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 CHAPTER XVII.

ON SNOWSHOES AND DOG-SLEDS.

On the morning of the 6th of November, after a stay of seventeen days at Fort Churchill, we were again ready to set out for the south. Our team consisted of six Eskimo dogs, attached tandem fashion to a sled twelve feet long and a foot and a half wide. This sled was of the regular Eskimo type, the runners being formed of sticks hewn down to the dimensions of about two inches by six inches, and slightly curved up in front.

Upon the sled was loaded about six hundred pounds of provisions, dog-meat, blankets and other dunnage, all securely lashed on within a canvas wrapper. The driver who had charge of the team was a tall young half-breed, named Arthur Omen. Our guide, whose name was "Jimmie" Westasecot, was a large fine-looking Cree Indian, of about middle age, who bore the distinction of being the most famous hunter and traveller in all that country.

The party consisted of ten. My brother and I were warmly dressed in deer-skin garbs of the Eskimo, while the rest of the party wore the white blanket suits of the traders, and with the exception of poor Michel, whose feet were still too sore to allow him to walk, each man