THE PELLY RIVER 



loved the land of 

 life of these aboriginal humaa and uappcis. She bad 

 even wandered as far as Great Bear Lake, and after mar- 

 rying HosfaH when she was twenty years of age, she 

 had accompanied nun m his trapping hie, having been 

 three years near die head of die Chandeiar River, and 

 having spent the last two years uapping on die PeOy. 

 As a tribute to her resourcefulness, Scions has related her 

 remarkable experience after the bmning of her cabin, 

 which ocuaicd in the spring before I met her. He wefl 

 remarks that she has inherited die best traits of both, 

 races. Her graceful figure was Bthc and sinewy ; her face 

 was ^timpfd with an exceedingly vmicxt expression;; her 

 minmri were modest and refined; her language flowed 

 in a soft, sympathetic tone. These traits gave to her per- 

 sonality an idealistic reality die only lime I have ever 

 seen it among Indian mcantn nhii.h die romantic Indian 

 maidens of fiction have often catted forth m die imi&initinn . 

 In all mat pertained to hunting, trapping, woodcraft, 

 and Kfe in the far Northern wilderness, Mrs, Hosfal com- 

 bined the instincts and knowledge of die Indian with die 

 capacity of the white man. Supple, strong, and endur- 

 ing, she could pole or track a boat, handle an axe, build 

 a cabin, shoot a rifle, hunt, put out traps and nets, as 

 well as most experienced while men. In addition she 



very much better with the provisions gleaned from die 

 woods, and under the conditions in die wuVkrnfc^ She 

 was also skilful to a high degree in all die practical work 

 performed by Indian women dressing numifr, and tun 



