ON SNOW-SHOES TO THE BARREN GROUNDS 



risk of starvation, make the canoe trip the more usual one 

 with the few Indians that hunt the musk-ox. But, be- 

 cause of the many portages, you cannot travel so rapidly 

 by canoe as on snow-shoes, nor go so far north for the 

 best of the musk-ox hunting, nor see the Barren Grounds 

 at their best, or worst, as you care to consider it. That 

 is why I chose to make the attempt on snow-shoes. 



And why I turned my face towards a country which 

 seemed to hold naught for the traveller but hardship? 

 Well certainly to hunt musk-ox, the most inaccessible 

 game in the world, and to look upon his habitat at the 

 period of its uttermost desolation ; certainly also to study 

 the several tribes of Indians through which I must pass on 

 my way to the Barren Grounds; and en route to hunt wood- 

 bison, undoubtedly now become the rarest game in the 

 world. Possibly, too, I went that I might for a time escape 

 the hum and routine sordidness of the city, and breathe air 

 which was not surcharged with convention and civilization. 



To him who has scented the trackless wilds, and whose 

 blood has gone the pace of its perils and freedom, there 

 comes, every now and again, an irresistible impulse to fly 

 from electric lights, railroads, and directories ; to travel on 

 his feet instead of being jerked along in a cable-car; to find 

 his way with the aid of a compass and the North Star, in- 

 stead of by belettered lamp-posts. At such a time and in 

 such a mood the untamed spirit chafes under the pettiness 

 of worldly strife, and turns to the home of the red man. 



'Tis a strange fascination, but strong as strange, this 

 playing at monarch of all you survey ; this demand upon 

 your skill and endurance and perseverance in a continuous 

 game of hazard with life as the stake ; this calling home 

 where you throw down your blankets. The mind reaches 

 out to the freedom and the openness of a life that rises 

 superior to the great machine called civilization, which 



