DIFFICULT WALKING. 187 



upon had begun to wear away and given place to uneasiness regard- 

 ing the distance ahead rather than of that already travelled. The 

 walking, now that the open bay was reached, began to be anything 

 but good; for while the lighter and more crispy — for I can think 

 of no other word to express the condition — the snow, the better 

 the walking, the case is quite the contrary when a partial thaw sets 

 in and renders the walking watery and sloshy. At such a time 

 every hole in the sieve-like interlacing of deerskin, which fills the 

 interior of the racket, is filled with the sticky snow, and thQ bars 

 covered also ; soon, by frequent pressure, the upper side is cov- 

 ered with the same, and so with the weight above, and the sticking 

 of the snow beneath, the foot must fairly drag such a mass of cloggy 

 matter along with it and the racket, and soon renders one un- 

 used to this kind of walking quite weary ; but there is no help, and 

 on, on, through the slosh and snow a fatiguing tramp is continued. 

 It is almost useless to stop and rest, as, strange to say, the best rest 

 is to keep on walking. I do not know just how to explain this ap- 

 parent contradiction ; the truth, however, is revealed by a practical 

 test. At length the walking is so bad that I take off my rackets 

 and try my dogskin boots alone, though the condition of things 

 is hardly improved until the walking is bettered by an approach 

 to the island before mentioned, where a layer of snow materially 

 helps the matter and forms a pleasant change from the sticky 

 material that I leave behind. 



After pressing on with renewed courage I soon reached the 

 other side of the island, and could see Bonne before me about 

 three miles ahead with a small point of mainland between us. 

 The walking was now good, but the weather had changed. The 

 wind blew hard from the northeast, and the cold was biting. Soon 

 the clouds began to gather, and, almost before I knew it, the at 

 first gently falling flakes of snow had agreed with the wind and 

 came drifting down in perfect sheets ; harder and harder came 

 the blinding storm, fiercer and fiercer blew the wind, heavier and 

 heavier became the rackets upon my feet, and then the feet them- 



