HO EXPLORATIONS IN THE FAR NORTH 



thus interrupted the drearily monotonous rub-dub of the noisy 

 drums, to the beating of which the men sat and gambled from 

 early morning until midnight. They were not willing to ven- 

 ture as yet upon the bleak desert of snow, known to them as 

 the Tech-in hoo-le — "No-wood" country. At last, however, it 

 was finally decided that we should start after the Easter festivi- 

 ties were concluded. 



On Easter Sunday we all gathered at an early hour in the 

 chief's lodge for prayers. The men, their hair and faces freshly 

 greased, were the first to arrive and took their places in a semi- 

 circle round the fire opposite the entrance. The women seated 

 themselves in a group near the door flap. " Jimmie the Chief" 

 occupied the post of honor at one side, on his right sat his wife, 

 beyond whom were the other women and the children. On his 

 left was Johnnie Cohoyla, the choir leader, and I the guest of 

 the band; next came the older men in order of rank. We all 

 sat crosslegged upon blankets, spread on the floor of spruce 

 boughs. The women brought the family tinware, a plate and 

 cup for each person, wrapped with the hymn books in a piece 

 of coffee sacking which afterward served as a table cloth. 

 Over the fire hung a ten-gallon kettle of boiling meat, while 

 beside it stood other copper kettles containing several gallons 

 of tea for the dinner, which always followed the Sunday serv- 

 ice. When the prayers were concluded, the chief's son took 

 the meat from the kettle, giving the choicest pieces to the 

 leaders and the poorest to the women. We usually had a few 

 fresh caribou tongues each Sunday, but on this occasion there 

 was one for each person, and a ball of freshly made pemmican. 

 The meat was served in tin or birch pans; those portioning it 

 out took some time to make up their minds about where to put 

 certain pieces and changed them from one plate to another 

 several times. Grace was repeated in concert; then the chief 

 threw a tongue and a small ball of pemmican into the fire and 

 the feast began; as the meat was cut from the bones they were 

 cracked for the marrow. 



Two hours later we had a second meal of boiled meat, and 

 as I had given them a little flour before leaving the post, a 

 kettle full of the much-prized rubaboo was also prepared. This 

 was made by cutting up a quantity of back-fat into small cubes 

 and boiling, stirring in flour to thicken it. After this was dis- 



