294 ON SNOW-SHOES TO THE BARREN GROUNDS 



headed north for a considerable distance, and the mouth 

 of which was about fifteen miles from Resolution. So I 

 sent an Indian over to see how the Buffalo River looked, 

 and set about getting a canoe in shape. Meanwhile it 

 was thawing rapidly, and spring was not lingering in the 

 lap of winter. 



We had the first duck of the season on the first day of 

 May, and the first goose of the season on the second day 

 of May. It was the earliest Northland spring on record. 

 The women had all set off to the woods to make birch 

 syrup ; birds put in an appearance, and back of the post 

 in the woods mosquitoes were plentiful. The country 

 was under water, and a most desolate appearance it made. 

 It looks better in winter, for then the snow covers its na- 

 kedness, and leaves one to fancy something pleasing under 

 the mantle. But the spring reveals its poverty. 



If there was an hour when I was not eating during any 

 one of the four days I spent at Resolution I do not re- 

 member it. I had returned very thin, but gained ten 

 pounds before I left Gaudet's cabin. 



Ducks and geese kept passing over the post continu- 

 ously, and every flock threw the settlement into great ex- 

 citement, every man seeking cover and quacking vigor- 

 ously so long as the flight lasted. It is customary to 

 bring the first duck and the first goose to the " master," 

 as the Hudson's Bay Company officer is called; and the 

 successful hunter is well rewarded. 



On the 3d of May the Buffalo River was reported open 

 by the Indian who was keeping watch for me, and I im- 

 mediately prepared to send over the canoe. It was rather 

 a problem how to get a birch-bark eighteen feet long with 

 a five-foot beam across the lake, but we accomplished it 

 by lashing t\vo sledges together, held four feet apart by 

 a pole in front and back, and then carrying the canoe 



