98 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



books of which we still retained two or 

 three of the most portable, and they proved 

 of incalculable benefit to us. We read 

 portions of them to each other as we lay in 

 bed, in addition to the morning and evening 

 service, and found that they inspired us on 

 each perusal with so strong a sense of the 

 Omnipresence of a beneficent God, that our 

 situation, even in these wilds, appeared no 

 longer destitute ; and we conversed, not 

 only with calmness, but with cheerfulness, 

 detailing with unrestrained confidence the 

 past events of our lives, and dwelling with 

 hope on our future prospects. Had my 

 poor friend been spared to revisit his native 

 land, I should look back to this period with 

 unalloyed delight. 



On the morning of the 9th, the weather, 

 although still cold, was clear, and I went 

 out in quest of tripe de roche, leaving Hep- 

 burn to cut willows for a fire, and Mr. Hood 

 in bed. I had no success, as yesterday's 

 snow-drift was so frozen on the surface of 

 the rocks that I could not collect any of the 

 weed ; but on my return to the tent I found 



