94 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



Monsieur Crapaud himself. He is willing to live as hard 

 as he works, and in all canoe management and woodcrafts- 

 manship is almost as skilful as an Indian. 



I made my stay at Norway House as brief as pos- 

 sible, and, after passing across Play-green Lake and 

 ascending the stream for about forty miles, we branched 

 off to the right into a creek, or brook, which led us 

 another twenty miles into the wilderness. The banks of 

 this and all other streams in the neighbourhood were 

 high, often precipitous, so that we could not see the 

 country we were passing through without climbing up 

 them, a height of forty or fifty feet, and sometimes 

 double that. The country was flat, covered with bushes 

 in some places and forest in others, and occasionally open 

 and park-like. It was everywhere well watered with 

 streams and small lakes. That part which I had selected 

 for our camp was covered with forest, with open intervals 

 here and there at distances of a few miles apart. A 

 beautifully clear brook flowed close to the spot we occu- 

 pied, and furnished us with the necessary water. As 

 there was only a foot or two of water in it, it could be 

 stepped across with ease. 



Here I intended to stay a month. The canoe was 

 carried up to a place of safety and lodged between the 

 forks of two small trees, and several temporary huts 

 were made of branches, thatched with twigs and grass, 

 for sleeping-places and the protection of our stores. In 

 fact, in a couple of days' time we had made ourselves 

 quite comfortable, and I was happy, as I believed that 

 there were no other inhabitants, except a few wandering 

 Indians, within a hundred miles of us. Norway House, 

 distant some seventy or eighty miles, was probably the 

 nearest post of whites. 



