INTO THE UNKNOWN WILDERNESS. 17 
Towards evening our party was surprised by the ap- 
pearance of a canoe some distance away, and not far 
from it, on a little island, an Indian camp. Shaping our 
course for the camp, a salute was fired, and was promptly 
answered by the Indians. Reaching the camp we were 
not a little astonished to find that some of the Indians 
were the very same men who had agreed to assist us 
over the portages out of Athabasca and Black Lakes. 
They had, no doubt, after meeting old Moberly, been 
prompted to leave us to shift for ourselves, and had 
returned in such a way as to avoid meeting us again. 
From them we now inquired for the Height of Land 
portage, and were pleased to learn that it was near at 
hand. Having obtained as much information from 
these fellows as we could, and arranged once more for 
three or four of them to assist us over in the morning, 
we pitched our own camp on a neighboring island. 
During the evening most of the Indians paddled across 
to where we were, and from some of them sketch-maps 
and useful information were obtained; but their atten- 
tion was chiefly devoted to filling the men with stories 
of the fearful dangers and certain disasters which we 
would encounter should we attempt to descend the 
Telzoa River. They said we would meet with great 
impassable canyons, and that the country through which 
it flowed was inhabited by savage tribes of Eskimos, 
who would undoubtedly eat us. These and similar 
stories produced a deep impression on the minds of 
some of our men, and might have given rise to serious 
trouble or even the disorganizing of the whole party. 
Jim went to my brother, and with a sad face un- 
