134 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



thermometer being down to thirty degrees below 

 zero. The track was tolerably good, although not 

 firm enough to allow snow-shoes to be dispensed 

 with, and now rapidly drifting up. Away went the 

 dogs with the lightly-laden sleigh, and Isbister and 

 Cheadle strained their utmost to keep up, tearing 

 along on their snow-shoes, with a motion and swing- 

 ing of arms from side to side, like fen-skaters. 



In spite of all this exertion, a very great many 

 flannel shirts, a leathern shirt, duffel shirt, and thick 

 Inverness cape over all, Cheadle was frost-bitten- 

 in many places — arms, legs, and face ; and when 

 they pulled up to camp for the night in a clump 

 of pines, he was quite unable to strike a light, 

 and even Isbister with difficulty accomplished it. 

 With a roaring fire, sleeping fully clothed, with the 

 addition of two buffalo robes and two blankets, it 

 was impossible to keep warm, or rest long without 

 being admonished, by half-frozen toes, to rise and 

 replenish the fire. The dogs crept shivering up and 

 on to the bed, passing, like their masters, a restless 

 night. The thermometer on this night went down 

 to thirty-eight degrees below zero, the greatest cold 

 which was experienced during this winter — the 

 lowest ever registered being forty-five degrees below 

 zero. 



The following morning they set forward again 

 at a racing pace, and reached the hut before dark- 

 very fast travelling indeed on snow-shoes, on a trail 

 that was not in first-rate order. A man can, in- 

 deed, walk much faster on snow-shoes, with a fair 



