CHAPTER IX 



THE LAND OP THE MUSKEG 



THE Land of the Muskeg is a lonely 

 no man's country, far beyond the utmost 

 northern borders of Saskatchewan. Few 

 white men ever visit this land, as it is sev- 

 eral weeks' journey by a small Hudson's 

 Bay Company's steamer, and thence by 

 canoe, and if you would go to the heart of 

 this country you must travel on foot. 

 Even when you arrive, there is not much 

 to see ; only a vast stretch of almost tree- 

 less barrens, or on the other hand deep, se- 

 questered muskegs, tamarack fringed. 



These muskegs are most of them many 

 acres in extent, a sort of cross between a 

 bog and a swale. They are overgrown 

 with water-grasses, clinging mosses, and 



