BOAT WRECKED. 



67 



cordial feelings of regard, as he stepped into 

 the boat, on the morning of the 13th of Sep- 

 tember, to embark in the Prince of Wales, 

 on his return to England ; and immediately 

 afterwards, I set off on my return to the Red 

 River. We overtook the second division of 

 boats, with the Swiss emigrants, on the 20th, 

 slowly proceeding, and greatly harassed with 

 the difficulties of the navigation. They in- 

 formed us, that one of their party was acci- 

 dentally drowned, soon after they left the 

 Factory ; and that several of their children had 

 died on the passage. We were late on our 

 return to the colony, and under considerable 

 apprehensions that the rivers would be frozen 

 over before our arrival. We experienced very 

 cold weather the beginning of October ; and 

 our encampment at night was frequently co- 

 vered with snow. One of the Swiss got his 

 feet dreadfully frozen, from the careless neglect 

 of not taking off his shoes and socks to dry, 

 before he lay down to rest. In crossing 

 Winipeg Lake, one of the boats was wrecked, 

 but providentially no lives were lost. This 

 accident, however, detained us in an encamp- 

 ment for six or seven days ; and having 

 scarcely any other subsistence than a little 

 boiled barley, I experienced at times the most 



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