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

70 THE LADIES, THE GWICH'IN, AND THE RATJohn Ambrose Parsons,HBC Post Manager,Aklavik, 1931,Glenbow-Alberta Museum,then our guides, we assured ourselves, would know the country well and perhapswe should not need a map of the river at all.I went over these cOTIlpleted plans with Mr Parsons and he said calTIlly, just ashe TIlight have reTIlarked casually that there was still SOTIle ice on the river bank,"There's nothing at La Pierre House. Only one eTIlpty cabin.""Wha-at?" I said incredulously, "why it's TIlarked on the atlas. And they told uswe could get an Indian guide there for certain."I do not iTIlagine that the TIlention of our atlas TIleant TIluch to hiTIl, but heknew about the country in which he worked and he just repeated calTIlly: "OneeTIlpty cabin. Jackson Brothers will most likely come up later in the SUTIlTIleronce, or TIlaybe twice, and the Indians in that country will COTIle in to trade theirfurs with hiTIl. No chance of a guide there. No possible chance."