The Wolves Then Descend At Their Leisure And Feast On The Mangled
Carcasses.
One of these animals passed close to the person who was
beating the track but did not offer any violence.
We encamped at sunset
after walking thirteen miles.
On the 26th we were rejoiced at passing the halfway point between
Cumberland and Carlton. The scenery of the river is less pleasing beyond
this point as there is a scarcity of wood. One of our men was despatched
after a red-deer that appeared on the bank. He contrived to approach near
enough to fire twice, though without success, before the animal moved
away. After a fatiguing march of seventeen miles we put up at the Upper
Nippeween, a deserted establishment, and performed the comfortable
operations of shaving and washing for the first time since our departure
from Cumberland, the weather having been hitherto too severe. We passed
an uncomfortable and sleepless night and agreed next morning to encamp in
future in the open air as preferable to the imperfect shelter of a
deserted house without doors or windows.
The morning was extremely cold but fortunately the wind was light which
prevented our feeling it severely; experience indeed had taught us that
the sensation of cold depends less upon the state of temperature than the
force of the wind. An attempt was made to obtain the latitude which
failed in consequence of the screw that adjusts the telescope of the
sextant being immovably fixed from the moisture upon it having frozen.
The instrument could not be replaced in its case before the ice was
thawed by the fire in the evening.
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