CHAPTER XXIV

CANADIAN LAKE AND RIVER INDIANS

The Athapascan family--The Chippewyans--Rev. C. Colton--From New York to the Saskatchewan--A curious demonstration--Making ready for the Chippewyans--The steam-launch aground--Surrounded by the canoes--"Sturgeons!"--Making the Indians pay the piper--The Lake of the Woods--The Indian fur-traders' camp--Bargaining--Chippewyan "lodges"--Start of the canoe flotilla--Experiments--The strange river--Too late to turn--Rapids--An awful fate ahead--The canoemen's presence of mind--A way of escape--Scaling the canon--Towing 302