A  Dog  of  No  Character— The  Green  Lake— Lac  He  a
la  Crosse— A  Cold  Day— Fort  He  a  la  Crosse—
A  Long-lost  Brother — Lost  upon  the  Lake — Un-
welcome Neighbours— Mr.  Roderick  Macfarlane
—"A  Beautiful  Morning  "—Marble  Features.
On  the  night  of  the  11th  of  February,
under  a  brilliant  moonlight,  we  quitted  Fort
Carlton;  crossing  the  Saskatchewan,  we
climbed  the  steep  northern  bank,  and  paused
a  moment  to  look  back.  The  moon  was  at
its  full,  not  a  cloud  slept  in  the  vast  blue
vault  of  heaven,  a  great  planet  burned  in  the
western  sky ;  the  river  lay  beneath  in  spot-
less lustre ;  shore  and  prairie,  ridge  and  low-
land, sparkled  in  the  sheen  of  snow  and
moonlight.  Then  I  sprung  upon  my  sled,
and  followed  the  others,  for  the  music  of
their  dog-bells  was  already  getting  faint.
The  two  following  days  saw  us  journeying
on  through  a  rich  and  fertile  land.  Clumps
of  poplar  interspersed  with  pine,  dotted  the
undulating  surface  of  the  country.  Lakes
were  numerous,  and  the  yellow  grass  along
their  margins  still  showed  above  the  deep
snow.
Six  trains  of  dogs,  twenty-three  dogs  in  all,
92


THE  WILD  NORTH  LAND.
made  a  goodly  show ;  the  northern  ones  all
beaded,  belled,  and  ribboned,  were  mostly
large  powerful  animals.  Cree,  French,  and
English  names  were  curiously  intermixed,
and  as  varied  were  the  tongues  used  to  urge
the  trains  to  fresh  exertions.  Sometimes  a
dog  would  be  abused,  vilified,  and  cursed,  in
French  alone;  at  others,  he  would  be  im-
plored, in  Cree,  to  put  forth  greater  efforts.
