THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. xi. 



moist places the lovely carpet was two feet thick, and soft 

 as a bed of eider down. 



Fresh reindeer or caribou tracks were seen on the 

 portage, not more than a few hours old ; but we could not 

 spare the time for hunting. The country was so much 

 more difficult than we expected, that every hour was 

 valuable which would allow us to make progress and get 

 nearer to the table land. In making our camp, we had 

 to choose between deep wet moss and hard rock. We 

 preferred the moss, although we could push a stick 

 two feet through without any difficulty, and a pool of 

 water soon filled the impression made by our feet after 

 standing for a few minutes. But how were we to make 

 camp in such a wet bed ? Nothing more simple when 

 sapin* or balsam spruce is at hand. 



The tent is first erected, and a layer of sapin, about a 

 foot thick, is placed over the floor of the tent. It forms a 

 dry and comfortable bed. I often wondered why none 

 of us took cold. We were wet all day long, ever since 

 we left the Moisie. This arose from crossing wet places 

 on the portages, or floundering through acres of Labrador 

 tea-plant covering deep moss. We often slept on wet 

 ground, and when it rained we had nothing but wet 

 sapin with which fo cover the floor of our tents ; yet none 

 of us took cold except the Indians, who, not having any 

 very extensive change of garments, were sometimes com- 

 pelled to sleep in their wet clothes. I always instructed 

 the men to change their clothes at night, and when they 

 were weary and would gladly have slunk off and lain 

 down in their wet clothes, I took care that they should 



* The brandies of the white spruce. 



