WINTER TRAVEL 



9 1 



from poles before the fire by the mitten cords of the owners 

 and willow hooks. As soon as the outside was roasted the jaw 

 was turned back and the tongue, one of the choicest bits of 

 all, slightly cooked. The dogs were well fed for the first time 

 in months; we gave them the quarters only, and cracked the 

 long bones for the marrow, which, raw or roasted, is one of 

 the greatest of Dog Rib luxuries. Look down in pity upon 

 "the savage and his marrow bones" if you will, but you might 

 perhaps relish that same marrow if you had "hustled" for 

 those bones yourself as I had done, or you might, after run- 

 ning fifty miles, pass your plate a second time for bouillon 

 made of blood carried to camp in a caribou's stomach. Even 

 the tendons were eaten, and the feet also, after roasting them 

 until the hoof could be knocked off. Although I lived some 

 time with the Dog Ribs, and spent over a year in their terri- 

 tory, I never knew of their eating the contents of the caribou's 

 stomach as do the Eskimos. The unborn calf, the udder of a 

 milk-giving cow, the tongue, the marrow and back fat are the 

 parts held in highest esteem. 



Tenony fulfilled his promise of returning after "five sleeps," 

 but marched fifty miles against a heavy gale of wind upon the 

 sixth day to do it. 



The caribou came but little nearer during the winter of 

 1893-94. I made three other trips in search of them, and trav- 

 eled five hundred miles in all, driving my own dogs after the 

 first hunt with Tenony. Out of a large number secured, I 

 selected eight choice specimens, and during the winter obtained 

 the skin of an albino. Albinism is of rare occurrence among 

 them. One of the oldest Dog Ribs assured me that he had 

 never seen a "white deer." 



Sledge Trip Around the Great Slave Lake. The winter packet 

 starts from Simpson, the central post of the Mackenzie Dis- 

 trict, on the first of December. On the same day a dog train 

 leaves Rae to intercept the outgoing mail at Providence. 

 Having secured specimens of the caribou, I was ready to cross 

 to Resolution and engage in the buffalo hunt. Without an 

 Indian to run before my dogs it would have been dangerous to 

 attempt to follow the route traversed in the autumn, so I decided 

 to accompany the packet train around the west end of the lake t 

 thereby doubling the distance. Of late years the winter route 



