20 



THE ARCTIC PRAIRIES 



At noon we camped above the Boiler Rapids. In 

 the evening I climbed the 400- or 500-foot hill behind 

 camp and sketched the canyon looking northward. 

 The spring birds were now beginning to arrive, but 



Canyon of the Athabaska River, looking north 



were said to be a month late this year. The ground 

 was everywhere marked with moose sign; prospects 

 were brightening. 



The mania for kilHng that is seen in many white men 

 is evidently a relic of savagery, for all of these Indians 

 and half-breeds are full of it. Each carries a rifle, and 

 every living thing that appears on the banks or on the 

 water is fusilladed with Winchesters until it is dead or 

 out of sight. This explains why we see so little from 

 the scows. One should be at least a day ahead of 

 them to meet with wild life on the river. 



This morning two Bears appeared on the high bank 

 — and there was the usual uproar and fusillading; so far 

 as could be learned without any effect, except the ex- 

 penditure of thirty or forty cartridges at five cents each. 



