any, on Lake Superior, at Fort William,
not far from where Radisson had first explored, and La Verendrye
followed. Indians lingered round the fort of the Northern lake engaged
in mad _boissons_, or drinking matches, that used up a winter's
earnings in the spree of a single week. Along the shore lay upturned
canoes, keels red against the blue of the lake, and everywhere in the
dark burned the red fires of the boatmen melting resin to gum the seams
of the canoes; for the canoes were to be launched on a long voyage the
next day. Mackenzie was going to float down with the current of the
Athabasca or Grand River, and find out where that great river emptied
in the North.

The crew must have spent the night in a last wild spree; for it was
nine in the morning before all hands were ready to embark. In
Mackenzie's large birch canoe went four Canadian _voyageurs_, their
Indian wives, and a German. In other canoes were the Indian hunters
and interpreters, led by "English Chief," who had often been to Hudson
Bay. Few provisions were taken. The men were to hunt, the women to
cook and keep the _voyageurs_ supplied with moccasins, which wore out
at the rate of one pair a day for each man. Traders bound for Slave
Lake followed behind. Only fifty miles were made the first day.
Henceforth Mackenzie embarked his men at three and four in the morning.

[Illustration: Quill and Bead Work on Buckskin, Mackenzie River
Indians.]

The mouth of Peace River was passed a mile broad as it pours down from
the west, and the boatmen _portaged_ six rapids the third day, one of
the canoes, steered by a squaw more intent on her sewing than the
paddles, going over the falls with a smash that shivered the bark to
kindling-wood. The woman escaped, as the current caught the canoe, by
leaping into the water and swimming ashore with the aid of a line. Ice
four feet thick clung to the walls of the rampart shores, and this
increased the danger of landing for a _portage_, the Indians whining
out their complaints in exactly the tone of the wailing north wind that
had cradled their lives--"Eduiy, eduiy!--It is hard, white man, it is
hard!" And harder the way became. For nine nights fog lay so heavily
on the river that not a star was seen. This was followed by driving
rain and wind. Mackenzie hoisted a three-foot sail and cut over the
water before the wind with the hiss of a boiling kettle. Though the
sail did the work of the paddles, it gave the