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 climbing 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 seen 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 
the meagre supper of tripe de roche was little calcu- 
lated to elevate their spirits. 'They now threatened 
to throw away their bundles, and quit us, which rash 
act they would probably have done, if they had known 
what track to pursue. ‘ 
