70 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



plenty of buffalo rugs and blankets, it is true, but 

 there is a limit to the number of blankets that are 

 useful ; a dozen will not keep a man any warmer 

 than half a dozen, or half a dozen than two or three. 

 I do not like sleeping in great cold ; it necessitates 

 lying so still. The only chance is to get into bed, 

 roll yourself well up in your blankets and buffalo 

 robes while the tent is warm, see that there is no 

 cranny or hole anywhere by which the air can pene- 

 trate, and then lie perfectly quiet. You will experi- 

 ence a most oppressive and inconvenient amount 

 of heat at first, which it is very difficult to put up 

 with, for it is almost impossible to resist the 

 desire to kick off the clothes and get cool, but the 

 temptation must be resisted, and you must lie per- 

 fectly still — even if you boil — otherwise your chance 

 of a comfortable night is gone. If you succeed in 

 going to sleep, you will find, when you wake after 

 three or four hours, that though the cold is intense 

 your body still contains a considerable amount 

 of caloric ; you must then pull the blankets com- 

 pletely over your head, just leaving a little hole 

 through which to obtain a scanty supply of fresh 

 air, and remain in that position till you get up in 

 the morning. It makes an enormous difference to 

 your bodily heat having your head inside the blan- 



