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

Nearing the Divide 131one end, forming a beautiful pattern like a flower with turned-back petals, everypetal being a nne shaving of wood still adhering to its stick. Then, having laid thenre in conical wigwam shape, he would put a match to his whittled stick and use itas a nrelighter. This method never failed even when it was raining.We lowered the canoe again into the current which was now a little windingstream about 25 feet wide, flowing with considerable strength and coiling incontinuous loops. There was no chance of our seeing its blue line ahead of us inthe open country, for it was lined by banks about 20 feet high. When we were leftalone, standing on the spongy muskeg in open country, with our guides out ofsight below us, we decided to keep in touch with them by following every bend ofthe stream, but we soon found that their pace was quicker than ours. Thenobserving that the fir trees, scattered thinly over that great open country, onlygrew on the edge of the river, we began to make for one group of trees afteranother, cutting across the river bends. Even so our progress was painful for wehad now come to niggerheads.These are a nightmare form of vegetation, bullet-headed tufts of grass, notwide enough to support the length of a human foot, with thigh-deep spacesbetween each tuft. When you step lightly as a ballet-dancer on a head, trying tobalance on your toes or to grip with your heels, then the head will wobble and youwill fall into the space between your tuft and the next one.After a spell of this torment we heard the guides calling and found that theyhad come to more sluggish water, whereupon we got into the canoe and travelledforward, in the utmost ease, through peaceful green water bordered by willows.The banks were lower and we scanned the mountain slopes for a sight of wildmountain sheep, but in vain. All too soon we came again to swift water and had toreturn to the shore. Drenching rain fell and we camped, at last, on caribou mossbeside a grove of trees, steaming ourselves out beside a nre of dead spruce beforewe got into our sleeping bags.