CANADIAN ENVIRONMENT OF THE •OUANANICHE 131 



Ixowevei', tbe river soon widened out belo# the bend and every- 

 thing was comparatively plain sailing." 



At Fort Ohimo, at the mouth of the Ungava Eiver, 

 the sportsman, in common with all the other people 

 of the place — Hudson Bay Company's officials, Ind- 

 ians, and Eskimos — must hunt for his living. But in 

 the proper season there is a splendid supply of game 

 to be hunted. Fortunate, too, that it is so, especially 

 for those who have to winter there. Supplies from 

 England reach Ungava but once a year, whither the 

 steamer Labrador leaves them about the end of July 

 or beginning of August, taking back with her the 

 skins collected at the fort. Flour, salt, tea, and to- 

 bacco are the principal supplies sent to Ungava. A 

 natural potato is never seen there; the climate will 

 not permit of its growth, and the steamer for Ungava 

 leaves England before the potato crop there is ripe. 

 Desiccated potatoes are, however, sent out with other 

 supplies. In the fall of the year the occupants of the 

 fort set about stocking their larder for winter. For 

 the number of men employed there, and the thirty 

 to forty dogs which form part of the establishment, 

 some four hundred to five hundred deer are annually 

 required. Only a few years ago Mr. Mackenzie, then 

 the factor at the fort, assisted by three other men, 

 went out upon the river Koksoak, not far from the 

 fort, where the stream is a mile and a quarter wide, 

 and in the course of a few hours speared and killed 

 three hundred deer. A drove of five hundred were 

 seen to be about crossing the stream, and while two 

 Eskimos were sent in one kayak to head theiu off 



