i8 ON SNOW-SHOES TO THE BARREN GROUNDS 



We had two good horses and a strong box-sleigh, and 

 our load was not heavy, so that I expected to make good 

 time. I had taken only enough provisions from Edmon- 

 ton to last us to La Biche. There was much I could have 

 taken, of course, in the way of canned vegetables, meats, 

 etc., that might have saved me from many a meal of 

 the oftentimes unpalatable stuff which I secured from 

 post to post. But I was going into the country for a 

 purpose, and not for a picnic. I knew perfectly well I 

 could not carry in a sufficient supply to last until I had 

 covered the 900 miles that lay between me and Great 

 Slave Lake, because of the impossibility of securing 

 enough dogs and sledges to freight it, and I knew even 

 if I could eat as a civilized man until I reached that point, 

 I should be obliged, when I began my journey into the 

 Barren Grounds, to abandon all hope of eating well, or 

 even plentifully, and to live or starve as do the Indians on 

 their annual hunt in that region. Besides, the greatest 

 essential to the success of my trip was speed. I had set 

 out to make my bison-hunt, to get into the Barren 

 Grounds for musk-oxen, and get back again to Great 

 Slave Lake on snow-shoes an undertaking that had 

 been never before attempted, and which every one as- 

 sured me I could not carry out. It meant snow-shoeing 

 nearly 1900 miles, and left no time for leisurely travel- 

 ling ; but I was determined to accomplish what I had 

 planned if it lay within human possibilities ; and thus it 

 was that we took no unnecessary freight from Edmonton, 

 for civilized food is so considered in that great North 

 land. Tobacco was the only article of which I took a 

 greater supply; but tobacco is not considered freight; it 

 is always a solace, and becomes on occasion a stimulant 

 when there is no meat, and an irresistible lure to facilitate 

 intercourse with the Indians. 



