This simple romance of a simple people, the furred dwellers of the
Northern forests, came to me from time to time during the six seasons I
spent on the Athabasca and Saskatchewan Rivers in the far North-West of
Canada.
Long evenings have passed pleasantly, swiftly, as sitting over a
smouldering camp-fire I have listened to famous Trappers as they spoke
with enthusiastic vividness of the most fascinating life in the
world,--the fur-winner's calling.
If the incidents and tales in this book fail of interest the fault is
mine, for, coming from their lips, they pleased as did the song of the
Minstrel in the heroic past.
Several of the little tales are absolutely true. Black Fox was trapped
as here described, by a Half-breed, Johnnie Groat, who was with me for a
season.
Carcajou has raided, not one, but many shacks through the chimney, as
fifty Trappers in the North-West could be brought to testify. The
trapping of this clever little animal by means of a hollow stump, all
other schemes having failed, was an actual occurrence. It is a well
known fact that many a Trapper has had to abandon his "marten road" and
move to another locality when Carcajou has set up to drive him out.
Mooswa is still plentiful in the forests of the Athabasca, and is the
embodiment of dignity among animals.
There is no living thing more characteristic of the Northern land than
Whisky-Jack, the Jay. Wherever a traveller stops, on plain or in forest,
and uncovers food, there will be one or two of these saucy, thieving
birds. Where they nest, or how, is much of a mystery. I never met but
one man who claimed to have found Jack's nest, and this man, a Trapper,
was of rather an imaginative turn of mind.
The Rabbit of that land is really a hare, never burrowing, but living
quite in the open. As told in the story they go on multiplying at a
tremendous rate for six years; the seventh, a plague carries a great
number of them off, and very few are seen for the next couple of years.
The supply of fur depends almost entirely upon the rabbit--he is the
food reserve for the other forest dwellers.
Blue Wolf is also an actuality. Once in a while one of the gray wolves
grows larger than his fellows, and wears a rich blue-gray coat. I have
one of these pelts in my house now--they are very rare, and are known to
the Traders and Trappers as Blue Wolf.
Perhaps this story is too simple, too light, too prolific of natural
history, too something or other--I don't know; I have but tried to tell
the things that appeared very fascinating to me under the giant spruce
and the white-barked poplars, with the dark-faced Indians and
open-handed white Trappers sitting about a spirit-soothing camp-fire.
THE DWELLERS OF THE BOUNDARIES AND
THEIR NAMES IN THE CREE
INDIAN LANGUAGE
MOOSWA, _the Moose_. Protector of The Boy.
MUSKWA, _the Bear_.
BLACK FOX, _King of the Boundaries_.
THE RED WIDOW, _Black Fox's Mother_.
CROSS-STRIPES, _Black Fox's Baby Brother_.
ROF, _the Blue Wolf_. Leader of the Gray Wolf Pack.
CARCAJOU, _the Wolverine_. Lieutenant to Black King, and known as the
"Devil of the Woods."
PISEW, _the Lynx_. Possessed of a cat-like treachery.
UMISK, _the Beaver_. Known for his honest industry.
WAPOOS, _the Rabbit_ (really a Hare). The meat food for Man and Beast
in the Boundaries.
WAPISTAN, _the Marten_. With fur like the Sable.
NEKIK, _the Otter_. An eater of Fish.
SAKWASEW, _the Mink_. Would sell his Mother for a Fish.
WUCHUSK, _the Muskrat_. A houseless vagabond who admired Umisk, the
Beaver.
SIKAK, _the Skunk_. A chap to be avoided, and who broke up the party at
Nekik's slide.
WENUSK, _the Badger_.
WUCHAK, _the Fisher_.
WHISKY-JACK, _the Canada Jay_. A sharp-tongued Gossip.
COUGAR, EAGLE, BUFFALO, ANT, and CARIBOU.
WIE-SAH-KE-CHACK. Legendary God of the Indians, who could change
himself into an animal at will.
FRANCOIS, _French Half-breed Trapper_.
NICHEMOUS, _Half-breed hunter who tried to kill Muskwa_.
TRAPPERS, HALF-BREEDS, and TRAIN DOGS.
ROD, _The Boy_. Son of Donald MacGregor, formerly Factor to Hudson's
Bay Company at Fort Resolution.
When Rod was a little chap, Mooswa had been brought into Fort Resolution
as a calf, his mother having been killed, and they became playmates.
Then MacGregor was moved to Edmonton, and Rod was brought up in
civilization until he was fourteen, when he got permission to go back to
the Athabasca for a Winter's trapping with Francois, who was an old
servant of the Factor's. This story is of that Winter. Mooswa had been
turned loose in the forest by Factor MacGregor when leaving the Fort.
THE BOUNDARIES. The great Spruce forests and Muskeg lands lying between
the Saskatchewan River, the Arctic Ocean, and the Rocky Mountains--being
the home of the fur-bearing animals.