52 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER 



Indian guide who knows the territory, it is a 

 grave problem to determine what to do when con- 

 fronted with two, or even three, long channels 

 of water, to the terminus of which the eye cannot 

 see, and decide which is the one which holds some- 

 where in its shores (secreted, perhaps, in yet 

 another bay off the main bay) the river outlet. 

 Sometimes, on the dead water of the lake at a 

 shore point, or at a stone, or at weeds, it is 

 possible, on close examination, to find the 

 slightest of down-flowing current passing the 

 stationary object ; and then one may be positive 

 that one is following the right course. At other 

 times it is one's good luck to hear the faint rumble, 

 like a rising puff of wind in the trees (which one 

 must be careful not to confuse it with), of a dis- 

 tant rapid or waterfall, and know that where it 

 arises is the river. There is yet another sign 

 which sometimes gives one comfort when current 

 and sound fail, and that is some mark of Indian 

 travel on shore : a willow or tree from which an 

 axe has robbed some branches and left the wounded 

 ends, the black ash, or a burnt stump, of an old 

 camp-fire, or, best sign of all, a discarded teepee 

 for those elementary, pole-framed, cone-shaped 

 habitations of the native nomads are seldom, 

 if ever, erected except somewhere on an Indian 

 main " roadway." But there are times when all 

 those signs are wanting and one must simply 

 trust to Providence when confronted with the 

 puzzling irregularity of the shore. 



The following morning, June 5, we found our 

 course soon after pushing off. Below Primeau 

 Lake we ran Crooked Rapid and part of Knee 



