BACK TO CIVILIZATION

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 120, 22 May 1937, Page 8 (Supplement)

BACK TO CIVILIZATION

ll_ '~2\sy&pry L\Mllfams-:-^ t ->*'**

Tt was wonderful to he reallv Harm and full-fed again. My host v.i- wisp enough to offer a bunk J!«'.t the :>eater and allow n:c to sleep instead of plying inu with «|in'.-tinn«. us r feared he might. I flcjii i lie "hole night through, not K.iking till ii 11 old Indian, who M'i'iiicil to be the head of the family. r-iu-i d inc. roijupst ing that [ "come oat." [ was m.w able to take stock rif i lie cabin and its inmates, eight in number, One whose appearance, .•■.reined vaguely familiar told me liics name was Albert Cote, that of the old man. his father, Solomon Cote. 'I'll" younger of the two women washis wife, the elder his mother. These and four little girls (whether Albert's sisters or daughters.l never established to my satisfaction) constituted the Cote family. Albert, only, spoke really intelligible English. In the course of conversation I discovered we had met before, our Mitfite passing on the Grande Prairie Trail a couple of yeare before.

I found that I had reached the Big Smoky just a mile below the mouth of the Muskeg River. Before long Indians began to drop In by onee and twos, to sit for a while regarding stolidly "tne white man come through, from the north," exchange a few words with the Cotee and pass out again into thn storm. Each time the door opened Tarzan •would slip in hunting for me —and a bite to eat. I asked Albeit to give the doge a feed. He appeared uneasy and claimed to have "no wild meat, just bacon." It seemed strange to me that an Indian should be out of meat in what I knew to be a good game country. Later I discovered the reason. Theee Crees were not Treaty Indians, but enjoyed the same status as white men. Therefore they were subject to the white man's game laws. During the recent lean years many had taken the chance of trapping and killing game without a license and selling , the catch from several families under one license number. They suspected me of being a game warden. To make things worse I carried, in addition to ray rifle, a service model .45 in regulation holster.

Solomon was an amueinp old Mlow, possessed of a sense of humour pnustia] in an Indian. He started in to tciU'li me Orep, tollincr mp the names of everything in the cabin,