In the drctv /■'■ i 253 



the winter had Bet in with all its rigor, and thai by 

 longer delay we Bhould only b 1 to an accumu- 



lation of difficulties ; we therefore prepa our 



journey, although we were in a very unfit condition 

 for starting, being weak from fasting, and our gar- 

 ments stiffened by the frost. We had no means 

 of making a fire to thaw them, the moss, at all tii 

 difficult to kindle, being now covered with ice and 

 A i msiderable time was consumed in packing 

 up the frozen tents and bed clothes, the wind Mowing 

 trong that no one could keep his hands long out of 

 his mittens. 



.In-! as we were about to commence our march, I 

 was Beized with a fainting fit, in consequence of ex- 

 haustion and Budden i zposure to the wind ; but 

 after eating a morsel of portable soup, I recovered, 

 far as tn be able to move on. I was unwilling at first 

 to take this morsel of Boup, which was diminishing 

 the small and only remaining meal of the party ; but 

 several of the m< n urged me to it, with much kindm 

 The ground was covered a foot deep with Bnow, the 

 margin of the lakes was Lncrusted with toe, and the 

 swamps over which we had to pa entirely 



but the ice not being sufficiently Btrong to 

 [uently plunged knee-deep in water. 

 Those who carried the canoes were repeatedly blown 

 down by the violence of the wind, and they often fell, 



