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

II6THE LADIES , THE GWICH'IN, AND THE RATLining canoe Up Rat River,JulY 1926. Clara ColtmanRogers (~~Qn).Collection of Edward~all9"struggled with the lighter packages I was sweating so much that I had to transferthe dollar notes in a chamois leather bag from my bosom to an outside coatpocket, for fear that they would get soaked through. Although lumps of meltingice were continually dropping into the water from overhanging banks, thetemperature of the Rat valley was similar to that of a stuffy, English summer's day.We lowered the canoe carefully into the water, loaded it and set off on anotherstrenuous day'sjourney. Hitherto our course had been south, now we turnedwest and began to skirt the base of high hills with sheets of mud washing downtheir sides. There were fossils in this loose soil and one slope was a beautifulsilver gray with Artemisia foliage. Usually there was enough flat foreshore to enableus to skirt the base of the hills, but once or twice when these half-solid rivers of