20 



On Christmas day we dined at the Hudson Bay Post and were 

 regaled on roast beaver and lynx, the former has the flavor of strong 

 mutton while the latter closely resembles young pig, the flesh being 

 white and delicate. These were followed by a real plum pudding. The 

 ordinary fare at the post consisted of salt fish and watary potatoes, three 

 times a day, relieved with an occasional meal of partridges or rabbits, 

 and with fresh fish once a week. 



January was spent around the post, considerable cold weather 

 being experienced, the mean temperature from 3 daily readings with 

 max. and min. was 18.5° below zero, the highest being 16° above and 

 lowest being 56° below zero, which point was reached twice during the 



month. 



On February 2nd, I left with two men for Lake St. John, the men 

 drawing our small outfit and provisions of flour, lard, and tea on their 

 toboggans. The first night out we slept in the teepee of an indian who 

 was to guide us over the height of land. This is made of a number of poles 

 meeting in the centre and covered with birch bark ; it has a large open- 

 ing at the top, for the escape of the smoke from the fire built on a few 

 stones in the centre of the floor. The bottom and sides are lined with 

 green boughs. It is a most uncomfortable dwelling, as the smoke 

 which fills the upper part, renders standing up or even sitting upright 

 impossible, when lying down the feet are roasted by the fire while the 

 head and shoulders are freezing from the cold draughts which penetrate 

 through the cracks and openings in the birch bark covering. 



On the trip to Lake St. John the journey was very similar to that 

 already described ; we passed from the southern end of the lake imme - 

 diately over the height of land and then followed the Chef river of the 

 A.shouapmouchouan and thus reached our destination. 



Being unable, on account of heavy falls of snow, to drag our tent 

 and stove, they were abandoned and we were obliged to sleep during 

 the greater part of the trip in barricades. These are made by digging 

 a hole in the snow 12ft. long by 6ft. wide down to the ground and lining 

 one end with boughs with a fire in the other end. No great discomforture 

 was experienced in this mode of sleeping, as we crawled into our 

 blanket bag, made of woven strips of rabbit skin ; this, although the 

 finger can easily be pushed through it anywhere, is a remarkable non- 



