forest and stream 
217 
some of the Esquimeaux about whose lineage so 
many fanciful and misleading stories have been 
written of late; they went to the Arctic Ocean 
and back again, finding caribou plentiful. 
Then, after the long winter season came to an 
end, and their spring exploration had been com¬ 
pleted, they started back over the route of hun¬ 
dreds of miles across Bear Lake, where they 
found the ice an obstacle even as late as July, 
and reached Ft. Norman again in July. From 
that point they returned to civilization by the 
same route they had followed the year previous. 
This is a bare outline of what this little party 
of trained outdoor men accomplished, but all 
through the book, one is impressed by the fact 
that every member of the party was comfortable 
and healthy, and that danger, aside from natural 
dangers incident to such rough work, was neg¬ 
ligible. The sidelights thrown on the experiences 
met by this party are of extreme interest to the 
outdoor lover and he will find scattered through 
the pages many hints of things that are well to 
do and things that will make him more comfort¬ 
able in the woods. 
eaux, and by Father Rouvier, an Oblat mission 
priest who was in charge of that far-off territory 
for the church. 
The experiences of the party, their daily life 
and hunts and the more serious expeditions which 
took them all over the sub-Arctic country form 
a fascinating tale. They did not suffer; on the 
contrary, they with their fellow-companions, 
Hornby and Father Rouvier, led the life of re¬ 
fined white men during the long dreary winter, 
and it is not beside the mark to say that they 
had, as Colonel Roosevelt would put it, “a bully 
time.” 
The hunting was good; fish could be had at all 
times even through the ice and though the tem¬ 
perature dropped as low as 59 degrees below 
zero as a minimum, and was down below thirty 
many times, Mr. Douglas expresses himself that 
the climate in winter is rather a placid one. 
He writes interestingly of the coming and 
going of occasional Indian bands—they were 
small bands and it is only repeating what many 
other explorers have told us about the Indians 
starving while the white man lives in comfort, 
because he looks after himself. They met on 
the Coppermine River and at different points, 
Ruins of Fort Confidence-Barren Lands. 
“Main Street” Fort Norman. 
While the expedition was not primarily for 
hunting purposes, the party was never without 
an abundant supply of caribou meat and large 
fish were always obtainable. 
Speaking of his return to Fort Norman, the 
author says: 
“How woefully disappointed we were in our 
welcome we have seen; the first inhabitants we 
met at this post had greeted us by turning their 
backs. Worse, far worse, was to follow. Instead 
of being hospitably entertained at the factor’s 
house, it was the factor who came to our camp 
and was hospitably entertained by us; we could 
even produce a bottle of cognac to celebrate the 
occasion! 
‘‘It is true that we had failed to conform to the 
convention requiring that the explorer should 
come to the first post ragged and half starved, 
eating his moccasins and mits. So it was really 
our fault in both cases, and we only got the 
proper punishment that in some shape or other is 
inevitably meted out to all offenders against con¬ 
vention. And our good friend. Mr. Leon Gaudet, 
Wt 
