PEEFACE 7 



that ostentatious and vulgar world in which they longed to 

 play a part. It was this inroad which led to the entrance of 

 the authority of the Queen — ^the Kitchi Okemasquay — ^not 

 so much to preserve order, where, without the law, the 

 natives had not unwisely governed themselves, as to prepare 

 them for the incoming world, and to protect them from a 

 new aggressor with whom their rude tribunals were incom- 

 petent to deal. To this end the Expedition of 1899 was sent 

 by Government to treat for the transfer of their territorial 

 rights, to ascertain, as well, the numbers and holdings of 

 the few white or other settlers who had made a start at 

 farming or stock-raising within its borders, and to clear the 

 way for the incoming tide of settlement when the time 

 became ripe for its extension to the itTorth. This time is 

 rapidly approaching, and when it comes the primitive life 

 and methods of travel depicted will pass away forever. It 

 is important, therefore, that as many descriptive records as 

 possible, and at first-hand, should be preserved. Though 

 the following account is but one of many experiences in 

 remote Athabasca, it may claim some special value as a 

 record of the Great Treaty by which that vast territory was 

 ceded to the Grown; a territory equal in area to a group of 

 European kingdoms or of American states, and whose 

 resources, as yet comparatively unknown, are arousing eager 

 surmise and conjecture in all directions. 



Whilst putting on record the methods and hardships of 

 travel during a singularly adverse season, the negotiations 

 with the Indians and half-breeds, and the superficial features 

 of the country passed through, the writer was also aware of 

 the fact that much information of great scientific value 

 regarding the fauna of the ISTorth, collected by his friend, 

 Roderick MacFarlane, Esq., for many years a chief -factor 

 of the Hudson's Bay Company, had been hitherto withheld 

 from the general public. This keen observer's " E'otes on 

 Mammals, with Remarks on Explorers and Explorations of 



