IV. WINTER AT MOOSE FORT 28 V. A VISIT TO THE ESKIMO AT WHALE RIVER 42 VI. SCHOOL WORK 50 VII. FIRST RETURN TO ENGLAND 56 VIII. AGAIN AT WORK 60 IX. DAYS OF LABOUR 70 X. THE BISHOPRIC OF MOOSONEE 76 XI. A PICNIC AND AN INDIAN DANCE 83 XII. ORGANISATION AND TRAVEL 92 XIII. YORK FACTORY 105 XIV. THE RETURN TO MOOSE 116 XV. TRYING TIMES 132 XVI. CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S DAY AT ALBANY 150 XVII. THE PACKET MONTH 160 XVIII. CHURCHILL AND MATAWAKUMMA 172 XIX. A DAY AT BISHOP’S COURT 183 XX. CLOSING LABOURS 193 XXI. LAST DAYS 219 [Illustration: A LOG HUT] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE THE RIGHT REVEREND JOHN HORDEN, BISHOP OF MOOSONEE _Frontispiece_ A LOG HUT 9 MAP OF MOOSONEE 12 A TRADER’S STORE 36 A GROUP OF ESKIMO 46 SHOOTING A RAPID 99 CANADIAN TIMBER 119 MOOSE FACTORY 124 A PAGE OF THE CREE ‘PILGRIM’S PROGRESS’ 145 A DOG SLEDGE 151 ALBANY, HUDSON’S BAY 156 AN INDIAN TRAVELLING ON SNOW-SHOES 161 THE CHURCH AT FORT GEORGE 169 CHURCHILL IN SUMMER 173 ON THE CHURCHILL RIVER 177 A LARGE CANOE SHOOTING A RAPID 189 [Illustration: MAP OF MOOSONEE (SCALE, 400 MILES TO THE INCH). _Stanford’s Geogˡ. Estabᵗ. London_] FORTY-TWO YEARS AMONGST THE INDIANS AND ESKIMO CHAPTER I THE VOYAGE OUT In the year 1670, a few English gentlemen, ‘the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading to Hudson’s Bay,’ obtained a charter from King Charles II. The company consisted of but nine or ten merchants. They made large profits by bartering English goods with the Indians of those wild, and almost unknown, regions for furs of the fox, otter, beaver, bear, lynx, musk, minx, and ermine.