Churchill People and Industries. 



141 



' pass as beaver skins,' are given or taken in exchange for every- 

 thing at the store." . 



Churchill has its full supply of miserable, snarling husky dogs. 

 They have no horses, but these dogs take their places. A good dog 

 is reckoned to haul fifty weight on a sledge, so that with a team of 

 six or eight dogs, three or four hundred pounds can be transported, 

 often at the rate of fifty miles a day. In fact these dogs are indis- 

 pensable to the natives and people of the north generally. 



Before leaving Churchill Village, I must mention the generous 

 hospitality of Mr. Spencer, the chief trader, and his good lady. We 

 had the great pleasure of dining with them on Sunday, the 7th. The 

 table was a sight that could not fail to sharpen the appetite of any 

 Canadian. There were 

 fat, delicious wild geese, 

 nicely roasted, and there 

 were ducks of various 

 kinds cooked in like man- 

 ner ; and there was fried 

 curlew, and roast curlew, 

 and fried snipe, and 

 broiled snipe, and ptar- 

 migan on toast, and a 

 variety of other small 

 game. 0, such a dinner ! 

 Such a variety of game ! 



OLD FORT PRINCE OF WALKS. 



And then our host made each one at the 

 table feel that he was sole proprietor of al! the birds that had been 

 served. There was but one thing lacking. It was not ale. We had 

 something better than that ; but they had no potatoes. Instead, 

 turnip leaves were served in the style of greens. There was havoc, 

 that day, among the game at Churchill ! I cannot tell who ate the 

 most, but everyone seemed to feel that his whole duty was not done 

 until he had partaken liberally of every kind and variety, and, so 

 far as I could see, every one's whole duty was discharged without 

 stint. 



On Monday, the 8th, Mr. Spencer and family, accompanied by_ 

 the' Rev. Mr. Lofthouse and Mr. MacTavish, visited the Neptune. 



