THE GREAT BEAR LAKE.

This sudden increase of cold was most fortunate. Even in temperate climes

there are generally three or four bitter days in May; and they were most

serviceable now in consolidating the freshly-fallen snow, and making it

practicable for sledges. Lieutenant Hobson, therefore, lost no time in resuming

his journey, urging on the dogs to their utmost speed.

The route was, however, slightly changed. Instead of bearing due north, the

expedition advanced towards the west, following, so to speak, the curve of the

Arctic Circle. The Lieutenant was most anxious to reach Fort Confidence, built

on the northern extremity of the Great Bear Lake. These few cold days were of

the greatest service to him; he advanced rapidly, no obstacle was encountered,

and his little troop arrived at the factory on the 30th May.

At this time Forts Confidence and Good Hope were the most advanced posts of

the Company in the north. Fort Confidence was a most important position, built

on the northern extremity of the lake, close to its waters, which being frozen

over in winter, and navigable in summer, afforded easy access to Fort Franklin,

on the southern shores, and promoted the coming and going of the Indian hunters

with their daily spoils. Many were the hunting and fishing expeditions which

started from Forts Confidence and Good Hope, especially from the former. The

Great Bear Lake is quite a Mediterranean Sea, extending over several degrees of

latitude and longitude. Its shape is very irregular : two promontories jut into

it towards the centre, and the upper portion forms a triangle; its appearance,

as a whole, much resembling the extended skin of a ruminant without the

head.

Fort Confidence was built at the end of the " right paw," at least two

hundred miles from Coronation Gulf, one of the numerous estuaries which

irregularly indent the coast of North America. It was therefore situated beyond

the Arctic Circle, but three degrees south of the seventieth parallel, north of

which the Hudson's Bay Company proposed forming a new settlement.

Fort Confidence, as a whole, much resembled other factories further south. It

consisted of a house for the officers, barracks for the soldiers, and magazines

for the furs - all of wood, surrounded by palisades. The captain in command was

then absent. He had gone towards the east on a hunting expedition with a few

Indians and soldiers. The last season had not been good, costly furs had been

scarce; but to make up for this the lake had supplied plenty of otter-skins. The

stock of them had, however, just been sent to the central factories in the

south, so that the magazines of Fort Confidence were empty on the arrival of our

party.

In the absence of the Captain a Sergeant did the honours of the fort to

Jaspar Hobson and his companions. This second officer, Felton by name was a

brother-in-law of Sergeant Long. He showed the greatest readiness to assist the

views of the Lieutenant, who being anxious to rest his party, decided on

remaining two or three days at Fort Confidence. In the absence of the little

garrison there was plenty of room, and dogs and men were soon comfortably

installed. The best room in the largest house was of course given to Mrs Paulina

Barnett, who was delighted with the politeness of Sergeant Felton.

Jaspar Hobson's first care was to ask Felton if any Indians from the north

were then beating the shores of the Great Bear Lake

"Yes, Lieutenant," replied the Sergeant; "we have just received notice of the

encampment of a party of Hare Indians on the other northern extremity of the

lake."

"How far from here?" inquired Hobson.

"About thirty miles," replied Sergeant Felton. "Do you wish to enter into

communication with these Indians?"

"Yes," said Hobson; they may be able to give me some valuable information

about the districts bordering on the Arctic Ocean, and bounded by Cape Bathurst.

Should the site be favourable, I propose constructing our new fort somewhere

about there."

"Well, Lieutenant, nothing is easier than to go to the Hare encampment."

"Along the shores of the lake?"

"No, across it; it is now free from ice, and the wind is favourable. We will

place a cutter and a boatman at your service, and in a few hours you will be in

the Indian settlement."

"Thank you, Sergeant; to-morrow, then." Whenever you like, Lieutenant."

The start was fixed for the next morning; and when Mrs Paulina Barnett heard

of the plan, she begged the Lieutenant to allow her to accompany him, which of

course he readily did.

But now to tell how the rest of this first day was passed. Mrs Barnett,

Hobson, two or three soldiers, Madge, Mrs Mac-Nab, and Joliffe explored the

shores of the lake under the guidance of Felton. The neighbourhood was by no

means barren of vegetation; the hills, now free from snow, were crowned by

resinous trees of the Scotch pine species. These trees, which attain a height of

some forty feet, supply the inhabitants of the forts with plenty of fuel through

the long winter. Their thick trunks and dark gloomy branches form a striking

feature of the landscape; but the regular clumps of equal height, sloping down

to the very edge of the water, are somewhat monotonous. Between the groups of

trees the soil was clothed with a sort of whitish weed, which perfumed the air

with a sweet thymy odour. Sergeant Felton informed his guests that this plant

was called the " herb of incense " on account of the fragrance it emits when

burnt.

Some hundred steps from the fort the party came to a little natural harbour

shut in by high granite rocks, which formed an admirable protection from the

heavy surf. Here was anchored the fleet of Fort Confidence, consisting of a

single fishing-boat-the very one which was to take Mrs Barnett and Hobson to the

Indian encampment the next day. From this harbour an extensive view was obtained

of the lake; its waters slightly agitated by the wind, with its irregular shores

broken by jagged capes and intersected by creeks. The wooded heights beyond,

with here and there the rugged outline of a floating iceberg standing out

against the clear blue air, formed the background on the north; whilst on the

south a regular sea horizon, a circular line clearly cutting sky and water, and

at this moment glittering in the sunbeams, bounded the sight.

The whole scene was rich in animal and vegetable life. The surface of the

water, the shores strewn with flints and blocks of granite, the slopes with

their tapestry of herbs, the tree-crowned hill-tops, were all alike frequented

by various specimens of the feathered tribe. Several varieties of ducks,

uttering their different cries and calls, eider ducks, whistlers spotted

redshanks, "old women," those loquacious birds whose beak is never closed,

skimmed the surface of the lake. Hundreds of puffins and guillemots with

outspread wings darted about in every direction, and beneath the trees strutted

ospreys two feet high-a kind of hawk with a grey body, blue beak and claws, and

orange-coloured eyes, which build their huge nests of marine plants in the

forked branches of trees. The hunter Sabine managed to bring down a couple of

these gigantic ospreys, which measured nearly six feet from tip to tip of their

wings, and were therefore magnificent specimens of these migratory birds, who

feed entirely on fish, and take refuge on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico when

winter sets in, only visiting the higher latitudes of North America during the

short summer.

But the most interesting event of the day was the capture of an otter, the

skin of which was worth several hundred roubles.

The furs of these valuable amphibious creatures were once much sought after

in China; and although the demand for them has considerably decreased in the

Celestial Empire, they still command very high prices in the Russian market.

Russian traders, ready to buy up sea-otter skins, travel all along the coasts of

New Cornwall as far as the Arctic Ocean; and of course, thus hunted, the animal

is becoming very rare. It has taken refuge further and further north, and the

trackers have now to pursue it on the shores of the Kamtchatka Sea, and in the

islands of the Behring Archipelago.

"But," added Sergeant Felton, after the preceding explanation, "American

inland otters are not to be despised, and those which frequent the Great Bear

Lake are worth from ?50 to ?60 each."

The Sergeant was right; magnificent otters are found in these waters, and he

himself skilfully tracked and killed one in the presence of his visitors which

was scarcely inferior in value to those from Kamtchatka itself. The creature

measured three feet from the muzzle to the end of its tail; it had webbed feet,

short legs, and its fur, darker on the upper than on the under part of its body,

was long and silky.

"A good shot, Sergeant," said Lieutenant Hobson, who with Mrs Barnett had

been attentively examining the magnificent fur of the dead animal.

"Yes, Lieutenant," replied Felton; "and if each day brought us such a skin as

that, we should have nothing to complain of. But much time is wasted in watching

these animals, who swim and dive with marvellous rapidity. We generally hunt

them at night, as they very seldom venture from their homes in the trunks of

trees or the holes of rocks in the daytime, and even expert hunters find it very

difficult to discover their retreats."

"And are these otters also becoming scarcer and scarcer?" inquired Mrs

Barnett.

"Yes, madam," replied the Sergeant; "and when this species becomes extinct,

the profits of the Company will sensibly decline. All the hunters try to obtain

its fur, and the Americans in particular are formidable rivals to us. Did you

not meet any American agents on your journey up, Lieutenant?"

"Not one," replied Hobson. "Do they ever penetrate as far as this?"

"Oh yes !" said the Sergeant; "and when you hear of their approach, I advise

you to be on your guard."

"Are these agents, then, highway robbers?" asked Mrs Paulina Barnett.

"No, madam," replied the Sergeant; "but they are formidable rivals, and when

game is scarce, hunters often come to blows about it. I daresay that if the

Company's attempt to establish a fort on the verge of the Arctic Ocean be

successful, its example will at once be followed by these Americans, whom Heaven

confound!"

"Bah!" exclaimed the Lieutenant; "the hunting districts are vast, and there's

room beneath the sun for everybody. As for us, let's make a start to begin with.

Let us press on as long as we have firm ground beneath our feet, and God be with

us!"

After a walk of three hours the visitors returned to Fort Confidence, where a

good meal of fish and fresh venison awaited them. Sergeant Long did the honours

of the table, and after a little pleasant conversation, all retired to rest to

forget their fatigues in a healthy and refreshing sleep.

The next day, May 31st, Mrs Barnett and Jaspar Hobson were on foot at five

A.M. The Lieutenant intended to devote this day to visiting the Indian

encampment, and obtaining as much useful information as possible. He asked

Thomas Black to go with him, but the astronomer preferred to remain on *terra

firma*. He wished to make a few astronomical observations, and to determine

exactly the latitude and longitude of Fort Confidence; so that Mrs Barnett and

Jaspar Hobson had to cross the lake alone, under the guidance of an old boatman

named Norman, who had long been in the Company's service.

The two travellers were accompanied by Sergeant Long as far as the little

harbour, where they found old Norman ready to embark. Their little vessel was

but an open fishing-boat, six feet long, rigged like a cutter, which one man

could easily manage. The weather was beautiful, and the slight breeze blowing

from the north-east was favourable to the crossing. Sergeant Felton took leave

of his guests with many apologies for being unable to accompany them in the

absence of his chief. The boat was let loose from its moorings, and tacking to

starboard, shot across the clear waters of the lake.

The little trip passed pleasantly enough. The taciturn old sailor sat silent

in the stern of the boat with the tiller tucked under his arm. Mrs Barnett and

Lieutenant Hobson, seated opposite to each other, examined with interest the

scenery spread out before them. The boat skirted the northern shores of the lake

at about three miles' distance, following a rectilinear direction, so that the

wooded heights sloping gradually to the west were distinctly visible. From this

side the district north of the lake appeared perfectly flat, and the horizon

receded to a considerable distance. The whole of this coast contrasted strongly

with the sharp angle, at the extremity of which rose Fort Confidence, framed in

green pines. The flag of the Company was still visible floating from the tower

of the fort. The oblique rays of the sun lit up the surface of the water, and

striking on the floating icebergs, seemed to convert them into molten silver of

dazzling brightness. No trace remained of the solid ice-mountains of the winter

but these moving relies, which the solar rays could scarcely dissolve, and which

seemed, as it were, to protest against the brilliant but not very powerful Polar

sun, now describing a diurnal arc of considerable length.

Mrs Barnett and the Lieutenant, as was their custom, communicated to each

other the thoughts suggested by the strange scenes through which they were

passing. They laid up a store of pleasant recollections for the future whilst

the beat floated rapidly along upon the peaceful waves.

The party started at six in the morning, and at nine they neared the point on

the northern bank at which they were to land. The Indian encampment was situated

at the north-west angle of the Great Bear Lake. Before ten o'clock old Norman

ran the boat aground on a low bank at the foot of a cliff of moderate height.

Mrs Barnett and the Lieutenant landed at once. Two or three Indians, with their

chief, wearing gorgeous plumes, hastened to meet them, and addressed them in

fairly intelligible English.

These Hare Indians, like the Copper and Beaver Indians, all belong to the

Chippeway race, and differ but little in customs and costumes from their

fellow-tribes. They are in constant communication with the factories, and have

become, so to speak, "Britainised" - at least as much so as is possible for

savages. They bring the spoils of the chase to the forts, and there exchange

them for the necessaries of life, which they no longer provide for themselves.

They are in the pay of the Company, they live upon it, and it is not surprising

that they have lost all originality. To find a native race as yet uninfluenced

by contact with Europeans we must go to still higher latitudes, to the ice-bound

regions frequented by the Esquimaux, who, like the Greenlanders, are the true

children of Arctic lands.

Mrs Barnett and Jaspar Hobson accompanied the Indians to their camp, about

half a mile from the shore, and found some thirty natives there, men, women, and

children, who supported themselves by hunting and fishing on the borders of the

lake. These Indians had just come from the northernmost districts of the

American continent, and were able to give the Lieutenant some valuable, although

necessarily incomplete, information on the actual state of the sea-coast near

the seventieth parallel. The Lieutenant heard with considerable satisfaction

that a party of Americans or Europeans had been seen on the confines of the

Polar Sea, and that it was open at this time of year. About Cape Bathurst,

properly so called, the point for which he intended to make, the Hare Indians

could tell him nothing. Their chief said, however, that the district between the

Great Bear Lake and Cape Bathurst was very difficult to cross, being hilly and

intersected by streams, at this season of the year free from ice. He advised the

Lieutenant to go down the Coppermine river, from the north-east of the lake,

which would take him to the coast by the shortest route. Once at the Arctic

Ocean, it would be easy to skirt along its shores and to choose the best spot at

Which to halt.

Lieutenant Hobson thanked the Indian chief, and took leave after giving him a

few presents. Then accompanied by Mrs Barnett, he explored the neighbourhood of

the camp, not returning to the boat until nearly three o'clock in the

afternoon.