l6^ EXPLORATIONS IN THE FAR NORTH 



quantities of their best provision," to show how well the Indian 

 lives." 



Syrup. A very inferior quality of syrup is made at many 

 posts from birch sap. I found but one entry in the Rae journal 

 regarding the date, — May 20th, 1885, "Syrup makers off to 

 gather sap." The camp is about three miles east of the station; 

 the sap is collected in birch rogans which are made on the spot 

 and kept there en cache during the winter. 



Leaders. Hearne's remarks regarding the influence of the 

 chiefs of the Northwest Indians of a hundred and twenty years 

 ago, are equally true today: "It is an universal practice with 

 the Indian leaders, both Northern and Southern (Athabascan 

 and Cree), when going to the Company's Factory, to use their 

 influence and interest in canvassing for companions; as they 

 find by experience that a large gang gains them much respect. 

 Indeed, the generality of Europeans who reside in those parts, 

 being utterly unacquainted with the manners and customs of the 

 Indians, have conceived so high an opinion of those leaders, 

 and their authority, as to imagine that all who accompany them 

 on those occasions are entirely devoted to their service and 

 command all the year; but this is so far from being the case, 

 that the authority of those great men, when absent from the 

 Company's Factory, never extends beyond their own family; 

 and the trifling respect shown them by their countrymen, dur- 

 ing their residence at the factory, proceeds from motives of 

 interest." 1 



The first camp to which I went with Johnnie Cohoyla con- 

 tained forty men but no leaders. They were to engage in the 

 musk-ox hunt in small bands, and that being the greatest com- 

 mercial venture of the year would, it might be presumed, cause 

 them to accompany their chiefs upon the hunt. Yet when " Jim- 

 mie the Chief" visited the camp, seeking to induce more hunters 

 to join his party, but two men would accompany him, making 

 but ten in all, with the most respected of the Dog Rib leaders. 



Still the chiefs themselves strive to increase their prestige; 

 the gratuities from the traders are liberally shared with their 

 followers, and the most eloquent begging is kept up as long as 

 they remain at the post. None but a successful hunter need 

 aspire to the hand of a chief's daughter. Mr. Hodgson, being 



1 Hearne, Journey, p. 288. 



