140 Thirty Years 
flammatory sore throat, which became daily worse 
whilst we remained in the tents, but began to amend 
soon after he was enabled to confine himself to the 
more equable warmth of the house. We took up our 
abode at first on the floor, but our working party, who 
had shewn such skill as house-carpenters, soon proved 
themselves to be, with the same tools, the hatchet 
and crooked knife, excellent cabinet-makers, and 
daily added a table, a chair, or bedstead, to the com- 
forts of our establishment. 
On the lst of December the sky was clear, a slight 
appearance of stratus only being visible near the hori- 
zon; but akind of snow fell at intervals in the fore- 
noon, its particles so minute as to be observed only in 
the sunshine. ‘Towards noon the snow became more 
apparent, and the two limbs of a prismatic arch were 
visible, one on each side of the sun near its place in 
the heavens, the centre being deficient. We have 
frequently observed this descent of minute icy spicule 
when the sky appears perfectly clear, and could even 
perceive that its silent, but continued action, added 
to the snowy covering of the ground. 
Having received one hundred balls from Fort Provi- 
dence by Belanger, we distributed them among the 
Indians, informing the leader at the same time, that 
the residence of so large a party as his at the house, 
amounting, with women and children, to forty souls, 
