102 ON SNOW-SHOES TO THE BARREN GROUNDS. 



Spencer'sat McMurray ; two belonging to the Hudson's Bay 

 Company at Chipewyan ; McKinley's, the Hudson's Bay 

 Company officer at Fort Smith ; Gaudet's, the company's 

 officer at Resolution ; the Roman Catholic mission's train 

 at the same post ; and that of Beniah, the Indian leader 

 with whom I went into the Barren Grounds. Spencer 

 and McKinley probably have the best two trains in the 

 country, which they have bred from separate bitches that 

 had some Newfoundland blood in them, and were the 

 only dogs I saw that would come to harness on call. 



Beyond the " foregoer," upon whom the meanings of 

 ma-a-r-r-che (start), e-u-n (right), ja (left), and whoa are 

 impressed by a club, and the steer-dog as the one at, 

 say, the wheel, to make it comprehensible, is called 

 there is no training. The foregoer follows the trail and 

 sets the pace. The steer-dog keeps the sledge upon a 

 slanting track, and guides it through trees and rocks. 

 He must be strong, and is the most important of the four 

 in rough country. As for competent drivers, they are 

 even scarcer than good dogs, but the few are exceedingly 

 skilful ; and of these, Spencer, McKinley, Gaudet, Fran- 

 ^ois and his brother William at Chipewyan, Michael, the 

 interpreter at Resolution, and the Catholic " brother/' 

 whose name I never knew, at Resolution, are easily the 

 best. The difference between a good and a bad driver is 

 that the former knows how and when to handle his 

 sledge to ease the dogs, keeps them all up to their work, 

 and does not "force" (urge) them at improper times. 

 The bad driver spends his energy in throwing clubs at the 

 foregoer and lashing the steer-dog, chiefly because the 

 latter is within easy reach. He permits the sledge to 

 slide hither and thither, to the exceeding wear and tear 

 of the steer-dog. Now and then he stops the train and 

 lashes the dogs all round, and at all times he is forcin- 



