260 A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



the period of its arrival. On the present occasion we could only 

 treat them with a little flour and fat ; these were both considered as 

 great luxuries, but still the feast was defective from the want of 

 rum, although we promised them a little when it should arrive. 



The early part of January proved mild, the thermometer rose to 

 20° above zero, and we were surprised by the appearance of a kind 

 of damp fog approaching very nearly to rain. The Indians expressed 

 their astonishment at this circumstance, and declared the present to 

 be one of the warmest winters they had ever experienced. Some of 

 them reported that it had actually rained in the woody parts of the 

 country. In the latter part of the month, however, the thermometer 

 again descended to — 49°, and the mean temperature for the 

 month proved to be — 15.6°. Owing to the fogs that obscured the 

 sky the aurora was visible only upon eighteen nights in the 

 month. 



On the 1 5th seven of our men arrived from Fort Providence with 

 two kegs of rum, one barrel of powder, sixty pounds of ball, two rolls 

 of tobacco, and some clothing. They had been twenty-one days on 

 their march from Slave Lake, and the labour they underwent was 

 sufficiently evinced by their sledge-collars having worn out the 

 shoulders of their coats. Their loads weighed from sixty to ninety 

 pounds each, exclusive of their bedding and provisions, which 

 at starting must have been at least as much more. We were much 

 rejoiced at their arrival, and proceeded forthwith to pierce the spirit 

 cask, and issue to each of the household the portion of rum which 

 had been promised to them on the first day of the year. The spirits, 

 which were proof, were frozen, but after standing at the fire for some 

 time they flowed out of the consistency of honey. The temperature 

 of the liquid, even in this state, was so low as instantly to convert 

 into ice the moisture which condensed on the surface of the dram- 

 glass. The fingers also adhered to the glass, and would, doubtless, 

 have been speedily frozen had they been kept in contact with it, yet 



