340 Thirty Years 
spent in making up our bundles. This task fell to 
Hepburn’s share, as I suffered so much from the cold 
as to be unable to take my hands out of my mittens. 
We kept a straight course for the Dog-rib Rock, . 
but owing to the depth of the snow in the valleys we 
had to cross, did not reach it until late in the after- 
noon. We would have encamped, but did not like to 
pass a second night without fire ; and though scarcely 
able to drag our limbs after us, we pushed on to a 
clump of pines, about a mile to the southward of the 
rock, and arrived at them in the dusk of the evening. 
‘During the last few hundred yards of our march, our 
track lay over some large stones, amongst which I fell 
down upwards of twenty times, and became at length 
so exhausted that I was unable to stand. If Hep- 
burn had not exerted himself far beyond his strength, 
and speedily made the encampment and kindled a 
fire, I must have perished on the spot. This night 
we had plenty of dry wood, 
On the 29th we had clear and fine weather. We 
set out at sunrise, and hurried on in our anxiety to 
reach the house, but our progress was much impeded 
by the great depth of the snow in the valleys. Al- 
though every spot of ground over which we traveled 
to-day, had been repeatedly trodden by us, yet we got 
bewildered in a small lake. We took it for Marten 
Lake, which was three times its size, and fancied that 
