OVER THE ARCTIC MOUNTAINS 211 



something in addition. He told me I would have to 

 manage with boys whom he could not recommend in any- 

 way and that they would probably fail to make the dis- 

 tance in four days unless their loads were lighter than 

 eighty pounds. 



The Indians eventually engaged were Joseph, who was 

 over twenty years old, and William, who was about 

 seventeen. William was, however, the bigger of the two. 

 When it came to outfitting, it was they rather than Firth 

 or I that insisted on heavy loads. They wanted to take 

 along so much corned beef and so much bacon and so 

 much of various other things for provisions. 



I found out from Firth that the regular wages were 

 four dollars a day for the journey to the Bell, the In- 

 dians receiving no pay on their way back home. Think- 

 ing that I would get better service by offering a lump 

 sum, I told the Indians (through Firth as interpreter) 

 that instead of paying them four dollars a day, which 

 would give them only twenty dollars for the trip if it 

 took five days, I would pay them thirty-five dollars each, 

 no matter in how few days we made it. I also offered 

 a prize in case we made it in less than the regular time. 

 The bargain seemed to please not only the men then> 

 selves but all their relatives who had gathered to help 

 in the negotiations. 



August 13th we got away from the Fort and were 

 ferried across the Peel River by a boat belonging to Mr. 

 Harvey, a Free Trader who had set up at Macpherson 

 a rival establishment to that of the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany. Harvey had been no less kind to me than Firth. 

 As the general arrangements for my trip were in Firth's 

 hands, Harvey had made up for his lack of opportunity 

 in helping with the general outfitting by insisting on 



