108 ACROSS THE SUB-ARCTICS OF CANADA. 



Eskimo linguist. It was noticeable, however, at this 

 time that John was unusually silent and backward, 

 more so indeed than anyone in the party. After leav- 

 ing the lodge I asked him if he had understood what 

 the natives were saying, and was not a little amused 

 when he replied, " Y-e-s, but, b-u-t, t-h-e, the trouble 

 was I couldn't get them to talk." After a pleasant 

 but brief visit of less than one hour, during which time 

 we received some valuable information about our route, 

 as well as much assurance and encouragement, with 

 many hearty " tabowetings " (good-byes), we parted. 

 As we did so Louis, my steersman, with an expression 

 of pleasant disappointment on his face, exclaimed, "They 

 are not savage, but real decent people." 



The current being strong, our friends at the topick 

 were soon far behind. They had told us that from 

 there to the sea (Hudson Bay) was about a twenty 

 -days' journey, and though we thought we could likely 

 make it in half that time, we were impressed and 

 spurred on by the knowledge of the fact that we were 

 now far into the interior of the country, and at the 

 least eight hundred miles by our road from the nearest 

 Hudson's Bay Company's post, Fort Churchill. This 

 day and the next after visiting the Eskimos we had 

 beautifully bright weather, but the enjoyment of it 

 was marred by our encountering swarms of black flies. 



As we glided down the river several white wolves 

 were seen upon the shore, gnawing at the carcass of a 

 deer, and at a distance of about ten miles below the 

 topick we entered another lake. 



