144 Thirty Years 



period of its arrival On the present occasion we 

 could only treat them with a little flour and fat ; 

 these were both considered as great luxuries, but still 

 the feast was defective from the want of ruin, although 

 we promised them a little when it should arrive. 



The early part of January proved mild, the ther- 

 mometer rose to 20° above zero, and we were surpris- 

 ed by the appearance of a kind of damp fog approach- 

 ing very nearly to rain. The Indians expressed their 

 astonishment at this circumstance, aud declared the 

 present to be one of the warmest winters they had ever 

 experienced. Some of them reported that it had ac- 

 tually rained in the woody parts of the country. In 

 the latter part of the month, however, the thermome- 

 ter again descended to — 49°, and the mean temper- 

 ature for the month proved to be — 15.G°. Owing to 

 the fogs that obscured the sky, the aurora was visible, 

 only upon eighteen nights in the month. 



()n the 15th seven of our men arrived from Fort 

 Providence with two kegs of rum, one barrel of pow- 

 der, sixty pounds of ball, two rolls of tobacco, and 

 some clothing. They had keen twenty-one days on 

 their march from Slave Lake, and the labor they nn- 

 derwenl was sufficiently evinced by their sledge-collars 

 having worn out the shoulders of their coats. Their 

 loads weighed from sixty to ninety p. muds eacl 

 , in i\, ■ of their bedding and provisions, which .it start- 



