THE THIRD BUFFALO HUNT 119 



It is easily set down on paper, but the uninitiated 

 can scarcely realise the fearful toil of portaging. If 

 you are an office man, suppose you take an angular 

 box weighing 20 or 30 pounds; if a farmer, double the 

 weight, poise it on 

 your shoulders or 

 otherwise, as you 

 please, and carry it 

 half a mile on a level 

 pavement in cool, 

 bright weather, and 

 I am mistaken if you 

 do not find yourself 

 suffering horribly 

 before the end of a 

 quarter-mile; the 

 last part of the trip 

 will have been made 

 in something like 

 mortal agony. Re- 

 member, then, that 

 each of these porta- 

 ge rs was carrying 



Ranunculus 



loO to 250 pounds 



of broken stuff, not half a mile, but several miles, 

 not on level pavement, but over broken rocks, up 

 banks, through quagmires and brush in short, across 

 ground that would be difficult walking without any 

 burden, and not in cool, clear weather, but through 

 Stirling swamps with no free hand to ease the myriad 

 punctures of his body, face, and limbs whenever un- 



