OUR WOOD -BISON HUNT 121 



hunting in any other. It is impossible to take a supply 

 of good provisions, or even a good supply of the poor pro- 

 vision the land affords. We were particularly luxurious in 

 having bacon and flour, for usually dried fish and dried 

 caribou meat are all that may be had. It is out of the 

 question to be well fed or comfortable ; fish for the dogs 

 must be carried, distances are great, travelling fatiguing, 

 and hunting hard. Then there is the extreme difficulty 

 of getting good hunters the Indians are great braggarts 

 but poor hunters and the annoyance of making terms 

 with them. They invariably want everything in sight while 

 negotiating, and subsequently discover either a starving 

 wife, whom you feed, or moccasinless feet, which you cover. 

 But " Susie " assured us in Cree, Chipewyan, French, and 

 in the limited English at his command, of which he is 

 very proud, if uncertain, that we should have no trouble of 

 any sort with Jeremi, or Joseph, his aide-de-camp. And 

 therefore we accepted Jeremi in confidence, because " Su- 

 sie " is an important personage among his people, who 

 trade with and always refer to him as a bourgeois, which, 

 curiously enough, in this country is a complimentary title 

 indicating superiority. 



Jeremi was one of the most unique tatterdemalions I 

 beheld on my trip. Munn and I instantly dubbed him 

 the Ancient Warrior; not that his appearance was forbid- 

 ding, or that he ever revealed any predilection for the war- 

 path, except perhaps when Joseph helped himself too 

 generously to the grease in the frying-pan, but he looked 

 as though he might have just come off a 4i march through 

 Georgia," and there was a weariness about every motion 

 that suggested long and arduous campaigning. He was 

 tall and gaunt, with an appetite for tea and grease I never 

 saw equalled, and a costume which baffled description. 

 Two thick locks of hair hung forward of his ears and down 



