The Provision Qttestion 39 



fares. At the company's posts there is not more 

 than one, or at the most two, spare trains ; among 

 the Indians, upon whom, of course, I had to rely 

 when I outfitted for the Barren Grounds, dogs 

 are even scarcer. Fort Resolution is one of the 

 most important posts of the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany in all that great country, and yet the 

 settlement itself is very small, numbering per- 

 haps fifty; the Indians — Dog Ribs and Yellow 

 Knives — living in the woods from six to ten 

 days' travel from the post. I found it not only 

 extremely difficult to get Indians to go with me, 

 but secured seven dog teams only after widest 

 search. This reads strange, I am sure, yet it was 

 all but impossible for me to secure the number 

 of dogs and sledges required for my trip. 



But, some of my friends have asked, with seven 

 sledges and twenty-eight dogs, surely there was 

 room to carry enough provision to insure against 

 starvation in the Barren Grounds? Not at all. 

 There was not room to carry more than tea, 

 tobacco, our sleeping-furs, and moccasins and 

 duffel socks. Moccasins and duffel and tobacco 

 and tea are the highly essential articles in the 

 Barren Ground outfit. The duffel is a light kind 

 of blanket which is made into leggings and also 



