200 LEAVING THE LONE LAND 



which is of course reasonable from the Indian's 

 point of view, and should be understood and 

 considered if one meets with rebuffs when setting 

 out to look for guides. They are, however, 

 individually open to the persuasion of a stranger, 

 and it is nearly always possible to find the right 

 man in the end. And once this initial step is 

 accomplished toward mutual understanding, 

 and the stranger becomes known and trusted on a 

 territory, his difficulties in that direction largely 

 cease. . . . 



And now, to return from this brief digression 

 to the south-bound sleds that had left Fort Du 

 Brochet, we were soon far out on Reindeer Lake 

 beyond all sight of dwelling or fellow-mortal ; 

 we might have entered a land of the dead, so 

 soon had all vestige of that tiny, closely infested 

 settlement been overwhelmed by vast surround- 

 ings. 



This journey undertaken, so far as I was con- 

 cerned, was now simply a question of straight 

 trailing. Four hundred miles away, following a 

 route almost due south, lay the Pas and the 

 Hudson Bay Railway : for that point I was 

 heading. The first stage on the way was Pelican 

 Narrows ; thus far were J'Pierre and Mistewgoso 

 to transport the sled-loads of specimens, and thence 

 return on their back trail. 



But from day to day I will briefly deal with 

 my onward-hurrying journey to the south over 

 frozen lakes and forests lain deep with snow. 



December 29. Travelled all day on Reindeer 

 Lake, Frozen-over ice floes were very bad all along 



