120 ACROSS THE SUB-ARCTICS OF CANADA. 



Indians in their bark canoes, so were these little fellows 

 able to paddle around us. Soon after leaving the 

 Eskimo camp we went ashore. The river bank here 

 was abrupt and high, in the neighborhood of one hun- 

 dred feet, and on the side of this steep bank several new 

 species of plants were collected. Marine shells and marl 

 were also found thirty feet above the river, while on 

 the top of the bank some Eskimo graves were discov- 

 ered. Out of consideration for our native escorts, the 

 graves, already broken by bears or wolves, were not 

 molested. When lunch was announced, and we, seat- 

 ing ourselves, proceeded to work with the customary 

 plates, knives and forks, the Eskimos were very much 

 amused, and stood watching our operations with great 

 interest: Some refreshments were offered them, but to 

 our surprise they declined, informing us that they had 

 plenty of meat. For their own lunch they each took 

 a lump of raw venison and a drink of water from the 

 river, a very simple but no doubt wholesome meal. 



Before re-embarking I secured several good photo- 

 graphs of the Eskimos. At first they were not prepared 

 to be " shot " by the camera, but after explaining what 

 I wished to do, they were pleased and amused to have 

 their pictures taken, and changed their positions when 

 I asked them to do so. By the time we had descended 

 eight or ten miles farther down the river, our native 

 escorts commenced cheering, hallooing and acting in a 

 most hilarious manner. At first we wondered what had 

 possessed them, but the cause of their strange actions 

 was soon disclosed as we switched around a bend in the 

 river and found ourselves close upon a large Eskimo 



