C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

Southampton to Edmonton 15memory but I can still recapture the sense of peace and coolness when, towardsthe end of that day, we dined at Mr Christie's home, with him, his wife and sonand Gordon, in a beautiful room overlooking the river.All that day we were treated like celebrities. When strangers heard that we weregoing alone into the Klondike by the Rat River, with two Indian guides, someexpressed admiration, others horror and several said with finality: "You will beeaten alive by mosquitoes." One or two were filled with envy, but even theseadded that it was "a tough proposition."Among all these conflicting opinions the enthusiasm of our new friend,Gordon Mactavish, and the quiet approval of Mr Christie were like fixed starskeeping us to our course and when, that evening, the two men put us into ourtourist sleepers we both felt rather humble. We realised, for the first time, thedifficulty of our undertaking and the forces of nature that would be arrayedagainst us. We wondered if we should have strength to overcome those forces andfulfil the expectations of our new friends. The phrase "You will be eaten alive bymosquitoes" haunted us throughout our journey across Canada. Sometimes agreenhorn used the words, each adding his own horror-tale and then we wouldpay little attention but when we met old-timers who had actually travelled by thatroute into the Klondike we could not light - heartedly forget their warnings. Nextmorning we woke to find ourselves passing through a lovely fresh valley withrolling slopes, a river, singing birds and a feeling of spring in the air. All day welooked out on plains and ridges. The land appeared to be richer than in easternCanada and the pools, lakes and rivers were teeming with ducks and waders. Thiswas a strange contrast to the bleak brownness of snow-bound Quebec.We slept two nights on the train and early on the second morning arrived inEdmonton where we were doomed to spend four nights and days in making thefinal preparations for our canoe trip. At last we had reached the starting point ofour journey.