Red River to Arctic Circle 139 



peg, Mrs. Bompas wrote: &quot;I had come prepared Tourney from 

 for intense cold, and we were destined to endure Wmmpe2 

 tropical heat. All up the Saskatchewan, Stanley, 

 and English Rivers the banks slope down like a 

 funnel, and the July and August sun scorches with 

 vertical rays the heads of the travellers. We 

 were seated in open boats, each with a crew of ten 

 or twelve men, who spread our sails when the 

 wind was fair, and took them in when the wind 

 failed us. Eighty-six was, some of those days, 

 our average temperature, and I had come pro 

 vided with the thickest of serge dresses, as none 

 of my friends had realized the possibility of any 

 thing but frost and cold in these northern regions. 

 Besides this, we had to encounter swarms of mos 

 quitoes, crowding thick around us, penetrating our 

 boots and stockings, and invading our Robabou 

 soup and pemmican, etc. I remember the bliss 

 it was in those days in camping time to escape 

 from the rest of the party, and, getting rid of 

 boots and stockings, to sit with my feet and legs 

 in the cool water of the river, to soothe the in 

 tolerable irritation of the mosquito-bites.&quot; 



The bishop s biographer says: &quot;An incident 

 happened on this trip which serves to show the 

 Bishop s forgetfulness of self when others were 

 to be considered. A young Indian lost his hat 

 overboard, and, being unable to obtain it, suffered 

 much from the heat as he toiled at the oar. 

 The bishop, seeing his discomfort, at once placed 

 his own hat upon the Indian s head, and insisted 

 that he should wear it. The sight of the native 



