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or wore out tlieir moccasins, and traversed the dry upland, where 
the hard soil preserved few traces of their passage. The treeless 
prairies, and the plains of the Arctic and sub- Arctic, offered so few 
obstacles that definite paths were needless. In other regions the 
numerous fiords and the network of rivers and lakes navigable for 
long distances by canoe rendered much land travel unnecessary. 
Not only was there an absence of roarls in the Dominion, but an 
absence of bridges also, apart from an occasional tree spanning some 
narrow stream. The Indians merely forded such rivers as lay in their 
line of marcli. or crossed them in hastily built rafts and canoes. 
Travel necessarily varied with the seasons, except on the coast 
of British Columbia where the climate remained mild throughout the 
year. In summer the Indians either carried their ])ossessions in 
canoes from one camping ground to another, or transformed them- 
selves into beasts of burden and packed their property on their 
backs. The Kwakiutl and other west coast tribes used special 
baskets for this purpose; elsewhere the natives simply rolled their 
goods into bundles, or lashed them inside large hides. Light burdens 
they suspended from a .single tump-line that passed across the fore- 
head ; with heavier loads they often added a second strap that crossed 
the chest and arms a little below the shoulders. When the snow 
lay deep on the ground and tlie lakes and rivers were fast bound with 
ice, many of the natives abandoned the back pack for the toboggan 
or sled ; but the change was not complete, and back packs were 
common in winter also. An early Jesuit missionary thus describes 
the winter marches of a Alontagnais band; “ They begin by having 
breakfast, if there is any; for sometimes they depart without break- 
fasting. continue on their way without dining, and go to bed without 
supping, hiach one arranges his own baggage as best he can; and 
the women strike the cabin, to remove the ice and snow from the 
bark, which they roll up in a bundle. The baggage being packed, 
they throw it upon their backs or loins in long bundles, which they 
hold with a cord that passes over their foreheads, beneath which 
they i^lace a piece of bark so that it will not hurt them. When 
everyone is loaded, they mount their snow-shoes, which are bound to 
the feet so that they will not sink into the snow; and then they 
march over plain and mountain, making the little ones go on ahead, 
who start early, and often do not arrive until quite late. These 
