78 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



tlie manner of raising a more durable structure. La 

 Eonde and Bruneau were much chagrined at their 

 failure, declared the clay was w^orthless, and were too 

 sulky to set to work again at once. There was, however, 

 no time to be lost in repairing the damage, or we should 

 be left without a fire-place when the thermometer was 

 down below zero. Milton took upon himself to be 

 engineer, and built up a framework of green wood to 

 support the clay, and Cheadle, meanwhile, with horse 

 and cart, collected a stock of the most rectangular 

 stones to be found. By this means we built a sub- 

 stantial fire-place, which stood bravely all the winter. 



Whilst we were engaged in these labours we had 

 several visits from our Indian friends, but they had 

 ceased to be very troublesome. The hunter, Keena- 

 montiayoo, called on his way to the Fort for winter 

 supplies, and returned with the news that the bufialo 

 had already ad^^anced within two days' journey of La 

 Belle Prairie. This, however, proved to be without 

 foundation. We found old Kekekooarsis and the 

 squaws exceedingly useful to us. The former we 

 employed to make snow shoes and some dog-sleighs, 

 whilst the latter mended our moccasins, and made up 

 winter clothing. 



On the 23rd of October the lake was completely 

 frozen over, and near two inches of snow covered the 

 ground. A partial thaw took place, however, on the 

 26th, after which the winter fairly commenced. 

 Our work was finished only just in time. 



