^8 EXPLORATIONS IN THE FAR NORTH 



merited with fringe, ribbon, and quills, ten skins. The Louch- 

 eux, before the advent of the whites, wore caribouskin clothing. 

 The upper garment had a pointed skirt which reached to the 

 knee. The trousers and shoes were joined together, as in those 

 worn by the Eskimo women. This pretty and serviceable cos- 

 tume is no longer worn. There was but one old woman at the 

 post who knew how to make it; she asked only fifty skins for a 

 suit of white caribouskin, as soft as chamois leather, tastefully 

 trimmed with quill-wrapped fringe and beads. 



The Count had spent four years in the Lower Mackenzie 

 region and had so gained the confidence of the natives that two 

 of them were willing to assist him to reach Herschel Island, 

 which was in the territory of their hereditary enemies, the Eski- 

 mos — though the two races were then at peace — and we would 

 have to traverse a hundred miles of unknown seacoast, after 

 leaving the mouth of the river. 



I left the Slavey canoe in which I had come from Good 

 Hope at McPherson, and continued in a small Loucheux birch 

 canoe which had broadly flaring sides, so that it was not at all 

 cranky. It was thirty-two inches in the beam, but it was 

 roughly made and quite "slow." It was fourteen feet in length 

 along the water line and fourteen inches in depth. The Count 

 had a large canvas-covered canoe, which three men could drive 

 at the rate of about four miles an hour when loaded with eight 

 hundred pounds of baggage. 



We started for Herschel Island on the 25th of June. Twelve 

 miles below the post the Peel divides into a number of chan- 

 nels, some of which flow toward Point Separation, while others 

 extend nearly to the ocean before mingling their waters with 

 those of the Mackenzie. During the afternoon a strong head 

 wind raised such high waves in the current that we traveled 

 at considerable risk and frequently shipped water. 



Muskrats were abundant in the many channels, and ducks, 

 geese, cranes, swans, and loons filled the air with discordant 

 sounds at all hours. Several bald eagles were seen during the 

 day, one of which Vusso killed for its skin which he carried to 

 the coast to trade with the Eskimos. We camped that evening 

 on a point that was covered with the fresh tracks of two grizzly 

 bears. 



The sun shone throughout the twenty-four hours of the day v 



