CHAPTER XVI. 



FOET CHURCHILL. 



WITH our arrival at Fort Churchill, with its well- 

 filled storehouses, the successful termination of the long 

 journey seemed pretty well assured. Here was abund- 

 ance of provisions to feed our small party for an indefi- 

 nite length of time, so that we could either spend the 

 winter at the post, and go south by canoes in the spring, 

 or else remain long enough to recruit, and then con- 

 tinue the journey on foot. 



Adjoining the Master's house, and ranged in two 

 irregular, detached rows on the rocky bank of the 

 Churchill River, were four or five old frame buildings, 

 used as storehouses and servants' lodges. Two or three 

 hundred yards down the shore was a neat little church 

 and mission-house. 



Drawn up on the beach near the church were several 

 large open coast-boats, used during the summer by the 

 Hudson's Bay Company in carrying on trade with the 

 Eskimos, and beside these was a small landing and 

 warehouse, while down at the mouth of the river, five 

 miles distant, could be seen the ruins of old Fort Prince 

 of Wales, once a massive cut-stone fortification. 



The buildings of the traders were very old, some of 

 them being in a half-wrecked condition, but those of the 



