CHAPTER XXVII.
TRAVELLING ON SNOW-SHOES.
Once their resolution was taken, they lost but little time in makingpreparations to carry it out. Most of the articles required for such ajourney were already in their hands. They had the properdresses--snow-shoes, skin-blankets, and gloves. They had prepared forthemselves sets of "snow spectacles." These were made out of redcedar-wood. Each pair consisted of two small thin pieces, that coveredthe eyes, joined together and fastened on by thongs of buckskin. In eachpiece an oblong slit served for the eye-hole, through which the eyelooked without being dazzled by the snow. Without this, or some likecontrivance, travelling in the Arctic regions is painful to the eyes,and the traveller often loses his sight. Indeed, one of the most commoninfirmities of both the Indians and Esquimaux of these parts isblindness or soreness of the eyes, caused by the reflexion of thesunbeams from the crystals of the frozen snow. Norman was aware of this,and had made the spectacles to guard against this peril.
Out of their spare skins they had made a small tent. This was to becarried along by Marengo in a light sledge, which they had long sinceconstructed, and taught the dog to draw. Nothing else remained but topack their provisions in the smallest bulk possible, and this was done,according to the custom of the country, by making "pemmican." The drymeat was first pounded until it became a powder; it was then put intosmall skin bags, made for the purpose, and the hot melted fat was pouredin and well mixed with it. This soon froze hard, and the mixture--thatresembled "potted meat,"--was now ready for use, and would keep for anindefinite time without the least danger of spoiling. Buffalo-beef,moose-meat, or venison of any sort, thus prepared, is called"_pemmican_," and is more portable in this shape than any other. Besidesno further cooking is required--an important consideration upon thosevast prairie deserts, where firewood is seldom to be procured withoutthe trouble of carrying it a great distance.
Norman, who was the maker of the pemmican, had produced a superiorarticle upon this occasion. Besides the pounded meat and fat, he hadmixed another ingredient with it, which rendered it a most deliciousfood. This third ingredient was a small purple-coloured berry--of whichwe have already spoken--not unlike the whortleberry, but sweeter and ofa higher flavour. It grows through most of the Northern regions ofAmerica; and in some places, as upon the Red River and the Elk, thebushes that produce it are seen in great plenty.
Previous to the setting in of winter, our voyageurs had collected alarge bagful upon the banks of the Elk, which they had dried and storedaway--expecting to stand in need of them for this very purpose. They nowcame into use, and enabled Norman to make his pemmican of the verychoicest quality. Five bags of it were put up, each weighing over thirtypounds. One of these was to be drawn upon the sledge, along with thetent, the axe, and a few other articles. The rest were to be carried bythe voyageurs themselves--each shouldering one, which, along with theirguns and accoutrements, would be load enough.
These arrangements being at length complete, the party bid adieu totheir log-hut--gave a parting look to their little canoe, which stillrested by the door--and then, shouldering their guns and bags ofpemmican, set out over the frozen surface of the snow.
Of course before starting they had decided upon the route they were totake. This decision, however, had not been arrived at until after muchdiscussion. Lucien advised that they should follow the shore of the lakeuntil they should reach the Mackenzie River--which of course was nowfrozen up. Its channel, he argued, would then guide them; and, in casetheir provisions should run short, they would be more likely to findgame upon its banks than elsewhere, as these were wooded almost to thesea--in consequence of its head-waters rising in southern latitudes, andcarrying with them a warmer climate.
There was plausibility in Lucien's argument, combined with muchprudence. Norman, however, advised a contrary course. He said that theywould have to make a considerable journey westward before reaching theplace where the Mackenzie River flows out of the lake; and, moreover, heknew that the river itself was very crooked--in some places windingabout in great curves, whose ends come near meeting each other. Shouldthey keep the course of the river, Norman believed it would almostdouble their journey. A much shorter route, he said, would be obtainedby striking across the country in a north-westerly direction, so as toreach the Mackenzie near where another great stream--the River of theMountains--empties into it from the west. This would certainly be a moredirect route, and they would avoid the windings of the river channel.
Norman's reasoning prevailed. Basil and Francois readily agreed to hisplan, and Lucien at length also gave his assent, but with somereluctance. Norman knew nothing whatever of the route he was advisingthem to take. His former journeys up and down the Mackenzie had beenmade in summer, and of course he had travelled by canoe, in company withthe traders and voyageurs. He only knew that to strike across thecountry would be the shorter way. But "the shortest way is not alwaysthe nearest," says the proverb; and although Lucien remembered thisprudent maxim, the others did not give it a thought. Before the end oftheir journey they received a practical lesson of its wisdom--a lessonthey were not likely to forget. But they knew not what was before them,and they started off in high spirits.
Their first three or four days' journeys were without any event worthbeing chronicled. They travelled full twenty miles each day. TheSoutherners had become quite skilful in the management of theirsnow-shoes, and they skimmed along upon the icy crust at the rate ofthree or four miles an hour.
Marengo and his sledge gave them very little trouble. There was fullsixty pounds weight upon it; but to the huge dog this was a merebagatelle, and he pulled it after him without any great strain. Hisharness was neatly made of moose-skin, and consisted of a collar with aback strap and traces--the traces meeting behind, where they wereattached to the head of the sledge. No head-gear was necessary, asMarengo needed not to be either led or driven. The sledge consisted oftwo or three light planks of smooth wood, laid alongside each other, andheld together by transverse bands. In front it turned up with a circularsweep, so as not to "plough" the snow; and at the top of this curvedpart the traces were adjusted. The load was, of course, carefully packedand tied, so that the overturning of the vehicle did no damage whatever,and it could be easily righted again. Marengo required no one to guidehim, but followed quietly in the tracks of the snow-shoes, and thusavoided the trees, rocks, and other inequalities. If a rabbit or othercreature started up, Marengo knew better than to go galloping after it;he felt that he had a more important duty to perform than to throw awayhis time upon rabbit-hunting.
Each night a spot was chosen for the camp by the side of some lake orstream, where wood could be obtained for their fire. Water was got bybreaking a hole in the ice, and the little tent was always set up in asheltered situation.
Upon the fifth day after leaving the log-hut the woods began to grownthinner and more straggling; and towards night of the same day theyfound themselves travelling through a country, where the timber onlygrew here and there in small clumps, and the individual trees were smalland stunted. Next day still less timber was seen upon their route; andwhen camping-time came, they were obliged to halt at a spot wherenothing but willows could be procured for their fire. They had, in fact,arrived upon the edge of that vast wilderness, the Barren Grounds, whichstretches in all its wild desolation along the Northern half of theAmerican continent from the Great Slave Lake even to the shores of theArctic Sea on the north, and to those of Hudson's Bay on the east.
This territory bears an appropriate name, for, perhaps, upon the wholesurface of the earth there is no tract more barren or desolate--not eventhe Saaera of Africa. Both are deserts of immense extent, equallydifficult to cross, and equally dangerous to the traveller. On both thetraveller often perishes, but from different causes. On the Saaera it is_thirst_ that kills; upon the Barren Grounds _hunger_ is more frequentlythe destroyer. In the latter there is but little to be feared on thescore of water. That exists in great plenty; or where it is not found,snow supplies
its place. But there is water everywhere. Hill succeedshill, bleak, rocky, and bare. Everywhere granite, gneiss, or otherprimitive rocks, show themselves.
No vegetation covers the steep declivities of the hills, except the mossand lichen upon the rocks, a few willows upon the banks of streams, thedwarf birch-tree or the scrub-pines, rising only to the height of a fewinches, and often straggling over the earth like vines. Every hill hasits valley, and every valley its lake--dark, and deep, and silent--inwinter scarce to be distinguished under the snow-covered ice. Theprospect in every direction exhibits a surface of rocks, or bleak hills,half covered with snow. The traveller looks around and sees no life. Helistens and hears no sound. The world appears dead and wrapped in itscold winding-sheet!
Amidst just such scenes did our voyageurs find themselves on the seventhday after parting from the lake. They had heard of the BarrenGrounds--had heard many fearful stories of the sufferings of travellerswho had attempted to cross them; but the description had fallen farshort of the actual reality. None of them could believe in thedifficulties to be encountered, and the desolateness of the scene theywere to witness, until now that they found themselves in its midst; and,as they proceeded on their journey, getting farther and farther from thewooded region, their apprehensions, already aroused by the wild aspectof the country, grew stronger and stronger. They began to entertainserious fears, for they knew not how far the barren tract extended alongtheir route.
On calculation they found they had provisions enough to last them for amonth. That in some measure restored their confidence; but even then,they could not help giving way to serious reflections. Should they getlost or retarded in their course by mountains, or other obstacles, itmight take them longer than a month to reach some place where game wasto be met with. Each day, as they advanced, they found the country morehilly and difficult. Precipices often bounded the valleys, lyingdirectly across their track; and as these could not be scaled, it wasnecessary to make long _detours_ to pass them, so that some days theyactually advanced less than five miles upon their journey.
Notwithstanding these impediments, they might still have got over theBarren Grounds without further suffering than the fatigue and necessaryexposure to cold; but at this time an incident occurred, that not onlyfrustrated all their calculations, but placed them in imminent danger ofperishing.