186 
TO FIRST RAVINE. 
they were barely able at first to carry even these. Our 
effort to escape would indeed have resulted in miserable 
failure, had we been without our little Esquimaux 
dog-team to move the sick, and forward the intended 
lading of the boats, and keep up supplies along the 
line of march. I find by my notes that these six 
dogs, well worn by previous travel, carried me with a 
fully-burdened sledge between seven and eight hun¬ 
dred miles during the first fortnight after leaving the 
brig,—a mean travel of fifty-seven miles a day. 
Up to the evening of the 23d, the progress had been 
a little more than a mile a day for one sledge: on the 
24tli, both sledges had reached First Ravine, a distance 
of seven miles, and the dog-sledge had brought on 
to this station the buffalo-bags and other sleeping- 
appliances which we had prepared during the winter. 
The condition of the party was such that it was essen¬ 
tial they should sleep in comfort; and it was a rule 
therefore during the whole journey, never departed 
from unless in extreme emergency, never to begin a 
new day’s labor till the party was refreshed from the 
exertions of the day before. Our halts were regulated 
by the condition of the men rather than by arbitrary 
hours, and sleep was meted out in proportion to the 
trials of the march. The thermometer still ranged 
below zero; but our housed boats, well crowded, and 
fully stocked with sleeping-gear, were hardly uncom¬ 
fortable to weary men; besides which, we slept by day 
when the sun was warmest, and travelled when we 
could avoid his greatest glare. 
