72 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER 



heavily laden, made three trips over this portage, 

 and I five, for, fitting in our work to save time, 

 as we always did, I went back for a load while 

 Joe prepared lunch, and again for a final one when 

 he washed up and packed our belongings in the 

 canoe. Therefore the distance Joe travelled on 

 that rough portage amounted to almost five miles, 

 and mine to eight miles — all over rough country ; 

 and one-half of those distances, the down-trail 

 half, accomplished while carrying heavy loads. 

 Thus you can conceive the nature of hard river 

 work which the voyageur has to contend with 

 — work so hard that I think it can truthfully be 

 said that no white man can accomplish it who 

 is not accustomed to it. Hardened though I 

 had been with previous outdoor life on the Saskat- 

 chewan Plains, I well remember how tiny my first 

 packs seemed in comparison to Joe's 60 lbs. to 

 100 lbs., and how I perspired and laboured with 

 them, and how impossible it seemed that I should 

 ever be able to carry such a load as he did. Yet 

 to-day my loads could equal his — so can man 

 harden his will and muscle to any task in the 

 face of necessity. 



Overcoming Great Devil Rapid was our morn- 

 ing's work, but there our difficulties were by no 

 means at an end, for we found we had yet two 

 more portages to make this day, each necessitating 

 the unloading of the entire contents of the canoe, 

 the carrying of heavy loads to the bottom of 

 each portage, and, finally, the carefully balanced 

 repacking of everything into our frail craft, so 

 that we would, each time we embarked, enter 

 the water snugly compact and weather- worthy. 



