92 HUNTERS OF THE GREAT NORTH 



panions knew exactly where to look on the gravel bars 

 in the river bed to pick up little willow roots and stems 

 that had been left there as driftwood by the high water 

 of last spring. This gave us enough to burn. 



One day it was anticipated that the evening's camp 

 site would be nearly destitute of fuel, and that day we 

 kept watch as we traveled across the gravel bars, pick- 

 ing up here and there a little piece of stick and thrust- 

 ing it under the rope lashings that held the loads in place 

 on our sleds. The crest of the mountains was, of course, 

 bare of any willows big enough to show above the snow. 

 But going down we soon came to bushes, for we were 

 now on the southward slope where the heat of the sun 

 in summer is more effective. It was about five or eight 

 miles till we got into willows that were higher than a 

 man's head and presently we came to the homes of our 

 caribou-hunting friends. 



Nowadays the Mackenzie Eskimos purchase from the 

 whalers and traders tents of the ordinary white men's 

 style. In the old days there used to be two kinds of 

 Eskimo tents. The Mackenzie River people preferred 

 conical shapes, much like the Indian wigwams you see 

 in pictures; the Alaska Eskimos generally had hemi- 

 spherical tents. The framework of these reminds one 

 very much of a round basket lying bottom side up — 

 except, of course, that the bent willows which form the 

 frame of the tent are not a fraction of an inch apart, as 

 y would be in a basket, but two or three feet apart. 

 Over this frame they nowadays throw a canvas covering. 

 In the old days this covering was made of skins, com- 

 monly caribou. Even now caribou skins are sometimes 

 used for winter tents, for they are much warmer than 

 canvas. 



