On trail and rapid by dog-sled & canoe : The story of Bishop Bompas's life…
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"On trail and rapid by dog-sled & canoe" by H. A. Cody is a missionary biography for young readers written in the early 20th century. It recounts the adventurous life and ministry of Bishop William Carpenter Bompas in the Canadian North, following his travels by canoe and dog-sled among Indigenous peoples and the Inuit (then called Eskimo). Framed by tales of exploration and the fur trade, it emphasizes endurance, faith, and Arctic
hardship. The opening of the book sets the stage with a brief preface to young readers, a contents list, and a tribute poem, then surveys the North’s “romance of exploration”—fur companies, river routes, and pathfinders like Hearne, Mackenzie, and Campbell—leading to early posts on the Mackenzie and Yukon. It then sketches Bompas’s quiet upbringing, deepening faith, shift from law to Anglican ministry, curacies in rough English parishes, and the moment he volunteers after a bishop’s appeal to relieve a Yukon missionary. Next comes his arduous transit across the Atlantic and the continent—brigade boats, late‑season canoeing through ice, and a final dash by snow-shoes and dog team—to reach Fort Simpson on Christmas morning. The narrative follows his first Arctic foray among Inuit communities: snow-blindness, nights in snow houses, efforts to teach despite language barriers, confrontations with shamans, and a near-fatal crisis averted by a friendly chief’s intervention. It closes this opening section with a compact ethnographic portrait of Inuit tools, food, clothing, boats, travel, and beliefs, and with Bompas beginning a hazardous trek out of the North after being asked to become a bishop. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Cody, H. A. (Hiram Alfred), 1872-1948 |
|---|---|
| Uniform Title | On trail and rapid by dog-sled & canoe : The life of Bishop Bompas |
| Title | On trail and rapid by dog-sled & canoe : The story of Bishop Bompas's life amongst the red Indians and Eskimo |
| Edition | Second edition. |
| Original Publication | Toronto: The Musson Book Co., 1912. |
| Credits | Peter Becker and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | BX: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity: Churches, Church movements |
| Subject | Bompas, William Carpenter, 1834-1906 -- Juvenile literature |
| Subject | Church of England in Canada -- Missions -- Northwest Territories -- Juvenile literature |
| Subject | Bishops -- Canada -- Biography -- Juvenile literature |
| Subject | Missionaries -- Canada -- Biography -- Juvenile literature |
| Subject | Indians of North America -- Missions -- Juvenile literature |
| Subject | Northwest Territories -- Church history -- Juvenile literature |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 78770 |
| Release Date | May 27, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 378 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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