208 ON THE FKONTIEK^ 



" A cold air was beginning to draw down the canon 

 from the range, so we felled some small pine-trees, and 

 with their leafy branches built a semicircular wall on the 

 upper side of our fire, and between wall and fire made our 

 beds, first laying a good foundation for them of pine boughs 

 a couple of feet thick, to keep our blankets from the snow. 

 This accomplished, we considered ourselves sumptuously 

 lodged. 



"Our weak point was the commissariat. Our bread, 

 our coffee, our sugar, our boiled corn, was eaten ; only a 

 few pounds of raw maize in grain were left. This we 

 divided with the animals, for scanty picking grew around 

 the spot, and their gaunt and famished appearance called for 

 pity. 



" Melting some snow in our fryingpan, we boiled our share 

 of maize in it, with a little salt. Turning our empty coffee 

 and sugar bags inside out, we put one in each of our tin-cups 

 with some snow, boiled them well, took them out, mixed the 

 liquid in the two cups together, divided it, and called it 

 coffee ! The decoction could not be truthfully described as 

 delicious, but it was hot and wet, and warmed us up and 

 quenched our thirst. Then we ate our frugal meal, and after 

 enjoying a smoke, lay down and slept, warmly, soundly, and 

 comfortably, until broad daylight. 



"Our breakfast did not delay us long. It was not an 

 elaborate affair. We simply tightened our waistbelts to the 

 last hole, lit our pipes, and were ready to saddle up and 

 push on. As nearly as possible we followed the general 

 course of the stream along which we were travelling ; but it 

 often canoned, when the rugged steepness of its banks and 



