92 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



From Split I^ake, which is an expansion of the Nelson River, 

 our objective point la}' to the northward in the direction of the 

 Little and Great Churchill Rivers, and the following of this neces- 

 sitated the making of numerous portages separating a succession of 

 small lakes, which presented a practical route sometimes followed 

 by the Indians. For the purpose of assisting us over these port- 

 ages we gladly availed ourselves of the offered help of six addi- 

 tional local Indians, and thus supported, on Monday, the 17th of 

 July, with a fresh guide in the person of Daniel Kitchekisik, we 

 bade farewell to our good friends at Split Lake and made a fresh 

 start for Hudson's Bay. The chain of small lakes above mentioned, 

 as well as the Little Churchill River, form part of an Indian hunt- 

 ing route, but the Great Churchill is never descended, even by the 

 natives, so that when I informed the guide that it was my intention 

 to go down the "big" river, he promptly declined to accompan)' 

 us, stating that the '' Great Strange" river, as it is called by the 

 Indians, is said to be never free from ice, and that should we at- 

 tempt to descend it, we should be swept down and carried to cer- 

 tain destruction. I assured him that we had no desire or intention 

 of running into such danger and that if it were necessary I would 

 abandon my purpose and adopt his proposed alternative, which 

 from a point a short distance below the mouth of the Little 

 Churchill switched off onto a winding portage route by way of 

 what is known as the Little Deer River. 



With this understanding we proceeded, crossing several large 

 portages, as many small lakes, and descending the Little Churchill 

 until on the morning of the 25th we entered upon the Great 

 Churchill (Strange) River, and an hour later arrived at the head of 

 the portage route to the Little Deer River — the "parting of the 

 ways." Here a halt was made for lunch, chiefly that the question 

 of routes might be again brought up for argument, for I was very 

 desirous of seeing the big river, but could scarcel}' descend it with- 

 out the assistance of Daniel. He was free to admit that the Little 

 Deer River route was long and difficult, so taking advantage of 

 this admission I argued that a fine large river, though not known 

 to him, would almost certainly prove to be a better route than one 



