That night we made an open camp in a bunch of pines on the south side of
Lake Mackay, at which point we intended to load wood for use in the
Barren Ground. We were much better found in all respects than on the
last occasion, and having dogs with us should not be obliged to carry
anything ourselves. We used the ordinary travelling sleighs of the
North; two smooth pieces of birch, some seven feet in length, with the
front ends curled completely over and joined together with cross slats
secured with _babiche_ into a total width of sixteen inches. A
ground-lashing is passed along through holes in the outside edge of the
sleigh, and to this is fastened a rough deerskin wrapper in which the
load is stowed as neatly as possible and the wrapper laced on the top,
so that in case of a capsize, which frequently happens, nothing can fall
out. The traces are hitched on to loops in the front end of the sleigh,
and four dogs put in the caribou-skin harness one in front of the other.
The company officers have imported leather dog-harness with buckles for
their own use between the forts; but I think for handling in really cold
weather the caribou-skin, or better still moose-skin, with thongs
instead of buckles, is preferable.
Our twenty-four dogs rejoiced in endless varieties of names, English,
French, and Indian, some popular names introduced by the Whites being
freely given without reference to sex or colour. For instance, in my own
sleigh the fore-goer, a big yellow bitch, answered to the name of
Napoleon, whilst just behind her came a black bushy-tailed dog La Reine;
we had three Drap Fins, from their resemblance to the fine black cloth
so dearly beloved by the half-breeds and Indians, two Chocolates of
different colours, besides Cavour, Chandelle, Diable, Lion, Blucher,
Royal, Bismarck, and a host of unpronounceable Indian names.
We were all dressed alike in coats of caribou-skin with the hair outside
and hoods fastened up closely under the chin, and these we hardly took
off day or night for the five weeks that we were out. Our hands were
thrust into moose-skin mittens lined with duffel and hung round the neck
by highly ornamented plaited woollen strings, or in the case of a man of
little wealth with a more humble piece of _babiche_, but most of my
companions managed to show a little colour in this respect. We rolled
our feet in duffel and cased them in huge moccasins, of which we all had
two or three pair; and as we were very careful in drying them every
night before sleeping to get rid of all dampness caused by perspiration
there was not a single case of frozen feet during the whole journey,
although the big cold of an Arctic winter had now fairly set in. We
used small snow-shoes about three feet in length, as most of the
travelling would be on the frozen lakes where the snow is always
drifting, and, consequently, pretty hard. One man, or in case of softer
snow two, went ahead to break the road and the dogs followed in their
tracks, or, if they showed any disinclination to start, were most
unmercifully clubbed and cursed by name till they did so.
A big deer-skin lodge and a sufficient number of carefully trimmed poles
had been brought up from Fond du Lac, as it would have been impossible
to endure the cold and almost perpetual wind without shelter of any
kind, but they had the disadvantage of greatly increasing the weight of
our load. King had given us a little dried meat, but only enough for a
couple of days for such a large outfit; the dogs alone required at least
fifty pounds a day to keep them in good condition. We had the meat
_caches_ ahead, and hoped to fall in with the musk-ox before we ran out
of provisions entirely. The danger of course lay in not finding these
animals when we got far out, as the caribou had almost all passed into
the woods and we could not hope to see any after the first few days. Our
ammunition was rather limited, but with care we had enough to keep the
muzzle-loading weapons supplied, and Paul and myself had a fair amount
of cartridges for our Winchester rifles. We were obliged to wrap
deer-skins round the levers and the parts of the barrel that our hands
touched to avoid contact with the iron, which sticks to the bare skin in
cold weather and causes a painful burn.
The next day was spent in cutting wood into short lengths and loading it
on to the sleighs. In the morning Marlo was very ill from the surfeit of
flour he had had in King's camp, but was well enough to travel a short
distance in the afternoon, and we pitched our lodge in the snow, clear
of all timber. Here I had my first experience of a winter camp in the
Barren Ground.
A spot being chosen where the snow is light and the ground clear of
rocks, a ring of the requisite size is marked out. Snow-shoes are taken
off and used as shovels for throwing away the snow from the inside of
this ring, making a wall varying in height according to the depth of
snowfall. Outside this circle the sleighs are turned on edge, the poles
planted behind them, and the deer-skin lodge spread round, forming as
comfortable a camp as can be expected in such a country. The wood
allowed for supper is carefully split and a fire lighted, the kettle
hanging over it from three small sticks carried for the purpose; the
lumps of meat for dog's food are spread round the fire till sufficiently
thawed, when a lively scene commences outside the lodge, every man
feeding his own dogs and watching them to see there is no foul play. By
the time this is over the melted snow in the kettle is boiling, and
every man gets his piece of meat in much the same manner as the dogs.
I always had the privilege of first choice, but in the dense clouds of
smoke that usually filled the lodge it was by no means easy to take the
full advantage of it. We drank tea while it held out, and then fell back
on the greasy snow-water that the meat was boiled in. There was always a
good proportion of caribou hair in everything we ate or drank, varying
afterwards to the coarse black hair of the musk-ox, which was far more
objectionable.
[Illustration: Making Camp]
As soon as supper was over and our moccasins dry the fire was allowed to
go out, to economize wood, and each man rolled himself up in his
blanket, lay down on the frozen ground, and slept as well as he might
till it was time to travel again. Directly all was quiet the dogs forced
their way in and commenced a free fight over us for any scraps or bones
they could find lying about; finally they curled themselves up for the
night without paying much attention to our comfort. A warm dog is not a
bad thing to lie against or to put at your feet, but these hauling dogs
seem to prefer to lie right on top of your body, and as most of them are
a considerable weight a good night's rest is an impossibility. Any
attempt to kick or shove them off produced a general row, and a moving
foot was often mistaken in the darkness for a hostile dog and treated as
such; Paul received one rather bad bite on his toes, but the rest of us
all got off with slight nips. We had to be careful to put everything
edible, in the way of moccasins, mittens, and even snow-shoes, under us,
as these are things that few dogs can resist, and there is nothing more
annoying than to find all the _babiche_ eaten out of your snow-shoes in
the morning. When the hungry time came later on the dogs began to eat
the lodge, and would soon have left us houseless but for one man always
keeping watch at night.
One is accustomed to hear of men sleeping in fluffy woollen bags in the
Arctic regions, but I found that a deer-skin coat and one blanket were
sufficient to keep me warm except on the very coldest nights. I had told
Michel particularly to bring another blanket that I had left behind at
Fond du Lac, and abused him roundly when I found he had come without it.
It seems that an Indian had arrived at the house with a load of dried
meat and grease, and was in want of a blanket; Michel, to use his own
expression, took pity on him and gave him my blanket in exchange for the
grease. He doubtless considered this a pious act of charity, but had
rather spoilt it by consuming the grease himself; and on my asking him
why, if he felt so sorry for the Indian, he had not given him one of his
own blankets, or at least kept the grease for me, he replied: "I have
only two blankets and I have a wife; you have no wife, so one blanket is
enough for you; besides, I love grease, and it is hard for me to see it
and not eat it."
In the middle of the night Saltatha, always the earliest, got up and
drove out the dogs, lit the fire, and prepared another meal, exactly
similar to our supper of the evening. Usually we harnessed up many hours
before daylight and travelled, with only an occasional ten-minutes'
rest, till the sun had been long down and there was just enough daylight
left to make camp; dinner was completely cut out of our day as being too
heavy a strain on our firewood. There was no attempt at washing made by
any of the party during the whole time that we were out, and indeed it
would have been an impossibility, as our small fires were only just
sufficient to melt the snow for cooking purposes.
In clear weather the nights were of wonderful brilliancy, and after we
had been out a couple of weeks the moon was big enough to add a little
light, and of course kept steadily improving in this respect; but the
starlight alone illumined the waste of snow sufficiently to see
landmarks far ahead. Generally the Aurora was flashing in its full
glory, and if there was no wind the travelling was pleasant enough. At
the first sign of dawn, and thence till the sun rose, the cold always
became more severe, and if a light head-wind happened to get up at the
same time there were sure to be some frozen noses and chins in the
outfit. The hair on our faces, even to the eyebrows and eyelashes, was
always coated with rime, giving everybody a peculiarly stupid
expression; my beard was usually a mass of ice, and I had great
difficulty in thawing it out by our small fires, although it proved a
grand protection from frost-bite. I think I was the only one that
escaped being bitten in the chin, but my nose, cheeks, and forehead were
touched several times.
The sunrise was often very beautiful, and the effects of long duration,
as the sun is close to the horizon a considerable time before he shows
above it, while the dense blue blackness in the north and west gives the
impression that the night is still lingering there. Often a sun-dog is
the first thing to appear, and more or less of these attendants
accompany the sun during his short stay above the horizon. The driving
snow, which obliterates everything in blowing weather, often spoils the
evening effects; but once or twice I saw the sun set over a frozen lake,
tinting the snow with various shades of red, and throwing a beauty over
the wilderness that it is useless for me to attempt to describe.
A thick fog hung over everything during the whole of the second day out
from the woods, and of course made it extremely difficult to find the
meat _cache_ in Lake Mackay; at dark we camped on the first land that we
came to, but had no very accurate idea of our position. Luckily the
weather cleared towards morning, and we made out the island on which we
had stored the carcasses of the caribou killed on September 22nd. We
had some trouble in punching a hole with our only ice-chisel and hauling
out a solid lump of meat and ice some five feet thick and many feet in
circumference; but the Indians were much cheered at the sight of so much
provision, and declared themselves ready to go out to the sea-coast if
necessary. The short day was nearly over by the time we had got the
meat, so we camped for the night on the island; but before daylight we
were off again, and when the sun set had nearly reached the end of the
lake and made a wood _cache_ on a conspicuous point for our return
journey. The next day was thick again, and we were lucky in finding the
bay in which we had left the big canoe during our last expedition. A
very curious thing, illustrating the difficulty of recognising objects
in these fogs, happened just as we were leaving the ice. We saw an
animal, apparently at some distance, bounding along the horizon at a
most remarkable pace; all down the line there were cries of _Erjerer_
(musk-ox), _Et-then, Le loup!_ guns were snatched from the sleighs, and
even the dogs charged at a gallop in pursuit of the strange animal.
After a rush of ten yards the quarry disappeared; the first man had put
his foot on it, and it turned out to be one of the small mice so common
in the Barren Ground. What it was doing out on the lake at this time of
year, instead of being comfortably curled up under ground, I cannot say;
but it certainly gave me the impression that if these fogs continued we
should run a good chance of coming to grief through losing our way.
At sunrise the weather cleared, and we found a small band of caribou at
the beginning of the twenty-mile portage to the Lac de Gras. After we
had killed three and fed the dogs, we began our overland work. The snow
was much softer here, with many large rocks showing through, and some
steep hills made travelling hard for the dogs. Night caught us about
half-way between the two lakes, and the north wind freshened up into a
tempest such as I have never seen surpassed by the blizzards of the
western prairies. Fortunately we found a fairly sheltered place for the
lodge or it must have been swept away; as it was the deer-skin flapped
with a noise like that of a sail blown to pieces at sea; two of our
lodge-poles were carried away, and we were in momentary expectation of
being left without shelter to the mercy of the storm; the driving snow
forced itself in, and men and dogs were only recognisable by the white
mounds which marked their position. For thirty hours we lay like this
till the wind abated at midnight, when we started again towards the
north, and continued walking till we had crossed the big bay of the Lac
de Gras into which the Coppermine River runs. We camped a little short
of our second meat _cache_ on the Point de Misère, and on the following
day, although the fog had settled down again, Paul, by a very good
piece of piloting, discovered the small lake in which we had _cached_
the meat. We were getting pretty hard up again by this time, and the
Indians, with the exception of Saltatha whose good spirits never failed,
were showing signs of sulkiness. This new supply, however, gave them
fresh courage, and we were all confident of finding the musk-ox before
we got to the end of the six caribou that we picked up here. We
experienced the same difficulty in breaking the ice, and as we spent
much valuable time in getting out the meat, made but a poor day's
journey. On the following day we passed the most northerly point that we
had reached in the autumn, and were now pushing on into a country that
none of us had ever seen before.
At the spot where we had left the Lac de Gras we had noticed a few small
willow sticks showing above the snow, which afterwards proved very
useful. Following a small stream we reached another large lake,
stretching in a north-easterly direction, and camped at the far end of
it in a heavy snowstorm that had been going on all day. During this time
we were keeping a sharp look-out for musk-ox; but we could find no
tracks, and as the weather continued thick had no opportunity of seeing
animals at a distance. Two more days we travelled on in this manner,
making long journeys with our meat nearly finished and our wood-supply
growing rapidly less; for there had been more delay, from various
reasons, than we had anticipated, and we had been careful to avoid
_caching_ wood for our return journey as we might be unable to follow
the same course. The shape of the hills here changes in a most distinct
manner. The usual undulations give way to sharp scattered buttes,
composed of sand and taking very remarkable forms, a solitary conical
mound being a common feature in the scenery. Small lakes were still
numerous, and for a considerable distance we followed a large stream,
evidently one of the head waters of the Coppermine, here running in a
south-east direction.
On November 20th we dropped on to a lake some twelve miles in breadth,
and crossed to the north shore in falling snow. We had been on short
rations, men and dogs, for some time, and our last mouthful was eaten
for supper this night. When we made camp a few miles beyond the lake the
outlook therefore was by no means cheerful. The continual thick weather
spoilt our chance of finding the musk-ox, and we were now too far away
from the woods to have much chance of reaching them without meat. Of
course we could always have eaten the dogs, but then we should have been
unable to haul our wood, which in the Barren Ground is almost as
necessary as food. As we felt certain that we were well in the musk-ox
country we decided to spend the next day in hunting at all risks, and by
good luck the morning broke clear and calm. Michel and myself remained
in camp to look after the dogs, which had now become so ravenous that
they required constant watching to keep them from eating the lodge,
harness, and everything else that they could get at. The others went in
couples in different directions with the agreement that if anyone
discovered a band of musk-ox they should return at once to wait for the
rest of the party to come in, when we were all to start with the dogs in
pursuit. There was no breakfast, and all the hunters were off before
daylight, evidently fully aware that the success of our expedition, if
not our chance of supporting life, was centred in the result of the
day's proceedings; and it was certainly a great relief when Paul and
Noel appeared towards mid-day and reported a large band of musk-ox
undisturbed a short distance to the north. Peter and Marlo returned soon
afterwards, having found another band in a more westerly direction. I
distributed a pipeful of the now very precious tobacco, while we waited
for William and Saltatha, and discussed the plan of attack. I was rather
surprised at Noel's asking Paul to tell me that I might have some of the
musk-ox, as he was pleased at receiving the tobacco. I was about to
reply that I had come far, and been to a great deal of trouble, on
purpose to kill some of these animals, and I should think it rather
extraordinary if I were not allowed to do so, when Paul explained that
it was a custom among the Yellow Knives to consider a band of musk-ox as
the property of the discoverer, and only his personal friends were
granted the privilege of killing them without payment of some kind.
Sometimes an Indian would go through all the hardships of a hunt, and
then have to give up nearly all his robes because he had not been lucky
enough to discover a band and was out of favour with his more fortunate
companions; so I told Noel I was very grateful for his kindness, and
made him believe himself a remarkably good Indian. By this time it was
getting late, and as the wind had risen the snow was beginning to drift.
There was much grumbling at the delay, and in spite of my remonstrances
at breaking up our agreement to wait for William and Saltatha, the dogs
were harnessed, the lodge pulled down, and the sleighs loaded. I pointed
out that the snow was drifting badly and that the other two would not be
able to follow our tracks; but was told that it was only white men who
were stupid in the snow, so I made no further objection. After
travelling about three miles through some rough hills, we caught an
indistinct view of the musk-ox, fully a hundred in number, standing on a
side-hill from which most of the snow had drifted away; and then
followed a wonderful scene such as I believe no white man has ever
looked on before. I noticed the Indians throwing off their
mitten-strings, and on enquiring the reason I was told that the musk-ox
would often charge at a bright colour, particularly red; this story
must, I think, have originated from the Whites in connection with the
old red-rag theory, and been applied by the Indians to the musk-ox. I
refused to part with my strings, as they are useful in keeping the
mittens from falling in the snow when the hand is taken out to shoot,
but I was given a wide berth while the hunt was going on. Everybody
started at a run, but the dogs, which had been let out of harness, were
ahead of us, and the first thing that I made out clearly through the
driving snow was a dense black mass galloping right at us; the band had
proved too big for the dogs to hold, and most of the musk-ox had broken
away. I do not think they knew anything about men or had the least
intention of charging us, but they passed within ten yards, and so
frightened my companions that I was the only man to fire at them,
rolling over a couple. The dogs, however, were still holding a small lot
at bay, and these we slaughtered without any more trouble than killing
cattle in a yard. There is an idea prevalent in the North that on these
occasions the old musk-ox form into a regular square, with the young in
the centre for better protection against the dogs, which they imagine to
be wolves; but on the two occasions when I saw a band held in this
manner, the animals were standing in a confused mass, shifting their
position to make a short run at a too impetuous dog, and with the young
ones as often as not in the front of the line. There was some rather
reckless shooting going on, and I was glad to leave the scene of
slaughter with Marlo in pursuit of stragglers. Marlo, in common with the
other Indians, had a great horror of musk-ox at close quarters, and I
was much amused at seeing him stand off at seventy yards and miss an
animal which a broken back had rendered incapable of rising. He said
afterwards that the musk-ox were not like other animals; they were very
cunning, could understand what a man was saying and play many tricks to
deceive him; it was not safe to go too near, and he would never allow me
to walk up within a few yards to put in a finishing shot. After killing
off the cripples, we started back to the place where we had left the
sleighs, and, night having added its darkness to the drifting snow, we
had the greatest difficulty in finding camp. Marlo confessed he was
lost, and we were thinking what it was best to do for the night when we
heard the ring of an axe with which somebody was splitting wood in the
lodge; the others, with the exception of William and Saltatha, were all
in, but there seemed little chance of these two reaching camp that
night. We had eaten nothing for a long time, so we celebrated our
success with a big feast of meat, while the dogs helped themselves from
the twenty carcasses that were lying about. They gave us very little
trouble in the lodge, as we saw nothing of them till we skinned the
musk-ox next day, when two or three round white heaps of snow would
uncurl themselves on the lee-side of a half-eaten body. I questioned the
Indians about the two missing men, and they were unanimous that unless
the night got colder they were in no danger of freezing to death; they
were sorry that they had not waited, and would go at the first sign of
daylight to see if they were in the old camp. Peter and Noel accordingly
started very early in the morning, and found the men lying close
together under the snow at the old camp; they had returned at dark, and
as our tracks had drifted up there was not the least chance of finding
us. They were slightly frost-bitten in the face and hands, but as soon
as they had got over their first numbness were able to walk to camp,
where they soon forgot their natural indignation at the mean trick we
had played them in the joys of warmth and food. We were obliged to be a
little extravagant in our wood to make up for the hard times of the
night before, and Saltatha soon recovered his liveliness; he was far
away the best Indian that I met in the North, always cheerful and ready
for work, and afterwards, in the summer, the only one of the Yellow
Knives brave enough to volunteer for an expedition down the Great Fish
River. A hard life he leads, always in poverty, a butt and a servant to
all the other Indians, who are immeasurably his inferiors for any useful
purpose. Although a capital hunter, they swindle him out of everything
he makes, and take the utmost advantage of the little fellow's
good-nature; he seems to have no sense in this respect, and will jump
readily at any bargain that is offered him. He is just the man for an
expedition in the Barren Ground, as when once he has given his word to
go he can be relied upon to carry out his promise, which is more than I
can say for the rest of his tribe, who only wait to rebel and desert
till a time when they think you can least do without them.
We spent most of the day in skinning the musk-ox, which, by the way, is
not a pleasant undertaking in cold weather; the skin is naturally hard
to get off, and on this occasion the carcasses had grown cold during the
night, and the difficulty was greater than usual. The robes were in
splendid condition; the undergrowth, which resembles a sheep's fleece
and is shed in summer, was now thick and firm, while the long permanent
hair had obtained the black glossiness distinctive of a prime fur. We
cut up all the meat that the dogs had left us, and loading it on the
sleighs with the robes, moved camp about five miles to the west to be
ready to go in search of the other band which Peter and Marlo had
discovered. We calculated that we should be able to haul forty-five
robes, besides meat enough for our journey, back to the woods, and at
present we had only half a load.
While the men were planting the lodge I climbed to the top of a high
butte to have a look at the surrounding country; the hill was so steep
that I had to take off my snow-shoes to struggle to the summit, and was
rewarded for my trouble by a good view of probably the most complete
desolation that exists upon the face of the earth. There is nothing
striking or grand in the scenery, no big mountains or waterfalls, but a
monotonous snow-covered waste, without tree or scrub, rarely trodden by
the foot of the wandering Indian. A deathly stillness hangs over all,
and the oppressive loneliness weighs upon the spectator till he is glad
to shout aloud to break the awful spell of solitude. Such is the land of
the musk-ox in snowtime; here this strange animal finds abundance of its
favourite lichens, and defies the cold that has driven every other
living thing to the woods for shelter.