ACEOSS THE SUB-AECTICS OF CANADA 



sent by letter some months previously, Dr. McKay had en- 

 gaged the best available Indian guide to accompany us from 

 this place through Lake Athabasca and as far beyond as he 

 knew the country. With the success of this arrangement we 

 were greatly pleased, as it was desirable that as little time 

 as possible should be lost in seeking trails and river routes. 

 The guide's name was Moberly — a Christian name, though 

 borne by a full-blooded Chipewyan Indian, who, before we 

 were through with him, proved himself to be anything but a 

 Christian. He was acquainted with our route for about one 

 hundred miles to the northward from Black Lake, and even 

 in this distance his services, we thought, would likely save us 

 several days. 



ISText morning the Fort was a scene of hurry and bustle. 

 Goods were landed from the steamer, cordwood taken on 

 board, and much other business attended to. I took charge 

 of our own supplies, and checked each piece as it was brought 

 ashore. Our chest of tea was the only article that had suf- 

 fered from the effects of frequent transhipment. It had been 

 broken open and a few pounds lost, but the balance — about 

 sixty pounds — had been gathered up and put in a flour bag. 

 Before noon everything was safely landed on the shore, and 

 it formed a miscellaneous pile of no small extent. Following 

 is a list of the articles : Bacon, axes, flour, matches, oatmeal, 

 alcohol, tin kettles, evaporated apples, apricots, salt, sugar, 

 frying-pans, dutch oven, rice, pepper, mustard, files, jam, 

 tobacco, hard tack, candles, geological hammers, baking pow- 

 der, pain killer, knives, forks, canned beef — fresh and 

 corned — tin dishes, tarpaulins and waterproof sacks. Besides 

 the above, there were our tents, bags of dunnage, mathematical 

 instruments, rifles, and a box of ammunition. The total 

 weight of all this outfit amounted at the time to about four 

 thousand pounds. 



A sail-boat which my brother had used in 1892, and which 

 was in good condition, rode at anchor before the Fort, and 



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