30 Sir ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

The mode of living, indeed, was harder
than that practised by any of the pioneers of
to-day. When comforts must be carried by
canoe from Montreal, it is no wonder that
they were few. From Grand Portage to Fort
Chipewyan was 1850 miles; the journey took
two months, and there were nearly a hundred
portages; goods for trade filled the canoes,
together with food for the crews on the way.
Indeed they were unable to take sufficient
food for the whole journey, and had to depend
in part on what they could secure en route;
often the men arrived half-starved. The
trader could not vary his diet with imported
food ; he had to depend on what the country
would provide. It is a little hard to realize
that Mackenzie and his men at Chipewyan
lived for most of the year on fish and nothing
else,—no bread, no vegetables, no sugar, but
fish for every meal, and usually without even
salt to season it. The only variety was pro-
vided by wild ducks and geese in spring and
autumn, by occasional moose and other game,
and by pemmican — dried buffalo meat,
pounded and mixed with melted fat—which