272 Thirty Years 



of our bodies, and we had gathered sufficient warmth 

 to enable us to fall asleep. On many nights we had 

 not even the luxury of going to bed in dry clothes, for 

 when the fire was insufficient to dry our shoes, we 

 durst not venture to pull them off, lest they should 

 freeze so hard as to be unfit to put on in the morning, 

 and, therefore, inconvenient to carry. 



On the 20th we got into a hilly country, and the 

 marching became much more laborious ; even the 

 stoutest experienced great difficulty in climbiDg the 

 craggy eminences. Mr. Hood was particularly weak, 

 and was obliged to relinquish his station of second in 

 the line, which Dr. Richardson now took, to direct the 

 leading man in keeping the appointed course. I was 

 also unable to keep pace with the men, who put forth 

 their utmost speed, encouraged by the hope, which 

 our reckoning had led us to form, of seeing Point Lake 

 in the evening, but we were obliged to encamp with- 

 out gaining a view of it. We had not soon either 

 deer or their tracks through the day, and this circum- 

 stance, joined to the disappointment of not discovering 

 the lake, rendered our voyagers very desponding, and 

 tin' meagre supper of tripe dc rocJie was little calcu- 

 lated to elevate their spirits. They now threatened 

 to throw away their bandies, and quit us, which rash 

 act they would probably have done, if they had known 

 what track to pursue. 



