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

16105 To Fort YukonSo we went paddling down towards Fort Yukon, overcomebydrowsinesswhen the sun shone. huddled in many coats when the wind blew. Our guidewas a stolid and rather silent individual. but he did his job. We had no majoradventures after we had passed the Ramparts in safety. but each day was marked bydifferent incidents and we fought our drowsiness because we did not want to missany part of the beautiful river. Never. we decided. could travelling by canoe insuch country be monotonous. It took us nve days to paddle from Old Crow toFort Yukon.A few hours after parting from the Moose, we went ashore at Old Rampartwhere there was a settlement ofIndians. but the men had little English and all thewomen had gone out to pick berries. Then we passed a lone cabin. inhabited, soDavid told us. by a man named Martin who had been in the country for 20 years,and had only gone out once for a few weeks. in all that time. Realising that we hadample supplies of food, we put ashore to ask him if he had need of anything thatwe could give him. but we found a morose person, guarded by three or fourhuskies. and our talk did not last nve minutes. He made it clear that he did notwant any food nor any visits from fellow-creatures. He saw plenty of company, heassured us; there was a scow or gas boat passing by every month or so in thesummer. We heard later that he was well-known as a type of recluse frequentlyfound in the Yukon. a man grown queer in the head from too much living alone.We guessed that we travelled about 60 or 70 miles that day. but the speed ofwater is always an elusive thing to reckon when travelling in a canoe. In factrunning water has many other elusive characteristics. Often. when in mid-