ionally to investigate a clump of willows or brush, the lynx was an
excellent guide. Here were rabbit tracks and every now and then the
little sharp tracks of a squirrel. We stopped for lunch under a tall
cottonwood-tree, and Arthur pointed out that the trunk, up to a high
crotch, was all seamed by bear claws. He said that the black bear
climbed the same tree season after season, and told me that, according
to the Indians, this was chiefly done when first he came from his winter
den,--for the purpose of getting his bearings, as the boy suggested with
a chuckle. A fox, a marten, and a weasel had all passed across lately,
and of course then came the exclamation that scarce fails from native
lips when a fox track is seen: "I wonder if it were a black fox!" A
black fox means sudden wealth beyond the dreams of avarice to an Indian,
and any fox track may be the track of a black fox.

The end of that portage brought us out on the Tanana River opposite the
little trading-post at the mouth of the Healy--the last post of any kind
we should see.

[Sidenote: INDIAN TRADERS]

The trader, by whom we were hospitably entertained, had heard of our
projected occupation of the upper Tanana, and alert to his own
interests, was anxious to know the plans for the establishment of a
mission--plans which were yet all to make. He naturally favoured this
spot, which it was already plain was quite out of the question, but
professed his readiness to move to any place that we might decide upon,
and his entire sympathy and co-operation.

The question of the trader, which always arises upon the establishment
of a new mission site, is an important and sometimes a vexatious one,
for he wields an influence amongst the Indians second only to that of
the mission itself, and may be either a great help or a great hindrance.
There is a natural desire to secure a man of character for the new post,
and at the same time a natural reluctance to disturb vested interests
and arouse bitter enmity by diverting trade. The suggestion has often
been made that the mission should itself undertake a store in the
interest of the natives, but those with most experience in such matters
will agree that it is the wisdom of the bishop that sets his face
against mission trading. The two offices are so essentially dissimilar
as to be almost incompatible with one another; either the person in
charge is a missionary first and a trader afterwards, in which case the
store suffers,