languages of these northern tribes to represent
land vehicles. In translating such words as "waggon" or "chariot" into
the Cree language, a word similar to that for "dog-sled" had to be used.

No surveyor, up to the years about which I am writing, had visited those
regions, and there were literally no roads as understood in civilised
lands.

So numerous are the lakes and rivers that roads are unnecessary to the
Indian in the summer time. With his light birch canoe he can go almost
everywhere he desires. If obstructions block up his passage, all he has
to do is to put his little canoe on his head, and a short run will take
him across the portage, or around the cataracts or falls, or over the
height of land to some other lake or stream, where he quickly embarks
and continues his journey.

All summer travelling is done along the water routes. Naturally the
various trading posts and Indian villages or encampments are located on
the edges of the lakes or rivers, or very near them, so as to be most
conveniently reached in this way. So short are the summers that there
are only about five months of open water to be depended upon in these
high latitudes. During the other seven months the dog sled is the only
conveyance for purposes of travelling. So rough and wild is the country
that we know of no vehicle that could take its place, and no animals
that could do the work of the dogs.

As the years of toil rolled on, my Mission field or Circuit so enlarged
that it extended irregularly north and south over five hundred miles,
with a width in some places of over three hundred. In summer I
travelled over it in a birch canoe, and in winter with my dog-trains.

At first it seemed very novel, and almost like child's play, to be
dragged along by dogs, and there was almost a feeling of rebellion
against what seemed such frivolous work. But we soon found out that we
had travelled in worse conveyances and with poorer steeds than in a good
dog sled, when whirled along by a train of first-class dogs.

The dogs generally used are of the Esquimaux breed, although in many
places they have become so mixed up with other varieties as to be almost
unrecognisable. The pure Esquimaux sled dogs are well-built, compact
animals, weighing from eighty to a hundred and twenty pounds. They are
of various colours, and have a close, warm, furry coat of hair. They
have sharp-pointed ears and very bushy, curly tails. They are the most
notoriou