only those that are in my own mind without a ques- 

 tion as to their truth. In the long story of Wayee- 

 ses the White Wolf, for example, — in which for 

 the greater interest I have put the separate facts 

 into a more or less connected biography, — every 

 incident in this wolf's life, from his grasshopper 

 hunting to the cunning caribou chase, and from 

 the den in the rocks to the meeting of wolf and chil- 

 dren on the storm-swept barrens, is minutely true 

 to fact, and is based squarely upon my own obser- 

 vation and that of my Indians. 



In one case only, the story of Kopseep the Salmon, 

 have I ventured to make an exception to this rule 

 of absolute accuracy. For years I have followed 

 and watched the salmon from the sea to the head- 

 springs of his own river and back again to the sea, 

 and all that part of his story is entirely true to fact ; 

 but beyond the breakers and beneath the tide no 

 man has ever followed or seen him. I was obliged, 

 therefore, either to omit that part of his life or to 

 picture it as best I could from imagination and the 

 records of the salmon hatcheries and deep-sea trawl- 

 ers. I chose, for the story's sake, the latter course, 



" u 



srl 



xv 



Preface 



J 



