250 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



of delay, by the difficulty of carrying them in a 

 high wind, and they sustained much damage 

 from the falls of those who had charge of them. 

 The face of the country was broken by hills of 

 moderate elevation, but the ground was plenti- 

 fully strewed with small stones, which, to men 

 bearing heavy burthens, and whose feet were 

 protected only by soft moose skin shoes, oc- 

 casioned great pain. At the end of eleven miles 

 we encamped, and sent for a musk-ox and a deer, 

 which St. Germain and Augustus had killed. 

 The day was extremely cold, the thermometer 

 varying between 34° and 36°. In the afternoon 

 a heavy fall of snow took place, on the wind 

 changing from north-west to south-west. We 

 found no \^ood at the encampment, but made a 

 fire of moss to cook the supper, and crept under 

 our blankets for warmth. At sunrise the ther- 

 mometer was at 31°, and the wind fresh from 

 north-west ; but the weather became mild in the 

 course of the forenoon, and the snow disappeared 

 from the gravel. The afternoon was remarkably 

 fine, and the thermometer rose to 50°. One of 

 the hunters killed a musk-ox. The hills in this 

 part are lower, and more round-backed than those 

 we passed yesterday, and exhibited but little 

 naked rock ; they were covered with lichens. 

 Having ascertained from the summit of the 



