90 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



if they should be near the situation where 

 they had remained last winter, our men 

 would have reached them by this day. 

 Having expended all the wood which we 

 could procure from our present dwelling 

 without danger of its fall, Peltier began this 

 day to pull down the partitions of the 

 adjoining houses. Though these were only 

 distant about twenty yards, yet the increase 

 of labour in carrying the wood fatigued him 

 so much that by the evening he was ex- 

 hausted. On the next day his weakness 

 was such, especially in the arms, of which 

 he chiefly complained, that he with diffi- 

 culty lifted the hatchet ; still he persevered, 

 while Samandre and I assisted him in 

 bringing in the wood, but our united 

 strength could only collect sufficient to 

 replenish the fire four times in the course 

 of the day. As the insides of our mouths 

 had become sore from eating the bone- 

 soup, we relinquished the use of it, and now 

 boiled the skin, which mode of dressing we 

 found more palatable than frying it, as we 

 had hitherto done. 



