CH1PPEWYAN TO BLACK LAKE. 69 



and seek rest where alone it could be found, beneath 

 our mosquito awnings at camp. 



By the way, there is an Indian tradition which says 

 that it was on these very portages that the Great Spirit 

 first made these black flies, and our experience, we 

 thought, would tend to bear out that belief. 



On the afternoon of the 7th we started out in a north- 

 easterly direction, following the shore of Black Lake 

 (explored by my brother in 1892) for a distance of about 

 sixteen miles, until we reached the hunting trail, of which 



INDIAN RAFTS LOADED WITH VENISON. 



he had been informed by the Indians, leading away to 

 the northward. This place until now had been our 

 objective point, and the way to it was known ; but 

 beyond this point we knew nothing of the road, or of the 

 country through which it would lead us, excepting for 

 the first few days' travel, to which the Indians' descrip- 

 tion, quoted at the beginning of this narrative, would 

 apply. From this point northward, for a distance of 

 one hundred miles, or thereabouts, we had expected to 

 be guided by that old humbug Moberly, but he having 

 deserted us we were now dependent on our own resources. 



