326 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



them. The Doctor having brought his prayer- 

 book and testament, some prayers and psalms, 

 and portions of scripture, appropriate to our si- 

 tuation, were read, and we retired to bed. 



Next morning the Doctor and Hepburn went 

 out early in search of deer ; but, though they saw 

 several herds and fired some shots, they were not 

 so fortunate as to kill any, being too weak to hold 

 their guns steadily. The cold compelled the for- 

 mer to return soon, but Hepburn persisted until 



late in the 



evening. 



My occupation was to search for skins under 

 the snow, it being now our object immediately 

 to get all that we could, but I had not strength 

 to drag in more than two of those which were 

 within twenty yards of the house until the Doctor 

 came and assisted me. We made up our stock 

 to twenty-six, but several of them were putrid, 

 and scarcely eatable, even by men suffering the 

 extremity of famine.. Peltier and Samandr^ con- 

 tinued very weak and dispirited, and they were 

 unable to cut fire- wood. Hepburn had in con- 

 sequence that laborious task to perform after he 

 came back. The Doctor having scarified the 

 swelled parts of Adam's body, a large quantity 

 of water flowed out, and he obtained some ease, 

 but still kept his bed. 



After our usual supper of singed skin and 



