Ill 



ROBBER DOGS AND AN INDIAN COUNCIL 



THE contrast between the old experi- 

 enced guides, with whom I made 

 most of my journeys, and the inex- 

 perienced Indians, whom I was sometimes 

 obliged to take with me, was very great in- 

 deed. The best guides were not always 

 available. They were great hunters and 

 were often away in their distant hunting 

 grounds. They were also in demand by the 

 great Hudson's Bay Company, which re- 

 quired the very best guides for the prosecu- 

 tion of their widely extended fur trade. The 

 result was, that I was sometimes obliged to 

 start with men who knew but very little 

 more of the duties required of them than I 

 did myself. 



Such trips would be specially unfortu- 

 nate, if, as it sometimes happened, I was 

 compelled to make use of these men when 

 various diseases had made sad havoc among 

 my dogs and the survivors had been so 

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