AMUSING INCIDENTS 211 



new Hudson Bay Railway to the Pas, which 

 brings a measure of civilisation in proximity. 



Nevertheless I spent a very pleasant day there, 

 conversing with people of my own kind in my 

 own tongue ; even though I missed the rarer 

 atmosphere of the wilds, and the wild man's ways, 

 that appertain in the Further North. 



January 11. The remainder of my journey 

 south was of little account and may be briefly 

 told. 



Leaving Cumberland House, I travelled all day 

 by horse-sled, and camped for the night in the 

 Saskatchewan Valley about fifteen miles west of 

 the Pas ; and next day completed the distance 

 to the railway terminus. 



The following day I boarded the train and, 

 via Prince Albert, reached Regina, my destina- 

 tion, at midnight on January 14. 



One or two peculiar and amusing incidents 

 occurred in those first days of my return to 

 civilisation. 



I had, of necessity, no European clothing, and 

 was therefore, to my embarrassment, clad in my 

 rude Eskimo costume. I will not readily forget 

 the steward on the dining-car on the train when, 

 in this garb, I first entered for a meal ; nor his 

 subsequent astonishment when I requested him 

 to bring me vegetables only first one course ; 

 then another ; and yet another, while his face 

 lengthened in perplexity ; and he finally told 

 me there were no more vegetables on the train. 

 I probably looked a grim customer, but by the 

 time he had finished serving me I felt satisfied 

 that he thought I was mad. Nor did he look 



