124 



EXPLORATIONS IN THE FAR NORTH 



travel of the woods at the east end of the lake, beyond the ter- 

 ritory occupied by the Yellow Knives. 1 The distance to be 

 traveled from Rae becomes greater each year, and the post 

 itself is not now so well supplied with provisions or with goods 

 with which to hire native assistants. 



My advice to sportsmen is to keep out of the musk-ox 

 country, if life and health are valued. To be sure there is a sat- 

 isfaction in overcoming the obstacles which must be encoun- 

 tered before the musk-ox are reached, but at the end, when you 

 are within rifle-shot of the long-sought game, you find after all 

 that it is a cruel butchery; you do not feel the triumphant 

 exhilaration which results from successfully pursuing the noble 

 moose or elk; in fact you can duplicate the sensation felt on 

 such an occasion, at far less expense and less hardship, by hir- 

 ing a pack of hungry curs for an afternoon, and turning them 

 into your neighbor's sheep pasture. When they have rounded 

 up the flock, you can take your stand at a safe distance and 

 shoot down the sheep ! The musk-ox is not a " sporty " animal. 



During my absence the incoming packet had arrived, with but 

 one letter for me. Fortunately this one was from Professor 

 Nutting, who approved of a plan which I had formed for the 

 summer's campaign and sent out by the December mails. 



I had intended to remain another winter in the country if I 

 failed to get the musk-ox, and then to return by the route trav- 

 ersed in going North. As the hunt had been successful I was 

 ready to return, after I had employed my time to the best 

 advantage, in collecting ornithological specimens during the 

 short summer. 



Mr. Hodgson gave such glowing accounts of the abundance 

 of game, birds, and other desirable specimens near the Arctic 

 coast that I wished to visit the region even though I would not 

 have time to make a large collection. 



1 Compare Pike, Barren Ground, p. 274, who wrote before Beniah entered 

 this new territory. " I am not quite sure that Fort Resolution is the best 

 point to start from. Fort Rae, on the north arm of the Great Slave Lake, 

 lies nearer the Barren Ground, and the Dog Ribs are said to be more 

 amenable to reason than the Yellow Knives, while the distance to travel 

 through a woodless country is shorter." 



