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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Long Labrador Trail + +Author: Dillon Wallace + +Posting Date: December 16, 2011 [EBook #9857] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: October 24, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LONG LABRADOR TRAIL *** + + + + +Produced by Martin Schub + + + + + +</pre> + +<!-- Short-line cutoffs are 54 and 39 --> + + + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<a name="perils"></a> +<a href="images/perilsth.jpg"> +<img alt="Frontispiece--The Perils of the Rapids" src="images/perilsth.jpg"> +</a> + +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a NAME="title_page"></a> + +<p align="center"><font size=7><i>The<br> +Long Labrador<br> +Trail</i></font></p> + +<p align="center">by<br> +Dillon Wallace<br> +Author of “The Lure of the<br> +Labrador Wild,” <i>etc</i>.</p> + +<p align="center">Illustrated</p> + +<p align="center">MCMXVII</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + +<p align="center">TO THE<br> +MEMORY OF MY WIFE</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<blockquote>“<i>A drear and desolate shore! <br> +Where no tree unfolds its leaves,<br> +And never the spring wind weaves<br> +Green grass for the hunter’s tread;<br> +A land forsaken and dead,<br> +Where the ghostly icebergs go<br> +And come with the ebb and flow...”</i></blockquote> + +<p>  Whittier’s “The Rock-tomb +of Bradore.”</p> + +<p>PREFACE</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1903 when Leonidas Hubbard, Jr., +went to Labrador to<br> +explore a section of the unknown interior it was my +privilege to<br> +accompany him as his companion and friend.  The +world has heard of the<br> +disastrous ending of our little expedition, and how +Hubbard, fighting<br> +bravely and heroically to the last, finally succumbed +to starvation.</p> + +<p>Before his death I gave him my promise that should +I survive I would<br> +write and publish the story of the journey.  +In “The Lure of The<br> +Labrador Wild” that pledge was kept to the best +of my ability.</p> + +<p>While Hubbard and I were struggling inland over those +desolate wastes,<br> +where life was always uncertain, we entered into a +compact that in<br> +case one of us fall the other would carry to completion +the<br> +exploratory work that he had planned and begun.  + Providence willed<br> +that it should become my duty to fulfil this compact, +and the<br> +following pages are a record of how it was done.</p> + +<p>Not I, but Hubbard, planned the journey of which this +book tells, and<br> +from him I received the inspiration and with him the +training and<br> +experience that enabled me to succeed.  It was +his spirit that led me<br> +on over the wearisome trails, and through the rushing +rapids, and to<br> +him and to his memory belong the credit and the honor +of success.</p> + +<p>D. W.<br> +February, 1907.</p> + +<p>CONTENTS</p> + +<p>CHAPTER<br> +<ol type="I"> +<li><a href="#chapter_1"> THE VOICE OF THE WILDERNESS</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_2"> ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE UNKNOWN</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_3"> THE LAST OF CIVILIZATION</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_4"> ON THE OLD INDIAN TRAIL</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_5"> WE GO ASTRAY</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_6"> LAKE NIPISHISH IS REACHED</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_7"> SCOUTING FOR THE TRAIL</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_8"> SEAL LAKE AT LAST</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_9"> WE LOSE THE TRAIL</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_10"> “WE SEE MICHIKAMAU”</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_11"> THE PARTING AT MICHIKAMAU</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_12"> OVER THE NORTHERN DIVIDE</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_13"> DISASTER IN THE RAPIDS</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_14"> TIDE WATER AND THE POST</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_15"> OFF WITH THE ESKIMOS</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_16"> CAUGHT BY THE ARCTIC ICE</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_17"> TO WHALE RIVER AND FORT CHIMO</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_18"> THE INDIANS OF THE NORTH</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_19"> THE ESKIMOS OF LABRADOR</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_20"> THE SLEDGE JOURNEY BEGUN</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_21"> CROSSING THE BARRENS</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_22"> ON THE ATLANTIC ICE</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_23"> BACK TO NORTHWEST RIVER</a><br></li> +<li><a href="#chapter_24"> THE END OF THE LONG TRAIL</a><br></li> +</ol> +<a href="#appendix"> APPENDIX<br></a> + +<h1>ILLUSTRATIONS</h1> + +<p> +<a href="#perils"> The Perils of the Rapids (in color, from a painting +by Oliver Kemp)</a><br> +<a href="#ice"> Ice Encountered Off the Labrador Coast </a><br> +<a href="#group"> “The Time For Action Had Come” </a><br> +<a href="#camp"> “Camp Was Moved to the First Small Lake” </a><br> +<a href="#cache"> “We Found a Long-disused Log Cache of the Indians”</a><br> +<a href="#nipish"> Below Lake Nipishish</a><br> +<a href="#marsh"> Through Ponds and Marshes Northward Toward Otter Lake</a><br> +<a href="#babewe"> “We Shall Call the River Babewendigash”</a><br> +<a href="#caribo"> “Pete, Standing by the Prostrate Caribou, Was +Grinning From Ear to Ear”</a><br> +<a href="#lakes"> “A Network of Lakes and the Country as Level +as a Table”</a><br> +<a href="#michik"> Michikamau</a><br> +<a href="#letter"> “Writing Letters to the Home Folks”</a><br> +<a href="#canoe"> “Our Lonely Perilous Journey Toward the Dismal +Wastes ...Was Begun”</a><br> +<a href="#icamp"> Abandoned Indian Camp On the Shore of Lake Michikamats</a><br> +<a href="#wigwam"> “One of the Wigwams Was a Large One and Oblong +in Shape”</a><br> +<a href="#post"> “At Last ...We Saw the Post”</a><br> +<a href="#shack"> “A Miserable Little Log Shack”</a><br> +<a href="#eskimo"> A Group of Eskimo Women</a><br> +<a href="#eskimo"> A Labrador Type</a><br> +<a href="#eskimo"> Eskimo Children</a><br> +<a href="#eskimo"> A Snow Igloo</a><br> +<a href="#silence"> The Silence of the North (in color, from a painting +by Frederic C. +Stokes)</a><br> +<a href="#nachvak"> “Nachvak Post of the Hudson’s Bay Company”. </a><br> +<a href="#hills"> “The Hills Grew Higher and Higher”</a><br> +<a href="#pass"> “We Turned Into a Pass Leading to the Northward”</a><br> +<a href="#mission"> The Moravian Mission at Ramah</a><br> +<a href="#snow"> “Plodding Southward Over the Endless Snow”</a><br> +<a href="#nain"> “Nain, the Moravian Headquarters in Labrador”</a><br> +<a href="#indians"> “The Indians Were Here”</a><br> +<a href="#geology"> Geological Specimens</a><br> +<a href="#maps"> Maps.</a></p> + +<h1>THE LONG LABRADOR TRAIL</h1> + +<a NAME="chapter_1"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER I</h1> + +<p><b>THE VOICE OF THE WILDERNESS</b></p> + +<p align="justify">“It’s always the way, +Wallace!  When a fellow starts on the long trail, +he’s never willing to quit.  It’ll +be the same with you if you go with me to Labrador.  + When you come home, you’ll hear the voice of +the wilderness calling you to return, and it will lure +you back again.”</p> + +<p align="justify">It seems but yesterday that Hubbard +uttered those prophetic words as he and I lay before +our blazing camp fire in the snow-covered Shawangunk +Mountains on that November night in the year 1901, +and planned that fateful trip into the unexplored +Labrador wilderness which was to cost my dear friend +his life, and both of us indescribable sufferings +and hardships.  And how true a prophecy it was!  + You who have smelled the camp fire smoke; who have +drunk in the pure forest air, laden with the smell +of the fir tree; who have dipped your paddle into +untamed waters, or climbed mountains, with the knowledge +that none but the red man has been there before you; +or have, perchance, had to fight the wilds and nature +for your very existence; you of the wilderness brotherhood +can understand how the fever of exploration gets into +one’s blood and draws one back again to the +forests and the barrens in spite of resolutions to +“go no more.”</p> + +<p align="justify">It was more than this, however, that +lured me back to Labrador.  There was the vision +of dear old Hubbard as I so often saw him during our +struggle through that rugged northland wilderness, +wasted in form and ragged in dress, but always hopeful +and eager, his undying spirit and indomitable will +focused in his words to me, and I can still see him +as he looked when he said them: </p> + +<p align="justify">“The work must be done, Wallace, +and if one of us falls before it is completed the +other must finish it.”</p> + +<p align="justify">I went back to Labrador to do the +work he had undertaken, but which he was not permitted +to accomplish.  His exhortation appealed to me +as a command from my leader—­a call to duty.</p> + +<p align="justify">Hubbard had planned to penetrate the +Labrador peninsula from Groswater Bay, following the +old northern trail of the Mountaineer Indians from +Northwest River Post of the Hudson’s Bay Company, +situated on Groswater Bay, one hundred and forty miles +inland from the eastern coast, to Lake Michikamau, +thence through the lake and northward over the divide, +where he hoped to locate the headwaters of the George +River.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was his intention to pass down +this river until he reached the hunting camps of the +Nenenot or Nascaupee Indians, there witness the annual +migration of the caribou to the eastern seacoast, which +tradition said took place about the middle or latter +part of September, and to be present at the “killing,” +when the Indians, it was reported, secured their winter’s +supply of provisions by spearing the caribou while +the herds were swimming the river.  The caribou +hunt over, he was to have returned across country +to the St. Lawrence or retrace his steps to Northwest +River Post, whichever might seem advisable.  +Should the season, however, be too far advanced to +permit of a safe return, he was to have proceeded +down the river to its mouth, at Ungava Bay, and return +to civilization in winter with dogs.</p> + +<p align="justify">The country through which we were +to have traveled was to be mapped so far as possible, +and observations made of the geological formation and +of the flora, and as many specimens collected as possible.</p> + +<p align="justify">This, then, Hubbard’s plan, +was the plan which I adopted and which I set out to +accomplish, when, in March, 1905, I finally decided +to return to Labrador.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was advisable to reach Hamilton +Inlet with the opening of navigation and make an early +start into the country, for every possible day of +the brief summer would be needed for our purpose.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was, as I fully realized, no small +undertaking.  Many hundreds of miles of unknown +country must be traversed, and over mountains and +through marshes for long distances our canoes and outfit +would have to be transported upon the backs of the +men comprising my party, as pack animals cannot be +used in Labrador.</p> + +<p align="justify">Through immense stretches of country +there would be no sustenance for them, and, in addition +to this, the character of the country itself forbids +their use.</p> + +<p align="justify">The personnel of the expedition required +much thought.  I might with one canoe and one +or two professional Indian packers travel more rapidly +than with men unused to exploration work, but in that +case scientific research would have to be slighted.  + I therefore decided to sacrifice speed to thoroughness +and to take with me men who, even though they might +not be physically able to carry the large packs of +the professional voyageur, would in other respects +lend valuable assistance to the work in hand.</p> + +<p align="justify">My projected return to Labrador was +no sooner announced than numerous applications came +to me from young men anxious to join the expedition.  +After careful investigation, I finally selected as +my companions George M. Richards, of Columbia University, +as geologist and to aid me in the topographical work, +Clifford H. Easton, who had been a student in the +School of Forestry at Biltmore, North Carolina (both +residents of New York), and Leigh Stanton, of Halifax, +Nova Scotia, a veteran of the Boer War, whom I had +met at the lumber camps in Groswater Bay, Labrador, +in the winter of 1903-1904, when he was installing +the electric light plant in the large lumber mill +there.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was desirable to have at least +one Indian in the party as woodsman, hunter and general +camp servant.  For this position my friend, Frank +H. Keefer, of Port Arthur, Ontario, recommended to +me, and at my request engaged, Peter Stevens, a full-blood +Ojibway Indian, of Grand Marais, Minnesota.  +“Pete” arrived in New York under the wing +of the railway conductor during the last week in May.</p> + +<a name="ice"></a> +<a href="images/iceth.jpg"> +<img alt="Ice Encountered off the Labrador Coast" src="images/iceth.jpg"> +</a> + + +<p align="justify">In the meantime I had devoted myself +to the selection and purchase of our instruments and +general outfit.  Everything must be purchased +in advance—­from canoes to repair kit—­as +my former experience in Labrador had taught me.  + It may be of interest to mention the most important +items of outfit and the food supply with which we were +provided:  Two canvas-covered canoes, one nineteen +and one eighteen feet in length; one seven by nine +“A” tent, made of waterproof “balloon” +silk; one tarpaulin, seven by nine feet; folding tent +stove and pipe; two tracking lines; three small axes; +cooking outfit, con-sisting of two frying pans, one +mixing pan and three aluminum kettles; an aluminum +plate, cup and spoon for each man; one .33 caliber +high-power Winchester rifle and two 44-40 Winchester +carbines (only one of these carbines was taken with +us from New York, and this was intended as a reserve +gun in case the party should separate and return by +different routes.  The other was one used by Stanton +when previously in Labrador, and taken by him in addition +to the regular outfit).  One double barrel 12-gauge +shotgun; two ten-inch barrel single shot .22 caliber +pistols for partridges and small game; ammunition; +tumplines; three fishing rods and tackle, including +trolling outfits; one three and one-half inch gill +net; repair kit, including necessary material for +patching canoes, clothing, <i>etc</i>.; matches, and +a medicine kit.</p> + +<p align="justify">The following instruments were also +carried:  Three minimum registering thermometers; +one aneroid barometer which was tested and set for +me by the United States Weather Bureau; one clinometer; +one pocket transit; three compasses; one pedometer; +one taffrail log; one pair binoculars; three No. 3A +folding pocket Kodaks, sixty rolls of films, each roll +sealed in a tin can and waterproofed, and six “Vanguard” +watches mounted in dust-proof cases.</p> + +<p align="justify">Each man was provided with a sheath +knife and a waterproof match box, and his personal +kit, containing a pair of blankets and clothing, was +carried in a waterproof canvas bag.</p> + +<p align="justify">I may say here in reference to these +waterproof bags and the “balloon” silk +tent that they were of the same manufacture as those +used on the Hubbard expedition and for their purpose +as nearly perfect as it is possible to make them.  +The tent weighed but nine pounds, was windproof, +and, like the bags, absolutely waterproof, and the +material strong and firm.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our provision supply consisted of +298 pounds of pork; 300 pounds of flour; 45 pounds +of corn meal; 40 pounds of lentils; 28 pounds of rice; +25 pounds of erbswurst; 10 pounds of prunes; a few +packages of dried vegetables; some beef bouillon tablets; +6 pounds of baking powder; 16 pounds of tea; 6 pounds +of coffee; 15 pounds of sugar; 14 pounds of salt; +a small amount of saccharin and crystallose, and 150 +pounds of pemmican.</p> + +<p align="justify">Everything likely to be injured by +water was packed in waterproof canvas bags.</p> + +<p align="justify">My friend Dr. Frederick A. Cook, of +the Arctic Club, selected my medical kit, and instructed +me in the use of its simple remedies.  It was +also upon the recommendation of Dr. Cook and others +of my Arctic Club friends that I purchased the pemmican, +which was designed as an emergency ration, and it +is worth noting that one pound of pemmican, as our +experience demonstrated, was equal to two or even three +pounds of any other food that we carried.  Its +ingredients are ground dried beef, tallow, sugar, +raisins and currants.</p> + +<p align="justify">We had planned to go north from St. +Johns on the Labrador mail boat <i>Virginia Lake</i>, +which, as I had been informed by the Reid-Newfoundland +Company, was expected to sail from St. Johns on her +first trip on or about June tenth.  This made +it necessary for us to leave New York on the Red Cross +Line steamer <i>Rosalind</i> sailing from Brooklyn +on May thirtieth; and when, at eleven-thirty that Tuesday +morning, the <i>Rosalind</i> cast loose from her wharf, +we and our outfit were aboard, and our journey of +eleven long months was begun.</p> + +<p align="justify">As I waved farewell to our friends +ashore I recalled that other day two years before, +when Hubbard and I had stood on the <i>Silvia’s</i> +deck, and I said to myself: </p> + +<p align="justify">“Well, this, too, is Hubbard’s +trip.  His spirit is with me.  It was he, +not I, who planned this Labrador work, and if I succeed +it will be because of him and his influence.”</p> + +<p align="justify">I was glad to be away.  With +every throb of the engine my heart grew lighter.  + I was not thinking of the perils I was to face with +my new companions in that land where Hubbard and I +had suffered so much.  The young men with me +were filled with enthusiasm at the prospect of adventure +in the silent and mysterious country for which they +were bound.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_2"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER II</h1> + +<p><b>ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE UNKNOWN</b></p> + +<p>“When shall we reach Rigolet, Captain?”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Before daylight, I hopes, sir, +if the fog holds off, but there’s a mist settling, +and if it gets too thick, we may have to come to.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Crowded with an unusual cargo of humanity, +fishermen going to their summer work on “The +Labrador” with their accompanying tackle and +household goods, meeting with many vexatious delays +in discharging the men and goods at the numerous ports +of call, and impeded by fog and wind, the mail boat +<i>Virginia Lake</i> had been much longer than is her +wont on her trip “down north.”</p> + +<p align="justify">It was now June twenty-first.  + Six days before (June fifteenth), when we boarded +the ship at St. Johns we had been informed that the +steamer <i>Harlow</i>, with a cargo for the lumber +mills at Kenemish, in Groswater Bay, was to leave +Halifax that very afternoon.  She could save us +a long and disagreeable trip in an open boat, ninety +miles up Groswater Bay, and I bad hoped that we might +reach Rigolet in time to secure a passage for myself +and party from that point.  But the <i>Harlow</i> +had no ports of call to make, and it was predicted +that her passage from Halifax to Rigolet would be +made in four days.</p> + +<p align="justify">I had no hope now of reaching Rigolet +before her, or of finding her there, and, resigned +to my fate, I left the captain on the bridge and went +below to my stateroom to rest until daylight.  + Some time in the night I was aroused by some one +saying: </p> + +<p align="justify">“We’re at Rigolet, sir, +and there’s a ship at anchor close by.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Whether I had been asleep or not, +I was fully awake now, and found that the captain +had come to tell me of our arrival.  The fog had +held off and we had done much better than the captain’s +prediction.  Hurrying into my clothes, I went +on deck, from which, through the slight haze that +hung over the water, I could discern the lights of +a ship, and beyond, dimly visible, the old familiar +line of Post buildings showing against the dark spruce-covered +hills behind, where the great silent forest begins.</p> + +<p align="justify">All was quiet save for the thud, thud, +thud of the oarlocks of a small boat approaching our +ship and the dismal howl of a solitary “husky” +dog somewhere ashore.  The captain had preceded +me on deck, and in answer to my inquiries as to her +identity said he did not know whether the stranger +at anchor was the <i>Harlow</i> or not, but he thought +it was.</p> + +<p align="justify">We had to wait but a moment, however, +for the information.  The small boat was already +alongside, and John Groves, a Goose Bay trader and +one of my friends of two years before, clambered aboard +and had me by the hand.</p> + +<p>“I’m glad to see you, sir; and how is +you?”</p> + +<p align="justify">Assuring him that I was quite well, +I asked the name of the other ship.</p> + +<p align="justify">“The <i>Harlow</i>, sir, an’ +she’s goin’ to Kenemish with daylight.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Well, I must get aboard of +her then, and try to get a passage up.  Is your +flat free, John, to take me aboard of her?”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Yes, sir.  Step right +in, sir.  But I thinks you’d better go ashore, +for the <i>Harlow’s</i> purser’s ashore.  + If you can’t get passage on the <i>Harlow</i> +my schooner’s here doing nothin’ while +I goes to St. Johns for goods, and I’ll have +my men run you up to Nor’west River.”</p> + +<p align="justify">I thanked him and lost no time in +going ashore in his boat, where I found Mr. James +Fraser, the factor, and received a hearty welcome.  + In Mr. Fraser’s office I found also the purser +of the <i>Harlow</i>, and I quickly arranged with +him for a passage to Kenemish, which is ninety miles +up the inlet, and just across Groswater Bay (twelve +miles) from Northwest River Post.  The <i>Harlow</i> +was to sail at daylight and I at once returned to +the mail boat, called the boys and, with the help of +the <i>Virginia’s</i> crew and one of their small +boats, we were transferred, bag and baggage, to the +<i>Harlow</i>.</p> + +<p align="justify">Owing to customs complications the +<i>Harlow</i> was later than expected in leaving Rigolet, +and it was evening before she dropped anchor at Kenemish.  + I went ashore in the ship’s boat and visited +again the lumber camp “cook house” where +Dr. Hardy and I lay ill throng those weary winter +weeks, and where poor Hardy died.  Hardy was the +young lumber company doctor who treated my frozen +feet in the winter of 1903-1904.  Here I met +Fred Blake, a Northwest River trapper.  Fred +had his flat, and I engaged him to take a part of our +luggage to Northwest River.  Then I returned +to the ship to send the boys ahead with the canoes +and some of our baggage, while I waited behind to +follow with Fred and the rest of the kit in his flat +a half hour later.</p> + +<p align="justify">Fred and I were hardly a mile from +the ship when a heavy thunderstorm broke upon us, +and we were soon drenching wet—­the baptism +of our expedition.  This rain was followed by +a dense fog and early darkness.  On and on we +rowed, and I was berating myself for permitting the +men to go on so far ahead of us with the canoes, for +they did not know the way and the fog had completely +shut out the lights of the Post buildings, which otherwise +would have been visible across the bay for a considerable +distance.</p> + +<p align="justify">Suddenly through the fog and darkness, +from shoreward, came a “Hello!  Hello!” + We answered, and heading our boat toward the sound +of continued “Hellos,” found the men, +with the canoes unloaded and hauled ashore, preparing +to make a night camp.  I joined them and, launching +and reloading the canoes again, with Richards and Easton +in one canoe and Pete and I in the other, we followed +Fred and Stanton, who preceded us in the rowboat, +keeping our canoes religiously within earshot of Fred’s +thumping oarlocks.  Finally the fog lifted, and +not far away we caught a glimmer of lights at the +French Post.  All was dark at the Hudson Bay +Post across the river when at last our canoes touched +the sandy beach and we sprang ashore.</p> + +<p align="justify">What a flood of remembrances came +to me as I stepped again upon the old familiar ground!  + How vividly I remembered that June day when Hubbard +and I had first set foot on this very ground and Mackenzie +had greeted us so cordially!  And also that other +day in November when, ragged and starved, I came here +to tell of Hubbard, lying dead in the dark forest +beyond!  The same dogs that I had known then came +running to meet us now, the faithful fellows with +which I began that sad funeral journey homeward over +the ice.  I called some of them by name “Kumalik,” +“Bo’sun,” “Captain,” +“Tinker”—­and they pushed their +great heads against my legs and, I believe, recognized +me.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was nearly two o’clock in +the morning.  We went immediately to the Post +house and roused out Mr. Stuart Cotter, the agent (Mackenzie +is no longer there), and received from him a royal +welcome.  He called his Post servant and instructed +him to bring in our things, and while we changed our +dripping clothes for dry ones, his housekeeper prepared +a light supper.  It was five o’clock in +the morning when I retired.</p> + +<p align="justify">In the previous autumn I had written +Duncan McLean, one of the four men who came to my +rescue on the Susan River, that should I ever come +to Labrador again and be in need of a man I would like +to engage him.  Cotter told me that Duncan had +just come from his trapping path and was at the Post +kitchen, so when we had finished breakfast, at eight +o’clock that morning, I saw Duncan and, as he +was quite willing to go with us, I arranged with him +to accompany us a short distance into the country +to help us pack over the first portage and to bring +back letters.</p> + +<p align="justify">He expressed a wish to visit his father +at Kenemish before starting into the country, but +promised to be back the next evening ready for the +start on Monday morning, the twenty-sixth, and I consented.  + I knew hard work was before us, and as I wished all +hands to be well rested and fresh at the outset, I +felt that a couple of days’ idleness would do +us no harm.</p> + +<p align="justify">Some five hundred yards east of Mr. +Cotter’s house is an old, abandoned mission +chapel, and behind it an Indian burying ground.  + The cleared space of level ground between the house +and chapel was, for a century or more, the camping +ground of the Mountaineer Indians who come to the +Post each spring to barter or sell their furs.  + In the olden time there were nearly a hundred families +of them, whose hunting ground was that section of +country between Hamilton Inlet and the Upper George +River.</p> + +<p align="justify">These people now, for the most part, +hunt south of the inlet and trade at the St. Lawrence +Posts.  The chapel was erected about 1872, but +ten years ago the Jesuit missionary was withdrawn, +and since then the building has fallen into decay +and ruin, and the crosses that marked the graves in +the old burying grounds have been broken down by the +heavy winter snows.  It was this withdrawal of +the missionary that turned the Indians to the southward, +where priests are more easily found.  The Mountaineer +Indian, unlike the Nascaupee, is very religious, and +must, at least once a year, meet his father confessor.  +The camping ground since the abandonment of the mission, +has lain lonely and deserted, save for three or four +families who, occasionally in the summer season, come +back again to pitch their tents where their forefathers +camped and held their annual feasts in the old days.</p> + +<p align="justify">Competition between the trading companies +at this point has raised the price of furs to such +an extent that the few families of Indians that trade +at this Post are well-to-do and very independent.  + There were two tents of them here when we arrived—­five +men and several women and children.  I found +two of my old friends there—­John and William +Ahsini.  They expressed pleasure in meeting me +again, and a lively interest in our trip.  With +Mr. Cotter acting as interpreter, John made for me +a map of the old Indian trail from Grand Lake to Seal +Lake, and William a map to Lake Michikamau and over +the height of land to the George River, indicating +the portages and principal intervening lakes as they +remembered them.</p> + +<p align="justify">Seal Lake is a large lake expansion +of the Nascaupee River, which river, it should be +explained, is the outlet of Lake Michikamau and discharges +its waters into Grand Lake and through Grand Lake into +Groswater Bay.  Lake Michikamau, next to Lake +Mistasinni, is the larg-est lake in the Labrador +peninsula, and approximately from eighty to ninety +miles in length.  Neither John nor William had +been to Lake Michikamau by this route since they were +young lads, but they told us that the Indians, when +traveling very light without their families, used +to make the journey in twenty-three days.</p> + +<p align="justify">During my previous stay in Labrador +one Indian told me it could be done in ten days, while +another said that Indians traveling very fast would +require about thirty days.  It is difficult to +base calculations upon information of this kind.  + But I was sure that, with our com-paratively heavy +outfit, and the fact that we would have to find the +trail for ourselves, we should require at least twice +the time of the Indians, who know every foot of the +way as we know our familiar city streets at home.</p> + +<p align="justify">They expressed their belief that the +old trail could be easily found, and assured us that +each portage, as we asked about it in detail, was +a “miam potagan” (good portage), but at +the same time expressed their doubts as to our ability +to cross the country safely.</p> + +<p align="justify">In fact, it has always been the Indians’ +boast, and I have heard it many times, that no white +man could go from Groswater Bay to Ungava alive without +Indians to help him through.  “Pete” +was a Lake Superior Indian and had never run a rapid +in his life.  He was to spend the night with +Tom Blake and his family in their snug little log cabin, +and be ready for an early start up Grand Lake on the +morrow.  It was Tom that headed the little party +sent by me up the Susan Valley to bring to the Post +Hubbard’s body in March, 1904; and it was through +his perseverance, loyalty and hard work at the time +that I finally succeeded in recovering the body.  + Tom’s daughter, Lillie, was Mackenzie’s +little housekeeper, who showed me so many kindnesses +then.  The whole family, in fact, were very good +to me during those trying days, and I count them among +my true and loyal friends.</p> + +<p align="justify">We had supper with Cotter, who sang +some Hudson’s Bay songs, Richards sang a jolly +college song or two, Stanton a “classic,” +and then all who could sing joined in “Auld +Lang Syne.”</p> + +<p align="justify">My thoughts were of that other day, +when Hubbard, so full of hope, had begun this same +journey-of the sunshine and fleecy clouds and beckoning +fir tops, and I wondered what was in store for us now.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_3"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER III</h1> + +<p><b>THE LAST OF CIVILIZATION</b></p> + +<p align="justify">The time for action had come.  + Our canoes were loaded near the wharf, we said good-by +to Cotter and a group of native trapper friends, and +as we took our places in the canoes and dipped our +paddles into the waters that were to carry us northward +the Post flag was run up on the flagpole as a salute +and farewell, and we were away.  We soon rounded +the point, and Cotter and the trappers and the Post +were lost to view.  Duncan was to follow later +in the evening in his rowboat with some of our outfit +which we left in his charge.</p> + +<a name="group"></a> +<a href="images/groupth.jpg"> +<img alt="The Time for Action Had Come" src="images/groupth.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">Silently we paddled through the “little +lake.”  The clouds hung somber and dull +with threatening rain, and a gentle breeze wafted to +us now and again a bit of fragrance from the spruce-covered +hills above us.  Almost before I realized it we +were at the rapid.  Away to the westward stretched +Grand Lake, deep and dark and still, with the rugged +outline of Cape Corbeau in the distance.</p> + +<p align="justify">Tom Blake and his family, one and +all, came out to give us the whole-souled, hospitable +welcome of “The Labrador.”  Even Atikamish, +the little Indian dog that Mackenzie used to have, +but which he had given to Tom when he left Northwest +River, was on hand to tell me in his dog language +that he remembered me and was delighted to see me back.  + Here we would stay for the night—­the last +night for months that we were to sleep in a habitation +of civilized man.</p> + +<p align="justify">The house was a very comfortable little +log dwelling containing a small kitchen, a larger +living-room which also served as a sleeping-room, +and an attic which was the boys’ bedroom.  + The house was comfortably furnished, everything clean +to perfection, and the atmos-phere of love and home +that dwelt here was long remembered by us while we +huddled in many a dreary camp during the weeks that +followed.</p> + +<p align="justify">Duncan did not come that night, and +it was not until ten o’clock the next morning +(June twenty-seventh) that he appeared.  Then +we made ready for the start.  Tom and his young +son Henry announced their intention of accompanying +us a short distance up Grand Lake in their small sailboat.  + Mrs. Blake gave us enough bread and buns, which she +had baked especially for us, to last two or three days, +and she gave us also a few fresh eggs, saying, “’Twill +be a long time before you has eggs again.”</p> + +<p align="justify">At half-past ten o’clock our +canoes were afloat, farewell was said, and we were +beyond the last fringe of civilization.</p> + +<p align="justify">The morning was depressing and the +sky was overcast with low-hanging, heavy clouds, but +almost with our start, as if to give us courage for +our work and fire our blood, the leaden curtain was +drawn aside and the deep blue dome of heaven rose +above us.  The sun shone warm and bright, and +the smell of the fresh damp forest, the incense of +the wilderness gods, was carried to us by a puff of +wind from the south which enabled Duncan to hoist +his sails.  The rest of us bent to our paddles, +and all were eager to plunge into the unknown and solve +the mystery of what lay beyond the horizon.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our nineteen-foot canoe was manned +by Pete in the bow, Stanton in the center and Easton +in the stern, while I had the bow and Richards the +stern of the eighteen-foot canoe.  We paddled +along the north shore of the lake, close to land.  + Stanton, with an eye for fresh meat, espied a porcupine +near the water’s edge and stopped to kill it, +thus gaining the honor of having bagged the first +game of the trip.  At twelve o’clock we +halted for luncheon, in almost the same spot where +Hubbard and I had lunched when going up Grand Lake +two years before.  While Pete cooked bacon and +eggs and made tea, Stanton and Richards dressed the +porcupine for supper.</p> + +<p align="justify">After luncheon we cut diagonally across +the lake to the southern shore, passed Cape Corbeau +River and landed near the base of Cape Corbeau bluff, +that the elevation might be taken and geological specimens +secured.  After making our observations we turned +again toward the northern shore, where more specimens +were collected.  Here Tom and Henry Blake said +goodby to us and turned homeward.</p> + +<p align="justify">During the afternoon Stanton and I +each killed a porcupine, making three in all for the +day—­a good beginning in the matter of game.</p> + +<p align="justify">At sunset we landed at Watty’s +Brook, a small stream flowing into Grand Lake from +the north, and some twenty miles above the rapid.  + Our progress during the day had been slow, as the +wind had died away and we had, several times, to wait +for Duncan to overtake us in his slower rowboat.</p> + +<p align="justify">While the rest of us “made camp” +Duncan cut wood for a rousing fire, as the evening +was cool, and Pete put a porcupine to boil for supper.  +We were a hungry crowd when we sat down to eat.  + I had told the boys how good porcupine was, how it +resembled lamb and what a treat we were to have.  + But all porcupines are not alike, and this one was +not within my reckoning.  Tough!  He was +certainly “the oldest inhabitant,” and +after vain efforts to chew the leathery meat, we turned +in disgust to bread and coffee, and Easton, at least, +lost faith forever in my judgment of toothsome game, +and formed a particular prejudice against porcupines +which he never overcame.  Pete assured us, however, +that, “This porcupine, he must boil long.  + I boil him again to-night and boil him again to-morrow +morning.  Then he very good for breakfast.  + Porcupine fine.  Old one must be cooked long.”</p> + +<p align="justify">So Pete, after supper, put the porcupine +on to cook some more, promising that we should find +it nice and tender for breakfast.</p> + +<p align="justify">As I sat that night by the low-burning +embers of our first camp fire I forgot my new companions.  + Through the gathering night mists I could just discern +the dim outlines of the opposite shore of Grand Lake.  + It was over there, just west of that high spectral +bluff, that Hubbard and I, on a wet July night, had +pitched our first camp of the other trip.  In +fancy I was back again in that camp and Hubbard was +talking to me and telling me of the “bully story” +of the mystic land of won-ders that lay “behind +the ranges” he would have to take back to the +world.</p> + +<p align="justify">“We’re going to traverse +a section no white man has ever seen,” he exclaimed, +“and we’ll add something to the world’s +knowledge of geography at least, and that’s +worth while.  No matter how little a man may +add to the fund of human knowledge it’s worth +the doing, for it’s by little bits that we’ve +learned to know so much of our old world.  There’s +some hard work before us, though, up there in those +hills, and some hardships to meet.”</p> + +<p>Ah, if we had only known!</p> + +<p align="justify">Some one said it was time to “turn +in,” and I was brought suddenly to a sense of +the present, but a feeling of sadness possessed me +when I took my place in the crowded tent, and I lay +awake long, thinking of those other days.</p> + +<p align="justify">Clear and crisp was the morning of +June twenty-eighth.  The atmosphere was bracing +and delightful, the azure of the sky above us shaded +to the most delicate tints of blue at the horizon, +and, here and there, bits of clouds, like bunches +of cotton, flecked the sky.  The sun broke grandly +over the rugged hills, and the lake, like molten silver, +lay before us.</p> + +<p align="justify">A fringe of ice had formed during +the night along the shore.  We broke it and bathed +our hands and faces in the cool water, then sat down +in a circle near our camp fire to renew our attack +upon the porcupine, which had been sending out a most +delicious odor from the kettle where Pete had it cooking.  + But alas for our expectations!  Our teeth would +make no impression upon it, and Easton remarked that +“the rubber trust ought to hunt porcupines, +for they are a lot tougher than rubber and just as +pliable.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“I don’t know why,” +said Pete sadly.  “I boil him long time.”</p> + +<p align="justify">That day we continued our course along +the northern shore of the lake until we reached the +deep bay which Hubbard and I had failed to enter and +explore on the other trip, and which failure had resulted +so tragically.  This bay is some five miles from +the westerly end of Grand Lake, and is really the +mouth of the Nascaupee and Crooked Rivers which flow +into the upper end of it.  There was little or +no wind and we had to go slowly to permit Duncan, +in his rowboat, to keep pace with us.  Darkness +was not far off when we reached Duncan’s tilt +(a small log hut), three miles up the Nascaupee River, +where we stopped for the night.</p> + +<p align="justify">This is the tilt in which Allen Goudy +and Duncan lived at the time they came to my rescue +in 1903, and where I spent three days getting strength +for my trip down Grand Lake to the Post.  It is +Duncan’s sup-ply base in the winter months +when he hunts along the Nascaupee River, one hundred +and twenty miles inland to Seal Lake.  On this +hunting “path” Duncan has two hundred +and fifty marten and forty fox traps, and, in the +spring, a few bear traps besides.</p> + +<p align="justify">The country has been burned here.  + Just below Duncan’s tilt is a spruce-covered +island, but the mainland has a stunted new growth of +spruce, with a few white birch, covering the wreck +of the primeval forest that was flame swept thirty +odd years ago.  Over some considerable areas +no new growth to speak of has appeared, and the charred +remains of the dead trees stand stark and gray, or +lie about in confusion upon the ground, giving the +country a particularly dreary and desolate appearance.</p> + +<p align="justify">The morning of June twenty-ninth was +overcast and threatened rain, but toward evening the +sky cleared.</p> + +<p align="justify">Progress was slow, for the current +in the river here was very strong, and paddling or +rowing against it was not easy.  We had to stop +several times and wait for Duncan to overtake us with +his boat.  Once he halted to look at a trap where +he told us he had caught six black bears.  It +was nearly sunset when we reached the mouth of the +Red River, nineteen miles above Grand Lake, where +it flows into the Nascaupee from the west.  This +is a wide, shallow stream whose red-brown waters +were quite in contrast to the clear waters of the Nas-caupee.</p> + +<p align="justify">Opposite the mouth of the Red River, +and on the eastern shore of the Nascaupee, is the +point where the old Indian trail was said to begin, +and on a knoll some fifty feet above the river we saw +the wigwam poles of an old Indian camp, and a solitary +grave with a rough fence around it.  Here we +landed and awaited Duncan, who had stopped at another +of his trapping tilts three or four hundred yards +below.  When he joined us a little later, in +answer to my inquiry as to whether this was the beginning +of the old trail, he answered, “’Tis where +they says the Indians came out, and some of the Indians +has told me so.  I supposes it’s the place, +sir.”</p> + +<p>“But have you never hunted here yourself?” +I asked.</p> + +<p align="justify">“No, sir, I’ve never been +in here at all.  I travels right past up the +Nascaupee.  All I knows about it, sir, is what +they tells me.  I always follows the Nascaupee, +sir.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Above us rose a high, steep hill covered +for two-thirds of the way from its base with a thick +growth of underbrush, but quite barren on top save +for a few bunches of spruce brush.</p> + +<p align="justify">The old trail, unused for eight or +ten years, headed toward the hill and was quite easily +traced for some fifty yards from the old camp.  +Then it disappeared completely in a dense undergrowth +of willows, alders and spruce.</p> + +<p align="justify">While Pete made preparation for our +supper and Duncan unloaded his boat and hauled it +up preparatory to leaving it until his return from +the interior, the rest of us tried to follow the trail +through the brush.  But beyond where the thick +undergrowth began there was nothing at all that, to +us, resembled a trail.  Finally, I instructed +Pete to go with Richards and see what he could do +while the rest of us made camp.  Pete started +ahead, forging his way through the thick growth.  +In ten minutes I heard him shout from the hillside, +“He here—­I find him,” and saw +Pete hurrying up the steep incline.</p> + +<p align="justify">When Richards and Pete returned an +hour later we had camp pitched and supper cooking.  + They reported the trail, as far as they had gone, +very rough and hard to find.  For some distance +it would have to be cut out with an ax, and nowhere +was it bigger than a rabbit run.  Duncan rather +favored going as far, as Seal Lake by the trail that +he knew and which followed the Nascaupee.  This +trail he believed to be much easier than the long +unused Indian trail, which was undoubtedly in many +places entirely obscured and in any case extremely +difficult to follow.  I dismissed his suggestion, +however, with little consideration.  My, object +was to trace the old Indian trail and explore as much +of the country as possible, and not to hide myself +in an enclosed river valley.  Therefore, I decided +that next day we should scout ahead to the first water +to which the trail led and cut out the trail where +necessary.  The work I knew would be hard, but +we were expecting to do hard work.  We were not +on a summer picnic.</p> + +<p align="justify">A rabbit which Stanton had shot and +a spruce grouse that fell before Pete’s pistol, +together with what remained of our porcupine, hot +coffee, and Mrs. Blake’s good bread, made a supper +that we ate with zest while we talked over the prospects +of the trail.  Supper fin-ished, Pete carefully +washed his dishes, then carefully washed his dishcloth, +which latter he hung upon a bough near the fire to +dry.  His cleanliness about his cooking was a +revelation to me.  I had never before seen a +camp man or guide so neat in this respect.</p> + +<p align="justify">The real work of the trip was now +to begin, the hard portaging, the trail finding and +trail making, and we were to break the seal of a land +that had, through the ages, held its secret from all +the world, excepting the red man.  This is what +we were thinking of when we gathered around our camp +fire that evening, and filled and lighted our pipes +and puffed silently while we watched the newborn stars +of evening come into being one by one until the arch +of heaven was aglow with the splendor of a Labrador +night.  And when we at length went to our bed +of spruce boughs it was to dream of strange scenes +and new worlds that we were to conquer.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_4"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER IV</h1> + +<p><b>ON THE OLD INDIAN TRAIL</b></p> + +<p align="justify">Next morning we scouted ahead and +found that the trail led to a small lake some five +and a half miles beyond our camp.  For a mile +or so the brush was pretty thick and the trail was +difficult to follow, but beyond that it was comparatively +well defined though exceedingly steep, the hill rising +to an elevation of one thousand and fifty feet above +the Nascaupee River in the first two miles.  We +had fifteen hundred pounds of outfit to carry upon +our backs, and I realized that at first we should +have to trail slowly and make several loads of it, +for, with the exception of Pete, none of the men was +in training.  The work was totally different +from anything to which they had been accustomed, and +as I did not wish to break their spirits or their +ardor, I instructed them to carry only such packs as +they could walk under with perfect ease until they +should become hardened to the work.</p> + +<p align="justify">The weather had been cool and bracing, +but as if to add to our difficulties the sun now boiled +down, and the black flies—­“the devil’s +angels” some one called them, came in thousands +to feast upon the newcomers and make life miserable +for us all.  Duncan was as badly treated by them +as any of us, although he belonged to the country, +and I overheard him swearing at a lively gait soon +after the little beasts began their attacks.</p> + +<p>“Why, Duncan,” said I, “I didn’t +know you swore.”</p> + +<p>“I does, sir, sometimes—­when things +makes me,” he replied.</p> + +<p>“But it doesn’t help matters any to swear, +does it?”</p> + +<p align="justify">“No, sir, but” (swatting +his face) “damn the flies—­it’s +easin’ to the feelin’s to swear sometimes.”</p> + +<p align="justify">On several occasions after this I +heard Duncan “easin’ his feelin’s” +in long and astounding bursts of profane eloquence, +but he did try to moderate his language when I was +within earshot.  Once I asked him: </p> + +<p align="justify">“Where in the world did you +learn to swear like that, Duncan?”</p> + +<p>“At the lumber camps, sir,” he replied.</p> + +<p align="justify">In the year I had spent in Labrador +I had never before heard a planter or native of Groswater +Bay swear.  But this explained it.  The +lumbermen from “civilization” were educating +them.</p> + +<p align="justify">At one o’clock on July first, +half our outfit was portaged to the summit of the +hill and we ate our dinner there in the broiling sun, +for we were above the trees, which ended some distance +below us.  It was fearfully hot—­a +dead, suffocating heat—­with not a breath +of wind to relieve the stifling atmosphere, and some +one asked what the temperature was.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Eighty-seven in the shade, +but no shade,” Richards remarked as he threw +down his pack and consulted the thermometer where I +had placed it under a low bush.  “I’ll +swear it’s a hundred and fifty in the sun.”</p> + +<p align="justify">During dinner Pete pointed to the +river far below us, saying, “Look!  Indian +canoe.”  I could not make it out without +my binoculars, but with their aid discerned a canoe +on the river, containing a solitary paddler.  + None of us, excepting Pete, could see the canoe without +the glasses, at which he was very proud and remarked:  +“No findin’ glass need me.  See far, +me.  See long way off.”</p> + +<p align="justify">On other occasions, afterward, I had +reason to marvel at Pete’s clearness of vision.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was John Ahsini in the canoe, as +we discovered later when he joined us and helped Stanton +up the hill with his last pack to our night camp on +the summit.  I invited John to eat supper with +us and he accepted the invitation.  He told us +he was hunting “moshku” (bear) and was +camped at the mouth of the Red River.  He assured +us that we would find no more hills like this one +we were on, and, pointing to the northward, said, +“Miam potagan” (good portage) and that +we would find plenty “atuk” (caribou), +“moshku” and “mashumekush” +(trout).  After supper I gave John some “stemmo,” +and he disappeared down the trail to join his wife +in their wigwam below.</p> + +<p align="justify">We were all of us completely exhausted +that night.  Stanton was too tired to eat, and +lay down upon the bare rocks to sleep.  Pete +stretched our tent wigwam fashion on some old Indian +tepee poles, and, without troubling ourselves to break +brush for a bed, we all soon joined Stanton in a dreamless +slumber upon his rocky couch.</p> + +<p align="justify">The night, like the day, was very +warm, and when I aroused Pete at sunrise the next +morning (July second) to get breakfast the mosquitoes +were about our heads in clouds.</p> + +<p align="justify">A magnificent panorama lay before +us.  Opposite, across the valley of the Nascaupee, +a great hill held its snow-tipped head high in the +heavens.  Some four miles farther up to the northwest, +the river itself, where it was choked with blocks +of ice, made its appearance and threaded its way down +to the southeast until it was finally lost in the +spruce-covered valley.  Beyond, bits of Grand +Lake, like silver settings in the black surrounding +forest, sparkled in the light of the rising sun.  + Away to the westward could be traced the rushing waters +of the Red River making their course down through the +sandy ridges that enclose its valley.  To the +northward lay a great undulating wilderness, the wilderness +that we were to traverse.  It was Sunday morning, +and the holy stillness of the day engulfed our world.</p> + +<p align="justify">When Pete had the fire going and the +kettle singing I roused the boys and told them we +would make this, our first Sunday in the bush, an +easy one, and simply move our camp forward to a more +hospitable and sheltered spot by a little brook a +mile up the trail, and then be ready for the “tug +of war” on Monday.</p> + +<p align="justify">In accordance with this plan, after +eating our breakfast we each carried a light pack +to our new camping ground, and there pitched our tent +by a tiny brook that trickled down through the rocks.  + While Stanton cooked dinner, Pete brought forward +a second pack.  After we had eaten, Richards +suggested to Pete that they take the fish net ahead +and set it in the little lake which was still some +two and a half miles farther on the trail.  They +had just returned when a terrific thunderstorm broke +upon us, and every moment we expected the tent to +be carried away by the gale that accompanied the downpour +of rain.  It was then that Richards remembered +that he had left his blankets to dry upon the tepee +poles at the last camp.  The rain ceased about +five o’clock, and Duncan volunteered to return +with Richards and help him recover his blankets, which +they found far from dry.</p> + +<p align="justify">Mosquitoes, it seemed to me, were +never so numerous or vicious as after this thunderstorm.  + We had head nets that were a protection from them +generally, but when we removed the nets to eat, the +attacks of the insects were simply insufferable, so +we had our supper in the tent.  After our meal +was finished and Pete had washed the dishes, I read +aloud a chapter from the Bible—­a Sunday +custom that was maintained throughout the trip—­and +Stanton sang some hymns.  Then we prevailed upon +him to entertain us with other songs.  He had +an excellent tenor voice and a repertoire ranging +from “The Holy City” to “My Brother +Bob,” and these and some of the old Scotch ballads, +which he sang well, were favorites that he was often +afterward called upon to render as we gathered around +our evening camp fire, smoking our pipes and drinking +in the tonic fragrance of the great solemn forest +around us after a day of hard portaging.  These +impromptu concerts, story telling, and reading aloud +from two or three “vest pocket” classics +that I carried, furnished our entertainment when we +were not too tired to be amused.</p> + +<a name="camp"></a> +<a href="images/campth.jpg"> +<img alt="Camp Was Moved to the First Small Lake" src="images/campth.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">The rain cleared the atmosphere, and +Monday was cool and delightful, and, with the exception +of two or three showers, a perfect day.  Camp +was moved and our entire outfit portaged to the first +small lake.  Our net, which Pete and Richards +had set the day before, yielded us nothing, but with +my rod I caught enough trout for a sumptuous supper.</p> + +<p align="justify">The following morning (July fourth) +Pete and I, who arose at half-past four, had just +finished preparing breakfast of fried pork, flapjacks +and coffee, and I had gone to the tent to call the +others, when Pete came rushing after me in great excitement, +exclaiming, “Caribou!  Rifle quick!” +He grabbed one of the 44’s and rushed away and +soon we heard bang-bang-bang seven times from up the +lake shore.  It was not long before Pete returned +with a very humble bearing and crestfallen countenance, +and without a word leaned the rifle against a tree +and resumed his culinary operations.</p> + +<p>“Well, Pete,” said I, “how many +caribou did you kill?”</p> + +<p>“No caribou.  Miss him,” he replied.</p> + +<p>“But I heard seven shots.  How did you +miss so many times?” I asked.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Miss him,” answered Pete.  + “I see caribou over there, close to water, +run fast, try get lee side so he don’t smell +me.  Water in way.  Go very careful, make +no noise, but he smell me.  He hold his head up +like this.  He sniff, then he start.  He +go through trees very quick.  See him, me, just +little when he runs through trees.  Shoot seven +times.  Hit him once, not much.  He runs +off.  No good follow.  Not hurt much, maybe +goes very far.”</p> + +<p>“You had caribou fever, Pete,” suggested +Richards.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Easton, “caribou fever, +sure thing.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“I don’t believe you’d +have hit him if he hadn’t winded you,” +Stanton remarked.  “The trouble with you, +Pete, is you can’t shoot.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“No caribou fever, me,” +rejoined Pete, with righteous indignation at such +a suggestion.  “Kill plenty moose, kill +red deer; never have moose fever, never have deer +fever.”  Then turning to me he asked, “You +want caribou, Mr. Wallace?”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Yes,” I answered, “I +wish we could get some fresh meat, but we can wait +a few days.  We have enough to eat, and I don’t +want to take time to hunt now.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Plenty signs.  I get caribou +any day you want him.  Tell me when you want +him, I kill him,” Pete answered me, ignoring +the criticisms of the others as to his marksmanship +and hunting prowess.  All that day and all the +next the men let no opportunity pass to guy Pete about +his lost caribou, and on the whole he took the banter +very good-naturedly, but once confided to me that +“if those boys get up early, maybe they see +caribou too and try how much they can do.”</p> + +<p align="justify">After breakfast Pete and I paddled +to the other end of the little lake to pick up the +trail while the others broke camp.  In a little +while he located it, a well-defined path, and we walked +across it half a mile to another and considerably +larger lake in which was a small, round, moundlike, +spruce-covered island so characteristic of the Labrador +lakes.</p> + +<p align="justify">On our way back to the first lake +Pete called my attention to a fresh caribou track +in the hard earth.  It was scarcely distinguishable, +and I had to look very closely to make it out.  + Then he showed me other signs that I could make nothing +of at all—­a freshly turned pebble or broken +twig.  These, he said, were fresh deer signs.  + A caribou had passed toward the larger lake that +very morning.</p> + +<p align="justify">“If you want him, I get him,” +said Pete.  I could see he felt rather deeply +his failure of the morning and that he was anxious +to redeem himself.  I wanted to give him the +opportunity to do so, especially as the young men, +unused to deprivations, were beginning to crave fresh +meat as a relief from the salt pork.  At the same +time, however, I felt that the fish we were pretty +certain to get from this time on would do very well +for the present, and I did not care to take time to +hunt until we were a little deeper into the country.  + Therefore I told him, “No, we will wait a day +or two.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Pete, as I soon discovered, had an +insatiable passion for hunting, and could never let +anything in the way of game pass him without qualms +of regret.  Sometimes, where a caribou trail +ran off plain and clear in the moss, it was hard to +keep from running after it.  Nothing ever escaped +his ear or eye.  He had the trained senses and +instincts of the Indian hunter.  When I first +saw him in New York he looked so youthful and evidently +had so little confidence in himself, answering my +question as to whether he could do this or that with +an aggravating “I don’t know,” that +I felt a keen sense of disappointment in him.  +But with every stage of our journey he had developed, +and now was in his element.  He was quite a different +individual from the green Indian youth whom I had +first seen walking timidly beside the railway conductor +at the Grand Central Station in New York.</p> + +<p align="justify">The portage between the lakes was +an easy one and, as I have said, well defined, and +we reached the farther shore of the second lake early +in the afternoon.  Here we found an old Indian +camping ground covering several acres.  It had +evidently been at one time a general rendezvous of +the Indians hunting in this section, as was indicated +by the large number of wigwams that had been pitched +here.  That was a long while ago, however, for +the old poles were so decayed that they fell into +pieces when we attempted to pick them up.</p> + +<p align="justify">There was no sign of a trail leading +from the old camp ground, and I sent Pete and Richards +to circle the bush and endeavor to locate one that +I knew was somewhere about, while I fished and Stanton +and Duncan prepared an early supper.  A little +later the two men returned, unsuccessful in their +quest.  They had seen two or three trails, any +of which might be our trail.  Of course but one +of them <i>could</i> be the right one.</p> + +<p align="justify">This report was both perplexing and +annoying, for I did not wish to follow for several +days a wrong route and then discover the error when +much valuable time had been lost.</p> + +<p align="justify">I therefore decided that we must be +sure of our position before proceeding, and early +the following morning dispatched Richards and Pete +on a scouting expedition to a high hill some distance +to the northeast that they might, from that view-point, +note the general contour of the land and the location +of any visible chain of lakes leading to the northwest +through which the Indian trail might pass, and then +endeavor to pick up the trail from one of these lakes, +noting old camping grounds and other signs.  +As a precaution, in case they were detained over night +each carried some tea and some erbswurst, a rifle, +a cup at his belt and a compass.  When Pete took +the rifle he held it up meaningly and said, “Fresh +meat to-night.  Caribou,” and I could see +that he was planning to make a hunt of it.</p> + +<p align="justify">When they were gone, I took Easton +with me and climbed another hill nearer camp, that +I might get a panoramic view of the valley in which +we were camped.  From this vantage ground I could +see, stretching off to the northward, a chain of three +or four small lakes which, I concluded, though there +was other water visible, undoubtedly marked our course.  + Far to the northwest was a group of rugged, barren, +snow-capped mountains which were, perhaps, the “white +hills,” behind which the Indians had told us +lay Seal Lake.  At our feet, sparkling in the +sunlight, spread the lake upon whose shores our tent, +a little white dot amongst the green trees, was pitched.  + A bit of smoke curled up from our camp fire, where +I knew Stanton and Duncan were baking “squaw +bread.”</p> + +<p align="justify">We returned to camp to await the arrival +and report of Richards and Pete, and occupied the +afternoon in catching trout which, though more plentiful +than in the first lake, were very small.</p> + +<p align="justify">Toward evening, when a stiff breeze +blew in from the lake and cleared the black flies +and mosquitoes away.  Easton took a canoe out, +stripped, and sprang into the water, while I undressed +on shore and was in the midst of a most refreshing +bath when, suddenly, the wind died away and our tormentors +came upon us in clouds.  It was a scramble to +get into our clothes again, but before I succeeded +in hiding my nakedness from them, I was pretty severely +wounded.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was scarcely six o’clock +when Richards and Pete walked into camp and proudly +threw down some venison.  Pete had kept his promise.  + On the lookout at every step for game, he had espied +an old stag, and, together, he and Richards had stalked +it, and it had received bullets from both their rifles.  + I shall not say to which hunter belonged the honor +of killing the game.  They were both very proud +of it.</p> + +<p align="justify">But best of all, they had found, to +a certainty, the trail leading to one of the chain +of little lakes which Easton and I had seen, and these +lakes, they reported, took a course directly toward +a larger lake, which they had glimpsed.  I decided +that this must be the lake of which the Indians at +Northwest River had told us—­Lake Nipishish +(Little Water).  This was very gratifying intelligence, +as Nipishish was said to be nearly half way to Seal +Lake, from where we had begun our portage on the Nascaupee.</p> + +<p align="justify">What a supper we had that night of +fresh venison, and new “squaw bread,” +hot from the pan!</p> + +<p align="justify">In the morning we portaged our outfit +two miles, and removed our camp to the second one +of the series of lakes which Easton and I had seen +from the hill, and the fourth lake after leaving the +Nascaupee River.  The morning was fearfully hot, +and we floundered through marshes with heavy packs, +bathed in perspiration, and fairly breathing flies +and mosquitoes.  Not a breath of air stirred, +and the humidity and heat were awful.  Stanton +and Duncan remained to pitch the tent and bring up +some of our stuff that had been left at the second +lake, while Richards, Easton, Pete and I trudged three +miles over the hills for the caribou meat which had +been cached at the place where the animal was killed, +Richards and Pete having brought with them only enough +for two or three meals.</p> + +<p align="justify">The country here was rough and broken, +with many great bowlders scattered over the hilltops.  + When we reached the cache we were ravenously hungry, +and built a fire and had a very satisfying luncheon +of broiled venison steak and tea.  We bad barely +finished our meal when heavy black clouds overcast +the sky, and the wind and rain broke upon us in the +fury of a hurricane.  With the coming of the storm +the temperature dropped fully forty degrees in half +as many minutes, and in our dripping wet garments +we were soon chilled and miserable.  We hastened +to cut the venison up and put it into packs, and with +each a load of it, started homeward.  On the +way I stopped with Pete to climb a peak that I might +have a view of the surrounding country and see the +large lake to the northward which he and Richards had +reported the evening before.  The atmosphere +was sufficiently clear by this time for me to see +it, and I was satisfied that it was undoubtedly Lake +Nipishish, as no other large lake had been mentioned +by the Indians.</p> + +<p align="justify">We hastened down the mountain and +made our way through rain-soaked bushes and trees +that showered us with their load of water at every +step, and when at last we reached camp and I threw +down my pack, I was too weary to change my wet garments +for dry ones, and was glad to lie down, drenched as +I was, to sleep until supper was ready.</p> + +<p align="justify">None of our venison must be wasted.  + All that we could not use within the next day or +two must be “jerked,” that is, dried, to +keep it from spoiling.  To accomplish this we +erected poles, like the poles of a wigwam, and suspended +the meat from them, cut in thin strips, and in the +center, between the poles, made a small, smoky fire +to keep the greenbottle flies away, that they might +not “blow” the venison, as well as to +aid nature in the drying process.</p> + +<p align="justify">All day on July seventh the rain poured +down, a cold, northwest wind blew, and no progress +was made in drying our meat.  There was nothing +to do but wait in the tent for the storm to clear.</p> + +<p align="justify">When Pete went out to cook dinner +I told him to make a little corn meal porridge and +let it go at that, but what a surprise he had for us +when, a little later, dripping wet and hands full of +kettles, he pushed his way into the tent!  A +steaming venison potpie, broiled venison steaks, hot +fried bread dough, stewed prunes for dessert and a +kettle of hot tea!  All experienced campers in +the north woods are familiar with the fried bread +dough.  It is dough mixed as you would mix it +for squaw bread, but not quite so stiff, pulled out +to the size of your frying pan, very thin, and fried +in swimming pork grease.  In taste it resembles +doughnuts.  Hubbard used to call it “French +toast.”  Our young men had never eaten it +before, and Richards, taking one of the cakes, asked +Pete: </p> + +<p>“What do you call this?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” answered Pete.</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Richards, with a mouthful +of it, “I call it darn good.”</p> + +<p>“That’s what we call him then,” +retorted Pete, “darn good.”</p> + +<p align="justify">And so the cakes were christened “darn +goods,” and always afterward we referred to +them by that name.</p> + +<p align="justify">The forest fire which I have mentioned +as having swept this country to the shores of Grand +Lake some thirty-odd years ago, had been particularly +destructive in this portion of the valley where we +were now encamped.  The stark dead spruce trees, +naked skeletons of the old forest, stood all about, +and that evening, when I stepped outside for a look +at the sky and weather, I was impressed with the dreariness +of the scene.  The wind blew in gusts, driving +the rain in sheets over the face of the hills and +through the spectral trees, finally dashing it in +bucketfuls against our tent.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next forenoon, however, the sky +cleared, and in the afternoon Richards and I went +ahead in one of the canoes to hunt the trail.  + We followed the north shore of the lake to its end, +then portaged twenty yards across a narrow neck into +another lake, and keeping near the north shore of +this lake also, continued until we came upon a creek +of considerable size running out of it and taking +a southeasterly course.  Where the creek left +the lake there was an old Indian fishing camp.  +It was out of the question that our trail should follow +the valley of this creek, for it led directly away +from our goal.  We, therefore, returned and explored +a portion of the north shore of the lake, which was +very bare, bowlder strewn, and devoid of vegetation +for the most part—­even moss.</p> + +<p align="justify">Once we came upon a snow bank in a +hollow, and cooled ourselves by eating some of the +snow.  Our observations made it quite certain +that the trail left the northern side of the second +lake through a bowlder-strewn pass over the hills, +though there were no visible signs of it, and we climbed +one of the hills in the hope of seeing lakes beyond.  +There were none in sight.  It was too late to +continue our search that day and we reluctantly returned +to camp.  Our failure was rather discouraging +because it meant a further loss of time, and I had +hoped that our route, until we reached Nipishish at +least, would lie straight and well defined before +us.</p> + +<p align="justify">Sunday was comfortably cool, with +a good stiff breeze to drive away the flies.  + I dispatched Richards, with Pete and Easton to accompany +him, to follow up our work of the evening before, and +look into the pass through the hills, while I remained +behind with Stanton and Duncan and kept the fire going +under our venison.</p> + +<p align="justify">I Had expected that Duncan, with his +lifelong experience as a native trapper and hunter +in the Labrador interior, would be of great assistance +to us in locating the trail; but to my disappointment +I discovered soon after our start that he was far +from good even in following a trail when it was found, +though he never got lost and could always find his +way back, in a straight line, to any given point.</p> + +<p align="justify">The boys returned toward evening and +reported that beyond the hills, through the pass, +lay a good-sized lake, and that some signs of a trail +were found leading to it.  This was what I had +hoped for.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our meat was now sufficiently dried +to pack, and, anxious to be on the move again, I directed +that on the morrow we should break camp and cross +the hills to the lakes beyond.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_5"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER V</h1> + +<p><b>WE GO ASTRAY</b></p> + +<p align="justify">At half-past four on Monday morning +I called the men, and while Pete was preparing breakfast +the rest of us broke camp and made ready for a prompt +start.  All were anxious to see behind the range +of bowlder-covered hills and to reach Lake Nipishish, +which we felt could not now be far away.  As +soon as our meal was finished the larger canoe was +loaded and started on ahead, while Richards, Duncan +and I remained behind to load and follow in the other.</p> + +<p align="justify">With the rising sun the day had become +excessively warm, and there was not a breath of wind +to cool the stifling atmosphere.  The trail was +ill-defined and rough, winding through bare glacial +bowlders that were thick-strewn on the ridges; and +the difficulty of following it, together with the +heat, made the work seem doubly hard, as we trudged +with heavy packs to the shores of a little lake which +nestled in a notch between the bills a mile and a +half away.  Once a fox ran before us and took +refuge in its den under a large rock, but save the +always present cloud of black flies, no other sign +of life was visible on the treeless hills.  Finally +at midday, after three wearisome journeys back and +forth, bathed in perspiration and dripping fly dope +and pork grease, which we had rubbed on our faces +pretty freely as a protection from the winged pests, +we deposited our last load upon the shores of the +lake, and thankfully stopped to rest and cook our dinner.</p> + +<p align="justify">We were still eating when we heard +the first rumblings of distant thunder and felt the +first breath of wind from a bank of black clouds in +the western sky, and had scarcely started forward again +when the heavens opened upon us with a deluge.</p> + +<p align="justify">The brunt of the storm soon passed, +but a steady rain continued as we paddled through +the lake and portaged across a short neck of land into +a larger lake, down which we paddled to a small round +island near its lower end.  Here, drenched to +the bone and thoroughly tired, we made camp, and in +the shelter of the tent ate a savory stew composed +of duck, grouse, venison and fat pork that Pete served +in the most appetizing camp style.</p> + +<p align="justify">I was astounded by the amount of squaw +bread and “darn goods” that the young +men of my party made away with, and began to fear not +only for the flour supply, but also for the health +of the men.  One day when I saw one of my party +eat three thick loaves of squaw bread in addition +to a fair quantity of meat, I felt that it was time +to limit the flour part of the ration.  I expressed +my fears to Pete, and advised that he bake less bread, +and make the men eat more of the other food.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Bread very good for Indian.  + Not good when white an eat so much.  Good way +fix him.  Use not so much baking powder, me.  + Make him heavy,” suggested Pete.</p> + +<p align="justify">“No, Pete, use enough baking +powder to make the bread good, and I’ll speak +to the men.  Then if they don’t eat less +bread of their own accord, we’ll have to limit +them to a ration.”</p> + +<p align="justify">I decided to try this plan, and that +evening in our camp on the island I told them that +a ration of bread would soon have to be resorted to.  +They looked very solemn about it, for the bare possibility +of a limited ration, something that they had never +had to submit to, appeared like a hardship to them.</p> + +<p align="justify">On Tuesday morning when we awoke the +rain was still falling steadily.  During the forenoon +the storm abated somewhat and we broke camp and transferred +our goods to the mainland, where the trail left the +lake near a good-sized brook.  Our portage led +us over small bills and through marshes a mile and +a half to another lake.  While Pete remained +at our new camp to prepare supper and Easton stayed +with him, the rest of us brought forward the last +load.  Richards and I with a canoe and packs +attempted to run down the brook, which emptied into +the lake near our camp; but we soon found the stream +too rocky, and were forced to cut our way through +a dense growth of willows and carry the canoe and +packs to camp on our backs.</p> + +<p align="justify">The rain had ceased early in the afternoon, +and the evening was delightfully cool, so that the +warmth of a big camp fire was most grateful and comforting.  + Our day’s march had carried us into a well-wooded +country, and the spectral dry sticks of the old burnt +forest were behind us.  The clouds hung low and +threatening, and in the twilight beyond the glow of +our leaping fire made the still waters of the lake, +with its encircling wilderness of fir trees, seem very +dark and somber.  The genial warmth of the fire +was so in contrast to the chilly darkness of the tent +that we sat long around it and talked of our travels +and prospects and the lake and the wilderness before +us that no white man had ever before seen, while the +brook near by tumbling over its rocky bed roared a +constant complaint at our intrusion into this land +of solitude.</p> + +<p align="justify">The following morning was cool and +fine, but showers developed during the day.  +Our venison, improderly dried, was molding, and much +of it we found, upon unpacking, to be maggoty.  + After breakfast I instructed the others to cut out +the wormy parts as far as possible and hang the good +meat over the fire for further drying, while with Easton +I explored a portion of the lake shore in search of +the trail leading out.  We returned for a late +dinner, and then while Easton, Richards and I caught +trout, I dispatched Pete and Stanton to continue the +search beyond the point where Easton and I had left +off.  It was near evening when they came back +with the information that they had found the trail, +very difficult to follow, leading to a river, some +two miles and a half beyond our camp.  This was +undoubtedly the Crooked River, which empties into +Grand Lake close to the Nascaupee, and which the Indians +had told us had its rise in Lake Nipishish.</p> + +<p align="justify">The evening was very warm, and mosquitoes +were so thick in the tent that we almost breathed +them.  Stanton, after much turning and fidgeting, +finally took his blanket out of doors, where he said +it was cooler and he could sleep with his head covered +to protect him; but in an hour he was back, and with +his blanket wet with dew took his usual place beside +me.</p> + + + +<p align="justify">Below the point where the trail enters +the Crooked River it is said by the Indians to be +exceedingly rough and entirely impassable.  We +portaged into it the next morning, paddled a short +distance up the stream, which is here some two hundred +yards in width and rather shallow, then poled through +a short rapid and tracked through two others, wading +almost to our waists in some places.  We now came +to a widening of the river where it spread out into +a small lake.  Near the upper end of this expansion +was an island upon which we found a long-disused +log cache of the Indians.  A little distance above +the island what appeared to be two rivers flowed into +the expansion.  Richards, Duncan and I explored +up the right-hand branch until we struck a rapid.  + Upon our return to the point where the two streams +came together we found that the other canoe, against +my positive instructions not to proceed at uncertain +points until I had decided upon the proper route to +take, had gone up the branch on the left, tracked +through a rapid and disappeared.</p> + +<a name="cache"></a> +<a href="images/cacheth.jpg"> +<img alt="We Found a Long-disused Log Cache of the Indians" src="images/cacheth.jpg"> +</a> + + +<p align="justify">There were no signs of Indians on +either of these branches so far as we could discover, +and I was well satisfied that somewhere on the north +bank of the expansion, probably not far from the island +and old cache which we had passed, was the trail.  + But evening was coming on and rain was threatening, +so there was nothing to do but follow the other canoe, +which had gone blindly ahead, until we should overtake +it, as it contained all the cooking utensils and our +tent.  This fail-ure of the men to obey instructions +took us a considerable distance out of our way and +cost us several days’ time, as we discovered +later.</p> + +<p align="justify">We tracked through some rapids and +finally overhauled the others at a place where the +river branched again.  It was after seven o’clock, +a drizzling rain was falling, and here we pitched +camp on the east side of the river just opposite the +junction of the two branches.</p> + +<p align="justify">On the west fork and directly across +from our camp was a rough rapid, and while supper +was cooking I paddled over with Richards to try for +fish.  We made our casts, and I quickly landed +a twenty-inch ouananiche and Richards hooked a big +trout that, after much play, was brought ashore.  + It measured twenty-two and a half inches from tip +to tip and eleven and a half inches around the shoulders.  + I had landed a couple more large trout, when Richards +enthusiastically announced that he had a big fellow +hooked.  He played the fish for half an hour +before he brought it to the edge of the rock, so completely +exhausted that it could scarcely move a fin.  + We had no landing net and he attempted to lift it +out by the line, when snap went the hook and the fish +was free!  I made a dash, caught it in my hands +and triumphantly brought it ashore.  It proved +to be an ouananiche that measured twenty-seven and +one-half inches in length by eleven and one-quarter +inches in girth.</p> + +<p align="justify">In our excitement we had forgotten +all about supper and did not even know that it was +raining; but we now saw Pete on the further shore +gesticulating wildly and pointing at his open mouth, +in pantomime suggestion that the meal was waiting.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Well, that <i>is</i> fishing!” +remarked Richards.  “I never landed a fish +as big as that before.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Yes,” I answered; “we’re +getting near the headwaters of the river now, where +the big fish are always found.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“I never expected any such sport +as that.  It’s worth the hard work just +for this hour’s fishing.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“You’ll get plenty more +of it before we’re through the country.  + There are some big fellows under that rapid.  + The Indians told us we should find salmon in this +section too, but we’re ahead of the salmon, I +think.  They’re hardly due for a month yet.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Let’s show the fellows +the trout, first.  They’re big enough to +make ’em open their eyes.  Then we’ll +spring the ouananiche on ’cm and they’ll +faint.  It’ll, be enough to make Easton +want to come and try a cast too.”</p> + +<p align="justify">So when we pushed through the dripping +bushes to the tent we presented only the few big trout, +which did indeed create a sensation.  Then Richards +brought forward his ouananiche, and it produced the +desired effect.  After supper Pete and Easton +must try their hand at the fish, and they succeeded +in catching five trout averaging, we estimated, from +two to three pounds each.  Richards, however, +still held the record as to big fish, both trout and +ouananiche, and the others vowed they would take it +from him if they had to fish nights to do it.</p> + +<p align="justify"><i>En route</i> up the river, in the +afternoon, Pete had shot a muskrat, and I asked him +that night what he was going to do with it.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” he answered.  + “Muskrat no good now.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Well, never kill any animal +while you are with me that you cannot use, except +beasts of prey.”</p> + +<p align="justify">This was one of the rules that I had +laid down at the beginning:  that no member of +the party should kill for the sake of killing any living +thing.  I could not be angry with Pete, however, +for he was always so goodnatured.  No matter +how sharply I might reprove him, in five minutes he +would be doing something for my comfort, or singing +some Indian song as he went lightheartedly about his +work.  I understood how hard it was for him to +down the Indian instinct to kill, and that the muskrat +bad been shot thoughtlessly without considering for +a moment whether it were needed or not.  The +flesh of the muskrat at this season of the year is +very strong in flavor and unpalatable, and besides, +with the grouse that were occasionally killed, the +fish that we were catching, and the dried venison +still on hand, we could not well use it.  No +fur is, of course, in season at this time of year, +and so there was no excuse for killing muskrats for +the pelts.</p> + +<p align="justify">In the vicinity of this camp we saw +some of the largest spruce timber that we came upon +in the whole journey across Labrador.  Some of +these trees were fully twenty-two inches in diameter +at the butt and perhaps fifty to sixty feet in height.  + These large trees were very scattered, however, and +too few to be of commercial value.  For the most +part the trees that we met with were six to eight, +and, occasionally, ten inches through, scrubby and +knotted.  In Labrador trees worth the cutting +are always located near streams in sheltered valleys.</p> + +<p align="justify">That evening before we retired the +drizzle turned to a downpour, and we were glad to +leave our unprotected camp fire for the unwarmed shelter +of our tent.  While I lay within and listened +to the storm, I wrote in my diary:  “As +I lie here, the rain pours upon the tent over my head +and drips—­drips—­drips through +small holes in the silk; the wind sweeps through the +spruce trees outside and a breath of the fragrance +of the great damp forest comes to me.  I hear +the roar of the rapid across the river as the waters +pour down over the rocks in their course to the sea.  + I wonder if some of those very waters do not wash +the shores of New York.  How far away the city +seems, and how glad I shall be to return home when +my work here is finished!</p> + +<p align="justify">“This is a feeling that comes +to one often in the wilderness.  Perhaps it is +a touch of homesickness—­a hunger for the +sympathy and companionship of our friends.”</p> + +<p align="justify">The days that followed were days of +weary waiting and inactivity.  A cold northeast +storm was blowing and the rain fell heavily and incessantly +day and night.  Trail hunting was impracticable +while the storm lasted, but the halt offered an opportunity +that was taken advantage of to repair our outfit; +also there was much needed mending to be done, as +some of our clothing was badly torn.</p> + +<p align="justify">Everything we had in the way of wearing +apparel was wet, and we set up our tent stove for +the first time, that we might dry our things under +cover.  This stove proved a great comfort to us, +and all agreed that it was an inspiration that led +me to bring it.  It was not an inspiration, however, +but my experience on the trip with Hubbard that taught +the necessity of a stove for just such occasions as +this, and for the colder weather later.</p> + +<p align="justify">Some of us went to the rapid to fish, +but it was too cold for either fly or bait, and we +soon gave it up.  I slipped off a rock in the +lower swirl of the rapid, and went into the river over +head and ears.  Pete, who was with me, gave audible +expression to his amusement at my discomfiture as +I crawled out of the water like a half drowned rat; +but I could see no occasion for his hilarity and I +told him so.</p> + +<p align="justify">This experience dampened my enthusiasm +as a fisherman for that day.  The net was set, +however, which later yielded us some trout.  A +fish planked on a dry spruce log hewn flat on one +side, made a delicious dinner, and a savory kettle +of fish chowder made of trout and dried onions gave +us an equally good supper.</p> + +<p align="justify">On July fifteenth sleet was mingled +with the rain in the early morning, and it was so +cold that Duncan used his mittens when doing outdoor +work.  Easton was not feeling well, and I looked +upon our delay as not altogether lost time, as it +gave him an opportunity to get into shape again.</p> + +<p align="justify">A pocket copy of “Hiawatha,” +from which Stanton read aloud, furnished us with entertainment.  + Pete was very much interested in the reading, and +I found he was quite familiar with the legends of his +Indian hero, and he told us some stories of Hiawatha +that I had never heard.  “Hiawatha,” +said Pete, “he the same as Christ.  He do +anything he want to.”  Pete produced his +harmonica and proved himself a very good performer.</p> + +<p align="justify">July sixteenth was Sunday, and I decided +that rain or shine we must break camp on Monday and +move forwards for the inactivity was becoming unendurable.</p> + +<p align="justify">A little fishing was done, and Pete +landed a twenty-two and three-quarter inch trout, +thus wresting the big-trout record from Richards.  +Pete was proud and boasted a great deal of this feat, +which he claimed proved his greater skill as a fisherman, +but which the others attributed to luck.</p> + +<p align="justify">We were enabled to do some scouting +in the afternoon, which resulted in the discovery +that our camp was on an island.  Nowhere could +we find any Indian signs, and we were therefore quite +evidently off the trail.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_6"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER VI</h1> + +<p><b>LAKE NIPISHISH IS REACHED</b></p> + +<p align="justify">As already stated, the Indians at +Northwest River Post had informed us that the Crooked +River had its rise in Lake Nipishish, and I therefore +decided to follow the stream from the point where we +were now encamped to the lake, or until we should +come upon the trail again, as I felt sure we should +do farther up, rather than retrace our steps to the +abandoned cache on the island in the expansion below, +and probably consume considerable time in locating +the old portage route from that point.</p> + +<p align="justify">Accordingly, on Monday morning we +began our work against the almost continuous rapids, +which we discovered as we proceeded were characteristic +of the river.  A heavy growth of willows lined +the banks, forcing us into the icy water, where the +swift current made it very difficult to keep our footing +upon the slippery bowlders of the river bed.  + Tracking lines were attached to the bows of the canoes +and we floundered forward.</p> + +<p align="justify">The morning was cloudy and cool and +resembled a day in late October, but before noon the +sun graciously made his appearance and gave us new +spirit for our work.  When we stopped for dinner +I sent Pete and Easton to look ahead, and Pete brought +back the intelligence that a half-mile portage would +cut off a considerable bend in the river and take +us into still water.  It was necessary to clear +a portion of the way with the ax.  This done, +the portage was made, and then we found to our disappointment +that the still water was less than a quarter mile +in length, when rapids occurred again.</p> + +<p align="justify">As I deemed it wise to get an idea +of the lay of the land before proceeding farther, +I took Pete with me and went ahead to scout the route.  + Less than a mile away we found two small lakes, and +climbing a ridge two miles farther on, we had a view +of the river, which, so far as we could see, continued +to be very rough, taking a turn to the westward above +where our canoes were stationed, and then swinging +again to the northeast in the direction of Nipishish, +which was plainly visible.  The Indians, instead +of taking the longer route that we were following, +undoubtedly crossed from the old cache to a point +in the river some distance above where it took its +westward swing, and thus, in one comparatively easy +portage, saved themselves several miles of rough traveling.  + It was too late for us now, however, to take advantage +of this.</p> + +<p align="justify">Pete and I hurried back to the others.  + The afternoon was well advanced, but sufficient daylight +remained to permit us to proceed a little way up the +river, and portage to the shores of one of the lakes, +where camp was made just at dusk.</p> + +<p align="justify">Field mice in this section were exceedingly +troublesome.  They would run over us at night, +sample our food, and gnawed a hole as large as a man’s +hand in the side of the tent.  Porcupines, too, +were something of a nuisance.  One night one +of them ate a piece out of my tumpline, which was +partially under my head, while I slept.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next morning we passed through +the lakes to the river above, and for three days, +in spite of an almost continuous rain and wind storm, +worked our way up stream, “tracking” the +canoes through a succession of rapids or portaging +around them, with scarcely any opportunity to paddle.</p> + +<p align="justify">On the afternoon of the third day, +with the wind dashing the rain in sheets into our +faces, we halted on a rough piece of ground just above +the river bank and pitched our tent.</p> + +<p align="justify">When camp was made Pete took me to +a rise of ground a little distance away, and pointing +to the northward exclaimed:  “Look, Lake +Nipishish!  I know we reach him to-day.”</p> + +<p align="justify">And sure enough, there lay Lake Nipishish +close at hand!  I was more thankful than I can +say to see the water stretching far away to the northward, +for I felt that now the hardest and roughest part of +our journey to the height of land was completed.</p> + +<p align="justify">“That’s great, Pete,” +said I.  “We’ll have more water after +this and fewer and easier portages, and we can travel +faster.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Maybe better, I don’t +know,” remarked Pete, rather skeptically.  +“Always hard find trail out big lakes.  +May leave plenty places.  Take more time hunt +trail maybe now.  Indian maps no good.  Maybe +easier when we find him.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Pete was right, and I did not know +the difficulties still to be met with before we should +reach Michikamau.</p> + +<p align="justify">Duncan was of comparatively little +help to us now, and as I knew that he was more than +anxious to return to Groswater Bay, I decided to dispense +with his further services and send him back with letters +to be mailed home.  When I returned to the tent +I said to him: </p> + +<p align="justify">“Duncan, I suppose you would +like to go home now, and I will let you turn back +from here and take some letters out.  Does that +suit you?”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Yes, sir, that suits me fine,” +replied be promptly, and in a tone that left no doubt +of the fact that he was glad to go.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Well, this is Thursday.  + I’ll write my letters tomorrow, and you may +go on Saturday.”</p> + +<p>“All right, sir.”</p> + +<p align="justify">The letters were all written and ready +for Duncan on Friday night, and he packed sufficient +provisions into a waterproof bag I gave him to carry +him out, and prepared for an early start in the morning.  + But the rain that had been falling for several days +still poured down on Saturday, and he decided to postpone +his departure another day in the hope of better weather +on Sunday.  He needed the time anyway to mend +his sealskin boots before starting back, for he had +pretty nearly worn them out on the sharp rocks on +the portages.  The rest of us were well provided +with oil-tanned moccasins (sometimes called larigans +or shoe-packs), which I have found are the best footwear +for a journey like ours.  Pete’s khaki +trousers were badly torn; and Richards and Easton, +who wore Mackinaw trousers, were in rags.  This +cloth had not withstood the hard usage of Labrador +travel a week, and both men, when they bad a spare +hour, occupied it in sewing on canvas patches, until +now there was almost as much canvas patch as Mackinaw +cloth in these garments.  Richards, however, +carried an extra pair of moleskin trousers, and I +wore moleskin.  This latter material is the best +obtainable, so far as my experience goes, for rough +traveling in the bush, and my trousers stood the trip +with but one small patch until winter came.</p> + +<p align="justify">Sunday morning was still stormy, but +before noon the rain ceased, and Duncan announced +his intention of starting homeward at once.  We +raised our flags and exchanged our farewells and Godspeeds +with him.  Then he left us, and as he disappeared +down the trail a strange sense of loneliness came +upon us, for it seemed to us that his going broke +the last link that connected us with the outside world.  + Duncan was always so cheerful, with his quaint humor, +and so ready to do his work to the very best of his +ability, that we missed him very much, and often spoke +of him in the days that followed.</p> + +<p align="justify">We had made the best of our enforced +idleness in this camp to repack and condense and dry +our outfit as much as possible.  The venison, +at the first imperfectly cured, had been so continuously +soaked that the most of what remained of it was badly +spoiled and we could not use it, and with regret we +threw it away.  The erbswurst was also damp, and +this we put into small canvas bags, which were then +placed near the stove to dry.</p> + +<p align="justify">A rising barometer augured good weather +for Monday morning.  A light wind scattered the +clouds that had for so many days entombed the world +in storm and gloom, and the sun broke out gloriously, +setting the moisture-laden trees aglinting as though +hung with a million pearls and warming the damp fir +trees until the air was laden with the forest perfume.  + It was as though a pall had been lifted from the world.  + How our hearts swelled with the new enthusiasm of +the returned sunshine!  It was always so.  + It seemed as if the long-continued storms bound up +our hearts and crushed the buoyancy from them; but +the returning sunshine melted the bonds at once and +gave us new ambition.  A robin sang gayly from +a near-by tree—­a messenger from the kindlier +Southland come to cheer us—­and the “whisky +jacks,” who had not shown themselves for several +days, appeared again with their shrill cries, venturing +impudently into the very door of our tent to claim +scraps of refuse.</p> + +<p align="justify">I was for moving forward that very +afternoon, but some of our things were still wet, +and I deemed it better judgment to let them have the +day in which to dry and to delay our start until Monday +morning.</p> + +<p align="justify">After supper, in accordance with the +Sunday custom established by Hubbard when I was with +him, I read aloud a selection from the Testament—­the +last chapter of Revelation—­and then went +out of the tent to take the usual nine o’clock +weather observation.  Between the horizon and +a fringe of black clouds that hung low in the north +the reflected sun set the heavens afire, and through +the dark fir trees the lake stretched red as a lake +of blood.  I called the others to see it and +Easton joined me.  We climbed a low hill close +at hand to view the scene, and while we looked the +red faded into orange, and the lake was transformed +into a mirror, which reflected the surrounding trees +like an inverted forest.  In the direction from +which we had come we could see the high blue hills +beyond the Nascaupee, very dim in the far distance.  + Below us the Crooked River lost itself as it wound +its tortuous way through the wooded valley that we +had traversed.  Somewhere down there Duncan was +bivouacked, and we wondered if his fire was burning +at one of our old camping places.</p> + +<a name="nipish"></a> +<a href="images/nipishth.jpg"> +<img alt="Below Lake Nipishish" src="images/nipishth.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">Darkness soon came and we returned +to the tent to find the others rolled in their blankets, +and we joined them at once that we might have a good +night’s rest preparatory to an early morning +advance.</p> + +<p align="justify">Before seven o’clock on Monday +morning (July twenty-fourth) we had made our portage +to the water that we had supposed to be an arm of +Lake Nipishish, but which proved instead to be an expansion +of the river into which the lake poured its waters +through a short rapid.  This rapid necessitated +another short portage before we were actually afloat +upon the bosom of Nipishish itself.  There was +not a cloud to mar the azure of the sky, hardly a +breath of wind to make a ripple on the surface of +the lake, and the morning was just cool enough to be +delightful.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was the kind of day and kind of +wilderness that makes one want to go on and on.  + I felt again the thrill in my blood of that magic +something that had held possession of Hubbard and me +and lured us into the heart of this unknown land two +years before, and as I looked hungrily away toward +the hills to the northward, I found myself repeating +again one of those selections from Kipling that I had +learned from him: </p> + +<p>  “Something hidden.  Go and +find it.  Go and look behind the<br> +Ranges—­<br> +   Something lost behind the Ranges.  + Lost and waiting for you. <br> +Go!”</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_7"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER VII</h1> + +<p><b>SCOUTING FOR THE TRAIL</b></p> + +<p align="justify">Lake Nipishish is approximately twenty +miles in length, and at its broadest part ten or twelve +miles in width.  It extends in an almost due +easterly direction from the place where we launched +our canoes near its outlet.  The shores are rocky +and rise gradually into low, well-wooded hills, by +which the lake is surrounded.  Five miles from +the outlet a rocky point juts out into the water, and +above the point an arm of the lake reaches into the +hills to the northward to a distance of six miles, +almost at right angles to the main lake.  In +the arm there are several small, rocky islands which +sustain a scrubby growth of black spruce and fir balsam.</p> + +<p align="justify">Hitherto the Indian maps had been +of little assistance to us.  No estimate of distance +could be made from them, and the lakes through which +we had passed (not all of them shown on the map) were +represented by small circles with nothing to indicate +at what point on their shores the trail was to be +found.  Lake Nipishish, however, was drawn on +a larger scale and with more detail, and we readily +located the trail leading out of the arm which I have +mentioned.</p> + +<p align="justify">After a day’s work through several +small lakes or ponds, with short intervening portages, +and a trail on the whole well defined and easily followed, +we came one afternoon to a good-sized lake of irregular +shape which Pete promptly named Washkagama (Crooked +Lake).</p> + +<p align="justify">A stream flowed into Washkagama near +the place where we went ashore, and it seemed to me +probable that our route might be along this stream, +which it was likely drained lakes farther up; but a +search in the vicinity failed to uncover any signs +of the trail, and the irregu-lar shape of the lake +suggested several other likely places for it.  +We were, therefore, forced to go into camp, disappointing +as it was, until we should know our position to a +certainty.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next day was showery, but we began +in the morning a determined hunt for the trail.  + Stanton remained in camp to make needed repairs to +the outfit; Easton went with Pete to the northward, +while Richards and I in one of the canoes paddled +to the eastern side of the lake arm, upon which we +were encamped, to climb a barren hill from which we +hoped to get a good view of the country, and upon reaching +the summit we were not disappointed.  A wide +panorama was spread before us.  To the north +lay a great rolling country covered with a limitless +forest of firs, with here and there a bit of sparkling +water.  A mile from our camp a creek, now and +again losing itself in the green woods, rushed down +to join Washkagama, anxious to gain the repose of the +lake.  To the northeast the rugged white hills, +that we were hoping to reach soon, loomed up grand +and majestic, with patches of snow, like white sheets, +spread over their sides and tops.  From Nipishish +to Washkagama we had passed through a burned and rocky +country where no new growth save scant underbrush +and a few scattering spruce, balsam and tamarack trees +had taken the place of the old destroyed forest.  +The dead, naked tree trunks which, gaunt and weather-beaten, +still stood upright or lay in promiscuous confusion +on the ground, gave this part of the country from +our hilltop view an appearance of solitary desolation +that we had not noticed when we were traveling through +it.  But this unregenerated district ended at +Washkagama; and below it Nipishish, with its green-topped +hills, seemed almost homelike.</p> + +<p align="justify">The creek that I have mentioned as +flowing into the lake a mile from our camp seemed +to me worthy to be explored for the trail, and I determined +to go there at once upon our return to camp, while +Richards desired to climb a rock-topped hill which +held its head above the timber line three or four +miles to the northwest, that he might make topographical +and geological observations there.</p> + +<p align="justify">We returned to camp, and Richards, +with a package of erbswurst in his pocket to cook +for dinner and my rifle on his shoulder, started immediately +into the bush, and was but just gone when Pete and +Easton appeared with the report that two miles above +us lay a large lake, and that they had found the trail +leading from it to the creek I had seen from the hill.  + The lake lay among the hills to the northward, and +the bits of water I had seen were portions of it.  + I was anxious to break camp and start forward, but +this could not be done until Richards’ return.  + Easton, Pete and I paddled up to the creek’s +mouth, therefore, and spent the day fishing, and landed +eighty-seven trout, ranging from a quarter pound to +four pounds in weight.  The largest ones Stanton +split and hung over the fire to dry for future use, +while the others were applied to immediate need.</p> + +<p align="justify">When Richards came into camp in the +evening he brought with him an excellent map of the +country that he had seen from the hill and reported +having counted ten lakes, including the large one that +Easton and Pete had visited.  He also had found +the trail and followed it back.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next morning some tracking and +wading up the creek was necessary before we found +ourselves upon the trail with packs on our backs, and +before twelve o’clock we arrived with all our +outfit at the lake, which we shall call Minisinaqua.  + It was an exceedingly beautiful sheet of water, the +main body, perhaps, ten or twelve miles in length, +but narrow, and with many arms and indentations and +containing numerous round green islands.  The +shores and surrounding country were well wooded with +spruce, fir, balsam, larch, and an occasional small +white birch.</p> + +<p align="justify">I took my place in the larger canoe +with Pete and Easton and left Stanton to follow with +Richards.  Pete’s eyes, as always, were +scanning with keen scrutiny every inch of shore.  + Suddenly he straightened up, peered closely at an +island, and in a stage whisper exclaimed “Caribou!  + Caribou!  Don’t make noise!  Paddle, +quick!”</p> + +<p align="justify">We saw them then—­two old +stags and a fawn—­on an island, but they +had seen us, too, or winded us more likely, and, rushing +across the island, took to the water on the opposite +side, making for the mainland.  We bent to our +paddles with all our might, hoping to get within shooting +distance of them, but they had too much lead.  + We all tried some shots when we saw we could not +get closer, but the deer were five hundred yards away, +and from extra exertion with our paddles, we were +unable to hold steady, and missed.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our canoes were turned into an arm +of the lake leading to the northward.  Amongst +some islands we came upon a flock of five geese—­ +two old ones and three young ones.  The old ones +had just passed through the molting season, and their +new wing feathers were not long enough to bear them, +and the young ones, though nearly full grown, had +not yet learned to fly.  Pete brought the mother +goose and two of her children down with the shotgun, +but father gander and the other youngster escaped, +flapping away on the surface of the lake at a remarkable +speed, and they were allowed to go with their lives +without a chase.</p> + +<p align="justify">We stumbled upon the trail leading +from Lake Minisinaqua, almost immediately upon landing.  + Its course was in a northerly direction through the +valley of a small river that emptied into the lake.  + This valley was inclosed by low hills, and the country, +like that between Washkagama and Lake Minisinaqua, +was well covered with the same varieties of small +trees that were found there.  For a mile and three-quarters, +the stream along which the trail ran was too swift +for canoeing, but it then expanded into miniature +lakes or ponds which were connected by short rapids.  + Each of us portaged a load to the first pond, where +the canoes were to be launched, and I directed Pete +and Stanton to remain here, pluck the geese, and prepare +two of them for an evening dinner, while Richards, +Easton and I brought forward a second load and pitched +camp.</p> + +<p align="justify">This was Easton’s twenty-second +birthday and it occurred to me that it would be a +pleasant variation to give a birthday dinner in his +honor and to have a sort of feast to relieve the monotony +of our daily life, and give the men something to think +about and revive their spirits; for “bucking +the trail” day after day with no change but the +gradual change of scenery does grow monotonous to +most men, and the ardor of the best of them, especially +men unaccustomed to roughing it, will become damped +in time unless some variety, no matter how slight, +can be brought into their lives.  A good dinner +always has this effect, for after men are immersed +in a wilderness for several weeks, good things to +eat take the first place in their thoughts and, to +judge from their conversation, the attainment of these +is their chief aim in life.</p> + +<p align="justify">My instructions to Pete included the +baking of an extra ration of bread to be served hot +with the roast geese, and I asked Stanton to try his +hand at concocting some kind of a pudding out of the +few prunes that still remained, to be served with +sugar as sauce, and accompanied by black coffee.  + Our coffee supply was small and it was used only +on Sundays now, or at times when we desired an especial +treat.</p> + +<p align="justify">We were pretty tired when we returned +with our second packs and dropped them on a low, bare +knoll some fifty yards above the fire where Pete and +Stanton were carrying on their culinary operations, +but a whiff of roasting goose came to us like a tonic, +and it did not take us long to get camp pitched.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Um-m-m,” said Easton, +stopping in his work of driving tent pegs to sniff +the air now bearing to us appetizing odors of goose +and coffee, “that smells like home.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“You bet it does,” assented +Richards.  “I haven’t been filled +up for a week, but I’m going to be to-night.”</p> + +<p align="justify">At length dinner was ready, and we +fell to with such good purpose that the two birds, +a generous portion of hot bread, innumerable cups of +black coffee, and finally, a most excellent pudding +that Stanton had made out of bread dough and prunes +and boiled in a canvas specimen bag disappeared.</p> + +<p align="justify">How we enjoyed it!  “No +hotel ever served such a banquet,” one of the +boys remarked as we filled our pipes and lighted them +with brands from the fire.  Then with that blissful +feeling that nothing but a good dinner can give, we +lay at full length on the deep white moss, peace-fully +puffing smoke at the stars as they blinked sleepily +one by one out of the blue of the great arch above +us until the whole firmament was glittering with a +mass of sparkling heaven gems.  The soft perfume +of the forest pervaded the atmosphere; the aurora borealis +appeared in the northern sky, and its waves of changing +light swept the heavens; the vast silence of the wilderness +possessed the world and, wrapped in his own thoughts, +no man spoke to break the spell.  Finally Pete +began a snatch of Indian song: </p> + +<p>  “Puhgedewawa enenewug<br> +   Nuhbuggesug kamiwauw.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Then he drew from his pocket a harmonica, +and for half an hour played soft music that harmonized +well with the night and the surroundings; when he +ceased, all but Richards and I went to their blankets.  + We two remained by the dying embers of our fire for +another hour to enjoy the perfect night, and then, +before we turned to our beds, made an observation +for compass variation, which calculations the following +morning showed to be thirty-seven degrees west of the +true north.</p> + +<a name="marsh"></a> +<a href="images/marshth.jpg"> +<img alt="Through Ponds and Marshes Northward Toward Otter Lake" src="images/marshth.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">Paddling through the ponds, polling +and tracking through the rapids or portaging around +them up the little river on which we were encamped +the night before, brought us to Otter Lake, which was +considerably larger than Lake Minisinaqua, but not +so large as Nipishish.  The main body was not +over a mile and a half in width, but it had a number +of bays and closely connected tributary lakes.  + Its eastern end, which we did not explore, penetrated +low spruce and balsam-covered hills.  To the +north and northeast were rugged, rock-tipped hills, +rising to an elevation of some seven hundred feet +above the lake.  The country at their base was +covered with a green forest of small fir, spruce and +birch, and near the water, in marshy places, as is +the case nearly everywhere in Labrador, tamarack, +but the hills themselves had been fire swept, and +were gray with weather-worn, dead trees.  On the +summits, and for two hundred feet below, bare basaltic +rock indicated that at this elevation they had never +sustained any growth, save a few straggling bushes.  + On some of these hills there still remained patches +of snow of the previous winter.</p> + +<p align="justify">We paddled eastward along the northern +shore of the lake.  Once we saw a caribou swimming +far ahead of us, but he discovered our approach and +took to the timber before we were within shooting distance +of him.  A flock of sawbill ducks avoided us.  + No sign of Indians was seen, and four miles up the +lake we stopped upon a narrow, sandy point that jutted +out into the water for a distance of a quarter mile, +to pitch camp and scout for the trail.  All along +the point and leading back into the bush, were fresh +caribou tracks, where the animals came out to get +the benefit of the lake breezes and avoid the flies, +which torment them terribly.  Natives in the +North have told me of caribou having been worried +to death by the insects, and it is not improbable.  +The “bulldogs” or “stouts,” +as they are sometimes called, which are as big as +bumblebees, are very vicious, and follow the poor caribou +in swarms.  The next morning a caribou wandered +down to within a hundred and fifty yards of camp, +and Pete and Stanton both fired at it, but missed, +and it got away unscathed.</p> + +<p align="justify">After breakfast, with Pete and Easton, +I climbed one of the higher hills for a view of the +surrounding country.  Near the foot of the hill, +and in the depth of the spruce woods, we passed a lone +Indian grave, which we judged from its size to be +that of a child.  It was inclosed by a rough +fence, which had withstood the pressure of the heavy +snows of many winters and a broken cross lay on it.  +From the summit of the hill we could see a string +of lakes extending in a general northwesterly direction +until they were lost in other hills above, and also +numerous lakes to the south, southwest, east and northeast.  + We could count from one point nearly fifty of these +lakes, large and small.  To the north and northwest +the country was rougher and more diversified, and +the hills much higher than any we had as yet passed +through.</p> + +<p align="justify">Down by our camp it had been excessively +warm, but here on the hilltop a cold wind was blowing +that made us shiver.  We found a few scattered +dry sticks, and built a fire under the lee of a high +bowlder, where we cooked for luncheon some pea-meal +porridge with water that Pete, with foresight, had +brought with him from a brook that we passed half way +down the hillside.  We then continued our scouting +tour several miles inland, climbing two other high +hills, from one of which an excellent view was had +of the string of lakes penetrating the northwestern +hills.  Everywhere so far as our vision extended +the valleys were comparatively well wooded, but the +treeless, rock-bound hills rose grimly above the timber +line.</p> + +<p align="justify">When we returned to camp we were still +unsettled as to where the trail left the lake, but +there was one promising bay that had not been explored, +and Richards and Easton volunteered to take a canoe +and search this bay.  They were supplied with +tarpaulin, blankets, an ax and one day’s rations, +and started immediately.</p> + +<p align="justify">I felt some anxiety as to our slow +progress.  August was almost upon us and we had +not yet reached Seal Lake.  Here, as at other +places, we had experienced much delay in finding the +trail, and we did not know what difficulties in that +direction lay before us.  I had planned to reach +the George River by early September, and the question +as to whether we could do it or not was giving me +much concern.</p> + +<p align="justify">Pete and Stanton had been in bed and +asleep for an hour, but I was still awake, turning +over in my mind the situation, and planning to-morrow’s +campaign, when at ten o’clock I heard the soft +dip of paddles, and a few moments later Richards and +Easton appeared out of the night mist that hung over +the lake, with the good news that they had found the +trail leading northward from the bay.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_8"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER VIII</h1> + +<p><b>SEAL LAKE AT LAST</b></p> + +<p align="justify">A thick, impenetrable mist, such as +is seldom seen in the interior of Labrador, hung over +the water and the land when we struck camp and began +our advance.  For two days we traveled through +numerous small lakes, making several short portages, +before we came to a lake which we found to be the +headwaters of a river flowing to the northwest.  +This lake was two miles long, and we camped at its +lower end, where the river left it.  Portage +Lake we shall call it, and the river that flowed out +of it Babewendigash.</p> + +<p align="justify">The portage into the lake crossed +a sand desert, upon which not a drop of water was +seen, and instead of the usual rocks there were uncovered +sand and gravel knolls and valleys, where grew only +occasional bunches of very stunted brush; the surface +of the sand was otherwise quite bare and sustained +not even the customary moss and lichens.  The +heat of the sun reflected from the sand was powerful.  + The day was one of the most trying ones of the trip, +and the men, with faces and hands swollen and bleeding +from the attacks of not only the small black flies, +which were particularly bad, but also the swarms of +“bulldogs,” complained bitterly of the +hardships.  When we halted to eat our luncheon +one of the men remarked, “Duncan said once that +if there are no flies there, hell can’t be as +bad as this, and he’s pretty near right.”</p> + +<p align="justify">The river left the lake in a rapid, +and while Pete was making his fire, Richards, Easton +and I went down to catch our supper, and in half an +hour had secured forty-five good-sized trout—­sufficient +for supper that night and breakfast and dinner the +next day.</p> + +<p align="justify">Since leaving Otter Lake, caribou +signs had been plentiful, fresh trails running in +every direction.  Pete was anxious to halt a day +to hunt, but I decreed otherwise, to his great disappointment.</p> + +<p align="justify">The scenery at this point was particularly +fine, with a rugged, wild beauty that could hardly +be surpassed.  Below us the great, bald snow +hills loomed very close at hand, with patches of snow +glinting against the black rocks of the hills, as +the last rays of the setting sun kissed them good-night.  + Nearer by was the more hospitable wooded valley and +the shining river, and above us the lake, placid and +beautiful, and beyond it the line of low sand hills +of the miniature desert we had crossed.  One +of the snow hills to the northwest had two knobs resembling +a camel’s back, and was a prominent landmark.  + We christened it “The Camel’s Hump.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Heretofore the streams had been taking +a generally southerly direction, but this river flowed +to the northwest, which was most encouraging, for +running in that direction it could have but one outlet-the +Nascaupee River.</p> + +<p align="justify">A portage in the morning, then a short +run on the river, then another portage, around a shallow +rapid, and we were afloat again on one of the prettiest +little rivers I have ever seen.  The current was +strong enough to hurry us along.  Down we shot +past the great white hills, which towered in majestic +grandeur high above our heads, in some places rising +almost perpendicularly from the water, with immense +heaps of debris which the frost had detached from their +sides lying at their base.  The river was about +fifty yards wide, and in its windings in and out among +the hills almost doubled upon itself sometimes.  + The scenery was fascinating.  One or two small +lake expansions were passed, but generally there was +a steady current and a good depth of water.  +“This is glorious!” some one exclaimed, +as we shot onward, and we all appreciated the relief +from the constant portaging that had been the feature +of our journey since leaving the Nascaupee River.</p> + +<p align="justify">The first camp on this river was pitched +upon the site of an old Indian camp, above a shallow +rapid.  The many wigwam poles, in varying states +of decay, together with paddles, old snowshoes, broken +sled runners, and other articles of Indian traveling +paraphernalia, in-dicated that it had been a regular +stopping place of the Indians, both in winter and +in summer, in the days when they had made their pilgrimages +to Northwest River Post.  Near this point we found +some beaver cuttings, the first that we had seen since +leaving the Crooked River.</p> + +<p align="justify">Babewendigash soon carried us into +a large lake expansion, and six hours were consumed +paddling about the lake before the outlet was discovered.  + At first we thought it possible we were in Seal Lake, +but I soon decided that it was not large enough, and +its shape did not agree with the description of Seal +Lake that Donald Blake and Duncan McLean had given +me.</p> + +<a name="babewe"></a> +<a href="images/babeweth.jpg"> +<img alt="We Shall Call the River Babewendigash" src="images/babeweth.jpg"> +</a> + + + +<p align="justify">During the morning I dropped a troll +and landed the first namaycush of the trip—­a +seven-pound fish.  The Labrador lakes generally +have a great depth of water, and it is in the deeper +water that the very large namaycush, which grow to +an immense size, are to be caught.  Our outfit +did not contain the heavy sinkers and larger trolling +spoons necessary in trolling for these, and we therefore +had to content ourselves with the smaller fish caught +in the shallower parts of the lakes.  We had +two more portages before we shot the first rapid of +the trip, and then camped on the shores of a small +expansion just above a wide, shallow rapid where the +river swung around a ridge of sand hills.  This +ridge was about two hundred feet in elevation, and +followed the river for some distance below.  In +the morning we climbed it, and walked along its top +for a mile or so, to view the rapid, and suddenly, +to the westward, beheld Seal Lake.  It was a great +moment, and we took off our hats and cheered.  + The first part of our fight up the long trail was +almost ended.</p> + +<p align="justify">The upper part of the rapid was too +shallow to risk a full load in the canoes, so we carried +a part of our outfit over the ridge to a point where +the river narrowed and deepened, then ran the rapid +and picked up our stuff below.  Not far from +here we passed a hill whose head took the form of +a sphinx and we noted it as a remarkable landmark.  +Stopping but once to climb a mountain for specimens, +at twelve o’clock we landed on a sandy beach +where Babewendigash River emptied its waters into +Seal Lake.  We could hardly believe our good fortune, +and while Pete cooked dinner I climbed a hill to satisfy +myself that it was really Seal Lake.  There was +no doubt of it.  It had been very minutely described +and sketched for me by Donald and Duncan.  We +had halted at what they called on their maps “The +Narrows,” where the lake narrowed down to a +mere strait, and that portion of it below the canoes +was hidden from my view.  It stretched out far +to the northwest, with some distance up a long arm +reaching to the west.  A point which I recognized +from Duncan’s description as the place where +the winter tilt used by him and Donald was situated +extended for some distance out into the water.  + The entire length of Seal Lake is about forty miles, +but only about thirty miles of it could be seen from +the elevation upon which I stood.  Its shores +are generally well wooded with a growth of young spruce.  + High hills surround it.</p> + +<p align="justify">We visited the tilt as we passed the +point and, in accordance with an arrangement made +with Duncan, added to our stores about twenty-five +pounds of flour that he had left there during the previous +winter.  Five miles above the point where Babewendigash +River empties into Seal Lake we entered the Nascaupee, +up which we paddled two miles to the first short rapid.  + This we tracked, and then made camp on an island +where the river lay placid and the wind blew cool and +refreshing.</p> + +<p align="justify">Long we sat about our camp fire watching +the glories of the northern sunset, and the new moon +drop behind the spruce-clad hills, and the aurora +in all its magnificence light our silent world with +its wondrous fire.  Finally the others left me +to go to their blankets.</p> + +<p align="justify">When I was alone I pushed in the ends +of the burning logs and sat down to watch the blaze +as it took on new life.  Gradually, as I gazed +into its depths, fantasy brought before my eyes the +picture of another camp fire.  Hubbard was sitting +by it.  It was one of those nights in the hated +Susan Valley.  We had been toiling up the trail +for days, and were ill and almost disheartened; but +our camp fire and the relaxation from the day’s +work were giving us the renewed hope and cheer that +they always brought, and rekindled the fire of our +half-lost enthusiasm.  “Seal Lake can’t +be far off now,” Hubbard was saying.  “We’re +sure to reach it in a day or two.  Then it’ll +be easy work to Michikamau, and we ’ll soon +be with the Indians after that, and forget all about +this hard work.  We’ll be glad of it all +when we get home, for we’re going to have a +bully trip.”  How much lighter my pack felt +the next day, when I recalled his words of encouragement!  + How we looked and looked for Seal Lake, but never +found it.  It lay hidden among those hills that +were away to the northward of us, with its waters +as placid and beautiful as they were to-day when we +passed through it.  I had never seen Michikamau.  + Was I destined to see it now?</p> + +<p align="justify">The fire burned low.  Only a +few glowing coals remained, and as they blackened +my picture dissolved.  The aurora, like a hundred +searchlights, was whipping across the sky.  The +forest with its hidden mysteries lay dark beneath.  + A deep, impenetrable silence brooded over all.  + The vast, indescribable loneliness of the wilderness +possessed my soul.  I tried to shake off the +feeling of desolation as I went to my bed of boughs.</p> + +<p align="justify">To-morrow a new stage of our journey +would begin.  It was ho for Michikamau!</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_9"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER IX</h1> + +<p><b>WE LOSE THE TRAIL</b></p> + +<p align="justify">Saturday morning, August fifth, broke +with a radiance and a glory seldom equaled even in +that land of glorious sunrises and sunsets.  A +flame of red and orange in the east ushered in the +rising sun, not a cloud marred the azure of the heavens, +the moss was white with frost, and the crisp, clear +atmosphere sweet with the scent of the new day.  +Labrador was in her most amiable mood, displaying to +the best advantage her peculiar charms and beauties.</p> + +<p align="justify">While we ate a hurried breakfast of +corn-meal mush, boiled fat pork and tea, and broke +camp, Michikamau was the subject of our conversation, +for now it was ho for the big lake!  A rapid advance +was expected upon the river, and the trail above, +where it left the Nascaupee to avoid the rapids which +the Indians had told us about, would probably be found +without trouble.  So this new stage of our journey +was begun with something of the enthusiasm that we +had felt the day we left Tom Blake’s cabin and +started up Grand Lake.</p> + +<p align="justify">We had gone but a mile when Pete drew +his paddle from the water and pointed with it at a +narrow, sandy beach ahead, above which rose a steep +bank.  Almost at the same instant I saw the object +of his interests—­a buck caribou asleep +on the sand.  The wind was blowing toward the +river, and maintaining absolute silence, we landed +below a bend that hid us from the caribou.  Fresh +meat was in sight and we must have it, for we were +hungry now for venison.  To cover the retreat +of the animal should it take alarm, Pete was to go +on the top of the bank above it, Easton to take a +stand opposite it and I a little below it.  We +crawled to our positions with the greatest care; but +the caribou was alert.  The shore breeze carried +to it the scent of danger, and almost before we knew, +that we were discovered it was on its feet and away.  + For a fraction of a second I had one glimpse of the +animal through the brush.  Pete did not see it +when it started, but heard it running up the shore, +and away be started in that direction, running and +leaping recklessly over the fallen tree trunks.  +Presently the caribou turned from the river and showed +itself on the burned plateau above, two hundred yards +from Pete.  The Indian halted for a moment and +fired—­then fired again.  I hastened +up and came upon Pete standing by the prostrate caribou +and grinning from ear to ear.</p> + +<a name="caribo"></a> +<a href="images/cariboth.jpg"> +<img alt="Pete, Standing by the Prostrate Caribou, Was Grinning from Ear to Ear" src="images/cariboth.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">The carcass was quickly skinned and +the meat stripped from the bones and carried to the +canoe.  Here on the shore we made a fire, broiled +some thick luscious steaks, roasted some marrow bones +and made tea.  All the bones except the marrow +bones of the legs were abandoned as an unnecessary +weight.  Pete broke a hole through one of the +shoulder blades and stuck it on a limb of a tree above +the reach of animals.  That, you know, insures +further good luck in hunting.  It is a sort of +offering to the Manitou.  We took the skin with +us.  “Maybe we need him for something,” +said Pete.  “Clean and smoke him nice, me; +maybe mend clothes with him.”</p> + +<p align="justify">The larger pieces of our venison were +to be roasted when we halted in the evening.  + We could not dally now, and I chose this method of +preserving the meat, rather than “jerk” +it (that is, dry it in the open air over a smoky fire), +which would have necessitated a halt of three or four +days.</p> + +<p align="justify">Within three hours after we had first +seen the caribou we were on our way again.  The +river up which we were passing was from two to four +hundred yards in width, and with the exception of an +occasional rock, had a gravelly bottom, and the banks +were generally low and gravelly.  A little distance +back ridges of low hills paralleled the stream, and +on the south side behind the lower ridge was a higher +one of rough hills; but none of them with an elevation +above the valley of more than three hundred feet.  + The country had been burned on both sides of the +river and there was little new growth to hide the dead +trees.</p> + +<p align="justify">Twenty-five miles above Seal Lake +we encountered a rapid which necessitated a mile and +a half portage around it.  Where we landed to +make the portage I noticed along the edge of the sandy +beach a black band about two feet in width.  +I thought at first that the water had discolored the +sand, but upon a closer examination discovered that +it was nothing more nor less than myriads of our black +fly pests that had lost their lives in the water and +been washed ashore.</p> + +<p align="justify">We had much rain and progress was +slow and difficult in the face of a strong wind and +current.  Seven or eight miles above the rapid +around which we had portaged we passed into a large +expansion of the river which the Indians at Northwest +River Post had told us to look for, and which they +called Wuchusknipi (Big Muskrat) Lake.</p> + +<p align="justify">High gravelly banks, rising in terraces +sometimes fully fifty feet above the water’s +edge, had now become the feature of the stream.  + The current increased in strength, and only for short +distances above Wuchusknipi, where the river occasionally +broadened, were we able to paddle.  The tracking +lines were brought into service, one man hauling each +canoe, while the others, wading in the water, or walking +on the bank with poles where the stream was too deep +to wade, kept the canoes straight in the current and +clear of the shore.  Once when it became necessary +to cross a wide place in the river a squall struck +us, and Richards and Stanton in the smaller canoe +were nearly swamped.  The strong head wind precluded +paddling, even when the current would otherwise have +permitted it.</p> + +<p align="justify">Finally the sky cleared and the wind +ceased to blow; but with the calm came a cause for +disquietude.  A light smoke had settled in the +valley and the air held the odor of it, suggesting +a forest fire somewhere above.  This would mean +retreat, if not disaster, for when these fires once +start rivers and lakes prove small obstacles in their +path.  From a view-point on the hills no dense +smoke could be discovered, only the light haze that +we had seen and smelled in the valley, and we therefore +decided that the gale that had blown for several days +from the northwest may have carried it for a long +distance, even from the district far west of Michikamau, +and that at any rate there was no cause for immediate +alarm.</p> + +<p align="justify">The ridges with an increasing altitude +were crowding in upon us more closely.  Once +when we stopped to portage around a low fall we climbed +some of the hills that were near at hand that we might +obtain a better knowledge of the topography of the +country than could be had from the confined river +valley.  Away to the northwest we found the country +to be much more rugged than the district we had recently +passed through.  Observations showed us that the +highest of the hills we were on had an elevation of +six hundred feet above the river.  We had but +a single day of fine weather and then a fog came so +thick that we could not see the opposite banks of +the Nascaupee, and after it a cold rain set in which +made our work in the icy current doubly hard.  + One morning I slipped on a bowlder in the river and +strained my side, and for me the remainder of the +day was very trying.  That evening we reached +a little group of three or four islands, where the +Nascaupee was wide and shallow, but just above the +islands it narrowed down again and a low fall occurred.  + Not far from the fall a small river tumbled down +over the rocks a sheer thirty feet, and emptied into +the Nascaupee.  Since leaving Seal Lake we had +passed two rivers flowing in from the north, and this +was the second one coming from the south, marking the +point on the Indian map where we were to look for the +portage trail leading to the northward.  Therefore +a halt was made and camp was pitched.</p> + +<p align="justify">During the night the weather cleared, +and Pete, Richards and Easton were dispatched in the +morning to scout the country to the northward in search +of the trail and signs of Indians.  The ligaments +of my side were very stiff and sore from the strain +they received the previous day, and I remained in +camp with Stanton to write up my records, take an +inventory of our food supply, and consider plans for +the future.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was August twelfth.  How far +we had still to go before reaching Michikamau was +uncertain, but, in view of our experiences below Seal +Lake and the difficulties met with in finding and following +the old Indian trail there, our progress would now, +for a time at least, if we traveled the portage route, +be slower than on the river where we had done fairly +well.  True, our outfit was much lighter than +it had been in the beginning, and we were in better +shape for packing and were able to carry heavier loads.  + Still we must make two trips over every portage, +and that meant, for every five miles of advance, fifteen +miles of walking and ten of those miles with packs +on our backs.  Had we not better, therefore, +abandon the further attempt to locate the trail and, +instead, follow the river which was beyond doubt the +quicker and the easier route?  My inclinations +rebelled against this course.  One of the objects +of the expedition, for it was one of the things that +Hubbard had planned to do, was to locate the old trail, +if possible.  To abandon the search for it now, +and to follow the easier route, seemed to me a surrender.</p> + +<p align="justify">On the other hand, should we not find +game or fish and have delays scouting for the trail, +it would be necessary to go on short rations before +reaching Michikamau, for enough food must be held back +to take us out of the country in safety.</p> + +<p align="justify">In my present consideration of the +situation it seemed to me highly improbable that we +could reach George River Post in season to connect +with the Hudson’s Bay Company’s steamer +<i>Pelican</i>, which touches there to land supplies +about the middle of September, and that is the only +steamer that ever visits that Post.  Not to connect +with the <i>Pelican</i> would, therefore, mean imprisonment +in the north for an entire year, or a return around +the coast by dog train in winter.  The former +of these alternatives was out of the question; the +latter would be impossible with an encumbrance of +four men, for dog teams and drivers in the early winter +are usually all away to the hunting grounds and hard +to engage.  I therefore concluded that but one +course was open to me.  Three of the men must +be sent back and with a single companion I would push +on to Ungava.  This, then, was the line of action +I decided upon.</p> + +<p align="justify">Toward evening gathering clouds augured +an early renewal of the storm, and Stanton and I had +just put up the stove in the tent in anticipation +of it when Pete and Easton, the latter thoroughly fagged +out, came into camp.</p> + +<p>“Well, Pete,” I asked, “what luck?”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Find trail all right,” +he answered.  “Can’t follow him easy.  + Long carry.  First lake far, maybe eleven, twelve +mile.  Little ponds not much good for canoe.  + Trail old.  Not used long time.  All time +go up hill.”</p> + +<p>“Where’s Richards?” I inquired, +noticing his absence.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Left us about four miles back +to take a short cut to the river and follow it down +to camp,” said Easton.  “He thought +you might want to know how it looked above, and perhaps +keep on that way instead of tackling the portage, +for the trail’s going to be mighty hard.  + It looks as though the river would be better.”</p> + +<p align="justify">We waited until near dark for Richards, +but he did not come.  Then we ate our supper +without him.</p> + +<p align="justify">The rain grew into a downpour and +darkness came, but no Richards, and at length I became +alarmed for his safety.  I pushed back the tent +flaps and peered out into the pitchy darkness and pouring +rain.</p> + +<p align="justify">“He’ll never get in to-night,” +I remarked.  “No,” said some one, +“and he’ll have a hard time of it out +there in the rain.”  There was nothing to +do but wait.  Pete rummaged in his bag and produced +a candle (we had a dozen in our outfit), sharpened +one end of a stick, split the other end for two or +three inches down, forced open the split end and set +the candle in it and stuck the sharpened end in the +ground, all the while working in the dark.  Then +he lit the candle.</p> + +<p align="justify">I do not know how long we had been +sitting by the candle light and putting forth all +sorts of conjectures about Richards and his uncomfortable +position in the bush without cover and the probable +reasons for his failure to return, when the tent front +opened and in he came, as wet as though he had been +in the river.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Well, Richards,” I asked, +when he was comfortably settled at his meal, “what +do you think of the river?”</p> + +<p align="justify">“The river!” he paused +between mouthfuls to exclaim, “that’s the +only thing within twenty miles that I didn’t +see.  I’ve been looking for it for four +hours, but it kept changing its location and I never +found it till I struck camp just now.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Now, boys,” said I, when +all the pipes were going, “I’ve something +to say to you.  Up to this time we’ve had +no real hardships to meet.  We’ve had hard +work, and it’s been most trying at times, but +there’s been no hardship to endure that might +not be met with upon any journey in the bush.  + If we go on we <i>shall</i> have hardships, and perhaps, +some pretty severe ones.  There’ll soon +be sleet and snow in the air, and cold days and shivery +nights, and the portages will be long and hard.  +On the whole, there’s been plenty to eat—­not +what we would have had at home, perhaps, but good, +wholesome grub—­and we’re all in better +condition and stronger than when we started, but flour +and pork are getting low, lentils and corn meal are +nearly gone, and short rations, with hungry days, +are soon to come if we don’t strike game, and +you know how uncertain that is.  I cannot say +what is before us, and I’m not going to drag +you fellows into trouble.  I’m going to +ask for one volunteer to go on with me to Ungava with +the small canoe, and let the rest return from here +with the other canoe and what grub they need to take +them out.  Who wants to go home?”</p> + +<p align="justify">It came to them like a shock.  + Outside, the wind howled through the trees and dashed +the rain spitefully against the tent.  The water +dripped through on us, and the candle flickered and +sputtered and almost went out.  In the weird +light I could see the faces of the men work with emotion.  + For a moment no one spoke.  Finally Richards, +in a tone of reproach that made me feel sorry for +the very suggestion, asked:  “Do you think +there’s a quitter here?”</p> + +<p align="justify">The loyalty and grit of the men touched +my heart.  Not one of them would think of leaving +me.  Nothing but a positive order would have +turned them back, and I decided to postpone our parting +until we reached Michikaumau at least, if it could +be postponed so long consistently with safety.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next day was Sunday, and it was +spent in rest and in preparation for our advance up +the trail.  The weather was damp and cheerless, +with rain falling intermittently throughout the day.</p> + +<p align="justify">To cover a possible retreat a cache +was made near our camp of thirty pounds of pemmican +in tin cans and forty-five pounds of flour and some +tea in a waterproof bag.  A hole was dug in the +ground and the provisions were deposited in it, then +covered with stones as a pro-tection from animals.</p> + +<p align="justify">By Monday morning the storm had gained +new strength, and steadily and pitilessly the rain +fell, accompanied by a cold, northwest wind.</p> + +<p align="justify">What narrowly escaped being a serious +accident occurred when we halted that day for dinner.  + Easton was cutting firewood, when suddenly he dropped +the ax he was using with the exclamation “That +fixes me!” He had given himself what looked +at first like an ugly cut near the shin bone.  + Fortunately, however, upon examination, it proved +to be only a flesh wound and not sufficiently severe +to interfere with his traveling.  Stanton dressed +the cut.  Our adhesive plaster we found had become +useless by exposure and electrician’s tape was +substituted for it to draw the flesh together.</p> + +<p align="justify">On the evening of the second day after +leaving the Nascaupee, our tent was pitched upon the +site of an extensive but ancient Indian camp beside +a mile-long lake, four hundred and fifty feet above +the river.  Five ponds had been passed <i>en route</i>, +but all of them so small it was scarcely worth while +floating the canoe in any of them.</p> + +<p align="justify">In these two days we had covered but +eleven miles, but during the whole time the wind had +driven the rain in sweeping gusts into our faces and +made it impossible for a man, single-handed, to portage +a canoe.  Thus, with two men to carry each canoe +we had been compelled to make three loads of our outfit, +and this meant fifty-five miles actual walking, and +thirty-three miles of this distance with packs on +our backs.  The weather conditions had made the +work more than hard—­ it was heartrending—­as +we toiled over naked hills, across marshes and moraines, +or through dripping brush and timber land.</p> + +<p align="justify">A beautiful afternoon, two days later, +found us paddling down the first lake worthy of mention +since leaving the Nascaupee River.  The azure +sky overhead shaded to a pearly blue at the horizon, +with a fleecy cloud or two floating lazily across +its face.  The atmosphere was perfect in its +purity, and only the sound of screeching gulls and +the dip of our paddles disturbed the quiet of the wilderness.  + Lake Bibiquasin, as we shall call it, was five miles +in length and nestled between ridges of low, moss-covered +hills.  It lay in a southeasterly and northwesterly +direction, and rested upon the summit of a sub-sidiary +divide that we had been gradually ascending.  +A creek ran out of its northwesterly end, flowing +in that direction.</p> + +<p align="justify">Until now we had found the trail with +little difficulty, but here we were baffled.  + A search in the afternoon failed to uncover it, and +we were forced to halt, perplexed again as to our +course.  Camp was pitched in a grove of spruces +at the lower end of the lake.  Not far from us +was an old hunting camp which Pete said was “most +hundred years old,” and he was not far wrong +in his estimate, for the frames upon which the Indians +had stretched skins and the tepee poles crumbled to +pieces when we touched them.</p> + +<p align="justify">Strange to say, not a fish of any +description had been seen for several days and not +one could be induced to rise to fly or bait, and our +net was always empty now.  Game, too, was scarce.  + There were no fresh caribou tracks this side of the +Nascaupee River, and but one duck and one spruce partridge +had been killed.  The last bit of our venison +was eaten the day before.  It was pretty badly +spoiled and turning a little green in color, but Pete +washed it well several times and we all avoided the +lee side of the kettle while it was cooking.  +It was pronounced “not so bad.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Another day was lost on Lake Bibiquasin +in an ineffectual hunt for the trail.  I scouted +alone all day and in my wanderings came upon the first +ptarmigans of the trip and shot one of them with my +rifle.  The others flew away.  They wore +their mottled summer coat, as it was still too early +for them to don their pure white dress of winter.</p> + +<p align="justify">During my scouting trip I also discovered +the first ripe bake-apple berries we had seen.  + This is a salmon-colored berry resembling in size +and shape the raspberry, and grows on a low plant like +the strawberry.</p> + +<p align="justify">On Saturday morning, August nineteenth, +the temperature was four degrees below the freezing +point, and the ground was stiff with frost.  In +a further search on the north side of the lake opposite +our camp we found an old blaze and a trail leading +from it along a ridge and through marshes to a small +lake.  This was the only trail that we could +find anywhere, so we decided to follow it, though it +did not bear all the earmarks of the portage trail +we had been tracing—­it was decidedly more +ancient.  We started our work with a will.  + It was a hard portage and we sometimes sank knee +deep into the marsh and got mired frequently, but +finally reached the lake.</p> + +<p align="justify">Indian signs now completely disappeared.  + Down the lake, where a creek flowed out, was a bare +hill, and Pete and I climbed it.  From its summit +we could easily locate the creek taking a turn to the +north and then to the northeast and, finally, flowing +into one of a series of lakes extending in an easterly +and westerly direction.  The land was comparatively +flat to the eastward and the lakes no doubt fed a river +flowing out of that end, probably one of those that +we had noted as joining the Nascaupee on its north +side.  To the north of these lakes were high, +rugged ridges.  It was possible there was an opening +in the hills to the westward, where they seemed lower; +we could not tell from where we were, but we determined +to portage along the creek into the lakes with that +hope.</p> + +<p align="justify">Again the smoke of a forest fire hung +in the valleys and over the hills, and the air was +heavy with the smell of it, which revived the former +uneasiness, but by the next day every trace of it had +disappeared.</p> + +<p align="justify">Another day found us afloat upon the +first of the lakes.  Several short carries across +necks of land took us from this lake into the one +which Pete and I had seen extending back to the ridges +to the westward, and which we shall call Lake Desolation.</p> + +<p align="justify">On the northern shore of Lake Desolation +we stopped to climb a mountain.  A decided change +in the features of the country had taken place since +leaving Lake Bibiquasin, and the low moss-covered hills +had given place to rough mountains of bare rock.  + To the northward from where we stood nothing but +higher mountains of similar formation met our view—­a +great, rolling vista of bare, desolate rocks.  + To the westward the country was not, perhaps, so +rough, though there, too, in the far distance could +be discerned the tops of rugged hills breaking the +line of the horizon.  Through a valley in that +direction was distinguishable, with a considerable +interval between them, a string of small lakes or +ponds.  This valley led up from the western end +of Lake Desolation, and there was no other possible +place for the trail to leave the lake.  The valley +was the only opening.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our mountain climbing had consumed +a good part of an afternoon, and it was evening when +finally we reached the western end of the lake and +pitched our camp near a creek flowing in.  As +we paddled we tried our trolls, but were not rewarded +with a single strike.  When camp was made the +net was stretched across the creek’s mouth and +we tried our rods in the stream for trout, but our +efforts were useless.  No fish were caught.</p> + +<p align="justify">The prospect for game had not improved, +in fact was growing steadily worse.  We were +now in a country that had been desolated by a forest +fire within four or five years.  The moss under +foot had not renewed itself and where any of it remained +at all, it was charred and black.  The trees were +dead and the land harbored almost no life.  It +seemed to me that even the fish had been scalded out +of the water and the streams had never restocked themselves.</p> + +<p align="justify">A thorough search was made for Indian +signs, but there were absolutely none.  There +was nothing to show that any human being had ever been +here before us.  Back on Lake Bibiquasin we had +lost the trail and now on Lake Desolation we were +far and hopelessly astray, with only the compass to +guide us.</p> + +<p align="justify">After supper the men sat around the +camp fire, smoking and talking of their friends at +home, while I walked alone by the lake shore.  + It was a wild scene that lay before me—­the +aurora, with its waves of changing color flashing +weirdly as they swept and lighted the sky, the dead +trees everywhere like skeletons gray and gaunt, the +blazing camp fire in the foreground, with the figures +lying about it and the little white tent in the background.  + Somewhere hidden in the depths of that vast and silent +wilderness to the westward lay Michikamau.</p> + +<p align="justify">There was no mark on the face of the +earth to direct us on our road.  We must blaze +a new trail up that valley and over those ridges that +looked so dark and forbidding in the uncertain light +of the aurora.  We must find Michikamau.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_10"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER X</h1> + +<p><b>“WE SEE MICHIKAMAU”</b></p> + +<p align="justify">“It’s no use, Pete.  + You may as well go back to your blankets.”</p> + +<p align="justify">It was the morning of the second day +after reaching the lake which we named Desolation.  + We had portaged through a valley and over a low ridge +to the shores of a pond, out of which a small stream +ran to the southeast.  The country was devastated +by fire and to the last degree inhospitable.  + Not a green shrub over two feet in height was to be +seen, the trees were dead and blackened; not even the +customary moss covered the naked earth, and loose +bowlders were scattered everywhere about.</p> + +<p align="justify">There was no fixed trail now to look +for or to guide us, but by keeping a general westerly +course, we knew that we must, sooner or later, reach +Michikamau.  Rough, irregular ridges blocked our +path and it was necessary to look ahead that we might +not become tangled up amongst them.  One hill, +higher than the others, a solitary bailiff that guarded +the wilderness beyond, was to have been climbed this +morning, but when Pete and I at daybreak came out of +the tent we were met by driving rain and dashes of +sleet that cut our faces, and a mist hung over the +earth so thick we could not even see across the tiny +lake at our feet.  I looked longingly into the +storm and mist in the direction in which I knew the +big hill lay, and realized the hopelessness and foolhardiness +of attempting to reach it.</p> + +<p align="justify">“It’s no use, Pete,” +I continued, “to try to scout in this storm.  + You could see nothing from the hill if you reached +it, and the chances are, with every landmark hidden, +you couldn’t find the tent again.  I don’t +want to lose you yet.  Go back and sleep.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Later in the morning to my great relief +the weather cleared, and Richards and Pete were at +once dispatched to scout.  We who remained “at +home,” as we called our camp, found plenty of +work to keep us occupied.  The bushes had ravaged +our clothing to such an extent that some of us were +pretty ragged, and every halt was taken advantage of +to make much needed repairs.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was nearly dark when Richards and +Pete came back.  They had reached the high hill +and from its summit saw, some distance to the westward, +long stretches of water reaching far away to the hills +in that direction.  A portage of several miles +in which some small lakes occurred would take us, +they said, into a large lake.  Beyond this they +could not see.</p> + +<p align="justify">Pete brought back with him a hatful +of ripe currants which he stewed and which proved +a very welcome addition to our supper of corn-meal +mush.</p> + +<p align="justify">The report of water ahead made us +happy.  It was now August twenty-third.  + If we could reach Michikamau by September first that +should give me ample time, I believed, to reach the +George River before the caribou migration would take +place.</p> + +<p align="justify">The following morning we started forward +with a will, and with many little lakes to cross and +short portages between them, we made fairly good progress, +and each lake took us one step higher on the plateau.</p> + +<p align="justify">The character of the country was changing, +too.  The naked land and rocks and dead trees +gave way to a forest of green spruce, and the ground +was again covered with a thick carpet of white caribou +moss.</p> + +<p align="justify">We were catching no fish, however, +although our efforts to lure them to the hook or entangle +them in the net were never relinquished.  Pork +was a luxury, and no baker ever produced anything half +so dainty and delicious as our squaw bread.  +A strict distribution of rations was maintained, and +when the pork was fried, Pete, with a spoon, dished +out the grease into the five plates in equal shares.  + Into this the quarter loaf ration of bread was broken +and the mixture eaten to the last morsel.  Sometimes +the men drank the warm pork grease clear.  Finally +it became so precious that they licked their plates +after scraping them with their spoons, and the longing +eyes that were cast at the frying pan made me fear +that some time a raid would be made on that.</p> + +<p align="justify">One day, an owl was shot and went +into the pot to keep company with a couple of partridges.  + Pete demurred.  “Owl eat mice,” said +he.  “Not good man eat him.</p> + +<p align="justify">“You can count me out on owl, +too,” Richards volunteered.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Oh! they’re all right,” +I assured them.  “The Labrador people always +eat them and you’ll find them very nice.”</p> + +<p>“Not me.  Owl eat mice,” Pete insisted.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Well,” I suggested, “possibly +we’ll be eating mice, too, before we get home, +and it’s a good way to begin by eating owl—­for +then the mice won’t seem so bad when we have +to eat them.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Stanton took charge of the kettle +and dished out the rations that night.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Partridge is good enough for +me,” said Richards, fearing that Stanton might +forget his prejudice against owl.</p> + +<p>“Me, too,” echoed Pete.</p> + +<p>“I’ll take owl,” said I.</p> + +<p>Easton said nothing.</p> + +<p align="justify">After we had eaten, Stanton asked:  +“How’d you like the partridge, Richards?”</p> + +<p align="justify">“It was fine,” said he.  + “Guess it was a piece of a young one you gave +me, for it wasn’t as tough as they usually are.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Maybe it was young, but that +partridge was <i>owl</i>.”  “I’ll +be darned!” exclaimed Richards.  His face +was a study for a moment, then he laughed.  “If +that was owl they’re all right and I’m +a convert.  I’ll eat all I can get after +this.”</p> + +<p align="justify">After leaving Lake Desolation the +owls had begun to come to us, and Richards was one +of the best owl hunters of the party.  At first +one or two a day were killed, but now whenever we +halted an owl would fly into a tree and twitter, and, +with a very wise appearance, proceed to look us over +as though he wanted to find out what we were up to +anyway, for these owls were very inquisitive fellows.  + He immediately became a candidate for our pot, and +as many as six were shot in one day.  The men +called them the “manna of the Labrador wilderness.”  +Pete’s disinclination to eat them was quickly +forgotten, for hunger is a wonderful killer of prejudices, +and he was as keen for them now as any of us.</p> + +<p align="justify">An occasional partridge was killed +and now and again a black duck or two helped out our +short ration, but the owls were our mainstay.  + We did not have enough to satisfy the appetites of +five hungry men, however; still we did fairly well.</p> + +<p align="justify">The days were growing perceptibly +shorter with each sunset, and the nights were getting +chilly.  On the night of August twenty-fifth, +the thermometer registered a minimum temperature of +twenty-five degrees above zero, and on the twenty-sixth +of August, forty-eight degrees was the maximum at +midday.</p> + +<p align="justify">During the forenoon of that day we +reached the largest of the lakes that the scouting +party had seen three days before, and further scouting +was now necessary.  At the western end of the +lake, about two miles from where we entered, a hill +offered itself as a point from which to view the country +beyond, and here we camped.</p> + +<p align="justify">We were now out of the burned district +and the scant growth of timber was apparently the +original growth, though none of the trees was more +than eight inches or so in diameter.  In connection +with this it might be of interest to note here the +fact that the timber line ended at an elevation of +two hundred and seventy-five feet above the lake.  + The hill was four hundred feet high and there was +not a vestige of vegetation on its summit.  The +top of the hill was strewn with bowlders, large and +small, lying loose upon the clean, storm-scoured bed +rock, just as the glaciers had left them.</p> + +<a name="lakes"></a> +<a href="images/lakesth.jpg"> +<img alt="A Network of Lakes and the Country Level as a Table" src="images/lakesth.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">What a view we had!  To the northwest, +to the west, and to the southwest, for fifty miles +in any direction was a network of lakes, and the country +was as level as a table.  The men called it “the +plain of a thousand lakes,” and this describes +it well.  To the far west a line of blue hills +extending to the northwest and southeast cut off our +view beyond.  They were low, with but one high, +conical peak standing out as a landmark.  Another +ridge at right angles to this one ran to the eastward, +bounding the lakes on that side.  I examined them +carefully through my binoculars and discovered a long +line of water, like a silver thread, following the +ridge running eastward, and decided that this must +be the Nascaupee River, though later I was convinced +that I was mistaken and that the river lay to the southward +of the ridge.  To the cast and north of our hill +was an expanse of rolling, desolate wilderness.  + Carefully I examined with my glass the great plain +of lakes, hoping that I might discover the smoke of +a wigwam fire or some other sign of life, but none +was to be seen.  It was as still and dead as +the day it was created.  It was a solemn, awe-inspiring +scene, impressive beyond description, and one that +I shall not soon forget.</p> + +<p align="justify">We outlined as carefully as possible +the course that we should follow through the maze +of lakes, with the round peak as our objective point, +for just south of it there seemed to be an opening +through the ridge:  beyond which we hoped lay +Michikamau.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next day we portaged through a +marsh and into the lake country and made some progress, +portaging from lake to lake across swampy and marshy +necks.  It was Sunday, but we did not realize +it until our day’s work was finished and we +were snug in camp in the evening.</p> + +<p align="justify">Monday’s dawn brought with it +a day of superb loveliness.  The sky was cloudless, +the earth was white with hoarfrost, the atmosphere +was crisp and cool, and we took deep breaths of it +that sent the blood tingling through our veins.  + It was a day that makes one love life.</p> + +<p align="justify">Through small lakes and short portages +we worked until afternoon and then—­hurrah! +we were on big water again.  Thirty or forty miles +in length the lake stretched off to the westward to +carry us on our way.  It was choked in places +with many fir-topped islands, and the channels in +and out amongst these islands were innumerable, so +Pete called it Lake Kasheshebogamog, which in his +language means “Lake of Many Channels.”</p> + +<p align="justify">As we paddled I dropped a troll and +before we stopped for the night landed a seven-pound +namaycush, and another large one broke a troll.  +The “Land of God’s Curse” was behind +us.  We were with the fish again, and caribou +and wolf tracks were seen.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next day found us on our way early.  + A fine wind sent us spinning before it and at the +same time kept us busy with a rough sea that was running +on the wide, open lake when we were away from the shelter +of the islands.  At one o’clock we boiled +the kettle at the foot of a low sand ridge, and upon +climbing the ridge we found it covered with a mass +of ripe blueberries.  We ate our fill and picked +some to carry with us.</p> + +<p align="justify">At three o’clock we were brought +up sharply at the end of the water with no visible +outlet.  The nature of the lake and the lateness +of the season made it impracticable to turn back and +look in other channels for the connection with western +waters.  Former experience had taught me that +we might paddle around for a week before we found +it, for these were big waters.  Five miles ahead +was the high, round peak that we were aiming for, +and I had every confidence that from its top Michikamau +could be seen and a way to reach the big lake.  + I decided that it must be climbed the next morning, +and selected Pete and Easton for the work.  A +fall the day before had given me a stiff knee, and +it was a bitter disappointment that I could not go +myself, for I was nervously anxious for a first view +of Michikamau.  However, I realized that it was +unwise to attempt the journey, and I must stay behind.</p> + +<p align="justify">That night Stanton made two roly-polies +of the blueberries we picked in the afternoon, boiling +them in specimen bags, and we used the last of our +sugar for sauce.  This, with coffee, followed +a good supper of boiled partridge and owl.  It +was like the old days when I was with Hubbard.  + We were making good progress, our hopes ran high, +and we must feast.  Pete’s laughs, and +songs and jokes added to our merriment.  Rain +came, but we did not mind that.  We sat by a big, +blazing fire and ate and enjoyed ourselves in spite +of it.  Then we went to the tent to smoke and +every one pronounced it the best night in weeks.</p> + +<p align="justify">On Wednesday rain poured down at the +usual rising time and the men were delayed in starting, +for we were in a place where scouting in thick weather +was dangerous.  It was the morning of the famous +eclipse, but we had forgotten the fact.  The rain +had fallen away to a drizzle and we were eating a +late breakfast when the darkness came.  It did +not last long, and then the rain stopped, though the +sky was still overcast.  Shortly after breakfast +Pete and Easton left us.  I gave Pete a new corncob +pipe as he was leaving.  When he put it in his +pocket he said, “I smoke him when I see Michikaman, +when I climb hill, if Michikamau there.  Sit +down, me, look at big water, feel good then.  +Smoke pipe, me, and call hill Corncob Hill.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“All right,” said I, laughing +at Pete’s fancy.  “I hope the hill +will have a name to-day.”</p> + +<p align="justify">It was really a day of anxiety for +me, for if Michikamau were not visible from the mountain +top with the wide view of country that it must offer, +then we were too far away from the lake to hope to +reach it.</p> + +<p align="justify">A mile from camp, Richards discovered +a good-sized river flowing in from the northwest and +set the net in it.  Then he and Stanton paddled +up the river a mile and a half to another lake, but +did not explore it farther.</p> + +<p align="justify">With what impatience I awaited the +return of Pete and Easton can be imagined, and when, +near dusk, I saw them coming I almost dreaded to hear +their report, for what if they had not seen Michikamau?</p> + +<p align="justify">But they had seen Michikamau.  + When Pete was within talking distance of me, he shouted +exultantly, “We see him!  We see him!  + We see Michikamau!”</p> + +<a name="michik"></a> +<a href="images/michikth.jpg"> +<img alt="Ice Encountered off the Labrador Coast" src="images/michikth.jpg"> +</a> + + +<a NAME="chapter_11"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XI</h1> + +<p><b>THE PARTING AT MICHIKAMAU</b></p> + +<p align="justify">Pete and Easton had taken their course +through small, shallow, rocky lakes until they neared +the base of the round hill.  Here the canoe was +left, and up the steep side of the hill they climbed.  + “When we most up,” Pete told me afterward, +“I stop and look at Easton.  My heart beat +fast.  I most afraid to look.  Maybe Michikamau +not there.  Maybe I see only hills.  Then +I feel bad.  Make me feel bad come back and tell +you Michikamau not there.  I see you look sorry +when I tell you that.  Then I think if Michikamau +there you feel very good.  I must know quick.  + I run.  I run fast.  Hill very steep.  + I do not care.  I must know soon as I can, and +I run.  I shut my eyes just once, afraid to look.  + Then I open them and look.  Very close I see +when I open my eyes much water.  Big water.  + So big I see no land when I look one way; just water.  + Very wide too, that water.  I know I see Michikamau.  + My heart beat easy and I feel very glad.  I almost +cry.  I remember corncob pipe you give me, and +what I tell you.  I take pipe out my pocket.  + I fill him, and light him.  Then I sit on rock +and smoke.  All the time I look at Michikamau.  + I feel good and I say, ‘This we call Corncob +Hill.’”</p> + +<p align="justify">And so we were all made glad and the +conical peak had a name.</p> + +<p align="justify">Pete told me that we should have to +cut the ridge to the south of Corncob Hill, taking +a rather wide detour to reach the place.  A chain +of lakes would help us, but some long portages were +necessary and it would require several days’ +hard work.  This we did not mind now.  We +were only anxious to dip our paddles into the waters +of the big lake.  At last Michikamau, which I +had so longed to see through two summers of hardship +in the Labrador wilds, was near, and I could hope to +be rewarded with a look at it within the week.</p> + +<p align="justify">But with the joy of it there was also +a sadness, for I must part from three of my loyal +companions.  The condition of our commissariat +and the cold weather that was beginning to be felt +made it imperative that the men be sent back from +the big lake.</p> + +<p align="justify">The possibility of this contingency +had been foreseen by me before leaving New York, and +I had mentioned it at that time.  Easton had +asked me then, if the situation would permit of it, +to consider him as a candidate to go through with +me to Ungava.  When the matter had been suggested +at the last camp on the Nascaupee River he had again +earnestly solicited me to choose him as my companion, +and upon several subsequent occasions had mentioned +it.  Richards was the logical man for me to choose, +for he had had experience in rapids, and could also +render me valuable assistance in the scientific work +that the others were not fitted for.  He was +exceedingly anxious to continue the journey, but his +university duties demanded his presence in New York +in the winter, and I had promised his people that he +should return home in the autumn.  This made +it out of the question to keep him with me, and it +was a great disappointment to both of us.  That +I might feel better assured of the safety of the returning +men, I decided to send Pete back with them to act +as their guide.  Stanton, too, wished to go on, +but Easton had spoken first, so I decided to give him +the opportunity to go with me to Ungava, as my sole +companion.</p> + +<p align="justify">That night, after the others had gone +to bed, we two sat late by the camp fire and talked +the matter over.  “It’s a dangerous +undertaking, Easton,” I said, “and I want +you to understand thoroughly what you’re going +into.  Before we reach the George River Post we +shall have over four hundred miles of territory to +traverse.  We may have trouble in locating the +George River, and when we do find it there will be +heavy rapids to face, and its whole course will be +filled with perils.  If any accident happens +to either of us we shall be in a bad fix.  For +that reason it’s always particularly dangerous +for less than three men to travel in a country like +this.  Then there’s the winter trip with +dogs.  Every year natives are caught in storms, +and some of them perish.  We shall be exposed +to the perils and hardships of one of the longest +dog trips ever made in a single season, and we shall +be traveling the whole winter.  I want you to +understand this.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“I do understand it,” +he answered, “and I’m ready for it.  +I want to go on.”</p> + +<p>And so it was finally settled.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was not easy for me to tell the +men that the time had come when we must part, for +I realized how hard it would be for them to turn back.  +The next morning after breakfast, I asked them to remain +by the fire and light their pipes.  Then I told +them.  Richards’ eyes filled with tears.  + Stanton at first said he would not turn back without +me, but finally agreed with me that it was best he +should.  Pete urged me to let him go on.  + Later he stole quietly into the tent, where I was +alone writing, and without a word sat opposite me, +looking very woe-begone.  After awhile he spoke:  +“To-day I feel very sad.  I forget to smoke.  + My pipe go out and I do not light it.  I think +all time of you.  Very lonely, me.  Very +bad to leave you.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Here he nearly broke down, and for +a little while he could not speak.  When he could +control himself he continued: </p> + +<p align="justify">“Seems like I take four men +in bush, lose two.  Very bad, that.  Don’t +know how I see your sisters.  I go home well.  + They ask me, ’Where my brother?’ I don’t +know.  I say nothing.  Maybe you die in rapids.  +Maybe you starve.  I don’t know.  I +say nothing.  Your sisters cry.”  Then +his tone changed from brokenhearted dejection to one +of eager pleading: </p> + +<p align="justify">“Wish you let me go with you.  + Short grub, maybe.  I hunt.  Much danger; +don’t care, me.  Don’t care what danger.  + Don’t care if grub short.  Maybe you don’t +find portage.  Maybe not find river.  That +bad.  I find him.  I take you through.  + I bring you back safe to your sisters.  Then +I speak to them and they say I do right.”</p> + +<p align="justify">It was hard to withstand Pete’s +pleadings, but my duty was plain, and I said: </p> + +<p align="justify">“No, Pete.  I’d like +to take you through, but I’ve got to send you +back to see the others safely out.  Tell my sisters +I’m safe.  Tell everybody we’re safe.  + I’m sure we’ll get through all right.  + We’ll do our best, and trust to God for the +rest, so don’t worry.  We’ll be all +right.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“I never think you do this,” +said he.  “I don’t think you leave +me this way.”  After a pause he continued, +“If grub short, come back.  Don’t +wait too long.  If you find Indian, then you all +right.  He help you.  You short grub, don’t +find Indian, that bad.  Don’t wait till +grub all gone.  Come back.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Pete did not sing that day, and he +did not smoke.  He was very sad and quiet.</p> + +<p align="justify">We spent the day in assorting and +dividing the outfit, the men making a cache of everything +that they would not need until their return, that +we might not be impeded in our progress to Michikamau.  + They would get their things on their way back.  + Eight days, Pete said, would see them from this point +to the cache we had made on the Nascaupee, and only +eight days’ rations would they accept for the +journey.  They were more than liberal.  Richards +insisted that I take a new Pontiac shirt that he had +reserved for the cold weather, and Pete gave me a +new pair of larigans.  They deprived themselves +that we might be comfortable.  Easton and I were +to have the tent, the others would use the tarpaulin +for a wigwam shelter; each party would have two axes, +and the other things were divided as best we could.  +Richards presented us with a package that we were not +to open until the sixteenth of September—­his +birthday.  It was a special treat of some kind.</p> + +<p align="justify">Some whitefish, suckers and one big +pike were taken out of the net, which was also left +for them to pick up upon their return.  A school +of large pike had torn great holes in it, but it was +still useful.</p> + +<p align="justify">We were a sorrowful group that gathered +around the fire that night.  The evening was raw.  + A cold north wind soughed wearily through the fir +tops.  Black patches of clouds cast a gloom over +everything, and there was a vast indefiniteness to +the dark spruce forest around us.  I took a flashlight +picture of the men around the fire.  Then we sat +awhile and talked, and finally went to our blankets +in the chilly tent.</p> + +<a name="letter"></a> +<a href="images/letterth.jpg"> +<img alt="Writing Letters to the Home Folks" src="images/letterth.jpg"> +</a> + + + +<p align="justify">September came with a leaden sky and +cold wind, but the clouds were soon dispelled, and +the sun came bright and warm.  Our progress was +good, though we had several portages to make.  + On September second, at noon, we left the larger +canoe for the men to get on their way back, and continued +with the eighteen-foot canoe, which, with its load +of outfit and five men, was very deep in the water, +but no wind blew and the water was calm.</p> + +<p align="justify">Here the character of the lakes changed.  + The waters were deep and black, the shores were steep +and rocky, and some labradorite was seen.  One +small, curious island, evidently of iron, though we +did not stop to examine it, took the form of a great +head sticking above the water, with the tops of the +shoulders visible.</p> + +<p align="justify">Sunday, September third, was a memorable +day, a day that I shall never forget while I live.  + The morning came with all the glories of a northern +sunrise, and the weather was perfect.  After two +short portages and two small lakes were crossed, Pete +said, “Now we make last portage and we reach +Michikamau.”  It was not a long portage—­a +half mile, perhaps.  We passed through a thick-grown +defile, Pete ahead, and I close behind him.  +Presently we broke through the bush and there before +us was the lake.  We threw down our packs by the +water’s edge. <i>We had reached Michikamau.</i> + I stood uncovered as I looked over the broad, far-reaching +waters of the great lake.  I cannot describe +my emotions.  I was living over again that beautiful +September day two years before when Hubbard had told +me with so much joy that he had seen the big lake—­that +Michikamau lay just beyond the ridge.  Now I +was on its very shores—­the shores of the +lake that we had so longed to reach.  How well +I remembered those weary wind-bound days, and the +awful weeks that followed.  It was like the recollection +of a horrid dream—­his dear, wan face, our +kiss and embrace, my going forth into the storm and +the eternity of horrors that was crowded into days.  + Pete, I think, understood, for he had heard the story.  + He stood for a moment in silence, then he fashioned +his hat brim into a cup, and dipping some water handed +it to me.  “You reach Michikamau at last.  + Drink Michikamau water before others come.”  + I drank reverently from the hat.  Then the others +joined us and we all stood for a little with bowed +uncovered beads, on the shore.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our camp was pitched on an elevated, +rocky point a few hundred yards farther up—­the +last camp that we were to have together, and the forty-sixth +since leaving Northwest River.  We had made over +half a hundred portages, and traveled about three +hundred and twenty-five miles.</p> + +<p align="justify">The afternoon was occupied in writing +letters and telegrams to the home folks, for Richards +to take out with him; after which we divided the food.  + Easton and I were to take with us seventy-eight pounds +of pemmican, twelve pounds of pea meal, seven pounds +of pork, some beef extract, eight pounds of flour, +one cup of corn meal, a small quantity of desiccated +vegetables, one pound of coffee, two pounds of tea, +some salt and crystallose.  Richards gave us +nearly all of his tobacco, and Pete kept but two plugs +for himself.</p> + +<p align="justify">Toward evening we gathered about our +fire, and talked of our parting and of the time when +we should meet again.  Every remaining moment +we had of each other’s company was precious +to us now.</p> + +<p align="justify">The day had been glorious and the +night was one of rare beauty.  We built a big +fire of logs, and by its light I read aloud, in accordance +with our custom on Sunday nights, a chapter from the +Bible.  After this we talked for a while, then +sat silent, gazing into the glowing embers of our +fire.  Finally Pete began singing softly, “Home, +Sweet Home” in Indian, and followed it with +an old Ojibway song, “I’m Going Far Away, +My Heart Is Sore.”  Then he sang an Indian +hymn, “Pray For Me While I Am Gone.”  + When his hymn was finished he said, very reverently, +“I going pray for you fellus every day when I +say my prayers.  I can’t pray much without +my book, but I do my best.  I pray the best I +can for you every day.”  Pete’s devotion +was sincere, and I thanked him.  Stanton sang +a solo, and then all joined in “Auld Lang Syne.”  + After this Pete played softly on the harmonica, while +we watched the moon drop behind the horizon in the +west.  The fire burned out and its embers blackened.  + Then we went to our bed of fragrant spruce boughs, +to prepare for the day of our parting.</p> + +<p align="justify">The morning of September fourth was +clear and beautiful and perfect, but in spite of the +sunshine and fragrance that filled the air our hearts +were heavy when we gathered at our fire to eat the +last meal that we should perhaps ever have together.</p> + +<p align="justify">When we were through, I read from +my Bible the fourteenth of John—­the chapter +that I had read to Hubbard that stormy October morning +when we said good-by forever.</p> + +<p align="justify">The time of our parting had come.  + I do not think I had fully realized before how close +my bronzed, ragged boys had grown to me in our months +of constant companionship.  A lump came in my +throat, and the tears came to the eyes of Richards +and Pete, as we grasped each other’s hands.</p> + +<p align="justify">Then we left them.  Easton and +I dipped our paddles into the water, and our lonely, +perilous journey toward the dismal wastes beyond the +northern divide was begun.  Once I turned to see +the three men, with packs on their backs, ascending +the knoll back of the place where our camp had been.  + When I looked again they were gone.</p> + +<a name="canoe"></a> +<a href="images/canoeth.jpg"> +<img alt="Our Lonely Perilous Journey Toward the Dismal Wastes...Was Begun" src="images/canoeth.jpg"> +</a> + + + +<a NAME="chapter_12"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XII</h1> + +<p><b>OVER THE NORTHERN DIVIDE</b></p> + +<p align="justify">Michikamau is approximately between +eighty and ninety miles in length, including the unexplored +southeast bay, and from eight to twenty-five miles +in width.  It is surrounded by rugged hills, which +reach an elevation of about five hundred feet above +the lake.  They are generally wooded for perhaps +two hundred feet from the base, with black spruce, +larch, and an occasional small grove of white birch.  +Above the timber line their tops are uncovered save +by white lichens or stunted shrubs.  The western +side of the lake is studded with low islands, but +its main body is unobstructed.  The water is exceedingly +clear, and is said by the Indians to have a great depth.  + The shores are rocky, sometimes formed of massive +bed rock in which is found the beautifully colored +labradorite; sometimes strewn with loose bowlders.  +Our entrance had been made in a bay several miles north +of the point where the Nascaupee River, its outlet, +leaves the lake and we kept to the east side as we +paddled north.</p> + +<p align="justify">No artist’s imaginative brush +ever pictured such gorgeous sunsets and sunrises as +Nature painted for us here on the Great Lake of the +Indians.  Every night the sun went down in a blaze +of glory and left behind it all the colors of the +spectrum.  The dark hills across the lake in +the west were silhouetted against a sky of brilliant +red which shaded off into banks of orange and amber +that reached the azure at the zenith.  The waters +of the lake took the reflection of the red at the +horizon and became a flood of restless blood.  + The sky colorings during these few days were the +finest that I ever saw in Labrador, not only in the +evening but in the morning also.</p> + +<p align="justify">Michikamau has a bad name amongst +the Indians for heavy seas, particularly in the autumn +months when the northwest gales sometimes blow for +weeks at a time without cessation, and the Indians +say that they are often held on its shores for long +periods by high running seas that no canoe could weather.  + These were the same winds that held Hubbard and me +prisoners for nearly two weeks on the smaller Windbound +Lake in 1903, bringing us to the verge of starvation +before we were permitted to begin our race for life +down the trail toward Northwest River.  Fate +was kinder now, and but one day’s rough water +interfered with progress.</p> + +<p align="justify">Early on the third day after parting +from the other men, we found ourselves at the end +of Michikamau where a shallow river, in which large +bowlders were thickly scattered, flowed into it from +the north.  This was the stream draining Lake +Michikamats, the next important point in our journey.  + Michikamau, it might be explained, means, in the +Indian tongue, big water—­so big you cannot +see the land beyond; Michikamats means a smaller body +of water beyond which land may be seen.  So somebody +has paradoxically defined it “a little big lake.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Barring a single expansion of somewhat +more than a mile in length the Michakamats River, +which runs through a flat, marshy and uninteresting +country, was too shallow to float our canoes, and we +were compelled to portage almost its entire length.</p> + +<p align="justify">In the wide marshes between these +two lakes we met the first evidences of the great +caribou migration.  The ground was tramped like +a barnyard, in wide roads, by vast herds of deer, +all going to the eastward.  There must have been +thousands of them in the bands.  Most of the +hoof marks were not above a day or two old and had +all been made since the last rain had fallen, as was +evidenced by freshly turned earth and newly tramped +vegetation.  We saw none of the animals, however, +and there were no hills near from which we might hope +to sight the herds.</p> + +<p align="justify">Evidences of life were increasing +and game was becoming abundant as we approached the +height of land.  Some geese and ptarmigans were +killed and a good many of both kinds of birds were +seen, as well as some ducks.  We began to live +in plenty now and the twittering owls were permitted +to go unmolested.</p> + +<p align="justify">Lake Michikamats is irregular in shape, +about twenty miles long, and, exclusive of its arms, +from two to six miles wide.  The surrounding +country is flat and marshy, with some low, barren hills +on the westward side of the lake.  The timber +growth in the vicinity is sparse and scrubby, consisting +of spruce and tamarack.  The latter had now taken +on its autumnal dress of yellow, and, interspersing +the dark green of the spruce, gave an exceedingly +beautiful effect to the landscape.</p> + +<p align="justify">Where we entered Michikamats, at its +outlet, the lake is very shallow and filled with bowlders +that stand high above the water.  A quarter of +a mile above this point the water deepens, and farther +up seems to have a considerable depth, though we did +not sound it.  The western shore of the upper +half is lined with low islands scantily covered with +spruce and tamarack.</p> + +<p align="justify">During two days that we spent here +in a thorough exploration of the lake, our camp was +pitched on an island at the bottom of a bay that, +half way up the lake, ran six miles to the northward.  + This was selected as the most likely place for the +portage trail to leave the lake, as the island had +apparently, for a long period, been the regular rendezvous +of Indians, not only in summer, but also in winter.  +Tepee poles of all ages, ranging from those that were +old and decayed to freshly cut ones, were numerous.  + They were much longer and thicker than those used +by the Indians south of Michikamau.  Here, also, +was a well-built log cache, a permanent structure, +which was, no doubt, regularly used by hunting parties.  + Some new snowshoe frames were hanging on the trees +to season before being netted with babiche.  On +the lake shore were some other camping places that +had been used within a few months, and at one of them +a newly made “sweat hole,” where the medicine +man had treated the sick.  These sweat holes are +much in favor with the Labrador Indians, both Mountaineers +and Nascaupees.  They are about two feet in depth +and large enough in circumference for a man to sit +in the center, surrounded by a circle of good-sized +bowlders.  Small saplings are bent to form a dome-shaped +frame for the top.  The invalid is placed in the +center of this circle of bowlders, which have previously +been made very hot, water is poured on them to produce +steam, and a blanket thrown over the sapling frame +to confine the steam.  The Indians have great +faith in this treatment as a cure for almost every +malady.</p> + +<p align="justify">On the mainland opposite the island +upon which we were encamped was a barren hill which +we climbed, and which commanded a view of a large +expanse of country.  On the top was a small cairn +and several places where fires had been made—­no +doubt Indian signal fires.  The fuel for them +must have been carried from the valley below, for not +a stick or bush grew on the hill itself.  “Signal +Hill,” as we called it, is the highest elevation +for many miles around and a noticeable landmark.</p> + +<p align="justify">To the northward, at our feet, were +two small lakes, and just beyond, trending somewhat +to the northwest, was a long lake reaching up through +the valley until it was lost in the low hills and sparse +growth of trees beyond.  Great bowlders were strewn +indiscriminately everywhere, and the whole country +was most barren and desolate.  To the south of +Michikamats was the stretch of flat swamp land which +extended to Michikaman.  Petscapiskau, a prominent +and rugged peak on the west shore of Michikamau near +its upper end, stood out against the distant horizon, +a lone sentinel of the wilderness.</p> + +<p align="justify">The head waters of the George River +must now be located.  There was nothing to guide +me in the search, and the Indians at Northwest River +had warned us that we were liable at this point to +be led astray by an entanglement of lakes, but I felt +certain that any water flowing northward that we might +come to, in this longitude, would either be the river +itself or a tributary of it, and that some such stream +would certainly be found as soon as the divide was +crossed.</p> + +<p align="justify">With this object in view we kept a +course nearly due north, passing through four good-sized +lakes, until, one afternoon, at the end of a short +portage, we reached a narrow, shallow lake lying in +an easterly and westerly direction, whose water was +very clear and of a bottle-green color, in marked +contrast to that of the preceding lakes, which had +been of a darker shade.</p> + +<p align="justify">This peculiarity of the water led +me to look carefully for a current when our canoe +was launched, and I believed I noticed one.  Then +I fancied I heard a rapid to the westward.  Easton +said there was no current and he could not hear a +rapid, and to satisfy myself, we paddled toward the +sound.  We had not gone far when the current became +quite perceptible, and just above could be seen the +waters of a brook that fed the lake, pouring down +through the rocks.  We were on the George River +at last!  Our feelings can be imagined when the +full realization of our good fortune came to us, and +we turned our canoe to float down on the current of +the little stream that was to grow into a mighty river +as it carried us on its turbulent bosom toward Ungava +Bay.</p> + +<p align="justify">The course of the stream here was +almost due east.  The surrounding country continued +low and swampy.  Tamarack was the chief timber +and much of it was straight and fine, with some trees +fully twelve inches in diameter at the butt, and fifty +feet in height.</p> + +<p align="justify">A rocky, shallow place in the river +that we had to portage brought us into an expansion +of considerable size, and here we pitched our first +camp on the George River.  This was an event that +Hubbard had planned and pictured through the weary +weeks of hardship on the Susan Valley trail and the +long portages across the ranges in his expedition of +1903.</p> + +<p align="justify">“When we reach the George River, +we’ll meet the Indians and all will be well,” +he used to say, and how anxiously we looked forward +for that day, which never came.</p> + +<p align="justify">At the time when he made the suggestion +to turn back from Windbound Lake I at first opposed +it on the ground that we could probably reach the +George River, where game would be found and the Indians +would be met with, in much less time than it would +take to make the retreat to Northwest River.  + Finally I agreed that it was best to return.  + On the twenty-first of September the retreat was +begun and Hubbard died on the eighteenth of October.  + Now, two years later, I realized that from Windbound +Lake we could have reached Michikamau in five or six +days at the very outside, and less than two weeks, +allowing for delays through bad weather and our weakened +condition, would have brought us to the George River, +where, at that time of the year, ducks and ptarmigans +are always plentiful.  All these things I pondered +as I sat by this camp fire, and I asked myself, “Why +is it that when Fate closes our eyes she does not +lead us aright?” Of course it is all conjecture, +but I feel assured that if Hubbard and I had gone on +then instead of turning back, Hubbard would still +be with us.</p> + +<p align="justify">Below the expansion on which our first +camp on the river was pitched the stream trickled +through the thickly strewn rocks in a wide bed, where +it took a sharp turn to the northward and emptied into +another expansion several miles in length, with probably +a stream joining it from the northeast, though we +were unable to investigate this, as high winds prevailed +which made canoeing difficult, and we had to content +ourselves with keeping a direct course.</p> + +<p align="justify">It seemed as though with the crossing +of the northern divide winter had come.  On the +night we reached the George River the temperature +fell to ten degrees below the freezing point, and the +following day it never rose above thirty-five degrees, +and a high wind and snow squalls prevailed that held +traveling in check.  On the morning of the fifteenth +we started forward in the teeth of a gale and the snow +so thick we could not see the shore a storm that would +be termed a “blizzard” in New York—­and +after two hours’ hard work were forced to make +a landing upon a sandy point with only a mile and a +quarter to our credit.</p> + +<p align="justify">Here we found the first real butchering +camp of the Indians—­a camp of the previous +spring.  Piles of caribou bones that had been +cracked to extract the marrow, many pairs of antlers, +the bare poles of large lodges and extensive arrangements, +such as racks and cross poles for dressing and curing +deerskins.  In a cache we found two muzzle-loading +guns, cooking utensils, steel traps, and other camping +and hunting paraphernalia.</p> + +<p align="justify">On the portage around the last shallow +rapid was a winter camp, where among other things +was a <i>komatik</i> (dog sledge), showing that some +of these Indians at least on the northern barrens +used dogs for winter traveling.  In the south +of Labrador this would be quite out of the question, +as there the bush is so thick that it does not permit +the snow to drift and harden sufficiently to bear +dogs, and the use of the komatik is therefore necessarily +confined to the coast or near it.  The Indian +women there are very timid of the “husky” +dogs, and the animals are not permitted near their +camps.</p> + +<p align="justify">The sixteenth of September—­the +day we passed through this large expansion—­was +Richards’ birthday.  When we bade good-by +to the other men it was agreed that both parties should +celebrate the day, wherever they might be, with the +best dinner that could be provided from our respective +stores.  The meal was to be served at exactly +seven o’clock in the evening, that we might +feel on this one occasion that we were all sitting +down to eat together, and fancy ourselves reunited.  + In the morning we opened the package that Richards +gave us, and found in it a piece of fat pork and a +quart of flour, intended for a feast of our favorite +“darn goods.”  With self-sacrificing +generosity he had taken these from the scanty rations +they had allowed themselves for their return that +we might have a pleasant surprise.  With the now +plentiful game this made it possible to prepare what +seemed to us a very elaborate menu for the wild wastes +of interior Labrador.  First, there was bouillon, +made from beef capsules; then an entrée of fried +ptarmigan and duck giblets; a roast of savory black +duck, with spinach (the last of our desiccated vegetables); +and for dessert French toast <i>à la Labrador</i> +(alias darn goods), followed by black coffee.  + When it was finished we spent the evening by the +camp fire, smoking and talking of the three men retreating +down our old trail, and trying to calculate at which +one of the camping places they were bivouacked.  +Every night since our parting this had been our chief +diversion, and I must confess that with each day that +took us farther away from them an increased loneliness +impressed itself upon us.  Solemn and vast was +the great silence of the trackless wilderness as more +and more we came to realize our utter isolation from +all the rest of the world and all mankind.</p> + +<a name="icamp"></a> +<a href="images/icampth.jpg"> +<img alt="Abandoned Indian Camp on the Shores of Lake Michikamats" src="images/icampth.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">The marsh and swamp land gradually +gave way to hills, which increased in size and ruggedness +as we proceeded.  We had found the river at its +very beginning, and for a short way portages, as has +been suggested, had to be made around shallow places, +but after a little, as other streams augmented the +volume of water, this became unnecessary, and as the +river grew in size it became a succession of rapids, +and most of them unpleasant ones, that kept us dodging +rocks all the while.</p> + +<p align="justify">Mr. A. P. Low, of the Canadian Geological +Survey, in other parts of the Labrador interior found +black ducks very scarce.  This was not our experience.  + From the day we entered the George River until we +were well down the stream they were plentiful, and +we shot what we needed without turning our canoe out +of its course to hunt them.  This is apparently +a breeding ground for them.</p> + +<p align="justify">Several otter rubs were noted, and +we saw some of the animals, but did not disturb them.  + In places where the river broadened out and the current +was slack every rock that stuck above the water held +its muskrat house, and large numbers of the rats were +seen.</p> + +<p align="justify">After the snow we had one or two fine, +bright days, but they were becoming few now, and the +frosty winds and leaden skies, the forerunners of +winter, were growing more and more frequent.  +When the bright days did come they were exceptional +ones.  I find noted in my diary one morning:  +“This is a morning for the gods—­a +morning that could scarcely be had anywhere in the +world but in Labrador—­a cloudless sky, +no breath of wind, the sun rising to light the heavy +hoarfrost and make it glint and sparkle till every +tree and bush and rock seems made of shimmering silver.”</p> + +<p align="justify">One afternoon as we were passing through +an expansion and I was scanning, as was my custom, +every bit of shore in the hope of discovering a wigwam +smoke, I saw, running down the side of a hill on an +island a quarter of a mile away, a string of Indians +waving wildly at us and signaling us to come ashore.  + After twelve weeks, in which not a human being aside +from our own party had been seen, we had reached the +dwellers of the wilderness, and with what pleasure +and alacrity we accepted the invitation to join them +can be imagined.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_13"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XIII</h1> + +<p><b>DISASTER IN THE RAPIDS</b></p> + +<p align="justify">It was a hunting party—­four +men and a half-grown boy—­with two canoes +and armed with rifles.  The Indians gave us the +hearty welcome of the wilderness and received us like +old friends.  First, the chief, whose name was +Toma, shook our hand, then the others, laughing and +all talking at once in their musical Indian tongue.  + It was a welcome that said:  “You are our +brothers.  You have come far to see us, and we +are glad to have you with us.”</p> + +<p align="justify">After the first greetings were over +they asked for <i>stemmo,</i> and I gave them each +a plug of tobacco, for that is what stemmo means.  + They had no pipes with them, so I let them have two +of mine, and it did my heart good to see the look +of supreme satisfaction that crept into each dusky +face as its possessor inhaled in long, deep pulls the +smoke of the strong tobacco.  It was like the +food that comes to a half-starved man.  After +they had had their smoke, passing the pipes from mouth +to mouth, I brought forth our kettle.  In a jiffy +they had a fire, and I made tea for them, which they +drank so scalding hot it must have burned their throats.  + They told us they had had neither tea nor tobacco +for a long while, and were very hungry for both.  + These are the stimulants of the Labrador Indians, +and they will make great sacrifices to secure them.</p> + +<p align="justify">All the time that this was taking +place we were jabbering, each in his own tongue, neither +we nor they understanding much that the other said.  + I did make out from them that we were the first white +men that had ever visited them in their hunting grounds +and that they were glad to see us.</p> + +<p align="justify">Accepting an invitation to visit their +lodges and escorted by a canoe on either side of ours, +we finally turned down stream and, three miles below, +came to the main camp of the Indians, which was situated, +as most of their hunting camps are, on a slight eminence +that commanded a view of the river for several miles +in either direction, that watch might be constantly +kept for bands of caribou.</p> + +<p align="justify">We were discovered long before we +arrived at the lodges, and were met by the whole population—­men, +women, children, dogs, and all.  Our reception +was tumultuous and cordial.  It was a picturesque +group.  The swarthy-faced men, lean, sinewy and +well built, with their long, straight black hair reaching +to their shoulders, most of them hatless and all wearing +a red bandanna handkerchief banded across the forehead, +moccasined feet and vari-colored leggings; the women +quaint and odd; the eager-faced children; little hunting +dogs, and big wolf-like huskies.</p> + +<p align="justify">All hands turned to and helped us +carry our belongings to the camp, pitch our tent and +get firewood for our stove.  Then the men squatted +around until eleven of them were with us in our little +seven by nine tent, while all the others crowded as +near to the entrance as they could.  I treated +everybody to hot tea.  The men helped themselves +first, then passed their cups on to the women and children.  + The used tea leaves from the kettle were carefully +preserved by them to do service again.  The eagerness +with which the men and women drank the tea and smoked +the tobacco aroused my sympathies, and I distributed +amongst them all of these that I could well spare from +our store.  In appreciation of my gifts they +brought us a considerable quantity of fresh and jerked +venison and smoked fat; and Toma, as a special mark +of favor presented me with a deer’s tongue which +had been cured by some distinctive process unlike +anything I had ever eaten before, and it was delicious +indeed, together with a bladder of refined fat so +clear that it was almost transparent.</p> + +<p align="justify">The encampment consisted of two deerskin +wigwams.  One was a large one and oblong in shape, +the other of good size but round.  The smaller +wigwam was heated by a single fire in the center, the +larger one by three fires distributed at intervals +down its length.  Chief Toma occupied, with his +family, the smaller lodge, while the others made their +home in the larger one.</p> + +<a name="wigwam"></a> +<a href="images/wigwamth.jpg"> +<img alt="One of the Wigwams Was a Large One and Oblong in Shape" src="images/wigwamth.jpg"> +</a> + + + +<p align="justify">This was a band of Mountaineer Indians +who trade at Davis Inlet Post of the Hudson’s +Bay Company, on the east coast, visiting the Post once +or twice a year to exchange their furs for such necessaries +as ammunition, clothing, tobacco and tea.  Unlike +their brothers on the southern slope, they have not +accustomed themselves to the use of flour, sugar and +others of the simplest luxuries of civilization, and +their food is almost wholly flesh, fish and berries.  + They live in the crude, primordial fashion of their +forefathers.  To aid them in their hunt they +have adopted the breech-loading rifle and muzzle-loading +shotgun, but the bow and arrow has still its place +with them and they were depending wholly upon this +crude weapon for hunting partridges and other small +game now, as they had no shotgun ammunition.  +The boys were constantly practicing with it while +at play and were very expert in its use.</p> + +<p align="justify">These Indians are of medium height, +well built, sinewy and strong, alert and quick of +movement.  The women are generally squatty and +fat, and the greater a woman’s avoirdupois the +more beautiful is she considered.</p> + +<p align="justify">All the Mountaineer Indians of Labrador +are nominally Roman Catholics.  Those in the south +are quite devoted to their priest, and make an effort +to meet him at least once a year and pay their tithes, +but here in the north this is not the case.  +In fact some of these people had seen their priest +but once in their life and some of the younger ones +had never seen him at all.  Therefore they are +still living under the influence of the ancient superstitions +of their race, though the women are all provided with +crucifixes and wear them on their breasts as ornaments.</p> + +<p align="justify">They are perfectly honest.  Indians, +until they become contaminated by contact with whites, +always are honest.  It is the white man that +teaches them to steal, either by actually pilfering +from the ignorant savage, or by taking undue advantage +of him in trade.  Human nature is the same everywhere, +and the Indian will, when he finds he is being taken +advantage of and robbed, naturally resent it and try +to “get even.”  Our things were left +wholly unguarded, and were the object of a great deal +of curiosity and admiration, not only our guns and +instruments, but nearly everything we had, and were +handled and inspected by our hosts, but not the slightest +thing was filched.  No Labrador Indian north +of the Grand River will ever disturb a cache unless +driven to it by the direst necessity, and even then +will leave something in payment for what he takes.</p> + +<p align="justify">We told them of the evidences we had +seen of the caribou migration having taken place between +Michikamau and Michikamats, and they were mightily +interested.  They had missed it but were, nevertheless, +meeting small bands of caribou and making a good killing, +as the quantities of meat hanging everywhere to dry +for winter use bore evidence.  The previous winter, +they told us, was a hard one with them.  Reindeer +and ptarmigan disappeared, and before spring they were +on the verge of starvation.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our visit was made the occasion of +a holiday and they devoted themselves wholly to our +entertainment, and I believe were genuinely sorry +when, on the afternoon after our arrival, I announced +my decision to break camp and proceed.  They +helped us get ready, drew a rough sketch of the river +so far as they knew it, and warned us to look out +for numerous rapids and some high falls around which +there was a portage trail.  Farther on, they +said, the river was joined by another, and then it +became a “big, big river,” and for two +days’ journey was good.  Beyond that it +was reported to be very bad.  They had never +traveled it, because they heard it was so bad, and +they could not tell us, from their own knowledge, +what it was like, but repeated the warning, “Shepoo +matchi, shepoo matchi” (River bad), and told +us to look out.</p> + +<p align="justify">When we were ready to go, as a particular +mark of good feeling, they brought us parting gifts +of smoked deer’s fat and were manifestly in +earnest in their urgent invitations to us to come again.  + The whole encampment assembled at the shore to see +us off and, as our canoes pushed out into the stream, +the men pitched small stones after us as a good luck +omen.  If the stones hit you good luck is assured.  + You will have a good hunt and no harm will come to +you.  None of the stones happened to hit us.  + We could see the group waving at us until we rounded +the point of land upon which the lodges stood; then +the men all appeared on the other side of the point, +where they had run to watch us until we disappeared +around a bend in the river below, as we passed on +to push our way deeper and deeper into the land of +silence and mystery.</p> + +<p align="justify">The following morning brought us into +a lake expansion some twelve miles long and two miles +or so in width, with a great many bays and arms which +were extremely confusing to us in our search for the +place where the river left it.  The lower end +was blocked with islands, and innumerable rocky bars, +partially submerged, extended far out into the water.  + A strong southwest wind sent heavy rollers down the +lake.  Low, barren hills skirted the shores.</p> + +<p align="justify">Early in the afternoon we turned into +a bay where I left Easton with the canoe while I climbed +one of the barren knolls.  I had scarcely reached +the summit when I heard a rifle shot, and then, after +a pause, three more in quick succession.  There +were four cartridges in my rifle.  I ran down +to the canoe where I found Easton in wild excitement, +waving the gun and calling for cartridges, and half-way +across the bay saw the heads of two caribou swimming +toward the opposite shore.  I loaded the magazine +and sat down to wait for the animals to land.</p> + +<p align="justify">When the first deer got his footing +and showed his body above the water three hundred +and fifty yards away, I took him behind the shoulder.  + He dropped where he stood.  The other animal +stopped to look at his comrade, and a single bullet, +also behind his shoulder, brought him down within +ten feet of where he had stood when he was hit.  + I mention this to show the high efficiency of the +.33 Winchester.  At a comparatively long range +two bullets had killed two caribou on the spot without +the necessity of a chase after wounded animals, and +one bullet had passed from behind the shoulder, the +length of the neck, into the head and glancing downward +had broken the jaw.</p> + +<p align="justify">I desired to make a cache here that +we might have something to fall back upon in case +our retreat should become necessary, and four days +were employed in fixing up the meat and preparing the +cache, and this gave us also sufficient time, in spite +of continuous heavy wind and rain, to thoroughly explore +the lake and its bays.  An ample supply of the +fresh venison was reserved to carry with us.</p> + +<p align="justify">We now had on hand, exclusive of the +pemmican and other rations still remaining, and the +meat cached, eight weeks’ provisions, with plenty +of ducks and ptarmigans everywhere, and there seemed +to be no further danger from lack of food.</p> + +<p align="justify">One day, while we were here, five +caribou tarried for several minutes within two hundred +yards of us and then sauntered off without taking +alarm, and later the same day another was seen at closer +range; but we did not need them and permitted them +to go unmolested.</p> + +<p align="justify">From a hill near this bay, where we +killed the deer, on the eastern side of the lake, +we discovered a trail leading off toward a string of +lakes to the eastward.  This is undoubtedly the +portage trail which the Indians follow in their journeys +to the Post at Davis Inlet.  Toma had told me +we might see it here, and that, not far in, on one +of these lakes was another Indian camp.</p> + +<p align="justify">An inordinate craving for fat takes +possession of every one after a little while in the +bush.  We had felt it, and now, with plenty, +overindulged, with the result that we were attacked +with illness, and for a day or two I was almost too +sick to move.</p> + +<p align="justify">The morning we left Atuknipi, or Reindeer +Lake, as we shall call the expansion, a blinding snowstorm +was raging, with a strong head wind.  Several +rapids were run though it was extremely dangerous work, +for at times we could scarcely see a dozen yards ahead.  + At midday the snow ceased, but the wind increased +in velocity until finally we found it quite out of +the question to paddle against it, and were forced +to pitch camp on the shores of a small expansion and +under the lee of a hill.  For two days the gale +blew unceasingly and held us prisoners in our camp.  + The waves broke on the rocky shores, sending the spray +fifty feet in the air and, freezing on the surrounding +bowlders, covered them with a glaze of ice.  +I cannot say what the temperature was, for on the +day of our arrival here my last thermometer was broken; +but with half a foot of snow on the ground, the freezing +spray and the bitter cold wind, we were warned that +winter was reaching out her hand toward Labrador and +would soon hold us in her merciless grasp.  This +made me chafe under our imprisonment, for I began to +fear that we should not reach the Post before the +final freeze-up came, and further travel by canoe +would be out of the question.  On the morning +of September twenty-ninth, the wind, though still blowing +half a gale in our faces, had so much abated that +we were able to launch our canoe and continue our +journey.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was very cold.  The spray +froze as it struck our clothing, the canoe was weighted +with ice and our paddles became heavy with it.  + We ran one or two short rapids in safety and then +started into another that ended with a narrow strip +of white water with a small expansion below.  + We had just struck the white water, going at a good +speed in what seemed like a clear course, when the +canoe, at its middle, hit a submerged rock.  +Before there was time to clear ourselves the little +craft swung in the current, and the next moment I found +myself in the rushing, seething flood rolling down +through the rocks.</p> + +<p align="justify">When I came to the surface I was in +the calm water below the rapid and twenty feet away +was the canoe, bottom up, with Easton clinging to it, +his clothing fast on a bolt under the canoe.  +I swam to him and, while he drew his hunting knife +and cut himself loose, steadied the canoe.  We +had neglected—­and it was gross carelessness +in us—­to tie our things fast, and the lighter +bags and paddles were floating away while everything +that was heavy had sunk beyond hope of recovery.  + The thwarts, however, held fast in the overturned +canoe a bag of pemmican, one other small bag, the +tent and tent stove.  Treading water to keep +ourselves afloat we tried to right the canoe to save +these, but our efforts were fruitless.  The icy +water so benumbed us we could scarcely control our +limbs.  The tracking line was fast to the stern +thwart, and with one end of this in his teeth, Easton +swam to a little rocky island just below the rapid +and hauled while I swam by the canoe and steadied +the things under the thwarts.  It took us half +an hour to get the canoe ashore, and we could hardly +stand when he had it righted and the water emptied +out.</p> + +<p align="justify">Then I looked for wood to build a +fire, for I knew that unless we could get artificial +heat immediately we would perish with the cold, for +the very blood in our veins was freezing.  Not +a stick was there nearer than an eighth of a mile +across the bay.  Our paddles were gone, but we +got into the canoe and used our hands for paddles.  + By the time we landed Easton had grown very pale.  + He began picking and clutching aimlessly at the trees.  + The blood had congealed in my hands until they were +so stiff as to be almost useless.  I could not +guide them to the trousers pocket at first where I +kept my waterproof match-box.  Finally I loosened +my belt and found the matches, and with the greatest +difficulty managed to get one between my benumbed fingers, +and scratched it on the bottom of the box.  The +box was wet and the match head flew off.  Everything +was wet.  Not a dry stone even stuck above the +snow.  I tried another match on the box, but, +like the first, the head flew off, and then another +and another with the same result.  Under ordinary +circumstances I could have secured a light somehow +and quickly, but now my hands and fingers were stiff +as sticks and refused to grip the matches firmly.  + I worked with desperation, but it seemed hopeless.  + Easton’s face by this time had taken on the +waxen shade that comes with death, and he appeared +to be looking through a haze.  His senses were +leaving him.  I saw something must be done at +once, and I shouted to him:  “Run! run!  + Easton, run!” Articulation was difficult, and +I did not know my own voice.  It seemed very +strange and far away to me.  We tried to run but +had lost control of our legs and both fell down.  + With an effort I regained my feet but fell again +when I tried to go forward.  My legs refused to +carry me.  I crawled on my hands and knees in +the snow for a short distance, and it was all I could +do to recover my feet.  Easton had now lost all +understanding of his surroundings.  He was looking +into space but saw nothing.  He was groping blindly +with his hands.  He did not even know that he +was cold.  I saw that only a fire could save his +life, and perhaps mine, and that we must have it quickly, +and made one more superhuman effort with the matches.  + One after another I tried them with the same result +as before until but three remained.  All depended +upon those three matches.  The first one flickered +for a moment and my hopes rose, but my poor benumbed +fingers refused to hold it and it fell into the snow +and went out.  The wind was drying the box bottom.  + I tried another—­an old sulphur match, I +remember.  It burned!  I applied it with +the greatest care to a handful of the hairy moss that +is found under the branches next the trunk of spruce +trees, and this ignited.  Then I put on small +sticks, nursing the blaze with the greatest care, +adding larger sticks as the smaller ones took fire.  +I had dropped on my knees and could reach the sticks +from where I knelt, for there was plenty of dead wood +lying about.  As the blaze grew I rose to my +feet and, dragging larger wood, piled it on.  +A sort of joyful mania took possession of me as I +watched the great tongues of flames shooting skyward +and listened to the crackling of the burning wood, +and I stood back and laughed.  I had triumphed +over fate and the elements.  Our arms, our clothing, +nearly all our food, our axes and our paddles, and +even the means of making new paddles were gone, but +for the present we were safe.  Life, no matter +how uncertain, is sweet, and I laughed with the very +joy of living.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_14"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XIV</h1> + +<p><b>TIDE WATER AND THE POST</b></p> + +<p align="justify">When Easton came to his senses, he +found himself warming by the fire.  It is wonderful +how quickly a half-frozen man will revive.  As +soon as we were thoroughly thawed out we stripped +to our underclothing and hung our things up to dry, +permitting our underclothing to dry on us as we stood +near the blaze.  We were little the worse for +our dip, escaping with slightly frosted fingers and +toes.  I discovered in my pockets a half plug +of black tobacco such as we use in the North, put +it on the end of a stick and dried it out, and then +we had a smoke.  We agreed that we had never in +our life before had so satisfactory a smoke as that.  + The stimulant was needed and it put new life into +us.</p> + +<p align="justify">Easton was very pessimistic.  + He was generally inclined to look upon the dark side +of things anyway, and now he believed our fate was +sealed, especially if we could not find our paddles, +and he began to talk about returning to our cache +and thence to the Indians.  But I had been in +much worse predicaments than this, and paddles or no +paddles, determined to go on, for we could work our +way down the river somehow with poles and the bag +of pemmican would keep us alive until we reached the +Post—­unless the freeze-up caught us.</p> + +<p align="justify">When we had dried ourselves we went +to the canoe to make an inventory of our remaining +goods and chattels, and with a vague hope that a paddle +might be found on the shore.  What, then, was +our surprise and our joy to find not only the paddles +but our dunnage bags and my instrument bag amongst +the rocks, where an eddy below the rapid swirled the +water in.  Thus our blankets and clothing were +safe, we had fifty pounds of pemmican, our tent and +tent stove, and in the small bag that I have mentioned +as having remained in the canoe with the other things +was all our tea and five or six pounds of caribou +tallow.  Our matches—­and this was a +great piece of good fortune—­were uninjured, +and we had a good stock of them.  The tent stove +seemed useless without the pipe, but we determined +to cling to it, as our luggage now was light.  + Our guns, axes, the balance of our provisions, including +salt, the tea kettle and all our other cooking utensils, +were gone, and worst of all, three hundred and fifty +unexposed photographic films.  Only twenty or +thirty unexposed films were saved, but fortunately, +only one roll of ten exposed films, which was in one +of the cameras, was injured, and none of the exposed +films was lost.  One camera was damaged beyond +use, as were also my aneroid barometer and binoculars.  + However, we were fortunate to get off so easily as +we did, and the accident taught us the lesson to take +no chances in rapids and to tie everything fast at +all times.  Carelessness is pretty sure to demand +its penalty, and the wilderness is constantly springing +surprises upon those who submit themselves to its care.</p> + +<p align="justify">A pretty dreary camp we pitched that +evening near the place of our mishap.  Fortunately +there was plenty of dead wood loose on the ground, +and we did very well for our camp fire without the +axes.  A pemmican can with the end cut off about +an inch from the top, with a piece of copper wire +that I found in my dunnage bag fashioned into a bale, +made a very serviceable tea pail, from which we drank +in turn, as our cups were lost.  The top of the +can answered for a frying pan in which to melt our +caribou tallow and pemmican when we wanted our ration +hot, and as a plate.  Tent pegs were cut with +our jackknives and the tent stretched between two +trees, which avoided the necessity of tent poles.  + Thus, with our cooking and living outfit reduced to +the simplest and crudest form, and with a limited and +unvaried diet of pemmican, tallow and tea, we were +on the whole able, so long as loose wood could be +found for our night camps, to keep comparatively comfortable +and free from any severe hardships.</p> + +<p align="justify">We certainly had great reason to be +thankful, and that night before we rolled into our +blankets I read aloud by the light of our camp fire +from my little Bible the one hundred and seventh Psalm, +in thanksgiving.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next morning before starting forward +we paddled out to the rapid, in the vain hope that +we might be able to recover some of the lost articles +from the bottom of the river, but at the place where +the spill had occurred the water was too swift and +deep for us to do anything, and we were forced to +abandon the attempt and reluctantly resume our journey +without the things.</p> + +<p align="justify">That night we felt sorely the loss +of the axes.  Our camp was pitched in a spot +where no loose wood was to be found save very small +sticks, insufficient in quantity for an adequate fire +in the open, for the evening was cold.  We could +not pitch our tent wigwam fashion with an opening +at the top for the smoke to escape, as to do that several +poles were necessary, and we had no means of cutting +them.  However, with the expectation that enough +smoke would find its way out of the stovepipe hole +to permit us to remain inside, we built a small round +Indian fire in the center of the tent.  We managed +to endure the smoke and warm ourselves while tea was +making, but the experiment proved a failure and was +not to be resorted to again, for I feared it might +result in an attack of smoke-blindness.  This +is an affliction almost identical in effect to snow-blindness.  + I had suffered from it in the first days of my wandering +alone in the Susan Valley in the winter of 1903, and +knew what it meant, and that an attack of it would +preclude traveling while it lasted, to say nothing +of the pain that it would inflict.</p> + +<p align="justify">Here a portage was necessary around +a half-mile canyon through which the river, a rushing +torrent, tumbled in the interval over a series of +small falls, and all the way the perpendicular walls +of basaltic rock that confined it rose on either side +to a height of fifty to seventy-five feet above the +seething water.  Just below this canyon another +river joined us from the east, increasing the volume +of water very materially.  Our tumplines were +gone, but with the tracking line and pieces of deer +skin we improvised new ones that answered our purpose +very well.</p> + +<p align="justify">The hills, barren almost to their +base, and growing in altitude with every mile we traveled, +were now closely hugging the river valley, which was +almost destitute of trees.  Rapids were practically +continuous and always strewn with dangerous rocks that +kept us constantly on the alert and our nerves strung +to the highest tension.</p> + +<p align="justify">The general course of the river for +several days was north, thirty degrees east, but later +assumed an almost due northerly course.  It made +some wide sweeps as it worked its tortuous way through +the ranges, sometimes almost doubling on itself.  + At intervals small streams joined it and it was constantly +growing in width and depth.  Once we came to a +place where it dropped over massive bed rock in a +series of falls, some of which were thirty or more +feet in height.  Few portages, however, were necessary.  + We took our chances on everything that there was +any prospect of the canoe living through—­ +rapids that under ordinary circumstances we should +never have trusted--for the grip of the cold weather +was tightening with each October day.  The small +lakes away from the river, where the water was still, +must even now have been frozen, but the river current +was so big and strong that it had as yet warded off +the frost shackles.  When the real winter came, +however, it would be upon us in a night, and then +even this mighty torrent must submit to its power.</p> + +<p align="justify">At one point the valley suddenly widened +and the hills receded, and here the river broke up +into many small streams—­no less than five—­ +but some four or five miles farther on these various +channels came together again, and then the growing +hills closed in until they pinched the river banks +more closely than ever.</p> + +<p align="justify">On the morning of October sixth we +swung around a big bend in the river, ran a short +but precipitous rapid and suddenly came upon another +large river flowing in from the west.  This stream +came through a sandy valley, and below the junction +of the rivers the sand banks rose on the east side +a hundred feet or so above the water.  The increase +here in the size of the stream was marked—­it +was wide and deep.  A terrific gale was blowing +and caught us directly in our faces as we turned the +bend and lost the cover of the lee share above the +curve, and paddling ahead was impossible.  The +waves were so strong, in fact, that we barely escaped +swamping before we effected a landing.</p> + +<p align="justify">We here found ourselves in an exceedingly +unpleasant position.  We were only fitted with +summer clothing, which was now insufficient protection.  + There was not enough loose wood to make an open fire +to keep us warm for more than an hour or so, and we +could not go on to look for a better camping place.  + In a notch between the sand ridges we found a small +cluster of trees, between two of which our tent was +stretched, but it was mighty uncomfortable with no +means of warming.  “If we only had our stovepipe +now we’d be able to break enough small stuff +to keep the stove going,” said Easton.  +With nothing else to do we climbed a knoll to look +at the river below, and there on the knoll what should +we find but several lengths of nearly worn-out but +still serviceable pipe that some Indian had abandoned.  + “It’s like Robinson Crusoe,” said +Easton.  “Just as soon as we need something +that we can’t get on very well without we find +it.  A special Providence is surely caring for +us.”  We appropriated that pipe, all right, +and it did not take us long to get a fire in the stove, +which we had clung to, useless as it had seemed to +be.</p> + +<p align="justify">A mass of ripe cranberries, so thick +that we crushed them with every step, grew on the +hills, and we picked our pailful and stewed them, +using crystallose (a small phial of which I had in +my dunnage bag) as sweetening.  A pound of pemmican +a day with a bit of tallow is sustaining, but not +filling, and left us with a constant, gnawing hunger.  + These berries were a godsend, and sour as they were +we filled up on them and for once gratified our appetites.  + We had a great desire, too, for something sweet, +and always pounced upon the stray raisins in the pemmican.  + When either of us found one in his ration it was +divided between us.  Our great longing was for +bread and molasses, just as it had been with Hubbard +and me when we were short of food, and we were constantly +talking of the feasts we would have of these delicacies +when we reached the Post—­wheat bread and +common black molasses.</p> + +<p align="justify">The George River all the way down +to this point had been in past years a veritable slaughter +house.  There were great piles of caribou antlers +(the barren-ground caribou or reindeer), sometimes +as many as two or three hundred pairs in a single +pile, where the Indians had speared the animals in +the river, and everywhere along the banks were scattered +dry bones.  Abandoned camps, and some of them +large ones and not very old, were distributed at frequent +intervals, though we saw no more of the Indians themselves +until we reached Ungava Bay.</p> + +<p align="justify">Wolves were numerous.  We saw +their tracks in the sand and fresh signs of them were +common.  They always abound where there are caribou, +which form their main living.  Ptarmigans in the +early morning clucked on the river banks like chickens +in a barnyard, and we saw some very large flocks of +them.  Geese and black ducks, making their way +to the southward, were met with daily.  But we +had no arms or ammunition with which to kill them.  + I saw some fox signs, but there were very few or +no rabbit signs, strange to say, until we were a full +hundred miles farther down the river.</p> + +<p align="justify">This camp, where we found the stovepipe, +we soon discovered was nearly at the head of Indian +House Lake, so called by a Hudson’s Bay Company +factor-John McLean-because of the numbers of Indians +that he found living on its shores.  McLean, +about seventy years earlier, had ascended the river +in the interests of his company, for the purpose of +establishing interior posts.  The most inland +Post that he erected was at the lower end of this +lake, which is fifty-five miles in length.  He +also built a Post on a large lake which he describes +in his published journal as lying to the west of Indian +House Lake.  The exact location of this latter +lake is not now known, but I am inclined to think +it is one which the Indians say is the source of Whale +River, a stream of considerable size emptying into +Ungava Bay one hundred and twenty miles to the westward +of the mouth of the George River.  These two +rivers are doubtless much nearer together, however, +farther inland, where Whale River has its rise.  + The difficulty experienced by McLean in getting supplies +to these two Posts rendered them unprofitable, and +after experimenting with them for three years they +were abandoned.  The agents in charge were each +spring on the verge of starvation before the opening +of the waters brought fish and food or they were relieved +by the brigades from Ungava.  They had to depend +almost wholly upon their hunters for provisions.  + It was not attempted in those days to carry in flour, +pork and other food stuffs now considered by the traders +necessaries.  And almost the only goods handled +by them in the Indian trade were axes, knives, guns, +ammunition and beads.</p> + +<p align="justify">Indian House Lake now, as then, is +a general rendezvous for the Indians during the summer +months, when they congregate there to fish and to +hunt reindeer.  In the autumn they scatter to +the better trapping grounds, where fur bearing animals +are found in greater abun-dance.  We were too +late in the season to meet these Indians, though we +saw many of their camping places.</p> + +<p align="justify">A snowstorm began on October seventh, +but the wind had so far abated that we were able to +resume our journey.  It was a bleak and dismal +day.  Save for now and then a small grove of spruce +trees in some sheltered nook, and these at long intervals, +the country was destitute and barren of growth.  + Below our camp, upon entering the lake, there was +a wide, flat stretch of sand wash from the river, and +below this from the lake shore on either side, great +barren, grim hills rose in solemn majesty, across +whose rocky face the wind swept the snow in fitful +gusts and squalls.  Off on a mountain side a wolf +disturbed the white silence with his dismal cry, and +farther on a big black fellow came to the water’s +edge, and with the snow blowing wildly about him held +his head in the air and howled a challenge at us as +we passed close by.  Perhaps he yearned for companionship +and welcomed the sight of living things.  For +my part, grim and uncanny as he looked, I was glad +to see him.  He was something to vary the monotony +of the great solemn silence of our world.</p> + +<p align="justify">The storm increased, and early in +the day the snow began to fall so heavily that we +could not see our way, and forced us to turn into a +bay where we found a small cluster of trees amongst +big bowlders, and pitched our tent in their shelter.  + The snow had drifted in and filled the space between +the rocks, and on this we piled armfuls of scraggy +boughs and made a fairly level and wholly comfortable +bed; but it was a long, tedious job digging with our +hands and feet into the snow for bits of wood for +our stove.  The conditions were growing harder +and harder with every day, and our experience here +was a common one with us for the most of the remainder +of the way down the river from this point.</p> + +<p align="justify">The day we reached the lower end of +the lake I summed up briefly its characteristics in +my field book as follows: </p> + +<p align="justify">“Indian House Lake has a varying +width of from a quarter mile to three miles.  + It is apparently not deep.  Both shores are followed +by ridges of the most barren, rocky hills imaginable, +some of them rising to a height of eight to nine hundred +feet and sloping down sharply to the shores, which +are strewn with large loose bowlders or are precipitous +bed rock.  An occasional sand knoll occurs, and +upon nearly every one of these is an abandoned Indian +camp.  The timber growth—­none at all +or very scanty spruce and tamarack.  Length of +lake (approximated) fifty-five miles.”</p> + +<p align="justify">I had hoped to locate the site of +McLean’s old Post buildings, more than three +score years ago destroyed by the Indians, doubtless +for firewood, but the snow had bidden what few traces +of them time had not destroyed, and they were passed +unnoticed.  The storm which raged all the time +we were here made progress slow, and it was not until +the morning of the tenth that we reached the end of +the lake, where the river, vastly increased in volume, +poured out through a rapid.</p> + +<p align="justify">Below Indian House Lake there were +only a few short stretches of slack water to relieve +the pretty continuous rapids.  The river wound +in and out, in and out, rushing on its tumultuous +way amongst ever higher mountains.  There was +no time to examine the rapids before we shot them.  + We had to take our chances, and as we swung around +every curve we half expected to find before us a cataract +that would hurl us to destruction.  The banks +were often sheer from the water’s edge, and +made landing difficult or even impossible.  In +one place for a dis-tance of many miles the river +had worn its way through the mountains, leaving high, +perpendicular walls of solid rock on either side, +forming a sort of canyon.  In other places high +bowlders, piled by some giant force, formed fifty-foot +high walls, which we had to scale each night to make +our camp.  In the morning some peak in the blue +distance would be noted as a landmark.  In a couple +of hours we would rush past it and mark another one, +which, too, would soon be left behind.</p> + +<p align="justify">The rapids continued the characteristic +of the river and were terrific.  Often it would +seem that no canoe could ride the high, white waves, +or that we could not avoid the swirl of mighty cross-current +eddies, which would have swallowed up our canoe like +a chip had we got into them.  There were rapids +whose roar could be distinctly heard for five or six +miles.  These we approached with the greatest +care, and portaged around the worst places.  The +water was so clear that often we found ourselves dodging +rocks, which, when we passed them, were ten or twelve +feet below the surface.  It was here that a peculiar +optical illusion occurred.  The water appeared +to be running down an incline of about twenty degrees.  + At the place where this was noticed, however, the +current was not exceptionally swift.  We were +in a section now where the Indians never go, owing +to the character of the river—­a section +that is wholly untraveled and unhunted.</p> + +<p align="justify">After leaving Indian House Lake, as +we descended from the plateau, the weather grew milder.  + There were chilly winds and bleak rains, but the +snow, though remaining on the mountains, disappeared +gradually from the valley, and this was a blessing +to us, for it enabled us to make camp with a little +less labor, and the bits of wood were left uncovered, +to be gathered with more ease.  Every hour of +light we needed, for with each dawn and twilight the +days were becoming noticeably shorter.  The sun +now rose in the southeast, crossed a small segment +of the sky, and almost before we were aware of it set +in the southwest.</p> + +<p align="justify">The wilderness gripped us closer and +closer as the days went by.  Remembrances of the +outside world were becoming like dreamland fancies—­something +hazy, indefinite and unreal.  We could hardly +bring ourselves to believe that we had really met +the Indians.  It seemed to us that all our lives +we had been going on and on through rushing water, +or with packs over rocky portages, and the Post we +were aiming to reach appeared no nearer to us than +it did the day we left Northwest River—­long, +long ago.  We seldom spoke.  Sometimes in +a whole day not a dozen words would be exchanged.  + If we did talk at all it was at night over soothing +pipes, after the bit of pemmican we allowed ourselves +was disposed of, and was usually of something to eat—­planning +feasts of darn goods, bread and molasses when we should +reach a place where these luxuries were to be had.  + It was much like the way children plan what wonderful +things they will do, and what unbounded good things +they will indulge in, when they attain that high pinnacle +of their ambition—­“grown-ups.”</p> + +<p align="justify">After our upset in the rapid Easton +eschewed water entirely, except for drinking purposes.  + He had had enough of it, he said.  I did bathe +my hands and face occasionally, particularly in the +morning, to rouse me from the torpor of the always +heavy sleep of night.  What savages men will +revert into when they are buried for a long period +in the wilderness and shake off the trammels and customs +of the conventionalism of civilization!  It does +not take long to make an Indian out of a white man +so far as habits and customs of living go.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our routine of daily life was always +the same.  Long before daylight I would arise, +kindle a fire, put over it our tea water, and then +get Easton out of his blankets.  At daylight +we would start.  At midday we had tea, and at +twilight made the best camp we could.</p> + +<p align="justify">The hills were assuming a different +aspect—­less conical in form and not so +high.  The bowlders on the river banks were superseded +by massive bed-rock granite.  The coves and hollows +were better wooded and there were some stretches of +slack water.  On October fifteenth we portaged +around a series of low falls, below which was a small +lake expansion with a river flowing into it from the +east.  Here we found the first evidence of human +life that we had seen in a long while—­a +wide portage trail that had been cut through now burned +and dead trees on the eastern side of the river.  + It was fully six feet in width and had been used +for the passage of larger boats than canoes.  +The moss was still unrenewed where the tramp of many +moccasins had worn it off.  This was the trail +made by John McLean’s brigades nearly three-quarters +of a century before, for in their journeys to Indian +House Lake they had used rowboats and not canoes for +the transportation of supplies.</p> + +<p align="justify">The day we passed over this portage +was a most miserable one.  We were soaked from +morning till night with mingled snow and rain, and +numb with the cold, but when we made our night camp, +below the junction of the rivers, one or two ax cuttings +were found, and I knew that now our troubles were +nearly at an end and we were not far from men.  + The next afternoon (Monday, October sixteenth) we +stopped two or three miles below a rapid to boil our +kettle, and before our tea was made the canoe was +high and dry on the rocks.  We had reached tide +water at last!  How we hurried through that luncheon, +and with what light hearts we launched the canoe again, +and how we peered into every bay for the Post buildings +that we knew were now close at hand can be imagined.  + These bays were being left wide stretches of mud and +rocks by the receding water, which has a tide fall +here of nearly forty feet.  At last, as we rounded +a rocky point, we saw the Post.  The group of +little white buildings nestling deep in a cove, a feathery +curl of smoke rising peacefully from the agent’s +house, an Eskimo <i>tupek</i> (tent), boats standing +high on the mud flat below, and the howl of a husky +dog in the distance, formed a picture of comfort that +I shall long remember.</p> + +<a name="post"></a> +<a href="images/postth.jpg"> +<img alt="At Last...We Saw the Post" src="images/postth.jpg"> +</a> + + + +<a NAME="chapter_15"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XV</h1> + +<p><b>OFF WITH THE ESKIMOS</b></p> + +<p align="justify">The tide had left the bay drained, +on the farther side and well toward the bottom of +which the Post stands, and between us and the buildings +was a lake of soft mud.  There seemed no approach +for the canoe, and rather than sit idly until the +incoming tide covered the mud again so that we could +paddle in, we carried our belongings high up the side +of the hill, safely out of reach of the water when +it should rise, and then started to pick our way around +the face of the clifflike hill, with the intention +of skirting the bay and reaching the Post at once +from the upper side.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was much like walking on the side +of a wall, and to add to our discomfiture night began +to fall before we were half way around, for it was +slow work.  Once I descended cautiously to the +mud, thinking that I might be able to walk across +it, but a deep channel filled with running water intercepted +me, and I had to return to Easton, who had remained +above.  We finally realized that we could not +get around the hill before dark and the footing was +too uncertain to attempt to retrace our steps to the +canoe in the fading light, as a false move would have +hurled us down a hundred feet into the mud and rocks +below.  Fortunately a niche in the hillside offered +a safe resting place, and we drew together here all +the brush within reach, to be burned later as a signal +to the Post folk that some one was on the hill, hoping +that when the tide rose it would bring them in, a boat +to rescue us from our unpleasant position.  When +the brush was arranged for firing at an opportune +time we sat down in the thickening darkness to watch +the lights which were now flickering cozily in the +windows of the Post house.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Well, this <i>is</i> hard luck,” +said Easton.  “There’s good bread +and molasses almost within hailing distance and we’ve +likely got to sit out here on the rocks all night +without wood enough to keep fire, and it’s going +to rain pretty soon and we can’t even get back +to our pemmican and tent.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“Don’t give up yet, boy,” +I encouraged.  “Maybe they’ll see +our fire when we start it and take us off.”</p> + +<p align="justify">We filled our pipes and struck matches +to light them.  They were wax taper matches and +made a good blaze.  “Wonder what it’ll +be like to eat civilized grub again and sleep in a +bed,” said Easton meditatively, as he puffed +uncomfortably at his pipe.</p> + +<p align="justify">While he was speaking the glow of +a lantern appeared from the Post house, which we could +locate by its lamp-lit windows, and moved down toward +the place where we had seen the boats on the mud.  + The sight of it made us hope that we had been noticed, +and we jumped up and combined our efforts in shouting +until we were hoarse.  Then we ignited the pile +of brush.  It blazed up splendidly, shooting its +flames high in the air, sending its sparks far, and +lighting weirdly the strange scene.  We stood +before it that our forms might appear in relief against +the light reflected by the rocky background, waving +our arms and renewing our shouts.  Once or twice +I fancied I heard an answering hail from the other +side, like a far-off echo; but the wind was against +us and I was not sure.  The lantern light was +now in a boat moving out toward the main river.  + Even though it were coming to us this was necessary, +as the tide could not be high enough yet to permit +its coming directly across to where we were.  +We watched its course anxiously.  Finally it +seemed to be heading toward us, but we were not certain.  + Then it disappeared altogether and there was nothing +but blackness and silence where it had been.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Some one that’s been +waiting for the tide to turn and he’s just going +down the river, where he likely lives,” remarked +Easton as we sat down again and relit our pipes.  + “I began to taste bread and molasses when I +saw that light,” he continued, after a few minutes’ +pause.  “It’s just our luck.  + We’re in for a night of it, all right.”</p> + +<p align="justify">We sat smoking silently, resigned +to our fate, when all at once there stepped out of +the surrounding darkness into the radius of light cast +by our now dying fire, an old Eskimo with an unlighted +lantern in his hands, and a young fellow of fifteen +or sixteen years of age.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Oksutingyae,” * said +the Eskimo, and then proceeded to light his lantern, +paying no further attention to us.  “How +do you do?” said the boy.</p> + +<p align="justify">* [Dual form meaning “You two +be strong,” used by the Eskimos as a greeting.  + The singular of the same is Oksunae, and the plural +(more than two) Oksusi]</p> + +<p align="justify">The Eskimo could understand no English, +but the boy, a grandson of Johm Ford, the Post agent, +told us that the Eskimo had seen us strike the matches +to light our pipes and reported the matter at once +at the house.  There was not a match at the Post +nor within a hundred miles of it, so far as they knew, +so Mr. Ford concluded that some strangers were stranded +on the hill—­possibly Eskimos in distress—­and +he gave them a lantern and started them over in a +boat to investigate.  Their lantern had blown +out on the way—­that was when we missed the +light.</p> + +<p align="justify">With the lantern to guide us we descended +the slippery rocks to their boat and in ten minutes +landed on the mud flat opposite, where we were met +by Ford and a group of curious Eskimos.  We were +immediately con-ducted to the agent’s residence, +where Mrs. Ford received us in the hospitable manner +of the North, and in a little while spread before us +a delicious supper of fresh trout, white bread such +as we had not seen since leaving Tom Blake’s, +mossberry jam and tea.  It was an event in our +life to sit down again to a table covered with white +linen and eat real bread.  We ate until we were +ashamed of ourselves, but not until we were satisfied +(for we had emerged from the bush with unholy appetites) +and barely stopped eating in time to save our reputations +from utter ruin.  And now our hosts told us—­and +it shows how really generous and open-hearted they +were to say nothing about it until we were through +eating—­that the <i>Pelican</i>, the Hudson’s +Bay Company’s steamer, had not arrived on her +annual visit, that it was so late in the season all +hope of her coming had some time since been relinquished, +and the Post provisions were reduced to forty pounds +of flour, a bit of sugar, a barrel or so of corn meal, +some salt pork and salt beef, and small quantities +of other food stuffs, and there were a great many +dependents with hungry mouths to feed.  Molasses, +butter and other things were entirely gone.  +The storehouses were empty.</p> + +<p align="justify">This condition of affairs made it +incumbent upon me, I believed, in spite of a cordial +invitation from Ford to stay and share with them what +they had, to move on at once and endeavor to reach +Fort Chimo ahead of the ice.  Fort Chimo is the +chief establishment of the fur trading companies on +Ungava Bay, and is the farthest off and most isolated +station in northern Labrador.  This journey would +be too hazardous to undertake in the month of October +in a canoe—­the rough, open sea of Ungava +Bay demanded a larger craft—­and although +Ford told me it was foolhardy to attempt it so late +in the season with any craft at all, I requested him +to do his utmost the following day to engage for us +Eskimos and a small boat and we would make the attempt +to get there.  It has been my experience that +frontier traders are wont to overestimate the dangers +in trips of this kind, and I was inclined to the belief +that this was the case with Ford.  In due time +I learned my mistake.</p> + +<p align="justify">Ford had no tobacco but the soggy +black chewing plug dispensed to Eskimos, and we shared +with him our remaining plugs and for two hours sat +in the cozy Post house kitchen smoking and chatting.  + Over a year had passed since his last communication +with the outside world, for no vessel other than the +<i>Pelican</i> when she makes her annual call with +supplies ever comes here, and we therefore had some +things of interest to tell him.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our host I soon discovered to be a +man of intelligence.  He was sixty-six years +of age, a native of the east coast of Labrador, with +a tinge of Eskimo blood in his veins, and as familiar +with the Eskimo language as with English.  For +twenty years, he informed me, with the exception of +one or two brief intervals, he had been buried at George +River Post, and was longing for the time when he could +leave it and enjoy the comforts of civilization.</p> + +<p align="justify">After our chat we were shown to our +room, where the almost forgotten luxuries of feather +beds and pillows, and the great, warm, fluffy woolen +blankets of the Hudson’s Bay Company—­such +blankets as are found nowhere else in the world—­awaited +us.  To undress and crawl between them and lie +there, warm and snug and dry, while we listened to +the rain, which had begun beating furiously against +the window and on the roof, and the wind howling around +the house, seemed to me at first the pinnacle of comfort; +but this sense of luxury soon passed off and I found +myself longing for the tent and spruce-bough couch +on the ground, where there was more air to breathe +and a greater freedom.  I could not sleep.  + The bed was too warm and the four walls of the room +seemed pressing in on me.  After four months in +the open it takes some time for one to accustom one’s +self to a bed again.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next day at high tide, with the +aid of a boat and two Eskimos, we recovered our things +from the rocks where we had cached them.</p> + +<p align="justify">There were no Eskimos at the Post +competent or willing to attempt the open-boat journey +to Fort Chimo.  Those that were here all agreed +that the ice would come before we could get through +and that it was too dangerous an undertaking.  + Therefore, galling as the delay was to me, there +was nothing for us to do but settle down and wait for +the time to come when we could go with dog teams overland.</p> + +<p align="justify">On Thursday afternoon, three days +after our arrival at the Post, we saw the Eskimos +running toward the wharf and shouting as though something +of unusual importance were taking place and, upon joining +the crowd, found them greeting three strange Eskimos +who had just arrived in a boat.  The real cause +of the excitement we soon learned was the arrival +of the <i>Pelican</i>.  The strange Eskimos were +the pilots that brought her from Fort Chimo.  + All was confusion and rejoicing at once.  Ford +manned a boat and invited us to join him in a visit +to the ship, which lay at anchor four miles below, +and we were soon off.</p> + +<p align="justify">When we boarded the Pelican, which, +by the way, is an old British cruiser, we were received +by Mr. Peter McKenzie, from Montreal, who has superintendence +of eastern posts, and Captain Lovegrow, who commanded +the vessel.  They told us that they had called +at Rigolet on their way north and there heard of the +arrival of Richards, Pete and Stanton at Northwest +River.  This relieved my mind as to their safety.</p> + +<p align="justify">We spent a very pleasant hour over +a cigar, and heard the happenings in the outside world +since our departure from it, the most important of +which was the close of the Russian-Japanese war.  + We also learned that the cause of delay in the ship’s +coming was an accident on the rocks near Cartwright, +making it necessary for them to run to St. Johns for +repairs; and also that only the fact of the distressful +condition of the Post, unprovisioned as they knew it +must be, had induced them to take the hazard of running +in and chancing imprison-ment for the winter in the +ice.</p> + +<p align="justify">Mr. McKenzie extended me a most cordial +invitation to return with them to Rigolet, but the +Eskimo pilots had brought news of large herds of reindeer +that the Indians had reported as heading eastward toward +the Koksoak, the river on which Fort Chimo is situated, +and I determined to make an effort to see these deer.  + This determination was coupled with a desire to travel +across the northern peninsula and around the coast +in winter and learn more of the people and their life +than could be observed at the Post; and I therefore +declined Mr. McKenzie’s invitation.</p> + +<p align="justify">Captain James Blanford, from St. Johns, +was on board, acting as ship’s pilot for the +east coast, and he kindly offered to carry out for +me such letters and telegrams as I might desire to +send and personally attend to their transmission.  + I gladly availed myself of this offer, as it gave +us an opportunity to relieve the anxiety of our friends +at home as to our safety.  Captain Blanford had +been with the auxiliary supply ship of the Peary Arctic +expedition during the summer and told us of having +left Commander Peary at eighty degrees north latitude +in August.  The expedition, he told us, would +probably winter as high as eighty-three degrees north, +and he was highly enthusiastic over the good prospects +of Peary’s success in at least reaching “Farthest +North.”</p> + +<p align="justify">The Eskimo pilots of the <i>Pelican</i> +were more venturesome than their friends at George +River.  They had a small boat belonging to the +Hudson’s Bay Company, and in it were going to +attempt to reach Fort Chimo.  Against his advice +I had Ford arrange with them to permit Easton and +me to accompany them.  It was a most fortunate +circumstance, I thought, that this opportunity was +opened to us.</p> + +<p align="justify">Accordingly the letters for Captain +Blanford were written, sufficient provisions, consisting +of corn meal, flour, hard-tack, pork, and tea to last +Easton and me ten days, were packed, and our luggage +was taken on board the <i>Pelican</i> on Saturday +afternoon, where we were to spend the night as Mr. +McKenzie’s and Captain Lovegrow’s guests.</p> + +<p align="justify">Mr. McKenzie, before going to Montreal, +had lived nearly a quarter of a century as Factor +at Fort Chimo, and, thoroughly familiar with the conditions +of the country and the season, joined Ford in advising +us strongly against our undertaking, owing to the +unusual hazard attached to it, and the probability +of getting caught in the ice and wrecked.  But +we were used to hardship, and believed that if the +Eskimos were willing to attempt the journey we could +get through with them some way, and I saw no reason +why I should change my plans.</p> + +<p align="justify">Low-hanging clouds, flying snowflakes +and a rising northeast wind threatened a heavy storm +on Sunday morning, October twenty-second, when the +<i>Pelican</i> weighed anchor at ten o’clock, +with us on board and the small boat, the <i>Explorer</i>, +that was to carry us westward in tow, and steamed +down the George River, at whose mouth, twenty miles +below, we were to leave her, to meet new and unexpected +dangers and hardships.</p> + +<p align="justify">At the Post the river is a mile and +a half in width.  About eight miles farther down +its banks close in and “the Narrows” occur, +and then it widens again.  There is very little +growth of any kind below the Narrows.  The rocks +are polished smooth and bare as they rise from the +water’s edge, and it is as desolate and barren +a land as one’s imagination could picture, but +withal possesses a rugged grand beauty in its grim +austerity that is impressive.</p> + +<p align="justify">About three or four miles above the +open bay the <i>Pelican’s</i> engines ceased +to throb and the <i>Explorer</i> was hauled alongside.  + Everything but the provisions for the Eskimo crew +was already aboard.  We said a hurried adieu +and, watching our chances as the boat rose and fell +on the swell, dropped one by one into the little craft.  + A bag of ship’s biscuit, the provisions of +our Eskimos, was thrown after us.  Most of them +went into the sea and were lost, and we needed them +sadly later.  I thought we should swamp as each +sea hit us before we could get away, and when we were +finally off the boat was half full of water.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Eskimos hoisted a sail and turned +to the west bank of the river, for it was too rough +outside to risk ourselves there in the little <i>Explorer</i>.  + The pulse of the big ship began to beat and slowly +she steamed out into the open and left us to the mercies +of the unfeeling rocks of Ungava.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_16"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XVI</h1> + +<p><b>CAUGHT BY THE ARCTIC ICE</b></p> + +<p align="justify">We ran to shelter in a small cove +and under the lee of a ledge pitched our tent, using +poles that the Eskimos had thoughtfully provided, and +anchoring the tent down with bowlders.</p> + +<p align="justify">When I say the rocks here are scoured +bare, I mean it literally.  There was not a stick +of wood growing as big as your finger.  On the +lower George, below the Narrows, and for long distances +on the Ungava coast there is absolutely not a tree +of any kind to be seen.  The only exception is +in one or two bays or near the mouth of streams, where +a stunted spruce growth is sometimes found in small +patches.  There are places where you may skirt +the coast of Ungava Bay for a hundred miles and not +see a shrub worthy the name of tree, even in the bays.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Koksoak (Big) River, on which +Fort Chimo is situated, is the largest river flowing +into Ungava Bay.  The George is the second in +size, and Whale River ranks third.  Between the +George River and Whale River there are four smaller +ones—­Tunulik (Back) River, Kuglotook (Overflow) +River, Tuktotuk (Reindeer) River and Mukalik (Muddy) +River; and between Whale River and the Koksoak the +False River.  I crossed all of these streams +and saw some of them for several miles above the mouth.  + The Koksoak, Mukalik and Whale Rivers are regularly +traversed by the Indians, but the others are too swift +and rocky for canoes.  There are several streams +to the westward of the Koksoak, notably Leaf River, +and a very large one that the Eskimos told me of, emptying +into Hope’s Advance Bay, but these I did not +see and my knowledge of them is limited to hearsay.</p> + +<p align="justify">The hills in the vicinity of George +River are generally high, but to the westward they +are much lower and less picturesque.</p> + +<p align="justify">After our camp was pitched we had +an opportunity for the first time to make the acquaintance +of our companions.  The chief was a man of about +forty years of age, Potokomik by name, which, translated, +means a hole cut in the edge of a skin for the purpose +of stretching it.  The next in importance was +Kumuk.  Kumuk means louse, and it fitted the man’s +nature well.  The youngest was Iksialook (Big +Yolk of an Egg).  Potokomik had been rechristened +by a Hudson’s Bay Company agent “Kenneth,” +and Kumuk, in like manner, had had the name of “George” +bestowed upon him, but Iksialook bad been overlooked +or neglected in this respect, and his brain was not +taxed with trying to remember a Christian cognomen +that none of his people would ever call or know him +by.</p> + +<p align="justify">Potokomik was really a remarkable +man and proved most faithful to us.  It is, in +fact, to his faithfulness and control over the others, +particularly Kumuk, that Easton and I owe our lives, +as will appear later.  He was at one time conjurer +of the Kangerlualuksoakmiut, or George River Eskimos, +and is still their leader, but during a visit to the +Atlantic coast, some three or four years ago, he came +under the influence of a missionary, embraced Christianity, +and abandoned the heathen conjuring swindle by which +he was, up to that time, making a good living.  + Now he lives a life about as clean and free from the +heathenism and superstitions of his race as any Eskimo +can who adopts a new religion.  The missionary +whom I have mentioned led Potokomik’s mother +to accept Christ and renounce Torngak when she was +on her deathbed, and before she died she confessed +to many sins, amongst them that of having aided in +the killing and eating, when driven to the act by +starvation, of her own mother.</p> + +<p align="justify">After our tent was pitched and the +Eskimos had spread the <i>Explorer’s</i> sail +as a shelter for themselves, Kumuk and Iksialook left +us to look for driftwood and, in half an hour, returned +with a few small sticks that they had found on the +shore.  These sticks were exceedingly scarce +and, of course, very precious and with the greatest +economy in the use of the wood, a fire was made and +the kettle boiled for tea.</p> + +<p align="justify">At first the Eskimos were always doing +unexpected things and springing surprises upon us, +but soon we became more or less accustomed to their +ways.  Not one of them could talk or understand +English and my Eskimo vocabulary was limited to the +one word “Oksu-nae,” and we therefore +had considerable difficulty in making each other understand, +and the pantomime and various methods of communication +resorted to were often very funny to see.  Potokomik +and I started in at once to learn what we could of +each other’s language, and it is wonderful how +much can be accomplished in the ac-quirement of a +vocabulary in a short time and how few words are really +necessary to convey ideas.  I would point at the +tent and say, “Tent,” and he would say, +“Tupek”; or at my sheath knife and say, +“Knife,” and he would say, “Chevik,” +and thus each learned the other’s word for nearly +everything about us and such words as “good,” +“bad,” “wind” and so on; and +in a few days we were able to make each other understand +in a general way, with our mixed English and Eskimo.</p> + +<p align="justify">The northeast wind and low-hanging +clouds of the morning carried into execution their +threat, and all Sunday afternoon and all day Monday +the snowstorm raged with fury.  I took pity on +the Eskimos and on Sunday night invited all of them +to sleep in our tent, but only Potokomik came, and +on Monday morning, when I went out at break of day, +I found the other two sleeping under a snowdrift, for +the lean-to made of the boat sail had not protected +them much.  After that they accepted my invitation +and joined us in the tent.</p> + +<p align="justify">It did not clear until Tuesday morning, +and then we hoisted sail and started forward out of +the river and into the broad, treacherous waters of +Hudson Straits, working with the oars to keep warm +and accelerate progress, for the wind was against +us at first until we turned out of the river, and +we had long tacks to make.</p> + +<p align="justify">At the Post, as was stated, there +is a rise and fall of tide of forty feet.  In +Ungava Bay and the straits it has a record of sixty-two +feet rise at flood, with the spring or high tides, +and this makes navigation precarious where hidden +reefs and rocks are everywhere; and there are long +stretches of coast with no friendly bay or harbor or +lee shore where one can run for cover when unheralded +gales and sudden squalls catch one in the open.  + The Atlantic coast of Labrador is dangerous indeed, +but there Nature has providentially distributed innumerable +safe harbor retreats, and the tide is insignificant +compared with that of Ungava Bay.  “Nature +exhausted her supply of harbors,” some one has +said, “before she rounded Cape Chidley, or she +forgot Ungava entirely; and she just bunched the tide +in here, too.”</p> + +<p align="justify">That Tuesday night sloping rocks and +ominous reefs made it impossible for us to effect +a landing, and in a shallow place we dropped anchor.  +Fortunately there was no wind, for we were in an exposed +position, and had there been we should have come to +grief.  A bit of hardtack with nothing to drink +sufficed for supper, and after eating we curled up +as best we could in the bottom of the boat.  +No watch was kept.  Every one lay down.  + Easton and I rolled in our blankets, huddled close +to each other, pulled the tent over us and were soon +dreaming of sunnier lands where flowers bloom and +the ice trust gets its prices.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our awakening was rude.  Some +time in the night I dreamed that my neck was broken +and that I lay in a pool of icy water powerless to +move.  When I finally roused myself I found the +boat tilted at an angle of forty-five degrees and +my head at the lower incline.  All the water in +the boat had drained to that side and my shoulders +and neck were immersed.  The tide was out and +we were stranded on the rocks.  It was bright +moonlight.  Kumuk and Iksialook got up and with +the kettle disappeared over the rocks.  The rising +tide was almost on us when they returned with a kettle +full of hot tea.  Then as soon as the water was +high enough to float the boat we were off by moonlight, +fastening now and again on reefs, and several times +narrowly escaped disaster.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was very cold.  Easton and +I were still clad in the bush-ravaged clothing that +we had worn during the summer, and it was far too light +to keep out the bitter Arctic winds that were now blowing, +and at night our only protection was our light summer +camping blankets.  When we reached the Post at +George River not a thing in the way of clothing or +blankets was in stock and the new stores were not unpacked +when we left, so we were not able to re-outfit there.</p> + +<p align="justify">Wednesday night we succeeded in finding +shelter, but all day Thursday were held prisoners +by a northerly gale.  On Friday we made a new +start, but early in the afternoon were driven to shelter +on an island, where with some difficulty we effected +a landing at low tide, and carried our goods a half +mile inland over the slippery rocks above the reach +of rising water.  The Eskimos remained with the +boat and worked it in foot by foot with the tide while +Easton and I pitched the tent and hunted up and down +on the rocks for bits of driftwood until we had collected +sufficient to last us with economy for a day or two.</p> + +<p align="justify">That night the real winter came.  + The light ice that we had encountered heretofore +and the snow which attained a considerable depth in +the recent storms were only the harbingers of the true +winter that comes in this northland with a single +blast of the bitter wind from the ice fields of the +Arctic.  It comes in a night—­almost +in an hour—­as it did to us now.  Every +pool of water on the island was congealed into a solid +mass.  A gale of terrific fury nearly carried +our tent away, and only the big bowlders to which it +was anchored saved it.  Once we had to shift +it farther back upon the rock fields, out of reach +of an exceptionally high tide.  For three days +the wind raged, and in those three days the great +blocks of northern pack ice were swept down upon us, +and we knew that the <i>Explorer</i> could serve us +no longer.  There was no alternative now but to +cross the barrens to Whale River on foot.  With +deep snow and no snowshoes it was not a pleasant prospect.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our hard-tack was gone, and I baked +into cakes all of our little stock of flour and corn +meal.  This, with a small piece of pork, six pounds +of pemmican, tea and a bit of tobacco was all that +we had left in the way of provisions.  The Eskimos +had eaten everything that they had brought, and it +now devolved upon us to feed them also from our meager +store, which at the start only provided for Easton +and me for ten days, as that had been considered more +than ample time for the journey.  I limited the +rations at each meal to a half of one of my cakes +for each man.  Potokomik agreed with me that this +was a wise and necessary restriction and protected +me in it.  Kumuk thought differently, and he +was seen to filch once or twice, but a close watch +was kept upon him.</p> + +<p align="justify">With infinite labor we hauled the +<i>Explorer</i> above the high-tide level, out of +reach of the ice that would soon pile in a massive +barricade of huge blocks upon the shore, that she might +be safe until recovered the following spring.  + Then we packed in the boat’s prow our tent +and all paraphernalia that was not absolutely necessary +for the sustenance of life, made each man a pack of +his blankets, food and necessaries, and began our +perilous foot march toward Whale River.  I clung +to all the records of the expedition, my camera, photographic +films and things of that sort, though Potokomik advised +their abandonment.</p> + +<p align="justify">At low tide, when the rocks were left +nearly uncovered, we forded from the island to the +mainland.  It was dark when we reached it, and +for three hours after dark, bending under our packs, +walking in Indian file, we pushed on in silence through +the knee-deep snow upon which the moon, half hidden +by flying clouds, cast a weird ghostlike light.  +Finally the Eskimos stopped in a gully by a little +patch of spruce brush four or five feet high, and +while Iksialook foraged for handfuls of brush that +was dry enough to burn, Potokomik and Kumuk cut snow +blocks, which they built into a circular wall about +three feet high, as a wind-break in which to sleep, +and Easton and I broke some green brush to throw upon +the snow in this circular wind-break for a bed.  +While we did this Iksialook filled the kettle with +bits of ice and melted it over his brush fire and +made tea.  There was only brush enough to melt +ice for one cup of tea each, which with our bit of +cake made our supper. .  We huddled close and +slept pretty well that night on the snow with nothing +but flying frost between us and heaven.</p> + +<p align="justify">We were having our breakfast the next +morning a white arctic fox came within ten yards of +our fire to look us over as though wondering what +kind of animals we were.  Easton and I were unarmed, +but the Eskimos each carried a 45-90 Winchester rifle.  + Potokomik reached for his and shot the fox, and in +a few minutes its disjointed carcass was in our pan +with a bit of pork, and we made a substantial breakfast +on the half-cooked flesh.</p> + +<p align="justify">That was a weary day.  We came +upon a large creek in the forenoon and had to ascend +its east bank for a long distance to cross it, as the +tide had broken the ice below.  Some distance +up the stream its valley was wooded by just enough +scattered spruce trees to hold the snow, and wallowing +and floundering through this was most exhausting.</p> + +<p align="justify">During the day Kumuk proposed to the +other Eskimos that they take all the food and leave +the white men to their fate.  They had rifles +while we had none, and we could not resist.  +Potokomik would not hear of it.  He remained our +friend.  Kumuk did not like the small ration that +I dealt out, and if they could get the food out of +our possession they would have more for themselves.</p> + +<p align="justify">That night a snow house was built, +with the exception of rounding the dome at the top, +over which Potokomik spread his blanket; but it was +a poor shelter, and not much warmer than the open.  + When I lay down I was dripping with perspiration +from the exertion of the day and during the night +had a severe chill.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next day a storm threatened.  + We crossed another stream and halted, at twelve o’clock, +upon the western side of it to make tea.  The +Eskimos held a consultation here and then Potokomik +told us that they were afraid of heavy snow and that +it was thought best to cache everything that we had—­blankets, +food and everything—­and with nothing to +encumber us hurry on to a tupek that we should reach +by dark, and that there we should find shelter and +food.  Accordingly everything was left behind +but the rifles, which the Eskimos clung to, and we +started on at a terrific pace over wind-swept hills +and drift-covered valleys, where all that could be +seen was a white waste of unvarying snow.  We +had been a little distance inland, but now worked +our way down toward the coast.  Once we crossed +an inlet where we had to climb over great blocks of +ice that the tide in its force had piled there.</p> + +<p align="justify">Just at dusk the Eskimos halted.  + We had reached the place where the tupek should have +been, but none was there.  Afterward I learned +that the people whom Potokomik expected to find here +had been caught on their way from Whale River by the +ice and their boat was crushed.</p> + +<p align="justify">Another consultation was held, and +as a result we started on again.  After a two +hours’ march Potokomik halted and the others +left us.  Easton and I threw ourselves at full +length upon the snow and went to sleep on the instant.  + A rifle shot aroused us, and Potokomik jumped to +his feet with the exclamation, “Igloo!” + We followed him toward where Kumuk was shouting, +through a bit of bush, down a bank, across a frozen +brook and up a slope, where we found a miserable little +log shack.  No one was there.  It was a +filthy place and snow had drifted in through the openings +in the roof and side.  The previous occupant +of the hut had left behind him an ax and an old stove, +and with a few sticks of wood that we found a fire +was started and we huddled close to it in a vain effort +to get warm.  When the fire died out we found +places to lie down, and, shivering with the cold, tried +with poor success to sleep.</p> + +<a name="shack"></a> +<a href="images/shackth.jpg"> +<img alt="A Miserable Little Log Shack" src="images/shackth.jpg"> +</a> + + + +<p align="justify">I had another chill that night and +severe cramps in the calves of my legs, and when morning +came and Easton said he could not travel another twenty +yards, I agreed at once to a plan of the Eskimos to +leave us there while they went on to look for other +Eskimos whom they expected to find in winter quarters +east of Whale River.  Potokomik promised to send +them with dogs to our rescue and then go on with a +letter to Job Edmunds, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s +agent at Whale River.  This letter to Edmunds +I scribbled on a stray bit of paper I found in my +pocket, and in it told him of our position, and lack +of food and clothing.</p> + +<p align="justify">Potokomik left his rifle and some +cartridges with us, and then with the promise that +help should find us ere we had slept three times, we +shook hands with our dusky friend upon whose honor +and faithfulness our lives now depended, and the three +were gone in the face of a blinding snowstorm.</p> + +<p align="justify">Shortly after the Eskimos left us +we heard some ptarmigans clucking outside, and Easton +knocked three of them over with Potokomik’s rifle.  +There were four, but one got away.  It can be +imagined what work the .45 bullet made of them.  + After separating the flesh as far as possible from +the feathers, we boiled it in a tin can we had found +amongst the rubbish in the hut, and ate everything +but the bills and toe-nails—­bones, entrails +and all.  This, it will be remembered, was the +first food that we had had since noon of the day before.  + We had no tea and our only comfort-providing asset +was one small piece of plug tobacco.</p> + +<p align="justify">Fortunately wood was not hard to get, +but still not sufficiently plentiful for us to have +more than a light fire in the stove, which we hugged +pretty closely.</p> + +<p align="justify">The storm grew in fury.  It shrieked +around our illy built shack, drifting the snow in +through the holes and crevices until we could not +find a place to sit or lie that was free from it.  + On the night of the third day the weather cleared +and settled, cold and rasping.  I took the rifle +and looked about for game, but the snow was now so +deep that walking far in it was out of the question.  + I did not see the track or sign of any living thing +save a single whisky-jack, but even he was shy and +kept well out of range.</p> + +<p align="justify">We had nothing to eat—­not +a mouthful of anything—­and only water to +drink; even our tobacco was soon gone.  Day after +day we sat, sometimes in silence, for hours at a time, +sometimes calculating upon the probabilities of the +Eskimos having perished in the storm, for they were +wholly without protection.  I had faith in Potokomik +and his resourcefulness, and was hopeful they would +get out safely.  If there had been timber in +the country where night shelter could be made, we +might have started for Whale River without further +delay.  But in the wide waste barrens, illy clothed, +with deep snow to wallow through, it seemed to me +absolutely certain that such an attempt would end in +exhaustion and death, so we restrained our impatience +and waited.  On scraps of paper we played tit-tat-toe; +we improvised a checkerboard and played checkers.  + These pastimes broke the monotony of waiting somewhat.  + No matter what we talked about, our conversation always +drifted to something to eat.  We planned sumptuous +banquets we were to have at that uncertain period +“when we get home,” discussing in the +minutest detail each dish.  Once or twice Easton +roused me in the night to ask whether after all some +other roast or soup had not better be selected than +the one we had decided upon, or to suggest a change +in vegetables.</p> + +<p align="justify">We slept five times instead of thrice +and still no succor came.  The days were short, +the nights interminably long.  I knew we could +live for twelve or fifteen days easily on water.  + I had recovered entirely from the chills and cramps +and we were both feeling well but, of course, rather +weak.  We had lost no flesh to speak of.  + The extreme hunger had passed away after a couple +of days.  It is only when starving people have +a little to eat that the hunger period lasts longer +than that.  Novelists write a lot of nonsense +about the pangs of hunger and the extreme suffering +that accompanies starvation.  It is all poppycock.  + Any healthy person, with a normal appetite, after +missing two or three meals is as hungry as he ever +gets.  After awhile there is a sense of weakness +that grows on one, and this increases with the days.  + Then there comes a desire for a great deal of sleep, +a sort of lassitude that is not unpleasant, and this +desire becomes more pronounced as the weakness grows.  + The end is always in sleep.  There is no keeping +awake until the hour of death.</p> + +<p align="justify">While, as I have said, the real sense +of hunger passes away quickly there remains the instinct +to eat.  That is the working of the first law +of nature—­self-preservation.  It prompts +one to eat anything that one can chew or swallow, +and it is what makes men eat refuse the thought of +which would sicken them at other times.  Of course, +Easton and I were like everybody else under similar +conditions.  Easton said one day that he would +like to have something to chew on.  In the refuse +on the floor I found a piece of deerskin about ten +inches square.  I singed the hair off of it and +divided it equally between us and then we each roasted +our share and ate it.  That was the evening after +we had “slept” five times.</p> + +<p align="justify">After disposing of our bit of deerskin +we huddled down on the floor with our heads pillowed +upon sticks of wood, as was our custom, for a sixth +night, after discussing again the probable fate of +the Eskimos.  While I did not admit to Easton +that I entertained any doubt as to our ultimate rescue, +as the days passed and no relief came I felt grave +fears as to the safety of Potokomik and his companions.  + The severe storm that swept over the country after +their departure from the shack had no doubt materially +deepened the snow, and I questioned whether or not +this had made it impossible for them to travel without +snowshoes.  The wind during the second day of +the storm had been heavy, and it was my hope that +it had swept the barrens clear of the new snow, but +this was uncertain and doubtful.  Then, too, +I did not know the nature of Eskimos—­whether +they were wont to give up quickly in the face of unusual +privations and difficulties such as these men would +have to encounter.  They were in a barren country, +with no food, no blankets, no tent, no protection, +in fact, of any kind from the elements, and it was +doubtful whether they would find material for a fire +at night to keep them from freezing, and, even if +they did find wood, they had no ax with which to cut +it.  How far they would have to travel surrounded +by these conditions I had no idea.  Indians without +wood or food or a sheltering bush would soon give +up the fight and lie down to die.  If Potokomik +and his men had perished, I knew that Easton and I +could hope for no relief from the outside and that +our salvation would depend entirely upon our own resourcefulness.  + It seemed to me the time had come when some action +must be taken.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was a long while after dark, I +do not know how long, and I still lay awake turning +these things over in my mind, when I heard a strange +sound.  Everything had been deathly quiet for +days, and I sat up.  In the great unbroken silence +of the wilderness a man’s fancy will make him +hear strange things.  I have answered the shouts +of men that my imagination made me hear.  But +this was not fancy, for I heard it again—­a +distinct shout!  I jumped to my feet and called +to Easton:  “They’ve come, boy!  + Get up, there’s some one coming!” Then +I hurried outside and, in the dim light on the white +stretch of snow, saw a black patch of men and dogs.  + Our rescuers had come.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_17"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XVII</h1> + +<p><b>TO WHALE RIVER AND FORT CHIMO</b></p> + +<p align="justify">The feeling of relief that came to +me when I heard the shout and saw the men and dogs +coming can be appreciated, and something of the satisfaction +I felt when I grasped the hands of the two Eskimos +that strode up on snowshoes can be understood.</p> + +<p align="justify">The older of the two was an active +little fellow who looked much like a Japanese.  + He introduced himself as Emuk (Water).  His companion, +who, we learned later, rejoiced in the name Amnatuhinuk +(Only a Woman), was quite a young fellow, big, fat +and goodnatured.</p> + +<p align="justify">Without any preliminaries Emuk pushed +right into the shack and, from a bag that he carried, +produced some tough dough cakes which he gave us to +eat, and each a plug of tobacco to smoke.  He +was all activity and command, working quickly himself +and directing Amnatuhinuk.  A candle from his +bag was lighted.  Amnatuhinuk was sent for a kettle +of water; wood was piled into the stove, and the kettle +put over to boil.  The stove proved too slow +for Emuk and he built a fire outside where tea could +be made more quickly, and when it was ready he insisted +upon our drinking several cups of it to stimulate +us.  Then he brought forth a pail containing +strong-smelling beans cooked in rancid seal oil, which +he heated.  This concoction he thought was good +strong food and just the thing for half-starved men, +and he set it before us with the air of one who has +done something especially nice.  We ate some of +it but were as temperate as Emuk with his urgings +would permit us to be, for I knew the penalty that +food exacts after a long fast.</p> + +<p align="justify">A comfortable bed of boughs and blankets +was spread for us, and we were made to lie down.  + Emuk, on more than one occasion, bad been in a similar +position to ours and others had come to his aid, and +he wanted to pay the debt he felt he owed to humanity.</p> + +<p align="justify">He told us that Potokomik and the +others, after suffering great hardships, had reached +his tupek near the Mukalik the day before, but I could +not understand his language well enough to draw from +him any of the details of their trip out.</p> + +<p align="justify">At midnight Emuk made tea again and +roused us up to partake of it and eat more dough cakes +and beans with seal oil.  I feared the consequences, +but I could not refuse him, for he did not understand +why we should not want to eat a great deal.  The +result was that with happiness and stomach ache I +could not sleep, and before morning was going out +to vomit.  Even at the danger of seeming not to +appreciate Emuk’s hospitality, I was constrained +to decline to eat any breakfast.</p> + +<p align="justify">Emuk noticed a hole in the bottom +of one of my seal-skin boots.  He promptly pulled +off his own and made me put them on.  He had another +though poorer pair for himself.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was a delight to be moving again.  + We were on the trail before dawn, Emuk with his snowshoes +tramping the road ahead of the dogs and Amnatuhinuk +driving the team.  The temperature must have been +at least ten degrees below zero.  The weather +was bitterly cold for men so thinly clad as Easton +and I were, and the snow was so deep that we could +not exercise by running, for we had no snowshoes, and +while we wallowed through the deep snow the dogs would +have left us behind, so we could do nothing but sit +on the komatik (sledge) and shiver.</p> + +<p align="justify">At noon we stopped at the foot of +a hill before ascending it, and the men threw up a +wind-break of snow blocks, back of which they built +a fire and put over the teakettle.  Easton and +I had just squatted close to the fire to warm our +benumbed hands when the husky dogs put their noses +in the air and gave out the long weird howl of welcome +or defiance that announces the approach of other dogs, +and almost immediately a loaded team with two men +came over the hill and down the slope at a gallop +toward us.  It proved to be Job Edmunds, the half-breed +Hudson’s Bay Company officer from Whale River, +and his Eskimo servant, coming to our aid.</p> + +<p align="justify">Edmunds was greatly relieved to find +us safe.  He knew exactly what to do.  From +his komatik box he produced a bottle of port wine and +made us each take a small dose of it which he poured +into a tin cup.  He put a big, warm reindeer-skin +koolutuk [the outer garment of deerskin worn by the +Eskimos] on each of us and pulled the hoods over our +heads.  He had warm footwear—­in fact, +everything that was necessary for our comfort.  + Then he cut two ample slices of wheat bread from a +big loaf, and toasted and buttered them for us.  + He was very kind and considerate.  Edmunds has +saved many lives in his day.  Every winter he +is called upon to go to the rescue of Eskimos who have +been caught in the barrens without food, as we were.  + He had saved Emuk from starvation on one or two occasions.</p> + +<p align="justify">After a half-hour’s delay we +were off again, I on the komatik with Edmunds, and +Easton with Emuk.  We passed the snow house where +Edmunds and his man had spent the previous night.  + They would have come on in the dark, but they knew +Emuk was ahead and would reach us anyway.</p> + +<p align="justify">Edmunds had a splendid team of dogs, +wonderfully trained.  The big, wolfish creatures +loved him and they feared him.  He almost never +had to use the long walrus-hide whip.  They obeyed +him on the instant without hesitation—­“Ooisht,” +and they pulled in the harness as one; “Aw,” +and they stopped.  There was a power in his voice +that governed them like magic.  The wind had +packed the snow hard enough on the barrens beyond +the Tuktotuk—­and the country there was all +barren—­to bear up the komatik; the dogs +were in prime condition and traveled at a fast trot +or a gallop, and we made good time.  Once Emuk +stopped to take a white fox out of a trap.  He +killed it by pressing his knee on its breast and stifling +its heart beats.</p> + +<p align="justify">Big cakes of ice were piled in high +barricades along the rivers where we crossed them, +and at these places we had to let the komatik down +with care on one side and help the dogs haul it up +with much labor on the other; and on the level, through +the rough ice hummocks or amongst the rocks, the drivers +were kept busy steering to prevent collisions with +the obstructions, while the dogs rushed madly ahead, +and we, on the komatik, clung on for dear life and +watched our legs that they might not get crushed.  + Once or twice we turned over, but the drivers never +lost their hold of the komatik or control of the dogs.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was dark when we reached Emuk’s +skin tupek and were welcomed by a group of Eskimos, +men, women and children.  Iksialook was of the +number, and he was so worn and haggard that I scarcely +recognized him.  He had seen hardship since our +parting.  The people were very dirty and very +hospitable.  They took us into the tupek at once, +which was extremely filthy and made insufferably hot +by a sheet-iron tent stove.  The women wore sealskin +trousers and in the long hoods of their <i>adikeys</i>, +or upper garments, carried babies whose bright little +dusky-hued faces peeped timidly out at us over the +mothers’ shoulders.  A ptarmigan was boiled +and divided between Easton and me, and with that and +bread and butter from Edmunds’s box and hot tea +we made a splendid supper.  After a smoke all +around, for the women smoke as well as the men, polar +bear and reindeer skins were spread upon spruce boughs, +blankets were given us for covering, and we lay down.  + Eleven of us crowded into the tupek and slept there +that night.  How all the Eskimos found room I +do not know.  I was crowded so tightly between +one of the fat women on one side and Easton on the +other that I could not turn over; but I slept as I +had seldom ever slept before.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next forenoon we crossed the Mukalik +River and soon after reached Whale River, big and +broad, with blocks of ice surging up and down upon +the bosom of the restless tide.  The Post is about +ten miles from its mouth.  We turned northward +along its east bank and, in a little while, came to +some scattered spruce woods, which Edmunds told me +were just below his home.  Then at a creek, above +which stood the miniature log cabin and small log +storehouse comprising the Post buildings, I got off +and climbed up through rough ice barricades.</p> + +<p align="justify">Never in my life have I had such a +welcome as I received here.  Mrs. Edmunds came +out to meet me.  She told me that they had been +watching for us at the Post all the morning and how +glad they were that we were safe, and that we had +come to see them, and that we must stay a good long +time and rest.  For two-score years they had lived +in that desolate place and never before had a traveler +come to visit them.  In all that time the only +white people they had ever met were the three or four +connected with the Post at Fort Chimo, for the ship +never calls at Whale River on her rounds.  Edmunds +brings the provisions over from Fort Chimo in a little +schooner.  There are five in the family—­Edmunds +and his wife, their daughter (a young woman of twenty) +and her husband, Sam Ford (a son of John Ford at George +River), and Mary’s baby.</p> + +<p align="justify">A good wash and clean clothing followed +by a sumptuous dinner of venison put us on our feet +again.  I suffered little as a result of the +fasting period, but Easton had three or four days of +pretty severe colic.  This is the usual result +of feast after famine, and was to be expected.</p> + +<p align="justify">And now I learned the details of Potokomik’s +journey out.  When the three Eskimos left us +in the shack they started at once in search of Emuk’s +tupek.  The storm that raged for two days swept +pitilessly across their path, but they never halted, +pushing through the deep-ening snow in single file, +taking turns at going ahead and breaking the way, +until night, and then they stopped.  They had +no ax and could have no fire, so they built themselves +a snow igloo as best they could without the proper +implements and it protected them against the drifting +snow and piercing wind while they slept.  On the +second day they shot, with their rifles, seven ptarmigans.  + These they plucked and ate raw.  They saw no +more game, and finally became so weak and exhausted +they could carry their rifles no farther and left them +on the trail.  Each night they built a snow house.  + With increasing weakness their progress was very +slow; still they kept going, staggering on and on +through the snow.  It was only their lifelong +habit of facing great odds and enduring great hardships +that kept them up.  Men less inured to cold and +privation would surely have succumbed.  They +were making their final fight when at last they stumbled +into Emuk’s tupek.  Kumuk sat down and cried +like a child.  It was two weeks before any of +them was able to do any physical work.  They looked +like shadows of their former selves when I saw them +at Whale River.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was after dark Sunday night when +my letter to Edmunds reached the Post.  Earlier +in the evening Edmunds and his man had crossed the +river, which is here over half a mile in width, and +pitched their camp on the opposite shore, preparatory +to starting up the river the next morning on a deer +hunt, herds having been reported to the northward by +Eskimos.  Mrs. Edmunds read the letter, and she +and Mary were at once all excitement.  They lighted +a lantern and signaled to the camp on the other side +and fired guns until they had a reply.  Then, +for fear that Edmunds might not understand the urgency +of his immediate returns they kept firing at intervals +all night, stopping only to pack the komatik box with +the clothing and food that Edmunds was to bring to +us.  Neither of the women slept.  With the +thought of men starving out in the snow they could +not rest.  The floating ice in the river and +the swift tide made it impossible for a boat to cross +in the darkness, but with daylight Edmunds returned, +harnessed his dogs, and was off to meet us as has +been described.</p> + +<p align="justify">We had left George River on October +twenty-second, and it was the eighth of November when +we reached Whale River, and in this interval the caribou +herds that the Indians had reported west of the Koksoak +had passed to the east of Whale River and turned to +the northward.  Fifty miles inland the Indian +and Eskimo hunters had met them.  The killing +was over and they told us hundreds of the animals lay +dead in the snow above.  So many had been butchered +that all the dogs and men in Ungava would be well +supplied with meat during the winter, and numbers +of the carcasses would feed the packs of timber wolves +that infested the country or rot in the next summer’s +sun.  Sam Ford had gone inland but was too late +for the big hunt and only killed four or five deer.  + The wolves were so thick, he told us, that he could +not sleep at night in his camp with the noise of their +howling.  One Eskimo brought in two wolf skins +that were so large when they were stretched a man +could almost have crawled into either of them.  + I saw wolf tracks myself within a quarter mile of +the Post, for the animals were so bold they ventured +almost to the door.</p> + +<p align="justify">Edmunds is a famous hunter.  +During the previous winter, besides attending to his +post duties, he killed nearly half a hundred caribou +to supply his Post and Fort Chimo with man and dog +food, and in the same season his traps yielded him +two hundred fox pelts—­mostly white ones—­his +personal catch.  This was not an unusual year’s +work for him.  Mary inherits her father’s +hunting instincts.  In the morning she would +put her baby in the hood of her adikey, shoulder her +gun, don her snowshoes, and go to “tend” +her traps.  One day she did not take her gun, +and when she had made her rounds of the traps and +started homeward discovered that she was being followed +by a big gray timber wolf.  When she stopped, +the wolf stopped; when she went on, it followed, stealing +gradually closer and closer to her, almost imperceptibly, +but still gaining upon her.  She wanted to run, +but she realized that if she did the wolf would know +at once that she was afraid and would attack and kill +her and her baby; so without hastening her pace, and +only looking back now and again to note the wolf’s +gain, she reached the door of the house and entered +with the animal not ten paces away.  Now she +always carries a gun and feels no fear, for she can +shoot.</p> + +<p align="justify">I took advantage of the delay at Whale +River to partially outfit for the winter.  Edmunds +and his family rendered us valuable assistance and +advice, securing for us, from the Eskimos, sealskin +boots, and from the Indians who came to the Post while +we were there, deer skins for trousers, koolutuks +and sleeping bags, Mrs. Edmunds and Mary themselves +making our moccasins, mittens and duffel socks.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Eskimos were all away at their +hunting grounds and it was not possible to secure +a dog team to carry us on to Fort Chimo.  Therefore, +when Edmunds announced one day that he must send Sam +Ford and the Eskimo servant over with the Post team +for a load of provisions, I availed myself of the +opportunity to accompany them, and on the twenty-eighth +of November we said good-by to the friends who had +been so kind to us and again faced toward the westward.</p> + +<p align="justify">The morning was clear, crisp and bracing; +the temperature was twenty degrees below zero.  + We ascended the river some seven or eight miles before +we found a safe crossing, as the tide had kept the +ice broken in the center of the channel below, and +piled it like hills along the banks.</p> + +<p align="justify">I noted that the Whale River valley +was much better wooded than any country we had seen +for a long time—­since we had left the head +waters of the George River, in fact—­and +the Indians say it is so to its source.  The +trees are small black spruce and larch, but a fairly +thick growth.  This “bush,” however, +is evidently quite restricted in width, for after +crossing the river we were almost immediately out of +it, and the same interminable, barren, rocky, treeless +country that we had seen to the eastward extended +westward to the Koksoak.</p> + +<p align="justify">That night was spent in a snow igloo.  + The next day we crossed the False River, a wide stream +at its mouth, but a little way up not over two hundred +yards wide.  At twelve o’clock a halt was +made at an Eskimo tupek for dinner.</p> + +<p align="justify">The people were, as these northern +people always are, most hospitable, giving us the +best they had—­fresh venison and tea.  + After but an hour’s delay we were away again, +and at three o’clock, with the dogs on a gallop, +rounded the hill above Fort Chimo and pulled into the +Post, the farthest limit of white man’s habitation +in all Labrador.</p> + +<p align="justify">We were welcomed by Mr. Duncan Mathewson, +the Chief Trader, who has charge of the Ungava District +for the Hudson’s Bay Company, and Dr. Alexander +Milne, Assistant Commissioner of the Company, from +Winnipeg, who had arrived on the <i>Pelican</i> and +was on a tour of inspection of the Labrador Coast +Posts.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Chief Trader’s residence +is a small building, and Mr. Mathewson was unable +to entertain us in the house, but he gave orders at +once to have a commodious room in one of the dozen +or so other buildings of the Post fitted up for us +with beds, stove and such simple furnishings as were +necessary to establish us in housekeeping and make +us comfortable during our stay with him.  Here +we were to remain until the Indian and Eskimo hunters +came for their Christmas and New Year’s trading, +at which time, I was advised, I should probably be +able to engage Eskimo drivers and dogs to carry us +eastward to the Atlantic coast.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_18"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XVIII</h1> + +<p><b>THE INDIANS OF THE NORTH</b></p> + +<p align="justify">Fort Chmio is situated upon the east +bank of the Koksoak River and about twenty-five miles +from its mouth, where the river is nearly a mile and +a half wide.  There are two trading posts here; +one, that of the Hudson’s Bay Company, consisting +of a dozen or so buildings, which include dwelling +and storehouses and native cabins; the other that of +Revellion Brothers, the great fur house of Paris, colloquially +referred to as “the French Company,” which +stands just above and ad-joining the station of the +Hudson’s Bay Company.  This latter Post +was erected in the year 1903, and has nearly as many +buildings as the older establishment.  We used +to refer to them respectively as “London” +and “Paris.”</p> + +<p align="justify">The history of Fort Chimo extends +back to the year 1811, when Kmoch and Kohlmeister, +two of the Moravian Brethren of the Okak Mission on +the Atlantic coast, in the course of their efforts +for the conversion of the Eskimos to Christianity +cruised into Ungava Bay, discovered the George River, +which they named in honor of King George the Third, +and then proceeded to the Koksoak, which they ascended +to the point of the present settlement.  The +natives received them well.  They erected a beacon +on a hill, tarried but a few days and then turned back +to Okak.  Upon their return they gave glowing +accounts of their reception by the natives and the +great possibilities for profitable trade, but they +did not deem it advisable themselves to extend their +labors to that field.</p> + +<p align="justify">In the course of time this report +drifted to England and to the ears of the officials +of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who were attracted +by it, and in 1827 Dr. Mendry, an officer of the Company +at Moose Factory, with a party of white men and Indian +guides crossed the peninsula from Richmond Gulf, through +Clearwater Lake to the head waters of the Larch River, +a tributary of the Koksoak, thence descended the Larch +and Koksoak to the place where the Moravians had erected +the beacon, and on a low terrace, just across the river +from the beacon, established the original Fort Chimo.  + The difficulties of navigation and the consequent +uncertainty and expense of keeping the Post supplied +with provisions and articles of trade were such, however, +that after a brief trial Ungava was abandoned.</p> + +<p align="justify">The opportunities for lucrative trade +here were not forgotten by the Company, and in the +year 1837 Factor John McLean was detailed to re-establish +Fort Chimo.  This he did, and a year later built +the first Post at George River.  During the succeeding +winter he crossed the interior with dogs to Northwest +River.  Upon their return journey McLean and +his party ate their dogs and barely escaped perishing +from starvation; one of his Indians, who was sent +ahead, reaching Fort Chimo and bringing succor when +McLean and the others, through extreme weakness, were +unable to proceed farther.  In the following summer +McLean built the fort on Indian House Lake, and the +other one that has been mentioned, on a large lake +to the westward—­Lake Eraldson he called +it—­presumably the source of Whale River.  + Later he succeeded in crossing to Northwest River +by canoe, ascending the George River and descending +the Atlantic slope of the plateau by way of the Grand +River.  His object was to establish a regular +line of communication between Fort Chimo and Northwest +River, with interior posts along the route.  +The natural obstacles which the country presented finally +forced the abandonment of this plan as impracticable, +and the two interior posts were closed after a brief +trial.  This was before the days of steam navigation, +and with sailing vessels it was only possible to reach +these isolated northern stations in Ungava Bay with +supplies once every two years.  Even these infrequent +visits were so fraught with danger and uncertainty +that finally, in 1855, Fort Chimo and George River +were again abandoned as unprofitable.  In 1866, +however, the building of the Company’s steamship +Labrador made yearly visits possible, and in that +year another attack was made upon the Ungava district +and Fort Chimo was rebuilt, George River Post re-established, +and a little later the small station at Whale River +was erected.  With the improved facilities for +transportation the trade with Indians and Eskimos, +and the salmon and white whale fisheries carried on +by the Posts, now proved most profitable, and the Company +has since and is still reaping the reward of its persistence.</p> + +<p align="justify">Dr. Milne, as has been stated, was +not a permanent resident of the Post.  Regularly +stationed here, besides Mathewson, there is a young +clerk, a cooper, a carpenter, and a handy man, all +Scotchmen, and a comparatively new arrival, Rev. Samuel +M. Stewart, a missionary of the Church Mission Society +of England.  Of Mr. Stewart, who did much to +relieve the monotony of our several weeks’ sojourn +at Fort Chimo, and his remarkable self-sacrifice and +work, I shall have something to say later.</p> + +<p align="justify">The day after our arrival we took +occasion to pay our respects to Monsieur D. Thévenet, +the officer in charge of the “French Post.”  +Our reception was most cordial.  M. Thévenet +is a gentleman by birth.  He was at one time +an officer in the French cavalry, but his love of +adventure and active temperament rebelled against the +inactivity of garrison duty and he resigned his commission +in the army, came to Canada, and joined the Northwest +mounted police in the hope of obtaining a detail in +the Klondike.  In this he was disappointed, and +the outbreak of the South African war offering a new +field of adventure he quit the police, enlisted in +the Canadian Mounted Rifles, and served in the field +throughout the war.  After his return to Canada +and discharge from the army, he took service with Revellion +Brothers.</p> + +<p align="justify">M. Thévenet invited us to dine +with him that very evening, and we were not slow to +accept his hospitality.  His bright conversation, +pleasing personality and unstinted hospitality offered +a delightful evening and we were not disappointed.  + This and many other pleasant evenings spent in his +society during our stay at Fort Chimo were some of +the most enjoyable of our trip.</p> + +<p align="justify">Here an agreeable surprise awaited +me.  When we sat down to dinner Thévenet +called in his new half-breed French-Indian interpreter, +and who should he prove to be but Belfleur, one of +the dog drivers who in April, 1904, accompanied me +from Northwest River to Rigolet, when I began that +anxious journey over the ice with Hubbard’s body.  + He was apparently as well pleased at the meeting +as I. Belfleur and a half-breed Scotch-Eskimo named +Saunders are employed as Indian and Eskimo interpreters +at the French Post, and are the only ones of M. Thévenet’s +people with whom he can converse.  Belfleur speaks +French and broken English, and Saunders English, besides +their native languages.</p> + +<p align="justify">None of the people of Ungava, with +the exception of two or three, speaks any but his +mother tongue, and they have no ambition, apparently, +to extend their linguistic acquirements.  It is, +indeed, a lonely life for the trader, who but once +a year, when his ship arrives, has any communication +with the great world which he has left behind him.  + No white woman is here with her softening influence, +no physician or surgeon to treat the sick and injured, +and never until the advent of Mr. Stewart any permanent +missionary.</p> + +<p align="justify">The natives that remain at Fort Chimo +all the year are three or four families of Eskimos, +a few old or crippled Indians, and some half-breed +Indians and Eskimos, who do chores around the Posts +and lead an uncertain existence.  The half-breed +Indian children are taken care of at the “Indian +house,” a log structure presided over by the +“Queen” of Ungava, a very corpulent old +Nascaupee woman, who lives by the labor of others +and draws tribute from trading Indians who make the +Indian house their rendezvous when they visit the +Post.  She is and always has been very kind, +and a sort of mother, to the little waifs that nearly +every trader or white servant has left behind him, +when the Company’s orders transferred him to +some other Post and he abandoned his temporary wife +forever.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Indians of the Ungava district +are chiefly Nascaupees, with occasionally a few Crees +from the West.  “Nenenot” they call +themselves, which means perfect, true men.  “Nascaupee” +means false or untrue men and is a word of opprobrium +applied to them by the Mountaineers in the early days, +because of their failure to keep a compact to join +forces with the latter at the time of the wars for +supremacy between the Indians and Eskimos.  Nascaupee +is the name by which they are known now, outside of +their own lodges, and the one which we shall use in +referring to them.  In like manner I have chosen +to use the English Mountaineer, rather than the French +<i>Montagnais</i>, in speaking of the southern Indians.  + North of the Straits of Belle Isle the French word +is never heard, and if you were to refer to these +Indians as “Montagnais” to the Labrador +natives it is doubtful whether you would be understood.</p> + +<p align="justify">Both Mountaineers and Nascaupees are +of Cree origin, and belong to the great Algonquin +family.  Their language is similar, with only +the variation of dialect that might be expected with +the different environments.  The Nascaupees have +one peculiarity of speech, however, which is decidedly +their own.  In conversation their voice is raised +to a high pitch, or assumes a whining, petulant tone.  + An outsider might believe them to be quarreling and +highly excited, when in fact they are on the best +of terms and discussing some ordinary subject in a +most matter of fact way.</p> + +<p align="justify">In personal appearance the Nascaupees +are taller and more angular than their southern brothers, +but the high cheek bones, the color and general features +are the same.  They are capable of enduring the +severest cold.  In summer cloth clothing obtained +in barter at the Posts is, worn, but in winter deerskin +garments are usual.  The coat has the hair inside, +and the outside of the finely dressed, chamoislike +skin is decorated with various designs in color, in +startling combinations of blue, red and yellow, painted +on with dyes obtained at the Post or manufactured +by themselves from fish roe and mineral products.  + When the garment has a hood it is sometimes the skin +of a wolf’s head, with the ears standing and +hair outside, giving the wearer a startling and ferocious +appearance.  Tight-fitting deerskin or red cloth +leggings decorated with beads, and deerskin moccasins +complete the costume.</p> + +<p align="justify">Some beadwork trimming is made by +the women, but they do little in the way of needlework +embroidery, and the results of their attempts in this +direction are very indifferent.  This applies +to the full-blood Nascaupees.  I have seen some +fairly good specimens of moccasin embroidery done +by the half-breed women at the Post, and by the Mountaineer +women in the South.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Nascaupees are not nearly so clean +nor so prosperous as the Mountaineers, and, coming +very little in contact with the whites, live now practically +as their forefathers lived for untold generations +before them—­just as they lived, in fact, +before the white men came.  They are perhaps the +most primitive Indians on the North American continent +to-day.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Mountaineers, on the other hand, +see much more, particularly during the summer months, +of the whites and half-breeds of the coast.  Most +of those who spend their summers on the St. Lawrence, +west of St. Augustine, have more or less white blood +in their veins through consorting with the traders +and settlers.  With but two or three exceptions +the Mountaineers of the Atlantic coast, Groswater Bay, +and at St. Augustine and the eastward, are pure, uncontaminated +Indians.</p> + +<p align="justify">The line of territorial division between +the Nascaupee and Mountaineer Indians’ hunting +grounds is pretty closely drawn.  The divide north +of Lake Michikamau is the southern and the George +River the eastern boun-dary of the Nascaupee territory, +and to the south and to the east of these boundaries, +lie the hunting grounds of the Mountaineers.</p> + +<p align="justify">These latter, south of the height +of land, as has been stated, are practically all under +the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, and are +most devout in the observance of their religious obligations.  +While it is true that their faith is leavened to some +extent by the superstitions that their ancestors have +handed down to them, yet even in the long months of +the winter hunting season they never forget the teachings +of their father confessor.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Nascaupees are heathens.  + About the year 1877 or 1878 Father Père Lacasse +crossed overland from Northwest River, apparently by +the Grand River route, to Fort Chimo, in an attempt +to carry the work of the mission into that field.  + The Nascaupees, however, did not take kindly to the +new religion, and unfortunately during the priest’s +stay among them, which was brief, the hunting was +bad.  This was attributed to the missionary’s +presence, and the sachems were kept busy for a time +dispelling the evil charm.  No one was converted.  + Let us hope that Mr. Stewart, who is there to stay, +and is an earnest, persistent worker, will reach the +savage confidence and conscience, though his opportunity +with the Indians is small, for these Nascaupees tarry +but a very brief time each year within his reach.  + With open water in the summer they come to the Fort +with the pelts of their winter catch.  These are +exchanged for arms, ammunition, knives, clothing, tea +and tobacco, chiefly.  Then, after a short rest +they disappear again into the fastnesses of the wilderness +above, to fish the interior lakes and hunt the forests, +and no more is seen of them until the following summer, +excepting only a few of the younger men who usually +emerge from the silent, snow-bound land during Christmas +week to barter skins for such necessaries as they +are in urgent need of, and to get drunk on a sort +of beer, a concoction of hops, molasses and unknown +ingredients, that the Post dwellers make and the “Queen” +dispenses during the holiday festivals.</p> + +<p align="justify">Reindeer, together with ptarmigans +(Arctic grouse) and fish, form their chief food supply, +with tea always when they can get it.  All of +these northern Indiana are passionately fond of tea, +and drink unbelievable quantities of it.  Little +flour is used.  The deer are erratic in their +movements and can never be depended upon with any +degree of certainty, and should the Indians fail in +their hunt they are placed face to face with starvation, +as was the case in the winter of 1892 and 1893, when +full half of the people perished from lack of food.</p> + +<p align="justify">Formerly the migrating herds pretty +regularly crossed the Koksoak very near and just above +the Post in their passage to the eastward in the early +autumn, but for several years now only small bands +have been seen here, the Indians meeting the deer +usually some forty or fifty miles farther up the river.  + When the animals swim the river they bunch close +together; Indian canoe men head them off and turn them +up-stream, others attacking the helpless animals +with spears.  An agent of the Hudson’s +Bay Company told me that he had seen nearly four hundred +animals slaughtered in this manner in a few hours.  + When bands of caribou are met in winter they are +driven into deep snow banks, and, unable to help themselves, +are speared at will.</p> + +<p align="justify">Of course when the killing is a large +one the flesh of all the animals cannot be preserved, +and frequently only the tongues are used.  Of +late years, however, owing to the growing scarcity +of reindeer, it is said the Indians have learned to +be a little less wasteful than for-merly, and to +restrict their kill more nearly to their needs, though +during the winter I was there hundreds were slaughtered +for tongues and sinew alone.  Large quantities +of the venison are dried and stored up against a season +of paucity.  Pemmican, which was formerly so +largely used by our western Indians, is occasionally +though not generally made by those of Labrador.  + When deer are killed some bone, usually a shoulder +blade, is hung in a tree as an offering to the Manitou, +that he may not interfere with future hunts, and drive +the animals away.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Indian religion is not one of +worship, but one of fear and superstition.  They +are constanly in dread of imaginary spirits that haunt +the wilderness and drive away the game or bring sickness +or other disaster upon them.  The conjurer is +employed to work his charms to keep off the evil ones.  + They evidently have some sort of indefinite belief +in a future existence, and hunting implements and +other offerings are left with the dead, who, where +the conditions will permit, are buried in the ground.</p> + +<p align="justify">Sometimes the very old people are +abandoned and left to die of starvation unattended.  + Be it said to the honor of the trading companies +that they do their utmost to prevent this when it is +possible, and offer the old and decrepit a haven at +the Post, where they are fed and cared for.</p> + +<p align="justify">The marriage relation is held very +lightly and continence and chastity are not in their +sight virtues.  A child born to an unmarried woman +is no impediment to her marriage.  If it is a +male child it is, in fact, an advantage.  Love +does not enter into the Indian’s marriage relationship.  + It is a mating for convenience.  Gifts are made +to the girl’s father or nearest male relative, +and she is turned over, whether she will or no, to +the would-be husband.  There is no ceremony.  + A hunter has as many wives as he is physically able +to control and take care of—­one, two or +even three.  Sometimes it happens that they combine +against him and he receives at their hands what is +doubtless well-merited chastisement.</p> + +<p align="justify">The men are the hunters, the women +the slaves.  No one finds fault with this, not +even the women, for it is an Indian custom immemorial +for the woman to do all the hard, physical work.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Mountaineer Indians that we met +on the George River, and one Indian who visited Fort +Chimo while we were there, are the only ones of the +Labrador that I have ever seen drive dogs.  This +Fort Chimo Indian, unlike the other hunters of his +people, has spent much time at the Post, and mingled +much with the white traders and the Eskimos, and, +for an Indian, entertains very progressive and broad +views.  He was, with the exception of a humpbacked +post attaché who had an Eskimo wife, the only +Indian I met that would not be insulted when one addressed +him in Eskimo, for the Indians and Eskimos carry on +no social intercourse and the Indians rather despise +the Eskimos.  The Indian referred to, however, +has learned something of the Eskimo language, and +also a little English—­English that you cannot +always understand, but must take for granted.  + He informed me, “Me three man—­Indian, +husky (Eskimo), white man.”  He was very +proud of his accomplishments.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Indian hauls his loads in winter +on toboggans, which he manufactures himself with his +ax and crooked knife—­the only woodworking +tools he possesses.  The crooked knives he makes, +too, from old files, shaping and tempering them.</p> + +<p align="justify">The snowshoe frames are made by the +men, the babiche is cut and netted by the women, who +display wonderful skill in this work.  The Mountaineers +make much finer netted snowshoes than the Nascaupees, +and have great pride in the really beautiful, light +snowshoes that they make.  No finer ones are +to be found anywhere than those made by the Groswater +Bay Mountaineers.  Three shapes are in vogue—­the +beaver tail, the egg tail and the long tail.  + The beaver-tail snowshoes are much more difficult +to make, and are seldom seen amongst the Nascaupees.  + With them the egg tail is the favorite.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Ungava Indians never go to the +open bay in their canoes.  They have a superstition +that it will bring them bad luck, for there they say +the evil spirits dwell.  Of all the Indians that +visit Fort Chimo only two or three have ever ventured +to look upon the waters of Ungava Bay, and these had +their view from a hilltop at a safe distance.</p> + +<p align="justify">It is safe to say that there is not +a truthful Indian in Labrador.  In fact it is +considered an accomplishment to lie cheerfully and +well.  They are like the Crees of James Bay and +the westward in this respect, and will lie most plausibly +when it will serve their purpose better than truth, +and I verily believe these Indians sometimes lie for +the mere pleasure of it when it might be to their +advantage to tell the truth.</p> + +<p align="justify">One good and crowning characteristic +these children of the Ungava wilderness possess—­that +of honesty.  They will not steal.  You may +have absolute confidence in them in this respect.  + And I may say, too, that they are most hospitable +to the traveler, as our own experience with them exemplified.  + For their faults they must not be condemned.  +They live according to their lights, and their lights +are those of the untutored savage who has never heard +the gospel of Christianity and knows nothing of the +civilization of the great world outside.  Their +life is one of constant struggle for bare existence, +and it is truly wonderful how they survive at all +in the bleak wastes which they inhabit.</p> + +<p align="justify">NOTE.—­It must not be supposed +that all of the statements made in this chapter with +reference to the Indian, particularly the Nascaupees, +are the result of my personal observations.  +During our brief stay at Ungava, much of this information +was gleaned from the officers of the two trading companies, +and from natives.  In a number of instances they +were verified by myself, but I have taken the liberty, +when doubt or conflicting statements existed, of referring +to the works of Mr. A. P. Low of the Canadian Geological +Society and Mr. Lucien M. Turner of the Bureau of +Ethnology at Washington, to set myself right.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_19"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XIX</h1> + +<p><b>THE ESKIMOS OF LABRADOR</b></p> + +<a name="eskimo"></a> +<a href="images/eskimoth.jpg"> +<img alt="Eskimo Photo Collage" src="images/eskimoth.jpg"> +</a> + + + +<p align="justify">During our stay in Ungava, and the +succeeding weeks while we traveled down the ice-bound +coast, we were brought into constant and intimate +contact with the Eskimos.  We saw them in almost +every phase of their winter life, eating and sleeping +with them in their tupeks and igloos, and meeting +them in their hunting camps and at the Fort, when they +came to barter and to enjoy the festivities of the +Christmas holiday week.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Cree Indians used to call these +people “Ashkimai,” which means “raw +meat eaters,” and it is from this appellation +that our word Eskimo is derived.  Here in Ungava +and on the coast of Hudson’s Bay, they are pretty +generally known as “Huskies,” a contraction +of “Huskimos,” the pronunciation given +to the word <i>Eskimos</i> by the English sailors +of the trading vessels, with their well-known penchant +for tacking on the “h” where it does not +belong, and leaving it off when it should be pronounced.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Eskimos call themselves “Innuit,” +[Singular, Innuk; dual, Innuek] which means people—­humans.  + The white visitor is a “Kablunak,” or +outlander, while a breed born in the country is a “Kablunangayok,” +or one partaking of the qualities of both the Innuk +and the Kablunak.  Those who live in the Koksoak +district are called “Koksoagmiut,” * and +those of the George River district are the “Kangerlualuksoagmiut.” +**</p> + +<p align="justify">The ethnologists, I believe, have +never agreed upon the origin of the Eskimo, some claiming +it is Mongolian, some otherwise.  In passing I +shall simply remark that in appearance they certainly +resemble the Mongolian race.  If some of the +men that I saw in the North were dressed like Japanese +or Chinese and placed side by side with them, the +one could not be told from the other so long as the +Eskimos kept their mouths closed.</p> + +<p align="justify">In our old school geographies we used +to see them pictured as stockily built little fellows.  + In real life they compare well in stature with the +white man of the temperate zone.  With a very +few exceptions the Eskimos of Ungava average over +five feet eight inches in height, with some six-footers.</p> + +<p align="justify">* <i>Kok</i>, river; <i>soak</i>, +big; <i>miut</i>, inhabitants; <i>Koksoagmiut</i>, +inhabitants of the big river.</p> + +<p align="justify">** Literally, inhabitants of the very +big bay.  The George River mouth widens into +a bay which is known as the Very Big Bay.</p> + +<p align="justify">Their legs are shorter and their bodies +longer than the white man’s, and this probably +is one reason why they have such wonderful capacity +for physical endurance.  In this respect they +are the superior of the Indian.  With plenty +of food and a bush to lie under at night the Indian +will doubtless travel farther in a given time than +the Eskimo.  But turn them both loose with only +food enough for one meal a day for a month on the +bare rocks or ice fields of the Arctic North, and your +Indian will soon be dead, while your Eskimo will emerge +from the test practically none the worse for his experience, +for it is a usual experience with him and he has a +wonderful amount of dogged perseverance.  The +Eskimo knows better how to husband his food than the +Indian; and give him a snow bank and he can make himself +comfortable anywhere.  The most gluttonous Indian +would turn green with envy to see the quantities of +meat the Eskimo can stow away within his inner self +at a single sitting; but on the other hand he can +live, and work hard too, on a single scant meal a day, +just as his dogs do.</p> + +<p align="justify">The facial characteristics of the +Eskimo are wide cheek bones and round, full face, +with a flat, broad nose.  I used to look at these +flat, comfortable noses on very cold days and wish +that for winter travel I might be able to exchange +the longer face projection that my Scotch-Irish forbears +have handed down to me for one of them, for they are +not so easily frosted in a forty or fifty degrees below +zero temperature.  By the way, if you ever get +your nose frozen do not rub snow on it.  If you +do you will rub all the skin off, and have a pretty +sore member to nurse for some time afterward.  + Grasp it, instead, in your bare hand.  That +is the Eskimo’s way, and he knows.  My advice +is founded upon experience.</p> + +<p align="justify">They are not so dark-hued as the Indians—­in +fact, many of them are no darker than the average +white man under like conditions of exposure to wind +and storm and sun would be.  The hair is straight, +black, coarse and abundant.  The men usually +wear it hanging below their ears, cut straight around, +with a forehead bang reaching nearly to the eyebrows.  +The women wear it braided and looped up on the sides +of the head.</p> + +<p align="justify">What constitutes beauty is of course +largely a question of individual taste.  My own +judgment of the Eskimos is that they are very ugly, +although I have seen young women among them whom I +thought actually handsome.  This was when they +first arrived at the Post with dogs and komatik and +they were dressed in their native costume of deerskin +trousers and Koolutuk, their cheeks red and glowing +with the exercise of travel and the keen, frosty atmosphere.  + A half hour later I have seen the same women when +stringy, dirty skirts had replaced the neat-fitting +trousers, and Dr. Grenfell’s description of them +when thus clad invariably came to my mind:  “A +bedraggled kind of mop, soaked in oil and filth.”  + This tendency to ape civilization by wearing civilized +garments, is happily confined to their brief sojourns +at the Post.  When they are away at their camps +and igloos their own costume is almost exclusively +worn, and is the best possible costume for the climate +and the country.  The adikey, or koolutuk, of +the women, has a long flap or tail, reaching nearly +to the heels, and a sort of apron in front.  +The hood is so commodious in size that a baby can be +tucked away into it, and that is the way the small +children are carried.  The men wear cloth trousers +except in the very cold weather, when they don their +deer or seal skins.  Their adikey or koolutuk +reaches half way to their knees, and is cut square +around.  The hood of course, in their case, is +only large enough to cover the head.  It might +be of interest to explain that if this garment is +made of cloth it is an <i>adikey</i>; if of deerskin, +a <i>koolutuk</i>, and if made of sealskin, a <i>netsek</i>—­all +cut alike.  If they wear two cloth garments at +the same time, as is usually the case, the inner one +only is an adikey, the outer one a silapak.</p> + +<p align="justify">Their language is the same from Greenland +to Alaska.  Of course different localities have +different dialects, but this is the natural result +of a different environment.  Missionary Bohlman, +whom I met at Hebron, told me that before coming to +Labrador he was attached to a Greenland mission.  + When he came to his new field he found the language +so similar to that in Greenland that he had very little +difficulty in making himself understood.  When +Missionary Stecker a few years ago went from Labrador +to Alaska he was able to converse with the Alaskan +Eskimos.  It is held by some authorities that +Greenland was peopled by Labrador Eskimos who crossed +Hudson Strait to Baffin Land, and thence made their +way to Greenland, having originally crossed from Siberia +into Alaska, thence eastward, skirting Hudson Bay.  + This is entirely feasible.  I heard of one <i>umiak</i> +(skin boat) only a few years ago having crossed to +Cape Chidley from Baffin Land.  Even in Labrador +there are many different dialects.  The “Northerners,” +the people inhabiting the northwest arm of the peninsula, +have many words that the Koksoagmiut do not understand.  + The intonation of the Ungava Eskimos, particularly +the women, is like a plaint.  At Okak they sing +their words.  Each settlement on the Atlantic +coast has its own dialect.  It is a difficult +language to learn.  Words are compounded until +they reach a great and almost unpronounceable length.* +Naturally the coming of the trader has introduced many +new words, as tobaccomik, teamik, <i>etc</i>., “mik” +being the accusative ending.  The Eskimo in his +language cannot count beyond ten.  If he wishes +to express twelve, for instance, he will say, “as +many fingers as a man has and two more.”  + To express one hundred he would say, “five times +as many fingers and toes as a man has,” and so +on.  It is not a written language, but the Moravians +have adapted the English alphabet to it and are teaching +the Eskimos to read and write.  Mr. Stewart in +his work has adapted the Cree syllabic characters to +the Eskimo, and he is teaching the Ungava people to +write by this method, which is largely phonetic.  + Both the Moravians and Mr. Stewart are instructing +them in the mystery of counting in German.</p> + +<p align="justify"><i>The following will illustrate this; +it is part of a sentence quoted from a Moravian missionary +pamphlet:  “Taimailinganiarpok, illagget +Labradormiut namgminek akkilejungnalerkartinaget pijariakartamingnik +tamainik, sakkertitsijungnalerkartinagillo ajokertnijunik.”</i></p> + +<p align="justify">** The Eskimo numerals are as follows:  +1, attansek; 2, magguk; 3, pingasut; 4, sittamat; +5, tellimat; 6, pingasoyortut; 7, aggartut; 8, sittamauyortut; +9, sittamartut; 10, tellimauyortut.</p> + +<p align="justify">Cleanliness is not one of the Eskimos’ +virtues, and they are frequently infested with vermin, +which are wont to transfer their allegiance to visitors, +as we learned in due course, to our discomfiture.  + For many months of the year the only water they have +is obtained by melting snow or ice.  In sections +where there is no wood for fuel this must be done +over stone lamps in which seal oil is burned, and +it is so slow a process that the water thus procured +is held too precious to be wasted in cleansing body +or clothing.  One of the missionaries remarked +that “the children must be very clean little +creatures, for the parents never find it necessary +to wash them.”</p> + +<p align="justify">They treat the children with the greatest +kindness and consideration—­ not only their +own, but all children, generally.  I did not once +see an Eskimo punish a child, nor hear a harsh word +spoken to one, and they are the most obedient youngsters +in the world.  A missionary on the Atlantic coast +told me that once when he punished his child an Eskimo +standing near remarked:  “You don’t +love you child or you wouldn’t punish it.”  +And this is the sentiment they hold.</p> + +<p align="justify">Love is not essential to a happy marriage +among the Eskimos.  When a man wants a woman +he takes her.  In fact they believe that an unwilling +bride makes a good wife.  Potokomik’s wife +was most unwilling, and he took her, dragging her +by the tail of her adikey from her father’s +igloo across the river on the ice to his own, and +they have “lived happily ever after,” which +seems to prove the correctness of the Eskimo theory +as to unwilling brides.  Of course if Potokomik’s +wife had not liked him after a fair trial, she could +have left him, or if she had not come up to his expectations +he could have sent her back home and tried another.  + It is all quite simple, for there is no marriage +ceremony and resort to South Dakota courts for divorce +is unnecessary.  If a man wants two wives, why +he has them, if there are women enough.  That, +too, is a very agreeable arrangement, for when he +is away hunting the women keep each other company.  + Small families are the rule, and I did not hear of +a case where twins had ever been born to the Eskimos.</p> + +<p align="justify">Dancing and football are among their +chief pastimes.  The men enter into the dance +with zest, but the women as though they were performing +some awful penance.  Both sexes play football.  + They have learned the use of cards and are reckless +gamblers, sometimes staking even the garments on their +backs in play.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Eskimo is a close bargainer, and +after he has agreed to do you a service for a consideration +will as likely as not change his mind at the last +moment and leave you in the lurch.  At the same +time he is in many respects a child.</p> + +<p align="justify">The dwellings are of three kinds:  +The <i>tupek</i>—­skin tent; <i>igloowiuk</i>—­ +snow house; and permanent igloo, built of driftwood, +stones and turf—­ the larger ones are <i>igloosoaks</i>.</p> + +<p align="justify">Flesh and fish, as is the case with +the Indians, form the principal food, but while the +Indians cook everything the Eskimos as often eat their +meat and fish raw, and are not too particular as to +its age or state of decay.  They are very fond +of venison and seal meat, and for variety’s +sake welcome dog meat.  A few years ago a disease +carried off several of the dogs at Fort Chimo and +every carcass was eaten.  One old fellow, in fact, +as Mathewson related to me, ate nothing else during +that time, and when the epidemic was over bemoaned +the fact that no more dog meat could be had.</p> + +<p align="justify">On the Atlantic coast where the snow +houses are not used and the Eskimos live more generally +during the winter in the close, vile igloos, there +is more or less tubercular trouble.  Even farther +south, where the natives have learned cleanliness, +and live in comfortable log cabins that are fairly +well aired, this is the prevailing disease.  After +leaving Ramah, the farther south you go the more general +is the adoption of civilized customs, food and habits +of life, and with the increase of civilization so +also comes an increased death rate amongst the Eskimos.  + Formerly there was a considerable number of these +people on the Straits of Belle Isle.  Now there +is not one there.  South of Hamilton Inlet but +two full-blood Eskimos remain.  Below Ramah the +deaths exceed the births, and at one settlement alone +there are fifty less people to-day than three years +ago.</p> + +<p align="justify">Civilization is responsible for this.  + At the present time there remains on the Atlantic +coast, between the Straits of Belle Isle and Cape +Chidley, but eleven hundred and twenty-seven full-blood +Eskimos.  Five years hence there will not be a +thousand.  In Ungava district, where they have +as yet accepted practically nothing of civilization, +the births exceed the deaths, and I did not learn of +a single well-authenticated case of tuberculosis +while I was there.  There were a few cases of +rheumatism.  Death comes early, however, owing +to the life of constant hardship and exposure.  + Usually they do not exceed sixty or sixty-five years +of age, though I saw one man that had rounded his +three score years and ten.</p> + +<p align="justify">Formerly they encased their dead in +skins and lay them out upon the rocks with the clothing +and things they had used in life.  Now rough +wooden boxes are provided by the traders.  The +dogs in time break the coffins open and pick the bones, +which lie uncared for, to be bleached by the frosts +of winter and suns of summer.  Mr. Stewart has +collected and buried many of these bones, and is endeavoring +now to have all bodies buried.</p> + +<p align="justify">Of all the missionaries that I met +in this bleak northern land, devoted as every one +of them is to his life work, none was more devoted +and none was doing a more self-sacrificing work than +the Rev. Samuel Milliken Stewart of Fort Chimo.  + His novitiate as a missionary was begun in one of +the little out-port fishing villages of Newfoundland.  + Finally he was transferred to that fearfully barren +stretch among the heathen Eskimos north of Nachvak.  + Here he and his Eskimo servant gathered together +such loose driftwood as they could find, and with +this and stones and turf erected a single-roomed igloo.  +It was a small affair, not over ten by twelve or fourteen +feet in size, and an imaginary line separated the +missionary’s quarters from his servant’s.  + On his knees, in an old resting place for the dead, +with the bleaching bones of heathen Eskimos strewn +over the rocks about him, he consecrated his life +efforts to the conversion of this people to Christianity.  + Then he went to work to accomplish this purpose in +a businesslike way.  He set himself the infinite +task of mastering the difficult language.  He +lived their life with them, visiting and sleeping +with them in their filthy igloos—­so filthy +and so filled with stench from the putrid meat and +fish scraps that they permit to lie about and decay +that frequently at first, until he became accustomed +to it, he was forced to seek the open air and relieve +the resulting nausea.  But Stewart is a man of +iron will, and he never wavered.  He studied +his people, administered medicines to the sick, and +taught the doctrines of Christianity—­Love, +Faith and Charity—­at every opportunity.  + That first winter was a trying one.  All his +little stock of fuel was exhausted early.  The +few articles of furniture that he had brought with +him he burned to help keep out the frost demon, and +before spring suffered greatly with the cold.  + The winter before our arrival he transferred his +efforts to the Fort Chimo district, where his field +would be larger and he could reach a greater number +of the heathens.  During the journey to Fort Chimo, +which was across the upper peninsula, with dogs, he +was lost in storms that prevailed at the time, his +provisions were exhausted, and one dog had been killed +to feed the others, before he finally met Eskimos who +guided him in safety to George River.  At Fort +Chimo the Hudson’s Bay Company set aside two +small buildings to his use, one for a chapel, the +other a little cabin in which he lives.  Here +we found him one day with a pot of high-smelling seal +meat cooking for his dogs and a pan of dough cakes +frying for himself.  With Stewart in this cabin +I spent many delightful hours.  His constant +flow of well-told stories, flavored with native Irish +wit, was a sure panacea for despondency.  I believe +Stewart, with his sunny temperament, is really enjoying +his life amongst the heathen, and he has made an obvious +impression upon them, for every one of them turns +out to his chapel meetings, where the services are +conducted in Eskimo, and takes part with a will.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Eskimo religion, like that of +the Indian, is one of fear.  Numerous are the +spirits that people the land and depths of the sea, +but the chief of them all is Torngak, the spirit of +Death, who from his cavern dwelling in the heights +of the mighty Torngaeks (the mountains north of the +George River toward Cape Chidley) watches them always +and rules their fortunes with an iron hand, dealing +out misfortune, or withholding it, at his will.  + It is only through the medium of the Angakok, or +conjurer, that the people can learn what to do to +keep Torngak and the lesser spirits of evil, with their +varying moods, in good humor.  Stewart has led +some of the Eskimos to at least outwardly renounce +their heathenism and profess Christianity.  In +a few instances I believe they are sincere.  +If he remains upon the field, as I know he wishes +to do, he will have them all professing Christianity +within the next few years, for they like him.  + But he has no more regard for danger, when he believes +duty calls him, than Dr. Grenfell has, and it is predicted +on the coast that some day Dr. Grenfell will take +one chance too many with the elements.</p> + +<p align="justify">Of course, coming among the Eskimos +as we did in winter, we did not see them using their +kayaks or their umiaks,* but our experience with dogs +and komatik was pretty complete.  These dogs are +big wolfish creatures, which resemble wolves so closely +in fact that when the dogs and wolves are together +the one can scarcely be told from the other.  +It sometimes happens that a stray wolf will hobnob +with the dogs, and litters of half wolf, half dog +have been born at the posts.</p> + +<p align="justify">* A large open boat with wooden frame +and sealskin covering.  The women row the umiaks +while the men sit idle.  It is beneath the dignity +of the latter to handle the oars when women are present +to do it.</p> + +<p align="justify">There are no better Eskimo dogs to +be found anywhere in the far north than the husky +dogs of Ungava.  Wonderful tales are told of long +distances covered by them in a single day, the record +trip of which I heard being one hundred and twelve +miles.  But this was in the spring, when the +days were long and the snow hard and firm.  The +farthest I ever traveled myself in a single day with +dogs and komatik was sixty miles.  When the snow +is loose and the days are short, twenty to thirty +miles constitute a day’s work.</p> + +<p align="justify">From five to twelve dogs are usually +driven in one team, though sometimes a man is seen +plodding along with a two-dog team, and occasionally +as many as sixteen or eighteen are harnessed to a +komatik, but these very large teams are unwieldy.</p> + +<p align="justify">The komatiks in the Ungava district +vary from ten to eighteen feet in length.  The +runners are about two and one-half inches thick at +the bottom, tapering slightly toward the top to reduce +friction where they sink into the snow.  They +are usually placed sixteen inches apart, and crossbars +extending about an inch over the outer runner on either +side are lashed across the runners by means of thongs +of sealskin or heavy twine, which is passed through +holes bored into the crossbars and the runners.  + The use of lashings instead of nails or screws permits +the komatik to yield readily in passing over rough +places, where metal fastenings would be pulled out, +or be snapped off by the frost.  On either side +of each end of the overlapping ends of the crossbars +notches are cut, around which sealskin thongs are passed +in lashing on the load.  The bottoms of the komatik +runners are “mudded.”  During the +summer the Eskimos store up turf for this purpose, +testing bits of it by chewing it to be sure that it +contains no grit.  When the cold weather comes +the turf is mixed with warm water until it reaches +the consistency of mud.  Then with the hands +it is molded over the bottom of the runners.  + The mud quickly freezes, after which it is carefully +planed smooth and round.  Then it is iced by applying +warm water with a bit of hairy deerskin.  These +mudded runners slip very smoothly over the soft snow, +but are liable to chip off on rough ice or when they +strike rocks, as frequently happens, for the frozen +mud is as brittle as glass.  On the Atlantic +coast from Nachvak south, mud is never used, and there +the komatiks are wider and shorter with runners of +not much more than half the thickness, and as you +go south the komatiks continue to grow wider and shorter.  + In the south, too, hoop iron or whalebone is used +for runner shoeing.</p> + +<p align="justify">A sealskin thong called a bridle, +of a varying length of from twenty to forty feet, +is attached to the front of the komatik, and to the +end of this the dogs’ traces are fastened.  + Each dog has an individual trace which may be from +eight to thirty feet in length, depending upon the +size of the team, so arranged that not more than two +dogs are abreast, the “leader” having, +of course, the longest trace of the pack.  This +long bridle and the long traces are made necessary +by the rough country.  They permit the animals +to swerve well to one side clear of the komatik when +coasting down a hillside.  In the length of bridle +and trace there is also a wide variation in different +sections, those used in the south being very much +shorter than those in the north.  The dog harness +is made usually of polar bear or sealskin.  There +are no reins.  The driver controls his team by +shouting directions, and with a walrus hide whip, +which is from twenty-five to thirty-five feet in length.  + An expert with this whip, running after the dogs, +can hit any dog he chooses at will, and sometimes he +is cruel to excess.</p> + +<p align="justify">To start his team the driver calls +“oo-isht,” (in the south this becomes +“hoo-eet”) to turn to the right “ouk,” +to the left “ra-der, ra-der” and to stop +“aw-aw.”  The leader responds to the +shouted directions and the pack follow.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Ungava Eskimo never upon any account +travels with komatik and dogs without a snow knife.  + With this implement he can in a little while make +himself a comfortable snow igloo, where he may spend +the night or wait for a storm to pass.</p> + +<p align="justify">In winter it is practically impossible +to buy a dog in Ungava.  The people have only +enough for their own use, and will not part with them, +and if they have plenty to eat it is difficult to employ +them for any purpose.  This I discovered very +promptly when I endeavored to induce some of them +to take us a stage on our journey homeward.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_20"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XX</h1> + +<p><b>THE SLEDGE JOURNEY BEGUN</b></p> + +<p align="justify">Tighter and tighter grew the grip +of winter.  Rarely the temperature rose above +twenty-five degrees below zero, even at midday, and +oftener it crept well down into the thirties.  + The air was filled with rime, which clung to everything, +and the sun, only venturing now a little way above +the southern horizon, shone cold and cheerless, weakly +penetrating the ever-present frost veil.  The +tide, still defying the shackles of the mighty power +that had bound all the rest of the world, surged up +and down, piling ponderous ice cakes in mountainous +heaps along the river banks.  Occasionally an +Eskimo or two would suddenly appear out of the snow +fields, remain for a day perhaps, and then as suddenly +disappear into the bleak wastes whence he had come.</p> + +<p align="justify">Slowly the days dragged along.  + We occupied the short hours of light in reading old +newspapers and magazines, or walking out over the +hills, and in the evenings called upon the Post officers +or entertained them in our cabin, where Mathewson +often came to smoke his after-supper pipe and relate +to us stories of his forty-odd years’ service +as a fur trader in the northern wilderness.</p> + +<p align="justify">One bitter cold morning, long before +the first light of day began to filter through the +rimy atmosphere, we heard the crunch of feet pass +our door, and a komatik slipped by.  It was Dr. +Milne, away to George River and the coast on his tour +of Post inspection, and our little group of white +men was one less in number.</p> + +<a name="silence"></a> +<a href="images/silenceth.jpg"> +<img alt="Silence of the North" src="images/silencth.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">We envied him his early leaving.  + We could not ourselves start for home until after +New Year’s, for there were no dogs to be had +for love or money until the Eskimos came in from their +hunting camps to spend the holidays.  Everything, +however, was made ready for that longed-for time.  + Through the kindness of Thévenet, who put his +Post folk to work for us, the deerskins I had brought +from Whale River were dressed and made up into sleeping +bags and skin clothing, and other neces-saries were +got ready for the long dog journey out.</p> + +<p align="justify">Christmas eve came finally, and with +it komatik loads of Eskimos, who roused the place +from its repose into comparative wakefulness.  + The newcomers called upon us in twos or threes, never +troubling to knock before they entered our cabin, +looked us and our things over with much interest, +a proceeding which occupied usually a full half hour, +then went away, sometimes to bring back newly arriving +friends, to introduce them.  A multitude of dogs +skulked around by day and made night hideous with +howling and fighting, and it was hardly safe to walk +abroad without a stick, of which they have a wholesome +fear, as, like their progenitors, the wolves, they +are great cowards and will rarely attack a man when +he has any visible means of defense at hand.</p> + +<p align="justify">Christmas afternoon was given over +to shooting matches, and the evening to dancing.  + We spent the day with Thévenet.  Mathewson +was not in position to entertain, as the Indian woman +that presided in his kitchen partook so freely of +liquor of her own manufacture that she became hilariously +drunk early in the morning, and for the peace of the +household and safety of the dishes, which she playfully +shied at whoever came within reach, she was ejected, +and Mathewson prepared his own meals.  At Thévenet’s, +however, everything went smoothly, and the sumptuous +meal of baked whitefish, venison, with canned vegetables, +plum pudding, cheese and coffee—­delicacies +held in reserve for the occasion—­made us +forget the bleak wilderness and ice-bound land in +which we were.</p> + +<p align="justify">It seemed for a time even now as though +we should not be able to secure dogs and drivers.  + No one knew the way to Ramah, and on no account would +one of these Eskimos undertake even a part of the +journey without permission from the Hudson’s +Bay Company.  As a last resort Thévenet +promised me his dogs and driver to take us at least +as far as George River, but finally Emuk arrived and +an arrangement was made with him to carry us from +Whale River to George River, and two other Eskimos +agreed to go with us to Whale River.  The great +problem that confronted me now was how to get over +the one hundred and sixty miles of barrens from George +River to Ramah, and it was necessary to arrange for +this before leaving Fort Chimo, as dogs to the eastward +were even scarcer than here.  Mathewson finally +solved it for me with his promise to instruct Ford +at George River to put his team and drivers at my +disposal.  Thus, after much bickering, our relays +were arranged as far as the Moravian mission station +at Ramah, and I trusted in Providence and the coast +Eskimos to see us on from there.  The third of +January was fixed as the day of our departure.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our going in winter was an event.  + It gave the Post folk an opportunity to send out +a winter mail, which I volunteered to carry to Quebec.</p> + +<p align="justify">Straggling bands of Indians, hauling +fur-laden toboggans, began to arrive during the week, +and the bartering in the stores was brisk, and to +me exceedingly interesting.  Money at Fort Chimo +is unknown.  Values are reckoned in “skins”—­that +is, a “skin” is the unit of value.  + There is no token of exchange to represent this unit, +however, and if a hunter brings in more pelts than +sufficient to pay for his purchases, the trader simply +gives him credit on his books for the balance due, +to be drawn upon at some future time.  As a matter +of fact, the hunter is almost invariably in debt to +the store.  A “skin” will buy a pint +of molasses, a quarter pound of tea or a quarter pound +of black stick tobacco.  A white arctic fox pelt +is valued at seven skins, a blue fox pelt at twelve, +and a black or silver fox at eighty to ninety skins.  + South of Hamilton Inlet, where competition is keen +with the fur traders, they pay in cash six dollars +for white, eight dollars for blue (which, by the way, +are very scarce there) and not infrequently as high +as three hundred and fifty dollars or even more for +black and silver fox pelts.  The cost of maintaining +posts at Fort Chimo, however, is somewhat greater +than at these southern points.</p> + +<p align="justify">Here at Ungava the Eskimos’ +hunt is confined almost wholly to foxes, polar bears, +an occasional wolf and wolverine, and, of course, during +the season, seals, walrus, and white whales.  +An average hunter will trap from sixty to seventy +foxes in a season, though one or two exceptional ones +I knew have captured as many as two hundred.  +The Indians, who penetrate far into the interior, +bring out marten, mink and otter principally, with +a few foxes, an occasional beaver, black bear, lynx +and some wolf and wolverine skins.  There is a +story of a very large and ferocious brown bear that +tradition says inhabits the barrens to the eastward +toward George River.  Mr. Peter McKenzie told +me that many years ago, when he was stationed at Fort +Chimo, the Indians brought him one of the skins of +this animal, and Ford at George River said that, some +twenty years since, he saw a piece of one of the skins.  + Both agreed that the hair was very long, light brown +in color, silver tipped and of a decidedly different +species from either the polar or black bear.  + This is the only definite information as to it that +I was able to gather.  The Indians speak of it +with dread, and insist that it is still to be found, +though none of them can say positively that he has +seen one in a decade.  I am inclined to believe +that the brown bear, so far as Labrador is concerned, +has been exterminated.</p> + +<p align="justify">New Year’s is the great day +at Fort Chimo.  All morning there were shooting +matches and foot races, and in the afternoon football +games in progress, in which the Eskimo men and women +alike joined.  The Indians, who were recovering +from an all-night drunk on their vile beer, and a +revel in the “Queen’s” cabin, condescended +to take part in the shooting matches, but held majestically +aloof from the other games.  Some of them came +into the French store in the evening to squat around +the room and watch the dancing while they puffed in +silence on their pipes and drank tea when it was passed.  + That was their only show of interest in the festivities.  + Early on the morning of the second they all disappeared.  + But these were only a fragment of those that visit +the Post in summer.  It is then that they have +their powwow.</p> + +<p align="justify">At last the day of our departure arrived, +with a dull leaden sky and that penetrating cold that +eats to one’s very marrow.  Thévenet +and Belfleur came early and brought us a box of cigars +to ease the tedium of the long evenings in the snow +houses.  All the little colony of white men were +on hand to see us off, and I believe were genuinely +sorry to have us go, for we had become a part of the +little coterie and our coming had made a break in +the lives of these lonely exiles.  Men brought +together under such conditions become very much attached +to each other in a short time.  “It’s +going to be lonesome now,” said Stewart.  + “I’m sorry you have to leave us.  + May God speed you on your way, and carry you through +your long journey in safety.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Finally our baggage was lashed on +the komatik; the dogs, leaping and straining at their +traces, howled their eagerness to be gone; we shook +hands warmly with everybody, even the Eskimos, who +came forward won-dering at what seemed to them our +stupendous undertaking, the komatik was “broken” +loose, and we were away at a gallop.</p> + +<p align="justify">Traveling was good, and the nine dogs +made such excellent time that we had to ride in level +places or we could not have kept pace with them.  +When there was a hill to climb we pushed on the komatik +or hauled with the dogs on the long bridle to help +them along.  When we had a descent to make, the +drag—­a hoop of walrus hide—­was +thrown over the front end of one of the komatik runners +at the top, and if the place was steep the Eskimos, +one on either side of the komatik, would cling on +with their arms and brace their feet into the snow +ahead, doing their utmost to hold back and reduce +the momentum of the heavy sledge.  To the uninitiated +they would appear to be in imminent danger of having +their legs broken, for the speed down some of the grades +when the crust was hard and icy was terrific.  + When descending the gentler slopes we all rode, depending +upon the drag alone to keep our speed within reason.  + This coasting down hill was always an exciting experi-ence, +and where the going was rough it was not easy to keep +a seat on the narrow komatik.  Occasionally the +komatik would turn over.  When we saw this was +likely to happen we discreetly dropped off, a feat +that demanded agility and practice to be performed +successfully and gracefully.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was a relief beyond measure to +feel that we were at length, after seven long months, +actually headed toward home and civilization.  +Words cannot express the feeling of exhilaration that +comes to one at such a time.</p> + +<p align="justify">We did not have to go so far up Whale +River to find a crossing as on our trip to Fort Chimo, +and reached the eastern side before dark.  Sometimes +the ice hills are piled so high here by the tide that +it takes a day or even two to cut a komatik path through +them and cross the river, but fortunately we had very +little cutting to do.  Not long after dark we +coasted down the hill above the Post, and the cheerful +lights of Edmunds’ cabin were at hand.</p> + +<p align="justify">Here we had to wait two days for Emuk, +and in the interim Mrs. Edmunds and Mary went carefully +over our clothes, sewed sealskin legs to deerskin +moccasins, made more duffel socks, and with kind solicitation +put all our things into the best of shape and gave +us extra moccasins and mittens.  “It is +well to have plenty of everything before you start,” +said Mrs. Edmunds, “for if the huskies are hunting +deer the women will do no sewing on sealskin, and +if they’re hunting seals they’ll not touch +a needle to your deerskins, though you are freezing.”</p> + +<p>“Why is that?” I asked.</p> + +<p align="justify">“Oh, some of their heathen beliefs,” +she answered.  “They think it would bring +bad luck to the hunters.  They believe all kinds +of foolishness.”</p> + +<p align="justify">Emuk had never been so far away as +George River, and Sam Ford was to be our pilot to +that point, and to return with Emuk.  The Eskimos +do not consider it safe for a man to travel alone +with dogs, and they never do it when there is the +least probability that they will have to remain out +over night.  Two men are always required to build +a snow igloo, which is one reason for this.  +It was therefore necessary for me at each point, when +employing the Eskimo driver for a new stage of our +journey, also to engage a companion for him, that he +might have company when returning home.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our coming to Whale River two months +before had made a welcome innovation in the even tenor +of the cheerless, lonely existence of our good friends +at the Post—­an event in their confined life, +and they were really sorry to part from us.</p> + +<p align="justify">“It will be a long time before +any one comes to see us again—­a long time,” +said Mrs. Edmunds, sadly adding:  “I suppose +no one will ever come again.”</p> + +<p align="justify">When we said our farewells the women +cried.  In their Godspeed the note of friendship +rang true and honest and sincere.  These people +had proved themselves in a hundred ways.  In +civilization, where the selfish instinct governs so +generally, there are too many Judases.  On the +frontier, in spite of the rough exterior of the people, +you find real men and women.  That is one reason +why I like the North so well.</p> + +<p align="justify">We left Whale River on Saturday, the +sixth of January, with one hundred and twenty miles +of barrens to cross before reaching George River Post, +the nearest human habitation to the eastward.  + Our fresh team of nine dogs was in splendid trim +and worked well, but a three or four inch covering +of light snow upon the harder under crust made the +going hard and wearisome for the animals.  The +frost flakes that filled the air covered everything.  + Clinging to the eyelashes and faces of the men it +gave them a ghostly appearance, our skin clothing +was white with it, long icicles weighted our beards, +and the sharp atmosphere made it necessary to grasp +one’s nose frequently to make certain that the +member was not freezing.</p> + +<p align="justify">When we stopped for the night our +snow house which Emuk and Sam soon had ready seemed +really cheerful.  Our halt was made purposely +near a cluster of small spruce where enough firewood +was found to cook our supper of boiled venison, hard-tack +and tea, water being procured by melting ice.  + Spruce boughs were scattered upon the igloo floor +and deerskins spread over these.</p> + +<p align="justify">After everything was made snug, and +whatever the dogs might eat or destroy put safely +out of their reach, the animals were unharnessed and +fed the one meal that was allowed them each day after +their work was done.  Feeding the dogs was always +an interesting function.  While one man cut the +frozen food into chunks, the rest of us armed with +cudgels beat back the animals.  When the word +was given we stepped to one side to avoid the onrush +as they came upon the food, which was bolted with +little or no chewing.  They will eat anything +that is fed them—­seal meat, deer’s +meat, fish, or even old hides.  There was always +a fight or two to settle after the feeding and then +the dogs made holes for themselves in the snow and +lay down for the drift to cover them.</p> + +<p align="justify">The dogs fed, we crawled with our +hot supper into the igloo, put a block of snow against +the entrance and stopped the chinks around it with +loose snow.  Then the kettle covers were lifted +and the place was filled at once with steam so thick +that one could hardly see his elbow neighbor.  + By the time the meal was eaten the temperature had +risen to such a point that the place was quite warm +and comfortable—­so warm that the snow in +the top of the igloo was soft enough to pack but not +quite soft enough to drip water.  Then we smoked +some of Thévenet’s cigars and blessed +him for his thoughtfulness in providing them.</p> + +<p align="justify">Usually our snow igloos allowed each +man from eighteen to twenty inches space in which +to lie down, and just room enough to stretch his legs +well.  With our sleeping bags they were entirely +comfortable, no matter what the weather outside.  + The snow is porous enough to admit of air circulation, +but even a gale of wind without would not affect the +temperature within.  It is claimed by the natives +that when the wind blows, a snow house is warmer than +in a period of still cold.  I could see no difference.  + A new snow igloo is, however, more comfortable than +one that has been used, for newly cut snow blocks are +more porous.  In one that has been used there +is always a crust of ice on the interior which prevents +a proper circulation of air.</p> + +<p align="justify">On the second day we passed the shack +where Easton and I had held our five-day fast, and +shortly after came out upon the plains—­a +wide stretch of flat, treeless country where no hills +rise as guiding landmarks for the voyageur.  +This was beyond the zone of Emuk’s wanderings, +and Sam went several miles astray in his calculations, +which, in view of the character of the country, was +not to be wondered at, piloting as he did without +a compass.  However, we were soon set right and +passed again into the rolling barrens, with ever higher +hills with each eastern mile we traveled.</p> + +<p align="justify">At two o’clock on the afternoon +of Tuesday, January ninth, we dropped over the bank +upon the ice of George River just above the Post, and +at three o’clock were under Mr. Ford’s +hospitable roof again.</p> + +<p align="justify">Here we had to encounter another vexatious +delay of a week.  Ford’s dogs had been +working hard and were in no condition to travel and +not an Eskimo team was there within reach of the Post +that could be had.  There was nothing to do but +wait for Ford’s team to rest and get into condition +before taking them upon the trying journey across the +barren grounds that lay between us and the Atlantic.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_21"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XXI</h1> + +<p><b>CROSSING THE BARRENS</b></p> + +<p align="justify">On Tuesday morning, January sixteenth, +we swung out upon the river ice with a powerful team +of twelve dogs.  Will Ford and an Eskimo named +Etuksoak, called by the Post folk “Peter,” +for short, were our drivers.</p> + +<p align="justify">The dogs began the day with a misunderstanding +amongst themselves, and stopped to fight it out.  + When they were finally beaten into docility one of +them, apparently the outcast of the pack, was limping +on three legs and leaving a trail of blood behind +him.  Every team has its bully, and sometimes +its outcast.  The bully is master of them all.  +He fights his way to his position of supremacy, and +holds it by punishing upon the slightest provocation, +real or fancied, any encroachment upon his autocratic +prerogatives.  Likewise he dis-ciplines the +pack when he thinks they need it or when he feels like +it, and he is always the ringleader in mischief.  + When there is an outcast he is a doomed dog.  + The others harass and fight him at every opportunity.  + They are pitiless.  They do not associate with +him, and sooner or later a morning will come when +they are noticed licking their chops contentedly, +as dogs do when they have had a good meal—­ +and after that no more is seen of the outcast.  + The bully is not always, or, in fact, often the leader +in harness.  The dog that the driver finds most +intelligent in following a trail and in answering +his commands is chosen for this important position, +regardless of his fighting prowess.</p> + +<p align="justify">This morning as we started the weather +was perfect—­thirty-odd degrees below zero +and a bright sun that made the hoar frost sparkle like +flakes of silver.  For ten miles our course lay +down the river to a point just below the “Narrows.”  + Then we left the ice and hit the overland trail +in an almost due northerly direction.  It was +a rough country and there was much pulling and hauling +and pushing to be done crossing the hills.  Before +noon the wind began to rise, and by the time we stopped +to prepare our snow igloo for the night a northwest +gale had developed and the air was filled with drifting +snow.</p> + +<p align="justify">Early in the afternoon I began to +have cramps in the calves of my legs, and finally +it seemed to me that the muscles were tied into knots.  + Sharp, intense pains in the groin made it torture +to lift in feet above the level of the snow, and I +was never more thankful for rest in my life than when +that day’s work was finished.  Easton confessed +to me that he had an attack similar to my own.  + This was the result of our inactivity at Fort Chimo.  + We were suffering with what among the Canadian voyageurs +is known as <i>mal de roquette</i>.  There was +nothing to do but endure it without complaint, for +there is no relief until in time it gradually passes +away of its own accord.</p> + +<p align="justify">This first night from George River +was spent upon the shores of a lake which, hidden +by drifted snow, appeared to be about two miles wide +and seven or eight miles long.  It lay amongst +low, barren hills, where a few small bunches of gnarled +black spruce relieved the otherwise unbroken field +of white.</p> + +<p align="justify">The following morning it was snowing +and drifting, and as the day grew the storm increased.  + An hour’s traveling carried us to the Koroksoak +River—­River of the Great Gulch—­which +flows from the northeast, following the lower Torngaek +mountains and emptying into Ungava Bay near the mouth +of the George.  The Koroksoak is apparently a +shallow stream, with a width of from fifty to two +hundred yards.  Its bed forms the chief part +of the komatik route to Nachvak, and therefore our +route.  For several miles the banks are low and +sandy, but farther up the sand disappears and the +hills crowd close upon the river.  The gales +that sweep down the valley with every storm had blown +away the snow and drifted the bank sand in a layer +over the river ice.  This made the going exceedingly +hard and ground the mud from the komatik runners.</p> + +<p align="justify">The snowstorm, directly in our teeth, +increased in force with every mile we traveled, and +with the continued cramps and pains in my legs it +seemed to me that the misery of it all was about as +refined and complete as it could be.  It may +be imagined, therefore, the relief I felt when at +noon Will and Peter stopped the komatik with the announcement +that we must camp, as further progress could not be +made against the blinding snow and head wind.</p> + +<p align="justify">Advantage was taken of the daylight +hours to mend the komatik mud.  This was done +by mixing caribou moss with water, applying the mixture +to the mud where most needed, and permitting it to +freeze, which it did instantly.  Then the surface +was planed smooth with a little jack plane carried +for the purpose.</p> + +<p align="justify">That night the storm blew itself out, +and before daylight, after a breakfast of coffee and +hard-tack, we were off.  The half day’s +rest had done wonders for me, and the pains in my +legs were not nearly so severe as on the previous +day.</p> + +<p align="justify">January and February see the lowest +temperatures of the Labrador winter.  Now the +cold was bitter, rasping—­so intensely cold +was the atmosphere that it was almost stifling as +it entered the lungs.  The vapor from our nostrils +froze in masses of ice upon our beards.  The +dogs, straining in the harness, were white with hoar +frost, and our deerskin clothing was also thickly +coated with it.  For long weeks these were to +be the prevailing conditions in our homeward march.</p> + +<p align="justify">Dark and ominous were the spruce-lined +river banks on either side that morning as we toiled +onward, and grim and repellent indeed were the rocky +hills outlined against the sky beyond.  Everything +seemed frozen stiff and dead except ourselves.  + No sound broke the absolute silence save the crunch, +crunch, crunch of our feet, the squeak of the komatik +runners complaining as they slid reluctantly over the +snow, and the “oo-isht-oo-isht, oksuit, oksuit” +of the drivers, constantly urging the dogs to greater +effort.  Shimmering frost flakes, suspended in +the air like a veil of thinnest gauze, half hid the +sun when very timidly he raised his head above the +southeastern horizon, as though afraid to venture +into the domain of the indomitable ice king who had +wrested the world from his last summer’s power +and ruled it now so absolutely.</p> + +<p align="justify">With every mile the spruce on the +river banks became thinner and thinner, and the hills +grew higher and higher, until finally there was scarcely +a stick to be seen and the lower eminences had given +way to lofty mountains which raised their jagged, +irregular peaks from two to four thousand feet in +solemn and majestic grandeur above our heads.  +The gray basaltic rocks at their base shut in the tortuous +river bed, and we knew now why the Koroksoak was called +the “River of the Great Gulch.”  +These were the mighty Torngaeks, which farther north +attain an altitude above the sea of full seven thousand +feet.  We passed the place where Torngak dwells +in his mountain cavern and sends forth his decrees +to the spirits of Storm and Starvation and Death to +do destruction, or restrains them, at his will.</p> + +<a name="hills"></a> +<a href="images/dogsth.jpg"> +<img alt="The Hills Grew Higher and Higher" src="images/dogsth.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">In the forenoon of the third day after +leaving George River we stopped to lash a few sticks +on top of our komatik load.  “No more wood,” +said Will.  “This’ll have to see +us through to Nachvak.”  That afternoon +we turned out of the Koroksoak River into a pass leading +to the northward, and that night’s igloo was +at the headwaters of a stream that they said ran into +Nachvak Bay.</p> + +<a name="pass"></a> +<a href="images/passth.jpg"> +<img alt="We Turned Into a Pass Leading to the Northwest" src="images/passth.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">The upper part of this new gulch was +strewn with bowlders, and much hard work and ingenuity +were necessary the following morning to get the komatik +through them at all.  Farther down the stream +widened.  Here the wind had swept the snow clear +of the ice, and it was as smooth as a piece of glass, +broken only by an occasional bowlder sticking above +the surface.  A heavy wind blew in our backs and +carried the komatik before it at a terrific pace, with +the dogs racing to keep out of the way.  Sometimes +we were carried sidewise, sometimes stern first, but +seldom right end foremost.  Lively work was necessary +to prevent being wrecked upon the rocks, and occasionally +we did turn over, when a bowlder was struck side on.</p> + +<p align="justify">There were several steep down grades.  + Before descending one of the first of these a line +was attached to the rear end of the komatik and Will +asked Easton to hang on to it and hold back, to keep +the komatik straight.  There was no foothold +for him, however, on the smooth surface of the ice, +and Easton found that he could not hold back as directed.  + The momentum was considerable, and he was afraid to +let go for fear of losing his balance on the slippery +ice, and so, wild-eyed and erect, he slid along, clinging +for dear life to the line.  Pretty soon he managed +to attain a sitting posture, and with his legs spread +before him, but still holding desperately on, he skimmed +along after the komatik.  The next and last evolution +was a “belly-gutter” position.  This +became too strenuous for him, however, and the line +was jerked out of his hands.  I was afraid he +might have been injured on a rock, but my anxiety +was soon relieved when I saw him running along the +shore to overtake the komatik where it had been stopped +to wait for him below.</p> + +<p align="justify">This gulch was exceedingly narrow, +with mountains, lofty, rugged and grand rising directly +from the stream’s bank, some of them attaining +an altitude of five thousand feet or more.  At +one point they squeezed the brook through a pass only +ten feet in width, with perpendicular walls towering +high above our heads on either side.  This place +is known to the Hudson’s Bay Company people +as “The Porch.”</p> + +<p align="justify">In the afternoon Peter caught his +foot in a crevice, and the komatik jammed him with +such force that he narrowly escaped a broken leg and +was crippled for the rest of the journey.  Early +in the afternoon we were on salt water ice, and at +two o’clock sighted Nachvak Post of the Hudson’s +Bay Company, and at half past four were hospitably +welcomed by Mrs. Ford, the wife of George Ford, the +agent.</p> + +<a name="nachvak"></a> +<a href="images/nachvakth.jpg"> +<img alt="Nachvak Post of the Hudson's Bay Company" src="images/nachvath.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">This was Saturday, January twentieth.  + Since the previous Tuesday morning we had had no +fire to warm ourselves by and had been living chiefly +on hard-tack, and the comfort and luxury of the Post +sitting room, with the hot supper of arctic hare that +came in due course, were appreciated.  Mr. Ford +had gone south with Dr. Milne to Davis Inlet Post +and was not expected back for a week, but Mrs. Ford +and her son Solomon Ford, who was in charge during +his father’s absence, did everything possible +for our comfort.</p> + +<p align="justify">The injury to Peter’s leg made +it out of the question for him to go on with us, and +we therefore found it necessary to engage another team +to carry us to Ramah, the first of the Moravian missionary +stations on our route of travel, and this required +a day’s delay at Nachvak, as no Eskimos could +be seen that night.  The Fords offered us every +assistance in securing drivers, and went to much trouble +on our behalf.  Solomon personally took it upon +himself to find dogs and drivers for us, and through +his kindness arrangements were made with two Eskimos, +Taikrauk and Nikartok by name, who agreed to furnish +a team of ten dogs and be on hand early on Monday +morning.  I considered myself fortunate in securing +so large a team, for the seal hunt had been bad the +previous fall and the Eskimos had therefore fallen +short of dog food and had killed a good many of their +dogs.  I should not have been so ready with my +self-congratulation had I seen the dogs that we were +to have.</p> + +<a name="mission"></a> +<a href="images/missionth.jpg"> +<img alt="The Moravian Mission at Ramah" src="images/missioth.jpg"> +</a> + + + +<p align="justify">Nachvak is the most God-forsaken place +for a trading post that I have ever seen.  Wherever +you look bare rocks and towering mountains stare you +in the face; nowhere is there a tree or shrub of any +kind to relieve the rock-bound desolation, and every +bit of fuel has to be brought in during the summer +by steamer.  They have coal, but even the wood +to kindle the coal is imported.  The Eskimos necessarily +use stone lamps in which seal oil is burned to heat +their igloos.  The Fords have lived here for +a quarter of a century, but now the Company is abandoning +the Post as unprofitable and they are to be transferred +to some other quarter.</p> + +<p align="justify">“God knows how lonely it is +sometimes,” Mrs. Ford said to me, “and +how glad I’ll be if we go where there’s +some one besides just greasy heathen Eskimos to see.”</p> + +<p align="justify">The Moravian mission at Killenek, +a station three days’ travel to the northward, +on Cape Chidley, has deflected some of the former trade +from Nachvak and the Ramah station more of it, until +but twenty-seven Eskimos now remain at Nachvak.</p> + +<p align="justify">Early on Monday morning not only our +two Eskimos appeared, but the entire Eskimo population, +even the women with babies in their hoods, to see +us off.  The ten-dog team that I had congratulated +myself so proudly upon securing proved to be the most +miserable aggregation of dogskin and bones I had ever +seen, and in so horribly emaciated a condition that +had there been any possible way of doing without them +I should have declined to permit them to haul our +komatik.  However I had no choice, as no other +dogs were to be had, and at six o’clock—­ +more than two hours before daybreak—­we said +farewell to good Mrs. Ford and her family and started +forward with our caravan of followers.</p> + +<p align="justify">We took what is known as the “outside” +route, turning right out toward the mouth of the bay.  + By this route it is fully forty miles to Ramah.  +By a short cut overland, which is not so level, the +distance is only about thirty miles, but our Eskimos +chose the level course, as it is doubtful whether +their excuses for dogs could have hauled the komatik +over the hills on the short cut.  An hour after +our start we passed a collection of snow igloos, and +all our following, after shaking hands and repeating, +“Okusi,” left us—­all but one +man, Korganuk by name, who decided to honor us with +his society to Ramah; so we had three Eskimos instead +of the more than sufficient two.</p> + +<p align="justify">Though the traveling was fairly good +the poor starved dogs crawled along so slowly that +with a jog trot we easily kept in advance of them, +and not even the extreme cruelty of the heathen drivers, +who beat them sometimes unmercifully, could induce +them to do better.  I remonstrated with the human +brutes on several occasions, but they pretended not +to understand me, smiling blandly in return, and making +unintelligible responses in Eskimo.</p> + +<p align="justify">Before dawn the sky clouded, and by +the time we reached the end of the bay and turned +southward across the neck, toward noon, it began to +snow heavily.  This capped the climax of our troubles +and I questioned whether our team would ever reach +our destination with this added impediment of soft, +new snow to plow through.</p> + +<p align="justify">From the first the snow fell thick +and fast.  Then the wind rose, and with every +moment grew in velocity.  I soon realized that +we were caught under the worst possible conditions +in the throes of a Labrador winter storm—­the +kind of storm that has cost so many native travelers +on that bleak coast their lives.</p> + +<p align="justify">We were now on the ice again beyond +the neck.  Perpendicular, clifflike walls shut +us off from retreat to the land and there was not +a possibility of shelter anywhere.  Previous snows +had found no lodgment into banks, and an igloo could +not be built.  Our throats were parched with +thirst, but there was no water to drink and nowhere +a stick of wood with which to build a fire to melt +snow.  The dogs were lying down in harness and +crying with distress, and the Eskimos had continually +to kick them into renewed efforts.  On we trudged, +on and endlessly on.  We were still far from +our goal.</p> + +<p align="justify">All of us, even the Eskimos, were +utterly weary.  Finally frequent stops were necessary +to rest the poor toiling brutes, and we were glad +to take advantage of each opportunity to throw ourselves +at full length on the snow-covered ice for a moment’s +repose.  Sometimes we would walk ahead of the +komatik and lie down until it overtook us, frequently +falling asleep in the brief interim.  Now and +again an Eskimo would look into my face and repeat, +“Oksunae” (be strong), and I would encourage +him in the same way.</p> + +<p align="justify">Darkness fell thick and black.  + No signs of land were visible—­nothing +but the whirling, driving, pitiless snow around us +and the ice under our feet.  Sometimes one of +us would stumble on a hummock and fall, then rise +again to resume the mechanical plodding.  I wondered +sometimes whether we were not going right out to sea +and how long it would be before we should drop into +open water and be swallowed up.  My faculties +were too benumbed to care much, and it was just a +calculation in which I had no particular but only a +passive interest.</p> + +<a name="snow"></a> +<a href="images/dogs2th.jpg"> +<img alt="Plodding Southward Over Endless Snow" src="images/dogs2th.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">The thirst of the snow fields is most +agonizing, and can only be likened to the thirst of +the desert.  The snow around you is tantalizing, +for to eat it does not quench the thirst in the slightest; +it aggravates it.  If I ever longed for water +it was then.</p> + +<p align="justify">Hour after hour passed and the night +seemed interminable.  But somehow we kept going, +and the poor crying brutes kept going.  All misery +has its ending, however, and ours ended when I least +looked for it.  Un-expectedly the dogs’ +pitiful cries changed to gleeful howls and they visibly +increased their efforts.  Then Korganuk put his +face close to mine and said:  “Ramah!  + Ramah!” and quite suddenly we stopped before +the big mission house at Ramah.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_22"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XXII</h1> + +<p><b>ON THE ATLANTIC ICE</b></p> + +<p align="justify">The dogs had stopped within a dozen +feet of the building, but it was barely distinguishable +through the thick clouds of smothering snow which +the wind, risen to a terrific gale, swirled around +us as it swept down in staggering gusts from the invisible +hills above.  A light filtered dimly through +one of the frost-encrusted windows, and I tapped loudly +upon the glass.</p> + +<p align="justify">At first there was no response, but +after repeated rappings some one moved within, and +in a moment the door opened and a voice called to +us, “Come, come out of the snow.  It is +a nasty night.”  Without further preliminaries +we stepped into the shelter of the broad, com-fortable +hall.  Holding a candle above his head, and peering +at us through the dim light that it cast, was a short, +stockily built, bearded man in his shirt sleeves and +wearing hairy sealskin trousers and boots.  To +him I introduced myself and Easton, and he, in turn, +told us that he was the Reverend Paul Schmidt, the +missionary in charge of the station.</p> + +<p align="justify">Mr. Schmidt’s astonishment at +our unexpected appearance at midnight and in such +a storm was only equaled by his hospitable welcome.  + His broken English sounded sweet indeed, inviting +us to throw off our snow-covered garments.  He +ushered us to a neat room on the floor above, struck +a match to a stove already charged with kindling wood +and coal, and in five minutes after our entrance we +were listening to the music of a crackling fire and +warming our chilled selves by its increasing heat.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our host was most solicitous for our +every comfort.  He hurried in and out, and by +the time we were thoroughly warmed told us supper was +ready and asked us to his living room below, where +Mrs. Schmidt had spread the table for a hot meal.  + Each mission house has a common kitchen and a common +dining room, and besides having the use of these the +separate families are each provided with a private +living room and a sleeping room.</p> + +<p align="justify">It is not pleasant to be routed out +of bed in the middle of the night, but these good +missionaries assured us that it was really a pleasure +to them, and treated us like old friends whom they +were overjoyed to see.  “Well, well,” +said Mr. Schmidt, again and again, “it is very +good for you to come.  I am very glad that you +came tonight, for now we shall have company, and you +shall stay with us until the weather is fine again +for traveling, and we will talk English together, which +is a pleasure for me, for I have almost forgotten +my English, with no one to talk it to.”</p> + +<p align="justify">It was after two o’clock when +we went to bed, and I verily believe that Mr. Schmidt +would have talked all night had it not been for our +hard day’s work and evident need of rest.</p> + +<p align="justify">When we arose in the morning the storm +was still blowing with unabated fury.  We had +breakfast with Mr. Schmidt in his private apartment +and were later introduced to Mr. Karl Filsehke, the +storekeeper, and his wife, who, like the Schmidts, +were most hospitable and kind.  At all of the +Moravian missions, with the exception of Killinek “down +to Chidley,” and Makkovik, the farthest station +“up south,” there is, besides the missionary, +who devotes himself more particularly to the spiritual +needs of his people, a storekeeper who looks after +their material welfare and assists in conducting the +meetings.</p> + +<p align="justify">In Labrador these missions are largely, +though by no means wholly, self-supporting.  +Furs and blubber are taken from the Eskimos in exchange +for goods, and the proflts resulting from their sale +in Europe are applied toward the expense of maintaining +the stations.  They own a small steamer, which +brings the supplies from London every summer and takes +away the year’s accumulation of fur and oil.  + Since the first permanent establishment was erected +at Nain, over one hundred and fifty years ago, they +have followed this trade.</p> + +<p align="justify">During the day I visited the store +and blubber house, where Eskimo men and women were +engaged in cutting seal blubber into small slices and +pounding these with heavy wooden mallets.  The +pounded blubber is placed in zinc vats, and, when +the summer comes, exposed in the vats to the sun’s +heat, which renders out a fine white oil.  This +oil is put into casks and shipped to the trade.</p> + +<p align="justify">In the depth of winter seal hunting +is impossible, and during that season the Eskimo families +gather in huts, or igloosoaks, at the mission stations.  + There are sixty-nine of these people connected with +the Ramah station and I visited them all with Mr. Schmidt.  + Their huts were heated with stone lamps and seal +oil, for the country is bare of wood.  The fuel +for the mission house is brought from the South by +the steamer.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Eskimos at Ramah and at the stations +south are all supposed to be Christians, but naturally +they still retain many of the traditional beliefs +and superstitions of their people.  They will +not live in a house where a death has occurred, believing +that the spirit of the departed will haunt the place.  + If the building is worth it, they take it down and +set it up again somewhere else.</p> + +<p align="justify">Not long ago the wife of one of the +Eskimos was taken seriously ill, and became delirious.  + Her husband and his neighbors, deciding that she +was possessed of an evil spirit, tied her down and +left her, until finally she died, uncared for and +alone, from cold and lack of nourishment.  This +occurred at a distance from the station, and the missionaries +did not learn of it until the woman was dead and beyond +their aid.  They are most kind in their ministrations +to the sick and needy.</p> + +<p align="justify">Once Dr. Grenfell visited Ramah and +exhibited to the astonished Eskimos some stereopticon +views—­photographs that he had taken there +in a previous year.  It so happened that one of +the pictures was that of an old woman who had died +since the photograph was made, and when it appeared +upon the screen terror struck the hearts of the simple-minded +people.  They believed it was her spirit returned +to earth, and for a long time afterward imagined that +they saw it floating about at night, visiting the +woman’s old haunts.</p> + +<p align="justify">The daily routine of the mission station +is most methodical.  At seven o’clock in +the morning a bell calls the servants to their duties; +at nine o’clock it rings again, granting a half +hour’s rest; at a quarter to twelve a third +ringing sends them to dinner; they return at one o’clock +to work until dark.  Every night at five o’clock +the bell summons them to religious service in the +chapel, where worship is conducted in Eskimo by either +the missionary or the storekeeper.  The women +sit on one side, the men on the other, and are always +in their seats before the last tone of the bell dies +out.  I used to enjoy these services exceedingly—­watching +the eager, expectant faces of the people as they heard +the lesson taught, and their hearty singing of the +hymns in Eskimo made the evening hour a most interesting +one to me.</p> + +<p align="justify">It is a busy life the missionary leads.  + From morning until night he is kept constantly at +work, and in the night his rest is often broken by +calls to minister to the sick.  He is the father +of his flock, and his people never hesitate to call +for his help and advice; to him all their troubles +and disagreements are referred for a wise adjustment.</p> + +<p align="justify">I am free to say that previous to +meeting them upon their field of labor I looked upon +the work of these missionaries with indifference, +if not disfavor, for I had been led to believe that +they were accomplishing little or nothing.  But +now I have seen, and I know of what incalculable value +the services are that they are rendering to the poor, +benighted people of this coast.</p> + +<p align="justify">They practically renounce the world +and their home ties to spend their lives, until they +are too old for further service or their health breaks +down, in their Heaven-inspired calling, surrounded +by people of a different race and language, in the +most barren, God-cursed land in the world.</p> + +<p align="justify">When their children reach the age +of seven years they must send them to the church school +at home to be educated.  Very often parent and +child never meet again.  This is, as many of them +told me, the greatest sacrifice they are called upon +to make, but they realize that it is for the best +good of the child and their work, and they do not +murmur.  What heroes and heroines these men and +women are!  One <i>must</i> admire and honor +them.</p> + +<p align="justify">There were some little ones here at +Ramah who used to climb upon my knees and call me +“Uncle,” and kiss me good morning and good +night, and I learned to love them.  My recollections +of these days at Ramah are pleasant ones.</p> + +<p align="justify">Philippus Inglavina and Ludwig Alasua, +two Eskimos, were engaged to hold themselves in readiness +with their team of twelve dogs for a bright and early +start for Hebron on the first clear morning.  +On the fourth morning after our arrival they announced +that the weather was sufficiently clear for them to +find their way over the hills.  Mrs. Schmidt +and Mrs. Filsehke filled an earthen jug with hot coffee +and wrapped it, with some sandwiches, in a bearskin +to keep from freezing for a few hours; sufficient +wood to boil the kettle that night and the next morning +was lashed with our baggage on the komatik; the Eskimos +each received the daily ration of a plug of tobacco +and a box of matches, which they demand when traveling, +and then we said good-by and started.  The komatik +was loaded with Eskimos, and the rest of the native +population trailed after us on foot.  It is the +custom on the coast for the people to accompany a +komatik starting on a journey for some distance from +the station.</p> + +<p align="justify">The wind, which had died nearly out +in the night, was rising again.  It was directly +in our teeth and shifting the loose snow unpleasantly.  +We had not gone far when one of the trailing Eskimos +came running after us and shouting to our driver to +stop.  We halted, and when he overtook us he +called the attention of Philippus to a high mountain +known as Attanuek (the King), whose peak was nearly +hidden by drifting snow.  A consultation decided +them that it would be dangerous to attempt the passes +that day, and to our chagrin the Eskimos turned the +dogs back to the station.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next morning Attanuek’s +head was clear, the wind was light, the atmosphere +bitter cold, and we were off in good season.  +We soon reached “Lamson’s Hill,” +rising three thousand feet across our path, and shortly +after daylight began the wearisome ascent, helping +the dogs haul the komatik up steep places and wallowing +through deep snow banks.  Before noon one of +our dogs gave out, and we had to cut him loose.  + An hour later we met George Ford on his way home to +Nachvak from Davis Inlet, and some Eskimos with a +team from the Hebron Mission, and from this latter +team we borrowed a dog to take the place of the one +that we had lost.  Ford told us that his leader +had gone mad that morning and he had been compelled +to shoot it.  He also in-formed me that wolves +had followed him all the way from Okak to Hebron, +mingling with his dogs at night, but at Hebron had +left his trail.</p> + +<p align="justify">At three o’clock we reached +the summit of Lamson’s Hill and began the perilous +descent, where only the most expert maneuvering on +the part of the Eskimos saved our komatik from being +smashed.  In many places we had to let the sledge +down over steep places, after first removing the dogs, +and it was a good while after dark when we reached +the bottom.  Then, after working the komatik +over a mile of rough bowlders from which the wind +had swept the snow, we at length came upon the sea +ice of Saglak Bay, and at eight o’clock drew +up at an igloosoak on an island several miles from +the mainland.</p> + +<p align="justify">This igloosoak was practically an +underground dwelling, and the entrance was through +a snow tunnel.  From a single seal-gut window +a dim light shone, but there was no other sign of +human life.  I groped my way into the tunnel, +bent half double, stepping upon and stumbling over +numerous dogs that blocked the way, and at the farther +end bumped into a door.  Upon pushing this open +I found myself in a room perhaps twelve by fourteen +feet in size.  Three stone lamps shed a gloomy +half light over the place, and revealed a low bunk, +covered with sealskins, extending along two sides +of the room, upon which nine Eskimos—­men, +women and children—­were lying.  A half +inch of soft slush covered the floor.  The whole +place was reeking in filth, infested with vermin, +and the stench was sickening.</p> + +<p align="justify">The people arose and welcomed us as +Eskimos always do, most cordially.  Our two drivers, +who followed me with the wood we had brought, made +a fire in a small sheet-iron tent stove kept in the +shack by the missionaries for their use when traveling, +and on it we placed our kettle full of ice for tea, +and our sandwiches to thaw, for they were frozen as +hard as bullets.  One of the old women was half +dead with consumption, and constantly spitting, and +when we saw her turning our sandwiches on the stove +our appetite appreciably diminished.</p> + +<p align="justify">At Ramah I had purchased some dried +caplin for dog food for the night.  The caplin +is a small fish, about the size of a smelt or a little +larger, and is caught in the neighborhood of Hamilton +Inlet and south.  They are brought north by the +missionaries to use for dog food when traveling in +the winter, as they are more easily packed on the +komatik than seal meat.  The Eskimos are exceedingly +fond of these dried fish, and they appealed to our +men as too great a delicacy to waste upon the dogs.  + Therefore when feeding time came, seal blubber, of +which there was an abundant supply in the igloo, fell +to the lot of the animals, while our drivers and hosts +appropriated the caplin to themselves.  The bag +of fish was placed in the center, with a dish of raw +seal fat alongside, with the men, women and children +surrounding it, and they were still banqueting upon +the fish and fat when I, weary with traveling, fell +asleep in my bag.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was not yet dark the next evening +when we came in sight of the Eskimo village at the +Hebron mission, and the whole population of one hundred +and eighty people and two hundred dogs, the former +shouting, the latter howling, turned out to greet +us.  Several of the young men, fleeter of foot +than the others, ran out on the ice, and when they +had come near enough to see who we were, turned and +ran back again ahead of our dogs, shouting “Kablunot!  + Kablunot!” (outlanders), and so, in the midst +of pandemonium, we drew into the station, and received +from the missionaries a most cordial welcome.</p> + +<p align="justify">Here I was fortunate in securing for +the next eighty miles of our journey an Eskimo with +an exceptionally fine team of fourteen dogs.  +This new driver—­Cornelius was his name—­made +my heart glad by consenting to travel without an attendant.  + I was pleased at this be-cause experience had taught +me that each additional man meant just so much slower +progress.</p> + +<p align="justify">No time was lost at Hebron, for the +weather was fine, and early morning found us on our +way.  At Napartok we reached the “first +wood,” and the sight of a grove of green spruce +tops above the snow seemed almost like a glimpse of +home.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was dreary, tiresome work, this +daily plodding southward over the endless snow, sometimes +upon the wide ice field, sometimes crossing necks +of land with tedious ascents and dangerous descents +of hills, making no halt while daylight lasted, save +to clear the dogs’ entangled traces and snatch +a piece of hard-tack for a cheerless luncheon.</p> + +<p align="justify">Okak, two days’ travel south +of Hebron, with a population of three hundred and +twenty-nine, is the largest Eskimo village in Labrador +and an important station of the Moravian missionaries.  + Besides the chapel, living apartments and store of +the mission a neat, well-organized little hospital +has just been opened by them and placed in charge +of Dr. S. Hutton, an English physician.  Young, +capable and with every prospect of success at home, +he and his charming wife have resigned all to come +to the dreary Labrador and give their lives and efforts +to the uplifting of this bit of benighted humanity.</p> + +<p align="justify">We were entertained by the doctor +and Mrs. Hutton and found them most delightful people.  + The only other member of the hospital corps was Miss +S. Francis, a young woman who has prepared herself +as a trained nurse to give her life to the service.  + I had an opportunity to visit with Dr. Hutton several +of the Eskimo dwellings, and was struck by their cleanliness +and the great advance toward civilization these people +have made over their northern kinsmen.  We had +now reached a section where timber grows, and some +of the houses were quite pretentious for the frontier—­well +furnished, of two or three rooms, and far superior +to many of the homes of the outer coast breeds to the +south.  This, of course, is the visible result +of the century of Moravian labors.  Here I engaged, +with the aid of the missionaries, Paulus Avalar and +Boas Anton with twelve dogs to go with us to Nain, +and after one day at Okak our march was resumed.</p> + +<p align="justify">It is a hundred miles from Okak to +Nain and on the way the Kiglapait Mountain must be +crossed, as the Atlantic ice outside is liable to be +shattered at any time should an easterly gale blow, +and there is no possible retreat and no opportunity +to escape should one be caught upon it at such a time, +as perpendicular cliffs rise sheer from the sea ice +here.</p> + +<p align="justify">We had not reached the summit of the +Kiglapait when night drove us into camp in a snow +igloo.  The Eskimos here are losing the art of +snow-house building, and this one was very poorly constructed, +and, with a temperature of thirty or forty degrees +below zero, very cold and uncomfortable.</p> + +<p align="justify">When we turned into our sleeping bags +Paulus, who could talk a few words of English, remarked +to me:  “Clouds say big snow maybe.  + Here very bad.  No dog feed.  We go early,” +and pointing to my watch face indicated that we should +start at midnight.  At eleven o’clock I +heard him and Boas get up and go out.  Half an +hour later they came back with a kettle of hot tea +and we had breakfast.  Then the two Eskimos, +by candlelight read aloud in their language a form +of worship and sang a hymn.  All along the coast +between Hebron and Makkovik I found morning and evening +worship and grace before and after meals a regular +institution with the Eskimos, whose religious training +is carefully looked after by the Moravians.</p> + +<p align="justify">By midnight our komatik was packed.  + “Ooisht! ooisht!” started the dogs forward +as the first feathery flakes of the threatened storm +fell lazily down.  Not a breath of wind was stirring +and no sound broke the ominous silence of the night +save the crunch of our feet on the snow and the voice +of the driver urging on the dogs.</p> + +<p align="justify">Boas went ahead, leading the team +on the trail.  Presently he halted and shouted +back that he could not make out the landmarks in the +now thickening snow.  Then we circled about until +an old track was found and went on again.  Time +and again this maneuver was repeated.  The snow +now began to fall heavily and the wind rose.</p> + +<p align="justify">No further sign of the track could +be discovered and short halts were made while Paulus +examined my compass to get his bearings.</p> + +<p align="justify">Finally the summit of the Kiglapait +was reached, and the descent was more rapid.  + At one place on a sharp down grade the dogs started +on a run and we jumped upon the komatik to ride.  + Moving at a rapid pace the team, dimly visible ahead, +suddenly disappeared.  Paulus rolled off the +komatik to avoid going over the ledge ahead, but the +rest of us had no time to jump, and a moment later +the bottom fell out of our track and we felt ourselves +dropping through space.  It was a fall of only +fifteen feet, but in the night it seemed a hundred.  + Fortunately we landed on soft snow and no harm was +done, but we had a good shaking up.</p> + +<p align="justify">The storm grew in force with the coming +of daylight.  Forging on through the driving +snow we reached the ocean ice early in the forenoon +and at four o’clock in the afternoon the shelter +of an Eskimo hut.</p> + +<p align="justify">The storm was so severe the next morning +our Eskimos said to venture out in it would probably +mean to get lost, but before noon the wind so far +abated that we started.</p> + +<p align="justify">The snow fell thickly all day, the +wind began to rise again, and a little after four +o’clock the real force of the gale struck us +in one continued, terrific sweep, and the snow blew +so thick that we nearly smothered.  The temperature +was thirty degrees below zero.  We could not +see the length of the komatik.  We did not dare +let go of it, for had we separated ourselves a half +dozen yards we should certainly have been lost.</p> + +<p align="justify">Somehow the instincts of drivers and +dogs, guided by the hand of a good Providence, led +us to the mission house at Nain, which we reached +at five o’clock and were overwhelmed by the kindness +of the Moravians.  This is the Moravian headquarters +in Labrador, and the Bishop, Right Reverend A. Martin, +with his aids, is in charge.</p> + +<a name="nain"></a> +<a href="images/nainth.jpg"> +<img alt="Nain, the Moravian Headquarters in Labrador" src="images/nainth.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">It was Saturday night when we reached +Nain, and Sunday was spent here while we secured new +drivers and dogs and waited for the storm to blow +over.</p> + +<p align="justify">Every one was so cordial and hospitable +that I almost regretted the necessity of leaving on +Monday morning.  The day was excessively cold +and a head wind froze cheeks and noses and required +an almost constant application of the hand to thaw +them out and prevent them from freezing permanently.  + Easton even frosted his elbow through his heavy clothing +of reindeer skin.</p> + +<p align="justify">During the second day from Nain we +met Missionary Christian Schmitt returning from a +visit to the natives farther south, and on the ice +had a half hour’s chat.</p> + +<p align="justify">That evening we reached Davis Inlet +Post of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and spent +the night with Mr. Guy, the agent, and the following +morning headed southward again, passed Cape Harrigan, +and in another two days reached Hopedale Mission, +where we arrived just ahead of one of the fierce storms* +so frequent here at this season of the year, which +held us prisoners from Thursday night until Monday +morning.  Two days later we pulled in at Makkovik, +the last station of the Moravians on our southern +trail.</p> + +<p align="justify">* Since writing the above I have learned +that a half-breed whom I met at Davis Inlet, his wife +and a young native left that point for Hope-dale +just after us, were overtaken by this storm, lost their +way, and were probably overcome by the elements.  + Their dogs ate the bodies and a week later returned, +well fed, to Davis Inlet.  Dr. Grenfell found +the bones in the spring.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_23"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XXIII</h1> + +<p><b>BACK TO NORTHWEST RIVER</b></p> + +<p align="justify">We had now reached an English-speaking +country; that is, a section where every one talked +understandable English, though at the same time nearly +every one was conversant with the Eskimo language.</p> + +<p align="justify">All down the coast we had been fortunate +in securing dogs and drivers with little trouble through +the intervention of the missionaries; but at Makkovik +dogs were scarce, and it seemed for a time as though +we were stranded here, but finally, with missionary +Townley’s aid I engaged an old Eskimo named +Martin Tuktusini to go with us to Rigolet.  When +I looked at Martin’s dogs, however, I saw at +once that they were not equal to the journey, unaided.  + Neither had I much faith in Martin, for he was an +old man who had nearly reached the end of his usefulness.</p> + +<p align="justify">A day was lost in vainly looking around +for additional dogs, and then Mr. Townley generously +loaned us his team and driver to help us on to Big +Bight, fifteen miles away, where he thought we might +get dogs to supplement Martin’s.</p> + +<p align="justify">At Big Bight we found a miserable +hut, where the people were indescribably poor and +dirty.  A team was engaged after some delay to +carry us to Tishialuk, thirty miles farther on our +journey, which place we reached the following day +at eleven o’clock.</p> + +<p align="justify">There is a single hovel at Tishialuk, +occupied by two brothers—­John and Sam Cove—­and +their sister.  Their only food was flour, and +a limited quantity of that.  Even tea and molasses, +usually found amongst the “livyeres” (live-heres) +of the coast, were lacking.  Sam was only too +glad of the opportunity to earn a few dollars, and +was engaged with his team to join forces with Martin +as far as Rigolet.</p> + +<p align="justify">There are two routes from Tishialuk +to Rigolet.  One is the “Big Neck” +route over the hills, and much shorter than the other, +which is known as the outside route, though it also +crosses a wide neck of land inside of Cape Harrison, +ending at Pottle’s Bay on Hamilton Inlet.  + It was my intention to take the Big Neck trail, but +Martin strenuously opposed it on the ground that it +passed over high hills, was much more difficult, and +the probabilities of getting lost should a storm occur +were much greater by that route than by the other.  + His objections prevailed, and upon the afternoon +of the day after our arrival Sam was ready, and in +a gale of wind we ran down on the ice to Tom Bromfield’s +cabin at Tilt Cove, that we might be ready to make +an early start for Pottle’s Bay the following +morning, as the whole day would be needed to cross +the neck of land to Pottle’s Bay and the neatest +shelter beyond.</p> + +<p align="justify">Tom is a prosperous and ambitious +hunter, and is fairly well-to-do as it goes on the +Labrador.  His one-room cabin was very comfortable, +and he treated us to unwonted luxuries, such as butter, +marmalade, and sugar for our tea.</p> + +<p align="justify">During the evening he displayed to +me the skin of a large wolf which he had killed a +few days before, and told us the story of the killing.</p> + +<p align="justify">“I were away, sir,” related +he, “wi’ th’ dogs, savin’ one +which I leaves to home, ‘tendin’ my fox +traps.  The woman (meaning his wife) were alone +wi’ the young ones.  In the evenin’ +(afternoon) her hears a fightin’ of dogs outside, +an’ thinkin’ one of the team was broke +loose an’ run home, she starts to go out to +beat the beasts an’ put a stop to the fightin’.  + But lookin’ out first before she goes, what +does she see but the wolf that owned that skin, and +right handy to the door he were, too.  He were +a big divil, as you sees, sir.  She were scared.  +Her tries to take down the rifle—­the one +as is there on the pegs, sir.  The wolf and the +dog be now fightin’ agin’ the door, and +she thinks they’s handy to breakin’ in, +and it makes her a bit shaky in the hands, and she +makes a slip and the rifle he goes off bang! makin’ +that hole there marrin’ the timber above the +windy.  Then the wolf he goes off too; he be +scared at the shootin’.  When I comes home +she tells me, and I lays fur the beast.  ’Twere +the next day and I were in the house when I hears +the dogs fightin’ and I peers out the windy, +and there I sees the wolf fightin’ wi’ +the dogs, quite handy by the house.  Well, sir, +I just gits the rifle down and goes out, and when +the dogs sees me they runs and leaves the wolf, and +I up and knocks he over wi’ a bullet, and there’s +his skin, worth a good four dollars, for he be an +extra fine one, sir.”</p> + +<p>We sat up late that night listening to Tom’s +stories.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next morning was leaden gray, +and promised snow.  With the hope of reaching +Pottle’s Bay before dark we started forward early, +and at one o’clock in the afternoon were in +the soft snow of the spruce-covered neck.  Traveling +was very bad and progress so slow that darkness found +us still amongst the scrubby firs.  Martin and +I walked ahead of the dogs, making a path and cutting +away the growth where it was too thick to permit the +passage of the teams.</p> + +<p align="justify">Martin was guiding us by so circuitous +a path that finally I began to suspect he had lost +his way, and, calling a halt, suggested that we had +better make a shelter and stop until daylight, particularly +as the snow was now falling.  When you are lost +in the bush it is a good rule to stop where you are +until you make certain of your course.  Martin +in this instance, however, seemed very positive that +we were going in the right direction, though off the +usual trail, and he said that in another hour or so +we would certainly come out and find the salt-water +ice of Hamilton Inlet.  So after an argument I +agreed to proceed and trust in his assurances.</p> + +<p align="justify">Easton, who was driving the rear team, +was completely tired out with the exertion of steering +the komatik through the brush and untangling the dogs, +which seemed to take a delight in spreading out and +getting their traces fast around the numerous small +trees, and I went to the rear to relieve him for a +time from the exhausting work.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was nearly two o’clock in +the morning when we at length came upon the ice of +a brook which Martin admitted he had never seen before +and confessed that he was completely lost.  I +ordered a halt at once until daylight.  We drank +some cold water, ate some hard-tack and then stretched +our sleeping bags upon the snow and, all of us weary, +lay down to let the drift cover us while we slept.</p> + +<p align="justify">At dawn we were up, and with a bit +of jerked venison in my hand to serve for breakfast, +I left the others to lash the load on the komatiks +and follow me and started on ahead.  I had walked +but half a mile when I came upon the rough hummocks +of the Inlet ice.  Before noon we found shelter +from the now heavily driving snowstorm in a livyere’s +hut and here remained until the following morning.</p> + +<p align="justify">Just beyond this point, in crossing +a neck of land, we came upon a small hut and, as is +usual on the Labrador, stopped for a moment.  +The people of the coast always expect travelers to +stop and have a cup of tea with them, and feel that +they have been slighted if this is not done.  + Here I found a widow named Newell, whom I knew, and +her two or three small children.  It was a miserable +hut, without even the ordinary comforts of the poorer +coast cabins, only one side of the earthen floor partially +covered with rough boards, and the people destitute +of food.  Mrs. Newell told me that the other livyeres +were giving her what little they had to eat, and had +saved them during the winter from actual starvation.  + I had some hardtack and tea in my “grub bag,” +and these I left with her.</p> + +<p align="justify">Two days later we pulled in at Rigolet +and were greeted by my friend Fraser.  It was +almost like getting home again, for now I was on old, +familiar ground.  A good budget of letters that +had come during the previous summer awaited us and +how eagerly we read them!  This was the first +communication we had received from our home folks since +the previous June and it was now February twenty-first.</p> + +<p align="justify">We rested with Fraser until the twenty-third, +and then with Mark Pallesser, a Groswater Bay Eskimo, +turned in to Northwest River where Stanton, upon coming +from the interior, had remained to wait for our return +that he might join us for the balance of the journey +out.  The going was fearful and snowshoeing in +the heavy snow tiresome.  It required two days +to reach Mulligan, where we spent the night with skipper +Tom Blake, one of my good old friends, and at Tom’s +we feasted on the first fresh venison we had had since +leaving the Ungava district.  In the whole distance +from Whale River not a caribou had been killed during +the winter by any one, while in the previous winter +a single hunter at Davis Inlet shot in one day a hundred +and fifty, and only ceased then because he had no +more ammunition.  Tom had killed three or four, +and south of this point I learned of a hunter now +and then getting one.</p> + +<p align="justify">Northwest River was reached on Monday, +February twenty-sixth, and we took Cotter by complete +surprise, for he had not expected us for another month.</p> + +<p align="justify">The day after our arrival Stanton +came to the Post from a cabin three miles above, where +he had been living alone, and he was delighted to +see us.</p> + +<p align="justify">The lumbermen at Muddy Lake, twenty +miles away, heard of our arrival and sent down a special +messenger with a large addition to the mail which +I was carrying out and which had been growing steadily +in bulk with its accumulations at every station.</p> + +<p align="justify">This is the stormiest season of the +year in Labrador, and weather conditions were such +that it was not until March sixth that we were permitted +to resume our journey homeward.</p> + +<a NAME="chapter_24"></a> +<h1>CHAPTER XXIV</h1> + +<p><b>THE END OF THE LONG TRAIL</b></p> + +<p align="justify">The storm left the ice covered with +a depth of soft snow into which the dogs sank deep +and hauled the komatik with difficulty.  Snowshoeing, +too, was unusually hard.  The day we left Northwest +River (Tuesday, March sixth) the temperature rose +above the freezing point, and when it froze that night +a thin crust formed, through which our snowshoes broke, +adding very materially to the labor of walking—­and +of course it was all walking.</p> + +<p align="justify">As the days lengthened and the sun +asserting his power, pushed higher and higher above +the horizon, the glare upon the white expanse of snow +dazzled our eyes, and we had to put on smoked glasses +to protect ourselves from snow-blindness.  Even +with the glasses our driver, Mark, became partially +snow-blind, and when, on the evening of the third +day after leaving Northwest River, we reached his home +at Karwalla, an Eskimo settlement a few miles west +of Rigolet, it became necessary for us to halt until +he was sufficiently recovered to enable him to travel +again.</p> + +<p align="justify">Here we met some of the Eskimos that +had been connected with the Eskimo village at the +World’s Fair at Chicago, in 1893.  Mary, +Mark’s wife, was one of the number.  She +told me of having been exhibited as far west as Portland, +Oregon, and I asked: </p> + +<p align="justify">“Mary, aren’t you discontented +here, after seeing so much of the world?  Wouldn’t +you like to go back?”</p> + +<p align="justify">“No, sir,” she answered. + “’Tis fine here, where I has plenty of +company.  ’Tis too lonesome in the States, +sir.”</p> + +<p align="justify">“But you can’t get the +good things to eat here—­the fruits and other +things,” I insisted.</p> + +<p align="justify">“I likes the oranges and apples +fine, sir—­but they has no seal meat or +deer’s meat in the States.”</p> + +<p align="justify">It was not until Tuesday, March thirteenth, +three days after our arrival at Karwalla, that Mark +thought himself quite able to proceed.  The brief +“mild” gave place to intense cold and blustery, +snowy weather.  We pushed on toward West Bay, +on the outer coast again, by the “Backway,” +an arm of Hamilton Inlet that extends almost due east +from Karwalla.</p> + +<p align="justify">At West Bay I secured fresh dogs to +carry us on to Cartwright, which I hoped to reach +in one day more.  But the going was fearfully +poor, soft snow was drifted deep in the trail over +Cape Porcupine, the ice in Traymore was broken up +by the gales, and this necessitated a long detour, +so it was nearly dark and snowing hard when we at last +reached the house of James Williams, at North River, +just across Sandwich Bay from Cartwright Post.  + The greeting I received was so kindly that I was +not altogether disappointed at having to spend the +night here.</p> + +<p align="justify">“We’ve been expectin’ +you all winter, sir,” said Mrs. Williams.  + “When you stopped two years ago you said you’d +come some other time, and we knew you would.  + ’Tis fine to see you again, sir.”</p> + +<p align="justify">On the afternoon of March seventeenth +we reached Cartwright Post of the Hudson’s Bay +Company, and my friend Mr. Ernest Swaffield, the agent, +and Mrs. Swaffield, who had been so kind to me on my +former trip, gave us a cordial welcome.  Here +also I met Dr. Mumford, the resident physician at +Dr. Grenfell’s mission hospital at Battle Harbor, +who was on a trip along the coast visiting the sick.</p> + +<p align="justify">Another four days’ delay was +necessary at Cartwright before dogs could be found +to carry us on, but with Swaffield’s aid I finally +secured teams and we resumed our journey, stopping +at night at the native cabins along the route.  + Much bad weather was encountered to retard us and +I had difficulty now and again in securing dogs and +drivers.  Many of the men that I had on my previous +trip, when I brought Hubbard’s body out to Battle +Harbor, were absent hunting, but whenever I could +find them they invariably engaged with me again to +help me a stage upon the journey.</p> + +<p align="justify">From Long Pond, near Seal Islands, +neither I nor the men I had knew the way (when I traveled +down the coast on the former occasion my drivers took +a route outside of Long Pond), and that afternoon we +went astray, and with no one to set us right wandered +about upon the ice until long after dark, looking +for a hut at Whale Bight, which was finally located +by the dogs smelling smoke and going to it.</p> + +<p align="justify">A little beyond Whale Bight we came +upon a bay that I recognized, and from that point +I knew the trail and headed directly to Williams’ +Harbor, where I found John and James Russell, two of +my old drivers, ready to take us on to Battle Harbor.</p> + +<p align="justify">At last, on the afternoon of March +twenty-sixth we reached the hospital, and how good +it seemed to be back almost within touch of civilization.  + It was here that I ended that long and dreary sledge +journey with the last remains of dear old Hubbard, +in the spring of 1904, and what a flood of recollections +came to me as I stood in front of the hospital and +looked again across the ice of St. Lewis Inlet!  +How well I remembered those weary days over there at +Fox Harbor, watching the broken, heaving ice that +separated me from Battle Island; the little boat that +one day came into the ice and worked its way slowly +through it until it reached us and took us to the hospital +and the ship; and how thankful I felt that I had reached +here with my precious burden safe.</p> + +<p align="justify">Mrs. Mumford made us most welcome, +and entertained me in the doctor’s house, and +was as good and kind as she could be.</p> + +<p align="justify">I must again express my appreciation +of the truly wonderful work that Dr. Grenfell and +his brave associates are carrying on amongst the people +of this dreary coast.  Year after year, they brave +the hardships and dangers of sea and fog and winter +storms that they may minister to the lowly and needy +in the Master’s name.  It is a saying on +the coast that “even the dogs know Dr. Grenfell,” +and it is literally true, for his activities carry +him everywhere and God knows what would become of +some of the people if he were not there to look after +them.  His practice extends over a larger territory +than that of any other physician in the world, but +the only fee he ever collects is the pleasure that +comes with the knowledge of work well done.</p> + +<p align="justify">At Battle Harbor I was told by a trader +that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to +procure dogs to carry us up the Straits toward Quebec, +and I was strongly advised to end my snowshoe and dog +journey here and wait for a steamer that was expected +to come in April to the whaling station at Cape Charles, +twelve miles away.  This seemed good advice, +for if we could get a steamer here within three weeks +or so that would take us to St. Johns we should reach +home probably earlier than we possibly could by going +to Quebec.</p> + +<p align="justify">There is a government coast telegraph +line that follows the north shore of the St. Lawrence +from Quebec to Château Bay, but the nearest office +open at this time was at Red Bay, sixty-five miles +from Battle Harbor, and I determined to go there and +get into communication with home and at the same time +telegraph to Bowring Brothers in St. Johns and ascertain +from them exactly when I might expect the whaling +steamer.</p> + +<p align="justify">William Murphy offered to carry me +over with his team, and, leaving Stanton and Easton +comfortably housed at Battle Harbor and both of them +quite content to end their dog traveling here, on the +morning after my arrival Murphy and I made an early +start for Red Bay.</p> + +<p align="justify">Except in the more sheltered places +the bay ice had broken away along the Straits and +we had to follow the rough ice barricades, sometimes +working inland up and down the rocky hills and steep +grades.  Before noon we passed Henley Harbor +and the Devil’s Dining Table—­a basaltic +rock formation—­and a little later reached +Château Bay and had dinner in a native house.  + Beyond this point there are cabins built at intervals +of a few miles as shelter for the linemen when making +repairs to the wire.  We passed one of these at +Wreck Cove toward evening, but as a storm was threatening, +pushed on to the next one at Green Bay, fifty-five +miles from Battle Harbor.  It was dark before +we got there, and to reach the Bay we had to descend +a steep hill.  I shall never forget the ride +down that hill.  It is very well to go over places +like that when you know the way and what you are likely +to bring up against, but I did not know the way and +had to pin my faith blindly on Murphy, who had taken +me over rotten ice during the day—–­ +ice that waved up and down with our weight and sometimes +broke behind us.  My opinion of him was that +he was a reckless devil, and when we began to descend +that hill, five hundred feet to the bay ice, this +opinion was strengthened.  I would have said uncomplimentary +things to him had time permitted.  I expected +anything to happen.  It looked in the night as +though a sheer precipice with a bottomless pit below +was in front of us.  Two drags were thrown over +the komatik runners to hold us back, but in spite +of them we went like a shot out of a gun, he on one +side, I on the other, sticking our heels into the hard +snow as we extended our legs ahead, trying our best +to hold back and stop our wild progress.  But, +much to my surprise, when we got there, and I verily +believe to Murphy’s surprise also, we landed +right side up at the bottom, with no bones broken.  + There were three men camped in the shack here, and +we spent the night with them.</p> + +<p align="justify">Early the next day we reached Red +Bay and the telegraph office.  There are no words +in the English language adequate to express my feelings +of gratification when I heard the instruments clicking +off the messages.  It had been seventeen years +since I had handled a telegraph key—­when +I was a railroad telegrapher down in New England—­and +how I fondled that key, and what music the click of +the sounder was to my ears!</p> + +<p align="justify">My messages were soon sent, and then +I sat down to wait for the replies.</p> + +<p align="justify">The office was in the house of Thomas +Moors, and he was good enough to invite me to stop +with him while in Red Bay.  His daughter was the +telegraph operator.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next day the answers to my telegrams +came, and many messages from friends, and one from +Bowring & Company stating that no steamer would be +sent to Cape Charles.  I had been making inquiries +here, however, in the meantime, and learned that it +was quite possible to secure dogs and continue the +journey up the north shore, so I was not greatly disappointed.  + I dispatched Murphy at once to Battle Harbor to bring +on the other men, waiting myself at Red Bay for their +coming, and holding teams in readiness for an immediate +departure when they should arrive.</p> + +<p align="justify">They drove in at two o’clock +on April fourth, and we left at once.  On the +morning of the sixth we passed through Blanc Sablon, +the boundary line between Newfoundland and Canadian +territory, and here I left the Newfoundland letters +from my mail bag.  From this point the majority +of the natives are Acadians, and speak only French.</p> + +<p align="justify">At Brador Bay I stopped to telegraph.  + No operator was there, so I sent the message myself, +left the money on the desk and proceeded.</p> + +<p align="justify">Three days more took us to St. Augustine +Post of the Hudson’s Bay Company, where we arrived +in the morning and accepted the hospitality of Burgess, +the Agent.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our old friends the Indians whom we +met on our inland trip at Northwest River were here, +and John, who had eaten supper with us at our camp +on the hill on the first portage, expressed great pleasure +at meeting us, and had many questions to ask about +the country.  They had failed in their deer hunt, +and had come out half starved a week or so before, +from the interior.</p> + +<a name="indians"></a> +<a href="images/indiansth.jpg"> +<img alt="The Indians Were Here" src="images/indianth.jpg"> +</a> + + +<p align="justify">We did fifty miles on the eleventh, +changing dogs at Harrington at noon and running on +to Sealnet Cove that night.  Here we found more +Indians who had just emerged from the interior, driven +to the coast for food like those at St. Augustine +as the result of their failure to find caribou.</p> + +<p align="justify">Two days later we reached the Post +at Romain, and on the afternoon of April seventeenth +reached Natashquan and open water.  Here I engaged +passage on a small schooner—­the first afloat +in the St. Lawrence—­to take us on to Eskimo +Point, seventy miles farther, where the Quebec steamer, +<i>King Edward</i>, was expected to arrive in a week +or so.  That night we boarded the schooner and +sailed at once.  Into the sea I threw the clothes +I had been wearing, and donned fresh ones.  What +a relief it was to be clear of the innumerable horde +“o’ wee sma’ beasties” that +had been my close companions all the way down from +the Eskimo igloos in the North.  I have wondered +many times since whether those clothes swam ashore, +and if they did what happened to them.</p> + +<p align="justify">It was a great pleasure to be upon +the water again, and see the shore slip past, and +feel that no more snowstorms, no more bitter northern +blasts, no more hungry days and nights were to be faced.</p> + +<p align="justify">Since June twenty-fifth, the day we +dipped our paddles into the water of Northwest River +and turned northward into the wastes of the great +unknown wilderness, eight hundred miles had been traversed +in reaching Fort Chimo, and on our return journey +with dogs and komatik and snowshoes, two thousand +more.</p> + +<p align="justify">We reached Eskimo Point on April twentieth, +and that very day a rain began that turned the world +into a sea of slush.  I was glad indeed that +our komatik work was finished, for it would now have +been very difficult, if not impossible, to travel +farther with dogs.</p> + +<p align="justify">I at once deposited in the post office +the bag of letters that I had carried all the way +from far-off Ungava.  This was the first mail +that any single messenger had ever carried by dog +train from that distant point, and I felt quite puffed +up with the honor of it.</p> + +<p align="justify">The week that we waited here for the +<i>King Edward</i> was a dismal one, and when the +ship finally arrived we lost no time in getting ourselves +and our belongings aboard.  It was a mighty satisfaction +to feel the pulse of the engines that with every revolution +took us nearer home, and when at last we tied up at +the steamer’s wharf in Quebec, I heaved a sigh +of relief.</p> + +<p align="justify">On April thirtieth, after an absence +of just eleven months, we found ourselves again in +the whirl and racket of New York.  The portages +and rapids and camp fires, the Indian wigwams and +Eskimo igloos and the great, silent white world of +the North that we had so recently left were now only +memories.  We had reached the end of The Long +Trail.  The work of exploration begun by Hubbard +was finished.</p> + +<a NAME="appendix"></a> +<h1>APPENDIX</h1> + +<p><b>LABRADOR PLANTS</b></p> + +<p align="justify">Specimens collected along the route +of the expedition between Northwest River and Lake +Michikamau.  Determined at the New York<br> +Botanical Gardens: </p> + +<p>Ledum groonlandicum, Oeder. <br> +Comarum palustre L.<br> +Rubus arcticus L.<br> +Solidago multiradiata.  Ait. <br> +Sanguisorba Canadensis L.<br> +Linnaea Americana, Forbes. <br> +Dasiphora fruticosa (L), Rydb. <br> +Chamnaerion latifolium (L), Sweet. <br> +Viburnum pancifloram, Pylaim. <br> +Viscaxia alpina (L), Roehl. <br> +Menyanthes trifoliata L.<br> +Vaznera trifolia (L), Morong. <br> +Ledum prostratum, Rotlb. <br> +Betula glandulosa, Michx. <br> +Kalmia angustifolia. <br> +Aronia nigra (Willd), Britt. <br> +Comus Canadensis L.<br> +Arenaria groenlandica (Retz), Spreng. <br> +Barbarea stricta, Audry. <br> +Eriophorum russeolum, Fries. <br> +Eriophorum polystachyon L.<br> +Phegopteris Phegopt@ (L), Fee.</p> + +<p><b>LICHENS</b></p> + +<p>Cladonia deformis (L), Hoffen. <br> +Alectoria dehrolenea (Ehrh.), Nyl. <br> +Umbilicaria Neuhlenbergii (Ac L.), Tuck.</p> + +<p><b>GEOLOGICAL NOTES</b></p> +By G. M. Richards<br> +<p>All bearings given, refer to the true meridian.</p> + +<p>My sincere thanks are due Prof.  J.F.  Kemp +and Dr.<br> +C.P.  Berkey, whose generous assistance has made +this work possible.</p> + +<p><b>ROUTE FOLLOWED</b></p> + +<p align="justify">The route was by steamer to the head +of Hamilton Inlet, Labrador—­ thence by +canoes up Grand Lake and the Nascaupee River.  + Fifteen miles above Grand Lake, a portage route was +followed which makes a long detour through a series +of lakes to avoid rapids in the river.  This +trail again returns to the Nascaupee River at Seal +Lake and for some fifty miles above Seal Lake, follows +the river.  It then leaves the Nascaupee, making +a second long detour through lakes to the north.  + On one of these lakes (Bibiquasin Lake) the trail +was lost, and thereafter we traveled in a westerly +direction until reaching Lake Michikamau.</p> + +<p align="justify">Our food supply was then in so depleted +a condition the party was obliged to separate, three +of us returning to Northwest River.</p> + +<p align="justify">It will be understood that the circumstances +would allow of but a very limited examination of the +geological features of the country.  Only typical +rock specimens, or those whose character was at all +doubtful were brought back.</p> + +<p><b>PREVIOUS EXPLORATION</b></p> + +<p align="justify">Mr. A.P.  Low penetrated to Lake +Michikamau, by way of the Grand River.  He has +thoroughly described the lake in his report to the +Canadian Geological Survey, 1895, and it is not touched +upon in the following paper.  In the summer of +1903, an expedition led by Leonidas Hubbard, Jr., +attempted to reach Lake Michikamau by ascending the +Nascaupee River; they, however, missed the mouth of +that stream on Grand Lake and followed the Susan River +instead, pursuing a northwesterly course for two months +without reaching the lake.  On the return journey, +Mr. Hubbard died of starvation, his two companions, +Mr. Wallace and a half-breed Indian, barely escaping +a similar fate.</p> + +<p><b>GEOGRAPHICAL RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION</b></p> + +<p align="justify">The Northwest River represented on +the map of the Canadian Geological Survey (made from +information obtained from the Indians) as draining +Lake Michikamau, is but three and one-half miles long, +and connects Grand Lake with Hamilton Inlet.  + There are six streams flowing into Grand Lake, instead +of only one.  It is the Nascaupee River that flows +from Lake Michikamau to Grand Lake; and Seal Lake instead +of being the source of the Nascaupee River is merely +an expansion of it.</p> + +<p align="justify">The source of the Crooked River was +also discovered and mapped, as well as a great number +of smaller lakes.</p> + +<p align="justify">On the Northern Slope the George and +Koroksoak Rivers and several lakes were mapped, and +some smaller rivers located.</p> + +<p><b>DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ROUTE EXPLORED</b></p> + +<p align="justify">Northwest River which flows into a +small sandy bay at the head of Hamilton Inlet is only +three and one-half miles long and drains Grand Lake.</p> + +<p align="justify">For one-quarter of a mile above its +mouth the river maintains an average width of one +hundred and fifty yards, and a depth of two and one-half +fathoms.  It then expands into a shallow sheet +of water two miles wide and three miles long, known +locally as “The Little Lake.”  At +the head of this small expansion the river again contracts +where it flows out of Grand Lake.  This point +is known as “The Rapids,” and although +there is a strong current, the stream may be ascended +in canoes without tracking.</p> + +<p align="justify">At the foot of “The Rapids” +the effect of the spring tides is barely perceptible.  + Between Grand Lake and the head of Hamilton Inlet, +Northwest River flows through a deposit of sand marked +by several distinct marine terraces.</p> + +<p align="justify">Grand Lake is a body of fresh water +forty miles long and from two to six miles in width, +having a direction N. 75 degrees W. It lies in a +deep valley between rocky hills that rise to a height +of about four hundred feet above the lake, and was +doubtless at one time an extension of Hamilton Inlet.  + At Cape Corbeau and Berry Head the rocks rise almost +perpendicularly from the water; at the former place, +to a height of three hundred feet.  Except in +a few places the hills are covered to their summits +by a thick growth of small spruce and fir.</p> + +<p align="justify">At the head of the lake there are +two bays, one extending slightly to the southwest, +the other nearly due north.  Into the former flow +the Susan and Beaver Rivers, while into the latter +empties the water of the Nascaupee and Crooked Rivers.  + Besides these there are two small streams, the Cape +Corbeau River on the south, and Watty’s Brook +on the north shore.</p> + +<p align="justify">At the point where the Nascaupee and +Crooked Rivers enter the lake there are two low islands +of sand, and a great deal of sand is being carried +down by the two streams and deposited in the lake, +which is very shallow for some distance from the shore.</p> + +<p align="justify">Three miles above the mouth of the +Nascaupee River it is separated from the Crooked River +by a plain of stratified sand and gravel, three-quarters +of a mile wide, with two well-defined terraces.  + The first is twenty feet above the river and extends +back some three hundred yards to a second terrace, +rising seventy-five feet above the first.</p> + +<p align="justify">Half way between this terrace and +the Crooked River is, the old bed of the Nascaupee +River, nearly parallel to its present course.  + A similar abandoned channel curve was found, making +a small arc to the south of the Crooked River.</p> + +<p align="justify">Above Grand Lake the Nascaupee River +flows through an ancient valley, which is from a few +hundred yards to a mile wide and cut deep into the +old Archaean rocks, affording an excellent example +of river erosion.  The banks are of sand, and +in some places clay, extending back to the foot of +the precipitous hills.  Apparently the ancient +river valley has been partly filled with drift, down +through which the river has cut its way; the present +bed of the stream being of post glacial formation.  + The general direction of the river is N. 83 degrees +W.</p> + +<p align="justify">Fifteen miles above Grand Lake, the +Red River joins the main stream, coming from N. 87 +degrees W. Below its junction with the latter stream, +the Nascaupee River has a width varying between two +and three hundred yards, and an average depth of about +ten feet.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Red River is two hundred feet +wide, and its water, unlike that of the main stream, +has a red brown color, like that of many of the streams +of Ontario which have their source in swamp or Muskeg +lands.</p> + +<p align="justify">The first rapids in the Red River +are said to be eight miles above its mouth.  +Directly opposite the junction of the two streams the +portage leaves the Nascaupee River.  The direction +is N. 24 degrees E. and the distance five and one-half +miles, with an elevation of 1050 feet above the river +at the end of the second mile.</p> + +<p align="justify">The last three and one-half miles +lead across a level tableland, to a small lake, from +which the trail descends through two lakes into a +shallow valley.</p> + +<p align="justify">The entire country from the head of +Grand Lake to this point has been devastated by fire, +only a few trees near the water having escaped destruction, +and the ground, except in a few places, is destitute +even of its usual covering of reindeer moss.</p> + +<p align="justify">The underlying rock is gneiss, and +the country from the Nascaupee River is thickly strewn +with huge glacial bowlders.</p> + +<p align="justify">The majority of these bowlders have +been derived from the immediate vicinity, but many +consisting of a coarse pegmatite carrying considerable +quantities of ilmenite were observed.  None of +this rock was seen in place.</p> + +<p align="justify">The valley last mentioned is separated +from the Crooked River by Caribou Ridge, a broad, +flat-topped elevation, three hundred and fifty feet +high, dotted by small lakes, which fill almost every +appreciable depression in the rock.</p> + +<p align="justify">The general course to the Crooked +River is northeast; at the point where the portage +reaches it the stream is fifty yards wide and very +shallow; flowing over a bed of coarse drift, which +obstructs the river, forming a series of small lake +expansions with rapids at the outlet of each.  + Between Grand Lake and the point where we reached +the river, the Indians say it is not navigable in canoes, +owing to rapids.</p> + +<p align="justify">The Crooked River has its source in +Lake Nipishish, which is about twenty-two miles long, +with an average width of three miles, and a course +due north.  Six miles above the outlet of the +lake is a bay, five miles long, extending N. 80 degrees +W.</p> + +<p align="justify">Along the north shore of the lake +and in the bay are several small islands of drift, +and many huge angular bowlders projecting above the +water.  The country in the vicinity of the lake +and in the valley of the Crooked River is covered +with mounds and ridges of drift and many small moraines.</p> + +<p align="justify">These moraines consisting of bowlders +for the most part from the immediate vicinity, seemed +to have no given direction, but were usually found +at the ends of, and in a transverse direction to the +ridges.</p> + +<p align="justify">The trail leaves Lake Nipishish near +the head of the large bay, continuing in a direction +between north and northwest, through several insignificant +lakes, all drained indirectly by the Crooked River, +until it reached Otter Lake, which is eight miles long, +running nearly north and south, and is five hundred +and fifty feet below the summits of the surrounding +hills.</p> + +<p align="justify">From Otter Lake, the course is west +through five diminutive lakes, and across a series +of sandy ridges to a small shallow lake, which is the +source of Babewendigash River.  Between this lake +and Seal Lake intervene a high range of mountains—­the +highest seen on the journey to Lake Michikamau—­rising +fully one thousand feet above the level of Seal Lake.  + They are visible for miles in any direction, and were +seen from Caribou Ridge nearly a month before we reached +them.</p> + +<p align="justify">They are glaciated to their summits, +which are entirely destitute of vegetation and in +August were still, in places, covered with snow.  +Babewendigash River winds to and fro between the mountains, +its course being determined to a great extent by esker +ridges that follow it on either side and which are +often more than one hundred feet high.  Throughout +its length of twenty-five miles there are five rapids +and three small lake expansions.</p> + +<p align="justify">Seal Lake, into which the river flows, +is in part an expansion of the Nascaupee River and +fills a basin surrounded on every side by mountains, +rising several hundred feet above the water.  +The lake is comparatively shallow, and has a perceptible +current.  There are several small islands of +drift, covered by a scanty growth of spruce and willow.  + The main lake has direction N. 45 degrees W., and +is ten miles long and two and one-half miles wide.  + The northwestern arm is fifteen miles long, with +the same width, and a course N. 80 degrees W.</p> + +<p align="justify">The steep rocky shores have precluded +the formation of terraces.  Above Seal Lake the +course of the Nascaupee River varies between N. 40 +degrees W. and N. 80 degrees W.</p> + +<p align="justify">Five miles above the lake there is +an expansion of the river, called Wuchusk Nipi, or +Muskrat Lake, which is eight miles long and a mile +and a half wide, with a course N. 40 degrees W. Except +for a channel along the western shore, the lake is +very shallow, being nearly filled with sand carried +down by the river.  There is a small stream flowing +into this lake expansion near its head, called Wuchusk +Nipishish.</p> + +<p align="justify">For fifty miles above Muskrat Lake, +the river flows between sandy banks, marked on either +side by two well-defined terraces.  The river +valley gradually becomes more narrow and the current +stronger and with the exception of a few small expansions, +progress is only possible by means of tracking.  + There are, however, in this distance but two rapids +necessitating portages.</p> + +<p align="justify">Opposite the point where the portage +leaves the Nascaupee to make a second long detour +around rapids, a small river flows in from the southwest, +having a sheer fall of almost fifty feet, just above +its junction with the main stream.</p> + +<p align="justify">The trail, after leaving the river, +has a course N. 35 degrees W. for two miles; it then +turns N. 85 degrees W. six miles, and again N. 55 +degrees W. four miles.</p> + +<p align="justify">In its course are four small lakes, +but there is an unbroken portage of eight miles between +the last two.  Nearly the whole country has been +denuded by fire, and the prospect is desolate in the +extreme.  The end of the portage is on the high +rolling plateau of the interior, timbered by a sparse +and stunted second growth of spruce, covered everywhere +with white reindeer moss, and strewn with lakes innumerable.</p> + +<p align="justify">The trail which runs N. 50 degrees +W. and has not been used for eight years, gradually +became more and more indistinct, until on Bibiquasin +Lake it disappeared entirely.  Thereafter the +course was N. 70 degrees W., and finally due west, +through a series of lakes which at last brought us +to Lake Michikamau.  The largest of this series +is Kasheshebogamog Lake, a sheet of water twenty-three +miles long, but broken by numerous bays and countless +islands of drift, with a direction S. 75 degrees W. +The lake is confined between long bowlder-covered +ridges, and is fed at its western end by a small stream.</p> + +<p align="justify">Although its outlet was not discovered, +it doubtless drains into the Nascaupee River.</p> + +<p align="justify">On the return journey an attempt was +made to descend the Nascaupee River below Seal Lake.</p> + +<p align="justify">The river leaves the lake at its southeastern +extremity, flowing between hills that rise almost +straight from the waters edge, and is one long continuation +of heavy rapids.  After following the stream for +two days we were obliged to retrace our steps to Seal +Lake, thereafter keeping to the course pursued on +the inland journey.</p> + +<p><b>DETAILS OF ROCK EXPOSURE</b></p> + +<p align="justify">The numbers following the names of +rocks refer to corresponding numbers in appendix.</p> + +<p align="justify">Of the rocks observed, by far the +greater number are foliated basic eruptives,—­schists +and gneisses.  There are, however, some that are +of undoubted sedimentary origin, but highly metamorphosed.</p> + +<p align="justify">The general direction of foliation +is a few degrees south of east, subject, of course, +to many local changes.</p> + +<p align="justify">Along Grand Lake the rock is a compact +amphibolite [3] with a strike S. 78 degrees E. cut +by numerous pegmatite dikes, having a strike N. 30 +degrees W. and a dip 79 degrees W..  These dikes +vary in width from three to twenty feet.  Half +way to the head of the lake is a dike [1] having a +total width of eight feet, consisting of a central +band of segregated quartz, six feet wide, cut by numerous +thin sheets of biotite, which probably mark the planes +of shearing.  The quartz is bordered on either +side by a band of orthoclase,’ one foot in width.  +Between these bands of orthoclase and the neighboring +amphibolite are narrow bands of schist [2]</p> + +<p align="justify">One hundred feet south of the above +point is a second dike having a similar strike and +dip and a width of eighteen feet.  A third narrow +dike, containing small pockets of magnetite, is twenty-five +feet south of the second.  Only the first is +distinguished by the segregation of the quartz.</p> + +<p align="justify">The next outcrop observed was on the +portage from the Nascaupee River.  The rock, a +biotite granite gneiss [4] having a strike N. 82 degrees +E. is much weathered and split by the action of the +frost, and marked by pockets of quartz, usually four +or five inches in width.</p> + +<p align="justify">Between this point and Lake Nipishish +the underlying rock differs only in being more extremely +crushed and foliated.  The one exception is on +Caribou Ridge, which is capped by a much altered gabbro. +[6]</p> + +<p align="justify">The first noticeable change in the +character of the country rock is a Washkagama Lake, +where a fine grained epidotic schist [7] was observed, +having a dip 82 degrees W. and a strike S. 78 degrees +E.</p> + +<p align="justify">At Otter Lake a much foliated and +weathered phyllite [8] was found.  Strike N. 73 +degrees E. and a dip of 16 degrees.</p> + +<p align="justify">On the Babewendigash River seven miles +east of Seal Lake is an exposure of highly metamorphosed +ancient sedimentary rocks.  The outcrop occurs +at a height of four hundred feet above the river; and +there is a well-marked stratification.</p> + +<p align="justify">The lowest bed of a calcarous sericitic +schist [9] is four feet thick and underlies a bed +of schistose lime stone [10] six feet in thickness, +which is in turn covered by a finely laminated phyllite, +[11] ten feet thick.  The whole is capped by thirty +feet of quartzite, [12] which forms the top of a long +ridge.</p> + +<p align="justify">Owing to the strong weathering action +this thickness of quartzite is doubtless much less +than it was originally.</p> + +<p align="justify">Forty-six miles above Seal Lake an +exposure of phyllite was seen, the same in every respect +as the one east of Seal Lake, just mentioned.</p> + +<p align="justify">The general direction of foliation +is S. 70 degrees E. and the dip 70 degrees.  +The higher hills west of Seal Lake are capped by a +much altered gabbro [13] that has undergone considerable +weathering.</p> + +<p align="justify">Between the Nascaupee River and a +few miles beyond Bibiquasin Lake the rock is quartzite, +[14] considerably weathered and covered by drift.  +Bowlders of this quartzite were seen along the Nascaupee +River long before the first outcrop was reached, showing +the general direction of the glacial movement to have +been to the southeast.  From Bibiquasin Lake +to Lake Kasheshebogamog the country is covered with +much drift; the only exposures are on the steep hillsides.  + The rock being a coarse hornblende granite.</p> + +<p align="justify">The western end of Kasheshebogamog +Lake lies within the limit of the anorthosite [15] +area, which extends from that point to Lake Michikamau, +a direct distance of twenty miles and was the only +anorthosite observed on the journey.</p> + +<p><b>GLACIAL STRIAE</b></p> + +<table> +<tr><td>First portage opposite Red River</td><td>S. 45 degrees E.</td></tr> +<tr><td>On Caribou Ridge</td> <td>E.</td></tr> +<tr><td>At Washkagama Lake</td> <td>S. 70 degrees E.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Near Seal Lake</td> <td>N. 85 degrees E.</td></tr> +<tr><td>At Wuchusk Nipi</td> <td>S. 75 degrees E.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Thirty-two miles above Wuchusk Nipi</td> <td>S. 70 degrees E.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p><b>MICROSCOPICAL FEATURES OF THE ROCK SPECIMENS</b></p> + +<a name="geology"></a> +<a href="images/geologyth.jpg"> +<img alt="Geological Specimens" src="images/geologth.jpg"> +</a> + +<p align="justify">By G. M. Richards, Columbia University<br><br> +1—­Pegmatite-Grand Lake.  The specimen +was taken from a pegmatite dike at its contact with +an amphibolite.  In the hand specimen it is an +apparently pure orthoclase but in the thin section +small scattered quartz grains are observed; as well +as the alteration products, Kaolin and sericite.</p> + +<p align="justify">The minerals at contact are quartz, +biotite, magnetite and hornblende.</p> + +<p align="justify">Both the quartz and orthoclase contain +dust inclusions and crystallites, while the evidences +of shearing and crushing are abundant.</p> + +<p>2-Quartz Biotite Schist.</p> + +<p align="justify">Contact between above dike and amphibolite.  + A coarse black rock carrying magnetite and pyrites +in considerable quantities.</p> + +<p align="justify">Under the microscope some of the biotite +has a green coloration from decomposition and is surrounded +by strong pleochroic halos.</p> + +<p>Small grains of secondary pyroxene are numerous.</p> + +<h1>AMPHIBOLITE</h1> + +<p>3-Grand Lake.</p> + +<p align="justify">A dark, compact rock, having a mottled +appearance due to grains of plagioclase, and a green +color in section.</p> + +<p align="justify">Minerals present are hornblende, biotite, +plagioclase, pyroxene, quartz and the alteration products +from the feldspar.</p> + +<p align="justify">The rock has been subjected to a strong +crushing action, which has been resisted by only small +portions of it.  The spaces between the grains, +which are intact, are filled with a confused mass of +peripherally granulated minerals, in which strain shadows +are very prominent.</p> + +<p align="justify">The rock has been derived by dynamic +metamorphism from a basic igneous rock.</p> + +<p>4-Biotite Granite Gneiss.</p> + +<p align="justify">Eighteen miles above mouth of Nascaupee +River.  A fine-grained rock of gneissic structure +having a faint pink color.</p> + +<p align="justify">Plagioclase, microcline and quartz +are the predominating minerals, while biotite, titanite, +epidote, apatite, zircon and garnet are present in +smaller quantities.</p> + +<p align="justify">There is also a small amount of hematite, +pyroxene and sericite.</p> + +<p align="justify">The rock, which is of a granitic composition, +contains numerous crystallites and has been subjected +to considerable strain and crushing, which has resulted +in foliation.</p> + +<p align="justify">5-Mica Granite Gneiss—­Country +Rock—­near Caribou Ridge.</p> + +<p align="justify">In the hand specimen the rock has +the same appearance as No. 4, if anything, it is somewhat +more compact.</p> + +<p align="justify">The principal minerals are, plagioclase, +biotite and microcline, with smaller quantities of +quartz, iron oxide, pyroxene and garnet.</p> + +<p align="justify">The feldspar is decomposed with the +resulting formation of epidote, which is quite prominent.  + There are also numerous included crystals.</p> + +<p align="justify">The rock has been greatly crushed +and sheared, and is much finer than No. 4.</p> + +<p>6—­Cap of Caribou Ridge.</p> + +<p align="justify">A hard compact rock of dark green +color, having a mottled appearance, due to the presence +of a white mineral.</p> + +<p align="justify">Pyroxene, quartz and augite form the +groundmass, as seen in section.  There are a few +small grains of magnetite.</p> + +<p align="justify">The severe crushing to which the rock +has been subjected has resulted in the conversion +of the plagioclase into scapolite and also in the +formation of zoisite by the characteristic alteration +of the lime bearing silicate of the feldspar in conjunction +with other constituents of the rock.</p> + +<p align="justify">The light mineral is finely granulated +and the whole is marked by uneven extinction.</p> + +<p align="justify">The rock has probably been derived +by dynamic metamorphism, from a coarse igneous rock +like a gabbro.</p> + +<p>7—­Epidotic Sericitic Schist.  Washkagama +Lake.</p> + +<p align="justify">A fine grained compact gray rock, +of aggregate structure, consisting chiefly of quartz, +plagioclase and biotite, and the alteration products +epidote and sericite.</p> + +<p align="justify">Under the microscope it is a confused +mass of finely granulated minerals, with numerous +included crystals.</p> + +<p align="justify">The rock has undergone complete metamorphism +and its origin is unknown.</p> + +<p>8—­Phyllite-Near Otter Lake.</p> + +<p align="justify">A soft extremely fine grained gray +rock, with a well developed schistose structure, carrying +much magnetite, plagioclase, orthoclase and their +alteration products.</p> + +<p align="justify">The strain to which the rock has been +subjected has resulted in a very fine lamination, +and it is <i>considerably weathered</i>.</p> + +<p align="justify">9—­Calcarous Sericite Schist.—­Seven +Miles East of Seal Lake.</p> + +<p align="justify">A dark compact rock, in which calcite +and sericite predominate.  Quartz is less plentiful.  + The results of shearing and pressure are very prominent +and bring out the foliation, even in the calcite.</p> + +<p>10—­Schistose Limestone—­Same +location as No. 9.</p> + +<p align="justify">A white rock having a peculiar mottled +appearance due to the inclusions of decomposing biotite +which project from the surrounding mass of calcite.  + There is some sericite present, also magnetite, resulting +from the decomposition of the biotite.</p> + +<p align="justify">The bent and metamorphosed condition +of the calcite shows the shearing and crushing which +the rock has undergone.</p> + +<p>11—­Phyllite—­same location as +No. 9.</p> + +<p align="justify">A dark red, finely laminated rock +consisting chiefly of decomposed biotite and feldspar, +occasional quartz grains and sericite and much iron +oxide.</p> + +<p align="justify">The rock has been subjected to strong +shearing force, producing a good example of schistose +structure.</p> + +<p>12—­Quartzite—­Same location as +No. 9.</p> + +<p align="justify">A compact rock of light red color, +made up of uniformly rounded grains of quartz, and +the feldspar with occasional grain of magnetite.</p> + +<p align="justify">A fine siliceous material discolored +by iron oxide, acts as a cement between the grains.</p> + +<p align="justify">The quartz grains show secondary growth. +13—­Altered Gabbro—­Thirty-two +Miles Above Wuchusk Nipi on Nascaupee River.</p> + +<p align="justify">A coarse dark green rock whose principal +constituents are pyroxene plagioclase and magnetite.</p> + +<p align="justify">There is a slightly developed diabasic +structure and the rock is much altered by weathering; +the resultant product being chlorite.</p> + +<p>14—­Quartizite—­Bibiquagin Lake.</p> + +<p align="justify">Hard compact rock of light red color, +cut in all directions by narrow veins of quartz, from +microscope size to one-half an inch in width.</p> + +<p align="justify">The grains of the constituent minerals, +quartz, feldspar and magnetite have an angular brecciated +appearance; showing uneven extinction and strong crushing +effects.</p> + +<p align="justify">The magnetite is somewhat decomposed, +the resulting hematite filling the spaces between +the quartz grains.</p> + +<p>15—­Anorthosite—­Shore of Lake +Michikamau.</p> + +<p align="justify">A coarse grained rock of dark gray +color, in which labradorite is the chief mineral.  + Magnetite and Kaolin are present in small quantities.</p> + +<p align="justify">The labradorite contains inclusions +of rutile and biotite and has a well-developed wedge +structure and cross fracture due to the pressure and +shearing which it has undergone.</p> + +<p align="justify">It is also somewhat stained by the +decomposition of the magnetite.</p> + +<h1>SOURCES OF INFORMATION</h1> + +<p align="justify">On the map of the portage route to +Lake Michikamau; that lake, the Grand River and Groswater +Bay are taken from the map accompanying the report +of Mr. A. P. Low.</p> + +<p align="justify">The location of the Susan and Beaver +Rivers with their tributaries was obtained from Dillon +Wallace’s map in “The Lure of the Labrador +Wild.”</p> + +<p align="justify">The instruments used were a Brunton +Pocket Transit, a small taffrail log and an Aneroid +Barometer.  Distances on land were approximated +by means of a pedometer and by rough triangulation.</p> + +<a name="maps"></a> + +<a href="images/map2smalth.jpg"> +<img alt="Map of Canoe Route from Lake Michikamau to Ungava Bay and Sledge Route from Fort Chimo to Nachvak Bay" src="images/map2th.jpg"> +</a> + +<a name="ptgmap"></a> +<a href="images/ptgmapsmth.jpg"> +<img alt="Map of Portage Route from Hamilton Inlet to Lake Michikamau Labrador" src="images/ptgmapth.jpg"> +</a> +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br> +<br> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Long Labrador Trail, by Dillon Wallace + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LONG LABRADOR TRAIL *** + +***** This file should be named 9857-h.htm or 9857-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/8/5/9857/ + +Produced by Martin Schub + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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