ut he had long been called Big Tom on account of his
gigantic size.

Ample resources had been sent with the boys to pay for all their
requirements. Mr McTavish had an experienced clerk look after their
outfit and select for them everything needed, not only for the journey,
but for their requirements during the year of their stay in the country.
So they were here furnished with what was called the yearly supplies,
as York Factory is the best place, keeping as it does large reserve
supplies for all the interior trading posts. The English boots were
discarded for moccasins; fringed leggings manufactured out of well-
tanned skins and various other articles of apparel more suitable to the
wild country were obtained.

Two good Hudson Bay blankets were purchased for each boy, and, as they
had come to rough it, it was thought best to give them no tent, but each
one had in his outfit a large piece of oiled canvas in case of a fierce
rainstorm assailing them. They were given the usual rations of food,
with tea and sugar for so many days, and each lad was furnished with a
copper kettle, a tin cup, a tin plate, a knife, fork, and spoon. As
luxuries they furnished themselves with towels, soap, brush, and comb.
In addition to these supplies for this first trip there were sent up all
that would be needed during the long months that they were to spend in
the country. The boys were specially anxious that the supply of
ammunition should be most liberal.

For weapons they each had a good double-barrelled breech-loading gun--
then just beginning to come into use--which had been carefully selected
for them ere they left home. In addition they each had a first-class
sheath knife with hilt, good for close hand-to-hand encounter with
animals, and also useful in skinning the game when killed or in cutting
kindling wood for a fire. A first-class knife is an indispensable
requisite for a hunter in the North-west. Indeed, there is a saying in
that country, "Give an Indian a knife and a string, and he will make his
living and his way anywhere."

A brigade in the Hudson Bay service consisted of from four to twenty
boats; each boat was supposed to carry from eighty to a hundred pieces
of goods or bales of fur in addition to the supplies for the men. They
were made out of spruce or balsam, and were like large skiffs, sharp at
both ends.

They were manned by nine men. The man in charge was called the
steersman; standing in the sharp ang