166 



The Ottawa Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXII. 



Kansas finds it worth while to make a yearly trip 

 to New York to study just the teeth of skeletons 

 received since his last visit in only one museum in 

 that city. This knowledge he uses to advance 

 methods of dentistry, to save not only the teeth of 

 his own patients, but also those of any one going 

 to dentists who derive benefit from his publications. 

 A surgeon visited the same museum and many others 

 solely to measure and study the three large pelvic 

 bones of the female skeletons. This opportunity he 

 expected would result in the saving of many lives. 

 What he learned might be used by many other 

 surgeons who would read of his discoveries. From 

 these facts it is evident that all human bones should 

 be saved during archaeological excavations not 



merely entire skeletons or only whole bones, but 

 even a stray tooth, a bone of the pelvis, or the 

 broken end of a bone perhaps exhibitmg a diseased 

 surface, an imbedded arrowpoint, or a fracture. The 

 humblest bone or fragment may help to increase 

 human knowledge, which in turn may relieve suf- 

 fering or be useful to mankind m some other way. 

 It is very desirable that all finds of prehistoric 

 human bones made in Canada be promptly and 

 fully reported to the Museum of the Geological 

 Survey, Ottawa, and the bones, instead of being 

 neglected or reburied, be kept as found until they 

 can be investigated by an officer of the Museum or, 

 where this is impossible, that they be carefully 

 labelled, packed and sent to the Museum. 



NOTES ON MIDWINTER LIFE IN THE FAR NORTH. 



By E. J. Whittaker. 



During the summer of 1917, the writer spent some 

 days at Hay River post, N. W. Territories. This 

 post is pleasantly situated at the mouth of the river 

 of the same name, which flows into Great Slave 

 lake at its western end. While there, we enjoyed 

 the bounteous hospitality of all. We were especi- 

 ally well treated by the English Church mission, the 

 Rev. Mr. Browring, its pastor, and by M. Louis 

 Roy, the trader of the Hudson Bay Company. 

 While awaiting a steamer at the end of the season's 

 work, our stay there was especially pleasant. Fish 

 of all kinds were abundant, and so were potatoes 

 and other garden truck from the mission garden. 

 Such is the rapidity of growth in these northern 

 latitudes where the sun was above the horizon for 

 twenty hours out of the twenty-four, that potatoes 

 planted only forty-five days before were quite 

 large. The brilliant green meadows of the alluvial 

 islands contrasted pleasantly with the sombre hues 

 of the evergreen forest farther back, out of whose 

 depths flowed the brown flashing waters of the Hay, 

 which not so many hours before had flung them- 

 selves in a wild torrent over the Alexandria Falls, 

 some fifty miles up the river. This summer aspect 

 contrasts sharply with that of winter, as is indicated 

 in the following paragraphs taken from letters de- 

 scribing the vicissitudes, as well as the pleasures, 

 of life in midwinter in the same region. 



In a letter from Mr. Roy, the company trader, 

 the following appears: "We have been very short 

 of goods this winter, and I have been obliged to 

 haul from other posts, and my poor dogs have had 

 no rest at all. I, myself, made three trips, one each 

 to Buffalo lake, Resolution, and Providence. It 

 was terribly cold on that trip to Providence, 65 

 Jbelow, and a head wind. We were unable to use 



our knives and forks, as they would stick to our 

 lips, and the first occasion we tried it we had a bad 

 time. We would have to put our fingers close to 

 the fire every little while to keep them from freezing. 

 We certainly ate in a hurry then. In the middle 

 of the night, we had to get up to put wood on the 

 fire, as the cold was so intense that the warmest 

 sleeping bag would not keep it out. We would 

 hitch up and 'marche' at four o'clock. We have had 

 a terribly cold winter and lots of snow. The cold 

 is so intense, and storms so frequent, that the In- 

 dians do not visit their traps very often, and there 

 is scarcely any fur being caught. It is the poorest 

 year for fur I have ever seen. They say that east 

 of the Slave river the Indians are living in plenty 

 as the caribou have come closer and in greater 

 numbers this winter than for years past." 



Mr. Bowring, according to his letter has been 

 enjoying at his mission a few of the luxuries of a 

 more southerly clime, but has had his troubles too. 

 In his letter, he says: "Lately we have been living 

 quite high. The mission garden gave us a plentiful 

 supply, and we are enjoying lots of beets, carrots, 

 cabbages and onions not too bad for this out-of- 

 the-way spot. We are getting lots of fish, both 

 trout and whitefish, but the former are very large 

 and almost too fat. I have some parsley growing in 

 the cellar, also some rhubarb. When we run short 

 of provisions, parsley sauce is not bad with white- 

 fish. We are all well now, though most of the 

 workers were down with diphtheretic sore throat, 

 and all had a period of quarantine. Fortunately, it 

 did not get to the village. 



"I had the pleasure (?) of a trip with dogs to 

 Chipewayan and back. I do not mind going be- 

 hind the dogs as a rule, but to get up one morning, 



