AMUSING INCIDENTS 211 



new Hudson Bay Railway to the Pas, which 

 brings a measure of civilisation in proximity. 



Nevertheless I spent a very pleasant day there, 

 conversing with people of my own kind in my 

 own tongue ; even though I missed the rarer 

 atmosphere of the wilds, and the wild man's ways, 

 that appertain in the Further North. 



January 11. — The remainder of my journey 

 south was of little account and may be briefly 

 told. 



Leaving Cumberland House, I travelled all day 

 by horse-sled, and camped for the night in the 

 Saskatchewan Valley about fifteen miles west of 

 the Pas ; and next day completed the distance 

 to the railway terminus. 



The following day I boarded the train and, 

 via Prince Albert, reached Regina, my destina- 

 tion, at midnight on January 14. 



One or two peculiar and amusing incidents 

 occurred in those first days of my return to 

 civilisation. 



I had, of necessity, no European clothing, and 

 was therefore, to my embarrassment, clad in my 

 rude Eskimo costume. I will not readily forget 

 the steward on the dining-car on the train when, 

 in this garb, I first entered for a meal ; nor his 

 subsequent astonishment when I requested him 

 to bring me vegetables only — first one course ; 

 then another ; and yet another, while his face 

 lengthened in perplexity ; and he finally told 

 me there were no more vegetables on the train. 

 I probably looked a grim customer, but by the 

 time he had finished serving me I felt satisfied 

 that he thought I was mad. Nor did he look 



