On the Indian Trail | Page 7

wild regions we sometimes
had bear's steak broiled on the coals, or ribs skidded on a stick and
nicely browned before the fire. When my canoemen had time to
prepare the bear's feet and boil them they were quite a luxury. In fact,
the three great luxuries specially prized by the denizens of that country
are, the heaver's tails, the moose's nose, and the bear's paws. Rarely
was a deer shot on those canoe trips, unless it happened to be in the far

north regions, where occasionally one was caught swimming far out
from land in a great lake. When one was thus killed, there was of
course abundance of food, but so little of it could be carried with us,
that the larger portion had to be left to be devoured by wolves,
wolverines, or other wild animals. However, in leaving all this meat on
the trail the words of the Psalmist would come to us:
"He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry."
Perhaps it was only carrying out His great purposes, when we thus left
all this food for some of His creatures to whom, "He giveth their meat
in due season."
Wild ducks, geese, and other aquatic birds were occasionally shot,
affording us most savoury food as did also the beavers wild-cats, and
muskrats.
Our nights were spent where the day's journey ended. Missionaries in
nearly all lands can generally find some human, habitation in which to
obtain or prepare their food and spend the night. As a child, I used to
listen with intense interest to my beloved father, who for many years
had been a pioneer missionary in what were then known as the wilds of
Upper Canada--tell of his adventures. Many had been his hardships and
dangers, but I remember he used to say, that he could generally find the
comfortable log-cabin of a friendly settler in which to pass the night.
The trail in the wild north land leads through regions of country
thousands of miles in extent, where there is not even to be found a
leather tepee or a birch-bark wigwam, much less a house. The result
was, when making such journeys, we had to do the next best thing, and
that was to camp at the spot where night overtook us. Of course we
were on the lookout for as comfortable a place as it was possible to find.
A smooth dry granite rock for our bed, and dry wood with which to
make our fires, where we cooked our food and dried our clothes, were
always considered the essential requisites for a comfortable camp.
Warm days alternated with damp and chilly ones, but the nights were
generally cold. The bright warm camp-fire was always welcomed with
great delight after a day's journey of sixty miles on the trail. Pleasant
indeed are the memories of happy restful hours so spent, when the good

honest day's work was done, and the time of rest well earned. After the
hearty evening meal and prayers, it was each a luxury to be able to
stretch our cramped limbs before a glorious camp-fire on the rocky
shore of some great river or picturesque lake. Then the attempt to read
even some favourite author was not always a great success. It seemed
more congenial just to lie there, and muse and watch the dying of the
day as the brightness gradually faded out of the western sky, and the
stars in their modest way, one by one, came out into conscious vision,
until the whole heavens were lit up by their radiance. The only sounds
were the roar of the distant cataract, the music of the running stream,
the rippling of the waves at our feet, broken some nights by the
occasional cry of a wild bird or beast, from among the trees of the
encircling forest. The quiet, picturesquely garbed men in their
statuesque attitudes added much to the attractiveness of the
surroundings.
Then at night very close to the heart, and appropriate, were the words
of the Psalmist: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the
firmament showeth His handiwork;" and, "When I consider thy
heavens the work of thy fingers, the moon and stars which thou hast
ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man
that thou visitest him?"
But the nights spent on the Indian trail, were not always so delightful,
or so conducive to lofty and celestial sentiments. When the cyclonic
winds howled around us through the long night hours, blowing with
such fury that it requited all of our watchfulness and strength to prevent
canoe, blankets, and bundles from being blown into the lake or river,
our thoughts were not among the stars. Sometimes the black