82 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 



We walked along rapidly and reached Stuart river by dark 

 and crossed it on the ice and slept in the cabin of the ferry-man 

 as we were travelling on the Omineca trail. Of course, the ferry- 

 man was not there, but we went in and made ourselves at home. 



The next day, we walked along and, in the evening, reached 

 the Nechaco. The river was nearly three hundred yards wide 

 and covered with great hummocks of ice with the current rolling 

 between. We were very doubtful as to whether we could cross 

 it and Murdoch got a large pole and walked in front, trying the 

 ice at every step while I came up in the rear in perfect safety. 

 Some miles beyond the river we camped in a little hollow and, as 

 this was our first camp, I may as well describe how we arranged 

 matters the rest of the journey. 



Every evening, when we arrived where we were to camp, 

 which was always in a thicket of green timber, with lots of dry 

 wood in the neighborhood, my business was to take a snow-shoe 

 and clear the ground of snow where our camp was to be. Mur- 

 doch took his axe and went to the wood to get wood for the night. 

 I always got a few small twigs for kindling. By the time Murdoch 

 got the supply of wood for the night, the Indian boy and myself 

 had finished getting the supper ready. I forgot to mention that 

 my bed was the first under way and it was arranged so that my 

 head would be away from the fire and my feet towards it. 



I left my snow-shoes at Stuart river but the others took 

 theirs with them. We were blessed with fine weather ; very cold 

 nights but no storms during the whole trip and we pushed on 

 day after day as fast as possible but camped early in the after- 

 noon and laid in a good stock of firewood for the night. As we 

 passed southward, the snow got deeper and at last it got so that 

 it was just an inch or so above the knee cap, and only then did 

 I find it fatiguing. As I had no burden to carry, I walked in 

 front and broke the road for the other two. One afternoon, when 

 it was almost time to camp, we suddenly came across the track of 

 a snow-shoe in the snow and, without ado, we followed the snow- 

 shoe till we came to a sylvan lodge in which we found an Indian, 

 and his wife and daughter, and we were greeted with all the friend- 

 liness we could expect. I may make this remark, that all the 



