BUILDING LOG CABIN 111 



against it, and ran ashore and camped for the 

 remainder of the day. 



It transpired that broken stormy weather had 

 set in for an extraordinarily long period, and on 

 getting back to Reindeer Lake and Fort Du 

 Brochet, I had a long time to wait for freeze-up 

 during an extremely open Fall. 



However, I had plenty to do while waiting, for, 

 in addition to collecting a dog-team from the 

 Indians at the Post, I set about building, on the 

 margin of a small inland lake two miles north 

 of Du Brochet, a log cabin which was to be " my 

 home" and a winter base, a safe storage for 

 museum specimens, and a quiet outlook from 

 which Caribou could be observed if in the neigh- 

 bourhood. 



To build a log cabin single-handed, and with only 

 an axe, is a substantial undertaking, and, though 

 I was hardened with months of " roughing it," I 

 found it arduous work. Standing trees had to be 

 felled, lobbed of their branches, and the heavy 

 trunks carried from all directions to the site of 

 the cabin : afterwards the labour of construction. 



Working steadily from dawn till dusk, in three 

 weeks my " home " was finished — moss packed 

 between the horizontal tree-trunk cracks, and 

 mud-plastered outside against penetrating wind 

 and cold. If you have lived long months in the 

 open in all weathers, you will know, when you 

 reach habitation, the wonderful luxury and rest- 

 fulness of living with a roof overhead, a place 

 for one's belongings, and a completely sheltered 

 cook-fire ; and when it is driving rain out-doors, 

 or blowing a wild old gale, or snowing pitilessly, 



