212 LEAVING THE LONE LAND 



altogether credulous when I told him at the 

 end of the meal that I had not tasted vegetables 

 for nine months, and that prolonged fish and meat 

 diet had given me a tremendous craving for 

 them ; and that therefore he had given me the 

 finest meal I had ever enjoyed. 



At Prince Albert my clothing afforded me 

 further embarrassment, for I was an odd figure 

 among the city population, but particularly were 

 the dogs in the streets disconcerting, for they 

 scented the strange smell of the Caribou skins 

 (for they retain a peculiar, ineradicable scent of 

 the type one associates with Harris tweed) and 

 would circle behind me to follow curiously, and 

 sometimes to bark alarmingly. At times as 

 many as half a dozen dogs had gathered 

 about me in this way, until I found it ex- 

 pedient to turn down a side street and chase 

 them away. 



Still further, my home and worldly belongings 

 of the previous year were at Craven, twenty 

 miles away from Regina, so when I reached the 

 latter city, I had to spend the day in Arctic garb. 

 In the evening I dined with some old friends, 

 who were amused and kind enough to take my 

 Eskimo clothing in good part. Moreover there 

 was a fancy-dress Carnival at the skating-rink 

 that night, and they persisted in persuading me 

 to accompany them there. This, in the end, I 

 consented to do, and on reaching the rink skated 

 on the ice until the costumes were judged, where- 

 upon I was awarded the first prize — and I had 

 not changed an article of my everyday Far North 

 Caribou clothing. . . . 



