Seasons and Equipment 49 



make the trip ; to be a musk-ox hunter and an 

 enduring snow-shoe runner, is the dearest ambi- 

 tion of and the greatest height to which the Far 

 Northland Indian can attain. 



Before I started on my trip I heard much of 

 pemmican, and fancied it procurable at almost 

 any northern post, as well as supposing it a 

 reliable source of provender. The truth is, how- 

 ever, that pemmican is a very rare article these 

 days in that section of the country, and in fact 

 is not to be found anywhere south of Great 

 Slave Lake, and only there on occasion. This 

 is largely because the caribou are not so numer- 

 ous as formerly, and the Indians prefer to keep 

 the grease for home consumption, when at ease 

 in their autumn camps. Even among the Indians 

 around Great Slave Lake pemmican is used but 

 very little in the ordinary tripping (travelling)- 

 It has been substituted by pounded caribou 

 meat, which is carried in little caribou-skin bags 

 and eaten with grease. One can never get too 

 much of grease in the Northland, where it is 

 eaten as some consume sugar in the civilized 

 world. And this is to be accounted for by the 

 burning up of the tissues in cold dry climate 

 and the absence of bread and vegetables ; for 



