with supplies and, whilst the supplies had to go across the Portage, they wanted someone to run the scows through the 18 miles of rapids which lay between Fort Fitzgerald and Smith.
It was a risky business but good money was offered, so finally, two Indians, Boniface Bouchez and José Marie or as we knew him Susy Mary, and I took up the offer. Boniface and Susy were both full blooded Indians who had spent their lives on Northern Rivers and Lakes, and yet neither could swim a stroke. I came across very few Indians who could swim.
