26 AEROSS THE SUB-ARCTICS OF CAMA 
that such kind fortune would befall it, my brother, after 
having taken its photograph, led it away by the ear 
into the shelter of the woods, and there left the ib 
creature to its fate. 
During the afternoon of the same day, the head of 
the Grand Rapid of the Athabasca, situated just 
165 miles below the Landing, was reached. Here 
we met a detachment of the Mounted Police, in 
charge of Inspector Howard; and as it was late in the 
day, and Saturday evening, it was decided to pitch camp. 
The police camp was the only other one in the neighbor- 
hood, so the first question which suggested itself was: 
What possible duty could policemen find to perform in 
such a wild, uninhabited place? The answer, however, 
was simple. The place, though without any settled 
habitation, is the scene of the transhipment of consider- 
able freight on its way to the various trading-posts and 
mission stations of the great Mackenzie River District. 
The river steamer Athabasca, belonging to the Hudson’s 
Bay Company, was now daily looked for with its load 
from the Landing. Mission scows, loaded with freight for 
Fort Chippewyan and other points, were expected, and 
free-traders’ outfits were lable to arrive at any time. It 
was for the purpose of inspecting these cargoes and pre- 
venting liquor from being carried down and sold for furs. 
to the Indians, that Inspector Howard and his detach- 
ment were stationed here. 
From the Grand Rapid, down stream for about eighty 
miles to Fort McMurray, the river is not navigable for 
steamers, and so all goods have to be transported over 
this distance by scows built for the purpose. The head 
of the Grand Rapid is thus the northern steamboat 
