One of the largest of the lakes beyond the 61st parallel is that called the Great Slave Lake; it is two hundred and fifty miles long by fifty across, and is situated1 exactly at 61° 25’ N. lat. and 114° W. long. The surrounding districts slope down to it, and it completely fills a vast natural hollow. The position of the lake in the very centre of the hunting districts. once swarming2 with game, early attracted the attention of the Company. Numerous streams either take their rise from it or flow into it-the Mackenzie, the Athabasca, &c.; and several important forts have been constructed on its shores — Fort Providence3 on the north, and Fort Resolution on the south. Fort Reliance is situated on the north-east extremity4, and is about three hundred miles from the Chesterfield inlet, a long narrow estuary5 formed by the waters of Hudson’s Bay.
The Great Slave Lake is dotted with little islands, the granite6 and gneiss of which they are formed jutting7 up in several places. Its northern banks are clothed with thick woods, shutting out the barren frozen district beyond, not inaptly called the “Cursed Land.” The southern regions, on the other band, are flat, without a rise of any kind, and the soil is mostly calcareous. The large ruminants of the polar districts — the buffaloes8 or bisons, the flesh of which forms almost the only food of the Canadian and native hunters — seldom go further north than the Great Slave Lake.
The trees on the northern shores of the lake form magnificent forests. We need not be astonished at meeting with such fine vegetation in this remote district. The Great Slave Lake is not really in a higher latitude9 than Stockholm or Christiania. We have only to remember that the isothermal lines, or belts of equal heat, along which heat is distributed in equal quantities, do not follow the terrestrial parallels, and that with the same latitude, America is ever so much colder than Europe. In April the streets of New York are still white with snow, yet the latitude of New York is nearly the same as that of the Azores. The nature of a country, its position with regard to the oceans, and even the conformation of its soil, all influence its climate.
In summer Fort Reliance was surrounded with masses of verdure, refreshing10 to the sight after the long dreary11 winter. Timber was plentiful12 in these forests, which consisted almost entirely13 of poplar, pine, and birch. The islets on the lake produced very fine willows14. Game was abundant in the underwood, even during the bad season. Further south the hunters from the fort successfully pursued bisons, elks16, and Canadian porcupines17, the flesh of which is excellent. The waters of the Slave Lake were full of fish; trout18 in them attained19 to an immense size, their weight often exceeding forty pounds. Pikes, voracious20 lobes21, a sort of charr or grayling called “ blue fish,” and countless22 legions of tittamegs, the Coregonus of naturalists23, disported24 themselves in the water, so that the inhabitants of Fort Reliance were well supplied with food. Nature provided for all their wants; and clothed in the skins of foxes, martens, bears, and other Arctic animals, they were able to brave the rigour of the winter.
The fort, properly so called, consisted of a wooden house with a ground-floor and one upper storey. In it lived the commandant and his officers. The barracks for the soldiers, the magazines of the Company, and the offices where exchanges were made, surrounded this house. A little chapel25, which wanted nothing but a clergyman, and a powder-magazine, completed the buildings of the settlement. The whole was surrounded by palisades twenty-five feet high, defended by a small bastion with a pointed26 roof at each of the four corners of the parallelogram formed by the enceinte. The fort was thus protected from surprise, a necessary precaution in the days when the Indians, instead of being the purveyors of the Company, fought for the independence of their native land, and when the agents and soldiers of rival associations disputed the possession of the rich fur country.
At that time the Hudson’s Bay Company employed about a million men on its territories. It held supreme27 authority over them, an authority which could even inflict28 death. The governors of the factories could regulate salaries, and arbitrarily fix the price of provisions and furs; and as a result of this irresponsible power, they often realised a profit of no less than three hundred per cent.
We shall see from the following table, taken from the “ Voyage of Captain Robert Lade,” on what terms exchanges were formerly29 made with those Indians who have since become the best hunters of the Company. Beavers’ skins were then the currency employed in buying and selling.
The Indians paid —
For one gun,
10 beavers’ skins
“ half a pound of powder,
1 “
“ four pounds of shot,
1 “
1 “
“ six knives,
1 “
1 “
“ one laced coat,
6 “
“ one coat not laced,
5 “
“ one laced female dress,
6 “
“ one pound of tobacco,
1 “
“ one box of powder,
1 “
“ one comb and one looking glass,
2 “
But a few years ago beaver-skins became so scarce that the currency had to be changed. Bison-furs are now the medium of trade. When an Indian presents himself at the fort, the agents of the Company give him as many pieces of wood as he brings skins, and he exchanges these pieces of wood for manufactured articles on the premises32; and as the Company fix the price of the articles they buy and sell, they cannot fail to realise large profits.
Such was the mode of proceeding33 in Fort Reliance and other factories; so that Mrs Paulina Barnett was able to watch the working of the system during her stay, which extended until the 16th April. Many a long talk did she have with Lieutenant34 Hobson, many were the projects they formed, and firmly were they both determined35 to allow no obstacle to check their advance. As for Thomas Black, he never opened his lips except when his own special mission was discussed. He was wrapped up in the subject of the luminous36 corona37 and red prominences38 of the moon; he lived but to solve the problem, and in the end made Mrs Paulina Barnett nearly as enthusiastic as himself. How eager the two were to cross the Arctic Circle, and how far off the 18th July 1860 appeared to both, but especially to the impatient Greenwich astronomer39, can easily be imagined.
The preparations for departure could not be commenced until the middle of March, and a month passed before they were completed. In fact, it was a formidable undertaking40 to organise41 such an expedition for crossing the Polar regions. Everything had to betaken with them-food, clothes, tools, arms, ammunition42, and a nondescript collection of various requisites43.
The troops, under the command of Lieutenant Jaspar Hobson, were one chief and two subordinate officers, with ten soldiers, three of whom took their wives with them. They were all picked men, chosen by Captain Craventy on account of their energy and resolution. We append a list of the whole party:—
1. Lieutenant Jaspar Hobson.
11. Sabine, soldier.
12. Hope, do.
3. Corporal Joliffe.
13. Kellet, do.
4. Petersen, soldier
14. Mrs Rae
5. Belcher, do.
15. Mrs Joliffe.
6. Rae, do
16. Mrs Mac-Nab.
7. Marbre, do
17. Mrs Paulina Barnett.
8. Garry, do
18. Madge.
9. Pond, do
19. Thomas Black
10. Mac-Nab, do.
In all, nineteen persons to be transported several hundreds of miles through a desert and imperfectly-known country.
With this project in view, however, the Company had collected everything necessary for the expedition. A dozen sledges46, with their teams of dogs, were in readiness. These primitive47 vehicles consisted of strong but light planks48 joined together by transverse bands. A piece of curved wood, turning up at the end like a skate, was fixed49 beneath the sledge45, enabling it to cleave50 the snow without sinking deeply into it. Six swift and intelligent dogs, yoked51 two and two, and controlled by the long thong52 brandished53 by the driver, drew the sledges, and could go at a rate of fifteen miles an hour.
The wardrobe of the travellers consisted of garments made of reindeer54-skins, lined throughout with thick furs. All wore linen55 next the skin as a protection against the sudden changes of temperature frequent in these latitudes56. Each one, officer or soldier, male or female, wore seal-skin boots sewn with twine57, in the manufacture of which the natives excel. These boots are absolutely impervious58, and are so flexible that they are admirably adapted for walking. Pine-wood snow-shoes, two or three feet long, capable of supporting the weight of a man on the most brittle59 snow, and enabling him to pass over it with the rapidity of a skater on ice, can be fastened to the soles of the seal-skin boots. Fur caps and deer-skin belts completed the costumes.
For arms, Lieutenant Hobson had the regulation musketoons provided by the Company, pistols, ordnance60 sabres, and plenty of ammunition; for tools: axes, saws, adzes, and other instruments required in carpentering. Then there was the collection of all that would be needed for setting up a factory in the remote district for which they were bound: a stove; a smelting61 furnace, two airpumps for ventilation, an India-rubber boat, only inflated62 when required, &c., &c.
The party might have relied for provisions on the hunters amongst them. Some of the soldiers were skilful63 trackers of game, and there were plenty of reindeer in the Polar regions. Whole tribes of Indians, or Esquimaux, deprived of bread and all other nourishment64, subsist65 entirely on this venison, which is both abundant and palatable66. But as delays and difficulties had to be allowed for, a certain quantity of provisions was taken with them. The flesh of the bison, elk15, and deer, amassed67 in the large battues on the south of the lake; corned beef, which will keep for any length of time; and some Indian preparations, in which the flesh of animals, ground to powder, retains its nutritive properties in a very small bulk, requiring no cooking, and forming a very nourishing diet, were amongst the stores provided in case of need.
Lieutenant Hobson likewise took several casks of rum and whisky; but he was firmly resolved to economise these spirits, so injurious to the health in cold latitudes, as much as possible. The Company had placed at his disposal a little portable medicine-chest, containing formidable quantities of lime-juice, lemons, and other simple remedies necessary to check, or if possible to prevent, the scorbutic affections which take such a terrible form in these regions.
All the men had been chosen with great care; none were too stout68 or too thin, and all had for years been accustomed to the severity of the climate, and could therefore more easily endure the fatigues69 of an expedition to the Polar Sea. They were all brave, high-spirited fellows, who had taken service of their own accord. Double pay had been promised them during their stay at the confines of the American continent, should they succeed in making a settlement beyond the seventieth parallel.
The sledge provided for Mrs Barnett and her faithful Madge was rather more comfortable than the others. She did not wish to be treated better than her travelling companions, but yielded to the urgent request of Captain Craventy, who was but carrying out the wishes of the Company.
The vehicle which brought Thomas Black to Fort Reliance also conveyed him and his scientific apparatus70 from it. A few astronomical71 instruments, of which there were not many in those days-a telescope for his selenographic observations, a sextant for taking the latitude, a chronometer72 for determining the longitudes73, a few maps, a few books, were all stored away in this sledge, and Thomas Black relied upon his faithful dogs to lose nothing by the way.
Of course the food for the various teams was not forgotten. There were altogether no less than seventy-two dogs, quite a herd74 to provide for by the way, and it was the business of the hunters to cater75 for them. These strong intelligent animals were bought of the Chippeway Indians, who know well how to train them for their arduous76 calling.
The little company was most skilfully77 organised. The zeal78 of Lieutenant Jaspar Hobson was beyond all praise. Proud of his mission, and devoted79 to his task; he neglected nothing which could insure success. Corporal Joliffe, always a busybody, exerted himself without producing any very tangible80 results; but his wife was most useful and devoted; and Mrs Paulina Barnett had already struck up a great friendship with the brisk little Canadian woman, whose fair hair and large soft eyes were so pleasant to look at.
We need scarcely add that Captain Craventy did all in his power to further the enterprise. The instructions he had received from the Company showed what great importance they attached to the success of the expedition, and the establishment of a new factory beyond the seventieth parallel. We may therefore safely affirm that every human effort likely to insure success which could be made was made; but who could tell what insurmountable difficulties nature might place in the path of the brave Lieutenant I who could tell what awaited him and his devoted little band.
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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estuary
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| n.河口，江口 | |
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granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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buffaloes
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| n.水牛（分非洲水牛和亚洲水牛两种）( buffalo的名词复数 )；（南非或北美的）野牛；威胁；恐吓 | |
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latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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10
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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12
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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13
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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14
willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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15
elk
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| n.麋鹿 | |
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16
elks
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| n.麋鹿( elk的名词复数 ) | |
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17
porcupines
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| n.豪猪，箭猪( porcupine的名词复数 ) | |
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18
trout
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| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
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19
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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20
voracious
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| adj.狼吞虎咽的，贪婪的 | |
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21
lobes
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| n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 )；（器官的）叶；肺叶；脑叶 | |
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22
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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23
naturalists
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| n.博物学家( naturalist的名词复数 )；（文学艺术的）自然主义者 | |
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24
disported
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| v.嬉戏，玩乐，自娱( disport的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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26
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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27
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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28
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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29
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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30
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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31
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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32
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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33
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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34
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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35
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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36
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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37
corona
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| n.日冕 | |
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38
prominences
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| n.织物中凸起的部分；声望( prominence的名词复数 )；突出；重要；要事 | |
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39
astronomer
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| n.天文学家 | |
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40
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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41
organise
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| vt.组织，安排，筹办 | |
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42
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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43
requisites
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| n.必要的事物( requisite的名词复数 ) | |
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44
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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45
sledge
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| n.雪橇，大锤；v.用雪橇搬运，坐雪橇往 | |
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46
sledges
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| n.雪橇，雪车( sledge的名词复数 )v.乘雪橇( sledge的第三人称单数 )；用雪橇运载 | |
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47
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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48
planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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50
cleave
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| v．(clave；cleaved)粘着，粘住；坚持；依恋 | |
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51
yoked
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| 结合（yoke的过去式形式） | |
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52
thong
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| n.皮带；皮鞭；v.装皮带 | |
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53
brandished
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| v.挥舞( brandish的过去式和过去分词 )；炫耀 | |
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54
reindeer
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| n.驯鹿 | |
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55
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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56
latitudes
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| 纬度 | |
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twine
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| v.搓，织，编饰；（使）缠绕 | |
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impervious
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| adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的 | |
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brittle
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| adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的 | |
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ordnance
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| n.大炮，军械 | |
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smelting
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| n.熔炼v.熔炼，提炼（矿石）( smelt的现在分词 ) | |
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62
inflated
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| adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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63
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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subsist
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| vi.生存，存在，供养 | |
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palatable
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| adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的 | |
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amassed
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| v.积累，积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fatigues
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| n.疲劳( fatigue的名词复数 )；杂役；厌倦；（士兵穿的）工作服 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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astronomical
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| adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的 | |
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chronometer
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| n.精密的计时器 | |
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longitudes
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| 经度 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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cater
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| vi.(for/to)满足，迎合；(for)提供饮食及服务 | |
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arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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