217 We find terra incognita! 



with my crippled spine I was just a trifle worried that I might get 

 into trouble. But all went well, although I was very glad to see 

 the end of it. We were now on Seton's trail, the same one that he 

 and Preble followed in the summer of 1907, and which he wrote 

 about in Arctic Prairies. Until I read his autobiography not long 

 ago, I hadn't been aware that Seton also suffered from a severe 

 case of arthritis, both legs being affected at an early age. It prob- 

 ably explains his description of crossing this same route, in which 

 he speaks of "the fearful toil of portaging" and the "mortal agony" 

 of the last miles. Since there was no other, we gratefully used a 

 copy of Seton's sketch map of the Grand Detour portage. It 

 proved accurate in every respect, and a real help to us. The trail 

 led through spruce woods still wet from the melted snow. Ruffed 

 grouse were drumming everywhere. We came out into a marshy 

 prairie, skirted some shallow ponds, and once more trailed through 

 a stand of spruce. There were buffalo tracks in abundance now, 

 for this is also their route that we were using, across to the Little 

 Buffalo and the open prairies near its banks. 



The water lay as much as a foot deep in some places, and 

 swarmed with mosquito larvae. On a small prairie farther west 

 we saw our first buffalo, but, alarmed at the sight of such a large 

 party, they turned and galloped off toward cover with surprising 

 speed. It was nearly seven o'clock when we reached the short of 

 Long Slough, where our packers left us, with many head-shakings 

 at the futility of our trying to get up the Sass with such a load. We 

 pitched our first camp and, dog tired, fell asleep with the song of 

 the hermit thrush in our ears. 



We still had a long haul next day, down the slough by canoe, as 

 a thunderstorm swept by to the south of us, and then a final cany 

 through a wide trail to the Little Buffalo River. Long Slough was 

 lined with cattails, which were just showing signs of new growth, 

 and there were many pairs of horned grebes, lesser yellowlegs, and 

 waterfowl in abundance. Little brown cranes were numerous, call- 

 ing from here and there about us. On the big subarctic prairies 

 to the west were herds of buffalo, a magnificent sight. One group 

 included several small calves, light brown in color. By five o'clock 

 we had everything across and plunked down at an Indian winter 



