ROMANCE AND ADVENTURE 7 



"No-Ka must have been a great hunter. I would like to 

 have had his trade. But, nevertheless, I have heard of an 

 Indian who might have been a match for him. He, too, was an 

 Ojibway, and his name was Narphim. He lived somewhere 

 out in the Peace River country, and I've heard it stated that 

 he killed, in his lifetime, more than eighty thousand living 

 things. Some bag for one hunter." 



Since Trader Spear made that interesting remark I have had 

 the pleasure of meeting a factor of the Hudson's Bay Company 

 who knew Narphim from boyhood, and who was a personal 

 friend of his, and who was actually in charge of a number of 

 posts at which the Indian traded. Owing to their friendship 

 for one another, the Factor took such a personal pride in the 

 fame the hunter won, that he compiled, from the books of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company, a complete record of all the fur-bear- 

 ing animals the Indian killed between the time he began to 

 trade as a hunter at the age of eleven, until his hunting days 

 were ended. Furthermore, in discussing the subject with 

 Narphim they together compiled an approximate list of the 

 number of fish, wild fowl, and rabbits that the hunter must 

 have secured each season, and thus Narphim's record stands 

 as the following figures show. I would tell you the Factor's 

 name but as he has written to me : "For many cogent reasons 

 it is desirable that my name be not mentioned officially in your 

 book," I must refrain. I shall, however, give you the history 

 of Narphim in the Factor's own words: 



''Narphim's proper name remains unknown as he was one 

 of two children saved when a band of Ojibways were drowned 

 in crossing a large lake that lies S. E. of Cat Lake and Island 

 Lake, and S. E. of Norway House. He was called Nar- 

 phim — Saved from the Waters. The other child that was 

 rescued was a girl and she was called Neseemis — Our Little 

 Sister. At first Narphim was adopted and lived with a 

 Swampy Cree chief, the celebrated Keteche-ka-paness, who 



