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prepare for rest by rolling round him the blanket which he 

 always takes with him. If the fire be occasionally renewed, 

 the weather seldom causes much inconvenience. To a 

 person accustomed to all the luxuries a civilized country can 

 afford, this mode of life appears hard and uninviting, but the 

 change takes place gradually, and is therefore but little felt. 

 It seems strange, too, to live entirely on animal food, without 

 any vegetables or salt, but it produces no inconvenience, as I 

 can attest from an experience of about eighteen months, 

 when I enjoyed a state of perfect health. 



I found full employment in collecting the productions of 

 the vicinity of Carlton House till the end of May, when Dr. 

 Richardson quitted us to meet Captain Franklin at Cumber- 

 land House : thither Captain Back and I and the rest of the 

 Expedition followed him in the beginning of July; but 

 during my stay at Carlton House, I made several short ex- 

 cursions to the South Branch River, which rises considerably 

 farther to the southward than the North Branch, but I did 

 not find a single plant different from what are met with on 

 the latter river. I also ascended the North Branch for 

 upwards of a hundred miles, but saw little that was not 

 equally common nearer to the Fort; from which circum- 

 stances, I was induced to conclude that little variation takes 

 place for a considerable distance to the southward. Dr. 

 Richardson having left his servant with me, we embarked in 

 a small canoe on the 14th of July, picking up what specimens 

 we could find along the river, and reached Cumberland 

 House on the morning of the 19th, quite safe. As Captain 

 Back was not yet arrived, I determined upon making an 

 excursion as far north as Beaver Lake, where I added a few 

 common plants to the collection ; but as Dr. Richardson had 

 already passed that way twice before, there was little left for 

 me to do. I returned again to Cumberland House, and in a 

 few days Captain Back and Lieutenant Kendall, with the 

 rest of the people belonging to the Expedition, arrived in 

 excellent health, and we immediately began preparing to 

 embark for York Factory, on Hudson's Bay. 



As we travelled with much despatch, my collections 



