CHAPTEE XVII. 

 FOET CHUBGHILL. 



With our arrival at Eort Churchill we felt that the suc- 

 cessful termination of our long journey was pretty well 

 assured. Here there must be an abundance of provisions to 

 feed our small party for an indefinite length of time, so that 

 we could either spend the wruter at the post and go south 

 by canoes in the spring, or else remain long enough to recruit 

 our energies and continue the journey on snowshoes. 



Adjoining the Master's house, and ranged in two irregular, 

 detached rows, near the rocky bank of the Churchill River, 

 were the four or five old frame buildings of the Fort used 

 as storehouses and servants' lodges. Two or three hundred 

 yards down the shore was a neat little church and mission 

 house. Drawn up on the beach near the church were several 

 large, open coast-boats, used during the summer by the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company iu carrying on trade with the Eskimos, 

 and besides these was a small landing ^nd warehouse ; while 

 down at the mouth of the river, five miles distant, could be 

 seen the ruins of old Fort Prince of "Wales, once a massive 

 cut-stone fortification. 



The buildings of the traders were verv old, some of them 

 being iu a half-wrecked condition, but those of the mission 

 were new and trim, having been only recently erected by the 

 Rev. Joseph Lofthouse (now Bishop of Keewatin), who 

 with his family occupied the dwelling. In this ideal little 

 home, from the hour of our arrival at the Eort, we were 

 given a most hearty and hospitable welcome. 



One of the first duties requiring attention, after arrang- 



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