202 



THE ARCTIC PRAIRIES 



fast in the best of style, for an A 1 cook he was. And 

 when it came to the portages he would shoulder his 

 200 or 250 pounds each time. Preble combined the 

 mental force of the educated white man with the brawn 

 of the savage, and although not supposed to do it, he 

 took the same sort of loads as Billy did. Mine, for the 

 best of reasons, were small, and consisted chiefly of the 

 guns, cameras, and breakables, or occasionally, while 

 they were transporting the heavy stuff, I acted as 

 cook. But all were literally and figuratively in the 

 same boat, all paddled all day, ate the same food, 

 worked the same hours, and imbued with the same 

 spirit were eager to reach the same far goal. From 

 this on the trip was ideal. 



We were 3| days covering the 8 small lakes and 

 9 portages (30 miles) that lie between the two great 

 highways, Great Slave Lake and Artillery Lake; and 

 camped on the shore of the latter on the night of July 31. 



Two of these 9 lakes had not been named by the 

 original explorers. I therefore exercised my privilege 

 and named them, respectively, "Loutit" and "Weeso," 

 in honour of my men. 



The country here is cut up on every side with caribou 

 trails; deep worn like the buffalo trails on the plains, 

 with occasional horns and bones; these, however, 

 are not so plentiful as were the relics of the Buffalo. 

 This, it proved, was because the Caribou go far north 

 at horn-dropping time, and they have practically no 

 bones that the Wolves cannot crush with their teeth. 



Although old tracks were myriad-many, there were 

 no new ones. Weeso said, however, "In about four 



