46 Thirty Years 



in theni ourselves, we did not set out without 

 considerable grumbling from the voyagers of both 

 Companies, respecting the overlading of their dogs. 

 However, we left the matter to be settled by our 

 friends at the fort, who were more conversant with 

 winter traveling than ourselves. Indeed, the loads 

 appeared to us so great that we should have been 

 inclined to listen to the complaints of the drivers. 

 The weight usually placed upon a sledge, drawn by 

 three dogs, cannot, at the commencement of a journey, 

 be estimated at less than three hundred pounds, which, 

 however, suffers a daily diminution from the con- 

 sumption of provisions. The sledge itself weighs 

 about thirty pounds. When the snow is hard frozen, 

 or the track well trodden, the rate of traveling is 

 about two miles and a half an hour, including rests, 

 or about fifteen miles a day. If the snow is loose, 

 tlic speed is necessarily much less and the fatigue 

 i i er. 

 At eight in the morning of the 18th, we quitted the 

 fort, and took leave of our hospitable friend, G-overnor 

 Williams, whose kindness and attention I shall ever 

 remember with gratitude. Dr. Richardson, Mr. Eood, 

 and Mr. Connolly, accompanied us along the Sas- 

 katchawan, until the snow became too deep for their 

 walking without snow-shoes. We then parted from 

 oar associates, with sincere regrel al the prospecl of a 



