THE Great JOURNEY 107

geurs carried a pack of ninety pounds and his
gun; the Indian hunters shouldered with great
reluctance half this burden; and Mackenzie
and Mackay took seventy pounds each. The
tube of Mackenzie’s telescope was an annoy-
ing addition to his load. They carried only
pemmican as food, and had but two meals a
day, “which were regulated without diffi-
culty, as our provisions did not require the
ceremony of cooking.” ‘They were generally
able to procure a few fish from the natives.
They started up the trail at noon on
July 4, first in great heat and then through
drenching rain. They were in a region of
heavy rainfall and were soaked to the skin
almost every day until they reached the coast.
Their route was a little south of west, roughly
along the course of the Blackwater River,
though they rarely saw it and often cut across
country to avoid its wanderings. The first
natives they met had many articles of Euro-
pean origin, including ‘“‘a lance that very
much resembled a sergeant’s halberd.” Mac-
kenzie continually notes new characteristics
among the Indians; at their first camp on the