Everyone was on the alert at an
early hour, being anxious to commence the journey.
Our luggage consisted
of ammunition, nets, hatchets, ice chisels, astronomical instruments,
clothing, blankets, three kettles, and the two canoes, which were each
carried by one man. The officers carried such a portion of their own
things as their strength would permit; the weight carried by each man was
about ninety pounds, and with this we advanced at the rate of about a
mile an hour including rests. In the evening the hunters killed a lean
cow out of a large drove of musk-oxen; but the men were too much laden to
carry more than a small portion of its flesh. The alluvial soil which,
towards the mouth of the river, spreads into plains covered with grass
and willows, was now giving place to a more barren and hilly country, so
that we could but just collect sufficient brushwood to cook our suppers.
The part of the river we skirted this day was shallow and flowed over a
bed of sand, its width about one hundred and twenty yards. About midnight
our tent was blown down by a squall and we were completely drenched with
rain before it could be repitched.
On the morning of the 1st of September a fall of snow took place; the
canoes became a cause of delay from the difficulty of carrying them in a
high wind, and they sustained much damage through the falls of those who
had charge of them. The face of the country was broken by hills of
moderate elevation but the ground was plentifully strewed with small
stones which, to men bearing heavy burdens and whose feet were protected
only by soft moose-skin shoes, occasioned great pain. At the end of
eleven miles we encamped and sent for a musk-ox and a deer which St.
Germain and Augustus had killed. The day was extremely cold, the
thermometer varying between 34 and 36 degrees. In the afternoon a heavy
fall of snow took place on the wind changing from north-west to
south-west. We found no wood at the encampment but made a fire of moss to
cook the supper and crept under our blankets for warmth. At sunrise the
thermometer was at 31 degrees and the wind fresh from north-west, but the
weather became mild in the course of the forenoon and the snow
disappeared from the gravel. The afternoon was remarkably fine and the
thermometer rose to 50 degrees. One of the hunters killed a musk-ox. The
hills in this part are lower and more round-backed than those we passed
yesterday, exhibiting but little naked rock; they were covered with
lichens.
Having ascertained from the summit of the highest hill near the tents
that the river continued to preserve a west course and, fearing that by
pursuing it farther we might lose much time and unnecessarily walk over a
great deal of ground, I determined on quitting its banks the next day and
making as directly as we could for Point Lake. We accordingly followed
the river on the 3rd only to the place where the musk-ox had been killed
last evening and, after the meat was procured, crossed the river in our
two canoes lashed together. We now emerged from the valley of the river
and entered a level but very barren country, varied only by small lakes
and marshes, the ground being covered with small stones. Many old tracks
of reindeer were seen in the clayey soil and some more recent traces of
the musk-ox. We encamped on the borders of Wright's River which flows to
the eastward, the direct distance walked today being ten miles and
three-quarters. The next morning was very fine and as the day advanced
the weather became quite warm. We set out at six A.M. and, having forded
the river, walked over a perfectly level country interspersed with small
lakes which communicated with each other by streams running in various
directions. No berry-bearing plants were found in this part, the surface
of the earth being thinly covered in the moister places with a few
grasses, and on the drier spots with lichens.
Having walked twelve miles and a half we encamped at seven P.M. and
distributed our last piece of pemmican and a little arrowroot for supper
which afforded but a scanty meal. This evening was warm but dark clouds
overspread the sky. Our men now began to find their burdens very
oppressive and were much fatigued by this day's march but did not
complain. One of them was lame from an inflammation in the knee. Heavy
rain commenced at midnight and continued without intermission until five
in the morning, when it was succeeded by snow on the wind changing to
north-west, which soon increased to a violent gale. As we had nothing to
eat and were destitute of the means of making a fire, we remained in our
beds all the day, but the covering of our blankets was insufficient to
prevent us from feeling the severity of the frost and suffering
inconvenience from the drifting of the snow into our tents. There was no
abatement of the storm next day; our tents were completely frozen and the
snow had drifted around them to a depth of three feet, and even in the
inside there was a covering of several inches on our blankets. Our
suffering from cold in a comfortless canvas tent in such weather with the
temperature at 20 degrees and without fire will easily be imagined; it
was however less than that which we felt from hunger.
The morning of the 7th cleared up a little but the wind was still strong
and the weather extremely cold. From the unusual continuance of the storm
we feared the winter had set in with all its rigour and that by longer
delay we should only be exposed to an accumulation of difficulties; we
therefore prepared for our journey although we were in a very unfit
condition for starting, being weak from fasting and our garments
stiffened by the frost.
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