84 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1770. me or the Southern Indians, as either raw venison or raw 

 "^' fish had been : for the flesh of the musk-ox is not only coarse 

 and tough, but smells and tastes so strong of musk as to 

 make it very disagreeable when raw, though it is tolerable 

 eating when properly cooked. The weather continued so [32] 

 remarkably bad, accompanied with constant heavy rain, snow, 

 and sleet, and our necessities were so great by the time the 

 weather permitted us to make a fire, that we had nearly eat to 

 the amount of one buffalo quite raw. 



Notwithstanding I mustered up all my philosophy on this 

 occasion, yet I must confess that my spirits began to fail me. 

 Indeed our other misfortunes were greatly aggravated by the 

 inclemency of the weather, which was not only cold, but so 

 very wet that for near three days and nights, I had not one 

 dry thread about me. When the fine weather returned, we 

 made a fire, though it was only of moss, as I have already 

 observed ; and having got my cloaths dry, all things seemed 

 likely to go on in the old channel, though that was indifferent 

 enough ; but I endeavoured, like a sailor after a storm, to 

 forget past misfortunes. 



None of our natural wants, if we except thirst, are so 

 distressing, or hard to endure, as hunger ; and in wandering 

 situations, like that which I now experienced, the hardship is 

 greatly aggravated by the uncertainty with respect to its dura- 

 tion, and the means most proper to be used to remove it, as 

 well as by the labour and fatigue we must necessarily undergo 

 for that purpose, and the disappointments which too frequently 

 frustrate our best concerted plans and most strenuous exer- 

 tions : it not only enfeebles the body, but depresses the spirits, 

 in spite of [33] every effort to prevent it. Besides, for want 

 of action, the stomach so far loses its digestive powers, that 

 after long fasting it resumes its office with pain and reluctance. 

 During this journey I have too frequently experienced the 

 dreadful eflFects of this calamity, and more than once been 

 reduced to so low a state by hunger and fatigue, that when 



