8 4 



EXPLORATIONS IN THE FAR NORTH 



As we were slowly making our way up one of the channels of 

 the Big River that evening, we met a free trader and his inter- 

 preter who were hunting ducks. Mr. Nagle was expecting 

 Alexis and at once asked me if I was M. Laferte! Little won- 

 der that I was mistaken for a half-breed at the end of that 

 trip! The hunters had a dozen cakes and three or four ducks 

 in their canoe. Three muskrats were soon killed and boiled 

 with the ducks. How delicious were those muskrats — my com- 

 panions attempted to express their appreciation by calling 

 them "castors;'' the luxury of eating bread once more! We 

 camped there for the night, as it was still several miles to the 

 post. The next morning our blankets were white with the 

 first heavy frost of the season. Our breakfast — comforting 

 thought, the certainty of having a breakfast — consisted of 

 ducks and rats. I did not stop to see whether my portion was 

 of the former or the latter. A steady rain set in as we were 

 pushing off, which continued until we reached the post at 3 p. m. 



I enjoyed the hospitality of the clerk in charge for a day 

 and a half before starting upon my return to Rae, and I must 

 confess that I lived to eat during that time. I found that the 

 Indians would not arrive for several weeks, and that I could 

 not hire an assistant for the musk-ox hunt at Resolution. I 

 succeeded, however, in engaging an Indian to guide me to the 

 buffalo country during the coming winter. 



The free traders had been awaiting Alexis' arrival before 

 sending a scow loaded with goods across the lake; this enabled 

 me to return at once to Rae. We left the post on September 

 15th, and reached l'lsle de Pierre early on the third day. Here 

 two men, who had helped us row through the delta, turned 

 back, leaving us to depend almost entirely upon our sail. We 

 started upon the fifteen-mile traverse with a favorable wind 

 which suddenly shifted to the north and compelled us to run 

 back toward the island. The lake became very rough and the 

 waves soon broke over the quarter which we covered with tar- 

 paulins. Had it been another mile to the island we would 

 never have reached it. We remained there the next day, dry- 

 ing the goods and waiting for a fair wind. On the fifth day we 

 crossed to the Gros Cape, where we again sought shelter from 

 the north wind which howled across the lake for the next four 

 days. On the 26th of September we sailed into a channel 



