250 TENT ARRANGEMENTS. [May, 



cooked pemmican and tea, and withdrew into our shells. 

 I shall merely notice one clay's routine, to mark our mode 

 of life, or change from that of last season. The pemmi- 

 can is now so well known that it hardly requires descrip- 

 tion : however, we had four varieties : the first made with 

 currants, herbs, etc., pounded beef, and suet; another 

 sugared ; another plain ; another herbs ; marked C. H. S. 

 blank. Of this compound three-quarters of a pound was 

 found sufficient for each person, to which was added one 

 ounce of maccaroni, or four ounces of potatoes, onion 

 powder, sage, etc., ad lib. Of this food I was not fond, 

 and one ounce was enough for me ; latterly I avoided it 

 entirely. Our tea was of the best quality. Sleep we had 

 to provide. The bed, although already described, I shall 

 repeat, is a bag constructed of thick grey felt ; this bag 

 is about seven feet in length and three feet in width, al- 

 lowing a man, when in, to double the top over his face, 

 like a long envelope, and endeavour to suffocate himself 

 by his own heat, until that becomes inconvenient, when 

 he seeks a breathing hole. This bag, I had almost for- 

 gotten to remark, is covered with a prepared casing of 

 brown holland, supposed to retain the air. It is not easy 

 to enter or emerge from this bag, especially if the alarm 

 of bear, fire, or water, should be given, as the aggregate 

 living mass is covered by another heavy blanket, made 

 fast to the tent-poles at the officer's end of the tent, to 

 keep him down until the rest escape : he is also placed 

 at the weather or extreme end, to keep the cold out, as 

 the place d'honneur; and to shield him, a further strip 

 of this brown holland, furnished with pockets, to place 

 small articles in safety, affords further protection from 



