218 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Eskimo Shooting Ptarmigan With Bow and Arrow. 
truth one. said simply rotten. The boat showed 
great ingenuity in design and construction, and 
was really a thoroughly serviceable craft. 
“As soon as they had disposed of their meat, 
they crossed the river and struck by some over¬ 
land trail back to their hunting grounds on the 
eastern slope of the Rockies. They sold their 
boat to the factor of the northern trading com¬ 
pany, who broke it up for the skins.’’ 
The observations on natural history are not 
extensive, but then the expedition was not for 
that purpose. The author talks interestingly of 
the different animals and other wild life. The 
party did not meet the annual caribou migra¬ 
tion, which has been told about in Forest and 
Stream several times. He speaks very highly of 
Hanbury, the notes of whose earlier trip have 
also been published in these columns. All through 
the book it can be noted clearly that the charm 
of the Barren Land was getting more and more 
into the blood of the party. Every individual, 
every expedition passing into this far northern 
land, has written in the same strain. 
The Barren Land is barren only in name, for 
during the summer season it is really a paradise 
of wild flowers and resembles more the prairie 
land of the south. 
START OF THE RADFORD EXPEDITION FROM FORT NORMAN. 
This Picture is Interesting as Showing the Ill-fated Radford Party Leaving—Radford is in 
Bow and Street in Stern—The Big York Boat Contains Government 
Experimental 
was as heartily welcome to us as doubtless 
we would have been to him had our condition 
been properly miserable. 
“Our stay at Fort Norman proved much longer 
than we had anticipated. The first fortnight 
after our arrival passed pleasantly enough; the 
weather was invariably fine and warm, our camp 
was comfortably situated and commanded a 
*ovely view; the last four months had been 
fairly strenuous work and the rest was welcome 
enough. Then we had a chance to observe the 
life at a fur trading post under its usual condi¬ 
tions instead of at the times of abnormal activity 
attending the arrival of the steamer, the only 
occasions on which we had seen them hitherto. 
“Little enough indeed went on; our own life at 
Hodgson Point in winter time was scarcely less 
devoid of incident. We became better acquainted 
with Father Ducot of the Mission, and with Mr. 
Hodgson, two man of great experience in the 
North who had many interesting things to tell us. 
“The Fathers showed us around their church 
with justifiable pride; it was profusely decorat¬ 
ed inside with paintings on the wood of the struc¬ 
ture, the result of incredible care and pains. 
“Once in a while a party of Indians would 
come in and pitch their tepee on the beach, and 
after getting a few things in trade, would go off 
to hunt again. 
“The trading store was like a small, rather bad¬ 
ly stocked country store. The quality of the goods 
carried was generally excellent, a feature of the 
Hudson Bay Co.’s fur trading stores that deserves 
the highest praise. Everything was very expen¬ 
sive but not unduly so, considering the difficul¬ 
ties and distance of transport, and the high 
quality of the goods; in this respect Fort Norman 
would probably compare very favorably with the 
towns on the Yukon. 
“When trading they allowed only one Indian in 
the store at a time; if more than one was allow¬ 
ed to enter the others would give so much ad¬ 
vice that the negotiations would never come to 
a conclusion. Their behavior in the store was 
exactly like that of uncertain children. I watch¬ 
ed an Indian select six ‘skins’ worth of stuff 
one day. He was fairly dazzled and confused 
with such wealth to choose from. He took a 
little tea and little tobacco, then came a long 
mental struggle between a black ostrich feather 
and a blue leather peaked cap. The ostrich 
feather finally carried the day and he took it 
away in triumph. Truly ‘the first spiritual want 
of a barbarous man is decoration, as indeed we 
still see among the barbarous classes in civilized 
countries.’ 
“A party of Montagnais Indians turned up at 
the post one day from some far eastern tributary 
of the Mackenzie. They had killed a number of 
moose and with the skins for cover and saplings 
for a frame they had built a large boat and 
journeyed down the river bringing in the meat. 
Some of it was dry, and some fresh, or green 
would be a better term, unless for choice and 
Farm Property. 
A mighty interesting trip this little Canadian! 
party had and one which, as the facilities for 
getting into the country increase, and as its 
charm is better known, will be duplicated by 
many outdoor men in the future. It is to be 
hoped that those whose time and means permit 
such excursions will not participate in nor sanc¬ 
tion the game slaughter which once marked the 
crossing by white men of the western sections 
of our own country. Already the trade in musk¬ 
ox skins is becoming too heavy, polar bears are 
being wiped off the face of the earth and in 
supplying the extreme northern bands of Indians 
and Eskimos with modern firearms, more harm 
than good will come to these people, for they 
will kill as long as trade offers, and trade, be it 
said with reluctant truth, has opened doors that 
reach to the extreme limit of human habitation. 
