fiS A VOYAGE TO Book V. 



it was very compactly covered with straw. But, not- 

 'withstanding all aur care, the wind penetrated through. 

 The days were often little better than the nights; and 

 aii the light we enioyed was that of a lamp or two, 

 which we kt^pt burning, that we might distinguish 

 ene another, and improve our time as much as pos- 

 sible in reading. Though our hut was small, and 

 crowded with inhabitants, besides the heat of the 

 lamps, yet the intenseness of the cold was such, that 

 every one of us v/as obliged to have a chafingdish of 

 coals. These precautions would have rendered the 

 jigotiF of the climate supportable, had not the im- 

 minent danger of perishing by being blown down the 

 precipice roused us, every time it snowed, to en- 

 counter the severity of the outward air, and sally out 

 with shovels, to free the roof of our hut from the 

 masses of snov/ which were gathering on it. Nor 

 ^'ould it, without this precaution, have been able to 

 support the weight. We were not, indeed, withouc 

 servants and Indians; but they were so benumbed 

 with the cold, that it was with great difficulty we 

 could get them out of a small tent, where they kept a 

 continual ñre. So that all v/e could obtain from them 

 was, to take their turns m this labour; and even the.i 

 they went very unwillingly about it, and consequently 

 performed it slowly. 



It may be easily conceived what we suffered from 

 the a«iperities of such aclimate. Our feet were swelled, 

 and so tender, that we could not even bear the heat, 

 and walking was attended with extreme pain. Our 

 hands v/ere covered with chilblains; our lips swelled 

 and chopped ; so that every motion, in speaking or 

 the like, drew blood ; consequently we Vv'ere obliged 

 to a strict taciturnity, and but little disposed to laugh, 

 an extension of the lips producing fissures, very pam-» 

 ful for two or three days together. 



Our common food in this inhospitable region was 



^ little rice boiled with ¿ome flesh or fowl, which w,e 



8 procured 



