CHAPTER XXXVI 



THE ARCTIC PRAIRIES AND MY FARTHEST 

 NORTH 



Camp Musk-ox provided many other items of inter- 

 est besides the Great River, the big Musk-ox, and the 

 Arctic Fox. Here Preble secured a Groundsquirrel 

 with its cheek-pouches full of mushrooms and shot a 

 cock Ptarmigan whose crop was crammed with leaves 

 of willow and birch, though the ground was bright with 

 berries of many kinds. The last evening we were 

 there a White Wolf followed Billy into camp, keeping 

 just beyond reach of his shotgun; and, of course, we 

 saw Caribou every hour or two. 



"All aboard," was the cry on the morning of August 

 19, and once more we set out. We reached the north 

 arm of the lake, then turned north-eastward. In the 

 evening I got photos of a Polar Hare, the third we 

 had seen. The following day (August 20), at noon, 

 we camped in Sandhill Bay, the north point of Aylmer 

 Lake and the northernmost point of our travels by 

 canoe. It seems that we were the fourth party of white 

 men to camp on this spot. 



Captain George Back, 1833-34. 

 Stewart and Anderson, 1855. 

 Warburton Pike, 1890. 

 E. T. Seton, 1907. 



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