Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-09-10

I
ivory and skeletons Of elephants found
at the mouths of the giant rivers Of ST.
beria- Was it not possible that the de-
posits Of extinct mammals owed their
origin TO like causes? May not herds Of
elephants as numerous as the herds Of
our American bison have grazed in
olden days on the prairies of Siberia
near those rivers. and may not these
spring floods have carried hundreds
away, and drowned them, and strewed
their carcasses along their banks and at
their estuaries just in the same way as
the Red river drowned its thousands Of
buffaloes and strewed its banks with
their bodies?
/ thought l should never see Toronto
again, and this was my tribute at part
ing to its learning. We did not pause at
Winnipeg except to recruit supplies, but
passed ON down the stream until the
broad expanse Of its lake lay before Us.
Then on its bosom. we voyaged many
days, until we came 10 where the gigan-
tic Saskatchewan eL.ers it through a
vast region Of marsh and sedge and
grass grown fats, where my classical
studies called up remembrances of Vir-
gil's description of the Danube, to whose
banks he was exiled. There he bewailed
his fate and the frozen wilderness and
longed for the flesh pots of Rome. Not
SO l. We shot bitterns and ducks and
pelicans and geese by the score, and l
was in paradise. And then, getting Iu-
dians to aid us, we canoed onward up
the immense river westward, ever west
ward
We had no lack of food. Our guns
gave us all we needed. Oh, the delight,
after our tamo town life, to be our own
masters, our own purveyorsl Oh, the
charm of those evening campflres when
we had our meals! We two stretched
ourselves before the fire, made up Of
willow and poplar wood, and smoked
our pipes and dreamed of further adven-
ture and exploration.
Only one thing there was to disgust
us. Often, after rain. along the prairie
paths by the side Of the water, we came
on extraordinary looking beasts or large
lizards. aideous, bloated looking things
they were, that lifted their fat tails
above their broad backs and waddled
rather than ran on their fat legs before
us among the grass. But we had little
time for the study of natural history.
All that was not eatable was disgusting !;
all that was eatable we appreciated.
And SO we voyaged on until we came
to the settlement of the half breeds, the
Metis, as they call themselves, below
the Forks s"-the place where the twin
rivers of the North and South Saskatche-
wan join. Here we were in a wooded
fir country, with numerous settlements
of these people. But onward still we
went, now by land, for the travelling
was easier on the wooded banks, the
forest being not dense enough to impede
advance. So we journeyed to the bas-
toned stockade of Fort Carlton, where
was o strong Hudson bay post, with
stores Of skins and food and hearty
welcome. Here we determined to go
farther north, and we crossed the river
to its northern bank.
My companion had up to this time
evinced nothing but desire to accommo.
date himself to my ideas, frame Of
mind highly creditable, as thought, to
him, for was l not the author and orig
inator Of this journey? What could any
opposition to my views do but destroy
harmony and progress2
But the winter was coming on, and
detected certain amount of desire on
his part to accommodate himself to the
wishes of some Of the young clerks at
the establishment, who told him he
could get plenty of shooting and fun
there without going farther. This was
not to my taste, and at first he took my
counsel and said heswould go on with
me. Sometimes, however, he forcibly
suggested we should remain. as forci-
bly, suggested we should proceed. l pre-
vailed.
We were to go on upon q well known
route, which, although it involved hard
travelling, was beaten path. But he
wanted to keep nearer the river, where
we were told we should meet with more
game in the shape of geese and ducks
for week or two longer. The end was
compromise, always a stupid thing.
So we set out, carrying on toboggan-
for snow enough was now falling to
make the dragging of toboggan posi-
ble-all our stores. Then came all our
difficulties
At first we shot game enough. But
the marches became very wearisome.
We carried snowshoes, and we used
them for the first time. No one who has
not had experience of this mode of trav-
cling can imagine how tedious progress
sion on snowshoes becomes to one unac-
customed to the exertion. To European
ears the word often signifies quick and
easy progression. The Norwegian snow
shoe, q long board, with strap for the
feet, is the instrument that comes to
an old country mind. Our snowshoes
are very different. Imagine large ten
mis- racket like @ heart, but without
the indentation at the broad end, which
is shaped into an even curve. There is
space left in the cross catgutting for
the toes, over which straps are looped.
At first all goes we'll, and the even
tramp, tramp, although monotonous,
has the sense Of novelty. Then you get
into a snowdrift. There may be some
small accident, an upset, which only
provokes mirth. But after hours and
days the ball of the toes is apt to get
very sore-the NAL de racquet, as the
French call it-and then how tiresome
becomes the march, and how the feet
ache and ache
The temperature became cold in the
evenings, and the nights were far from
warm. But we found fuel in the copses
that fringed the north bank l always
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