THE MUSK-OX HUNT I2 i 



either side, and my dogs were about giving up altogether. A 

 great deal more powder was burned as we approached the 

 camps, three hours later. As I passed one of the first lodges 

 my sled swayed off the track and caught against a tree, much 

 to the amusement of a couple of young women who, after 

 watching my attempts to right it, remarked, " Yaz-zi Mo-la 

 nat-suth-H" — "the white man is weak, indeed." One of them 

 grasped the sled line to show me how to straighten up a load, 

 and tugged and hauled and tugged again without producing 

 the slightest effect. I am afraid that I laughed very ungal- 

 lantlyas the discomfited maiden fled to the shelter of the lodge. 

 Mrs. Jimmie came to me with a very cordial greeting, exclaim- 

 ing, " Merci! Merci — tco! Ne-zi et-jir-rer-ka!" — " Thanks, big 

 thanks, for the good musk-ox hunt! " evidently ascribing our 

 success, in a measure, to my presence. We had been absent 

 twenty-eight days from the camps, twenty-two of which were 

 spent beyond the Coppermine River. 



There was very little meat in the lodges and the caribou 

 were moving out into the Barren Ground, so that the Indians 

 must lead a more than usually precarious existence for the 

 next two months until they could follow the caribou by water. 

 For three days they were quite content to lie about the camp, 

 feasting upon the store which still remained of dried meat and 

 grease. They would not sell me any of this, though I needed a 

 supply very much for my journey down the Mackenzie. 



I had left a small bag of articles in Johnnie's lodge, during 

 the hunt, which they had opened and discovered that it con- 

 tained a few ounces of compressed tea that I had reserved for 

 the trip to Rae. They did not appropriate the tea, but the 

 next day after our return they began to clamor for it to make 

 tea for a Sunday feast. I knew that they had several pounds 

 of tea, and I had no intention of throwing away the only com- 

 fort possible on what I knew would be a trying journey. First 

 Johnnie, and then then the whole band, came to me with smiles, 

 whines, and finally threats. Johnnie boiled a large kettle of 

 water and placed it before me with an insolent demand for 

 "lee tea." I could contain myself no longer. I felt dependent 

 on them to guide me to the post, which it was utterly impos- 

 sible for me to reach, through two hundred miles of trackless 

 forest with my load of musk-ox, without their assistance; but 



