ROMANCE AND ADVENTURE 15 



known as the Coast Country — the shores of the Arctic Ocean 

 and Hudson Bay; the Barren Grounds — the treeless country 

 between Hudson Bay and the Mackenzie River; the Strong 

 Woods Country — the whole of that enormous belt of heavy 

 timber that spans Canada from east to west; the Border 

 Lands — the tracts of small, scattered timber that he between 

 the prairies and the northern forests; the Prairie Country; the 

 Mountains; and the Big Lakes. These names have been 

 adopted by the fur traders from the Indians. It is in the Strong 

 Woods Country that most of the fur-bearing animals live. 



MEETING OO-KOO-HOO 



About ten o'clock on the morning after our arrival at Fort 

 Consolation, Free Trader Spear left for home with my promise 

 to paddle over and dine at Spearhead next day. 



At noon Factor Mackenzie informed me that he had received 

 word that Oo-koo-hoo — The Owl — was coming to the Fort 

 that afternoon and that, taking everything into consideration, 

 he thought Oo-koo-hoo 's hunting party the best for me to 

 join. It consisted, he said, of Oo-koo-hoo and his wife, his 

 daughter, and his son-in-law, Amik — The Beaver — and Amik's 

 five children. The Factor further added that Oo-koo-hoo 

 was not only one of the greatest hunters, and one of the best 

 canoe-men in that district, but in his youth he had been a great 

 traveller, as he had hunted with other Indian tribes, on Hudson 

 Bay, on the Churchill, the Peace, the Athabasca, and the 

 Slave rivers, and even on the far-away Mackenzie; and was a 

 master at the game. His son-in-law, Amik, was his hunting 

 partner. Though Amik would not be home until to-morrow, 

 Oo-koo-hoo and his wife, their daughter and her children were 

 coming that afternoon to get their "advances," as the party 

 contemplated leaving for their hunting grounds on the second 

 day. That I might look them over while they were getting 



