INTO THE UNKNOWN WILDERNESS. 77 



Towards evening our party was surprised by the ap- 

 pearance of a canoe some distance away, and not far 

 from it, on a little island, an Indian camp. Shaping our 

 course for the camp, a salute was fired, and was promptly 

 answered by the Indians. Reaching the camp we were 

 not a little astonished to find that some of the Indians 

 were the very same men who had agreed to assist us 

 over the portages out of Athabasca and Black Lakes. 

 They had, no doubt, after meeting old Moberly, been 

 prompted to leave us to shift for ourselves, and had 

 returned in such a way as to avoid meeting us again. 

 From them we now inquired for the Height of Land 

 portage, and were pleased to learn that it was near at 

 hand. Having obtained as much information from 

 these fellows as we could, and arranged once more for 

 three or four of them to assist us over in the morning, 

 we pitched our own camp on a neighboring island. 



During the evening most of the Indians paddled across 

 to where we were, and from some of them sketch-maps 

 and useful information were obtained ; but their atten- 

 tion was chiefly devoted to filling the men with stories 

 of the fearful dangers and certain disasters which we 

 would encounter should we attempt to descend the 

 Telzoa River. They said we w r ould meet with great 

 impassable canyons, and that the country through which 

 it flowed was inhabited by savage tribes of Eskimos, 

 who would undoubtedly eat us. These and similar 

 stories produced a deep impression on the minds of 

 some of our men, and might have given rise to serious 

 trouble or even the disorganizing of the whole party. 

 Jim went to my brother, and with a sad face un- 



