106 HUNTERS OF THE GREAT NORTH 



tea we had at Shingle Point would have cost in Winnipeg 

 at least forty cents a pound. However, the forty-cent 

 tea was whaler tea which the Eskimos were accustomed 

 to get cheaply, while the Hudson's Bay Company's tea 

 had never been sold for less than two dollars a pound. 

 The Mackenzie Eskimos, accordingly, considered Hud- 

 son's Bay tea as the only tea any man would drink who 

 could afford it. 



I readily promised Roxy the tea and blanket, for I 

 thought I would be able to secure them from the Hudson's 

 Bay Company's goods which Ovayuak was selling as their 

 agent. Later Roxy made a second condition, that I was 

 to buy from Sten two good dogs and lend them to him to 

 use along with his own team on the way east. When we 

 got to Ovayuak's I would keep those dogs there and he 

 and Sitsak would return to Shingle Point with the dimin- 

 ished team. 



