian fired, the Beaver plunged, +and we saw nothing more of it. He told Billy, who told me, that it +was dead, because it did not slap with its tail as it went down. +Next night another splashed by our boat. + +This morning as we paddled we saw a little stream, very muddy, +trickling into the river. Bezkya said, "Beaver at work on his dam +there." Now that we were really heading for flour, our Indian showed +up well. He was a strong paddler, silent but apparently cheerful, +ready at all times to work. As a hunter and guide he was of course +first class. About 10.30 we came on a large Beaver sunning himself +on a perch built of mud just above the water. He looked like a +huge chestnut Muskrat. He plunged at once but came up again yards +farther down, took another look and dived, to be seen no more. + +At noon we reached our old camp, the last where all had been +together. Here we put up a monument on a tree, and were mortified +to think we had not done so at our farthest camp. + +There were numbers of Yellowlegs breeding here; we were surprised +to see them resting on trees or flying from one branch to another. + +A Great Gray-owl sitting on a stump was a conspicuous feature of +our landscape view; his white choker shone like a parson's. + +Early in the morning we saw a Kingbird. This was our northernmost +record for the species. + +We pressed on all day, stopping only for our usual supper of Moose +and tea, and about 7 the boys were ready to go on again. They +paddled till dark at 10. Camped in the rain, but every one was +well pleased, for we had made 40 miles that day and were that much +nearer to flour. + +This journey had brought us down the Nyarling and 15 miles down +the Buffalo. + +It rained all night; next morning the sun came out once or twice but +gave it up, and clouds with rain sprinklings kept on. We had struck +a long spell of wet; it was very trying, and fatal to photographic +work. + +After a delicious, appetising, and inspiring breakfast of straight +Moose, without even salt, and raw tea, we pushed on along the line +of least resistance, i.e., toward flour. + +A flock of half a dozen Bohemian Waxwings were seen catching flies +among the tall spruce tops; probably all were males enjoying a stag +party while their wives were home tending eggs or young. + +Billy shot a female Bufflehead Duck; she was so small-only 8 inches +in slack girth--that she could easily have entered an ordinary +Woodpecker hole. So that it is likely the species nest in the abandoned +holes of the Flicker. A Redtailed Hawk had its nest on a leaning +spruce above the water. It was a most striking and picturesque +object; doubtless the owner was very well pleased with it, but a +pair of Robins militant attacked him whenever he tried to go near +it. + +A Beaver appeared swimming ahead; Bezkya seized his rifle and +removed the top of its head, thereby spoiling a splendid skull but +securing a pelt and a new kind of meat. Although I was now paying +his wages the Beaver did not belong to me. According to the custom +of the country it belonged to Bezkya. He owed me nothing but service +as a guide. Next meal we had Beaver tail roasted and boiled; it +was very delicious, but rather rich and heavy. + +At 3.45 we reached Great Slave Lake, but found the sea so high +that it would have been very dangerous to attempt crossing to Fort +Resolution, faintly to be seen a dozen miles away. + +We waited till 7, then ventured forth; it was only 11 miles across +and we could send that canoe at 5 1/2 miles an hour, but the wind +and waves against us were so strong that it took 3 1/2 hours to +make the passage. At 10.30 we landed at Resolution and pitched our +tent among 30 teepees with 200 huge dogs that barked, scratched, +howled, yelled, and fought around, in, and over the tent-ropes +all night long. Oh, how different from the tranquil woods of the +Nyarling! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +FORT RESOLUTION AND ITS FOLK + + + +Early next morning Preble called on his old acquaintance, Chief +Trader C. Harding, in charge of the post. Whenever we have gone to +H. B. Co. officials to do business with them, as officers of the +company, we have found them the keenest of the keen; but whenever +it is their personal affair, they are hospitality out-hospitalled. +They give without stint; they lavish their kindness on the stranger +from the big world. In a few minutes Preble hastened back to say +that we were to go to breakfast at once. + +That breakfast, presided over by a charming woman and a genial, +generous man, was one that will not be forgotten while I live. +Think of it, after the hard scrabble on the Nyarling! We had real +porridge and cream, coffee with veritable sugar and milk, and +authentic butter, light rolls made of actual flour, unquestionable +bacon and potatoes, with jam and toast--the really, truly things--and +we had as much as we could eat! We behaved rather badly--intemperately, +I fear--we stopped only when forced to do it, and yet both of us +came away with appetites. + +It was clear that I must get some larger craft than my canoe to +cross the lake from Fort Resolution and take the 1,300 pounds of +provisions that had come on the steamer. Harding kindly offered the +loan of a York boat, and with the help chiefly of Charlie McLeod +the white man, who is interpreter at the fort, I secured a crew to +man it. But oh, what worry and annoyance it was! These Great Slave +Lake Indians are like a lot of spoiled and petulant children, +with the added weakness of adult criminals; they are inconsistent, +shiftless, and tricky. Pike, Whitney, Buffalo Jones, and others +united many years ago in denouncing them as the most worthless and +contemptible of the human race, and since then they have considerably +deteriorated. There are exceptions, however, as will be seen by +the record. + +One difficulty was that it became known that on the Buffalo expedition +Bezkya had received three dollars a day, which is government +emergency pay. I had agreed to pay the regular maximum, two dollars +a day with presents and keep. All came and demanded three dollars. +I told them they could go at once in search of the hottest place +ever pictured by a diseased and perfervid human imagination. + +If they went there they decided not to stay, because in an hour +they were back offering to compromise. I said I could run back to +Fort Smith (it sounds like nothing) and get all the men I needed +at one dollar and a half. (I should mortally have hated to try.) +One by one the crew resumed. Then another bombshell. I had offended +Chief Snuff by not calling and consulting with him; he now gave +it out that I was here to take out live Musk-ox, which meant that +all the rest would follow to seek their lost relatives. Again my +crew resigned. I went to see Snuff. Every man has his price. Snuff's +price was half a pound of tea; and the crew came back, bringing, +however, several new modifications in our contract. + +Taking no account of several individuals that joined a number of +times but finally resigned, the following, after they had received +presents, provisions, and advance pay, were the crew secured to +man the York boat on the "3 or 4" days' run to Pike's Portage and +then carry my goods to the first lake. + +Weeso. The Jesuits called him Louison d'Noire, but it has been +corrupted into a simpler form. "Weeso" they call it, "Weeso" they +write it, and for "Weeso" you must ask, or you will not find him. +So I write it as I do "Sousi" and "Yum," with the true local colour. + +He was a nice, kind, simple old rabbit, not much use and not +over-strong, but he did his best, never murmuring, and in all the +mutinies and rebellions that followed he remained staunch, saying +simply, "I gave my word I would go, and I will go." He would make +a safe guide for the next party headed for Aylmer Lake. He alone +did not ask rations for his wife during his absence; he said, "It +didn't matter about her, as they had been married for a long time +now." He asked as presents a pair of my spectacles, as his eyes +were failing, and a marble axe. The latter I sent him later, but +he could not understand why glasses that helped me should not help +him. He acted as pilot and guide, knowing next to nothing about +either. + +Francois d'Noire, son of Weeso, a quiet, steady, inoffensive chap, +but not strong; nevertheless, having been there once with us, he +is now a competent guide to take any other party as far as Pike's +Portage. + +C., a sulky brute and a mischief-maker. He joined and resigned +a dozen times that day, coming back on each occasion with a new +demand. + +S., grandson of the chief, a sulky good-for-nothing; would not have +him again at any price; besides the usual wages, tobacco, food, +etc., he demanded extra to support his wife during his absence. +The wife, I found, was a myth. + +T., a sulky good-for-nothing. + +Beaulieu, an alleged grandson of his grandfather. A perpetual +breeder of trouble; never did a decent day's work the whole trip. +Insolent, mutinous, and overbearing, till I went for him with intent +to do bodily mischief; then he became extremely obsequious. Like +the rest of the foregoing, he resigned and resumed at irregular +intervals. + +Yum (William), Freesay; the best of the lot; a bright, cheerful, +intelligent, strong Indian, boy. He and my old standby, Billy +Loutit, did virtually all the handling of that big boat. Any one +travelling in that country should secure Yum if they can. He was +worth all the others put together. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE CHIPEWYANS, THEIR SPEECH AND WRITING + + + +Sweeping generalisations are always misleading, therefore I offer +some now, and later will correct them by specific instances. + +These Chipewyans are dirty, shiftless, improvident, and absolutely +honest. Of the last we saw daily instances in crossing the country. +Valuables hung in trees, protected only from weather, birds, and +beasts, but never a suggestion that they needed protection from +mankind. They are kind and hospitable among themselves, but grasping +in their dealings with white men, as already set forth. While they +are shiftless and lazy, they also undertake the frightful toil of +hunting and portaging. Although improvident, they have learned to +dry a stock of meat and put up a scaffold of white fish for winter +use. As a tribe they are mild and inoffensive, although they are +the original stock from which the Apaches broke away some hundreds +of years ago before settling in the south. + +They have suffered greatly from diseases imported by white men, +but not from whiskey. The Hudson's Bay Company has always refused +to supply liquor to the natives. What little of the evil traffic +there has been was the work of free-traders. But the Royal Mounted +Police have most rigorously and effectually suppressed this. +Nevertheless, Chief Trader Anderson tells me that the Mackenzie +Valley tribes have fallen to less than half their numbers during +the last century. + +It is about ten, years since they made the treaty that surrendered +their lands to the government. They have no reserves, but are free +to hunt as their fathers did. + +I found several of the older men lamenting the degeneracy of +their people. "Our fathers were hunters and our mothers made good +moccasins, but the young men are lazy loafers around the trading +posts, and the women get money in bad ways to buy what they should +make with their hands." + +The Chipewyan dialects are peculiarly rasping, clicking, and +guttural, especially when compared with Cree. + +Every man and woman and most of the children among them smoke. +They habitually appear with a pipe in their mouth and speak without +removing it, so that the words gurgle out on each side of the pipe +while a thin stream goes sizzling through the stem. This additional +variant makes it hopeless to suggest on paper any approach to their +peculiar speech. + +The Jesuits tell me that it was more clicked and guttural fifty +years ago, but that they are successfully weeding out many of the +more unpleasant catarrhal sounds. + +In noting down the names of animals, I was struck by the fact that +the more familiar the animal the shorter its name. Thus the Beaver, +Muskrat, Rabbit, and Marten, on which they live, are respectively +Tsa, Dthen, Ka, and Tha. The less familiar (in a daily sense) Red +Fox and Weasel are Nak-ee-they, Noon-dee-a, Tel-ky-lay; and the +comparatively scarce Musk-ox and little Weasel, At-huh-le-jer-ray +and Tel-ky-lay-azzy. All of which is clear and logical, for the +name originally is a description, but the softer parts and sharp +angles are worn down by the attrition of use--the more use they +have for a word the shorter it is bound to get. In this connection +it is significant that "to-day" is To-ho-chin-nay, and "to-morrow" +Kom-pay. + +The Chipewyan teepee is very distinctive; fifty years ago all were +of caribou leather, now most are of cotton; not for lack of caribou, +but because the cotton does not need continual watching to save it +from the dogs. Of the fifty teepees at Fort Chipewyan, one or two +only were of caribou but many had caribou-skin tops, as these are +less likely to bum than those of cotton. + +The way they manage the smoke is very clever; instead of the two +fixed flaps, as among the Plains River Indians, these have a separate +hood which is easily set on any side (see III). Chief Squirrel lives +in a lodge that is an admirable combination of the white men's tent +with its weather-proof roof and the Indian teepee with its cosy +fire. (See cut, p. 149.) + +Not one of these lodges that I saw, here or elsewhere, had the +slightest suggestion of decoration. + +For people who spend their whole life on or near the water these are +the worst boatmen I ever saw. The narrow, thick paddle they make, +compared with the broad, thin Iroquois paddle, exactly expressed +the difference between the two as canoemen. The Chipewyan's mode of +using it is to sit near the middle and make 2 or perhaps 3 strokes +on one side, then change to the other side for the same, and so +on. The line made by the canoes is an endless zigzag. The idea of +paddling on one side so dexterously that the canoe goes straight +is yet on an evolutionary pinnacle beyond their present horizon. + +In rowing, their way is to stand up, reach forward with the 30-pound +16 1/2-foot oar, throw all the weight on it, falling backward into +the seat. After half an hour of this exhausting work they must rest +15 to 20 minutes. The long, steady, strong pull is unknown to them +in every sense. + +Their ideas of sailing a boat are childish. Tacking is like washing, +merely a dim possibility of their very distant future. It's a +sailing wind if behind; otherwise it's a case of furl and row. + +By an ancient, unwritten law the whole country is roughly divided +among the hunters. Each has his own recognised hunting ground, +usually a given river valley, that is his exclusive and hereditary +property; another hunter may follow a wounded animal into it, but +not begin a hunt there or set a trap upon it. + +Most of their time is spent at the village, but the hunting ground +is visited at proper seasons. + +Fifty years ago they commonly went half naked. How they stood the +insects I do not know, and when asked they merely grinned significantly; +probably they doped themselves with grease. + +This religious training has had one bad effect. Inspired with horror +of being "naked" savages, they do not run any sinful risks, even +to take a bath. In all the six months I was among them I never saw +an Indian's bare arms, much less his legs. One day after the fly +season was over I took advantage of the lovely weather and water +to strip off and jump into a lake by our camp; my Indians modestly +turned their backs until I had finished. + +If this mock modesty worked for morality one might well accept it, +but the old folks say that it operates quite the other way. It has +at all events put an end to any possibility of them taking a bath. + +Maybe as a consequence, but of this I am not sure, none of these +Indians swim. A large canoe-load upset in crossing Great Slave Lake +a month after we arrived and all were drowned. + +Like most men who lead physical lives, and like all meat-eating +savages, these are possessed of a natural proneness toward strong +drink. + +An interesting two-edged boomerang illustration of this was given +by an unscrupulous whiskey trader. While travelling across country +he ran short of provisions but fortunately came to a Chipewyan +lodge. At first its owner had no meat to spare, but when he found +that the visitor had a flask of whiskey he offered for it a large +piece of Moose meat; when this was refused he doubled the amount, +and after another refusal added some valuable furs and more meat +till one hundred dollars worth was piled up. + +Again the answer was "no." + +Then did that Indian offer the lodge and everything he had in it, +including his wife. But the trader was obdurate. + +"Why didn't you take it," said the friend whom he told of the +affair; "the stuff would have netted five hundred dollars, and all +for one flask of whiskey." + +"Not much," said the trader, "it was my last flask I wouldn't 'a' +had a drop for myself. But it just shows, how fond these Indians +are of whiskey." + +While some of the Chipewyans show fine physique, and many do great +feats of strength and endurance, they seem on the whole inferior +to whites. + +Thus the strongest portager on the river is said to be Billy +Loutit's brother George. At Athabaska Landing I was shown a house +on a hill, half a mile away, to which he had carried on his back +450 pounds of flour without stopping. Some said it was only 350 +pounds, but none made it less. As George is only three-quarters +white, this is perhaps not a case in point. But during our stay +at Fort Smith we had several athletic meets of Indians and whites, +the latter represented by Preble and the police boys, and no matter +whether in running, walking, high jumping, broad jumping, wrestling, +or boxing, the whites were ahead. + +As rifle-shots, also, the natives seem far inferior. In the matter +of moose-hunting only, as already noted, the red-man was master. +This, of course, is a matter of life-long training. A white man +brought up to it would probably do as well as an Indian even in +this very Indian department. + +These tribes are still in the hunting and fishing stage; they make +no pretence of agriculture or stockraising. Except that they wear +white man's clothes and are most of them nominally Roman Catholics, +they live as their fathers did 100 years ago. But there is one +remarkable circumstance that impressed me more and more--practically +every Chipewyan reads and writes his own language. + +This miracle was inborn on me slowly. On the first Buffalo hunt we +had found a smoothened pole stuck in the ground by the trail. It +was inscribed as herewith. + +"What is that Sousi?" "It's a notice from Chief William that Swiggert +wants men on the portage," and he translated it literally: "The fat +white man 5 scows, small white man 2 scows, gone down, men wanted +for Rapids, Johnnie Bolette this letter for you. (Signed) Chief +William." + +Each of our guides in succession had shown a similar familiarity +with the script of his people, and many times we found spideresque +characters on tree or stone that supplied valuable information. +They could, however tell me nothing of its age or origin, simply +"We all do it; it is easy." + +At Fort Resolution I met the Jesuit fathers and got the desired +chance of learning about the Chipewyan script. + +First, it is not a true alphabet, but a syllabic; not letters, but +syllables, are indicated by each character; 73 characters are all +that are needed to express the whole language. It is so simple +and stenographic that the fathers often use it as a rapid way of +writing French. It has, however, the disadvantage of ambiguity at +times. Any Indian boy can learn it in a week or two; practically +all the Indians use it. What a commentary on our own cumbrous and +illogical spelling, which takes even a bright child two or three +years to learn! + +Now, I already knew something of the Cree syllabic invented by +the Rev. James Evans, Methodist missionary on Lake Winnipeg in the +'40s, but Cree is a much less complex language; only 36 characters +are needed, and these are so simple that an intelligent Cree can +learn to write his own language in one day. + +In support, of this astounding statement I give, first, the 36 +characters which cover every fundamental sound in their language +and then a sample of application. While crude and inconcise, it +was so logical and simple that in a few years the missionary had +taught practically the whole Cree nation to read and write. And +Lord Dufferin, when the matter came before him during his north-west +tour, said enthusiastically: "There have been men buried in +Westminster Abbey with national honours whose claims to fame were +far less than those of this devoted missionary, the man who taught +a whole nation to read and write." + +These things I knew, and now followed up my Jesuit source of +information. + +"Who invented this?" + +"I don't know for sure. It is in general use." + +"Was it a native idea?" + +"Oh, no; some white man made it." + +"Where? Here or in the south?" + +"It came originally from the Crees, as near as we can tell." + +"Was it a Cree or a missionary that first thought of it?" + +"I believe it was a missionary." + +"Frankly, now, wasn't it invented in 1840 by Rev. James Evans, +Methodist missionary to the Crees on Lake Winnipeg?" + +Oh, how he hated to admit it, but he was too honest to deny it. + +"Yes, it seems to me it was some name like that. 'Je ne sais pas.'" + +Reader, take a map of North America, a large one, and mark off the +vast area bounded by the Saskatchewan, the Rockies, the Hudson Bay, +and the Arctic circle, and realise that in this region, as large +as continental Europe outside of Russia and Spain, one simple, +earnest man, inspired by the love of Him who alone is perfect +love, invented and popularised a method of writing that in a few +years--in less than a generation, indeed--has turned the whole native +population from ignorant illiterates to a people who are proud to +read and write their own language. This, I take it, is one of the +greatest feats of a civiliser. The world has not yet heard, much +less comprehended, the magnitude of the achievement; when it does +there will be no name on the Canadian roll of fame that will stand +higher or be blazoned more brightly than that of James Evans the +missionary. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE DOGS OF FORT RESOLUTION + + + +It sounds like the opening of an epic poem but it is not. + +The Chipewyan calender is divided in two seasons--dog season and +canoe season. What the horse is to the Arab, what the Reindeer is +to the Lap and the Yak to the Thibetan, the dog is to the Chipewyan +for at least one-half of the year, until it is displaced by the +canoe. + +During dog season the canoes are piled away somewhat carelessly or +guarded only from the sun. During canoe season the dogs are treated +atrociously. Let us remember, first, that these are dogs in every +doggy sense, the worshipping servants of man, asking nothing but +a poor living in return for abject love and tireless service, as +well as the relinquishment of all family ties and natural life. In +winter, because they cannot serve without good food, they are well +fed on fish that is hung on scaffolds in the fall in time to be +frozen before wholly spoiled. The journeys they will make and the +devoted service they render at this time is none too strongly set +forth in Butler's "Cerf Vola" and London's "Call of the Wild." It +is, indeed, the dog alone that makes life possible during the white +half-year of the boreal calender. One cannot be many days in the +north without hearing tales of dog prowess, devotion, and heroism. +A typical incident was related as follows by Thomas Anderson: + +Over thirty years ago, Chief Factor George McTavish and his driver, +Jack Harvey, were travelling from East Main to Rupert's House (65 +miles) in a blizzard so thick and fierce that they could scarcely +see the leading dog. He was a splendid, vigorous creature, but all +at once he lay down and refused to go. The driver struck him, but +the factor reproved the man, as this dog had never needed the whip. +The driver then went ahead and found open water only a few feet +from the dogs, though out of sight. After that they gave the leader +free rein, surrendered themselves to his guidance, and in spite of +the blinding blizzard they struck the flagpole of Rupert's between +11 and 12 that night, only a little behind time. + +Many of the wild Wolf traits still remain with them. They commonly +pair; they bury surplus food; the mothers disgorge food for the +young; they rally to defend one of their own clan against a stranger; +and they punish failure with death. + +A thousand incidents might be adduced to show that in the north +there is little possibility of winter travel without dogs and little +possibility of life without winter travel. + +But April comes with melting snows and May with open rivers and +brown earth everywhere; then, indeed, the reign of the dog is over. +The long yellow-birch canoe is taken down from the shanty roof or +from a sheltered scaffold, stitched, gummed, and launched; and the +dogs are turned loose to fend for themselves. Gratitude for past +services or future does not enter into the owner's thoughts to +secure a fair allowance of food. All their training and instinct +prompts them to hang about camp, where, kicked, stoned, beaten, +and starved, they steal and hunt as best they may, until the sad +season of summer is worn away and merry winter with its toil and +good food is back once more. + +From leaving Fort MacMurray we saw daily the starving dog, and +I fed them when I could. At Smith Landing the daily dog became a +daily fifty. One big fellow annexed us. "I found them first," he +seemed to say, and no other dog came about our camp without a fight. + +Of course he fared well on our scraps, but many a time it made my +heart ache and my food-store suffer to see the gaunt skeletons in +the bushes, just beyond his sphere of influence, watching for a +chance to rush in and secure a mouthful of--anything to stay the +devastating pang. My journal of the time sets forth in full detail +the diversity of their diet, not only every possible scrap of +fish and meat or whatsoever smelled of fish or meat, but rawhide, +leather, old boots, flour-bags, potato-peelings, soap, wooden +fragments of meat-boxes, rags that have had enough animal contact +to be odorous. An ancient dishcloth, succulent with active service, +was considered a treat to be bolted whole; and when in due course +the cloth was returned to earth, it was intact, bleached, purged, and +purified as by chemic fires and ready for a new round of benevolences. + +In some seasons the dogs catch Rabbits enough to keep them up. But +this year the Rabbits were gone. They are very clever at robbing +fish-nets at times, but these were far from the fort. Reduced +to such desperate straits for food, what wonder that cannibalism +should be common! Not only the dead, but the sick or disabled of +their own kind are torn to pieces and devoured. I was told of one +case where a brutal driver disabled one of his dogs with heavy blows; +its companions did not wait till it was dead before they feasted. +It is hard to raise pups because the mothers so often devour their +own young; and this is a charge I never heard laid to the Wolf, +the ancestor of these dogs, which shows how sadly the creature has +been deteriorated by contact with man. There seems no length to +which they will not go for food. Politeness forbids my mentioning +the final diet for which they scramble around the camp. Never in my +life before have I seen such utter degradation by the power of the +endless hunger pinch. Nevertheless--and here I expect the reader to +doubt, even as I did when first I heard it, no matter how desperate +their straits-these gormandisers of unmentionable filth, these +starvelings, in their dire extremity will turn away in disgust from +duck or any other web-footed water-fowl. + +Billy Loutit had shot a Pelican; the skin was carefully preserved +and the body guarded for the dogs, thinking that this big thing, +weighing 6 or 7 pounds, would furnish a feast for one or two. The +dogs knew me, and rushed like a pack of Wolves at sight of coming +food. The bigger ones fought back the smaller. I threw the prize, +but, famished though they were, they turned away as a man might +turn from a roasted human hand. One miserable creature, a mere +skeleton, sneaked forward when the stronger ones were gone, pulled +out the entrails at last, and devoured them as though he hated +them. + +I can offer no explanation. But the Hudson's Bay men tell me it is +always so, and I am afraid the remembrance of the reception accorded +my bounty that day hardened my heart somewhat in the days that +followed. + +On the Nyarling we were too far from mankind to be bothered +with dogs, but at Fort Resolution we reentered their country. The +following from my journal records the impression after our enforced +three days' stay: + +"Tuesday, July 16, 1907.--Fine day for the first time since July +3. At last we pulled out of Fort Resolution (9.40 A. M.). I never +was so thankful to leave a place where every one was kind. I think +the maddest cynophile would find a cure here. It is the worst +dog-cursed spot I ever saw; not a square yard but is polluted +by them; no article can be left on the ground but will be carried +off, torn up, or defiled; the four corners of our tent have become +regular stopping places for the countless canines, and are disfigured +and made abominable, so that after our escape there will be needed +many days of kindly rain for their purification. There certainly +are several hundred dogs in the village; there are about 50 teepees +and houses with 5 to 15 dogs at each, and 25 each at the mission +and H. B. Co. In a short walk, about 200 yards, I passed 86 dogs. + +"There is not an hour or ten minutes of day or night that is not +made hideous with a dog-fight or chorus of yelps. There are about +six different clans of dogs, divided as their owners are, and a +Dogrib dog entering the Yellow-knife or Chipewyan part of the camp +is immediately set upon by all the residents. Now the clansmen of +the one in trouble rush to the rescue and there is a battle. Indians +of both sides join in with clubs to belabour the fighters, and the +yowling and yelping of those discomfited is painful to hear for +long after the fight is over. It was a battle like this, I have +been told, which caused the original split of the tribe, one part +of which went south to become the Apaches of Arizona. The scenes +go on all day and all night in different forms. A number of dogs +are being broken in by being tied up to stakes. These keep up +a heart-rending and peculiar crying, beginning with a short bark +which melts into a yowl and dies away in a nerve-racking wail. +This ceases not day or night, and half a dozen of these prisoners +are within a stone's throw of our camp. + +"The favourite place for the clan fights seems to be among +the guy-ropes of our tent; at least half a dozen of these general +engagements take place every night while we try to sleep. + +"Everything must be put on the high racks eight feet up to be safe +from them; even empty tins are carried off, boots, hats, soap, etc., +are esteemed most toothsome morsels, and what they can neither eat, +carry off, nor destroy, they defile with elaborate persistency and +precision." + +A common trick of the Indians when canoe season arrives is, to put +all the family and one or two of the best dogs in the canoes, then +push away from the shore, leaving the rest behind. Those so abandoned +come howling after the canoes, and in unmistakable pleadings beg +the heartless owners to take them in. But the canoes push off toward +the open sea, aiming to get out of sight. The dogs howl sadly on +the shore, or swim after them till exhausted, then drift back to +the nearest land to begin the summer of hardship. + +If Rabbits are plentiful they get along; failing these they catch +mice or fish; when the berry season comes they eat fruit; the weaker +ones are devoured by their brethren; and when the autumn arrives +their insensate owners generally manage to come back and pick up +the survivors, feeding them so that they are ready for travel when +dog-time begins, and the poor faithful brutes, bearing no grudge, +resume at once the service of their unfeeling masters. + +All through our voyage up Great Slave Lake we daily heard the sad +howling of abandoned dogs, and nightly, we had to take steps to +prevent them stealing our food and leathers. More than once in the +dim light, I was awakened by a rustle, to see sneaking from my tent +the gray, wolfish form of some prowling dog, and the resentment I +felt at the loss inflicted, was never more than to make me shout +or throw a pebble at him. + +One day, as we voyaged eastward (July 23) in the Tal-thel-lay +narrows of Great Slave Lake, we met 5 canoes and 2 York boats of +Indians going west. A few hours afterward as, we were nooning on +an island (we were driven to the islands now) there came a long +howling from the rugged main shore, a mile away to the east of +us; then it increased to a chorus of wailing, and we knew that the +Indians had that morning abandoned their dogs there. The wailing +continued, then we saw a tiny black speck coming from the far +shore. When it was half-way across the ice-cold bay we could hear +the gasps of a tired swimmer. He got along fairly, dodging the cakes +of ice, until within about 200 yards, when his course was barred +by a long, thin, drifting floe. He tried to climb on it, but was +too weak, then he raised his voice in melancholy howls of despair. +I could not get to him, but he plucked up heart at length, and +feebly paddling went around till he found an opening, swam through +and came on, the slowest dog swimmer I ever saw. At last he struck +bottom and crawled out. But he was too weak and ill to eat the meat +that I had ready prepared for him. We left him with food for many +days and sailed away. + +Another of the dogs that tried to follow him across was lost in the +ice; we heard his miserable wailing moans as he was carried away, +but could not help him. My Indians thought nothing of it and were +amused at my solicitude. + +A couple of hours later we landed on the rugged east coast to study +our course through the ice. At once., we were met by four dogs that +trotted along the shore to where we landed. They did not seem very +gaunt; one, an old yellow female, carried something in her mouth; +this she never laid down, and growled savagely when any of the others +came near. It proved to be the blood-stained leg of a new-killed +dog, yellow like herself. + +As we pulled out a big black-and-white fellow looked at us +wistfully from a rocky ledge; memories of Bingo, whom he resembled +not a little, touched me. I threw him a large piece of dried meat. +He ate it, but not ravenously. He seemed in need, not of food, but +of company. + +A few miles farther on we again landed to study the lake; as we +came near we saw the dogs, not four but six, now racing to meet +us. I said to Preble: "It seems to me it would be the part of mercy +to shoot them all." He answered: "They are worth nothing now, but +you shoot one and its value would at once jump up to one hundred +dollars. Every one knows everything that is done in this country. +You would have six hundred dollars' damages to pay when you got +back to Fort Resolution." + +I got out our stock of fresh fish. The Indians, seeing my purpose, +said: "Throw it in the water and see them dive." I did so and found +that they would dive into several feet of water and bring up the +fish without fail. The yellow female was not here, so I suppose +she had stayed to finish her bone. + +When we came away, heading for the open lake, the dogs followed us +as far as they could, then gathering on a flat rock, the end of a +long point, they sat down, some with their backs to us; all raised +their muzzles and howled to the sky a heart-rending dirge. + +I was thankful to lose them in the distance. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE VOYAGE ACROSS THE LAKE + + + +Hitherto I have endeavoured to group my observations on each +subject; I shall now for a change give part of the voyage across +Great Slave Lake much, as it appears in my journal. + +"July 16, 1907.--Left Fort Resolution at 9.40 A. M. in the York boat +manned by 7 Indians and Billy Loutit, besides Preble and myself, 10 +in all; ready with mast and sail for fair wind, but also provided +with heavy 16-foot oars for head-winds and calm. Harding says we +should make Pike's Portage in 3 or 4 days. + +"Reached Moose Island at 11.30 chiefly by rowing; camped. A large +dog appeared on the bank. Freesay recognised it as his and went +ashore with a club. We heard the dog yelping. Freesay came back +saying: 'He'll go home now.' + +"At 1.30 went on but stopped an unnecessary half-hour at a saw-mill +getting plank for seats. Reached the Big, or Main, River at 4.10; +stopped for tea again till 4.50, then rowed up the river till 5.40; +rested 15 minutes, rowed till 6.30; rested 15 minutes, rowed till +7; then got into the down current of the north branch or mouth of +the Slave; down then we drifted till 8, then landed and made another +meal, the fourth to-day, and went on drifting at 8.30. + +"At 9.30 we heard a Ruffed Grouse drumming, the last of the season, +also a Bittern pumping, some Cranes trumpeting, and a Wood Frog +croaking. Snipe were still whirring in the sky. Saw Common Tern. + +"At 10.15, still light, we camped for the night and made another +meal. The Indians went out and shot 2 Muskrats, making 7 the total +of these I have seen in the country. This is the very lowest ebb. +Why are they so scarce? Their low epoch agrees with that of the +Rabbits. + +"July 17.--Rose at 6 (it should have been 4, but the Indians would +not rouse); sailed north through the marsh with a light east breeze. +At noon this changed to a strong wind blowing from the north, as it +has done with little variation ever since I came to the country. These +Indians know little of handling a boat and resent any suggestion. +They maintain their right, to row or rest, as they please, and land +when and where they think best. We camped on a sand-bar and waited +till night; most exasperating when we are already behind time. The +Indians set a net, using for tie-strings the bark of the willow +(Salix bebbiana). They caught a Jack-fish. Reached Stony Island at +night, after many stops and landings. The Indians land whenever in +doubt and make a meal (at my expense), and are in doubt every two +hours or so. They eat by themselves and have their own cook. Billy +cooks for us, i.e., Preble, Weeso, and myself. Among the crew I +hear unmistakable grumblings about the food, which is puzzling, as +it is the best they ever had in their lives; there is great variety +and no limit to the quantity. + +"Made 6 meals and 17 miles to-day, rowing 7, sailing 10. + +"July 18.--Left Stony Island at 6.55; could not get the crew started +sooner; sailing with a light breeze which soon died down and left +us on a sea of glass. I never before realised how disgusting a calm +could be. + +"Camped at 9.15 on one of the countless, unnamed, uncharted islands +of the lake. It is very beautiful in colour, red granite, spotted +with orange and black lichen on its face, and carpeted with caribou +moss and species of cetraria, great patches of tripe-de-roche, beds +of saxifrage, long trailers, and masses of bearberry, empetrum, +ground cedar, juniper, cryptograma, and many others; while the +trees, willow, birch, and spruce are full of character and drawing. +Sky and lake are in colour worthy of these rich details, the bird +life is well represented and beautiful; there is beauty everywhere, +and 'only man is vile.' + +"I am more and more disgusted with my Indian crew; the leader in +mischief seems to be young Beaulieu. Yesterday he fomented a mutiny +because I did not give them 'beans,' though I had given them far +more than promised, and beans were never mentioned. Still, he had +discovered a bag of them among my next month's stores, and that +started him. + +"To-day, when sick of seeing them dawdling two hours over a meal +when there are 6 meals a day, I gave the order to start. Beaulieu +demanded insolently: 'Oh! who's boss?' My patience was worn out. +I said: 'I am, and I'll show you right now,' and proceeded to do +so, meaning to let him have my fist with all the steam I could get +back of it. But he did not wait. At a safe distance he turned and +in a totally different manner said: 'I only want to know; I thought +maybe the old man (the guide). I'll do it, all ri, all ri,' and he +smiled and smiled. + +"Oh! why did I not heed Pike's warning to shun all Beaulieus; they +rarely fail to breed trouble. If I had realised all this last night +before coming to the open lake I would have taken the whole outfit +back to Resolution and got rid of the crowd. We could do better +with another canoe and two men, and at least make better time than +this (17 miles a day). + +"Yesterday the Indian boys borrowed my canoe, my line, and in my +time, at my expense, caught a big fish, but sullenly disregarded +the suggestion that, I should have a piece of it. + +"Each of them carries a Winchester and blazes at every living +thing that appears. They have volleyed all day at every creature +big enough to afford a mouthful--Ducks, Gulls, Loons, Fish, Owls, +Terns, etc.--but have hit nothing. Loons are abundant in the water +and are on the Indians' list of Ducks, therefore good food. They +are wonderfully expert at calling them. This morning a couple of +Loons appeared flying far to the east. The Indians at once began +to mimic their rolling whoo-ooo-whoo-ooo; doing it to the life. The +Loons began to swing toward us, then to circle, each time nearer. +Then all the callers stopped except Claw-hammer, the expert; he +began to utter a peculiar cat-like wail. The Loons responded and +dropped their feet as though to alight. Then at 40 yards the whole +crew blazed away with their rifles, doing no damage whatever. The +Loons turned away from these unholy callers, and were none the +worse, but wiser. + +"This scene was repeated many times during the voyage. When the +Loons are on the water the Indians toll them by flashing a tin pan +from the bushes behind which the toller hides till the bird is in +range. I saw many clever tollings but I did not see a Loon killed. + +"July 19.--I got up at 4, talked strong talk, so actually got away +at 5.30. Plenty grumbling, many meals to-day, with many black looks +and occasional remarks in English: 'Grub no good.' Three days ago +these men were starving on one meal a day, of fish and bad flour; +now they have bacon, dried venison, fresh fish, fresh game, potatoes, +flour, baking powder, tea, coffee, milk, sugar, molasses, lard, +cocoa, dried apples, rice, oatmeal, far more than was promised, +all ad libitum, and the best that the H. B. Co. can supply, and yet +they grumble. There is only one article of the food store to which +they have not access; that is a bag of beans which I am reserving +for our own trip in the north where weight counts for so much. +Beaulieu smiles when I speak to him, but I know he is at the bottom +of all this mischief. To day they made 6 meals and 17 miles--this +is magnificent. + +"About 7.30 a pair of Wild Geese (Canada) appeared on a bay. The +boys let off a whoop of delight and rushed on them in canoe and in +boat as though these were their deadliest enemies. I did not think +much of it until I noticed that the Geese would not fly, and it +dawned on me that they were protecting their young behind their own +bodies. A volley of shot-guns and Winchesters and one noble head +fell flat on the water, another volley and the gander fell, then +a wild skurrying, yelling, and shooting for some minutes resulted +in the death of the two downlings. + +"I could do nothing to stop them. I have trouble enough in matters +that are my business and this they consider solely their own. It +is nothing but kill, kill, kill every living thing they meet. One +cannot blame them in general, since they live by hunting, and in +this case they certainly did eat every bit of all four birds, even +to their digestive organs with contents; but it seemed hard to have +the devotion of the parents made their death trap when, after all, +we were not in need of meat. + +"July 20.--Rose at 4; had trouble on my hands at once. The Indians +would not get up till 5, so we did not get away till 6.20. Beaulieu +was evidently instructing the crew, for at the third breakfast all +together (but perhaps 2) shouted out in English, 'Grub no good! + +"I walked over, to them, asked who spoke; no one answered; so, I +reviewed the bargain, pointed out that I had given more than agreed, +and added: 'I did not promise you beans, but will say now that if +you work well I'll give you a bean feast once in a while.' + +"They all said in various tongues and ways, 'That's all ri.' Beaulieu +said it several times, and smiled and smiled. + +"If the mythical monster that dwells in the bottom of Great Slave +Lake had reached up its long neck now and taken this same half-breed +son of Belial, I should have said, 'Well done, good and faithful +monster,' and the rest of our voyage would have been happier. Oh! +what a lot of pother a beneficent little bean can make. + +"At noon that day Billy announced that it was time to give me a +lobstick; a spruce was selected on a slate island and trimmed to +its proper style, then inscribed: + + +E. T. SETON +E. A. PREBLE +W. C. LOUTIT +20 July +1907 + + +"Now I was in honour bound to treat, the crew. I had neither the +power nor the wish to give whiskey. Tobacco was already provided, +so I seized the opportunity of smoothing things by announcing a +feast of beans, and this, there was good reason to believe, went +far in the cause of peace. + +"At 1.30 for the first time a fair breeze sprang up or rather lazily +got up. Joyfully then we raised our mast and sail. The boys curled +up to sleep, except Beaulieu. He had his fiddle and now he proceeded +to favour us with 'A Life on the Ocean Wave,' 'The Campbells are +Coming,' etc., in a manner worthy of his social position and of +his fiddle. When not in use this aesthetic instrument (in its box) +knocks about on deck or underfoot, among pots and pans, exposed in +all weather; no one seems to fear it will be injured. + +"At 7 the usual dead calm was restored. We rowed till we reached +Et-then Island at 8, covering two miles more or 32 in all to-day. +I was unwilling to stop now, but the boys, said they would row all +day Sunday if I would camp here, and then added, 'And if the wind +rises to-night we'll go on.' + +"At 10 o'clock I was already in bed for the night, though of course +it was broad daylight. Preble had put out a line of mouse-traps, +when the cry was raised by the Indians now eating their 7th meal: +Chim-pal-le! Hurra! Chilla quee!' ('Sailing wind! Hurra, boys!'). + +"The camp was all made, but after such a long calm a sailing wind +was too good to miss. In 10 minutes every tent was torn down and +bundled into the boat. At 10.10 we pulled out under a fine promising +breeze; but alas! for its promise! at 10.30 the last vestige of +it died away and we had to use the oars to make the nearest land, +where we tied up at 11 P. M. + +"That night old Weeso said to me, through Billy, the interpreter: +'To-morrow is Sunday, therefore he would like to have a prayer-meeting +after breakfast.' + +"'Tell him,' I said, 'that I quite approve of his prayer-meeting, +but also it must be understood that if the good Lord sends us a +sailing wind in the morning that is His way of letting us know we +should sail.' + +"This sounded so logical that Weeso meekly said, 'All right.' + +"Sure enough, the morning dawned with a wind and we got away after +the regular sullen grumbling. About 10.20 the usual glassy calm set +in and Weeso asked me for a piece of paper and a pencil. He wrote +something in Chipewyan on the sheet I gave, then returned the pencil +and resumed his pilotic stare at the horizon, for his post was at +the rudder. At length he rolled the paper into a ball, and when I +seemed not observing dropped it behind him overboard. + +"'What is the meaning of that, Billy?' I whispered. + +"'He's sending a prayer to Jesus for wind.' Half an hour afterward +a strong head-wind sprang up, and Weeso was severely criticised +for not specifying clearly what was wanted. + +"There could be no question now about the propriety of landing. +Old Weeso took all the Indians off to a rock, where, bareheaded +and in line, they kneeled facing the east, and for half an hour he +led them in prayer, making often the sign of the cross. The headwind +died away as they came to the boat and again we resumed the weary +rowing, a labour which all were supposed to share, but it did not +need an expert to see that Beaulieu, Snuff, and Terchon merely +dipped their oars and let them drift a while; the real rowing of +that cumbrous old failure of a sailboat was done by Billy Loutit +and Yum Freesay." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +CROSSING THE LAKE--ITS NATURAL HISTORY + + + +All day long here, as on the Nyarling, I busied myself with compass +and sketch-book, making the field notes, sketches, and compass +surveys from which my various maps were compiled; and Preble let no +chance go by of noting the changing bird and plant life that told +us we quit the Canadian fauna at Stony Island and now were in the +Hudsonian zone. + +This is the belt of dwindling trees, the last or northmost zone of +the forest, and the spruce trees showed everywhere that they were +living a life-long battle, growing and seeding, but dwarfed by +frost and hardships. But sweet are the uses of adversity, and the +stunted sprucelings were beautified, not uglified, by their troubles. +I never before realised that a whole country could be such a series +of charming little Japanese gardens, with tiny trees, tiny flowers, +tiny fruits, and gorgeous oriental rugs upon the earth and rocks +between. + +I photographed one group of trees to illustrate their dainty elfish +dwarfishness, but realising that no one could guess the height +without a scale, I took a second of the same with a small Indian +sitting next it. + +Weeso is a kind old soul; so far as I could see he took no part +in the various seditions, but he was not an inspiring guide. One +afternoon he did something that made a final wreck of my confidence. +A thunderstorm was rumbling in the far east. Black clouds began +travelling toward us; with a line of dark and troubled waters below, +the faint breeze changed around and became a squall. Weeso looked +scared and beckoned to Freesay, who came and took the helm. Nothing +happened. + +We were now running along the north shore of Et-then, where are to +be seen the wonderful 1,200-foot cliffs described and figured by +Captain George Back in 1834. They are glorious ramparts, wonderful +in size and in colour, marvellous in their geological display. + +Flying, and evidently nesting among the dizzy towers, were a few +Barn-swallows and Phoebe-birds. + +This cliff is repeated on Oot-sing-gree-ay, the next island, but +there it is not on the water's edge. It gives a wonderful echo which +the Indians (not to mention myself) played with, in childish fashion. + +On Sunday, 21 July, we made a new record, 6 meals and 20 miles. + +On July 22 we made only 7 meals and 11 miles and camped in the +narrows Tal-thel-lay. These are a quarter of a mile wide and have +a strong current running westerly. This is the place which Back +says is a famous fishing ground and never freezes over, even in the +hardest winters. Here, as at all points, I noted the Indian names, +not only because they were appropriate, but in hopes of serving the +next traveller. I found an unexpected difficulty in writing them +down, viz.: no matter how I pronounced them, old Weeso and Freesay, +my informants, would say, "Yes, that is right." This, I learned, +was out of politeness; no matter how you mispronounce their words +it is good form to say, "That's it; now you have it exactly." + +The Indians were anxious to put out a net overnight here, as they +could count on getting a few Whitefish; so we camped at 5.15. It is +difficult to convey to an outsider the charm of the word "whitefish." +Any northerner will tell you that it is the only fish that is +perfect human food, the only food that man or dog never wearies of, +the only lake food that conveys no disorder no matter how long or +freely it is used. It is so delicious and nourishing that there +is no fish in the world that can even come second to it. It is as +far superior in all food qualities to the finest Salmon or Trout as +a first-prize, gold-medalled, nut-fed thoroughbred Sussex bacon-hog +is to the roughest, toughest, boniest old razor-backed land-pike +that ever ranged the woods of Arkansas. + +That night the net yielded 3 Whitefish and 3 Trout. The latter, +being 4 to 8 pounds each, would have been reckoned great prizes +in any other country, but now all attention was on the Whitefish. +They certainly were radiantly white, celestial in color; their +backs were a dull frosted silver, with here and there a small +electric lamp behind the scales to make its jewels sparkle. The +lamps alternated with opals increased on the side; the bellies were +of a blazing mother-of-pearl. It would be hard to imagine a less +imaginative name than "white" fish for such a shining, burning +opalescence. Indian names are usually descriptive, but their name +for this is simply "The Fish." All others are mere dilutes and cheap +imitations, but the Coregonus is at all times and par excellence +"The Fish." + +Nevertheless, in looking at it I could not help feeling that this +is the fat swine, or the beef Durham of its kind. The head, gills, +fins, tail, vital organs and bones all were reduced to a minimum +and the meat parts enlarged and solidified, as though they were +the product of ages of careful breeding by man to produce a perfect +food fish, a breeding that has been crowned with the crown of +absolute success. + +The Indians know, for the best of reasons, the just value of every +native food. When Rabbits abound they live on them but do not +prosper; they call it "starving on rabbits." When Caribou meat is +plenty they eat it, but crave flour. When Moose is at hand they +eat it, and are strong. When Jack-fish, Sucker, Conies, and Trout +are there, they take them as a variant; but on Whitefish, as on +Moose, they can live with out loathing, and be strong. The Indian +who has his scaffold hung with Whitefish when winter comes, is +accounted rich. + +"And what," says the pessimist, "is the fly in all this precious +ointment?" Alasl It is not a game fish; it will not take bait, +spoon, or fly, and its finest properties vanish in a few hours +after capture. + +The Whitefish served in the marble palaces of other lands is as +mere dish-water to champagne, when compared with the three times +purified and ten times intensified dazzling silver Coregonus as +it is landed on the bleak shores of those far-away icy lakes. So +I could not say 'No' to the Indian boys when they wanted to wait +here, the last point at which they could be sure of a catch. + +That night (22d July) five canoes and two York boats of Indians +landed at the narrows. These were Dogribs of Chief Vital's band; +all told they numbered about thirty men, women, and children; with +them were twenty-odd dogs, which immediately began to make trouble. +When one is in Texas the topic of conversation is, "How are the +cattle?" in the Klondike, "How is your claim panning out?" and in +New York, "How are you getting on with your novel?" On Great Slave +Lake you say, "Where are the Caribou?" The Indians could not tell; +they had seen none for weeks, but there was still much ice in the +east end of the lake which kept them from investigating. They had +plenty of dried Caribou meat but were out of tea and tobacco. I had +come prepared for this sort of situation, and soon we had a fine +stock of dried venison. + +These were the Indians whose abandoned dogs made so much trouble +for us in the days that followed. + +At 4 P. M. of 23d of July we were stopped by a long narrow floe of +broken ice. Without consulting me the crew made for the shore. + +It seemed they were full of fears: "What if they should get caught +in that floe, and drift around for days? What if a wind should +arise (it had been glassy calm for a week)? What if they could', +not get back?" etc., etc. + +Preble and I climbed a hill for a view. The floe was but half a +mile wide, very loose, with frequent lanes. + +"Preble, is there any reason why we should not push through this +floe using poles to move the cakes?" + +"None whatever." + +On descending, however, I found the boys preparing to camp for "a +couple of days," while the ice melted or drifted away somewhere. + +So I said, "You get right into this boat now and push off; we can +easily work our way through." They made no reply, simply looked +sulkier than ever, and proceeded to start a fire for meal No. 5. + +"Weeso," I said, "get into your place and tell your men to follow." + +The old man looked worried and did nothing, He wanted to do right, +but he was in awe of his crew. + +Then did I remember how John MacDonald settled the rebellion on +the river. + +"Get in there," I said to Preble and Billy. "Come on, Weeso." We +four jumped into the boat and proceeded to push off with all the +supplies. + +Authorities differ as to the time it took for the crew to make up +their minds. Two seconds and eleven seconds are perhaps the extremes +of estimate. They came jumping aboard as fast as they could. + +We attacked the floe, each with a lodge-pole; that is, Billy and +Preble did in the bow, while Freesay and I did at the rear; and +in thirty-five minutes we had pushed through and were sailing the +open sea. + +The next day we had the same scene repeated with less intensity, +in this case because Freesay sided with me. What would I not give +to have had a crew of white men. A couple of stout Norwegian sailors +would have done far better than this whole outfit of reds. + +When we stopped for supper No. 1 a tiny thimbleful of down on two +pink matches ran past, and at once the mother, a Peetweet, came +running in distress to save her young. The brave Beaulieu fearlessly +seized a big stick and ran to kill the little one. I shouted out, +"Stop that," in tones that implied that I owned the heaven, the +earth, the sea, and all that in them is, but could not have saved +the downling had it not leaped into the water and dived out of +sight. It came up two feet away and swam to a rock of safety, where +it bobbed its latter end toward its adversaries and the open sea +in turn. + +I never before knew that they could dive. + +About eight o'clock we began to look for a good place to camp and +make meal No. 6. But the islands where usually we found refuge +from the dogs were without wood, and the shores were too rugged +and steep or had no dry timber, so we kept going on. After trying +one or two places the Indians said it was only a mile to Indian +Mountain River (Der-sheth Tessy), where was a camp of their friends. +I was always glad of a reason for pushing on, so away we went. My +crew seized their rifles and fired to let their village know we were +coming. The camp came quickly into view, and volley after volley +was fired and returned. + +These Indians are extremely poor and the shots cost 5 and 6 cents +each. So this demonstration totalled up about $2.00. + +As we drew near the village of lodges the populace lined up on shore, +and then our boys whispered, "Some white men." What a peculiar +thrill it gave me! I had seen nothing but Indians along the route +so far and expected nothing else. But here were some of my own +people, folk with whom I could talk. They proved to be my American +friend from Smith Landing, he whose hand I had lanced, and his +companion, a young Englishman, who was here with him prospecting +for gold and copper. "I'm all right now," he said, and, held up +the hand with my mark on it, and our greeting was that of white +men meeting among strangers in a far foreign land. + +As soon as we were ashore a number of Indians came to offer meat +for tobacco. They seemed a lot of tobacco-maniacs. "Tzel-twee" at +any price they must have. Food they could do without for a long +time, but life without smoke was intolerable; and they offered their +whole dried product of two Caribou, concentrated, nourishing food +enough to last a family many days, in exchange for half a pound of +nasty stinking, poisonous tobacco. + +Two weeks hence, they say, these hills will be alive with Caribou; +alas! for them, it proved a wholly erroneous forecast. + +Y.'s guide is Sousi King Beaulieu (for pedigree, see Warburton +Pike); he knows all this country well and gave us much information +about the route. He says that this year the Caribou cows went north +as usual, but the bulls did not. The season was so late they did +not think it worth while; they are abundant yet at Artillery Lake. + +He recognised me as the medicine man, and took an early opportunity +of telling me what a pain he had. Just where, he was not sure, +but it was hard to bear; he would like some sort of a pain-killer. +Evidently he craved a general exhilarator. Next morning we got +away at 7 A. M. after the usual painful scene about getting up in +the middle of the night, which was absurd, as there was no night. + +Next afternoon we passed the Great White Fall at the mouth of Hoar +Frost River; the Indians call it Dezza Kya. If this is the Beverly +Falls of Back, his illustrator was without information; the published +picture bears not the slightest resemblance to it. + +At three in the afternoon of July 27th, the twelfth day after we +had set out on the "three or four day run" from Resolution, this +exasperating and seemingly interminable voyage really did end, and +we thankfully beached our York boat at the famous lobstick that +marks the landing of Pike's Portage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE LYNX AT BAY + + + +One of the few rewarding episodes of this voyage took place on the +last morning, July 27. We were half a mile from Charleston Harbour +when one of the Indians said "Cheesay" (Lynx) and pointed to the +south shore. There, on a bare point a quarter mile away, we saw a +large Lynx walking quietly along. Every oar was dropped and every +rifle seized, of course, to repeat the same old scene; probably +it would have made no difference to the Lynx, but I called out: +"Hold on there! I'm going after that Cheesay." + +Calling my two reliables, Preble and Billy, we set out in the canoe, +armed, respectively, with a shotgun, a club, and a camera. + +When we landed the Lynx was gone. We hastily made a skirmishing line +in the wood where the point joined the mainland, but saw no sign of +him, so concluded that he must be hiding on the point. Billy took +the right shore, Preble the left, I kept the middle. Then we marched +toward the point but saw nothing. There were no bushes except a low +thicket of spruce, some 20 feet across and 3 or 4 feet high. This +was too dense to penetrate standing, so I lay down on my breast +and proceeded to crawl in under the low boughs. I had not gone six +feet before a savage growl warned me back, and there, just ahead, +crouched the Lynx. He glared angrily, then rose up, and I saw, with +a little shock, that he had been crouching on the body of another +Lynx, eating it. Photography was impossible there, so I took a +stick and poked at him; he growled, struck at the stick, but went +out, then dashed across the open for the woods. As he went I got +photograph No. 1. Now I saw the incredible wonder I had heard of--a +good runner can outrun a Lynx. Preble was a sprinter, and before the +timber 200 yards off was reached that Lynx was headed and turned; +and Preble and Billy were driving him back into my studio. He made +several dashes to escape, but was out-manoeuvred and driven onto +the far point, where he was really between the devils and the deep +sea. Here he faced about at bay, growling furiously, thumping his +little bobtail from side to side, and pretending he was going to +spring on us. I took photo No. 2 at 25 yards. He certainly did look +very fierce, but I thought I knew the creature, as well as the men +who were backing me. I retired, put a new film in place, and said: + +"Now, Preble, I'm going to walk up to that Lynx and get a close +photo. If he jumps for me, and he may, there is nothing can save +my beauty but you and that gun." + +Preble with characteristic loquacity says, "Go ahead." + +Then I stopped and began slowly approaching the desperate creature +we held at bay. His eyes were glaring green, his ears were back, +his small bobtail kept twitching from side to side, and his growls +grew harder and hissier, as I neared him. At 15 feet he gathered his +legs under him as for a spring, and I pressed the button getting, +No. 3. + +Then did the demon of ambition enter into my heart and lead me +into peril. That Lynx at bay was starving and desperate. He might +spring at me, but I believed that if he did he never would reach +me alive. I knew my man--this nerved me--and I said to him: "I'm +not satisfied; I want him to fill the finder. Are you ready?" + +"Yep." + +So I crouched lower and came still nearer, and at 12 feet made No. +4. For some strange reason, now the Lynx seemed less angry than he +had been. + +"He didn't fill the finder; I'll try again," was my next. Then +on my knees I crawled up, watching the finder till it was full of +Lynx. I glanced at the beast; he was but 8 feet away. I focused +and fired. + +And now, oh, wonder! that Lynx no longer seemed annoyed; he had +ceased growling and simply looked bored. + +Seeing it was over, Preble says, "Now where does he go? To the +Museum?" + +"No, indeed!" was the reply. "He surely has earned his keep; turn +him loose. It's back to the woods for him." We stood aside; he saw +his chance and dashed for the tall timber. As he went I fired the +last film, getting No. 6; and so far as I know that Lynx is alive +and well and going yet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE LAST OF THAT INDIAN CREW + + + +Carved on the lobstick of the Landing were many names famous in +the annals of this region, Pike, Maltern, McKinley, Munn, Tyrrel +among them. All about were evidences of an ancient and modern +camp--lodge poles ready for the covers, relics and wrecks of all +sorts, fragments of canoes and sleds, and the inevitable stray +Indian dog. + +First we made a meal, of course; then I explained to the crew that +I wanted all the stuff carried over the portage, 31 miles, to the +first lake. At once there was a row; I was used to that. There had +been a row every morning over getting up, and one or two each day +about other details. Now the evil face of Beaulieu showed that his +tongue was at work again. But I knew my lesson. + +"You were brought to man the boat and bring my stuff over this +portage. So do it and start right now." + +They started 3 1/4 miles with heavy loads, very heavy labour I must +admit, back then in four hours to make another meal, and camp. + +Next morning another row before they would get up and take each +another load. But canoe and everything were over by noon. And then +came the final scene. + +In all the quarrels and mutinies, old Weeso had been faithful to +me. Freesay had said little or nothing, and had always worked well +and cheerfully. Weeso was old and weak, Freesay young and strong, +and therefore he was the one for our canoe. I decided it would pay +to subsidise Weeso to resign in favour of the younger man. But, to +be sure, first asked Freesay if he would like to come with me to +the land of the Musk-ox. His answer was short and final, "Yes," +but he could not, as his uncle had told him not to go beyond this +portage. That settled it. The childlike obedience to their elders +is admirable, but embarrassing at times. + +So Weeso went after all, and we got very well acquainted on that +long trip. He was a nice old chap. He always meant well; grinned +so happily, when he was praised, and looked so glum when he was +scolded. There was little of the latter to do; so far as he knew, +he did his best, and it is a pleasure now to conjure up his face +and ways. His cheery voice, at my tent door every morning, was the +signal that Billy had the breakfast within ten minutes of ready. + +"Okimow, To" (Chief, here is water), he would say as he set down +the water for my bath and wondered what in the name of common sense +should make the Okimow need washing every morning. He himself was +of a cleaner kind, having needed no bath during the whole term of +our acquaintance. + +There were two peculiarities of the old man that should make him +a good guide for the next party going northward. First, he never +forgot a place once he had been there, and could afterward go to +it direct from any other place. Second, he had the most wonderful +nose for firewood; no keen-eyed raven or starving wolf could go more +surely to a marrow-bone in cache, than could Weeso to the little +sticks in far away hollows or granite clefts. Again and again, +when we landed on the level or rocky shore and all hands set out +to pick up the few pencil-thick stems of creeping birch, roots +of annual plants, or wisps of grass to boil the kettle, old Weeso +would wander off by himself and in five minutes return with an +armful of the most amazingly acceptable firewood conjured out of +the absolutely timberless, unpromising waste. I never yet saw the +camp where he could not find wood. So he proved good stuff; I was +glad we had brought him along. + +And I was equally glad now to say good-bye to the rest of the crew. +I gave them provisions for a week, added a boiling of beans, and +finally the wonderful paper in which I stated the days they had +worked for me, and the kind of service they had rendered, commended +Freesay, and told the truth about Beaulieu. + +"Dat paper tell about me," said that worthy suspiciously. + +"Yes," I said, "and about the others; and it tells Harding to pay +you as agreed." + +We all shook hands and parted. I have not seen them since, nor do +I wish to meet any of them again, except Freesay. + +My advice to the next traveller would be: get white men for the trip +and one Indian for guide. When alone they are manageable, and some +of them, as seen already, are quite satisfactory, but the more of +them the worse. They combine, as Pike says, the meanest qualities +of a savage and an unscrupulous moneylender. The worst one in the +crowd seems most readily followed by the others. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +GEOLOGICAL FORCES AT WORK + + + +It seems to me that never before have I seen the geological forces +of nature so obviously at work. Elsewhere I have seen great valleys, +cliffs, islands, etc., held on good evidence to be the results of +such and such powers formerly very active; but here on the Athabaska +I saw daily evidence of these powers in full blast, ripping, tearing +reconstructing, while we looked on. + +All the way down the river we saw the process of undermining the +bank, tearing down the trees to whirl them again on distant northern +shores, thus widening the river channel until too wide for its normal +flood, which in time, drops into a deeper restricted channel, in +the wide summer waste of gravel and sand. + +Ten thousand landslides take place every spring, contributing +their tons of mud to the millions that the river is deporting to +the broad catch basins called the Athabaska and Great Slave Lakes. + +Many a tree has happened to stand on the very crack that is the +upmost limit of the slide and has in consequence been ripped in +two. + +Many an island is wiped out and many a one made in these annual +floods. Again and again we saw the evidence of some island, continued +long enough to raise a spruce forest, suddenly receive a 6-foot +contribution from its erratic mother; so the trees were buried to +the arm-pits. Many times I saw where some frightful jam of ice had +planed off all the trees; then a deep overwhelming layer of mud +had buried the stumps and grown in time a new spruce forest. Now +the mighty erratic river was tearing all this work away again, +exposing all its history. + +In the delta of the Slave, near Fort Resolution, we saw the plan of +delta work. Millions of tons of mud poured into the deep translucent +lake have filled it for miles, so that it is scarcely deep enough +to float a canoe; thousands of huge trees, stolen from the upper +forest, are here stranded as wing-dams that check the current and +hold more mud. Rushes grow on this and catch more mud. Then the +willows bind it more, and the sawing down of the outlet into the +Mackenzie results in all this mud being left dry land. + +This is the process that has made all the lowlands at the mouth +of Great Slave and Athabaska Rivers. And the lines of tree trunks +to-day, preparing for the next constructive annexation of the lake, +are so regular that one's first thought is that this is the work +of man. But these are things that my sketches and photographs will +show better than words. + +When later we got onto the treeless Barrens or Tundra, the process +was equally evident, though at this time dormant, and the chief +agent was not running water, but the giant Jack Frost. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +PIKE'S PORTAGE + + + +Part of my plan was to leave a provision cache every hundred +miles, with enough food to carry us 200 miles, and thus cover the +possibility of considerable loss. I had left supplies at Chipewyan, +Smith, and Resolution, but these were settlements; now we were +pushing off into the absolute wilderness, where it was unlikely +we should see any human beings but ourselves. Now, indeed, we +were facing all primitive conditions. Other travellers have made +similar plans for food stores, but there are three deadly enemies +to a cache--weather, ravens, and wolverines., I was prepared for +all three. Water-proof leatheroid cases were to turn the storm, +dancing tins and lines will scare the ravens, and each cache tree +was made unclimbable to Wolverines by the addition of a necklace of +charms in the form of large fish-hooks, all nailed on with points +downward. This idea, borrowed from, Tyrrell, has always proved a +success; and not one of our caches was touched or injured. + +Tyrrell has done much for this region; his name will ever be +linked with its geography and history. His map of the portage was +a godsend, for now we found that our guide had been here only once, +and that when he was a child, with many resultant lapses of memory +and doubts about the trail. My only wonder was that he remembered +as much as he did. + +Here we had a sudden and unexpected onset of black flies; they +appeared for the first time in numbers, and attacked us with a +ferocity that made the mosquitoes seem like a lot of baby butterflies +in comparison. However, much as we may dislike the latter, they at +least do not poison us or convey disease (as yet), and are repelled +by thick clothing. The black flies attack us like some awful +pestilence walking in darkness, crawling in and forcing themselves +under our clothing, stinging and poisoning as they go. They are, +of course, worst near the openings in our armour, that is necks, +wrists, and ankles. Soon each of us had a neck like an old fighting +bull walrus; enormously swollen, corrugated with bloats and wrinkles, +blotched, bumpy, and bloody, as disgusting as it was painful. All +too closely it simulated the ravages of some frightful disease, and +for a night or two the torture of this itching fire kept me from +sleeping. Three days, fortunately, ended the black fly reign, +and left us with a deeper sympathy for the poor Egyptians who on +account of their own or some other bodies' sins were the victims +of "plagues of flies." + +But there was something in the camp that amply offset these annoyances; +this was a spirit of kindness and confidence. Old Weeso was smiling +and happy, ready at all times to do his best; his blundering about +the way was not surprising, all things considered, but his mistakes +did not matter, since I had Tyrrell's admirable maps. Billy, sturdy, +strong, reliable, never needed to be called twice in the morning. +No matter what the hour, he was up at once and cooking the breakfast +in the best of style, for an A 1 cook he was. And when it came to +the portages he would shoulder his 200 or 250 pounds each time. +Preble combined the mental force of the educated white man with +the brawn of the savage, and although not supposed to do it, he +took the same sort of loads as Billy did. Mine, for the best of +reasons, were small, and consisted chiefly of the guns, cameras, +and breakables, or occasionally, while they were transporting the +heavy stuff, I acted as cook. But all were literally and figuratively +in the same boat, all paddled all day, ate the same food worked +the same hours, and imbued with the same spirit were eager to reach +the same far goal. From this on the trip was ideal. + +We were 3 1/2 days covering the 8 small lakes and 9 portages (30 +miles) that lie between the two great highways, Great Slave Lake +and Artillery Lake; and camped on the shore of the latter on the +night of July 31. + +Two of these 9 lakes had not been named by the original explorers. +I therefore exercised my privilege and named them, respectively, +"Loutit" and "Weeso," in honour of my men. + +The country here is cut up on every side with caribou trails; deep +worn like the buffalo trails on the plains, with occasional horns +and bones; these, however, are not so plentiful as were the relics +of the Buffalo. This, it proved, was because the Caribou go far +north at horn-dropping time, and they have practically no bones +that the Wolves cannot crush with their teeth. + +Although old tracks were myriad-many, there were no new ones. Weeso +said, however, "In about four days the shores of this lake will +be alive with Caribou." It will show the erratic nature of these +animals when I say that the old man was all wrong; they did not +appear there in numbers until many weeks later, probably not for +two months. + +Here, at the foot of Artillery Lake, we were near the last of the +timber, and, strange to say, we found some trees of remarkably large +growth. One, a tamarac, was the largest and last seen; the other, +a spruce--Pike's Lobstick--was 55 inches in girth, 1 foot from the +ground. + +At this camp Weeso complained that he was feeling very sick; had +pains in his back. I could not make out what was the matter with +him, but Billy said sagaciously, "I think if you give him any kind +of a pill he will be all right. It doesn't matter what, so long as +it's a pill." + +Of course "cathartic" is good blind play in case of doubt. He got +a big, fierce rhubarb, and all went well. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +CARIBOU-LAND AT LAST + + + +On the morning of August 1 we launched on Artillery Lake, feeling, +for the tenth time, that now we really were on the crowning stretch of +our journey, that at last we were entering the land of the Caribou. + +Over the deep, tranquil waters of the lake we went, scanning the +painted shores with their dwindling remnants of forest. There is +something inspiring about the profundity of transparency in these +lakes, where they are 15 feet deep their bottoms are no more +obscured than in an ordinary eastern brook at 6 inches. On looking +down into the far-below world, one gets the sensation of flight as +one skims overhead in the swift canoe. And how swift that elegant +canoe was in a clear run I was only now finding out. All my +previous estimates had been too low. Here I had the absolute gauge +of Tyrrell's maps and found that we four paddling could send her, +not 3 1/2, but 4 1/2 or 5 miles an hour, with a possibility of 6 +when we made an effort. As we spun along the south-east coast of +the lake, the country grew less rugged; the continuous steep granite +hills were replaced by lower buttes with long grassy plains between; +and as I took them in, I marvelled at their name--the Barrens; bare +of trees, yes, but the plains were covered with rich, rank grass, +more like New England meadows. There were stretches where the herbage +was rank as on the Indiana prairies, and the average pasture of +the bleaker parts was better than the best of central Wyoming. A +cattleman of the West would think himself made if he could be sure +of such pastures on his range, yet these are the Barren Grounds. + +At 3 we passed the splendid landmark of Beaver Lodge Mountain. Its +rosy-red granite cliffs contrast wonderfully with its emerald cap +of verdant grass and mosses, that cover it in tropical luxuriance, +and the rippling lake about it was of Mediterranean hues. + +We covered the last 9 miles in 1 hour and 53 minutes, passed the +deserted Indian village, and landed at Last Woods by 8.30 P. M. + +The edge of the timber is the dividing line between the Hudsonian +and the Arctic zones, It is the beginning of the country we had +come to see; we were now in the land of the Caribou. + +At this point we were prepared to spend several days, leave a cache, +gather a bundle of choice firewood, then enter on the treeless +plains. + +That night it stormed; all were tired; there was no reason to bestir +ourselves; it was 10 when we arose. Half an hour later Billy came +to my tent and said, "Mr. Seton, here's some deer." I rushed to +the door, and there, with my own eyes, I saw on a ridge a mile away +four great, Caribou standing against the sky. + +We made for a near hill and met Preble returning; he also had seen +them. From a higher view-point the 4 proved part of a band of 120. + +Then other bands came in view, 16, 61, 3, 200, and so on; each valley +had a scattering few, all travelling slowly southward or standing +to enjoy the cool breeze that ended the torment of the flies. About +1,000 were in sight. These were my first Caribou, the first fruits +of 3,000 miles of travel. + +Weeso got greatly excited; these were the forerunners of the vast +herd. He said, "Plenty Caribou now," and grinned like a happy child. + +I went in one direction, taking only my camera. At least 20 Caribou +trotted within 50 feet of me. + +Billy and Weeso took their rifles intent on venison, but the Caribou +avoided them and 6 or 8 shots were heard before they got a young +buck. + +All that day I revelled in Caribou, no enormous herds but always +a few in sight. + +The next day Weeso and I went to the top ridge eastward. He with +rifle, I with camera. He has a vague idea of the camera's use, but +told Billy privately that "the rifle was much better for Caribou." +He could not understand why I should restrain him from blazing away +as long as the ammunition held out. "Didn't we come to shoot?" But +he was amenable to discipline, and did as I wished when he understood. + +Now on the top of that windy ridge I sat with this copper-coloured +child of the spruce woods, to watch these cattle of the plains. + +The Caribou is a travelsome beast, always in a hurry, going against +the wind. When the wind is west, all travel west; when it veers, +they veer. Now the wind was northerly, and all were going north, +not walking, not galloping--the Caribou rarely gallops, and then +only for a moment or two; his fast gait is a steady trot a 10-mile +gait, making with stops about 6 miles an hour. But they are ever +on the move; when you see a Caribou that does not move, you know +at once it is not a Caribou; it's a rock. + +We sat down on the hill at 3. In a few minutes a cow Caribou came +trotting from the south, caught the wind at 50 yards, and dashed +away. + +In 5 minutes another, in 20 minutes a young buck, in 20 minutes +more a big buck, in 10 minutes a great herd of about 500 appeared +in the south. They came along at full trot, lined to pass us on the +southeast. At half a mile they struck our scent and all recoiled as +though we were among them. They scattered in alarm, rushed south +again, then, gathered in solid body, came on as before, again +to spring back and scatter as they caught the taint of man. After +much and various running, scattering, and massing, they once more +charged the fearsome odour and went right through it. Now they +passed at 500 yards and gave the chance for a far camera shot. + +The sound of their trampling was heard a long way off--half a +mile--but at 300 yards I could not distinguish the clicking of the +feet, whereas this clicking was very plainly to be heard from the +band that passed within 50 yards of me in the morning. + +They snort a good deal and grunt a little, and, notwithstanding +their continual haste, I noticed that from time to time one or two +would lie down, but at once jump up and rush on when they found +they were being left behind. Many more single deer came that day, +but no more large herds. + +About 4.30 a fawn of this year (2 1/2 or 3 months) came rushing +up from the north, all alone. It charged up a hill for 200 yards, +then changed its mind and charged down again, then raced to a bunch +of tempting herbage, cropped it hastily, dashed to a knoll, left +at an angle, darted toward us till within 40 yards, then dropped +into a thick bed of grass, where it lay as though it had unlimited +time. + +I took one photograph, and as I crawled to get one nearer, a shot +passed over my head, and the merry cackle told me that Weeso had +yielded to temptation and had 'collected' that fawn. + +A young buck now came trotting and grunting toward us till within +16 paces, which proved too much for Weeso, who then and there, +in spite of repeated recent orders, started him on the first step +toward my museum collection. + +I scolded him angrily, and he looked glum and unhappy, like a naughty +little boy caught in some indiscretion which he cannot understand. +He said nothing to me then, but later complained to Billy, asking, +"What did we come for?" + +Next morning at dawn I dreamed I was back in New York and that a +couple of cats were wailing under my bedroom window. Their noise +increased so that I awoke, and then I heard unaccountable caterwauls. +They were very loud and near, at least one of the creatures was. At +length I got up to see. Here on the lake a few yards from the tent +was a loon swimming about, minutely inspecting the tent and uttering +at intervals deep cat-like mews in expression of his curiosity. + +The south wind had blown for some days before we arrived, and the +result was to fill the country with Caribou coming from the north. +The day after we came, the north wind set in, and continued for +three days, so that soon there was not a Caribou to be found in +the region. + +In the afternoon I went up the hill to where Weeso left the +offal of his deer. A large yellowish animal was there feeding. It +disappeared over a rock and I could get no second view of it. It +may have been a wolf, as I saw a fresh wolf trail near; I did not, +however, see the animal's tail. + +In the evening Preble and I went again, and again the creature was +there, but disappeared as mysteriously as before when we were 200 +yards away. Where it went we could not guess. The country was open +and we scoured it with eye and glass, but saw nothing more of the +prowler. It seemed to be a young Arctic wolf, yellowish white in +colour, but tailless, + +Next day, at noon Preble and Billy returned bearing the illusive +visitor; it was a large Lynx. It was very thin and yet, after +bleeding, weighed 22 pounds. But why was it so far from the forest, +20 miles or more, and a couple of miles from this little grove that +formed the last woods? + +This is another evidence of the straits the Lynxes are put to for +food, in this year of famine. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +GOOD-BYE TO THE WOODS + + + +The last woods is a wonderfully interesting biological point or +line; this ultimate arm of the forest does not die away gradually +with uncertain edges and in steadily dwindling trees. The latter +have sent their stoutest champions to the front, or produced, as +by a final effort, some giants for the line of battle. And that +line, with its sentinels, is so marked that one can stand with +a foot on the territory of each combatant, or, as scientists call +them, the Arctic Region and the cold Temperate. + +And each of the embattled kings, Jack-frost and Sombre-pine, has +his children in abundance to possess the land as he wins it. Right +up to the skirmish line are they. + +The low thickets of the woods are swarming with Tree-sparrows, +Redpolls, Robins, Hooded Sparrows, and the bare plains, a few +yards away, are peopled and vocal with birds to whom a bush is an +abomination. Lap-longspur, Snowbird, Shorelarks, and Pipits are +here soaring and singing, or among the barren rocks are Ptarmigan +in garments that are painted in the patterns of their rocks. + +There is one sombre fowl of ampler wing that knows no line--is at +home in the open or in the woods. His sonorous voice has a human +sound that is uncanny; his form is visible afar in the desert and +sinister as a gibbet; his plumage fits in with nothing but the +night, which he does not love. This evil genius of the land is the +Raven of the north. Its numbers increased as we reached the Barrens, +and the morning after the first Caribou was killed, no less than +28 were assembled at its offal. + +An even more interesting bird of the woods is the Hooded Sparrow, +interesting because so little known. + +Here I found it on its breeding-grounds, a little late for its +vernal song, but in September we heard its autumnal renewal like +the notes of its kinsmen, White-throat and White-crowned Sparrows, +but with less whistling, and more trilled. In all the woods of +the Hudsonian Zone we found it evidently at home. But here I was +privileged to find the first nest of the species known to science. +The victory was robbed of its crown, through the nest having +fledglings instead of eggs, but still it was the ample reward of +hours of search. + +Of course it was on the ground, in the moss and creeping plants, +under some bushes of dwarf birch, screened by spruces. The structure +closely resembled that of the Whitethroat was lined with grass +and fibrous roots; no down, feathers, or fur were observable. The +young numbered four. + +The last woods was the limit of other interesting creatures--the +Ants. Wherever one looks on the ground, in a high, dry place, +throughout the forest country, from Athabaska Landing northward +along our route, there is to be seen at least one Ant to the square +foot, usually several. Three kinds seem common--one red-bodied, +another a black one with brown thorax, and a third very small and +all black. They seem to live chiefly in hollow logs and stumps, +but are found also on marshes, where their hills are occasionally +so numerous as to form dry bridges across. + +I made many notes on the growth of timber here and all along the +route; and for comparison will begin at the very beging. + +In March, 1907, at my home in Connecticut, I cut down an oak tree +(Q. palustris) that was 110 feet high, 32 inches in diameter, and +yet had only 76 rings of annual growth. + +In the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho, where I camped in September, +1902, a yellow pine 6 feet 6 inches high was 51 inches in circumference +at base. It had 14 rings and 14 whorls of branches corresponding +exactly with the rings. + +At the same place I measured a balsam fir--84 feet high, 15 inches +in diameter at 32 inches from the ground. It had 52 annual rings +and 50 or possibly 52 whorls of branches. The most vigorous upward +growth of the trunk corresponded exactly with the largest growth +of wood in the stump. Thus ring No. 33 was 3/8 inch wide and whorl +No. 33 had over 2 feet of growth, below it on the trunk were others +which had but 6 inches. + +On the stump most growth was on north-east side; there it was +9 inches, from pith to bark next on east 8 1/2 inches, on south 8 +inches, north 6 1/2 inches, west 6 1/2 inches, least on north-west +side, 6 inches. The most light in this case came from the north-east. +This was in the land of mighty timber. + +On Great Slave River, the higher latitude is offset by lower +altitude, and on June 2, 1907, while among the tall white spruce +trees I measured one of average size--118 feet high, 11 feet 2 inches +in girth a foot from the ground (3 feet 6 1/2 inches in diameter), +and many black poplars nearly as tall were 9 feet in girth. + +But the stunting effect of the short summer became marked as we +went northward. At Fort Smith, June 20, I cut down a jackpine that +was 12 feet high, 1 inch in diameter, with 23 annual rings at the +bottom; 6 feet up it had 12 rings and 20 whorls. In all it appeared +to have 43 whorls, which is puzzling. Of these 20 were in the lower +part. This tree grew in dense shade. + +At Fort Resolution we left the Canadian region of large timber and +entered the stunted spruce, as noted, and at length on the timber +line we saw the final effort of the forests to combat Jack Frost +in his own kingdom. The individual history of each tree is in three +stages: + +First, as a low, thick, creeping bush sometimes ten feet across, +but only a foot high. In this stage it continues until rooted enough +and with capital enough to send up a long central shoot; which is +stage No. 2. + +This central shoot is like a Noah's Ark pine; in time it becomes +the tree and finally the basal thicket dies, leaving the specimen +in stage No. 3. + +A stem of one of the low creepers was cut for examination; it was +11 inches through and 25 years old. Some of these low mats of spruce +have stems 5 inches through. They must be fully 100 years old. + +A tall, dead, white spruce at the camp was 30 feet high and 11 +inches in diameter at 4 feet from the ground. Its 190 rings were +hard to count, they were so thin. The central ones were thickest, +there being 16 to the inmost inch of radius; on the outside to the +north 50 rings made only 1/2 an inch and 86 made one inch. + +Numbers 42 and 43, counting from the outside, were two or three +times as thick as those outside of them and much thicker than the +next within; they must have represented years of unusual summers. +No. 99 also was of great size. What years these corresponded with +one could not guess, as the tree was a long time dead. + +Another, a dwarf but 8 feet high, was 12 inches through. It had +205 rings plus a 5-inch hollow which we reckoned at about 100 rings +of growth; 64 rings made only 1 3/8 inches; the outmost of the 64 +was 2 inches in from the outside of the wood. Those on the outer +two inches were even smaller, so as to be exceedingly difficult to +count. This tree was at least 300 years old; our estimates varied, +according to the data, from 300 to 325 years. + +These, then, are the facts for extremes. In Idaho or Connecticut +it took about 10 years to produce the same amount of timber as took +300 years on the edge of the Arctic Zone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE TREELESS PLAINS + + + +On August 7 we left Camp Last Woods. Our various specimens, with a +stock of food, were secured, as usual, in a cache high in two trees, +in this case those already used by Tyrrell seven years before, and +guarded by the magic necklace of cod hooks. + +By noon (in 3 hours) we made fifteen miles, camping far beyond +Twin Buttes. All day long the boat shot through water crowded with +drowned gnats. These were about 10 to the square inch near shore +and for about twenty yards out, after that 10 to the square foot +for two hundred or three hundred yards still farther from shore, +and for a quarter mile wide they were 10 to the square yard. + +This morning the wind turned and blew from the south. At 2 P. M. +we saw a band of some 60 Caribou travelling southward; these were +the first seen for two or three days. After this we saw many odd +ones, and about 3 o'clock a band of 400 or 500. At night we camped +on Casba River, having covered 36 miles in 7 hours and 45 minutes. + +The place, we had selected for camp proved to be a Caribou crossing. +As we drew near a dozen of them came from the east and swam across. +A second band of 8 now appeared. We gave chase. They spurted; so +did we. Our canoe was going over 6 miles an hour, and yet was but +slowly overtaking them. They made the water foam around them. Their +heads, necks, shoulders, backs, rumps, and tails were out. I never +before saw land animals move so fast in the water. A fawn in danger +of being left behind reared up on its mother's back and hung on +with forefeet. The leader was a doe or a young buck, I could not +be sure which; the last was a big buck. They soon struck bottom +and bounded along on the shore. It was too dark for a picture. + +As we were turning in for the night 30 Caribou came trotting and +snorting through the camp. Half of them crossed the water, but the +rest turned back when Billy shouted. + +Later a band of two hundred passed through and around our tents. +In the morning Billy complained that he could not sleep all night +for Caribou travelling by his tent and stumbling over the guy ropes. +From this time on we were nearly always in sight of Caribou, small +bands or scattering groups; one had the feeling that the whole land +was like this, on and on and on, unlimited space with unlimited +wild herds. + +A year afterward as I travelled in the fair State of Illinois, +famous for its cattle, I was struck by the idea that one sees far +more Caribou in the north than cattle, in Illinois. This State has +about 56,000 square miles, of land and 3,000,000 cattle; the Arctic +Plains have over 1,000,000 square miles of prairie, which, allowing +for the fact that I saw the best of the range, would set, the Caribou +number at over 30,000,000. There is a, good deal of evidence that +this is not far from the truth. + +The reader may recollect the original postulate of my plan. Other +travellers have gone, relying on the abundant Caribou, yet saw none, +so starved. I relied on no Caribou, I took plenty of groceries, +and because I was independent, the Caribou walked into camp nearly +every day, and we lived largely on their meat, saving our groceries +for an emergency, which came in an unexpected form. One morning +when we were grown accustomed to this condition I said to Billy: + +"How is the meat?" + +"Nearly gone. We'll need another Caribou about Thursday." + +"You better get one now to be ready Thursday. I do not like it so +steaming fresh. See, there's a nice little buck on that hillside." + +"No, not him; why he is nearly half a mile off. I'd have to pack +him in. Let's wait till one comes in camp." + +Which we did, and usually got our meat delivered near the door.' + +Caribou meat fresh, and well prepared, has no superior, and the +ideal way of cooking it is of course by roasting. + +Fried meat is dried meat, + +Boiled meat is spoiled meat, + +Roast meat is best meat. + +How was it to be roasted at an open fire without continued vigilance? +By a very simple contrivance that I invented at the time and now +offer for the use of all campers. + +A wire held the leg; on the top of the wire was a paddle or shingle +of wood; above that, beyond the heat, was a cord. + +The wind gives the paddle a push; it winds up the cord, which then +unwinds itself. This goes on without fail and without effort, never +still, and the roast is perfect. + +Thus we were living on the fat of many lands and on the choicest +fat of this. + +And what a region it is for pasture. At this place it reminds one +of Texas. Open, grassy plains, sparser reaches of sand, long slopes +of mesquite, mesas dotted with cedars and stretches of chapparal +and soapweed. Only, those vegetations here are willow, dwarf birch, +tiny spruce, and ledum, and the country as a whole is far too green +and rich. The emerald verdure of the shore, in not a few places, +carried me back, to the west coast of Ireland. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE UNKNOWN + + + +The daily observations of route and landmark I can best leave +for record on my maps. I had one great complaint against previous +explorers (except Tyrrell); that is, they left no monuments. Aiming +to give no ground of complaint against us, we made monuments at +all important points. On the, night of August 8 we camped at Cairn +Bay on the west side of Casba Lake, so named because of the five +remarkable glacial cairns or conical stone-piles about it. On the +top of one of these I left a monument, a six-foot pillar of large +stones. + +On the afternoon of August 9 we passed the important headland that +I have called "Tyrrell Point." Here we jumped off his map into +the unknown. I had, of course, the small chart drawn by Sir George +Back in 1834, but it was hastily made under great difficulties, +and, with a few exceptions, it seemed impossible to recognize his +landscape features. Next day I explored the east arm of Clinton-Colden +and discovered the tributary that I have called "Laurier River," +and near its mouth made a cairn enclosing a Caribou antler with +inscription "E. T. Seton, 10 Aug., 1907." + +Future travellers on this lake will find, as I did, that the +Conical Butte in the eastern part is an important landmark. It is +a glacial dump about 50 feet above the general level, which again +is 100 feet above the water, visible and recognizable from nearly +all parts of the lake. + +Thus we went on day by day, sometimes detained by head or heavy +winds, but making great progress in the calm, which nearly always +came in the evening; 30 and 35 miles a day we went, led on and +stimulated by the thirst to see and know. "I must see what is over +that ridge," "I must make sure that this is an island," or "Maybe +from that lookout I shall see Lake Aylmer, or a band of Caribou, +yes, or even a band of Musk-ox." Always there was some reward, and +nearly always it was a surprise. + +From time to time we came on Snowbirds with their young broods, +evidently at home. Ptarmigan abounded. Parry's Groundsquirrel +was found at nearly all points, including the large islands. The +Laplongspur swarmed everywhere; their loud "chee chups" were the +first sounds to greet us each time we neared the land. And out over +all the lake were Loons, Loons, Loons. Four species abound here; +they caterwaul and yodel all day and all night, each in its own +particular speech, From time to time a wild hyena chorus from the +tranquil water in the purple sunset haze suggested, that a pack of +goblin hounds were chivying a goblin buck, but it turned out always +to be a family of Red-throated Loons, yodelling their inspiring +marching song. + +One day when at Gravel Mountain, old Weeso came to camp in evident +fear--"far off he had seen a man." In this country a man must mean +an Eskimo; with them the Indian has a long feud; of them he is in +terror. We never learned the truth; I think he was mistaken. + +Once or twice the long howl of the White Wolf sounded from the +shore, and every day we saw a few Caribou. + +A great many of the single Caribou were on the small islands. In +six cases that came under close observation the animal in question +had a broken leg. A broken leg generally evidences recent inroads +by hunters, but the nearest Indians were 200 miles to the south, and +the nearest Eskimo 300 miles to the north. There was every reason +to believe that we were the only human beings in that vast region, +and certainly we had broken no legs. Every Caribou fired at (8) had +been secured and used. There is only one dangerous large enemy common +in this country; that is the White Wolf. And the more I pondered +it, the more it seemed sure that the Wolves had broken the Caribous' +legs. + +How! This is the history of each case: The Caribou is so much swifter +than the Wolves that the latter have no chance in open chase; they +therefore adopt the stratagem of a sneaking surround and a drive +over the rocks or a precipice, where the Caribou, if not actually +killed, is more or less disabled. In some cases only a leg is +broken, and then the Caribou knows his only chance is to reach the +water. Here his wonderful powers of swimming make him easily safe, +so much so that the Wolves make no attempt to follow. The crippled +deer makes for some island sanctuary, where he rests in peace till +his leg is healed, or it may be, in some cases, till the freezing of +the lake brings him again into the power of his floe. + +These six, then, were the cripples in hospital, and I hope our +respectful behaviour did not inspire them with a dangerously false +notion of humanity. + +On the island that I have called Owl-and-Hare, we saw the first +White Owl and the first Arctic Hare. + +In this country when you see a tree, you know perfectly well it is +not a tree; it's the horns of a Caribou. An unusually large affair +of branches appeared on an island in the channel to Aylmer. I landed, +camera in hand; the Caribou was lying down in the open, but there +was a tuft of herbage 30 yards from him, another at 20 yards. +I crawled to the first and made a snapshot, then, flat as a rug, +sneaked my way to the one estimated at 20 yards. The click of the +camera, alarmed the buck; he rose, tried the wind, then lay down +again, giving me another chance. Having used all the films, I now +stood up. The Caribou dashed away and by a slight limp showed that +he was in sanctuary. The 20-yard estimate proved too long; it was +only 16 yards, which put my picture a little out of focus. + +There never was a day, and rarely an hour of each day, that we did +not see several Caribou. And yet I never failed to get a thrill +at each fresh one. "There's a Caribou," one says with perennial +intensity that is evidence of perennial pleasure in the sight. +There never was one sighted that did not give us a happy sense of +satisfaction--the thought "This is what we came for." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +AYLMER LAKE + + + +One of my objects was to complete the ambiguous shore line of Aylmer +Lake. The first task was to find the lake. So we left the narrows +and pushed on and on, studying the Back map, vainly trying to identify +points, etc. Once or twice we saw gaps ahead that seemed to open +into the great inland sea of Aylmer. But each in turn proved a +mere bay.--On August 12 we left the narrows; on the 13th and 14th +we journeyed westward seeking the open sea. On the morning of the +15th we ran into the final end of the farthest bay we could discover +and camped at the mouth of a large river entering in. + +As usual, we landed--Preble, Billy, and I--to study topography, +Weeso to get firewood, and curiously enough, there was more firewood +here than we had seen since leaving Artillery Lake. The reason of +this appeared later. + +I was utterly puzzled. We had not yet found Aylmer Lake, and had +discovered an important river that did not seem to be down on any +map. + +We went a mile or two independently and studied the land from all +the high hills; evidently we had crossed the only great sheet of +water in the region. About noon, when all had assembled at camp, +I said: "Preble, why, isn't this Lockhart's River, at the western +extremity of Aylmer Lake?" The truth was dawning on me. + +He also had been getting light and slowly replied: "I have forty-nine +reasons why it is, and none at all why it isn't." + +There could be no doubt of it now. The great open sea of Aylmer was +a myth. Back never saw it; he passed in a fog, and put down with a +query the vague information given him by the Indians. This little +irregular lake, much like Clinton-Colden, was Aylmer. We had covered +its length and were now at its farthest western end, at the mouth +of Lockhart's River. + +How I did wish that explorers would post up the names of the +streets; it is almost as bad as in New York City. What a lot of +time we might have saved had we known that Sandy Bay was in Back's +three-fingered peninsula! Resolving to set a good example I left a +monument at the mouth of the river. The kind of stone made it easy +to form a cross on top. This will protect it from wandering Indians; +I do not know of anything that will protect it from wandering white +men. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE MUSK-OX + + + +In the afternoon, Preble, Billy, and I went northward on foot to +look for Musk-ox. A couple of miles from camp I left the others +and went more westerly. + +After wandering on for an hour, disturbing Longspurs, Snowbirds, +Pipits, Groundsquirrel, and Caribou, I came on a creature that gave +me new thrills of pleasure. It was only a Polar Hare, the second we +had seen; but its very scarceness here, at least this year, gave +it unusual interest, and the Hare itself helped the feeling by +letting me get near it to study, sketch, and photograph. + +It was exactly like a Prairie Hare in all its manners, even to the +method of holding its tail in running, and this is one of the most +marked and distinctive peculiarities of the different kinds. + +On the 16th of August we left Lockhart's River, knowing now that +the north arm of the lake was our way. We passed a narrow bay out +of which there seemed to be a current, then, on the next high land, +noted a large brown spot that moved rather quickly along. It was +undoubtedly some animal with short legs, whether a Wolverine a +mile away, or a Musk-ox two miles away, was doubtful. Now did that +canoe put on its six-mile gait, and we soon knew for certain +that the brown thing was a Musk-ox. We were not yet in their country, +but here was one of them to meet us. Quickly we landed. Guns and +cameras were loaded. + +"Don't fire till I get some pictures--unless he charges," were the +orders. And then we raced after the great creature grazing from +us. + +We had no idea whether he would run away or charge, but knew that +our plan was to remain unseen as long as possible. So, hiding behind +rocks when he looked around, and dashing forward when he grazed, +we came unseen within two hundred yards, and had a good look at +the huge woolly ox. He looked very much like an ordinary Buffalo, +the same in colour, size, and action. I never was more astray in +my preconcept of any animal, for I had expected to see something +like a large brown sheep. + +My, first film was fired. Then, for some unknown reason, that +Musk-ox took it into his head to travel fast away from us, not +even stopping to graze; he would soon have been over a rocky ridge. +I nodded to Preble. His rifle rang; the bull wheeled sharp about +with an angry snort and came toward us. His head was up, his eye +blazing, and he looked like a South African Buffalo and a Prairie +Bison combined, and seemed to get bigger at every moment. We were +safely hidden behind rocks, some fifty yards from him now, when I +got my second snap. + +Realising the occasion, and knowing my men, I said: "Now, Preble, I +am going to walk up to that bull and get a close picture. He will +certainly charge me, as I shall be nearest and in full view. There +is only one combination that can save my life: that is you and that +rifle." + +Then with characteristic loquacity did Preble reply: "Go ahead." + +I fixed my camera for twenty yards and quit the sheltering rock. +The bull snorted, shook his head, took aim, and just before the +precious moment was to arrive a heavy shot behind me, rang out, the +bull staggered and fell, shot through the heart, and Weeso cackled +aloud in triumph. + +How I cursed the meddling old fool. He had not understood. He +saw, as he supposed, "the Okimow in peril of his life," and acted +according to the dictates of his accursedly poor discretion. Never +again shall he carry a rifle with me. + +So the last scene came not, but we had the trophy of a Musk-ox +that weighed nine hundred pounds in life and stood five feet high +at the shoulders--a world's record in point of size. + +Now we must camp perforce to save the specimen. Measurements, photos, +sketches, and weights were needed, then the skinning and preparing +would be a heavy task for all. In the many portages afterwards the +skull was part of my burden; its weight was actually forty pounds, +its heaviness was far over a hundred. + +What extraordinary luck we were having. It was impossible in our +time limit to reach the summer haunt of the Caribou on the Arctic +Coast, therefore the Caribou came to us in their winter haunt on +the Artillery Lake. We did not expect to reach the real Musk-ox +country on the Lower Back River, so the Musk-ox sought us out on +Aylmer Lake. And yet one more piece of luck is to be recorded. That +night something came in our tent and stole meat. The next night +Billy set a trap and secured the thief--an Arctic Fox in summer +coat. We could not expect to go to him in his summer home, so he +came to us. + +While the boys were finishing the dressing of the bull's hide, I, +remembering the current from the last bay, set out on foot over the +land to learn the reason. A couple of miles brought me to a ridge +from which I made the most important geographical discovery of the +journey. Stretching away before me to the far dim north-west was +a great, splendid river--broad, two hundred yards wide in places, +but averaging seventy or eighty yards across--broken by white +rapids and waterfalls, but blue deep in the smoother stretches and +emptying into the bay we had noticed. So far as the record showed, +I surely was the first white man to behold it. I went to the margin; +it was stocked with large trout. I followed it up a couple of miles +and was filled with the delight of discovery. "Earl Grey River"', +I have been privileged to name it after the distinguished statesman, +now Governor-general of Canada. + +Then and there I built a cairn, with a record of my visit, and +sitting on a hill with the new river below me, I felt that there +was no longer any question of the expedition's success. The entire +programme was carried out. I had proved the existence of abundance +of Caribou, had explored Aylmer Lake, had discovered two great +rivers, and, finally, had reached the land of the Musk-ox and secured +a record-breaker to bring away. This I felt was the supreme moment +of the journey. + +Realizing the farness of my camp, from human abode--it could scarcely +have been farther on the continent--my thoughts flew back to the +dear ones at home, and my comrades, the men of the Camp-fire Club. +I wondered if their thoughts were with me at the time. How they must +envy me the chance of launching into the truly unknown wilderness, +a land still marked on the maps as "unexplored!" How I enjoyed the +thoughts of their sympathy over our probable perils and hardships, +and imagined them crowding around me with hearty greetings on my +safe return! Alas! for the rush of a great city's life and crowds, +I found out later that these, my companions, did not even know that +I had been away from New York. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE ARCTIC PRAIRIES AND MY FARTHEST NORTH + + + +Camp Musk-Ox provided many other items of interest besides the Great +River, the big Musk-ox, and the Arctic Fox. Here Preble secured a +Groundsquirrel with its cheek-pouches full of mushrooms and shot +a cock Ptarmigan whose crop was crammed with leaves of willow and +birch, though the ground was bright with berries of many kinds. The +last evening we were there a White Wolf followed Billy into camp, +keeping just beyond reach of his shotgun; and, of course, we saw +Caribou every hour or two. + +"All aboard," was the cry on the morning of August 19, and once +more we set out. We reached the north arm of the lake, then turned +north-eastward. In the evening I got photos of a Polar Hare, the +third we had seen. The following day (August 20), at noon, we camped +in Sandhill Bay, the north point of Aylmer Lake and the northernmost +point of our travels by canoe. It seems that we were the fourth +party of white men to camp on this spot. + + +Captain George Back, 1833-34. +Stewart and Anderson, 1855. +Warburton Pike, 1890. +E. T. Seton, 1907. + + +All day long we had seen small bands of Caribou. A score now appeared +on a sandhill half a mile away; another and another lone specimen +trotted past our camp. One of these stopped and gave us an +extraordinary exhibition of agility in a sort of St. Vitus's jig, +jumping, kicking, and shaking its head; I suspect the nose-worms +were annoying it. While we lunched, a fawn came and gazed curiously +from a distance of 100 yards. In the after-noon Preble returned +from a walk to say that the Caribou were visible in all directions, +but not in great bands. + +Next morning I was awakened by a Caribou clattering through camp +within 30 feet of my tent. + +After breakfast we set off on foot northward to seek for Musk-ox, +keeping to the eastward of the Great Fish River. The country is +rolling, with occasional rocky ridges and long, level meadows in the +lowlands, practically all of it would be considered horse country; +and nearly every meadow had two or three grazing Caribou. + +About noon, when six or seven miles north of Aylmer, we halted +for rest and lunch on the top of the long ridge of glacial dump +that lies to the east of Great Fish River. And now we had a most +complete and spectacular view of the immense open country that we +had come so far to see. It was spread before us like a huge, minute, +and wonderful chart, and plainly marked with the processes of its +shaping-time. + +Imagine a region of low archaean hills, extending one thousand +miles each way, subjected for thousands of years to a continual +succession of glaciers, crushing, grinding, planing, smoothing, +ripping up and smoothing again, carrying off whole ranges of broken +hills, in fragments, to dump them at some other point, grind them +again while there, and then push and hustle them out of that region +into some other a few hundred miles farther; there again to tumble +and grind them together, pack them into the hollows, and dump them +in pyramidal piles on plains and uplands. Imagine this going on +for thousands of years, and we shall have the hills lowered and +polished, the valleys more or less filled with broken rocks. + +Now the glacial action is succeeded by a time of flood. For another +age all is below water, dammed by the northern ice, and icebergs +breaking from the parent sheet carry bedded in them countless +boulders, with which they go travelling south on the open waters. +As they melt the boulders are dropped; hill and hollow share equally +in this age-long shower of erratics. Nor does it cease till the +progress of the warmer day removes the northern ice-dam, sets free +the flood, and the region of archaean rocks stands bare and dry. + +It must have been a dreary spectacle at that time, low, bare hills +of gneiss, granite, etc.; low valleys half-filled with broken rock +and over everything a sprinkling of erratic boulders; no living thing +in sight, nothing green, nothing growing, nothing but evidence of +mighty power used only to destroy. A waste of shattered granite +spotted with hundreds of lakes, thousands of lakelets, millions of +ponds that are marvellously blue, clear, and lifeless. + +But a new force is born on the scene; it attacks not this hill or +rock, or that loose stone, but on every point of every stone and +rock in the vast domain, it appears--the lowest form of lichen, +a mere stain of gray. This spreads and by its own corrosive power +eats foothold on the granite; it fructifies in little black velvet +spots. Then one of lilac flecks the pink tones of the granite, +to help the effect. Soon another kind follows--a pale olive-green +lichen that fruits in bumps of rich brown velvet; then another +branching like a tiny tree--there is a ghostly kind like white +chalk rubbed lightly on, and yet another of small green blots, and +one like a sprinkling of scarlet snow; each, in turn, of a higher +and larger type, which in due time prepares the way for mosses +higher still. + +In the less exposed places these come forth, seeking the shade, +searching for moisture, they form like small sponges on a coral +reef; but growing, spread and change to meet the changing contours +of the land they win, and with every victory or upward move, adopt +some new refined intensive tint that is the outward and visible +sign of their diverse inner excellences and their triumph. Ever +evolving they spread, until there are great living rugs of strange +textures and oriental tones; broad carpets there are of gray and +green; long luxurious lanes, with lilac mufflers under foot, great +beds of a moss so yellow chrome, so spangled with intense red sprigs, +that they might, in clumsy hands, look raw. There are knee-deep +breadths of polytrichum, which blends in the denser shade into a +moss of delicate crimson plush that baffles description. + +Down between the broader masses are bronze-green growths that run +over each slight dip and follow down the rock crannies like streams +of molten brass. Thus the whole land is overlaid with a living, +corrosive mantle of activities as varied as its hues. + +For ages these toil on, improving themselves, and improving the +country by filing down the granite and strewing the dust around +each rock. + +The frost, too, is at work, breaking up the granite lumps; on every +ridge there is evidence of that--low, rounded piles of stone which +plainly are the remnants of a boulder, shattered by the cold. Thus, +lichen, moss, and frost are toiling to grind the granite surfaces +to dust. + +Much of this powdered rock is washed by rain into the lakes and +ponds; in time these cut their exits down, and drain, leaving each +a broad mud-flat. The climate mildens and the south winds cease +not, so that wind-borne grasses soon make green meadows of the +broad lake-bottom flats. + +The process climbs the hill-slopes; every little earthy foothold +for a plant is claimed by some new settler, until each low hill is +covered to the top with vegetation graded to its soil, and where +the flowering kinds cannot establish themselves, the lichen pioneers +still maintain their hold. Rarely, in the landscape, now, is any of +the primitive colour of the rocks; even the tall, straight cliffs +of Aylmer are painted and frescoed with lichens that flame and +glitter with purple and orange, silver and gold. How precious and +fertile the ground is made to seem, when every square foot of it +is an exquisite elfin garden made by the little people, at infinite +cost, filled with dainty flowers and still later embellished with +delicate fruit. + +One of the wonderful things about these children of the Barrens +is the great size of fruit and flower compared with the plant. The +cranberry, the crowberry, the cloudberry, etc., produce fruit any +one of which might outweigh the herb itself. + +Nowhere does one get the impression that these are weeds, as often +happens among the rank growths farther south. The flowers in the +wildest profusion are generally low, always delicate and mostly +in beds of a single species. The Lalique jewelry was the sensation +of the Paris Exposition of 1899. Yet here is Lalique renewed and +changed for every week in the season and lavished on every square +foot of a region that is a million square miles in extent. + +Not a cranny in a rock but is seized on at once by the eager little +gardeners in charge and made a bed of bloom, as though every inch +of room were priceless. And yet Nature here exemplifies the law +that our human gardeners are only learning: "Mass your bloom, to +gain effect." + +As I stood on that hill, the foreground was a broad stretch of old +gold--the shining sandy yellow of drying grass--but it was patched +with large scarlet mats of arctous that would put red maple to its +reddest blush. There was no Highland heather here, but there were +whole hillsides of purple red vaccinium, whose leaves were but a +shade less red than its luscious grape-hued fruit. + +Here were white ledums in roods and acre beds; purple mairanias +by the hundred acres, and, framed in lilac rocks, were rich, rank +meadows of golden-green by the mile. + +There were leagues and leagues of caribou moss, pale green or lilac, +and a hundred others in clumps, that, seeing here the glory of the +painted mosses, were simulating their ways, though they themselves +were the not truly mosses at all. + +I never before saw such a realm of exquisite flowers so exquisitely +displayed, and the effect at every turn throughout the land was +colour, colour, colour, to as far outdo the finest autumn tints of +New England as the Colorado Canyon outdoes the Hoosac Gorge. What +Nature can do only in October, elsewhere, she does here all season +through, as though when she set out to paint the world she began +on the Barrens with a full palette and when she reached the Tropics +had nothing left but green. + +Thus at every step one is wading through lush grass or crushing +prairie blossoms and fruits. It is so on and on; in every part of +the scene, there are but few square feet that do not bloom with +flowers and throb with life; yet this is the region called the +Barren Lands of the North. + +And the colour is an index of its higher living forms, for this +is the chosen home of the Swans and Wild Geese; many of the Ducks, +the Ptarmigan, the Laplongspur and Snowbunting. The blue lakes echo +with the wailing of the Gulls and the eerie magic calling of the +Loons. Colonies of Lemmings, Voles, or Groundsquirrels are found +on every sunny slope; the Wolverine and the White Wolf find this +a land of plenty, for on every side, as I stood on that high hill, +were to be seen small groups of Caribou. + +This was the land and these the creatures I had come to see. This +was my Farthest North and this was the culmination of years of +dreaming. How very good it seemed at the time, but how different +and how infinitely more delicate and satisfying was the realisation +than any of the day-dreams founded on my vision through the eyes +of other men. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +FACING HOMEWARD + + + +On this hill we divided, Preble and Billy going northward; Weeso +and I eastward, all intent on finding a herd of Musk-ox; for this +was the beginning of their range. There was one continual surprise +as we journeyed--the willows that were mere twigs on Aylmer Lake +increased in size and were now plentiful and as high as our heads, +with stems two or three inches thick. This was due partly to the +decreased altitude and partly to removal from the broad, cold sheet +of Aylmer, which, with its July ice, must tend to lower the summer +temperature. + +For a long time we tramped eastward, among hills and meadows, with +Caribou. Then, at length, turned south again and, after a 20-mile +tramp, arrived in camp at 6.35, having seen no sign whatever of +Musk-ox, although this is the region where Pike found them common; +on July 1, 1890, at the little lake where we lunched, his party +killed seven out of a considerable band. + +At 9.30 that night Preble and Billy returned. They had been over Icy +River, easily recognised by the thick ice still on its expansions, +and on to Musk-ox Lake, without seeing any fresh tracks of a Musk-ox. +As they came into camp a White Wolf sneaked away. + +Rain began at 6 and continued a heavy storm all night. In the morning +it was still in full blast, so no one rose until 9.30, when Billy, +starved out of his warm bed, got up to make breakfast. Soon I +heard him calling: "Mr. Seton, here's a big Wolf in camp!" "Bring +him in here," I said. Then a rifle-shot was heard, another, and +Billy appeared, dragging a huge White Wolf. (He is now to be seen +in the American Museum.) + +All that day and the next night the storm raged. Even the presence +of Caribou bands did not stimulate us enough to face the sleet. +Next day it was dry, but too windy to travel. + +Billy now did something that illustrates at once the preciousness +of firewood, and the pluck, strength, and reliability of my cook. +During his recent tramp he found a low, rocky hollow full of large, +dead willows. It was eight miles back; nevertheless he set out, +of his own free will; tramped the eight miles, that wet, blustery +day, and returned in five and one-half hours, bearing on his back +a heavy load, over 100 pounds of most acceptable firewood. Sixteen +miles afoot for a load of wood! But it seemed well worth it as we +revelled in the blessed blaze. + +Next day two interesting observations were made; down by the shore +I found the midden-heap of a Lemming family. It contained about +four hundred pellets: their colour and dryness, with the absence +of grass, showed that they dated from winter. + +In the evening the four of us witnessed the tragic end of a +Lap-longspur. Pursued by a fierce Skua Gull, it unfortunately dashed +out over the lake. In vain then it darted up and down, here and +there, high and low; the Skua followed even more quickly. A second +Skua came flying to help, but was not needed. With a falcon-like +swoop, the pirate seized the Longspur in his bill and bore it away +to be devoured at the nearest perch. + +At 7.30 A. M., August 24, 1907, surrounded by scattering Caribou, +we pushed off from our camp at Sand Hill Bay and began the return +journey. + +At Wolf-den Point we discovered a large and ancient wolf-den in the +rocks; also abundance of winter sign of Musk-ox. That day we made +forty miles and camped for the night on the Sand Hill Mountain in +Tha-na-koie, the channel that joins Aylmer and Clinton-Colden. Here +we were detained by high winds until the 28th. + +This island is a favourite Caribou crossing, and Billy and Weeso +had pitched their tents right on the place selected by the Caribou +for their highway. Next day, while scanning the country from the +top of the mount, I saw three Caribou trotting along. They swam the +river and came toward me. As Billy and Weeso were in their tents +having an afternoon nap, I thought it would be a good joke to stampede +the Caribou on top of them, so waited behind a rock, intending to +jump out as soon as they were past me. They followed the main trail +at a trot, and I leaped out with "horrid yells" when they passed +my rock, but now the unexpected happened. "In case of doubt take +to the water" is Caribou wisdom, so, instead of dashing madly into +the tents, they made three desperate down leaps and plunged into +the deep water, then calmly swam for the other shore, a quarter +of a mile away. + +This island proved a good place for small mammals. Here Preble +got our first specimen of the White Lemming. Large islands usually +prove better for small mammals than the mainland. They have the +same conditions to support life, but being moated by the water are +usually without the larger predatory quadrupeds. + +The great central inland of Clinton-Colden proved the best place +of all for Groundsquirrels. Here we actually found them in colonies. + +On the 29th and 30th we paddled and surveyed without ceasing and +camped beyond the rapid at the exit of Clinton-Colden. The next +afternoon we made the exit rapids of Casba Lake. Preble was preparing +to portage them, but asked Weeso, "Can we run them?" + +Weeso landed, walked to a view-point, took a squinting look and +said, "Ugh!" (Yes). Preble rejoined, "All right! If he says he can, +he surely can. That's the Indian of it. A white man takes risks; +an Indian will not; if it is risky he'll go around." So we ran the +rapids in safety. + +Lighter each day, as the food was consumed, our elegant canoe went +faster. When not detained by heavy seas 30 or 40 miles a day was +our journey. On August 30 we made our last 6 miles in one hour and +6 1/2 minutes. On September 2, in spite of head-winds, we made 36 +miles in 8 1/4 hours and in the evening we skimmed over the glassy +surface of Artillery Lake, among its many beautiful islands and +once more landed at our old ground--the camp in the Last Woods. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE FIRST WOODS + + + +How shall I set forth the feelings it stirred? None but the shipwrecked +sailor, long drifting on the open sea, but come at last to land, +can fully know the thrill it gave us. We were like starving Indians +suddenly surrounded by Caribou. Wood--timber--fuel--galore! It was +hard to realise--but there it was, all about us, and in the morning +we were awakened by the sweet, sweet, home-like song of the Robins +in the trees, singing their "Cheerup, cheerily," just as they do +it in Ontario and Connecticut. Our cache was all right; so, our +stock of luxuries was replenished. We now had unlimited food as well +as unlimited firewood; what more could any one ask? Yet there was +more. The weather was lovely; perfect summer days, and the mosquitoes +were gone, yes, now actually nets and flybars were discarded for +good. On every side was animal life in abundance; the shimmering +lake with its Loons and islands would fit exactly the Indian's dream +of the heavenly hunting-grounds. These were the happy halcyon days +of the trip, and we stayed a week to rest and revel in the joys +about us. + +In the morning I took a long walk over the familiar hills; the +various skeletons we had left were picked bare, evidently by Gulls +and Ravens, as no bones were broken and even the sinews were left. +There were many fresh tracks of single Caribou going here and +there, but no trails of large bands. I sent Weeso off to the Indian +village, two miles south. He returned to say that it was deserted +and that, therefore, the folk had gone after the Caribou, which +doubtless were now in the woods south of Artillery Lake. Again the +old man was wholly astray in his Caribou forecast. + +That night there was a sharp frost; the first we had had. It +made nearly half an inch of ice in all kettles. Why is ice always +thickest on the kettles? No doubt because they hold a small body +of very still water surrounded by highly conductive metal. + +Billy went "to market" yesterday, killing a nice, fat little Caribou. +This morning on returning to bring in the rest of the meat we found +that a Wolverine had been there and lugged the most of it away. +The tracks show that it was an old one accompanied by one or maybe +two young ones. We followed them some distance but lost all trace +in a long range of rocks. + +The Wolverine is one of the typical animals of the far North. It +has an unenviable reputation for being the greatest plague that +the hunter knows. Its habit of following to destroy all traps for +the sake of the bait is the prime cause of man's hatred, and its +cleverness in eluding his efforts at retaliation give it still more +importance. + +It is, above all, the dreaded enemy of a cache, and as already +seen, we took the extra precaution of putting our caches up trees +that were protected by a necklace of fishhooks. Most Northern +travellers have regaled us with tales of this animal's diabolical +cleverness and wickedness. It is fair to say that the malice, at +least, is not proven; and there is a good side to Wolverine character +that should be emphasized; that is, its nearly ideal family life, +coupled with the heroic bravery of the mother. I say "nearly" ideal, +for so far as I can learn, the father does not assist in rearing +the young. But all observers agree that the mother is absolutely +fearless and devoted. More than one of the hunters have assured me +that it is safer to molest a mother Bear than a mother Wolverine +when accompanied by the cubs. + +Bellalise, a half-breed of Chipewyan, told me that twice he had +found Wolverine dens, and been seriously endangered by the mother. +The first was in mid-May, 1904, near Fond du Lac, north side of +Lake Athabaska. He went out with an Indian to bring in a skiff left +some miles off on the shore. He had no gun, and was surprised by +coming on an old Wolverine in a slight hollow under the boughs of +a green spruce. She rushed at him, showing all her teeth, her eyes +shining blue, and uttering sounds like those of a Bear. The Indian +boy hit her once with a stick, then swung himself out of danger up +a tree. Bellalise ran off after getting sight of the young ones; +they were four in number, about the size of a Muskrat, and pure +white. Their eyes were open. The nest was just such as a dog might +make, only six inches deep and lined with a little dry grass. +Scattered around were bones and fur, chiefly of Rabbits. + +The second occasion was in 1905, within three miles of Chipewyan, +and, as before, about the middle of May. The nest was much like +the first one; the mother saw him coming, and charged furiously, +uttering a sort of coughing. He shot her dead; then captured the +young and examined the nest; there were three young this time. They +were white like the others. + +Not far from this camp, we found a remarkable midden-yard of Lemmings. +It was about 10 feet by 40 feet, the ground within the limits was +thickly strewn with pellets, at the rate of 14 to the square inch, +but nowhere were they piled up. At this reckoning, there were over +800,000, but there were also many outside, which probably raised +the number to 1,000,000. Each pellet was long, brown, dry, and +curved, i.e., the winter type. The place, a high, dry, very sheltered +hollow, was evidently the winter range of a colony of Lemmings that +in summer went elsewhere, I suppose to lower, damper grounds. + +After sunset, September 5, a bunch of three or four Caribou trotted +past the tents between us and the Lake, 200 yards from us; Billy +went after them, as, thanks to the Wolverine, we were out of meat, +and at one shot secured a fine young buck. + +His last winter's coat was all shed now, his ears were turning +white and the white areas were expanding on feet and buttocks; his +belly was pure white. + +On his back and rump, chiefly the latter, were the scars of 121 +bots. I could not see that they affected the skin or, hair in the +least. + +Although all of these Caribou seem to have the normal foot-click, +Preble and I worked in vain with the feet of this, dead one to make +the sound; we could not by any combination of movement, or weight +or simulation of natural conditions, produce anything like a "click." + +That same day, as we sat on a hill, a cow Caribou came curiously +toward us. At 100 yards she circled slowly, gazing till she got +the wind 150 yards to one side, then up went her tail and off she +trotted a quarter of a mile, but again drew nearer, then circled +as before till a second time the wind warned her to flee. This she +did three or four times before trotting away; the habit is often +seen. + +Next afternoon, Billy and I saw a very large buck; his neck was +much swollen, his beard flowing and nearly white. He sighted us +afar, and worked north-west away from us, in no great alarm. I got +out of sight, ran a mile and a half, headed him off, then came on +him from the north, but in spite of all I could do by running and +yelling, he and his band (3 cows with 3 calves) rushed galloping +between me and the lake, 75 yards away. He was too foxy to be driven +back into that suspicious neighbourhood. + +Thus we had fine opportunities for studying wild life. In all +these days there was only one unfulfilled desire: I had not seen +the great herd of Caribou returning to the woods that are their +winter range. + +This herd is said to rival in numbers the Buffalo herds of story, +to reach farther than the eye can see, and to be days in passing +a given point; but it is utterly erratic. It might arrive in early +September. It was not sure to arrive until late October, when the +winter had begun. This year all the indications were that it would +be late. If we were to wait for it, it would mean going out on the +ice. For this we were wholly unprepared. There were no means of +getting the necessary dogs, sleds, and fur garments; my business +was calling me back to the East. It was useless to discuss the +matter, decision was forced on me. Therefore, without having seen +that great sight, one of the world's tremendous zoological spectacles +the march in one body of millions of Caribou--I reluctantly gave +the order to start. On September 8 we launched the Ann Seton on +her homeward voyage of 1,200 upstream miles. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +FAREWELL TO THE CARIBOU + + + +All along the shore of Artillery Lake we saw small groups of Caribou. +They were now in fine coat; the manes on the males were long and +white and we saw two with cleaned antlers; in one these were of a +brilliant red, which I suppose meant that they were cleaned that +day and still bloody. + +We arrived at the south end of Artillery Lake that night, and were +now again in the continuous woods what spindly little stuff it +looked when we left it; what superb forest it looked now--and here +we bade good-bye to the prairies and their Caribou. + +Now, therefore, I shall briefly summarise the information I gained +about this notable creature. The species ranges over all the +treeless plains and islands of Arctic America. While the great body +is migratory, there are scattered individuals in all parts at all +seasons. The main body winters in the sheltered southern third of +the range, to avoid the storms, and moves north in the late spring, +to avoid the plagues of deer-flies and mosquitoes. The former +are found chiefly in the woods, the latter are bad everywhere; by +travelling against the wind a certain measure of relief is secured, +northerly winds prevail, so the Caribou are kept travelling northward. +When there is no wind, the instinctive habit of migration doubtless +directs the general movement. + +How are we to form an idea of their numbers? The only way seems +to be by watching the great migration to its winter range. For the +reasons already given this was impossible in my case, therefore, +I array some of the known facts that will evidence the size of the +herd. + +Warburton Pike, who saw them at Mackay Lake, October 20, 1889, says: +"I cannot believe that the herds [of Buffalo] on the prairie ever +surpassed in size La Foule (the throng) of the Caribou. La Foule +had really come, and during its passage of six days I was able to +realize what an extraordinary number of these animals still roam +the Barren Grounds." + +From figures and facts given me by H. T. Munn, of Brandon, Manitoba, +I reckon that in three weeks following July 25, 1892, he saw at +Artillery Lake (N. latitude 62 1/2 degrees, W. Long. 112 degrees) +not less than 2,000,000 Caribou travelling southward; he calls this +merely the advance guard of the great herd. Colonel Jones (Buffalo +Jones), who saw the herd in October at Clinton-Colden, has given me +personally a description that furnishes the basis for an interesting +calculation of their numbers. + +He stood on a hill in the middle of the passing throng, with a +clear view ten miles each way and it was one army of Caribou. How +much further they spread, he did not know. Sometimes they were +bunched, so that a hundred were on a space one hundred feet square; +but often there would be spaces equally large without any. They +averaged at least one hundred Caribou to the acre; and they passed +him at the rate of about three miles an hour. He did not know how +long they were in passing this point; but at another place they +were four days, and travelled day and night. The whole world seemed +a moving mass of Caribou. He got the impression at last that they +were standing still and he was on a rocky hill that was rapidly +running through their hosts. + +Even halving these figures, to keep on the safe side, we find that +the number of Caribou in this army was over 25,000,000. Yet it is +possible that there are several such armies. In which case they +must indeed out-number the Buffalo in their palmiest epoch. So much +for their abundance to-day. To what extent are they being destroyed? +I looked into this question with care. + +First, of the Indian destruction. In 1812 the Chipewyan population, +according to Kennicott, was 7,500. Thomas Anderson, of Fort Smith, +showed me a census of the Mackenzie River Indians, which put them +at 3,961 in 1884. Official returns of the Canadian government give +them in 1905 at 3,411, as follows: + + +Peel . . . . . . . . . . 400 +Arctic Red River . . . . . . 100 +Good Hope . . . . . . . . 500 +Norman . . . . . . . . . 300 +Wrigley . . . . . . . . . 100 +Simpson . . . . . . . . . 300 +Rae . . . . . . . . . . 800 +Liard and Nelson . . . . . . 400 +Yellowknives . . . . . . . 151 +Dogribs . . . . . . . . . 123 +Chipewyans . . . . . . . . 123 +Hay River . . . . . . . . 114 + ----- + 3,411 + + +Of these the Hay River and Liard Indians, numbering about 500, can +scarcely be considered Caribou-eaters, so that the Indian population +feeding on Caribou to-day is about 3,000, less than half what it +was 100 years ago. + +Of these not more than 600 are hunters. The traders generally agree +that the average annual kill of Caribou is about 10 or 20 per man, +not more. When George Sanderson, of Fort Resolution, got 75 one +year, it was the talk of the country; many got none. Thus 20,000 +per annum killed by the Indians is a liberal estimate to-day. + +There has been so much talk about destruction by whalers that I +was careful to gather all available information. Several travellers +who had visited Hershell Island told me that four is the usual +number of whalers that winter in the north-east of Point Barrow. +Sometimes, but rarely, the number is increased to eight or ten, +never more. They buy what Caribou they can from Eskimo, sometimes +aggregating 300 or 400 carcasses in a winter, and would use more +if they could get them, but they cannot, as the Caribou herds are +then far south. This, E. Sprake Jones, William Hay, and others, +are sure represents fairly the annual destruction by whalers on +the north coast. Only one or two vessels of this traffic go into +Hudson's Bay, and these with those of Hershell are all that touch +Caribou country, so that the total destruction by whalers must be +under 1,000 head per annum. + +The Eskimo kill for their own use. Franz Boas ("Handbook of American +Indians") gives the number of Eskimo in the central region at +1,100. Of these not more than 300 are hunters. If we allow their +destruction to equal that of the 600 Indians, it is liberal, giving +a total of 40,000 Caribou killed by native hunters. As the whites +rarely enter the region, this is practically all the destruction +by man. The annual increase of 30,000,000 Caribou must be several +millions and would so far overbalance the hunter toll that the +latter cannot make any permanent difference. + +There is, moreover, good evidence that the native destruction has +diminished. As already seen, the tribes which hunt the Barren-Ground +Caribou, number less than one-half of what they did 100 years ago. +Since then, they have learned to use the rifle, and this, I am +assured by all the traders, has lessened the destruction. By the +old method, with the spear in the water, or in the pound trap, one +native might kill 100 Caribou in one day, during the migrations; +but these methods called for woodcraft and were very laborious. The +rifle being much easier, has displaced the spear; but there is a +limit to its destruction, especially with cartridges at five cents +to seven cents each, and, as already seen, the hunters do not +average 20 Caribou each in a year. + +Thus, all the known facts point to a greatly diminished slaughter +to-day when compared with that of 100 years ago. This, then, is my +summary of the Barren-Ground Caribou between the Mackenzie River +and Hudson's Bay. They number over 30,000,000, and may be double +of that. They are in primitive conditions and probably never more +numerous than now. + +The native destruction is less now than formerly and never did make +any perceptible difference. + +Finally, the matter has by no means escaped the attention of the +wide-awake Canadian government represented by the Minister of the +Interior and the Royal North-west Mounted Police. It could not be +in better hands; and there is no reason to fear in any degree a +repetition of the Buffalo slaughter that disgraced the plains of +the United States. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +OLD FORT RELIANCE TO FORT RESOLUTION + + + +All night the storm of rain and snow raged around our camp on +the south shore of Artillery Lake, but we were up and away in the +morning in spite of it. That day, we covered five portages (they +took two days in coming out). Next day we crossed Lake Harry and +camped three-quarters of a mile farther on the long portage. Next +day, September 11, we camped (still in storm) at the Lobstick Landing +of Great Slave Lake. How tropically rich all this vegetation looked +after the "Land of little sticks." Rain we could face, but high +winds on the big water were dangerous, so we were storm-bound until +September 14, when we put off, and in two hours were at old Fort +Reliance, the winter quarters of Sir George Back in 1833-4. In the +Far North the word "old" means "abandoned" and the fort, abandoned +long ago, had disappeared, except the great stone chimneys. Around +one of these that intrepid explorer and hunter-Buffalo Jones-had +built a shanty in 1897. There it stood in fairly good condition, +a welcome shelter from the storm which now set in with redoubled +fury. We soon had the big fireplace aglow and, sitting there in +comfort that we owed to him, and surrounded by the skeletons of +the Wolves that he had killed about the door in that fierce winter +time, we drank in hot and copious tea the toast: Long life and +prosperity to our host so far away, the brave old hunter, "Buffalo +Jones." + +The woods were beautiful and abounded with life, and the three +days we spent there were profitably devoted to collecting, but on +September 17 we crossed the bay, made the short portage, and at +night camped 32 miles away, on the home track. + +Next morning we found a camp of Indians down to the last of their +food. We supplied them with flour and tobacco. They said that +no Caribou had come to the Lake, showing how erratic is the great +migration. + +In the afternoon we came across another band in still harder luck. +They had nothing whatever but the precarious catch of the nets, +and this was the off-season. Again we supplied them, and these were +among the unexpected emergencies for which our carefully guarded +supplies came in. + +In spite of choppy seas we made from 30 to 35 miles a day, and +camped on Tal-thel-lay the evening of September 20. That night as +I sat by the fire the moon rose in a clear sky and as I gazed on +her calm bright disc something seemed to tell me that at that moment +the dear ones far away were also looking on that radiant face. + +On the 21st we were storm-bound at Et-then Island, but utilised +the time collecting. I gathered a lot of roots of Pulsatilla and +Calypso. Here Billy amused us by catching Wiskajons in an old-fashioned +springle that dated from the days when guns were unknown; but the +captured birds came back fearlessly each time after being released. + +All that day we had to lie about camp, keeping under cover on account +of the rain. It was dreary work listening to the surf ceaselessly +pounding the shore and realising that all these precious hours +were needed to bring us to Fort Resolution, where the steamer was +to meet us on the 25th. + +On the 23d it was calmer and we got away in the gray dawn at 5.45. +We were now in Weeso's country, and yet he ran us into a singular +pocket that I have called Weeso's Trap--a straight glacial groove +a mile long that came to a sudden end and we had to go back that +mile. + +The old man was much mortified over his blunder, but he did not +feel half so badly about it as I did, for every hour was precious +now. + +What a delight it was to feel our canoe skimming along under the +four paddles. Three times as fast we travelled now as when we came +out with the bigger boat; 5 1/2 miles an hour was frequently our +rate and when we camped that night we had covered 47 miles since +dawn. + +On Kahdinouay we camped and again a storm arose to pound and bluster +all night. In spite of a choppy sea next day we reached the small +island before the final crossing; and here, perforce, we stayed +to await a calmer sea. Later we heard that during this very storm +a canoe-load of Indians attempted the crossing and upset; none were +swimmers, all were drowned. + +We were not the only migrants hurrying southward. Here for the +first time in my life I saw Wild Swans, six in a flock. They were +heading southward and flew not in very orderly array, but ever +changing, occasionally forming the triangle after the manner of +Geese. They differ from Geese in flapping more slowly, from White +Cranes in flapping faster, and seemed to vibrate only the tips of +the wings. This was on the 23d. Next day we saw another flock of +seven; I suppose that in each case it was the old one and young of +the year. + +As they flew they uttered three different notes: a deep horn-like +"too" or "coo," a higher pitched "coo," and a warble-like +"tootle-tootle," or sometimes simply "tee-tee." Maybe the last did +not come from the Swans, but no other birds were near; I suppose +that these three styles of notes came from male, female, and young. + +Next morning 7 flocks of Swans flew overhead toward the south-west. +They totalled 46; 12 were the most in one flock. In this large flock +I saw a quarrel No. 2 turned back and struck No. 3, his long neck +bent and curled like a snake, both dropped downward several feet +then 3, 4 and 5 left that flock. I suspect they were of another +family. + +But, later, as we entered the river mouth we had a thrilling glimpse +of Swan life. Flock after flock came in view as we rounded the rush +beds; 12 flocks in all we saw, none had less than 5 in it, nearly +100 Swans in sight, at once, and all rose together with a mighty +flapping of strong, white wings, and the chorus of the insignificant +"too-too-tees" sailed farther southward, probably to make the great +Swan tryst on Hay River. + +No doubt these were the same 12 flocks as those observed on the +previous days, but still it rejoiced my heart to see even that +many. I had feared that the species was far gone on the trail of +the Passenger Pigeon. + +But this is anticipating. We were camped still on the island north +of the traverse, waiting for possible water. All day we watched In +vain, all night the surf kept booming, but at three in the morning +the wind dropped, at four it was obviously calmer. I called the +boys and we got away before six; dashing straight south in spite +of rolling seas we crossed the 15-mile stretch in 3 3/4 hours, and +turning westward reached Stony Island by noon. Thence southward +through ever calmer water our gallant boat went spinning, reeling +off the level miles up the river channel, and down again on its +south-west branch, in a glorious red sunset, covering in one day +the journeys of four during our outgoing, in the supposedly far +speedier York boat. Faster and faster we seemed to fly, for we had +the grand incentive that we must catch the steamer at any price +that night. Weeso now, for the first time, showed up strong; knowing +every yard of the way he took advantage of every swirl of the river; +in and out among the larger islands we darted, and when we should +have stopped for the night no man said "Stop", but harder we +paddled. We could smell the steamer smoke, we thought, and pictured +her captain eagerly scanning the offing for our flying canoe; it +was most inspiring and the Ann Seton jumped up to 6 miles an hour +for a time. So we went; the night came down, but far away were the +glittering lights of Fort Resolution, and the steamer that should +end our toil. How cheering. The skilly pilot and the lusty paddler +slacked not--40 miles we had come that day--and when at last some +49, nearly 50, paddled miles brought us stiff and weary to the +landing it was only to learn that the steamer, notwithstanding +bargain set and agreed on, had gone south two days before. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +GOING UP THE LOWER SLAVE + + + +What we thought about the steamboat official who was responsible +for our dilemma we did not need to put into words; for every one +knew of the bargain and its breach: nearly every one present had +protested at the time, and the hardest things I felt like saying +were mild compared with the things already said by that official's +own colleagues. But these things were forgotten in the hearty greetings +of friends and bundles of letters from home. It was eight o'clock, +and of course black night when we landed; yet it was midnight when +we thought of sleep. + +Fort Resolution is always dog-town; and now it seemed at its +worst. When the time came to roll up in our blankets, we were fully +possessed of the camper's horror of sleeping indoors; but it was +too dark to put up a tent and there was not a square foot of ground +anywhere near that was not polluted and stinking of "dog-sign," +so very unwillingly I broke my long spell of sleeping out, on this +131st day, and passed the night on the floor of the Hudson's Bay +Company house. I had gone indoors to avoid the "dog-sign" and next +morning found, alas, that I had been lying all night on "cat-sign." + +I say lying; I did not sleep. The closeness of the room, in spite +of an open window, the novelty, the smells, combined with the +excitement of letters from home, banished sleep until morning came, +and, of course, I got a bad cold, the first I had had all summer. + +Here I said "good-bye" to old Weeso. He grinned affably, and when I +asked what he would like for a present said, "Send me an axe like +yours," There were three things in my outfit that aroused the cupidity +of nearly every Indian, the Winchester rifle, the Peterboro canoe +and the Marble axe, "the axe that swallows its face." Weeso had +a rifle, we could not spare or send him a canoe, so I promised to +send him the axe. Post is slow, but it reached him six months later +and I doubt not is even now doing active service. + +Having missed the last steamer, we must go on by canoe. Canoeing +up the river meant "tracking" all the way; that is, the canoe must +be hauled up with a line, by a man walking on the banks; hard work +needing not only a strong, active man, but one who knows the river. +Through the kindness of J. McLeneghan, of the Swiggert Trading +Company, I was spared the horrors of my previous efforts to secure +help at Fort Resolution, and George Sanderson, a strong young +half-breed, agreed to take me to Fort Smith for $2.00 a day and +means of returning. George was a famous hunter and fisher, and +a "good man" to travel. I marked his broad shoulders and sinewy, +active form with joy, especially in view of his reputation. In one +respect he was different from all other half-breeds that I ever +knew--he always gave a straight answer. Ask an ordinary half-breed, +or western white man, indeed, how far it is to such a point, his +reply commonly is, "Oh, not so awful far," or "It is quite a piece," +or "It aint such a hell of a ways," conveying to the stranger no +shadow of idea whether it is a hundred yards, a mile, or a week's +travel. Again and again when Sanderson was asked how far it was to +a given place, he would pause and say, "Three miles and a half," +or "Little more than eight miles," as the case might be. The usual +half-breed when asked if we could make such a point by noon would +say "Maybe. I don't know. It is quite a piece." Sanderson would +say, "Yes," or "No, not by two miles," according to circumstances; +and his information was always correct; he knew the river "like a +book." + +On the afternoon of September 27 we left "Dogtown" with Sanderson +in Weeso's place and began our upward journey. George proved as +good as his reputation. The way that active fellow would stride +along the shore, over logs and brush, around fallen trees, hauling +the canoe against stream some three or four miles an hour was +perfectly fine; and each night my heart was glad and sang the old +refrain, "A day's march nearer home." + +The toil of this tracking is second only to that of portageing. +The men usually relieve each other every 30 minutes. So Billy and +George were the team. If I were going again into that country and +had my choice these two again would be my crew. + +Once or twice I took the track-line myself for a quarter of an hour, +but it did not appeal to me as a permanent amusement. It taught me +one thing that I did not suspect, namely, that it is much harder to +haul a canoe with three inches of water under her keel than with +three feet. In the former case, the attraction of the bottom is +most powerful and evident. The experience also explained the old +sailor phrase about the vessel feeling the bottom: this I had often +heard, but never before comprehended. + +All day we tracked, covering 20 to 25 miles between camps and hourly +making observations on the wild life of the river. Small birds and +mammals were evidently much more abundant than in spring, and the +broad, muddy, and sandy reaches of the margin were tracked over by +Chipmunks, Weasels, Foxes, Lynxes, Bear, and Moose. + +A Lynx, which we surprised on a sand-bar, took to the water without +hesitation and swam to the mainland. It went as fast as a dog, but +not nearly so fast as a Caribou. A large Fox that we saw crossing +the river proved very inferior to the Lynx in swimming speed. + +The two portages, Ennuyeux and Detour, were duly passed, and on the +morning of October 3, as we travelled, a sailboat hove into sight. +It held Messrs. Thomas Christy, C. Harding, and Stagg. We were now +within 11 days of Fort Smith, so I took advantage of the opportunity +to send Sanderson back. On the evening of the 3d we came to Salt +River, and there we saw Pierre Squirrel with his hundred dogs and +at 1 P. M., October 4, arrived at Fort Smith. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +FORT SMITH AND THE TUG + + + +Here again we had the unpleasant experience of sleeping indoors, +a miserable, sleepless, stifling night, followed by the inevitable +cold. + +Next day we rode with our things over the portage to Smith Landing. +I had secured the tug Ariel to give us a lift, and at 7 P. M., +October 5, pulled out for the next stretch of the river, ourselves +aboard the tug, the canoe with a cargo towed behind. + +That night we slept at the saw-mill, perforce, and having had +enough of indoors, I spread my, blankets outside, with the result, +as I was warned, that every one of the numerous dogs came again and +again, and passed, his opinion on my slumbering form. Next night +we selected an island to camp on, the men did not want to stay on +the mainland, for "the woods are full of mice and their feet are so +cold when they run over your face as you sleep." We did not set up +our tents that time but lay on the ground; next morning at dawn, +when I looked around, the camp was like a country graveyard, for +we were all covered with leaves, and each man was simply a long +mound. The dawn came up an ominous rose-red. I love not the rosy +dawn; a golden dawn or a chill-blue dawn is happy, but I fear the +dawn of rose as the red headlight of a storm. It came; by 8.30 the +rain had set in and steadily fell all day. + +The following morning we had our first accident. The steamer with +the loaded canoe behind was rushing up a rapid. A swirl of water +upset the canoe, and all our large packs were afloat. All were +quickly recovered except a bag of salted skins. These sank and were +seen no more. + +On October 9 we arrived at Fort Chipewyan. As we drew near that +famous place of water-fowl, the long strings and massed flocks of +various geese and ducks grew more and more plentiful; and at the +Fort itself we found their metropolis. The Hudson's Bay Company +had killed and salted about 600 Waveys or Snow Geese; each of the +Loutit families, about 500; not less than 12,000 Waveys will be +salted down this fall, besides Honkers, White-fronts and Ducks. +Each year they reckon on about 10,000 Waveys, in poor years they +take 5,000 to 6,000, in fat years 15,000. The Snow and White-fronted +Geese all had the white parts of the head more or less stained with +orange. Only one Blue Goose had been taken. This I got; it is a +westernmost record. No Swans had been secured this year; in fact, +I am told that they are never taken in the fall because they never +come this way, though they visit the east end of the lake; in the +spring they come by here and about 20 are taken each year. Chipewyan +was Billy Loutit's home, and the family gave a dance in honour of +the wanderer's return. Here I secured a tall half-breed, Gregoire +Daniell, usually known as "Bellalise," to go with me as far as +Athabaska Landing. + +There was no good reason why we should not leave Chipewyan in three +hours. But the engineer of my tug had run across an old friend; +they wanted to have a jollification, as of course the engine +was "hopelessly out of order." But we got away at 7 next day--my +four men and the tug's three. At the wheel was a halfbreed--David +MacPherson--who is said to be a natural-born pilot, and the best +in the country. Although he never was on the Upper Slave before, +and it is an exceedingly difficult stream with its interminable, +intricate, shifting shallows, crooked, narrow channels, and +impenetrable muddy currents, his "nose for water" is so good that +he brought us through at full speed without striking once. Next +time he Will be qualified to do it by night. + +In the grove where we camped after sundown were the teepee and +shack of an Indian (Chipewyan) Brayno (probably Brenaud). This is +his hunting and trapping ground, and has been for years. No one +poaches on it; that is unwritten law; a man may follow a wounded +animal into his neighbour's territory, but not trap there. The +nearest neighbour is 10 miles off. He gets 3 or 4 Silver Foxes +every year, a few Lynx, Otter, Marten, etc. + +Bellalise was somewhat of a character. About 6 feet 4 in height, +with narrow, hollow chest, very large hands and feet and a nervous, +restless way of flinging himself about. He struck me as a man who +was killing himself with toil beyond his physical strength. He was +strongly recommended by the Hudson's Bay Company people as a "good +man," I liked his face and manners, he was an intelligent companion, +and I was glad to have secured him. At the first and second camps +he worked hard. At the next he ceased work suddenly and went aside; +his stomach was upset. A few hours afterwards he told me he was +feeling ill. The engineer, who wanted him to cut wood, said to me, +"That man is shamming." My reply was short: "You have known him +for months, and think he is shamming; I have known him for hours +and I know he is not that kind of a man." + +He told me next morning, "It's no use, I got my breast crushed by +the tug a couple of weeks ago, I have no strength. At Fort McKay +is a good man named Jiarobia, he will go with you." + +So when the tug left us Bellalise refunded his advance and returned +to Chipewyan. He was one of those that made me think well of his +people; and his observations on the wild life of the country showed +that he had a tongue to tell, as well as eyes to see. + +That morning, besides the calls of Honkers and Waveys we heard the +glorious trumpeting of the White Crane. It has less rattling croak +and more whoop than that of the Brown Crane. Bellalise says that +every year a few come to Chipewyan, then go north with the Waveys +to breed. In the fall they come back for a month; they are usually +in flocks of three and four; two old ones and their offspring, +the latter known by their brownish colour. If you get the two old +ones, the young ones are easily killed, as they keep flying low +over the place. + +Is this then the secret of its disappearance? and is it on these +far breeding grounds that man has proved too hard? + +At Lobstick Point, 2 P. M., October 13, the tug turned back and +we three continued our journey as before, Preble and Billy taking +turns at tracking the canoe. + +Next day we reached Fort McKay and thus marked another important +stage of the journey. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +FORT McKAY AND JIAROBIA + + + +Fort McKay was the last point at which we saw the Chipewyan style +of teepee, and the first where the Cree appeared. But its chief +interest to us lay in the fact that it was the home of Jiarobia, a +capable river-man who wished to go to Athabaska Landing. The first +thing that struck us about Jiarobia--whose dictionary name by the +way is Elzear Robillard--was that his house had a good roof and +a large pile of wood ready cut. These were extremely important +indications in a land of improvidence. Robillard was a thin, active, +half-breed of very dark skin. He was willing to go for $2.00 a day +the round-trip (18 days) plus food and a boat to return with. But +a difficulty now appeared; Madame Robillard, a tall, dark half-breed +woman, objected: "Elzear had been away all summer, he should stay +home now." "If you go I will run off into the backwoods with the +first wild Indian that wants a squaw," she threatened. "Now," said +Rob, in choice English, "I am up against it." She did not understand +English, but she could read looks and had some French, so I took +a hand. + +"If Madame will consent I will advance $15.00 of her husband's pay +and will let her select the finest silk handkerchief in the Hudson's +Bay store for a present." + +In about three minutes her Cree eloquence died a natural death; +she put a shawl on her head and stepped toward the door without +looking at me. Rob, nodded to me, and signed to go to the Hudson's +Bay store; by which I inferred that the case was won; we were going +now to select the present. To my amazement she turned from all the +bright-coloured goods and selected a large black silk handkerchief. + +The men tell me it is always so now; fifty years ago every woman +wanted red things. Now all want black; and the traders who made +the mistake of importing red have had to import dyes and dip them +all. + +Jiarobia, or, as we mostly call him, "Rob," proved most amusing +character as well as a "good man" and the reader will please note +that nearly all of my single help were "good men." Only when I had +a crowd was there trouble. His store of anecdote was unbounded and +his sense of humour ever present, if broad and simple. He talked +in English, French, and Cree, and knew a good deal of Chipewyan. +Many of his personal adventures would have fitted admirably into +the Decameron, but are scarcely suited for this narrative. One +evening he began to sing, I listened intently, thinking maybe I +should pick up some ancient chanson of the voyageurs or at least +a woodman's "Come-all-ye." Alas! it proved to be nothing but the +"Whistling Coon." + +Which reminds me of another curious experience at the village of +Fort Smith. I saw a crowd of the Indians about a lodge and strange +noises proceeding therefrom. When I went over the folk made way for +me. I entered, sat down, and found that they were crowded around +a cheap gramophone which was hawking, spitting and screeching some +awful rag-time music and nigger jigs. I could forgive the traders +for bringing in the gramophone, but why, oh, why, did they not +bring some of the simple world-wide human songs which could at least +have had an educational effect? The Indian group listened to this +weird instrument with the profoundest gravity. If there is anything +inherently comic in our low comics it was entirely lost on them. + +One of Rob's amusing fireside tricks was thus: He put his hands +together, so: (illustration). "Now de' tumbs is you and your fader, +de first finger is you and your mudder, ze next is you and your +sister, ze little finger is you and your brudder, ze ring finger +is you and your sweetheart. You and your fader separate easy, like +dat; you and your brudder like dat, you and your sister like dat, +dat's easy; you and your mudder like dat, dat's not so easy; but +you and your sweetheart cannot part widout all everything go to +hell first." + +Later, as we passed the American who lives at Fort McMurray, Jiarobia +said to me: "Dat man is the biggest awful liar on de river. You +should hear him talk. 'One day,' he said, 'dere was a big stone +floating up de muddy river and on it was tree men, and one was +blind and one was plumb naked and one had no arms nor legs, and de +blind man he looks down on bottom of river an see a gold watch, an +de cripple he reach out and get it, and de naked man he put it in +his pocket.' Now any man talk dat way he one most awful liar, it +is not possible, any part, no how." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +THE RIVER + + + +Now we resumed our daily life of tracking, eating, tracking, +camping, tracking, sleeping. The weather had continued fine, with +little change ever since we left Resolution, and we were so hardened +to the life that it was pleasantly monotonous. + +How different now were my thoughts compared with those of last +Spring, as I first looked on this great river. + +When we had embarked on the leaping, boiling, muddy Athabaska, in +this frail canoe, it had seemed a foolhardy enterprise. How could +such a craft ride such a stream for 2,000 miles? It was like a mouse +mounting a monstrous, untamed, plunging and rearing horse. Now we +set out each morning, familiar with stream and our boat, having no +thought of danger, and viewing the water, the same turbid flood, +as, our servant. Even as a skilful tamer will turn the wildest +horse into his willing slave, so have we conquered this river and +made it the bearer of our burdens. So I thought and wrote at the +time; but the wise tamer is ever alert, never lulled into false +security. He knows that a heedless move may turn his steed into +a deadly, dangerous monster. We had our lesson to learn. + +That night (October 15) there was a dull yellow sunset. The morning +came with a strong north wind and rain that turned to snow, and +with it great flocks of birds migrating from the Athabaska Lake. +Many rough-legged Hawks, hundreds of small land birds, thousands +of Snow-birds in flocks of 20 to 200, myriads of Ducks and Geese, +passed over our heads going southward before the frost. About 8.30 +the Geese began to pass in ever-increasing flocks; between 9.45 +and 10 I counted 114 flocks averaging about 30 each (5 to 300) and +they kept on at this rate till 2 P. M. This would give a total of +nearly 100,000 Geese. It was a joyful thing to see and hear them; +their legions in flight array went stringing high aloft, so high +they looked not like Geese, but threads across the sky, the cobwebs, +indeed, that Mother Carey was sweeping away with her north-wind +broom. I sketched and counted flock after flock with a sense of +thankfulness that so many, were left alive. Most were White Geese, +but a twentieth, perhaps, were Honkers. + +The Ducks began to pass over about noon, and became more numerous +than the Geese as they went on. + +In the midst of this myriad procession, as though they were the +centre and cause of all, were two splendid White Cranes, bugling +as they flew. Later that day we saw another band, of three, but +these were all; their race is nearly run. + +The full moon was on and all night the wild-fowl flew. The frost +was close behind them, sharp and sudden. Next morning the ponds +about us had ice an inch thick and we heard of it three inches at +other places. + +But the sun came out gloriously and when at ten we landed at Fort +McMurray the day was warm and perfect in its autumnal peace. + +Miss Gordon, the postmaster, did not recognise us at first. She +said we all looked "so much older, it is always so with folks who +go north." + +Next morning we somehow left our tent behind. It was old and of +little value, so we did not go back, and the fact that we never +really needed it speaks much for the sort of weather we had to the +end of the trip. + +A couple of Moose (cow and calf) crossed the river ahead of us, +and Billy went off in hot pursuit; but saw no more of them. + +Tracks of animals were extremely abundant on, the shore here. +Large Wolves became quite numerous evidently we were now in their +country. Apparently they had killed a Moose, as their dung was full +of Moose hair. + +We were now in the Canyon of the Athabaska and from this on our +journey was a fight with the rapids. One by one my skilful boatmen +negotiated them; either we tracked up or half unloaded, or landed +and portaged, but it was hard and weary work. My journal entry for +the night of the 18th runs thus: + +"I am tired of troubled waters. All day to-day and for five days +back we have been fighting the rapids of this fierce river. My +place is to sit in the canoe-bow with a long pole, glancing here +and there, right, left, and ahead, watching ever the face of this +snarling river; and when its curling green lips apart betray a +yellow brown gleam of deadly teeth too near, it is my part to ply +with might and main that pole, and push the frail canoe aside to +where the stream is in milder, kindlier mood.' Oh, I love not a +brawling river any more than a brawling woman, and thoughts of the +broad, calm Slave, with its majestic stretches of level flood, are +now as happy halcyon memories of a bright and long-gone past." + +My men were skilful and indefatigable. One by one we met the hard +rapids in various ways, mostly by portaging, but on the morning +of the 19th we came to one so small and short that all agreed the +canoe could be forced by with poles and track-line. It looked an +insignificant ripple, no more than a fish might make with its tail, +and what happened in going up, is recorded as follows: + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +THE RIVER SHOWS ITS TEETH + + + +"Oct. 20, 1907.--Athabaska River. In the Canyon. This has been +a day of horrors and mercies. We left the camp early, 6.55--long +before sunrise, and portaged the first rapid. About 9 we came to +the middle rapid; this Billy thought we could track up, so with +two ropes he and Rob were hauling us, I in bow, Preble in stem; +but the strong waters of the middle part whirled the canoe around +suddenly, and dashed her on a rock. There was a crash of breaking +timber, a roar of the flood, and in a moment Preble and I and, all +the stuff were in the water. + +"'My journals,' I shouted as I went down, and all the time the +flood was boiling in my ears my thought was, 'My journals,'--'my +journals.' + +"The moment my mouth was up again above the water, I bubbled out, +'My journals,--save my journals,' then struck out for the shore. +Now I saw Preble hanging on to the canoe and trying to right it. +His face was calm and unchanged as when setting a mousetrap. 'Never +mind that, save yourself,' I called out; he made no response, and, +after all, it was safest to hang on to the canoe. I was swept into +a shallow place at once, and got on my feet, then gained the shore. + +"'My journals--save them first!' I shouted to the two boys, and +now remembered with horror, how, this very morning, on account of +portaging, I had for the first time put all three journals in the +handbag, that had disappeared, whereas the telescope that used to +hold two of them, was floating high. It is the emergency that proves +your man, and I learned that day I had three of the best men that +ever boarded a boat. A glance showed Preble in shallow water coolly +hauling in the canoe. + +"Rob and Billy bounded along the rugged shores, from one ice-covered +rock to another, over piles of drift logs and along steep ledges +they went; like two mountain goats; the flood was spotted with +floating things, but no sign of the precious journal-bag. Away out +was the grub-box; square and high afloat, it struck a reef. 'You +save the grub,' yelled Billy above the roaring, pitiless flood, +and dashed on. I knew Billy's head was cool and clear, so I plunged +into the water, ice-cold and waist deep--and before the merciless +one could snatch it along, I had the grub-box safe. Meanwhile Rob +and Billy had danced away out of sight along that wild canyon bank. +I set out after them. In some eddies various articles were afloat, +a cocoa tin, a milk pot, a bag of rare orchids intended for a friend, +a half sack of flour, and many little things I saved at cost of a +fresh wetting each time, and on the bank, thrown hastily up by the +boys, were such bundles as they had been able to rescue. + +"I struggled on, but the pace was killing. They were young men +and dog-runners; I was left behind and was getting so tired now I +could not keep warm; there was a keen frost and I was wet to the +skin. The chance to rescue other things came again and again. Twelve +times did I plunge, into that deadly cold river, and so gathered +a lot of small truck. Then knowing I could do little more, and +realising that everything man could do would be done without me, +turned back reluctantly. Preble passed me at a run, he had left +the canoe in a good place and had saved some bedding. + +"'Have you seen my journal-bag?' He made a quick gesture down the +river, then dashed away. Alas! I knew now, the one irreplaceable +part of our cargo was deep in the treacherous flood, never to be +seen again. + +"At the canoe I set about making a fire; there was no axe to cut +kindling-wood, but a birch tree was near, and a pile of shredded +birch-bark with a lot of dry willow on it made a perfect fire-lay; +then I opened my waterproof matchbox. Oh, horrors! the fifteen +matches in it were damp and soggy. I tried to dry them by blowing +on them; my frozen fingers could scarcely hold them. After a time +I struck one. It was soft and useless; another and another at +intervals, till thirteen; then, despairing, I laid the last two on +a stone in the weak sunlight, and tried to warm myself by gathering +firewood and moving quickly, but it seemed useless a very death +chill was on me. I have often lighted a fire with rubbing-sticks, +but I needed an axe, as well as a buckskin thong for this, and I had +neither. I looked through the baggage that was saved, no matches +and all things dripping wet. I might go three miles down that +frightful canyon to our last camp and maybe get some living coals. +But no! mindful of the forestry laws, we had as usual most carefully +extinguished the fire with buckets of water, and the clothes were +freezing on my back. 1 was tired out, teeth chattering. Then came +the thought, Why despair while two matches remain? I struck the +first now, the fourteenth, and, in spite of dead fingers and the +sizzly, doubtful match, it cracked, blazed, and then, oh blessed, +blessed birch bark!--with any other tinder my numbed hands had +surely failed--it blazed like a torch, and warmth at last was mine, +and outward comfort for a house of gloom. + +"The boys, I knew, would work like heroes and do their part as +well as man could do it, my work was right here. I gathered all the +things along the beach, made great racks for drying and a mighty +blaze. I had no pots or pans, but an aluminum bottle which would +serve as kettle; and thus I prepared a meal of such things as +were saved--a scrap of pork, some tea and a soggy mass that once +was pilot bread. Then sat down by the fire to spend five hours of +growing horror, 175 miles from a settlement, canoe smashed, guns +gone, pots and pans gone, specimens all gone, half our bedding +gone, our food gone; but all these things were nothing, compared +with the loss of my three precious journals; 600 pages of observation +and discovery, geographical, botanical, and zoological, 500 drawings, +valuable records made under all sorts of trying circumstances, +discovery and compass survey of the beautiful Nyarling River, +compass survey of the two great northern lakes, discovery of two +great northern rivers, many lakes, a thousand things of interest +to others and priceless to me--my summer's work--gone; yes, I could +bear that, but the three chapters of life and thought irrevocably +gone; the magnitude of this calamity was crushing. Oh, God, this +is the most awful blow that could have fallen at the end of the +six months' trip. + +"The hours went by, and the gloom grew deeper, for there was no +sign of the boys. Never till now did the thought of danger enter +my mind. Had they been too foolhardy in their struggle with the +terrible stream? Had they, too, been made to feel its power? My guess +was near the truth; and yet there was that awful river unchanged, +glittering, surging, beautiful, exactly as on so many days before, +when life on it had seemed so bright. + +"At three in the afternoon, I saw a fly crawl down the rocks a +mile away. I fed the fire and heated up the food and tea. In twenty +minutes I could see that it was Rob, but both his hands were empty. +'If they had found it,' I said to myself, 'they would send it back +first thing, and if he had it, he would swing it aloft,' Yet no, +nothing but a shiny tin was in his hands and the blow had fallen. +The suspense was over, anyway. I bowed my head, 'We have done what +we could.' + +"Rob came slowly up, worn out. In his hand a tin of baking-powder. +Across his breast was a canvas band. He tottered toward me, too +tired to speak in answer to my unspoken question, but he turned +and there on his back was the canvas bag that held labour of all +these long toilsome months. + +"'I got 'em, all right,' he managed to say, smiling in a weak way. + +"'And the boys?' + +"'All right now.' + +"'Thank God!' I broke down, and wrung his hand; 'I won't forget,' +was all I could say. Hot tea revived him, loosened his tongue, and +I heard the story. + +"I knew,' he said, 'what was first to save when I seen you got +ashore. Me and Billy we run like crazy, we see dat bag 'way out in +the deep strong water. De odder tings came in de eddies, but dat +bag it keep 'way out, but we run along de rocks; after a mile it +came pretty near a point, and Billy, he climb on a rock and reach +out, but he fall in deep water and was carried far, so he had to +swim for his life. I jump on rocks anoder mile to anoder point; I +got ahead of de bag, den I get two logs, and hold dem between my +legs for raft, and push out; but dat dam river he take dem logs +very slow, and dat bag very fast, so it pass by. But Billy he swim +ashore, and run some more, and he make a raft; but de raft he stick +on rock, and de bag he never stick, but go like hell. + +"'Den I say, "Here, Billy, you give me yo' sash," and I run tree mile +more, so far I loss sight of dat bag and make good raft. By'mebye +Billy he come shouting and point, I push out in river, and paddle, +and watch, and sure dere come dat bag. My, how he travel! far out +now; but I paddle and push hard and bump he came at raft and I grab +him. Oh! maybe I warn't glad! ice on river, frost in air, 14 mile +run on snowy rocks, but I no care, I bet I make dat boss glad when +he see me." + +"Glad! I never felt more thankful in my life! My heart swelled with +gratitude to the brave boys that had leaped, scrambled, slidden, +tumbled, fallen, swum or climbed over those 14 perilous, horrible +miles of icy rocks and storm-piled timbers, to save the books that, +to them, seemed of so little value, but which they yet knew were, +to me, the most precious of all my things. Guns, cameras, food, +tents, bedding, dishes, were trifling losses, and the horror of +that day was turned to joy by the crowning mercy of its close. + +"'I won't forget you when we reach the Landing, Rob!' were, the +meagre words that rose to my lips, but the tone of voice supplied +what the words might lack. And I did not forget him or the others; +and Robillard said afterward, 'By Gar, dat de best day's work I +ever done, by Gar, de time I run down dat hell river after dem dam +books!'" + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +BRIGHT AGAIN + + + +In an hour the other men came, back. The rest of the day we put +in drying the things, especially our bedding. We used the aluminum +bottle, and an old meat tin for kettle; some bacon, happily saved, +was fried on sticks, and when we turned in that night it was with +light and thankful hearts, in spite of our manifold minor losses. + +Morning dawned bright and beautiful and keen. How glorious that +surging river looked in its noble canyon; but we were learning +thoroughly that noble scenery means dangerous travel--and there +was much noble scenery ahead; and I, at least, felt much older than +before this upset. + +The boys put in a couple of hours repairing the canoe, then they +studied the river in hopes of recovering the guns. How well the +river-men seemed to know it! Its every ripple and curl told them +a story of the bottom and the flood. + +"There must be a ledge there," said Billy, "just where we upset. +If the guns went down at once they are there. If they were carried +at all, the bottom is smooth to the second ledge and they are +there." He pointed a hundred yards away. + +So they armed themselves with grappling-poles that had nails for +claws. Then we lowered Rob in the canoe into the rapid and held on +while he fished above the ledge. + +"I tink I feel 'em," said Rob, again and again, but could not bring +them up. Then Billy tried. + +"Yes, they are there." But the current was too fierce and the hook +too poor; he could not hold them. + +Then I said: "There is only one thing to do. A man must go in at +the end of the rope; maybe he can reach down. I'll never send any +man into such a place, but I'll go myself." + +So I stripped, padded the track-line with a towel and put it around +my waist, then plunged in. Ouch! it was cold, and going seven miles +an hour. The boys lowered me to the spot where I was supposed to +dive or reach down. It was only five feet deep, but, struggle as +I might, I could not get even my arm down. I ducked and dived, but +I was held in the surface like a pennant on an air-blast. In a few +minutes the icy flood had robbed me of all sensation in my limbs, +and showed how impossible was the plan, so I gave the signal to +haul me in; which they did, nearly cutting my body in two with the +rope. And if ever there was a grovelling fire-worshipper, it was +my frozen self when I landed. + +Now we tried a new scheme. A tall spruce on the shore was leaning +over the place; fifty feet out, barely showing, was the rock that +wrecked us. We cut the spruce so it fell with its butt on the shore, +and lodged against the rock. On this, now, Rob and Billy walked +out and took turns grappling. Luck was with Rob. In a few minutes +he triumphantly hauled up the rifle and a little later the shotgun, +none the worse. + +Now, we had saved everything except the surplus provisions and my +little camera, trifling matters, indeed; so it was with feelings +of triumph that we went on south that day. + +In the afternoon, as we were tracking up the last part of the Boiler +Rapid, Billy at the bow, Rob on the shore, the line broke, and we +were only saved from another dreadful disaster by Billy's nerve +and quickness; for he fearlessly leaped overboard, had the luck to +find bottom, and held the canoe's head with all his strength. The +rope was mended and a safe way was found. That time I realized +the force of an Indian reply to a trader who sought to sell him a +cheap rope. "In the midst of a rapid one does not count the cost +of the line." + +At night we camped in a glorious red sunset, just above the Boiler +Rapid. On the shore was a pile of flour in sacks, inscribed in +Cree, "Gordon his flour." + +Here it was, the most prized foreign product in the country, lying +unprotected by the highway, and no man seemed to think the owner +foolish. Whatever else, these Indians are, they are absolutely +honest. + +The heavenly weather of the Indian Summer was now upon us. We +had left all storms and frost behind, and the next day, our final +trouble, the lack of food, was ended. A great steamer hove in +sight--at least it looked like a steamer--but, steadily coming on, +it proved a scow with an awning and a stove on it. The boys soon +recognised the man at the bow as William Gordon, trader at Fort +McMurray. We hailed him to stop when he was a quarter of a mile +ahead, and he responded with his six sturdy oarsmen; but such was +the force of the stream that he did not reach the shore till a +quarter-mile below us. + +"Hello, boys, what's up?" He shouted in the brotherly way that +all white men seem to get when meeting another of their race in a +savage land. + +"Had an upset and lost all our food." + +"Ho! that's easy fixed." Then did that generous man break open +boxes, bales, and packages and freely gave without a stint, all the +things we needed: kettles, pans, sugar, oatmeal, beans, jam, etc. + +"How are you fixed for whiskey?" he asked, opening his own private, +not-for-sale supply. + +"We have none and we never use it," was the reply. Then I fear I +fell very low in the eyes of my crew. + +"Never use it! Don't want it! You must be pretty damn lonesome in +a country like this," and he seemed quite unable to grasp the idea +of travellers who would not drink. + +Thus the last of our troubles was ended. Thenceforth the journey +was one of warm, sunny weather and pleasant travel. Each night the +sun went down in red and purple fire; and each morning rose in gold +on a steel-blue sky. There was only one bad side to this, that was +the constant danger of forest fire. On leaving each camp--we made +four every day--I put the fire out with plenty of water, many +buckets. Rob thought it unnecessary to take so much trouble. But +great clouds of smoke were seen at several reaches of the river, +to tell how dire it was that other campers had not done the same. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +WHEN NATURE SMILED + + + +It seems a law that every deep valley must be next a high mountain. +Our sorrows ended when we quit the canyon, and then, as though in +compensation, nature crammed the days with the small joys that seem +so little and mean so much to the naturalist. + +Those last few days, unmarred of the smallest hardship, were one +long pearl-string of the things I came for--the chances to see and +be among wild life. + +Each night the Coyote and the Fox came rustling about our camp, or +the Weasel and Woodmouse scrambled over our sleeping forms. Each +morning at gray dawn, gray Wiskajon and his mate--always a pair +came wailing through the woods, to flirt about the camp and steal +scraps of meat that needed not to be stolen, being theirs by right. +Their small cousins, the Chicadees, came, too, at breakfast time, +and in our daily travelling, Ruffed Grouse, Ravens, Pine Grosbeaks, +Bohemian Chatterers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Shrikes, Tree-sparrows, +Linnets, and Snowbirds enlivened the radiant sunlit scene. + +One afternoon I heard a peculiar note, at first like the +"cheepy-teet-teet" of the Pine Grosbeak, only louder and more +broken, changing to the jingling of Blackbirds in spring, mixed +with some Bluejay "jay-jays," and a Robin-like whistle; then I saw +that it came from a Northern Shrike on the bushes just ahead of +us. It flew off much after the manner of the Summer Shrike, with +flight not truly undulatory nor yet straight, but flapping half +a dozen times--then a pause and repeat. He would dive along down +near the ground, then up with a fine display of wings and tail to +the next perch selected, there to repeat with fresh variations and +shrieks, the same strange song, and often indeed sang it on the +wing, until at last he crossed the river. + +Sometimes we rode in the canoe, sometimes tramped along the easy +shore. Once I came across a Great Homed Owl in the grass by the +water. He had a fish over a foot long, and flew with difficulty +when be bore it off. Another time I saw a Horned Owl mobbed by two +Wiskajons. Spruce Partridge as well as the Ruffed species became +common: one morning some of the former marched into camp at +breakfast time. Rob called them "Chickens"; farther south they are +called "Fool Hens," which is descriptive and helps to distinguish +them from their neighbours--the "Sage Hens." Frequently now we +heard the toy-trumpeting and the clack of the Pileated Woodpecker +or Cock-of-the-Pines, a Canadian rather than a Hudsonian species. +One day, at our three o'clock meal, a great splendid fellow of the +kind gave us a thrill. "Clack-clack-clack," we heard him coming, +and he bounded through the air into the trees over our camp. Still +uttering his loud "Clack-clack-clack," he swung from tree to tree +in one long festoon of flight, spread out on the up-swoop like an +enormous black butterfly with white-starred wings. "Clack-clack-clack," +he stirred the echoes from the other shore, and ignored us as he +swooped and clanged. There was much in his song of the Woodpecker +tang; it was very nearly the springtime "cluck-cluck" of a magnified +Flicker in black; and I gazed with open mouth until he thought +fit to bound through the air to another woods. This was my first +close meeting with the King of the Woodpeckers; I long to know him +better. Mammals, too, abounded, but we saw their signs rather than +themselves, for most are nocturnal. The Redsquirrels, so scarce last +spring, were quite plentiful, and the beach at all soft places +showed abundant trace Of Weasels, Chipmunks, Foxes, Coyotes, +Lynx, Wolves, Moose, Caribou, Deer. One Wolf track was of special +interest. It was 5 1/2 inches, long and travelling with it was the +track of a small Wolf; it vividly brought back the days of Lobo +and Blanca, and I doubt not was another case of mates; we were +evidently in the range of a giant Wolf who was travelling around +with his wife. Another large Wolf track was lacking the two inner +toes of the inner hind foot, and the bind foot pads were so faint +as to be lost at times, although the toes were deeply impressed in +the mud. This probably meant that he, had been in a trap and was +starved to a skeleton. + +We did not see any of these, but we did see the post-graduate +evidences of their diet, and were somewhat surprised to learn that +it included much fruit, especially of the uva-ursi. We also saw +proof that they had eaten part of a Moose; probably they had killed +it. + +Coyote abounded now, and these we saw from time to time. Once I +tramped up within thirty feet of a big fellow who was pursuing some +studies behind a log. But again the incontrovertible-postmortem-evidence +of their food habits was a surprise--the bulk of their sustenance +now was berries, in one case this was mixed with the tail hairs--but +no body hairs--of a Chipmunk. I suppose that Chipmunk escaped minus +his tail. There was much evidence that all those creatures that +can eat fruit were in good condition, but that flesh in its most +accessible form--rabbits--was unknown, and even next best thing--the +mice--were too scarce to count; this weighed with especial force +on the Lynxes; they alone seemed unable to eke out with fruit. The +few we saw were starving and at our camp of the 28th we found the +wretched body of one that was dead of hunger. + +On that, same night we had a curious adventure with a Weasel. + +All were sitting around the camp-fire at bed-time, when I heard +a distinct patter on the leaves. "Something coming," I whispered. +All held still, then out of the gloom came bounding a snow-white +Weasel. Preble was lying on his back with his hands clasped behind +his head and the Weasel fearlessly jumped on my colleague's broad +chest, and stood peering about. + +In a flash Preble's right elbow was down and held the Weasel prisoner, +his left hand coming to assist. Now, it is pretty well known that +if you and a Weasel grab each other at the same time he has choice +of holds. + +"I have got him," said Preble, then added feelingly, "but he got +me first. Suffering Moses! the little cuss is grinding his teeth +in deeper." + +The muffled screaming of the small demon died away as Preble's +strong left hand crushed out his life, but as long as there was a +spark of it remaining, those desperate jaws were grinding deeper +into his thumb. It seemed a remarkably long affair to us, and from +time to time, as Preble let off some fierce ejaculation, one of us +would ask, "Hello! Are you two still at it," or, "How are you and +your friend these times, Preble?" + +In a few minutes it was over, but that creature in his fury seemed +to have inspired himself with lock-jaw, for his teeth were so driven +in and double-locked, that I had to pry the jaws apart before the +hand was free. + +The Weasel may now be seen in the American Museum, and Preble in the +Agricultural Department at Washington, the latter none the worse. + +So wore away the month, the last night came, a night of fireside +joy at home (for was it not Hallowe'en?), and our celebration took +the form of washing, shaving, mending clothes, in preparation for +our landing in the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +THE END + + + +All that night of Hallowe'en, a Partridge drummed near my untented +couch on the balsam boughs. What a glorious sound of woods and life +triumphant it seemed; and why did he drum at night? Simply because +he had more joy than the short fall day gave him time to express. +He seemed to be beating our march of victory, for were we not in +triumph coming home? The gray firstlight came through the trees +and showed us lying each in his blanket, covered with leaves, like +babes in the woods. The gray Jays came wailing through the gloom, +a faroff Cock-of-the-Pines was trumpeting in the lovely, unplagued +autumn woods; it seemed as though all the very best things in the +land were assembled and the bad things all left out, so that our +final memories should have no evil shade. + +The scene comes brightly back again, the sheltering fir-clad shore, +the staunch canoe skimming the river's tranquil reach, the water +smiling round her bow, as we push from this, the last of full five +hundred camps. + +The dawn fog lifts, the river sparkles in the sun, we round the last +of a thousand headlands. The little frontier town of the Landing +swings into view once more--what a metropolis it seems to us now!--The +Ann Seton lands at the spot where six months ago she had entered +the water. Now in quick succession come the thrills of the larger +life--the letters from home, the telegraph office, the hearty +good-bye to the brave riverboys, and my long canoe-ride is over. + +I had held in my heart the wanderlust till it swept me away, and +sent me afar on the back trail of the north wind; I have lived in +the mighty boreal forest, with its Red-men, its Buffalo, its Moose, +and its Wolves; I have seen the Great Lone Land with its endless +plains and prairies that do not know the face of man or the crack +of a rifle; I have been with its countless lakes that re-echo nothing +but the wail and yodel of the Loons, or the mournful music of the +Arctic Wolf. I have wandered on the plains of the Musk-ox, the +home of the Snowbird and the Caribou. These were the things I had +burned to do. Was I content? Content!! Is a man ever content with +a single sip of joy long-dreamed of? + +Four years have gone since then. The wanderlust was not stifled any +more than a fire is stifled by giving it air. I have taken into +my heart a longing, given shape to an ancient instinct. Have I not +found for myself a kingdom and become a part of it? My reason and +my heart say, "Go back to see it all." Grant only this, that I +gather again the same brave men that manned my frail canoe, +and as sure as life and strength continue I shall go. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE ARCTIC PRAIRIES *** + +This file should be named 6818.txt or 6818.zip + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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