200 LOST IN THE WILDERNESS 



an Indian named Ploute. He was a middle-aged 

 man, a strong snowshoe walker and perfectly 

 familiar with the country we would have to go 

 through. The distance bet wen Godbout and Ber- 

 simis by land is about seventy-five miles, about 

 fifty of which is through the woods, as it is im- 

 possible to follow the coast owing to the rocky and 

 mountainous nature of the country. We left 

 here Godbout about the end of January. Our 

 packs weighed about twenty-five pounds each. 

 Part of this was furs and provisions, and we also 

 had two pairs of socks and one extra pair of mo- 

 cassins, one quart tin kettle, and one axe each. 

 We carried neither tent nor blankets and no extra 

 clothing of any kind. As this was not a hunting 

 trip we carried no guns, but in case of need I had 

 brought a small Smith & Wesson revolver of 32 

 cal., which I carried in my coat pocket. On the first 

 day out we had fine clear weather and the snow- 

 shoeing was fairly good. There was no trail of 

 any kind, nothing to indicate our way except land 

 marks. Sometimes we would follow a small 

 brook a gully or a lake if the direction hap- 

 pened to suit; if not, we would cross the ridges, 

 picking out the easiest paths that our course al- 

 lowed. This last was entirely by guess, as nei- 

 ther of us had a compass. 



Following the usual habit of Indians and trap- 

 pers, in winter, we never stopped for lunch, mak- 

 ing only two meals per day, but these were gen- 



