The Arctic Prairies

r orders to proceed without delay to Smith Landing; so to solve all our difficulties I bought a 30-foot boa

the unknown; so was agreeably surprised when a sturdy young fellow of Scottish and Cree parentage came and volunteered for the trip. A few inquiries

t in one and a half days, although much of the road was under water. On another occasion he went alone and afoot from House River up the Athabaska to Calling River, and across the Point to the Athabaska again, then up to the Landing-150 ro

n virginal forests of tall white poplar, balsam poplar, spruce, and birch. The fire has done no damage here as yet, the axe has left no tr

ing weather; ducks all along the river; plenty of food, which is the northerner's idea of bliss; plenty of water, which is the river-man's notion of joy; plent

ow. The mosquito plague of the region had not yet appeared, and there was little

y dogs of the country. He followed us a mile or more, stopping at times to leap at fish that showed near the shore. When we landed for lunch he swam the broad stream and hun

tin nearly every time; and even more surprising was the fact that he held the arrow with what is known as the Mediterranean hold. When, months later, I aga

s one to give the dogs no chance of entering camp on marauding expeditions while you rest. About ten,

intently to a new and wonderful sound. Like the slow tolling of a soft but high-pitched bell, it came. Ting, ting, ting, ting, and on, rising a

ove-song of the Richardson Owl. She is sitting demurely in some spruce top while he sails arou

n, this soft belling of his love, this a

d on, with its ting, ting, ting, TING, ting, ting, ting, TING, the whole night air was vibrant. Then, as though by plan,

d elapsed before I turned in again and left him. More than once that night I aw

kind; some that introduce many variations of the pitch and modulation. I thought it one of the most charming

imilar height. Black spruce, a smaller kind, and tamarack are found farther up and back in the bog country. jackpine of fair size abounds on the sandy and gravelly parts. Balsam poplar is the largest deciduous tree; its superb legions in upright ranks are crowded along all the river banks and on the islands not occupied by the spruce. The large trees of this kind often have deep holes; these are the nesting s

ks. This has long been a specialty of mine; I use a thong and a bow as the simplest way. Ordinarily I prefer balsam-fir or tamarack; in this case

the flood. One of the police boys seized a gun and with a charge of No. 6 killed the Lynx. Poor thing, it was in a starv

ide an inch wide and 4 feet long, evidently a portion of a dog-harness p

d, going upstream. We now began to get occasional glimpses of Lake Athabaska across uncertain marshes and sand bars. It was very necessary to make Fort Chipewyan while there was a calm, so we pushed on. After four hours' groping among b

about 20 pounds each; the boat was 30 feet long, a demasted schooner indeed, and rowing her through shallow muddy water, where the ground suction was excessive, made labour so heavy t

Meanwhile I called at the Roman Catholic Mission, under Bishop Gruard, and the rival establishment, under Reverend Roberts, good men all, and dev

s backing the Athabaska, that is, the tide of the latter was reversed on the Rocher River, which extends twenty-five miles between here and Peace mouth. To

e and the same river, but, unfortunately, the early explorers thought proper to give it a new name each time it did something, such as expand i

were remains of a Redsquirrel, a Chipmunk, and a Bog-l

. Its placid flood is here nearly a mile wide, and its banks are covered with a great continuous forest of spruce tree

otting by or staring at us from t

June 7 we reache