132 A SPKING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



droppings when disturbed, and so do bears ; men 

 are, however, neither bears nor blackcock. But 

 to my tale. 



On I struggled, gradually becoming weaker 

 and weaker, till my foot struck against some 

 obstacle, which soon brought me up. It was a 

 sunken fence (the snowdrift here just reached my 

 waistcoat-pocket), and I am sure that it took 

 me a quarter of an hour to clear it. I was 

 fairly beaten, and as I sunk on the snow I 

 thought, as old Dick Christian says in one 

 of his lectures, " I wor dun now." My gloves 

 had frozen as stiff as icicles. The cold seemed 

 eating into my very marrow. My feet, not- 

 withstanding all the exertions I was making, 

 were completely paralyzed, and appeared to 

 hang on my legs like two lumps of lead ; more- 

 over, they felt as if they had swelled to double 

 their natural size ; my boots, which had frozen 

 as hard as iron, held them like two vices, and 

 the pain was dreadful. My senses seemed going ; 

 I was becoming light-headed, and when I rose 

 again (for I dare not lie long) I reeled like a 

 drunken man. A kind of languid indifference 

 was now stealing over me ; I seemed to care 

 little for life, and, although I was determined 

 not to sink as long as I could flounder on, 

 all probability of my now holding out till morn- 



