been on the lookout for
just such characters. Now while I cannot speak for the Western States,
I can at least speak for Canada; and I must now admit that, during my
thirty-three years of contact with wilderness life, on one
occasion--but on one only--I found that there was justification for
describing the men of the northern wilderness as carrying firearms for
protection. But does not the one exception prove the rule?

It happened near Stewart, on the borderline of Alaska, several years
ago. I encountered a prospector who wanted to cross Portland Canal
from Alaska to Canada, and as I was rowing over, I offered to take him
across. When, however, he turned to pick up his pack I caught sight of
something that fairly made me burst out laughing; for it was as funny a
sight as though I had witnessed it on Piccadilly or Broadway. At first
I thought he was a movie actor who, in some unaccountable way, had
strayed from Los Angeles and become lost in the northern wilderness
before he had had time to remove his ridiculous "make-up"; but a moment
later he proved beyond doubt that he was not an actor, for he blushed
scarlet when he observed that I was focussing a regular Mutt-and-Jeff
dotted-line stare at a revolver that hung from his belt, and he
faltered:

"But . . . Why the mirth?"

"Well, old man," I laughed again, "for over twenty-five years I have
been roaming the Canadian wilderness from the borderline of Maine right
up here to Alaska, and in all that time--with the exception of the
Constables of the North-West Mounted Police--you are the first man,
woman, or child, I have seen carrying a revolver. And I swear, old
dear, that that's the truth. So now, do you wonder that I laugh?"

RECORD TRAVELLING

But to return to the Hudson's Bay Company's packet system, I asked
Chief Factor Thompson:

"Which is the more important, the summer or the winter mail?"

"Oh, the winter; for, when inward bound, it bears the Commissioner's
instructions to the district chief factors; and, when outward bound, it
contains information regarding the results and the progress of the
fur-trade, and orders for additional supplies."

"How many miles a day do the packeteers average on their winter trips?"

"Well," replied the Chief Factor, "I think the rate of speed maintained
by our packeteers is remarkable; especially when one considers the
roughness of the country, the hardships of winter travel, the fact that
the men must make their