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

122 THE LADIES, THE GWICH'IN, AND THE RATIt was either at Barrier River or on the next evening, I cannot now rememberwhich, that we had recourse to the brandy-flask, blessing, as we drank, ourfriends at Edmonton who had insisted on our filling it for any unexpected emergency.Remembering that we were two lone women with a couple of hundredpounds in our pouches, completely at the mercy of our guides, we thought itwiser not to let them know that we had any brandy with us SO, putting the flaskfurtively into a rucksack, we strolled off into the willows while the guides weremaking a fire and in due course came back ostentatiously carrying bunches ofwild flowers. It was a strange tippling-place, that thicket of willows in the wildcountry but never did any tavern-haunter enjoy his liquor more. It put new lifeinto us both, we agreed, and thereafter it became, for the next few days, anevening habit. If there were no willows, there would be dense alders or secretivefirs, and always there would be wild flowers to justify our absence and to grace ourreturn.We left Barrier River at our usual hour for striking camp and set off up the leftbank towards a great flat space, but we soon found that level ground in the Arcticdoes not spell easy going. We were walking through a vast area of muskeg such aswe had not yet encountered and it was like walking through a sea of sponges. Themuscular effort needed for each single step was surprising, and we floundered onwith some difficulty until we came to dense alder thickets. Unencumbered, wecould have pushed through these like steam rollers, breaking the dead twigswithout effort and parting the live boughs as a swimmer parts the water, but theneed for protecting our veils was always uppermost in our minds and we had tostoop continually with both arms encircling our heads.It was a day free from dangerous passages or startling events, but full of littlethings. The scenery was changing all the time and we looked about us with deepinterest and a glowing sense of pride at the thought of all those miles of the RatRiver behind us. It was one of those travel days when human powers of observationand enjoyment are fully awakened, when one offers mute thanksgiving to thePower that painted spots on a lady-bird and fashioned the peaks of theMatterhorn with the same artistry. It was dull and cloudy from dawn onwards.Once we had to climb a hill to avoid a sheer cliff or rock. Mter that the currentwas very winding and hills ahead were folded across our forward trail. Once wepassed through a rocky canyon some 300 feet high. Bird life was more plentifulthan on any previous day; we saw three loons, a robin, a gull, a few sparrows, abird of the warbler type with black head and silver breast, and also yellowshanks.