Rod and gun . ember nearlv three weeks be-fore Mr. Parizeau failed to cross it thirtymiles above our camp. He took one manand they harnessed themselves to a to-boggan on which was lashed their blan-kets and grub for five davs. The third FOLLOWIXG THE FUR TRAIL 139 night they arrived back in camp ex-hausted after their failure to reach Feb. ist, all hands. Mr. Parizeau,myself and our four men left our shackfor good. We made York Factory thatafternoon. The following morning westarted on the longest spell of our jour-ney—that to Oxford House. It was 48below zero. We had three dog teams,fi
Rod and gun . ember nearlv three weeks be-fore Mr. Parizeau failed to cross it thirtymiles above our camp. He took one manand they harnessed themselves to a to-boggan on which was lashed their blan-kets and grub for five davs. The third FOLLOWIXG THE FUR TRAIL 139 night they arrived back in camp ex-hausted after their failure to reach Feb. ist, all hands. Mr. Parizeau,myself and our four men left our shackfor good. We made York Factory thatafternoon. The following morning westarted on the longest spell of our jour-ney—that to Oxford House. It was 48below zero. We had three dog teams,five dogs to a team and five Indians with were hauling fire wood, and when theystarted on their four hundred milemush were every one crippled. Thethird team were in better condition. For nine days we travelled over froz-en muskegs, with very little shelter andslept in open camps, obtaining only suf-ficient firewood for thawing out and par-tially cooking our food at night. Fortwo hundred and tiit\- miles it was. The Trophies of US. The dogs were in the worst possiblecondition imaginable. One team hadjust returned from a southern trip toFort Severn and had been starving forseven days on the trail. The second teamhad been to Oxford House and back withthe mail packet, had five days at York torecuperate, during all of which time they our Trapping. necessary to break trail for the dogs withtheir heavy loads and the third day outfrom York, two of the men were unableto walk. They were so badly crippledby the snowshoes and tight moccasinsthat their legs were swollen from thetoes to the knees, and the least move-ment caused excruciating pain. Riding 140 ROD AND GUX IN CANADA was almost as painful as tramping, as thetoboggan often upset four or five timesin a hundred yards. This form of tor-ture is known in the north as the snow-shoe trouble, and in the case of one ofthe men, his leg was so badly swollenthat the trouser leg had to be slit to re-lieve him. After five days out, the dog feed
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